1. Review the organizational structure from the university's website (www.callutheran.edu). Given this cursory view of the organizational structure, discuss the university's apparent structure in the context of the classical school of organization theory. Be sure to cite specific classical school authors in your discussion.
California University is among the largest and well established institutions in United States of America. It is sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It is located in Thousand Oaks, which is said to be among the safest cities in America according to FBI statistics. The institution admits students both locally and internationally making the it to have diverse culture. The University has many programs running all the way from bachelor’s degree to PHD (California Lutheran University, 2013).
The major function of the University is to equip learners with knowledge and skills which will make them to grow as professionals. In addition, the University focuses on equipping the learners with good morals which will make them grow as responsible citizens. The focus is to make them respect customs, norms and cultures of the society. By doing so, the learners will grow as people with respect in the society thus able to fit in it in future. This is very vital as the university focuses on bringing up professionals who will foster society growth and development. The University is more concerned with progressive liberal arts whose aim is to encourage diverse programs for the study. University’s hierarchy runs from the top management level to lower management level. This is to mean that information flows right from the top of the management to subordinates. The smaller office is supervised by the higher making the school to adhere to Weber’s classical bureaucracy theory which argues that organizational structure should run from the top to bottom with the superior supervising the subordinates. In addition, there is an element of division of labor in the organization. The management of the University is divided into various departments. It is within these departments where the element of division of labor arises. The University admits both local and international students thus enhancing social development and thus promoting friendship and understanding among various societies in the world. Economically, the university provides scholarship for needy students thus helping the promotion of education for all. It offers various education programs which give students from all walks of life an opportunity to make choice of what they want to undertake. Nevertheless, it is also dedicated to the society since it promotes social environment through preaching good moral behaviors which would make their products fit well in the society. California Lutheran University practices some aspects of Weber’s classical bureaucracy theory in its management. First, is the way the organization is structured. Where by its management is organized from the top management level to lower management level (Tompkins, 2005). Information flows right from the top of the management to subordinates. This is to imply that there is supervision of lower office by higher office just as Weber’s classical bureaucracy theory provides. In addition, there is an element of division of labor in the organization. The management of Harvard University is divided into various departments. It is within these departments where the element of division of labor arises. Labor in each department is based on specialization of roles for instance; people working in the finance department are specialist in finance and same to the rest of the departments. This is in line with the provisions of Weber’s classical bureaucracy which advocates for the division of labor. Finally, the University utilizes centralized planning and control in their management. Each department holds meetings and comes up with its plans and ways of controlling their activities. Following this, the heads from each department meet and come up with final plans and control mechanisms for the University. Nevertheless, every head of the department acts as a supervisor of entire group of his or her department. The main task as the supervisor is providing the workers with instructions on how to implement the laid plans and control system. This aspect is in line with Fredric Taylor provisions in his theory of scientific management. He believes that to ensure efficiency, then there should be centralized planning and control where experts are the ones who take place in this exercise (Tompkins, 2005).
2. Now, please review the Human Resources part of the university's website. After reviewing some of the documents and regulations that govern personnel management at CLU, discuss the human resource management at the university relative to the Human Relations and Human Resources Management schools of thought. Again, be sure to cite specific authors and aspects of the personnel system in your answer. California Lutheran University strives to ensure equal employment opportunities for all qualified personnel regardless gender, race, sex, religion, marital status, age and color just mention but a few(California Lutheran University, 2013). It also focuses on ensuring that every employee gets his or her benefits without any discrimination whatsoever. This is ensured by the human resource management department. The department encourages democratic form of management. As a result, the university has a smooth flow of information from the top management to the subordinates. This is a big booster to the institution activity control and coordination. Following the good relation among the stakeholders of the organization, coordinating activities has been very easy to attain. Nevertheless, the supervisors are able to control the employees without any problem. The HR department also utilizes human theory as presented by Mary Parker Follett’s theory. This institution utilizes some aspects of Mary Parker Follett’s theory in its management. To start with, is the element of democracy which prevails in all management levels starting from the top management down to all staff. Its performance management is directed towards ensuring democracy which has been a success towards in ensuring the efficiency of the campus operations. Nevertheless, this management system ensures fairness and transparency in all departments which is an element of enhancing democracy within the campus operations. This is in line with the provisions of Mary Parker Follett which argue that organization should look forward towards achieving and sustaining true democracy (Tompkins, 2005). Nevertheless, California Lutheran University focuses on ensuring good employee relations. This is ensured by the Human Resource Management which listens to employee needs and addresses them timely. This is with Mary Follett’s provisions that employees should resolve their conflicts through integration and compromise, this unit has a section which deals with conflict resolution and management consultation (Tompkins, 2005). The HR also encourages the spirit of employee association with each other in order to develop social bonds and working collective life just as Mary Follett holds (Tompkins, 2005). On the other hand, there is much of McGregor Y management style in University of California at Berkeley which holds that the satisfaction of performing good work is strong motivation (Tompkins, 2005). California Lutheran University HR department plays a vital role in ensuring employee satisfaction through motivating them. There is presence of self-motivation among the employees which is dictated by theory Y of McGregor. In addition, the University fraternity practices democracy whereby managers communicate openly with the subordinates. This implies that there exists a comfortable working environment in the University just as provided by McGregor theory Y.
3. Obviously, (like most nonprofit or public organizations) the university exists in an environment. It is certainly affected by the environment and, in turn, affects the environment as well. Analyze the operations of the university in the perspective of the natural systems and open systems theories. California Lutheran University sails in a conducive environment which is very vital in yielding professionals. The University admits both local and international students thus enhancing social development and thus promoting friendship and understanding among various societies in the world. Economically, the university provides scholarship for needy students thus helping the promotion of education for all. It offers various education programs which give students from all walks of life an opportunity to make choice of what they want to undertake. Nevertheless, it is also dedicated to the society since it promotes social environment through preaching good moral behaviors which would make their products fit well in the society. The main playmakers in the campus environment are the parents, tutors, the management, the society, the government, various sponsors and the students. This playmaker’s work hand in hand in ensuring a conducive environment for learning and development. Although it is among the developed institution, lack of resources still remains a big challenge to the University. This makes the University to limit the entry and if solved the campus could offer more vacancies for more learners. There is need for the University to focus on sourcing funds from donors in order to increase its resource. This will help in creating more space for more learners as well as fostering good learning environment which focus on ensuring education for all. Finally, California Lutheran University focuses on ensuring that it meets its core values by fostering good environment for learning. It borrows this from different areas for instance the community plays a vital role in ensuring that the University gets everything which is under the community vicinity. Nevertheless, the community provides the University with moral support and advice on how to create a conducive environment for its learners. Through this kind of interaction between the University and other bodies, learners are able to get conducive learning environment. California Lutheran University operates under closed education system which advocates for barriers in entry to the institution. There are various qualifications which students need to fulfill in order to enter the campus and pursue various degree programs. Through the use of the closed system the University offers a range of scholarships to students mainly to those undertaking masters. Under the closed system, the sponsored students are to pursue the degree as fulltime students as opposed to the open system which advocates for distance learning programs. Nevertheless, the closed education system in the campus calls for the students to pass an entry level writing requirements whereby they have to do various tests. When a student passes these tests then he or she gets an admission ticket otherwise the student is dismissed (California Lutheran University, 2013).
References
Tompkins, J.(2005). Organization theory and public management. Australia: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
California Lutheran University (2013). Retrieved from https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/california-lutheran-university
References
Harvard University. (2012). Harvard at a Glance. Retrieved from http://www.harvard.edu/harvard-glance
Harvard University. (2012). What is Harvard’s mission statement? Retrieved from http://www.harvard.edu/faqs/mission-statement
Tompkins, J.(2005). Organization theory and public management. Australia: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
