Most successful leaders in todays corporate world have confessed to have been mentored by managers employing a command and control management style, also referred to as a top-down approach. This is the most commonly used leadership style when an organization is undergoing change. During such a period, managers have to stamp their authority else there will be slow adjustment to new conditions.
Besides, conflicts and disagreements may arise. An example of such a scenario is commonly seen when an organization need to move to new offices or adopt new technologies. In such a situation, if a command and control style is not exercised, conflicts may ensue between managers and their employees, particularly those who do not accept or find it difficult to adopt the changes.
A command and control style is based on maintaining power and control over people and organizational processes. Conversely, there are many untrue assumptions that drive the use of this management style, for example, leaders always assume that they know everything and will tend to command without involving employees.
In addition, most leaders tend to think that they as bosses, they have to make all decisions without seeking for advice or assistance from any entity. This mentality highly affects the success of the organization because the workers always feel undermined and this lowers their work morale.
Clarity and decisiveness are vital to the success of the top-down management style. The leader should be decisive but willing to make changes when situations call and to clearly communicate what is expected of everyone.
This management style projects an image of a confident and well managed organization because the rules set by management will be followed without failure. Additionally, to have any level of success, leaders should be ready to open their eyes and ears to listen and take ideas from third parties, mostly the employees.
This management style has been viewed as dictatorial and leads to demotivation. Ina addition, it gives power and authority to powerful people within the organization and demands absolute compliance from the people under them; this makes employees feel less respected.
Managers employing a command and control style will always use threats on employees and this demoralizes and reduces their productivity. This style also results into a manager getting a negative image from employees and once this occurs, there is always loss of respect from the workers. Consequently, most employees, especially the competent ones, will often seek for opportunities elsewhere.
A manager-employee relationship is a two-way traffic; when a manager involves employees in change processes, there will be a high likelihood of success of the change. A participative change process is often considered the best management style.
Under this style, employees opinions are sought even though the leader makes the final decision. As a result, the employees feel valued by the organization and in addition, management may obtain information useful towards increasing the productivity of the workers.
Another management style that involves the participation of employees is the democratic management style. This leadership style entails allowing workers to make decisions on their own, and the organizations decisions are made taking into consideration the employees opinions.
Comparably, in the command and control style, the leader makes all decisions. When employees are involved in the running of the organization, it motivates them and increases their work output.
The sphere of business development is predominantly based on the introduction and maintenance of individual management styles within a teams organization to reach a balance between the workers productiveness and the companys profitability. Our company is concentrated on three principle management styles, such as consultative, participative, and mixed one, being an integral part of any teamwork efficiency.
The analysis of the first style is to be concentrated on the leadership positioning within the teams organization. It is necessary to underline the idea that consultative management style is considered to be the ruling one; the basic advantages can be explained through the rewarding motivation of the employees leading to productiveness and profitability. This management style makes superiors feel trust in their employees achieving common organizational goals. Nevertheless, one of the key weaknesses of the management style based on consultative approach is concentrated on moderate teamwork; besides, the superiors of the company structure have no complete trust in the subordinates, which can lead to interpersonal contact misunderstandings.
The participative management style used in our teams organization is considered to be more efficient; this strategy gives an opportunity to develop effective cooperative teamwork through much communication. It is necessary to stress that this style is perceived as the optimum solution to any marketing problems and complications; our organization is a vivid example of a business structure where superiors are completely confident in the employees professionalism, being motivated by the economic rewards of the organization got through common goals achievement. It is necessary to stress that this management is considered to be one of the most effective and successful. (Tjosvold, 2000)
The final strategy used in our teams organization is considered to be concentrated on a mixed approach; it means that business covers the elements of every style considering the situation or business problems faced. It should be stressed that this approach is sometimes long-winded, and painful, though it is referred to as the most human-concerned and profit-oriented system. The basic advantages of this strategy are focused on supportive relationships and mutual respect within the teams organization leading to productiveness and effectiveness of the working process. Nevertheless, there are some minuses in the mixed approach introduction; for example, the elements of exploitive and benevolent systems combined in the mixed strategy formation are reflected through threats and little teamwork in some conflicting or troublesome situations, and problems. There are some cases when management sponges master-servant trust principles resulting in lower levels of responsibility.
The most favorable aspect described in the teams organization styles can be expressed through the following issues:
The development of working trust environment within the staff;
Motivations are based on the organizations benefits and profitability;
The strategic process involves the participation of employees leading to the formation of strong teamwork.
It should be stressed that the combination of all the management styles would result in the most effective and beneficial business running process. (Likert, 2008).
References
Likert, R. (2008). Human Relationships Contributors. Web.
Tjosvold, M. (2000). Leading the team organization: how to create an enduring competitive advantage. Lexington Books.
The interviews featured three managers in different fields done at their workplaces to determine differences in management styles. Also interviewed were one staff member working for each of the managers to get a clear picture of the effectiveness of their management styles. The managers were asked a set of self-assessment questions, which included:
how they would assess their own management style
self- assessment on decision-making
staff motivation techniques
staff participation in organizations strategic planning and
communication channels in the organization. Their staff members were also asked the same questions but focusing on their assessment of the managers skills.
The first manager interviewed was Sanjay Kumar, a manager at an information technology firm that develops computer-based software with five years of experience. Sanjay went into business after college where he graduated with a bachelors degree in information technology. He had no prior experience in management and has fifteen employees working for him. Sanjay explained that he reads materials on management skills and regularly attends seminars on development of good leadership skills. The interview with Sanjay revealed that he is a manager who works very closely with his staff. He is keen to ensure that accuracy and professionalism are maintained at all time in the organization. He considers his management style as democratic. On decision-making, Sanjay said he is aware that he cannot please all and deals diplomatically after gathering important information always consulting relevant departments in the organization. Sanjay keeps a pleasant sense of humor to promote a happy environment for his staff to embrace a fun attitude at work. He holds regular staff meetings and occasionally treats his staff to a ball game or trips as a team building activity He also involves his staff in the firms strategic planning. They contribute in development of the plan by outlining among other exercises, the strength and weakness opportunity and threats analysis tasks; this he says gives them a sense of participation in major operational issues in the firm. Sanjay has adopted a revolving door policy in communicating to his staff; he keeps meeting his staff regularly, and allows their opinions through emails, teleconference as well as face-to-face meetings.
An interview with one of Sanjay Kumars employees, Eric Matola revealed consistency with his bosss interview. The staff member pointed out that Sanjay works very closely with him and the rest of the staff members and that Sanjay was keen on specifics of production. Eric said that Sanjay also consults him and other staffers on matters concerning the organization and he does not hesitate to consult Sanjay incase of any matter arising in the course of his duty. The organizations staff meets every first Tuesday of the month to asses and motivate themselves where prices are awarded for work well done. He also communicates to the management through emails and is free to express his concerns. He feels part of the firm and has been working in this firm since it began and feels that his boss is a role model and a motivating factor in his career.
Close analysis of Sanjay reveal that his management style works for is organization. His firm produces high quality computer based soft wares and the sales figures are indicative of this situation. As seen in the interview, Sanjay applies both democratic and affiliative management styles. He achieves his goal through consensus and participation of his staff. He seems to want to motivate his staff to work rather than dictate. Sanjay has created a sense of joint participation and responsibility by seeking his staffs opinion on serious issues like the organizations strategic planning. Sanjay aims at creating harmony among his staff by building an emotional bond. He motivates his staff by creating an atmosphere of friendliness in his organization.
The second interview featured Dina Jones, a chief executive officer of a donor non-governmental organization that supports education of visually impaired children. Dina is a holder of masters degree in Business management and has ten years experience in her field. She regularly attends leadership and management seminars to build and refresh her management style. She has a staff of ten and she is answerable to a board of governors in which she serves as a secretary. The second part of this interview also featured John a financial officer in the same organization. They were presented with the same set of questions that Sanjay and his employee answered.
Dina believes that her style of management is democratic. Her objective is to create a sense of participation among her staff and enjoys working with self-motivated people. Dina makes decisions that favor the organizations vision and mission. She has a mandate to fulfill and is committed to it. Her staff meets once every three months to review performance; Dina regularly organizes capacity-building workshops for her staff in partnership with other organizations, this is one way she motivates them to perform their duties. Dina asserts that she pays her staff well including all the necessary benefits to keep them highly motivated and as a measure of attracting professionalism in the organization. Once a year she organizes for them a seminar that focuses on strategic planning and here they discuss the goals of the organization and reviews them together. All communication channels in the organization are formal as there are set procedures in addressing all matters arising at work.
John, a financial officer at Dinas firm, has been working there for six years. He joined the firm from a financial institution where he performed similar duties. John thinks of his boss as assertive and has a good management style. John says that Dina makes decisions after consultations with relevant departments. She handles her staff professionally and this gives him a feeling of security and motivation. The staff members meet regularly and other times hold capacity-building workshops that motivate them and update their skills with new techniques. He asserts that the staff meets once a year at the beginning of the financial year to work on the organizations strategic planning. He adds that each members contribution to this session is highly regarded. Communication channels are open but there exist established procedures followed in the communication process and this maintains professionalism in the organization.
It is clear from the two interviews that Dina Joness management style is democratic. In order to attain the organizations objectives, Dina employs an all participatory technique in organizations activities and transfers it to the staff members. She consults with her staff members in order to seek their opinion on important matters. Dina encourages her staff to determine their own course while building their skills to empower them in this regard. This enables them to undertake this responsibility. She instills a sense of ownership by involving them in the strategic planning of the firm. This reduces implementation conflicts while motivating them, as their opinion is valued. As revealed by John, Dina seems to keep a good and friendly working environment in the organization while maintaining professionalism.
The third interview featured Peter Tanski, a chief executive officer of a small audio book recording firm. Tanski is a college graduate with fifteen years experience as a manager. He has worked in this firm for the last four years and has no prior experience in audio book industry and he has four people working under him. Also interviewed was Sammy Mbuggs who is an experienced studio engineer and joined Tanskis firm three years earlier.
Peter Tanski believes in getting things done, he says that he gets things done by making the right decision. He claims to consult with his staff but also upholds his opinion over theirs. He believes that the success of the firm lies with him and no one else. Tanski vehemently declared that he made decision based on the arising situation. His decision is final and cannot be objected by anyone in the firm. When asked about staff motivation, Tanski mentioned that his staff are self-motivated and do not need to be further motivated. He said that he pays them for work done and that is enough motivation, he adds that what is important is the work they do. This firm does not have any form of team building activities and Peter Tanski does all the strategic planning in the organization. He agrees that he sometimes involves the staff in work planning but to a lesser degree. Asked about how he communicates important ideas to his staff, Peter replied that he calls for meetings when there is a need to do so. He admits that he appreciates his workers opinions and respects them but highly regard his opinion over theirs. They are welcome to present their issues to him but they are never a priority, he determines which issue to deal with and never promises to help in solving them. Peter believes that his ideas are paramount to the recovery of the already cash starved business.
Sammy Mbuggs revealed that his boss Peter is a poor manager and that he is a hindrance to the success of the firm. Sammy was honest and was concerned about the future of the recording studio. Sammy and his colleagues are not paid as agreed on their work contracts. He claims that Peter decides when to pay them and this greatly affects the quality of their work. Sammy said his boss does not value his opinion despite the fact that he is knowledgeable in the industry. Sammy has considered leaving the firm to find work in another recording studio. The firm seems to perform poorly and blames this on his managers lack of commitment and single handedness in running the business.
Close analysis of the situation in this firm reveals that Peter Tanskis management style is authoritarian. Peter runs the business unprofessionally and worse of all is that he is ignorant about it. It is clear that his staff feel worthless, as he does not consider any ideas from them. His staff waits for his instruction and cannot perform any duty; they lack teamwork, as peter is the sole planner. Peters instructions appear to be forceful; he makes fast decisions and not necessarily good ones. He gets things done the way he wants them and listens to none of his employees. It is also clear that the working environment at peters recording studio is tense and not conducive for his staff members. Peter sees himself as the authority figure and his position uncompromising. The situation questions his people handling skills and intentions of operating the business.
Conducting these interviews pointed out the successes in the management style of two interviewees and failure in one of them. The first interviewee, Sanjay Kumar appears to be successful in applying his managerial skills. Despite the fact that he has had no prior experience in managerial position, he exhibits exemplary skills in handling his employees. Eric his employee is a testimony of Sanjays outstanding leadership qualities that have contributed to the success of his business, he singled out Sanjays attitude towards the employees and how he values their opinion as a major reason for the success of the firm and looked up to Sanjay as a role model. Sanjay acknowledges the importance of understanding and improving his management style. He pointed out in the interview that he continually reads and attends seminars to improve on these skills. He seemed to have achieved the desired work environment as is shown by the positive impact it has on his employees.
Like the first interviewee, the second one Dina Jones is also successful in applying her management skills. Jones not only values her employees but also understands them. She knows how to motivate them to get the most out of them. Dina understands that financial reward is the ultimate motivation in any firm and applies it appropriately. She maintains a professional atmosphere at work that positively influences her staff. Dina Jones invests in her staff. She improves on their skills through capacity building and pays a good price to maintain them. Her management style has worked for her and she is able to move the organizations mission with no resistance from her staff. Her financial officer John asserts that Dina is a motivational factor in their organization. This is a testimony of the effectiveness of her management style and an acknowledgement of her efforts.
On the contrary, the third interviewee Peter Tanski is not a successful manager. It is clear from the interview that Peter lacks focus on important management issues. He does not believe in proper management skills as a means of streaming this organization. Peter seems to have lost touch with his staff. He does not value his workers and sees no reason in rewarding them; he does not pay them on time. He also does not understand the importance of teamwork. Looking at Peters interview and comparing it to Sammy his worker is indicative of lack of proper communication channels in his firm. He thinks highly of himself while his staff thinks otherwise and he is not aware of this. Peter Tanskis management style is by default and not by knowledge. This management style is surely not suited for his business and only hurts the organization and the people who work in it.
Looking at these management styles, it is easy to assimilate the one that is either popular or one that most people apply to achieve success. My personal ambition is to understand all the management styles so that I could develop the ability to apply any of them whenever appropriate. Furthermore, I believe that no one particular style is perfect and by understanding the styles one would be able to apply them from an informed position and not as Peter Tanski who ignorantly applies a management style he knows nothing about. To be an effective manager in the future, I will strive to learn more on management styles and how they influence people and the best one in any particular environment or field.
Brazil is located in Latin America and is the number one in terms of geographical size and population. Its people speak Portuguese, and it is the only country in the South America where people speak Portuguese. It is fifth in the world among the countries in terms of population and land size.
It is a founding member of many unions across the world, for example, the G20 and is among the countries that are classified under the BRIC. It is a mega diverse country (one of the few in the world) with a variety of natural features, wildlife and habitat (Wagley 2003). Its total area is 8,514,877 km2, and its population is 191,376,496 (a 2011 estimate).
Economy
It is number six in the list of the world’s largest economies in terms of nominal GDP and number seven in terms of purchasing power parity. This is according to an analysis done for 2011; it is among the world’s economies, which are developing at a fast rate. According to a 2011 estimate of the purchasing power parity, the total GDP is 2,294 trillion dollars, and GDP per capita is 11,796 dollars.
According to another estimate of 2011 for nominal GDP, the total GDP is 2,493 trillion dollars, and GDP per capita is 12,788 dollars. It has many sectors which are developed and sizeable like manufacture, agriculture, mining and service. The large population provides a ready pool of labor which helps in driving forward the economy of the country.
It is one of the major exporters in the world, and this sector is rapidly growing due to the large foreign demand for their products. They mainly export food products (like coffee), textiles, metals (like iron ore), electrical appliances, vehicles, and aircrafts. It is number three in the list of exporters of agricultural products. Investment into the country from foreign entities is growing and is expected to continue soaring, thus, lifting the economy further.
Mergers and acquisitions are common things in Brazil and are seen to be the norm among big and expanding enterprises. The economy has a variety of sectors providing diverse products and services to its population. It is number ten among the countries which are large consumers of energy. It is indicative of its economic growth which translates to increased demand for energy. This energy is from both renewable and non renewable sources.
Among the renewable sources are ethanol and hydroelectricity, and the non renewable source is primarily oil (Schneyer, 2011). Recent discoveries of oil which are in huge amounts are projected to make it a major producer and exporter of the product in the coming years. Over the past thirty years, the economy has grown to make it a major part of the world market (Bradford, 2003).
Culture
The Brazilian culture has been influenced by Portuguese who colonized them. They were introduced to their colonial power’s language, religion and architecture. There are also other cultures and traditions which greatly shaped the current Brazilian culture like the indigenous traditions.
The landing of the Europeans, Japanese and Arabs on the land also played a role in the outcome of their existing culture. The cuisine and language were impacted greatly by the Africans and indigenous people (Amerindians); the religion, music and dance were shaped by the Africans. Samba is among Brazil’s most popular styles of music together with brega and maracatu.
Each region has its own unique cuisine stressing on varieties of population who inhabit the land. Football is the most common and popular sport; their team is top ten in the world rankings of national teams. There are other common sports which are practiced like martial arts and volleyball (Fausto, 2009).
Politics
Their Government is made of three spheres: the states, the federal district, and the union. Three entities being political ones, form a union which is Brazilian Federation. These entities are the Federal District, the municipalities, and the states; this union cannot be dissolved.
The constitution is the foundation for the three arms of Government that exist, namely, legislative, executive, judicial. It is a multi party democracy which has existed for many years; this allows for representation that is equal and proportional. Those who are literate and are between the age of 18 and 70.
There are four mina political parties in the country: Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, Worker’s Party, Democrats, and Brazilian Social Democratic Party (Wagley 2003). The Government utilizes Presidential system where the president heads both the Government and the state.
The presidential term is four years and the president can run for re-election for the maximum of two terms. The law of the country has its origin in the Roman-German laws. The civil law is the primary law that is practiced in the country, which is codified. The Federal Constitution, which was brought into action in 1988, is the foundation of the legal system.
In the ranking of the courts, the one on top is the Supreme Federal Court; there are other existing courts which are specialized like the electoral courts. In South America, it is a powerhouse and a leader in terms of politics, does not intervene in other country’s affairs. The Brazilian armed forces have three branches which are the Brazilian Navy, Brazilian Army, and Brazilian Air Force. They are the biggest in terms of numbers in South America (Martinez-Lara, 2005).
Management in Brazil compared to China
There are different types of management styles existing which are applied differently in these two countries. In Brazil the person who is a manager is looked at as the one being of utmost importance. According to its culture, Brazilians highly value relationships striving to foster good and strong ones.
The manager or head is willing to be in good terms with the subordinates to ensure trust and respect among the team. Instructions which come from the top of the hierarchy are expected to be followed without too much questioning. When there is any question or argument raised, it is expected to be done in private to avoid any public displays of disagreement.
Decisions are made, therefore, by those who are ranked the highest. Advice that is helpful to a manager in Brazil is to be clear, comprehensive and accurate when instructing the subordinates. When tasks are still not done after asking for this, the manager should begin by analyzing where they made a mistake. This will help identify any vagueness or lack of clarity that was there when giving the instructions.
When incomplete instructions are provided to the subordinates, they only do what they were instructed to do and no more. This is because it is a hierarchical system and subordinates see doing more than they are asked of might be a disobedience to the manager. I would follow this advice to ensure a healthy relationship is created between me and my subordinates. This will be in addition to allowing them to air their views and ask questions where instructions are not clear, or they do not agree with the decisions.
In China, the style of management takes after the Confucian philosophy. Relationships are not valued, and people are not equal, the status quo is, therefore, expected to be respected by the ethical behaviors displayed. The younger people by default show respect to the older, while the junior to the senior (Edward, 2009).
Empowerment and equal access to any information is scorned by Chinese who view it as being Western. Management is directed downwards with the senior passing directives. Juniors are not allowed to question decisions made by managers. According to the management style employed in China, an important advice to learn is that a manager should portray the image of a father figure who asks and gets obedience and loyalty from coworkers.
The manager should reciprocate this by ensuring the well being of the coworkers, this will mutually benefit both these parties. Usually the Communist party keeps close ties with managers and influence many decisions made concerning these businesses. They are seen as the ones who control these businesses behind the scenes. It is thought that quality, experienced managers are lacking in China partly because it is a fast growing economy.
The few who are available are too costly; this makes the recruitment and retention process difficult. As a manager, I will avoid outside influence from members of the Communist party to ensure there is no conflict in running the business, and in the relationship with my subordinates. I will also follow the advice above and look after the well being of my coworkers to build a beneficial mutual relationship.
References
Bradford, EB 2003, A History of Brazil, Columbia University Press, New York.
Edward, L 2009, Management Styles: U.S., Europe, Japan, China, India, Brazil, Russia, Journal of Management, vol. 5, pp. 112-115.
Fausto, B 2009, A Concise History of Brazi, CUP, Cambridge.
Martinez-Lara, J 2005, Building Democracy in Brazil: The Politics of Constitutional Change, Macmillan, UK.
Schneyer, J 2011, “Brazil, the New Oil Superpower”, Business Journal, vol. 4, pp. 118-124.
Wagley, C 2003, An Introduction to Brazil, Columbia University Press, New York.
The influence of managerial style on employee behavior is manifested in a number of fashions including the leadership styles adopted by managers in the management of their employees. The behavior of employees significantly affects their conduct, attitudes and interactions with customers when in essence this behavior is largely dictated by the management style of top executives within the organization.
A number of leadership styles can be adopted in the running of organizations; a leadership style refers to the methodology and approach adopted by management in the provision of organizational direction, implementation of set targets and motivation of the human capital. Lewin, (1939)
Autocracy
In the running of day today matters within the organization, management may be autocratic or authoritarian, this management style has been misused by some managers (especially the general manager in the second resort) to mean ordering people around or bossing employees around and this has got absolutely no place in the contemporary leader’s repertoire. It may be likened to the phrase “I want you to…..” It finds application in instances when the management informs employees on what is to be done. Adler et al (2008)
The most appropriate situation to use this style is perhaps when the employees have all the requisite information at their disposal on how they want a particular task executed and there is minimal time to execute this task. This approach should only be used in rare occasions because if management wants to influence and inculcate higher levels of commitment and motivation, then the democratic or participative style should be applied.
The authoritarian style is the one applied by the general manager of the second resort visited by the researcher in Fiji. In this resort, he was found screaming instructions to the workers and the first impression was that the manager was overbearing on the employees and dictatorial.
Instead of motivating the employees in his resort, he keeps complaining and whining about them calling them lazy and reprimanding them in public. He blames their culture for failing to inculcate desirable work values in them and blames everything around him including what he considers an odd and impossible system of owning land around the country. This also caused him to be at odds with the local chief.
The effect of this leadership style is seen clearly when the researcher (a customer in the resort) leaves with less enthusiasm having sampled a paltry 23 bulas out of the possible 41.
Asked about his future plans, the manager is quick to discount any involvement of the locals in improving performance and instead recommends that he intends to bring in hired expatriates from Auckland in New Zealand to teach the locals on how best to be hospitable.
His mentality of blaming the local culture is mistaken because in the previous resort visited by the researcher, employees were very pleasant to customers and highly motivated and this was as a result of their hospitable culture (the Fijian culture).
Democracy
The democratic approach by contrast is the one that involves both the leader and the employees in the decision making process. Hofstede (1977) It can be represented by the phrase “lets work together to solve this…..” this is what is being applied by the general manager in the first Fijian resort.
In this resort, an impressive 39 bulas (greetings) were sampled out of the possible 41 and this indicated a labour force that is not only highly motivated but also one with high levels of job satisfaction, this pleasantness translates directly in the way employees treat their customers as was experienced by the researcher.
The use of this management style does not show weaknesses but instead builds a strong rapport and understanding between the employees and their leader. Intelligent managers are able to understand that they do not have all solutions to the organization’s problems, they may have part of the solution but the employees (being competent and skillful) have the other solutions.
In order to tap into their resourcefulness therefore, the manager in the first resort works in close collaboration with his employees and instead of being quick to introduce new ideas sees that the existing ideas are working well and therefore builds on them. In his own words, he has done absolutely nothing to change the employees natural hospitality rather he has taken advantage of the available local assets that he found in their traditional culture and village life.
Reference List
Adler, N., & Gundersen A. (2008).International dimensions of organizational behavior. Mason, OH:Thomson.
Hofstede, G. (1977). Culture and Organizations: Software of the Mind, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Lewin, K., LIippit, R. and White, R.K. (1939). “Patterns of aggressive behavior in experimentally created social climates.” Journal of Social Psychology, Vol.10, 271-301
According to Christiansen (2003), effective management of organizations forms a basis for successful achievement of the set goals and objectives. Certainly, managers in these organizations are entrusted with various roles to enhance coherent implementation of the organizations’ development projects.
As evidenced by Finch (2010), the roles of a manager are categorized into interpersonal, informational and decisional roles. Each of these categories has specific roles expected in managers to enhance coherent management of various processes within the organizations they manage. This paper discusses the roles of managers in organizations, with respect to the KPC’s management style.
In the interpersonal category, managers in social organizations should act as figureheads in such organizations. In this case, managers should be able to perform various custom tasks of both legal and social categories. As suggested by Christiansen (2003), manager should able ensure the installation of law and order in the organization’s activities.
As it was observed in KPC agency, its legal incompatibility posed many problems in its effective management of its various operations. Being incompatible with Higher Petroleum Council and the Ministry of Oil laws, KPC agency was unable to manage various strategic activities. Particularly, Leistner (2010) considers efficiency of managers as being facilitated by their compliance to the existing regulations and social norms within their organization.
In the informational category, managers are held responsible for receiving and transmitting information within their organizations. More specifically, Finch (2010) considers the role of a manager in an organization as being to link the external environment to the internal organization in terms of information. In this case, all policies or actions required in the organization should be coordinated by the manager.
More specifically Christiansen (2003) considers the manager as an information expert for his/her organization. As it was observed in KPC’s case, the managers seemed uninformed and avoiding to take responsibilities of linking the company to the external environment. As a result, no significant development plans were made within the government agency, resulting into its high inefficiency, as the organization remained isolated from the external environment largely.
In the decisional category, managers are required to be entrepreneurial by being able to allocate and supervise resources utilization efficiently. This forms an important part of managers’ role, as it entails making of decisions for strategic development of the organizations they manage. In this case the manager should not make narrowed decisions without consulting his or her junior officials.
As it was observed in KPA, the top administrators were avoiding making decisions with fear of being accountable of the outcome of the decisions they make.
Further, the administrators in KPC agency were unable to plan for the organization’s utilization of its resources. Particularly, the lack of proper planning in this agency resulted into its losing various opportunities capable of enhancing its prosperity. As Bungay (2010) reports it is the absolute role of a manager in a social organization to lead the entire management fraternity in strategic decision making.
Conclusion
Generally, managers in social organizations are eligible to supervision of the overall utilization of the organization’s resources. More so, managers should figureheads for the organizations they manage to ensure legal and social issues are effectively addressed in the organizations.
Further, managers should be entrepreneurial in nature to ensure effective allocation of resources through strategic decision making. Marginalized decision making or failure to plan strategically results into inability to achieve the organizations’ overall goals and objectives, as evidenced in the KPC agency.
References
Bungay, S. (2010). The Art of Action: How Leaders Close the Gaps between Plans, Gaps and Results. Washington, DC: NB Publishing.
Christiansen, J. (2003). Building the Innovative Organization: Management Skills that Encourage Innovation. New Jersey: Palgrave McMillan.
Finch, B. (2010). Effective Management Skills. New York: Wordsworth Publishers.
Leistner, F. (2010). Managers at Work: Roles and Responsibilities. Chicago: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Management incorporates the act of leading and controlling a group of people with an objective of attaining collective goals. Usually, organizations with perfect and effective management systems achieve marvelous results.
The level of success of such organizations normally depends on the competency of their managers. Managers are integral components of any organization. They should be visionary and competent in their endeavors in order to realize remarkable results.
This requires effective leadership skills (GIRIN, 2011). For example, declining profits within an organization (due to falling revenues and increasing expenses) signifies management’s incompetence. Employees underperform under incompetent managements.
Disregarding the workers’ preferences, poor motivational strategies, and lack of innovation are among other factors that employees’ performance. It is crucial to understand these provisions based on their viability, applicability, and other relevant frameworks.
Reduced morale and weakened motivation within the workforce indicate an incompetent management. Incompetent managers are reluctant to employ highly qualified personnel. It is vital to consider these provisions when analyzing characteristics of incompetent leadership.
Ineffective communication and poor feedback channels also portray managers with deprived competency. Concurrently, secrecy, gossip, and denying realities are other vital signs of incompetence (Jia,You, & Du, 2012).
Because of these, employees lose their trust in the management. Overconfidence is also a sign of management incompetence. Notably, such managers confuse accidental organizational success with their personal strategic radiance.
Incompetent managers are more likely to put the entire organizations into risky ventures. Particularly, these managers are more likely to push employees to effect risky ventures. Insufficient quality control may also be a sign of management’s incompetency.
Defective products, intensive damages on goods, constant service interruptions, and high rates of client complaints are associated with insufficient quality control (GIRIN, 2011). These emerge due to lack of employee motivation and dedication to duty.
Poor client services from employees might also emanate from management incompetence. It is observable that several signs or symptoms of incompetent management remain evident in most organizations.
The Classical Management Style versus Scientific Management
Classical management refers to the management based on the conviction that workers have economic and physical demands. According to this management style, workers’ social requirements and demands for job fulfillment is unimportant.
This management style lobby for increased labor specialization, centralized decision processes, and profit making. Being the oldest management strategy, classical management is specifically interested in the increase of efficiency, both for the employees and the organization (Jia, You, & Du, 2012).
Basically, the style majorly deals with the universal operational guidelines while endeavoring for monetary efficiency. It embodies scientific, administrative, and bureaucratic management. Scientific management concentrates on a particular and modest manner of doing specific jobs.
Scientific management depends on the theory that examines work processes with an aim of improving the general labor productivity (GIRIN, 2011). It involves the organizational management according to the efficiency principles drawn from empirical investigations on the work as well as production methodologies.
As potentiated by Taylor, scientific management suggests that resolutions, which are dependent on dictatorship and tradition, must be replaced with concise processes developed from analysis of specific situations. Thus, it can be noted that classical management is more repressive than scientific management (Paulus & Yang, 2000).
In scientific management, it is believed that basic jobs can be planned adequately to increase productivity. It is critical to understand these provisions in the context of effective management.
Notably, scientific management is extremely effective when considered in diverse contexts. Unlike classical management, scientific management depends largely on the empirical analysis of situations.
The distinction between scientific and behavioral theories is clearly depicted within different organizations. Whilst scientific theory stresses on the importance of empirical analysis of the work processes, behavioral theories examine the actual performance competency of leaders (GIRIN, 2011).
According to behavioral theory, good managers can be molded. There is an assumption that an effective leadership depends on an identifiable and learnable behavior. I have severally experienced behavioral theory in the course of my work.
For instance, presently in my organization, the senior managers started learning in their various departments as trainees through apprenticeship.
In this practice, there is a clear depiction that leadership competencies may be learned. This is unlike the widespread belief that leadership competencies are inherent.
References
GIRIN, J. (2011). Empirical Analysis of Management Situations: Elements of Theory and Method. European Management Review. 8: 197–212.
Jia, L., You, S. and Du, Y. (2012). Chinese Context and Theoretical Contributions to Management and Organization Research: A Three-decade Review. Management and Organization Review. 8: 173–209.
Paulus, P. and Yang, H. (2000). Idea Generation in Groups: A Basis for Creativity in Organizations. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 82:76–87.
An examination of GE’S current goals reveals that it plans to become a market leader in biotechnology, renewable energy, technological services and transportation and as such plans to do so by leveraging on its ability to basically be able to do things faster, more efficiently as well as more cost effectively than any other company.
The inherent problem though with this particular strategy is that in its pursuit for cost effectiveness one must wonder whether GE has taken the concept too far and as such has neglected to include Corporate Social Responsibility as a necessary aspect into its business dealings.
It is based on this that this paper will examine the management style of Jeffrey Immelt, current CEO of GE, and elaborate on what areas of improvement he should focus on in order to help create a better working environment for this employees.
Management Style Employed by the CEO
Immelt’s management style can be considered paternalistic in the sense that his decision making process focuses on what would be best for the organization as a whole through processes which emphasize heavily on efficiency, performance, and what operational methods would cost less for the company in the long run.
This can be seen in GE’s strong management discipline regarding not only its stringent implementation of cost saving measures but in its ability to streamline operations in order to squeeze every single bit of productivity out of its employees (Cummings & Tanenbaum, 2005).
This, I believe, is the core of GE’s success as a corporation since it enables the company to operate at peak capacity while ensuring that costs are scaled back in favor of efficiency over wastefulness. Such a strategy is evident throughout numerous instances of Immelt’s tenure as CEO of GE as seen in his initiatives which involved centralizing the diverse operational departments into distinct groups so as to reduce administrative costs as well as his emphasis on the use of lean Six Sigma practices in order to reduce operational wastefulness (Olson, van Bever, & Verry, 2008).
For Immelt integration of departments and the institution of cost saving measures were just the beginning of the changes that he wanted to implement, of particular interest is his move to divest GE of companies that were either underperforming or no longer considered “vital” in terms of the vision that Immelt had for the company (Paul, 2007).
In this regard Immelt did the right thing for GE in continuing to divest GE of aspects of its operation which not only lost the company money but were “ancient” in terms of their ability to continue adapt to the present day environment of constant change and innovation.
Another move which I consider a strength of the Immelt initiative was his focus on acquiring companies which for him could be integrated into GE’s current repertoire of services which would thus become, in his words, “growth engines” for the company.
Problems with the Management Style
When examining the case Immelt’s management style of GE at the present one, of the most notable weaknesses is its current push in outsourcing various aspects of the company’s production services to China with its 100 year old X-ray division being the first of what could potentially be a large shift in overseas manufacturing with more than 25% of GE’s product output being produced in China instead of the U.S. within the next 5 years.
With Immelt being one of President Obama’s current economic advisors this move by GE to outsource its production facilities would no doubt cause general discontent since the man responsible for helping to increase the job rate within the U.S. (which is one of Obama’s current goals) is in effect facilitating job outsourcing in order to reduce costs for the company.
Further compounding this issue is the fact that GE received a $14.3 billion tax exemption within the previous year in order to encourage job growth yet strangely enough the company is outsourcing jobs which is the complete opposite of what it should be doing.
Memo
Date: July 1, 2012
To: Jeffery Immelt, CEO of General Electric
Subject: Lack of Corporate Social Responsibility in Management Style
It is undeniable that GE as of late has become a more efficient and profitable company under your tenure as CEO. Profits are up, efficiency is at its peak and wasteful processes and spending has been minimized to a considerable degree. Yet, despite such progress, a distinct lack of focus on Corporate Social Responsibility has been noted with regard to GE’s plan to outsource several aspects of its operations to China despite the fact that it has received a $14.3 billion tax exemption.
A company is not only defined by its ability to turn a profit, rather, it is also necessary to take into consideration what possible positive impact can a company have on the local community.
You have neglected to take the following into consideration:
The impact of outsourcing thousands of jobs to China and how this will adversely affect the local economy.
The ethical dubiousness of outsourcing when your company has received billions of dollars in tax exemptions which was meant to help generate jobs.
As such, it is recommended that you fulfill your obligation to American tax payers and generate the jobs that your tax exemption was supposed to ensure. It is only by doing so that GE can be considered a company that adheres to proper Corporate Social Responsibility.
Reference List
Cummings, J., & Tanenbaum, E. (2005). Why the sandwich structure problem needs innovative solutions. International Tax Review, 16(10), 76.
Olson, M. S., van Bever, D., & Verry, S. (2008). When Growth Stalls. (cover story). Harvard Business Review, 86(3), 50-61.
Paul, D. L. (2007). Board Composition and Corrective Action: Evidence from Corporate Responses to Bad Acquisition Bids. Journal Of Financial & Quantitative Analysis, 42(3), 759-783.
Most successful leaders in today’s corporate world have confessed to have been mentored by managers employing a command and control management style, also referred to as a top-down approach. This is the most commonly used leadership style when an organization is undergoing change. During such a period, managers have to stamp their authority else there will be slow adjustment to new conditions.
Besides, conflicts and disagreements may arise. An example of such a scenario is commonly seen when an organization need to move to new offices or adopt new technologies. In such a situation, if a command and control style is not exercised, conflicts may ensue between managers and their employees, particularly those who do not accept or find it difficult to adopt the changes.
A command and control style is based on maintaining power and control over people and organizational processes. Conversely, there are many untrue assumptions that drive the use of this management style, for example, leaders always assume that they know everything and will tend to command without involving employees.
In addition, most leaders tend to think that they as bosses, they have to make all decisions without seeking for advice or assistance from any entity. This mentality highly affects the success of the organization because the workers always feel undermined and this lowers their work morale.
Clarity and decisiveness are vital to the success of the top-down management style. The leader should be decisive but willing to make changes when situations call and to clearly communicate what is expected of everyone.
This management style projects an image of a confident and well managed organization because the rules set by management will be followed without failure. Additionally, to have any level of success, leaders should be ready to open their eyes and ears to listen and take ideas from third parties, mostly the employees.
This management style has been viewed as dictatorial and leads to demotivation. Ina addition, it gives power and authority to powerful people within the organization and demands absolute compliance from the people under them; this makes employees feel less respected.
Managers employing a command and control style will always use threats on employees and this demoralizes and reduces their productivity. This style also results into a manager getting a negative image from employees and once this occurs, there is always loss of respect from the workers. Consequently, most employees, especially the competent ones, will often seek for opportunities elsewhere.
A manager-employee relationship is a two-way traffic; when a manager involves employees in change processes, there will be a high likelihood of success of the change. A participative change process is often considered the best management style.
Under this style, employees’ opinions are sought even though the leader makes the final decision. As a result, the employees feel valued by the organization and in addition, management may obtain information useful towards increasing the productivity of the workers.
Another management style that involves the participation of employees is the democratic management style. This leadership style entails allowing workers to make decisions on their own, and the organization’s decisions are made taking into consideration the employees’ opinions.
Comparably, in the command and control style, the leader makes all decisions. When employees are involved in the running of the organization, it motivates them and increases their work output.
Vertical integration as a management style involves integration of the supply chain to accommodate the different products that company deals in line with the market specific demands. Basically, the vertical integration process includes aspect of cost, dependability, speed, quality, and flexibility. These variables determine success or failure in business. These variables are achievable through value delivery, value addition, and creativity within a single production chain.
Reflectively, these concepts are techniques and tools essential in the art of integrating the production and distribution processes. Besides, this process is inclusive of the scientific aspects such as technical process of understanding the operations involved in operations management, their application, and evaluation criteria (Teece 181).
An establishment must have efficient knowledge and experience in uniqueness of products and services in terms of their requirement in order to produce high quality products in its single unit production and distribution system as part of vertical integration. The variables are connected at central point by strategic planning which encompasses costing, speed, quality, flexibility, and dependability to create a smooth continuous operation tracking model that operates like computer from one segment to another.
Therefore, the major part of success puzzle for the integration management delivery operates on the periphery of the soft skills involving the timeless vision of organizational principles, defining value of the business, determining requirements, clarifying the vision, building teams, mitigating task, resolving issues, and providing direction as incorporated in the vertical integration process (Pearce and Robinson 42).
Basically, a quality integration management system performs optimally via integration of appropriate scientific methods and techniques. To enrich artistic managerial talents, scientific techniques come in handy to not only magnify the margins of success, but also to ensure smooth transition of an idea or an event after another.
Besides, to avoid an eminent failure, it is vital for the integration management system to focus on a defined edge since “proper tailoring of techniques and tools assume as an essential part of the regulatory strategy” (Tricker and Tricker 34). Reflectively, the vertical integration management system can improve the supply chain, production, and distribution process when they are centrally stationed and controlled from a central point.
Application of the Concept of Vertical Integration
The article, How Samsung Gets Innovations to Market, discusses the strategies that the Samsung Company uses to market its various products in the local and international markets. The authors note that Samsung Company boasts of a strong vertical integration in its industrial organization.
From a single location, the company controls its designing, manufacturing, distribution and marketing process for its products via the consumer focused innovation team. As a result, it is easy for the company to create marketing strategies and products that are unique to different markets (Wedell-Wedellsborg and Miller par. 3).
In order to successfully execute the consumer centricity strategy, Samsung Company is very proactive in negotiating the expectations from potential customers. The management of the company has focused on increasing their presence across the world. The team has been keen to ensure that the decisions made by the company do not impact on the community negatively, since the company seeks to build a strong relationship with the customers.
Further, the management actively responds to customer needs and expectations across the world. These expectations are incorporated during product development and in the supply chain. This strategy has significantly improved customer loyalty and competitive advantage of the company (Wedell-Wedellsborg and Miller par. 5).
Among other issues identified by the authors as responsible for the success of the Samsung Company in getting its innovations in the market include continuous polices aimed at building trust with ideas considered as low-risk. Besides, the company has developed a system for tracking and balancing the portfolio options. The company has an elaborate formula for managing the evaluation methodology choice in order to remain relevant in the market (Wedell-Wedellsborg and Miller par. 6).
The authors conclude that the Samsung Company has been in the frontline in addressing customers’ concerns through public apologies, improvement of previous versions, and creation of its own app. For instance, unlike the Galaxy S2 model, the company created the EasyPhoneSync application in the Galaxy S3 model.
This application addressed the concerns of customers on the compatibility in importing data from non-Samsung mobile phones. The proactive research and innovation team has made sure that the company’s phones are among the best in the market (Wedell-Wedellsborg and Miller par. 7).
Relating the Article to the Topic
Basically, as highlighted in the vertical integration topic, a quality integration management system performs optimally via integration of appropriate scientific methods and techniques, as is the case with the Samsung Company. To enrich artistic managerial talents, the scientific techniques come in handy to not only magnify the margins of success, but also to ensure smooth transition of ideas or events after another.
Besides, to avoid an eminent failure, it is vital for the integration management system, such as the case for the Samsung Company, to focus on innovation and consumer centricity strategies as highlighted in the vertical integration topic. From the discussion in the article, it is apparent that the Samsung Company has adopted the strategies of product proliferation, corporate culture, foresight, and product development to not only achieve the goal of internationalization but also to maintain its competitiveness as highlighted in the vertical integration topic.
Topic 2: Principle-Agent Problem
Principle-agent problem often occurs in the management of labor as a factor of production. Irrespective of the market environment or industry, this problem occurs as a result of conflict on how wages should be paid since the principle (manager/owner of business) will always want to optimize labor at the lowest possible cost, while the agent (employee) will always want to get the maximum possible wages from the labor services he or she renders to the principle.
Presence of unions offers solace to workers on bargaining for wages. Adopting efficient contract model, labor unions offer collective bargain opportunity for the two parties over employment level and wage rates. Since it is a flexible model, both the principle and the agent are given an opportunity to balance their offers before striking a compromise deal. For instance, the union can lower supply of labor, increase demand for labor, and negotiate an equilibrium wage bargain for its members (Deloitte Development LLC par. 7).
In the ideal scenario, when there is a decisive crisis involving the review of wages in a production line, a rational employer would opt for increasing wages paid to highly skilled workers as employee retention strategy. The rate of wage increase will be higher for the highly skilled employers than what the low skilled counterparts eventually get. Efficiency of wage theories offers a better explanation of the above scenario.
These theories are based on the same notion that high turnover of labor unit translates into high wages paid, even though the ratio may not be proportional in perfect and imperfect labor markets. Besides, labor environments with limited quantifiable variables for reviewing performance are a recipe for high wages given to employees since the principal may not be in a position to measure efficiency of each labor unit against wage compensation (Teece 179).
In summary, wage differences exist across employment due to job characteristics, such as compensating wage differentials, human capital, labor market discrimination, labor union, and incentive pay. The main solutions to the principle-agent problem include profit sharing, revenue sharing, piece rates, and spot checks. These elements are significant in balancing the expectation of the principle and the agent to create a middle ground for mutual benefit between the employer and the employee in managing labor as a factor of product (Monks and Minow 56).
Application of the Concept of Principle-Agent Problem
The article, CEO Pay Ratio Disclosure: What Would it Take to Implement the SEC Proposal, discusses the principle-agent problem by proposing the CEO pay ratio disclosure as a strategy for addressing the issue. Since the pay ratio rule is part of the proposed CEO-to-Worker Pay-Ratio Disclosure, the corporate governance structure of companies should have system for promoting the elements such as profit sharing, revenue sharing, piece rates, and spot checks.
Therefore, the CEO and the corporate governance board may be in a position to ensure that a company is compliant with different regulatory obligations on compensation. The board may allocate different teams the responsibility of full material disclosure, governance, and direct engagement in creating and managing the compensation system through the proposed CEO-to-Worker Pay-Ratio Disclosure. Companies will be committed to compliance and adoption of standard business practices since the benefits outweighs the cost implications (Deloitte Development LLC par. 14).
Works Cited
Deloitte Development LLC, CEO Pay Ratio Disclosure: What Would it Take to Implement the SEC Proposal. 2014. Web.
Monks, Roberts and N. Minow. Corporate Governance, New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Print.
Pearce, John and K. Robinson. Strategic Management: Formulation, Implementation, and Control, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.
Teece, David. “Business Models, Business Strategy, and Innovation.”Long Range Planning 43.1 (2010): 172-194. Print.
Tricker, Bob and R. Tricker. Corporate Governance: Principles, Policies And Practices, London, UK: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.