Chapter 1/  The management Process

 

An organization is a collection of people working together in order to achieve a common purpose.

Organizations are open systems that interact with their environment in the continuous process of gathering inputs and transforming them into valuable output.

A common way to describe the performance of an organization is productivity.

Productivity measures the quantity and quality of goods and services relative to the cost of output.

Performance effectiveness is an output measure of task or goal accomplishment.

Performance efficiency is an input measure of cost of resources coupled with goal accomplishment.

Changing nature of organization:

            Renewed belief in human capital

            Focus on speed

            Work life balance

A manager is a person in the organization whose work consists on supporting, supervising, and help activating the work effort of others.

Levels of manager:

• Top manager: responsible of the organization as a whole or for a large part of it. 
• Middle manager: responsible of a relatively large part of the organization.
• Team leader: responsible of a small group of line workers.

Types of managers:

• Line manager: is a manager whose work is directly related to the production of the organization’s product(s)
• Staff manager: is responsible for advising and supporting the work of line workers. He use expertise and analysis for this.
• General Manager: is responsible for all what happen in the organization.
• Functional manager: responsible to manage only one function within the organization.

Accountability is the obligation of one person to answer a higher authority about operational performance. (each manager is accountable to another manager)

An effective manager is one who help others achieve both high performance and satisfaction in their work.

QWL is an indicator…

Managerial roles

informational	decisional	Interpersonal
Giving, receiving and analyzing information	Making decision based on the information received, to either solve problems or address opportunities.	Interaction with people inside and outside the company.

 

Two activities are critical to management’s success:

Agenda setting: develop action priorities for accomplishing goals and plans.

Networking: creating positive relationship with people who can help advance agenda.

Social capital: the capacity to get things done with the help of others.

A skill is the ability to translate knowledge into action.

Essential managerial skills:

Technical skills: is the ability to use a special expertise to achieve a desired performance.

Human and interpersonal skills: the ability to work well in collaboration with others.

Conceptual and analytical skills: the ability to think critically and analytically.

 

Chp 2:History of management thought

 

Classical Management approaches:

Because most of today’s managers get inspirations from classical management approaches, it is interesting for you, as a student to know about these approaches and people who made them. Through this sections, we will be learning about three classical approaches, which are:

 

I. Scientific Management: (Frederick Taylor)

In 1911 Frederick Taylor, published The Principles of Scientific Management, in which he made the following statement: “The principle object of management should be to secure maximum prosperity for the employer and the employee.” Taylor believes that when employees do their job on their own way, they lose efficiency. To go over this problem, Taylor believes that employee should be trained and supervised to their job the right way.

But what is the right way of doing a job? Are there any standards to adopt? Unfortunately No.

Referring to Taylor, each job has it own right way to be done. So what to do? 

While working on the improvement of employee’s productivity, Taylor had the idea to adopt time study concept to analyse the motions and tasks required in any job in order to develop the most efficient way to perform these motions and tasks.

Then the right way to do a job can only be known by learning the Job science of your JOB.

Taylor approach to management is called Scientific Management and it includes four guiding action principles.

1. Develop for every job a science that includes rules of motion, standardized work implements, and proper working conditions.

2. Select the right workers for the right job.

3. Train workers to do the job and encourage them to cooperate with the job science.

4. Support workers by planning their work and by smoothing the way as they go about their job.

Motion study is the science of reducing a task to its basic physical motions.

Scientific Management: emphasizes careful selection and training of workers and supervisory support.

 

II. Administrative Principles

In 1916 Henri Fayol published Administartion indistruelle et generale. In his book, Taylor outlined his views about the management of and within organizations. (How organizations should be managed and how people working within these organizations have to be managed.)

Henri Fayol identified five rules of management which are:

1.      Foresight: to compile a plan of actions for the future.

2.      Organization: to provide and mobilize resources to implement the plan.

3.      Command: to lead, select and evaluate workers to get the best work toward the plan.

4.      Coordination: To fit diverse efforts together and to ensure information is shared and problems solved.

5.      Control: to make sure things happen according to plan and to make necessary corrective action.

   Henri Fayol’s most known principles:

·        Scalar chain principle: there should be a clear and unbroken line of communication from the top to the bottom of the organization.

·        The unity of command principle: each person should receive orders from only one boss.

·        The unity of direction principle: one person should be in charge of all activities that have the same performance objective.

 

 

III. Bureaucratic Organization

 

Maw Weber is the founder of the bureaucracy thought. For him, it was an ideal, intentionally rational, and very efficient form of organization founded on principles of logic, order, and legitimate authority. The defining characteristics of Weber’s bureaucratic organization are as follows:

·        Clear division of labor: Jobs are well defined and workers become highly skilled at performing them.

·        Clear hierarchy of authority: Authority and responsibility are well defined for each position and each position reports to a higher level one.

·        Formal rules and procedures: written guidelines direct behaviour and decisions in jobs, and written files are kept for historical records.

·        Impersonality: Rules and procedures are impartially and uniformly applied, with no one receiving preferential treatment.

·        Careers based on merit: workers are selected and promoted on ability, competency, and performance, and managers are carrer employees of the organization.

 

Why the Bureaucratic organization is the best? If it is.

Weber said “The purely bureaucratic type of administrative organization is, from a purely technical point of view, capable of attaining the highest degree of efficiency. It is superior to any other form in precision, in stability, in the stringency of its discipline, and in its reliability. It thus makes possible a particularly high degree of calculability of results for the heads of the organization and for those acting in relation to it.

Reproaches to the bureaucracy:

·        Excessive paperwork or red tape.

·        Slowness in handling problems.

·        Rigidity in the face of shifting customer or client needs.

·        Resistance to change.

·        Employee apathy.

  

 Bureaucracy is a rational and efficient form of organization founded on logic, order, and legitimate authority.

 

Behavioural Management Approaches:

The behavioural approach maintains that people are social and self actualizing. People at work are assumed to seek satisfying social relationships, respond to group pressures, and research for personal fulfilment.

In this section, we will be talking about the major branches in the behavioral approaches to management which include:

 

Follett’s Organizations as Communities:

Follett viewed organizations as communities in which managers and workers should labor in harmony without one party dominating the other, and with the freedom to talk over and truly reconcile conflicts and differences. For here, groups were mechanisms through which diverse individuals could combine their talents for a greater good. Follett believed that managers’ job was to help people in organizations cooperate with one another and achieve an integration of interests.

Follett must known ideas:

·        Follett believed that making every employee and owner in a business would create feelings of collective responsibility. “Employee ownership, profit sharing, and gain sharing plans”

·        Follett believed that business problems involve a wide variety of factors that must be considered in relationship to one another. “Today we talk systems and contingency thinking.”

·        Follett believed that business were service organizations and that private profits should always be considered vis-à-vis the public good. Today, we pursue the same issues under the labels “managerial ethics” and “corporate social responsibility”.

 

The Hawthorne Studies:

 

Good Things

Bad Things

·        The Hawthorn studies were turning points in the evolution of management thought. ·        They helped shift the attention of managers and researchers away from the technical and structural approaches and toward social and human concerns as keys to productivity. ·        They brought visibility to the notions that people’s feelings, attitudes, and relationships with co-workers affected their work, and that groups were important influences on individuals. ·        They identified the Hawthorn effect: the tendency of people who are singled out of special attention to perform as anticipated of expectation created by the situation. ·        They contributed to the emergence of the human relations movement, which influenced management thinking. This movement was based on the viewpoint that managers who used good human relations in the workplace would achieve productivity. More important, this movement set the stage for what evolved into the field of organizational behaviour, the study of individuals and groups in organizations.

·        Poor research design. ·        Weak empirical support for the conclusions drawn. ·        The tendency of researchers to over generalize their findings.

 

 

 

 

 

Maslow’s Theory of Human Needs:

 

Referring to Abraham Maslow, a need is a physiological or psychological deficiency a person feels the compulsion to satisfy. He also suggested that needs create tensions that can influence a person’s work attitudes and behaviours.

Maslow’s theory is based on two principles:

1.      Deficit principle: a satisfied need is not a motivator of behavior.

2.      Pregression principle: Maslow placed human needs in five levels, based on hierarchy, and he assumed that a need at any level is activated only when the next lower level need is satisfied.   

According to Maslow, people try to satisfy the five needs in sequence. They progress step by step from the lowest level in the hierarchy up to the highest. Along the way a deprived need dominates individual attention and determines behaviour until it is satisfied.

Consistent with human relations thinking, Maslow’s theory implies that managers who understand and help people satisfy their important needs at work will achieve productivity.

In non profit organization, volunteer have different needs (no monetary needs) thus, managers have to creat a work environment that satisfy the many different needs of volunteers.

 

McGregor’s Theory X and Y:

Douglas McGregor was heavily influenced by both the Hawthorn and the Maslow studies. In his book The Human Side of Enterprise, Douglass advanced the fact that managers should give more attention to the social and self actualizing needs of people at work. He called managers to shift their views from what he called theory X and to direct their attention to what he called theory Y.

 

Theory Y: assumes people are willing to work, like responsibility, and are self-directed and creative.	Theory X: assume people dislike work, lack ambition, act irresponsibly, and prefer to be led.
·        Managers holding theory Y believe people are willing to work, capable of self control, willing to accept responsibilities, imaginative and creative, and capable of self direction. ·        Theory Y assumptions tend to behave in a participative ways that allow subordinates more job involvement, freedom, and responsibility. This creats opportunities to satisfy esteem and self actualization needs; workers tend to perform as expected with initiative and high performance. The self fulfilling prophecy thus becomes a positive one. ·        Theory Y thinking is consistent with developments in the new workplace and it emphasis on employee participation, involvement, empowerment and self management.	·        Managers holding theory X assumptions believe that worker generally dislike work, have a lack of ambition, are irresponsible, are resistant to change, and prefer to be led rather than to lead. ·        Theory X assumptions act in a very directive command and control fashion that gives people little personal say over their work. These supervisory behaviours create passive, dependent, and reluctant subordinates, who tend to do only what they are told to or required to do.
	Definition:   A self fulfilling prophecy occurs when a person acts ways that confirm another’s expectations.

 

 

 

Argyris’s Theory of Adult Personality:

 

In his book, Personality and Organization, Argyris contrasts the management practices found in traditional and hierarchical organizations with the needs and capabilities of mature adults. He concluded that some practices, especially those influenced by the classical management approaches, are inconsistent with the mature adult personality. 

 

Examples:

 

In Scientific Management: The Principle of specialization assumes that people will work more efficiently as tasks become better defined	Argyris believes that this limits opportunities for self actualization.
In Fayol’s administrative principles: the concept of unity of direction assumes that efficiency will increase when a person’s work is planned by a supervisor.	Argyris suggest that this may create conditions for psychological failure; conversely, psychological success occurs when people define their own goals.
In Webber’s bureaucracy: People work in a clear hierarchy of authority, with higher levels directing and controlling.	Argyris believes that this creates dependent, passive workers, who feel that they have little control over their work environment

 

Like McGregor, Argyris believes that managers who treat people positively and as responsible adults will achieve the highest productivity. His advise is to expand job responsibilities, allow more task variety, and adjust supervisory styles to allow more participation and promote better human relations.

 

Modern Management Foundations:

The ideas, theories and concepts discussed do far helped set the stage for continuing the development of the management thought. Modern management foundation include:

o       The use of quantitative analysis and tools: the foundation of this approach is the notion that mathematical tools can be used for better problem solving. Today such as operation, often described by the terms management science and operations research are, increasingly supported by computer technology and software programs.  The field of operation management uses such quantitative approaches and applied mathematics to systematically examine how organizations can produce goods and services most efficiently and effectively.

o       A systems view of organizations: managers try to understand operations as a system of interrelated parts that function together to achieve a common purpose. 

o       Contingency thinking tries to match management practices with situational demands. In modern management approaches, there is no expectation that on can or should find the one best way to manage in all circumstances. Rather, the contingency perspective tries to help managers understand situational differences and respond to them in ways appropriate to their unique characteristics.  

o       Commitment to quality. TQM, or total quality management is a process that makes quality principles part of the organization’s strategic objectives, applying them to all aspects of operation and striving to meet customers’ needs by doing things right the first time. TQM applies to everyone and everything in an organization.

 

 

 

o       The role of knowledge management learning organizations: the term knowledge management describes the process through which organizations use information technology to develop, organize, and share knowledge to achieve performance success. A learning organization is one that continuously changes and improves, using the lessons of experience. Referring to Senge, a learning organization has the following characteristics:

·        Mantal models – everyone sets aside old ways of thinking.

·        Personal mastery – everyone becomes self aware and open to others.

·        Systems thinking – everyone learns how the whole organization works.

·        Shared vision – everyone understands and agree to a plan of action.

·        Team learning – everyone works together to accomplish the plan.

o       The importance of evidence based management. Or EBM is defined as the process of making management decisions on hard facts- that is about what really works rather than on dangerous half truths.

A high performance organization is one that consistently achieve excellence while creating a high quality work environment. High performance organizations are:

o       People oriented

o       Team oriented

o       Information oriented

o       Achievement oriented

o       Learning oriented

 

 

Chapter 3/ External Environment and Organizational Culture.

 

Objetctives 1 :

• List key elements in the general and specific environments of organizations.

• Define sustainable business and sustainable innovation.

• Describe how a business can create value for stakeholders.

 

The Genaral Environment of an Organization:

The general environment consists of all external conditions that set the contest for managerial decisions.

The general environment of an organization or task environment, is comprised of economic, legal-political, technological, sociocultural, and Nuatural environmental conditions.

 

Key elements of the general environment of an organization are:

• Economic conditions.

• Legal-political decisions.

• Technological decisions.

• Sociocultural conditions.

• Natural environmental conditions.

 

The specific environment of an Organization:

The specific environment of an organization includes all individuals, groups and institutions that interact with the organization.

Members of the specific environment of an organization are called Stakeholders.

 

Key elements of the specific environment of an organization are:

• Customers

• Suppliers

• Owners

• Employee….

 

Sustainable business Vs sustainable innovation:

Sustainable Business is a business that at the same time meets the needs of customers and the well being of our natural environment.

 

Sustainable innovation is one that creates new products or new production methods that reduce our impact on the natural environment. 

 

In order to stay alive a business should creates value to its stakeholders. In general a business has different stakeholders and of course when we say different stakeholders we indirectly say different interest and needs. An owner’s main interest would be maximizing gains, while a customers main interest would be lowering the price and increasing the quality of the service..

The solution is to set priorities and try as much as possible to serve a common interest.

Objective 2:

• Define competitive advantage and give explain how can businesses achieve it.

• Understand the analysis of the degree of uncertainty of an organization external environment.

• CRM  SCM.

• Describes the systems resources, internal process, goal, and strategic constituencies approaches to organizational effectiveness.

 

Competitive advantage:

A competitive advantage allows an organization to deal with the market and the environmental forces better than its competitors.

Helping an organization do different things or the same things in different ways from one’s major competitors is called Strategic Positioning.

Competitive advantage can be achieved through:

• Costs

• Quality

• Delivery

• Flexibility

Environmental uncertainty:

It is a lack of complete information about the environment.

There are two dimension of environmental uncertainty:

• Complexity of the environment.

• Rate of change of the environment.

 

Costumer relationship:

The customers are always key stakeholders of any organization, that is why many organizations now use the principles of customer relationship management.(CRM).

The CRM strategically tries to build relationship with and to add value to the customer.

 Supplier relationship:

Just as organizations need to manage their customers on the output side, supplier relationship should well managed too, and that can be done by adopting the SCM.  Supply chain management. The SCM strategically link all activities related with resource supplies.

 

Organizational effectiveness:

It is a sustainable high performance in using resources to achieve gools.

Organizational effectiveness can be analyzed from different views:

• The resources approach: define organizational effectiveness in terms of success in acquiring needed resources from the organization’s environment.

• The internal process approach: look at the transformation process and judge whether or not resources have been used efficiently to produce the needed goods and services.

• The goal approach: look at the output side and measure how much the organization was successful in achieving its goals.

• The strategic constituencies approach: defines organizational effectiveness in terms of the organization’s impact on key stakeholders and their interest.

Objective 3:

 

• Define organizational culture and define the importance of a strong culture to an organization.

• Define and explain the process of socialization.

• Describe how value based management help building strong cultures.

• Describe how workplace spirituality and leadership relate to organizational culture.

•  

 Organizational Culture:

It is the system of shared believes and values that guide behaviour in organizations.

Just like nations and ethnic groups, organizations have cultures that help to distinguish them from one another and bind members together. The best organizations have cultures that are customer driven and performance oriented.

Socialization:

One of the ways organizations build strong cultures is through socialization. This is the process of helping new members learn the culture and the values of the organization, as well as the behaviours and attitudes that are shared among its members. Socialization starts with basic things such as what to wear … and it end by program trainings….

Levels of organizational culture:

 

Observable culture	Core Culture
It is the first and most visible part of organizational culture. It is what you may hear or see while working along the organization. Most discussions of organizational culture identify the following elements: Heroes Ceremonies Legend and stories Metaphors and symbols	It consists of core values, or underlying assumptions and beliefs that guide people’s behaviour. Strong culture organizations typically operate with a small but enduring set of core values that are widely shared among members.

 

The term value based management describes managers who actively help develop, communicate and enact shared values within an organization. The responsibility for value based management extends to all managers. 

Wok place spirituality creates meaning and shared community among organizational members.

Symbolic leadership:

 

A symbol leader is someone who use symbols well to communicate values and maintain a desired organizational culture.

Objective 4:

Explain multiculturalism and the concept of a multicultural organization.

Identify common organizational subcultures

Discuss employment problems faced by minorities

Thoma’s concept of managing diversities.

 

Multiculturalism refers to inclusivity, pluralism, and respect for diversity in the work place.

A truly multicultural organization is one in where the organizational culture communicates and support core values that respect diversity. Such a multicultural organization has these characteristics:

• Pluralism

• Structural integration

• Informal network

• Absence of prejudice and discrimination

• Informal network integration

• Minimum intergroup conflict

Organization contains subcultures that are based on:

• Occupations and functions

• Ethnicity and national culture

• Gender and generation

Thoma’s concept of managing diversity:

First what is managing diversity: it is building an inclusive work environment that allows everyone to reach their full potential.

Thoma’s concept:

Referring to R.R.Thoma, we should go three steps:

The first is affirmative action, in which leadership commits the organization to hiring and advancing minorities.

The second is valuing diversity, in which leadership commits the organization to education and training programs designed to help people better understand differences.

The third and most important one managing diversity in wih leadership builds an organizational culture that allows all members to reach their full potential.

 

Biculturalism is when minorities members adopt characteristics of majority cultures in order to succeed.

 

Chapter 4/ Ethical Behavior and Social Responsability.

 

I-                 What is ethical behaviour:

 

Ethics is defined as being a code of moral principles that sets standards of good or bad, or right or wrong, in one’s conduct. Ethics provides principles to guide behaviour and help people make moral choices.

Ethical behaviour is a behaviour that is accepted as good or bad, in the context of the governing moral code.

An ethical action is for sure a legal one, but a legal action may be an ethical one.

The test of ethics goes far beyond the concept of legality. The ethical question extends to personal values.

Values are broad beliefs about what is appropriate behaviour.

Psychologist Milton Rokeach makes a distinction between:

Terminal Values: are preferences about desired end states.

Instrumental Values: are preferences about the means to desired ends.

Variation in terminal and instrumental values is a reason why people respond quite differently to situations and their ethical challenges.

4 Alternative views of ethics

The individualism view	Is based on the belief that one’s primary commitment is long-term advancement of self-interests.
The utilitarian view	Is based on the belief that behaviours and actions should result in the greatest good for the most people.
The moral rights view	Is based on the fact that decision and/or behaviour should maintain the fundamental rights of all human beings.
The justice view	Is based on the belief that ethical behaviour/ decision treat people impartially and fairly, according to legal rules and standards.

 

Justice issues in organizations are addressed on three dimensions:

·        Procedural justice: involves the degree to which policies and rules are fairly administered.

·        Distributive justice: involves the degree to which outcomes are allocated fairly among people and without respect to individual characteristics.

·        Interactional justice: involves the degree to which people treat one another with dignity and respect.

Cultural issues in ethical behaviour.

 

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do” reflects an ethical position of cultural relativism. This is the belief that there is no one right way to behave, and that ethical behaviour is always determined by its cultural context. On the other hand “don’t do anything you wouldn’t do at home” reflect an absolute ethical position suggesting that is a behaviour or practice is not okay in one’s home environment, it is not an acceptable practice anywhere else. In other words, ethical standards are universal and should apply across boarders. Critics of such a universal approach claim that it is a form of ethical imperialism, an attempt to externally one’s ethical standards on others.

 

 

 

II-           Ethics in the workplace:

 

An ethical dilemma is a situation that requires a choice between courses of action that, although offering the potential for personal and/or organizational benefit, may be unethical.

While making an ethical decision, a manager may be influenced by four things:

1- Situational context and ethics intensity: scholars use ethics intensity to indicate the degree to which an issue or situation is recognized to pose important ethical challenges.

2- Personal Factors and moral development: most of the times, decisions are influenced by the ethical framework of the decision maker, and by his or her degree of moral development as well. Lawrence Kohlberg identified three level of moral development, in each level there are two stages. Lawrence believes that a person has to go step by step through them in order to reach the highest stage in the highest level.

Post Conventional Principle-Centred behaviour Stage6: act according to external principles. Stage5: live up to societal expectations.	Decisions are likely to be directed toward personal gain and based on respect to rules.
Decisions are likely to be based on following social norms,	Conventional Social centred behaviour Stage4: follow rules and meet obligation Stage3: act consistently with peers and others.	meeting the expectation of others and living up to agreed upon obligation.
This is where a strong ethics framework is evident and the individual is willing to break with norms and conventions,	even laws, to make  decisions consistent with personal principles.	Preconventional Self centred behaviour Stage2: Make deals for personal gain.  Stage1: Avoid harm or punishment.

 

 An ethical framework is a personal rule or strategy for making ethical decisions.  

3- Internal environment and ethics culture: The ways and cultures of an organization are important influences on ethics in the workplace. How a supervisor behaves, what he or she requests, and which actions are rewarded or punished, can certainly affect the ethics of an individual’s decisions. The expectations and reinforcement provided by peers and group norms are likely to have a similar impact. Formal policy statement and written rules are also influential.

4- external environment and industry norms: organizations are always influenced by government laws and regulations as well as social norms and expectations. Laws interpret social values to define appropriate behaviours for organizations and their members; regulations help governments monitor these behaviours and keep them within acceptable standards. The climate of competition in an industry also sets a standard of behaviour for those who hope to prosper within it. Sometimes the pressures of competition contribute to the ethical dilemmas of managers.

Rationalization for unethical behaviour:

Inappropriate Rationalization for unethical behaviour:

·        Convicting yourself that a behaviour is not really illegal. It isn’t really illegal.

·        Convicting yourself that a behaviour is in everyone’s best interests. It is in everyone best interest.

·        Convicting yourself that nobody will ever find out. No one will ever find out.

·        Convicting yourself that the organization will “protect” you. The organization will protect me.

 

III-          Maintaining high ethical standards.

Through this part, we will see how we can an organization maintain high ethical standards through the following five methods.

Whistleblowers protection:

Whistleblowers are persons who expose the misdeeds of others in organization.

The barriers that limit the action of the whistleblowers are:

·        The belief that no corrective actions would be taken.

·        The fear that reports would not be kept confidential.

·        The fear of being fired or suffering from organizational retaliation.

Ethics training: are structured programs that are designed to help participants understand the ethical aspects of decision making, and incorporate high ethical standards in their daily behaviour. PS/ training is an ethics development aid; it is not a guarantee of ethical behaviour.  

Codes of ethical conducts: ethics training often includes the communication of a code of ethics, which is a formal statement of values and ethical standards.

PS/ although ethics codes are helpful, they cannot guarantee ethical behaviour either by members of an organization or by outsiders that the organization does business with.

Ethical role models: top managers in large and small enterprises, have the power to shape an organization’s policies and set it’s moral tone by serving as ethical role models. The day to day behaviour of those at the top should be the optimum of high ethical conduct. This role of role models, does not apply only to top managers, but it should also be achieved by all the managers within the organization.

·        Moral management: scholars differentiate between three types of management.

·        Immoral manager: chose to behave unethically.

·        Amoral manager: behave unethically, but unintentionally.

Moral manager: consider ethical behaviours as personal goals.

The morality of managers influences organizations, by affecting the organization’s ethics center of gravity. Managers with ethics mindfulness will tend to move the organization’s center of gravity in a positive direction.

Ethics mindfulness is enriched awareness that leads to consistent ethical behaviour.     

Social entrepreneurship:  is a unique form of ethical entrepreneurship that seeks nvel ways to solve pressing social problems. 

 

 

IV-          Social responsibility and governance:

In management, we use the term corporate social responsibility to describe the obligation of an organization to act in ways that serve both its own interests and the interest of society at large. Some discuss this commitment to social responsibility in respect to double bottom line- financial performance and social impact. Others go even further in referring to the triple bottom line- economic, social, and environmental performance.

Perspectives on corporate social responsibility

There are two contrasting views about CRS.

The classical view of CSR holds that management’s only responsibility in running a business is to maximize profits. “The business of business is business.”

Societies’ best interest does not go with the CSR but it is always served in the long run executives who focus on profit maximization by their businesses.

Arguments against CSR includes:

·        Reduce business profit

·        Raise business costs

·        Dilute business profit

·        Give business too much business power

·        Do so without business accountability to the public.

The socioeconomic View of CSR holds that managements of any organization must be concerned within the broader social welfare and not just with corporate profit.

Arguments in favour of CSR:

·        Long run profit business’ profit

·        Improve the public image

·        Help the business avoid government regulations

Social responsibility can be associated with strong financial performance. The argument that acting with social responsibility will negatively affect the bottom line is hard to defend. Indeed evidence points toward a virtuous circle in which corporate social responsibility leads to improved financial performance for the firm, and this in turn leads to more social responsible actions in the future.

Virtuous circle occurs when CSR improves financial performance which leads to more CSR. 

Evaluating corporate social performance

If we are to get serious about social responsibility, we need to measure corporate social performance and to hold business leaders accountable for their results.

A social responsibility audit can be used at regular intervals to report on and systematically access an organization’s performance in various areas of corporate social responsibility.   

Criteria for evaluating social performance:  

The social performance of business firms varies along a continuum that ranges from compliance to conviction. The continuum also varies in commitments to four criteria for evaluating social responsibility practices. These criteria are:

• Economic: is it profitable?

• Legal: does it obey the law?

• Ethical: is it doing the right things? Is it ethical?

• Discretionary: does it contribute to the broader community?

Social responsibility strategies:

Obstructionist strategy: [fight social demands] focuses mainly on economic priorities in respect to social responsibilities. 

Defensive strategy: [do the minimum legally required] seeks to protect the organization by doing the minimum legally necessary to satisfy expectations.  Corporate behaviour at this level conforms only to legal requirements, competitive market pressure, and perhaps activists voices.

Accommodative strategy:[do the minimum ethically required] they try to satisfy economic, legal, and ethical criteria. Corporate behaviour at this level is consistent with society’s prevailing norms, values and expectations.

Proactive strategy:[ take leadership is social initiatives] corporate behaviour at this level takes preventive action to avoid adverse social impacts from company activities, and it takes the leads in identifying and responding to emerging social issues.

Managers should exercise ethical self governance by making sure that performance is achieved with commitments to ethical standards and by socially responsible means.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 5/ Internationl Management

 

Part I: Management and globalization.

 

Key concepts:

In the global economy, resources, markets, and business competition are worldwide, rather than local or national in scope.

Globalization is the process of interdependence among the components of the global economy.

Global management involves managing operations in more than one country.

A global manager is a manager who is informed about international developments, transnational in outlook, competent in working with people from different cultures, and always aware of regional developments in a changing world.

Why companies go global:

A company that goes global is called a global business. A global business is one that conducts commercial transactions across national boundaries.

Companies go global for five reasons:

• Profits – global operations offer greater profit potential.

• Customers – global operations offers new markets to sell products.

• Suppliers – access to needed product and services.

• Capital – access to financial resources.

• Labor – access to lower labor cost.

How companies go global:

 A  business can go global through one of the following ways:

Market entry strategies

Global sourcing: is the process of purchasing materials, manufacturing components, or business services from around the world.

Exporting and importing: exporting is the process of selling locally made products in foreign markets. The flip side of exporting is importing is buying foreign made products and selling them in domestic markets.

Licensing and franchising: another form of international business is the licensing agreement, where foreign firms pay a fee for right to make or sell another company’s products in a specified region. The license typically grants access to a unique manufacturing technology, special patent. The foreign firm provides the local firm with the technology and knowledge to offer its products or services for local sales. Franchising is a form of licensing in which the foreign firm buys the right to use another’s name and operating methods in it’s home country.

Direct investment strategies

Joint ventures and strategic alliances:

Foreign direct investment involves buying all, or part of a business in a foreign country.

The term insourcing is used to describe job creation that results from foreign direct investment. A joint venture is a co-ownership arrangement in which the foreign and local partners agree to pool resources, share risks, and jointly operate the new business.

International joint ventures are types of global strategic alliances.

A global strategic alliance is a partnership is which foreign and domestic firms act as partners by sharing resources and knowledge for mutual benefit.   

Foreign subsidiary is a local operation completely owned and controlled by a foreign firm. The foreign subsidiary may be set up by a Greenfield investment, in which the foreign operation is built entirely new. It can also be established by acquisition, in which the outside firm purchases a local operation in its entirety.

Global business environment:

When planning to be global, organizations have to take in consideration the global business environment. And managers have to know how to deal with:

Legal and political systems: when it comes to investing money in a foreign country, organizations have to consider political risk, which is the potential loss in value of investment due to political instability and changes in the host country. Most global firms use a planning technique called political risk analysis to forecast the probability of distributive events that can threaten the security of a foreign investment.

Global managers must also be prepared to deal with differences between home-country and host-country laws and politics. Common legal problems faced by international businesses involve incorporation practices and business ownership; Negotiating and implementing contracts with foreign practices, handling foreign exchange and intellectual property rights. 

Trade agreement and trade barriers: when international businesses believe they are being mistreated in foreign countries, or when local companies believe foreign competitors are disadvantaging them, their respective governments might take the case to the world trade organization. The WTO is a global organization whose member nations, presently 151 of them, agree to negotiate and resolve disputes about tariffs and trade restrictions.

WTO members are supposed to give one another most favoured nation status- the most favourable treatment for imports and exports. Yet trade barriers  that limit freedom of trade are still common. They include tariffs, which are basically taxes that governments impose on imports, and other forms of protectionism that give favourable treatment to domestic businesses. 

Regional economic alliances:

 

Part II: Global Businesses

 

Global corporations also called multinational corporations or MNC are firms with extensive international operations in many foreign countries.

Transnational corporations are MNCs that try to operate as “borderless firms” with worldwide presences, and without being identified with one national home.

PROS and CONS global corporations:

 

Mutual benefit for host country and MNC	Shared growth opportunities Shared income opportunities Shared learning opportunities Shared development opportunities
Host countries complains about MNC	Excessive profits Domination of local economy Interference with local government Hiring the best local talent Limited technology transfer Disrespect for local customs
MNC complains about host countries	Profit limitations Overpriced resources Exploitative rules Foreign exchange restrictions Failure to uphold contracts

 

Ethics challenges for global managers:

Corruption: is engaging in an illegal practice to further one’s business interests.

Child labor: is the fulltime employment of children for work otherwise done by adult.

Sweatshops: employ workers at very low wages and in poor working conditions.

Sustainable development: is a term that describes development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Part III: Culture and global diversity

 

Culture is the shared set of beliefs, values, and patterns of behaviour common to a group of people.

Culture shock is the confusion a person experience when in an unfamiliar culture.

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to consider one’s culture superior to others.

Culture intelligence is the ability to adopt and adjust to new cultures.

Silent language of culture.

Context:

In low context cultures most communication takes place via the written or spoken word.

High context culture relies on nonverbal and situational cues as well as on spoken or written words in communication.

Time:

In monochronic culture people tend to do one thing at time.

In polychronic culture people tend to do many things t time.

Space:

Proxemics is how people use space to communicate. 

Hofstede’s five dimensions of values.
Power distance	Is the degree to which a society accepts or rejects the unequal distribution of power among people in organizations and the institutions of the society.
Individualism Collectivism	Is the degree to which a society emphasizes individuals accomplishments and self interest versus collective accomplishment and the interest of the group.
Uncertainty avoidance	Is the degree to which a society is uncomfortable with risk, change, and uncertainty.
Masculinity – femininity	Is the degree at which a society values assertiveness and materialism, versus feelings, relationships, and quality life.
Time orientation	Is the degree to which a  society emphasizes short-term or long-term goals and gratifications.

 

Part IV Global management learning.

 

 Comparative management studies how management practices differ among countries and cultures.

Ethnocentric attitudes believe the best approaches are founded at home and tightly controle foreign operations.

Polycentric attitudes respect local knowledge and allow foreign operations to run with substantial freedom.

Geocentric attitudes are high in cultural intelligence and take collaborative approach to global management practices.

 

Chapter 6/ The decision making process.

 

Part I and II.

Data is row facts and observations. Information is data made useful for decision making.

Information that is useful in management meets the test of these five criteria:

• Timely

• High quality

• Complete

• Relevant

• Understandable

IT helps us acquire, store and process information.

Organizations gather data from their external environment (stakeholders). They then model these data to create information on which they will base their future decisions. As organizations gather data from their stakeholders, they also provide information to their external environment, on the form of financial reports…

The process of gathering and providing information can occur also within the components of the organization itself. In their daily life, managers within an organization need information to act individually and in teams; they need information from their immediate work settings, from other workers in the organizations, and also from the organization’s external environment.

IT is changing organizations.

• IT is helping to break down barriers within organizations.

• The new IT intensive organizations are flatter and operate within fewer levels than their more traditional organizational counterparts;

• IT is also breaking barriers between organizations and key elements in the external environment. It plays an important role in customer relationship management by providing information about customers, and also in supply chain management by better managing and controlling costs.

IT influenced the four functions of the management process as follow:

• Planning: the IT provides better and timely access to useful information, involving more people in the planning process.

• Organizing: IT improved coordination and integration within the organization, by facilitating the flow of information.

• Leading: more frequent and better communication with the organization’s stakeholders in order to keep objectives clear.

• Controlling: immediate measures of performance results, allowing real-time solution to problems.

Problem solving is the process of identifying a problem between an actual and a desired state of affairs, and then taking action to resolve it.

Decision making is the purposeful choice among alternative possible courses of action.

Performance deficiency is when actual performance is less that desired.

Performance opportunity is when an actual situation either turns out better than anticipated or offer the potential to do so.

Managers often differ in their openness to problem solving, some of them are problem avoiders; ignore the information that would signal performance deficiency or opportunity,

others are, problem solvers; willing to make decision and try to solve problems, but only when forced to by the situation. The last category of managers is the ones who are called, problem seekers; actively process information and look for problems to solve.

 

 

Managers also differ in their use of “systematic” and “intuitive” thinking during decision making. In systematic thinking, a person approaches problems in a rational, step-by-step, and analytical fashion. This kind of thinking breaks a complex problem into smaller components and then addresses the in a logical and integrated fashion. Managers who are systematic can elaborate a plan before taking action, and carefully search information to facilitate problem solving. ^

In intuitive thinking, a person is flexible and spontaneous and also may be quite creative.

This type of thinking allows a person to respond imaginatively to a problem based on a quick and broad evaluation of the situation and the possible alternative courses of action. Managers who are intuitive can be expected to deal with many aspects of the problem at once, jump from one issue to another. This approach tends to work best when facts are rare and few alternative courses are available.

Multidimensional thinking is the ability to view many problems at once in relationship to one another and across long and short term horizon.

Strategic opportunism is the ability to focus on long-term objectives while being flexible in dealing with short term problems.

Cognitive style indicates the way people deal with information while making decisions.

The more diverse the cognitive styles of the decision makers, the more difficulty we might expect them to have while working together. Because people with different cognitive styles approach problems in different manners.

4 Cognitive styles in decision making.

 

Sensation thinkers Tend to emphasize the impersonal rather than the personal and take a realistic approach to problem solving. Hard facts, clear goals, certainty…	Intuitive thinkers Like abstraction and unstructured situations. Idealistic, prone toward theoretical and intellectual position. Logical, impersonal and avoid details.
Sensation feelers Emphasise both analysis and human relations. Realistic and prefer facts. Sensitive to feeling and values.	Intuitive feelers Prefer broad global issues. Avoid details, comfortable with intangibles. Value flexibility and human relations.

 

 Types of managerial decisions:

Programmed decisions are decision that use solutions from past experience to a routine problem. They can be used to solve structured problems, which are familiar and clear problems with respect to information needs.

Nonprogrammed decisions are new solutions that are directed to meet the demands of the unique situation at hand. This kind of decisions can be used to solve unstructured problems which are problems that have ambiguity and information deficiencies. Non routine problems.

Crisis is an unexpected problem that can lead to disaster if not resolved quickly and appropriately.

Crisis management programs are designed to prepare managers to deal properly with crisis.

A certain environment is one that offers complete information on possible action alternatives and their consequences.

A risk environment is one with lack complete information but offers probabilities of the likely outcomes for possible action alternatives.

An uncertain environment lacks so much information that is difficult to assign probabilities to the outcomes of alternative courses.

 

Part III :

 

The decision making process is composed of five steps.

Step1: identify and define the problem

 

Three common mistakes can occur in this critical first step:

·        Define the problem too broadly or too narrowly.

·        Focus on symptoms instead of causes.

·        Choose the wrong problem.

Step2: generate and evaluate alternative courses of action

 

Criteria for evaluating alternative courses

Costs: costs of resource investment as well as negative side effects.

Benefits

Timeliness: how fast can the alternative be implemented and its potential impact be achieved.

Acceptability: by those who must work with it.

Ethical soundness meets acceptable ethical criteria in the eyes of the stakeholders.

Step3: decide on a preferred course of action

 

How the choice is done and by whom? Two views:

• The classical decision model views the management as acting rationally in a certain world. The assumption is that a rational choice will be made by a manager who is fully informed about all possible alternatives. The manager at these circumstances is said to make an optimizing decision. Which is a decision that gives the absolute best solution to the problem.

• The behavioural decision model assumes that people act only in terms of what they perceive about a given situation. Because perception is not always accurate, managers have only partial knowledge about alternative actions and their consequences. Consequently, the first course of action that gives a satisfactory resolution will be adopted. A satisficing decision chooses the first satisfactory alternative that comes to one’s attention.

Bounded rationality describes making decisions within the constraint of limited information and alternatives.  

Step4: implement the decision:

Difficulties encountered at this point often trace to the lack of participation errors, which is a failure to involve in a decision the persons whose support is needed to implement it. Managers, who use participation wisely, get the right people involved in problem solving from the beginning.

Step5: evaluate results

Part IV:

Heuristics are strategies for simplifying decision making. These strategies may cause some bias such as:

The availability heuristic occurs when people use information readily available as a basis for assessing a current situation.

The representativeness heuristic occurs when people assess the likely hood of something happening based on its similarity to other situations.

The anchoring and adjustment heuristic bases a decision on incremental adjustment from a prior decision point.

Farming error is trying to solve a problem in the context in which it is perceived.

A confirmation error occurs when focusing only on information that confirms a decision already made. 

Escalating commitment is the continuing of a course of action even though it is not working.

Creativity is the generation of a novel idea or a unique approach that solves a problem or crafts an opportunity.

Personal creativity drivers are:	Situational creativity drivers are:
Task expertise Task motivation Creativity skill	Group creativity skills Management support Organizational culture

 

Group Decision Making
Make great amount of knowledge, information, and expertise available to solve problems. Expand the number of action alternatives Avoid tunnel visions and consideration of limited options. Increase understanding and acceptance by team members. Increase the commitments of members to work hard to implement the decisions they have made together.	Difficulties in group process. Social pressure to conform. Feeling of intimidation to go along with the wishes of others. Minorities’ domination. Need more time

 

Spotlight questions to double check the ethical side of a decision:

Does the decision satisfy interest of stakeholders?

…respect the right and duty of everyone?

…consistent with the law?

…consistent with my responsibility to care?

 

 

 

Chapter 7/ The Planning Process.

 

Planning refers to the process of setting objectives and outlining how they will be achieved.

Benefits of planning:

• Improve focus and flexibility.

• Improve action orientation.

• Improve coordination and control.

Types of plans:

• Long term plans

• Short term plans

• Strategic plans: are long term plans that shows the broad directions of the organization

• Tactical plans: are short term plans that are used to implement strategic plans.

• Functional plans: are used to coordinate the work of different components within the organization.

• Operational plans: identify what needs to be done in short term.

• Single used: are plans that are used only for a specific situation.

• Stand: are plans that are frequently used.

 

Techniques of planning:

• Forecasting: prevailing the future.

• Contingency planning: identifying alternative course of action in case something goes wrong.

• Scenario planning: identifying future scenarios and elaborating plans to deal with them.

• Benchmark: comparing results internally and externally and basing future plans on them.

• Staff planners: use an experimented staff of planners.

Goal setting:

Goals should be:

• Specific

• Timely

• Measurable

• Achievable

• Challenging

Goal alignment: consists of making sure that goals and plans are integrated within the organization.

Management by objectives is a process of regular communication between team leaders and subsidiaries to jointly set objectives and evaluate them.

M.B.O. creates an agreement between the two partners regarding:

• Organizational Objectives.

• Plans to achieve these objectives.

• Standards to measure objective performance.

• The way of reviewing objective performance.

Performance objectives in MBO

Improvement objectives: describe intention for specific performance improvements.

Personal development objectives: describe intention for personal growth through knowledge and skill development.

Maintenance objectives: formally express intention to maintain performance at an existing level. 

 

 

Chapter 9 : Fundamentals of Organizing

 

I-                 Organizing as a management Function.

a.      What is organization structure?

Organizing is the process of arranging human and non human resources to work together to achieve a task.

Organization structure is a system of tasks, workflows, reporting relationships, and communication channels that link together the work of diverse individuals and groups. Any structure should both (a) allocate tasks through division of labor and (b) provide for the coordination of performance results. There are two kinds of structures within an organization:

b.      Formal structures: are the official structures of the organization. To identify an organization’s formal structure, you can have a look at its chart. Organization chart describes the arrangement of work positions within an organization. 

c.       Informal Structures: is the set of unofficial relationships among an organization’s members. A tool known as social network analysis is one way of identifying informal structures and their embedded social relationships that are active within an organization. The informal within each organization has some disadvantages such as:

                                                         i.      Susceptible to rumor.

                                                       ii.      Carry inaccurate information.

                                                      iii.      Breed resistance to change.

                                                     iv.      Divert work effort from important objectives (la3ssire et tbargig)

                                                       v.      Outsiders may feel a luck of integration.

II-                Traditional Organization structures.

Departmentalization is the process of grouping people and jobs into work units.

a.       Functional Structures.

 

In functional structures, people within similar skills and performing similar tasks are grouped together into formal work units.
Advantages	Disadvantages
Efficient use of resources Task assignment consistent with expertise and training. High quality technical problem solving. In depth training and skill development within functions. Clear career path within functions.	Difficulties in pinpointing responsibilities Functional chimneys problem: a lack of communication, coordination and problem solving across functions. Cooperation can break down as everyone goes about the daily work. The sense of common purpose gets lost to self centred and narrow viewpoint. Slow decision making and harm organizational performance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

b.      Divisional Structures.

A divisional structure groups together people working on the same Product, in the same area, with similar customers or on the same process.

 

Product Structures group together jobs and activities focused on a single product or service.	Geographical structures group together jobs and activities being performed in the same location.
Customer structures group together jobs and activities that are serving the same customer or clients.	A process structure groups together jobs and activities that are part of the same process.

 

A work process is a group of related tasks that collectively creates of value to a customer.

 

Advantages	Disadvantages
Flexibility to respond to environmental changes. Improved coordination across functional departments. Clear points of responsibility for product or service delivery. Expertise focused on specific customers, products and regions. Great ease in changing size by adding or deleting divisions.	Increase cost through the duplication of resources efforts across divisions. Unhealthy rivalries as divisions compete for resources and top management attention.

 

c.       Matrix structures combine functional and divisional approaches to emphasize project or program teams.

 

Advantages	Disadvantages
Better cooperation across functions Improved decision making Increased flexibility Better customer service Better performance accountability Improved strategic management	The two boss system Power struggles Task confusion Conflicting work priorities Higher costs

 

III-          Horizontal Organization Structures

a.       Team structures: uses permanent and temporary cross functional teams to improve lateral relations.

                                                         i.      A cross functional team brings together members from different functional departments.

                                                       ii.      Project teams are convened for a particular task or project and disband once it is completed.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Eliminate difficulties with communication and decision making that result from the chimneys problem. Break down barriers between departments. Boost morale Improve the speed and quality of decisions	Conflicting loyalties for persons with both teams and functional assignments Time management and group process

b.      Network structures uses information technologies to link with network of outside suppliers and network contractors.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Lean and streamlined Cost competitive Reduced overhead Increased operating efficiency Employ outsourcing strategies Contract out specialized business functions	The demand of new management responsibilities Lose control over activities contracted out.

 

c.       Boundary less structures eliminates internal boundaries among subsystems and external boundaries with the external environment.

                                                         i.      A virtual organization takes the boundaryless   concept to the extreme. It operates as a shifting network of alliances that are engaged as needed using IT and the internet.

 

IV-          Organizational Designs

Organizational design is the process of choosing and implementing structures to accomplish the organization’s mission and objectives. There is no one write design, organizational design vary from one organization to the other.

 

a.      Mechanistic and Organic designs

A bureaucracy emphasizes formal authority, order, fairness, and efficiency.

A Mechanistic design is centralized, with many rules and procedures, a clear cut division of labor, narrow spans of control and formal coordination.

Mechanistic designs work best for organizations doing routine tasks in stable environments.

An organic design is decentralized, with fewer rules and procedures, open divisions of labor, wide spans of control, and more personal coordination. These features creates adaptive organizations with horizontal structures and cultures that encourage worker empowerment and teamwork.

b.      Subsystems design and Integration

                                                         i.      A subsystem is a work unit or smaller component within a larger organization.

                                                       ii.      Differentiation is the degree of difference between subsystems in an organization.

                                                      iii.      Integration is the level of coordination achieved between subsystems in an organization.

c.       Trends in organizational designs

                                                         i.      The chain of command links all persons with successively higher levels of authority.

                                                       ii.      Span of control is the number of subordinates directly reporting to a manager.

                                                      iii.      Delegation is the process of distributing and entrusting work to other persons.

                                                     iv.      Empowerment allows others to make decisions and exercise discretion in their work.

                                                       v.      Centralization is the concentration of authority for most decisions at the top level of an organization.

                                                     vi.      Decentralization is the dispersion of authority to make decisions throughout all organization levels.

                                                    vii.      Staff positions provide technical expertise for other parts of the organizations.

Chapter 11 : Human Resource Management.

 

I-                 Human Resource Management.

This chapter is all about human resource management as a Process. We will first talk about human resource management in general, and then we will go through each stage of the human management process. (Attracting – Developing – Maintaining)

Human resources are the mainstay of any organization that is why they should be well management through a good policy of human resource management.

Human capital is the economic value of people with relevant abilities, knowledge, ideas, energies, and commitments.

 

a.     Human Resource Management Process.

Human resource management is the process of attracting, developing, and maintaining high quality work force.

 

                                                               i.      Attracting a quality work force: human resource planning, employee recruitment, and employee selection.

                                                             ii.      Developing a quality workforce: employee orientation, training and development, and performance management.

                                                            iii.      Maintaining a quality workforce: career development, work life balance, compensation and benefits…

 

b.      Strategic Human Resource Management.

Strategic human resource management mobilizes human capital to implement organizational strategies.

c.       Global Human Resource Management: Recall from previous chapters that today’s organizations are performing in a global environment, one in which there is a free flow of resources (human and non human resources). Concerning today’s topic (HRM), today’s managers have to be Global human resource managers, and in performing this “new job”, they face two kind of challenges:

                                                               i.      Keeping track of expertise.

                                                             ii.      The availability of visas for foreign workers.   

d.      Legal Environment of human Resource management.

When we talk about the legal environment of H.R.M. we have to list the following key terms:

 

                                                               i.      Discrimination: occurs when someone is denied a job or job assignment for reasons not job relevant.

                                                             ii.      Equal employment opportunity: is the right to employment and advancement without regard to race, sex, religion, color…

                                                            iii.      Affirmative action: is an effort to give preference in employment to women and minority group members.

                                                           iv.      Bona fide occupational qualification: are criteria for employment that can be clearly justified as being related to  person’s capacity’s to perform a job.

          

e.       Legal issues in Human resource management.

                                                               i.      Sexual harassment is behaviour of a sexual nature that affects a person’s employment situation.

                                                             ii.      Comparable worth holds that persons performing jobs of similar importance should be paid at comparable levels.

                                                            iii.      Pregnancy discrimination: penalizes a woman in a job or as a job applicant for being pregnant.

                                                           iv.      Independent contractors are hired as needed and are not part of the organization’s permanent workforce.

                                                             v.      Workforce privacy: is the right of individuals to privacy on the job.

II-              Attracting a Quality Workforce.

a.       Human resource planning is the process of analyzing an organization’s staffing needs and determining how to best fill them.

The foundation for H.R.planing include:

 

                                                               i.      A Job analysis studies exactly what is done in a job and why. The job analysis provides information that can then be used to write or up date job description.

                                                             ii.      Job descriptions are written statement of job duties and responsibilities.

                                                            iii.      The information in a job analysis can also be used to creat job specifications. These are lists of the qualifications needed by someone hired for a given job.

 

 

b.     Recruitment techniques:

                                                               i.      Recruitment is a set of activities designed to attract a qualified pool of job applicants to an organization.

                                                             ii.      External Recruitment: Job candidate are sought from outside the organization

                                                            iii.      Internal Recruitment: Job candidate are sought from inside the organization

 

                                                           iv.      Traditional recruitment: focus on selling the job and the organization to the applicants.

                                                             v.      Realistic Job previews: provide the job candidates with all pertinent information about a job and organization.

 

c.       Selection techniques: the process of selection involves choosing from a pool of applicants the person or persons who offers the greatest performance potential. Steps in a typical selection process are:

                                                               i.      Application and interviews:

1.      The application declares the individuals as a job candidate and documents his or her background and qualifications.

2.      interviews are items in the selection process when both the job applicant and the potential employer can learn a lot about one another.

                                                             ii.      Employment test: are designed to identify intelligence, aptitudes, personality, interests, and even ethics. An employment test has to meet the criteria of:

1.      Reliability means that a selection device gives consistent results over repeated measures

2.      means that scores on a selection device have demonstrated links with future job performance.

3.      an assessment center examines how job applicants handle simulated work situation.

4.      in work sampling applicants are evaluated while performing actual work tasks.

                                                            iii.      References and background checks.

                                                           iv.      Physical examination: helps ensure that the person is physically capable of fulfilling job requirement.

                                                             v.      Final decision to hire or reject.

III-              Developing a quality workforce. Once the employees are hired, the organization has to develop them. It does so through:

a.       Orientation and socialization:

                                                               i.      Orientation, is a set of activities designed to familiarize new employees with their jobs, co-workers, and key aspects of the organization as a whole. A good orientation program clarifies mission and goals, explains the culture, and communicate key policies and procedures.

Orientation is a form of socialization.

                                                             ii.      Socialization is a process that helps new members learn and adapt to the ways of the organization.

b.      Training and development: training is a set of activities that helps people acquire and improve job related skills.

                                                               i.      On the job training takes place in the work setting while someone is doing a job.

1.      Job rotation: people switch tasks to learn multiple jobs.

2.      Coaching: occurs as an experienced person offers performance advice to a less experienced person.

3.      Mentoring: assigns early-career employees as protégés to more senior ones.

4.      Modeling uses personal behaviour to demonstrate performance expected of others. “role models”.

                                                             ii.      Off the job training: is accomplished the work setting.

1.      management development is training to improve knowledge and skills in the management process.

c.       Performance management:

                                                               i.      Performance management system ensures performance standards and objectives are set, that performance is regularly assessed, and that actions are taken to improve future performance.

                                                             ii.      Performance appraisal purposes: is the process of formally evaluating performance and providing feedback to a job holder. It serves both:

1.      evaluation purposes: focuses on past performance and measures results against standards.

2.      development purposes:  focuses on future performance.

                                                            iii.      Performance appraisal methods:

1.      graphic rating scale uses a check list of traits or characteristics to evaluate performance.

2.      behaviourally anchored rating scale uses specific descriptions of actual behaviours to rate various levels of performance.

3.      critical incident technique keeps a running or inventory of effective and ineffective job behaviours.

4.      multi person comparisons compares one person’s performance with that of others.

a.       in rank ordering

b.      in paired comparison

c.       in forced distribution

d.      360° feedback includes superiors, subordinates, peers, and even customers in the appraisal process.

 

 

 

IV-          Maintaining a quality workforce.

a.     Flexibility and work-life balance.

                                                               i.       Work-life balance involves balancing career demands with personal and family needs.

b.     Compensation and benefits

                                                               i.      Base compensation is a salary or hourly wage paid to individual.

                                                             ii.      Merit pay systems award pay increases in proportion to performance contributions.

                                                            iii.      Bonuses and profit sharing plans

1.      Bonus pay plans provide one time payments based on performance accomplishment.

2.      Profit sharing distributes to employees a proportion of net profits earned by the organization.

3.      Gain sharing plans allow employees t share in cost savings or productivity gains realized by their efforts.

                                                           iv.      Stock ownership and stock options.

1.      Employee stock ownership plans help employees purchase stock in their employing companies.

2.      Stock options give the right to purchase shares at a fixed price in the future.

                                                             v.      Fringe benefits are non-monetary forms of compensation such as health insurance and retirement plans.

1.      flexibility benefits programs allow employees to choose from a range of benefit options.

2.      Family friendly benefits help employees achieve better worklife balance.

3.      employee assistance programs help employees cope with personal stresses and problems.

c.     Retention and turnover

                                                               i.      Early retirement incentive programs offer workers financial incentives to retire early.

                                                             ii.      Termination is the involuntary dismissal of an employee.

                                                            iii.      Wrongful discharge is a doctrine giving workers legal protections against discriminatory frings.

d.     Labor management relations

                                                               i.      A labor union is an organization that deals with employers on the workers’ collective behalf.

                                                             ii.      A labor contract is a formal agreement between a union and employer about the terms of work for union members.

                                                            iii.      Collective bargaining is the process of negotiating, administrating, and interpreting a labor contract.

                                                           iv.      Two tier wage systems pay new hires less than workers already doing the same job with more seniority.

 

 

 

Chapter 14 :     Teams and teamwork.

 

1. Teams in organizations.

1. A team is a small group of people with complementary skills, who work together to accomplish shared goals while holding themselves mutually accountable for performance results.
2. Team work is the process of people working together to accomplish these goals.
3. Synergy is the creation of a whole greater than the sum of its individual parts.
4. Social loafing is the tendency of some people to avoid responsibility by “free-riding” in groups.
5. Formal and Informal groups:

                                                               i.      A formal group is officially recognized and supported by the organization.

                                                             ii.      An informal group is unofficial and emerges from relationships and shared interests among members.

 

Teamwork Pros	Teamwork Cons
More resources for problem solving. Improved creativity and innovation. Greater commitment to tasks. Improved quality of decision making.	Tasks are not always clear. Ambiguous agendas can cause teams to work too long on the wrong things. Low enthousiasm. Social loafing.

 

2. Trends in the use of teams.
1. Committees, project teams, and task forces.

                                                               i.      A committee brings people together outside of their daily job assignments to work in a small team for a specific purpose.

                                                             ii.      A project team or task force is convened for a specific purpose and disbands when its task is completed.

2. Cross functional teams operates with members who come from different functional units of an organization.
3. Virtual teams whose members work together largely through computer mediated, rather than face to face interactions.
4. Self managing teams. Members of a self managing work team have the authority to make decisions about how they share and complete their work.
5. Team building is a sequence of planned activities used to analyze the functioning of a team and make constructive changes in how it operates.
2. How teams work.

 

Team effectiveness = quality of inputs + (Process gains – Process losses)

 

1. An effective team does three things well:

                                                               i.      Achieves high levels of tasks. On the task performance side, a work group or team is expected to transform resource inputs into product outputs.

                                                             ii.      Satisfy its members. In respect to member satisfaction, members should take pleasure from both the team’s performance accomplishments and their contributions toward making it happen.

                                                            iii.      Remain viable for the future. As to future viability, the team should have a social fabric and work climate that makes its members willing and able to work well together in the future, again and again as needed.

 

2. Team inputs:

                                                               i.      Resources and settings: the availability of resources and the nature of the organizational setting can affect how team members

                                                             ii.      Nature of the task: the nature of the task is always an important input. It affects how well a team can focus its efforts and how intense the group process must be to get the job done.

                                                            iii.      Team size affects how members work together, handle disagreements, and make decisions.

                                                           iv.      Membership characteristics: teams need members with the right abilities, or skill mix, to master and perform tasks well.

3. Stages of team development.

                                                               i.      Forming – a stage of initial orientation and interpersonal testing.

                                                             ii.      Storming – a stage of conflicts over tasks and working as a team.

                                                            iii.      Norming – a stage of consolidation around tasks and operating agendas.

                                                           iv.      Performing – a stage of teamwork and focused task performance.

                                                             v.      Agjoining – a stage of task completion and disengagement.

4. Norms and cohesiveness.

                                                               i.      A norm is a behaviour expected of team members.

                                                             ii.      Managing team norms: guidelines for building positive group norms include the following.

1.      Act as a positive role model.

2.      Reinforce the desired behaviours with rewards.

3.      train and orient new members to adopt desired behaviour.

                                                            iii.      Cohesiveness is the degree to which members are attracted to and motivated to remain part of a team.

                                                           iv.      Managing team cohesiveness. This can be done in the following ways:

1.      Build agreement on team goals.

2.      Increase membership homogeneity.

3.      Decrease team size.

4.      Reward team rather than individual results.

 

5. Tasks and maintenance roles.

                                                               i.      A task activity is an action taken by a team member that directly contributes to the group’s performance purpose.

                                                             ii.      A maintenance activity is an action taken by a team member that supports the emotional life of the group.

                                                            iii.      Distributed leadership is when all members of a team contribute helpful task and maintenance behaviours.

                                                           iv.      Disruptive activities are self serving behaviours that interfere with team effectiveness.

6. Communication networks.

                                                               i.      A decentralized communication network allows all members to communicate directly with one another.

                                                             ii.      In a centralized communication network, communication flows only between individual members and a hub, or centre point.

                                                            iii.      In a restricted communication network subgroups have limited communication with one another.

4. Decision making in teams.

1. Decision making is the process of making choices among alternative possible courses of action.
2. Ways team make decisions:

                                                               i.      Lack of response: one idea after the other is suggested without any discussion taken place.

                                                             ii.      Authority rule: the leader makes the decision for the team.

                                                            iii.      Minority rule: two or three people are able to dominate the team into making a decision that they prefer.

                                                           iv.      Majority rule:   formal voting may take place, or members may be polled to find the majority viewpoint.

                                                             v.      Consensus: full discussion leads to one alternative being favoured by most members, and the other members agree to support it.  

                                                           vi.      Unanimity: all team members agree on the course of action to be taken.

3. Brainstorming: engages group members in an open, spontaneous discussion of problems and ideas.
4. Group thinking is a tendency for highly cohesive teams to lose their evaluative capabilities.
5. Nominal group thinking: uses a highly structured meeting agenda to allow everyone to contribute ideas without the interference of evaluative comments by others.

 

 

 

Chapter 15 :  Communication, Conflict and Negotiation.

 

Social Capital is the capacity to get things done with the support and help of others.

 

1.   The communication process:

a.       Communication is an interpersonal process of sending and receiving symbols with messages attached to them.

b.      The key elements in any communication process include a sender, a communication channel and a receiver.

                                                               i.            The sender is responsible for encoding an intended message into meaningful symbols, both verbal and nonverbal.

                                                             ii.            The message is sent through the communication channel to the receiver.

                                                            iii.            The receiver decode the message and try to understand its meanings.

c.       Effective communication occurs when the sender’s message id fully understood by the receiver.

d.      Efficient communication occurs at minimum cost in term of resources expended.

e.       Persuasive communication presents a message in a manner that causes the other person to support it.

f.        Credible communication earns trust, respect, and integrity in the eyes of others.

2. Communication Barriers:
1. Poor choice of communication channels: A communication channel is the pathway or medium through which a message is conveyed from a sender to a receiver. Good managers choose the right communication channel or combination of channels, to accomplish their goals.
2. Poor written or oral expression: communication will be effective only to the extent that the sender expresses a message in a way that can be clearly understood by the receiver. Choose the appropriate words…
3. Physical distractions
4. Status effects: filtering is an intentional distortion of information to make it appear most favourable to the recipient. The presence of filtering is always found in communications between lower and higher levels in organizations. It most often involves someone telling the boss what he or she wants to hear. 
5. Failure to recognize nonverbal signals: nonverbal communication takes place through such things as hand movement, facial expressions…

                                                               i.            A mixed message occurs when a person’s words communicate one message while his or her actions, appearance… communicate something else.

3. Improving communication:  a number of things can be done to improve communication such as:
1. Active listening: is the process of helping someone express exactly what he or she really means.

                                                               i.            Rules to help you improve your active listening ability:

1.      listen for feelings

2.      respond to feelings

3.      paraphrase and restate

2. Constructive feedback: feedback is the process of telling someone else how you feel about something that person did or said.

                                                               i.            Guidelines to ensure giving constructive feedback:

1.      Give feedback directly and with real feeling.

2.      Make sure that feedback is specific rather than general.

3.      Give feedback at time when the receiver seems most willing or able to accept it.

4.      Give valid and realistic feedback.

5.      Give feedback in small doses.

3. Space design. An important part of communication involves PROXEMICS or the use of space.
4. Channel selection. Always choose communication channels with high channel richness – the capacity to carry information in an effective manner.
5. Electronic communication. Electronic grapevine, speeding messages and information from person to person;
6. Interactive management.
7. Cross cultural management. Ethnocentrism is the tendency to consider one’s culture superior to any and all others.
3. Conflict: is a disagreement over issues of substance and/ or an emotional antagonism.
1. Substantive conflict: involves disagreements over goals, resources, reward, policies, procedures, and job assignment.
2. Emotional conflict results from feelings of anger, distrust, dislike, fear, and resentment, as well as from personality clashes.
3. Functional conflict is constructive and helps task performance.
4. Dysfunctional conflict is destructive and hurts task performance.
5.  Causes of conflict: a number of conditions may lead to an eventual emergence of conflicts such as:

                                                               i.            Role ambiguities

                                                             ii.            Resource scarcities

                                                            iii.            Task interdependencies

                                                           iv.            Competing objectives

                                                             v.            Structural differentiation

                                                           vi.            Unresolved prior conflicts

6. Conflict resolution is the removal of the substantial and emotional reasons for a conflict.
7. Structural approaches to conflict resolution managers can use structural approaches to deal with conflicts between individuals or groups. Example of these structural approaches are:

                                                               i.            Appeal to a super ordinate goal.

                                                             ii.            Making more resources available to everyone.

                                                            iii.            Changing the people.

                                                           iv.            Altering the physical environment

                                                             v.            Changing policies and procedures

8. Conflict management styles:

                                                               i.            Avoidance: pretend that a conflict does not really exist.

                                                             ii.            Accommodation: plays down differences and highlights similarities to reduce conflicts.

                                                            iii.            Competition uses force, superior skill, or domination to win a conflict.

                                                           iv.            Compromise occurs when each party gives up something of value to the other.

                                                             v.            Collaboration involves working through conflict differences and solving problems so everyone wins.

                                                           vi.            Avoidance and accommodation often creates lose – lose conflict, where no one achieve his or her true desires.

                                                          vii.            Competing and compromising always create wine – lose conflict where each party strives to gain at the other’s expense. 

                                                        viii.            Collaborating or true problem solving is a form of win – win conflict. It is often the most effective conflict management style because issues are resolved to the mutual benefit of all conflicting parties.

5. Negotiation is the process of making joint decisions when the parties involved have different preferences.
1. Negotiation goals:  there are 2 important goals to be considered in any negotiation.

                                                               i.            Substance goals in negotiation, they are concerned with outcomes.

                                                             ii.            Relationship goals are concerned with processes (the way people work together)

2. Negotiation approaches

                                                               i.            Effective negotiation: occurs when issues of substance are resolved and working relationships among the negotiating parties are maintained. The three criteria of effective negotiation are:

1.      Quality: negotiating a wide agreement that is satisfactory to all sides.

2.      Cost: negotiating efficiently using a minimum of resources.

3.      Harmony: negotiating in a way that fosters, rather than inhibits, interpersonal relationships.

                                                             ii.            Distributive negotiation focuses on claims made by each party for certain preferred outcomes. This emphasis on substance can take a self centred and competitive form in which one party can gain only if the other one lose. Win lose situation.

                                                            iii.            Principled negotiation (integrative negotiation): is based on a win - win orientation. The focus on substance is still important but the interest of all parties is considered. No one should loose in a principled negotiation and positive relationships should be maintained in the process.

3.  Gaining integrative agreement can be achieved by respecting the following rules:

                                                               i.            Separate the people from the problem.

                                                             ii.            Focus on interest not on position.

                                                            iii.            Generate many alternatives before deciding what to do.

                                                           iv.            Insists that results be based on some objective standards.

 

The bargaining zone is the space between one’s party’s minimum reservation point and the other’s party maximum reservation point.

4. Negotiation pitfalls:

                                                               i.            Myth of the fixed pie.

                                                             ii.            Non rational escalation of conflicts.

                                                            iii.            Overconfidence and ignoring the other’s needs.

                                                           iv.            Too much telling and too little hearing.

                                                             v.            Premature cultural comfort.

                                                           vi.            Trap of ethical misconduct.

5. Third party dispute resolution:

                                                               i.            Mediation involves a neutral third party who tries to improve communication between negotiating parties and keep them focus on relevant issues.

                                                             ii.            In arbitration a neutral third party issues a binding decision to resolve dispute.