StudyingManagement

Chris Jarvis

Reading

Primers Naylor, Management, FT Prentice Handy C, Understanding Organisations, Penguin

Essential texts – available in the library Rollinson, Organisational Behaviour, London, Prentice Hall (alternative Buchanan & Huczynski, Organisational Behaviour) Fincham, R & Rhodes, P (1999) Principles of Organisational

Behaviour, Oxford: OUP Recommended - read !!!!! e.g.

Morgan G, Images of Organisation, Sage Hatch, MJ (1997) Organizational theory: modern symbolic and

post-modern perspectives Oxford: Oxford University Press Additional readings from the library's e-journals, case study

materials & quality newspapers

Conceptualising Organisations

In business & management, ideas shaping our view of organisations come mainly from the disciplines of psychology & sociology, economics & political science BUT

different perspectivesthe psychological (organisational behaviour) the sociological (organisational theory)

we look at BOTH analyse & understand organisational form, development & behaviour

What is management?

• A bunch of people who are in charge?• techniques? • a human activity process

- shaping & achieving organisational purposes & objectives- within a changing environment- balancing- efficiency – orderly reliable methods to transform- effectiveness – results, VfM, innovation, satisfaction- right conduct (ethics & responsibility)

• best value from resources available• working with & thru. other people• Fairness? Ownership, politics & power?• Entrepreneurial behaviour?

So you want to study management?

Why?• To be a career manager in a challenging, responsible job?So• What do you want to manage?• Do you have specialist know-how or experience

to manage a specialist situation?• Can a manager be a "general manager" with

no specialist know-how?• What is this general mgt know-how ?• Are there jobs that only require this know-how & nothing else?• What know-how is needed to shape & drive organisational

purposes & objectives within a changing environment?

Subject disciplines?

• What subject disciplines, knowledge & ability, inform the know-how needed to

- create a business & bring structure & order to it ?- sustain & transform the business?- analyse & evaluate business effectiveness:

productivity, results, value for money, innovation, shareholder & customer satisfaction?

- do managers need to be bound by high morals?• Must we "work with & thru. other people" or are employees

merely factors of production to hire & fire?• Should managers

- participate in ownership?- avoid politics & power struggles?

• Can we differentiate entrepreneur & managerial behaviour?

A Model for Manager Development?

1. Command of basic facts: organisational, technical, hard, soft

2. Relevant professional knowledge

3. Continuing sensitivity to events4. Problem-solving, analytical &

decision/judgement skills5. Social skills & abilities6. Emotional resilience7. Proactivity - inclination to

respond purposefully to events8. Creativity9. Mental agility10. Balanced learning habits &

skills11. Self-knowledge

basic knowledge& information

skills and attributes

THE SUCCESSFULMANAGER

meta-qualities

Pedler, Burgoyne, Boydell, 1978, A Manager's Guide to Self Development, McGraw Hill

The nature of management theory

Statements• "Tesco appears to be the undisputed world leader in Internet

grocery sales. Its on-line home delivery service is now profitable. It has struck a deal in the USA with Safeway which will use Tesco's system for a home shopping service."

• "Underpinning Tesco's success is excellent management and an obsession with operational efficiency and productivity gains to keep prices low or improve service not just merely increase profit margins".

Prescriptive theoryDescriptive theory: analysis & predictionQuestioning, analysing, verifying

Abstraction and Reification

concepts become concrete when they are notassign “real” qualities to abstractions e.g.

"system", "the organisation”, "the community""Tesco" is a legal entity with form, positions & duties"organisational interests" - actors

unequal power distributionaffect organisational actionsorganisational behaviour reflects member actions

abstracting organisational actions/attributes is usefulinfluences & functions, what & how managers behavewe observe, compare & model - patterns of behaviour comprehend & mobilise the whole (holism)describe, classify & sometimes predict

Schools & emergence of management ideas

Classicalfunctional principles and Bureaucracymanagement science – hard measurements & methods

Human relations – from Hawthorne to leadership, occupational psychology, groups & teamsSystems & cybernetic feedback & control – hard & softContingency & situation – responses to changeOther perspectives?

Power, conflict & politicsGlobalisationEthicalToday - POMO: deconstruction of social order e.g. management as a seductive discourse & Bentham's Panopticon

Classical Managerial Roles – what managers do

Henri Fayol 1905• forecast, plan, organise, direct, motivate, communicate, control,

evaluate resources to achieve objectives.• generate & follow policies, rules & procedures (admin. > mgt?) &

solve problems• Bring order & control + handle & direct resources:

•£, materials, equipment, facilities, time•information & technology•people

Have 'subordinates' & communicate• information, instructions, ideas.• tell people what to do & how to do it?• have vision & provide sense of direction?Functions & levels: • accounting, marketing, production, legal services, R&D, logistics,

Information systems, personnel• Strategic, operational, front-line, back-office

How is "classical management" done?

define functions & roles?establish tasks & assign to groupings & roles?decide methods, work processes & arrangements?design work points & people-machine relationships?determine work standards, targets, monitoring, control & feedback arrangements?acquire, brief and train staff. Establish norms?decide reporting/control structure?anticipate problems & developments?decide reward & employment rules?supervise, check and follow-up?

Is this really how it is done?

Is it DONE? By whom?

Managerial Roles – what managers do?

down-size? remove layers?substitute info. systems to link top mgt & ops staff directly

Strategic – brain of the firm: vision,

change, policy, configuration,

corporate

Operational – delivery, production,

service, methods, performance, quality,

Middle – functional, coordinative, administrative,

controlling

Managerial Roles – Mintzberg 1971

Ten roles managers perform over time• Interpersonal roles

- Figurehead- Leader- Liaison

• Informational Roles- Monitor- Disseminator- Spokesperson

• Decisional roles- Entrepreneur- Disturbance handler- Resource allocator- Negotiator

Dauphinais: senior & middle managers• Create & implement strategy

• Influence – to follow goals & paths

• Stabilise,consolidate, integrate, improve.

• Drive adaptation & change.

(after H Mintzberg- The Nature of Managerial Work)

Hitchins - Generic Reference Model

Behaviour Management• cognition• belief systems• decisions• intent

Function Management• mission• responsibilities, duties• variability• resources

Form Management• structure• potential• influence

Systemthinking

being

doing

stimulushttp://www.hitchins.co.uk Source

The Managerial Message: Goal-setting & Structuring

• Corporate Mission• Strategy - plans, programmes, positions, ploys• Objectives + results• Inputs, processes, outputs and learning• Assumptions about

- control via "cascading" objectives- integrating organisational & individual goals- resource allocation & zero-based budgeting

• Management by objectives - top-down, bottom-up- key result areas- critical success factors- standards of performance- monitoring and evaluation

Managerial Styles – how managers "should" act in their roles

human (soft) vs. technical (hard) behaviours

• Directivepractical, authoritative, impersonal, power centred

• Analyticalintellectual, data, info & control, evaluative, plans & prediction

• Visionary insight, enthusiasm, innovative, personal, flexible, adaptive

• Behaviouralsociable, persuasive, promoting loyalty & respect

Leadership styles

predominant set of behaviours. Typically two dimensionsTask orientation

Goal setting, planning, organising, scheduling, controlling

Relationships orientationSupporting, communicating, enabling interaction, listening, giving feedback

What is missing?

Luck, timing, political nous ?

An ideal style – the virtuous manager?

useful insight?value as a model of preferred behaviours?culturally bound?compare "ideal" to

self interestcooperation, competition, conflicttoughness, single-mindedness, multiple agendasaltruistic, concern for the other (satisfy everyone?)acting under uncertainty + dilemmaspolitical judgement, flexibility & timingusing rhetoric (persuasive language) effectively

Management - practical not theoretical

applied common sense statements about good mgt are obviousbad mgt still occurs. we 'know' with hindsight – post hoc

successful practitioners – have "frameworks of theory"learned things - explaining how things happenconsolidated experience – observations, rules, principles, guidelines

mgt theory is inductive in nature – generalisationobserve propositions that "explain"descriptive theory e.g. how MNCs are typically organisedshared understanding re 'principles'some deduction from "principles" .....if A + B then Cprescriptive theory – recipes

How things 'ought to be' (norms, values, beliefs)'How best' to run an MNC

Evaluate these statements

• Management engages in systematic regular planning.

• Managers have few regular duties to perform.

• Senior managers need plenty of information provided by a formal information system.

• Management is a science and a profession – or if not – it is rapidly becoming one.

True or false?

Read www.brunel.ac.uk/~bustcfj/bola/mintzberg.html

Why historical perspectives?

• Generalisations & hypotheses let us say- "X or Y action will have the following effects"

• where does the theory originate?- experience, reports of others, shared traditions

• study & theory takes understanding beyond common sense• history of management theory

- calibrates our view of the present & our interpretation- helps explain how, what, why- may indicate possible influences/causes- see cultural, situational & longtitudinal differences

Questions

A. Explain & present examples of the 2004 application of scientific management?

B. What is the relevance of Fayol's principles of management today?

C. Why are bureaucratic systems so important to us today?

D. What is the problem of reification when we talk of a business organisation as a 'system'? Give examples.