How Gazda Cars and Bomino Printing approach the management of their activities Essay

Advantages * It’s Organised * Their pay is related to their performance, which will motivate them perform better. * Work is carried out in controlled environment. * It’s seen as ‘social’ which motivates workers. * Managers convey ‘moral elite’, trustworthy, broadly motivated to organise & influence others. * Employees have more control of their work (live to work). * Take interesting staff giving feeling of involvement, security & job satisfaction, related to high achievement Disadvantages * Scientific approach used (work to live). * Communication between workers is bad. Not approachable, no influence. * Managers defined as ‘rational economic’, primarily motivated by just money. * Being too nice to staff makes managers look weak. Managers need that power so everything is in control. * Staff can abuse their manager if their needs are not fulfilled, e.g., they can strike. People can respond to many different types of management strategies, but there is no single strategy that will work for all everyone all the time. Therefore, Gazda Cars should refer to Fielder’s Contingency Approach to management. This theory supports the view of the ‘complex man’- i.e. the motives that man has which changes over time and in different situations, can be seen as personal hierarchy. It defines situational favourability, or the ease of influencing followers as the combination of situational factors: leader-member relations, task structure, and position power. Fielder argued that leadership style was innate and that the above three situational factors determined whether task or relations oriented leadership was more appropriate. The main ideas about Contingency Theory are: 1. There is no universal or one best way to manage 2. The design of an organisations and its subsystems must ‘fit’ with the environment 3. Effective organisations not only have a proper ‘fit’ with the environment but also between its subsystems and 4. The needs of an organisation are better satisfied when it is properly designed and the management style is appropriate both to the tasks undertaken and the nature of the work group. The contingency approach opens the door for the possibility that leadership could be different in every situation (Saal and Knight, 1988). It provides a more realistic view of leadership by allowing for complexity and situational specificity of overall effectiveness. As organisations today are faced with continuing changes in technology, environment conditions, and internal processes, this approach can offer a more sophisticated understanding of the leadership process and emphasise the idea of flexible, adaptive leadership that may contribute to the success of a company. However, the various models in contingency theory have been criticised largely for the difficulty in testing the contingency variables selected since variables may affect each other or be influenced by a leader. The complexity of situational factors and various combinations of task and subordinate characteristics makes a single comprehensive test of the model impossible (Wagner and Hollenbeck, 1992). As it is entirely possible that different leaders in the same situation may reach different conclusions about the situation, which may in turn cause them to take very different actions, the practical use of this theory in business is quite limited. Gazda’s Mechanistic Structure Bomino’s Organic Structure – Operates in a competitive & fast changing environment but is not seen as exiting or fun. – They are separate departments for production, sales, marketing, research and development, data processing, accounts and human resource management. – Each member has their own specific role. – Obedience to superiors and loyalty to the organisation are assisted upon. – This structure is old fashioned. The communication usually comes in the form of instructions & decisions issued by superiors and the performance feed back & requests for decisions sent from subordinates. – Work is carried in a controlled environment. Control & authority relationships are structured in a vertical hierarchy. – Operates in a highly complex environment. Tasks are highly specialised. Employees are not clear on how their tasks contribute to accomplishing organisational objectives. – Distributes inkjet & laser printing systems, which is a fast moving product, economically productive. – Department are separated for all the main business functions. – General roles are defined for each member. – Authority relationships & control are structured in a network rather than a hierarchy. – This approach is to do with being nice to staff. Commitment to organisational goals is recommended more then loyalty or obedience. – Teams are set up to work on new product development. Tasks are modified often & redefined by means & mutual adjustment among task holders. – Workers have a variety of tasks which are broad and independent. Relation of task performance to attainment of organisational objectives is emphasised. Gazda’s Role culture Bomino’s Task culture – There are usually job descriptions, rules & procedures to govern behaviour as well as procedures for all activities. – Pay is related to performance. A role culture is one which emphasises conformity to expectations. As Harrison’s theory states, such organizations can be said to be ‘rational instruments for the achievements of specific goals’. – People work most effectively & efficiently when they have relatively, simple clearly defined, circumscribed & measurable tasks. However the company operates in a highly complex fast changing environment. – Here management is seen as completing a succession of projects or solving problems, often as a part of a team. It is ‘project oriented, bringing together the right people’. – The staff get a feeling of involvement; security & general job satisfaction are closely related to high achievement. – Performance is judged by results. – Job satisfaction tends to be high, to the degree of individual participating & group identity. Though the current tall structure and Role culture at Gazda internally complement each other, one can question whether those are the most efficient with regards to the dynamic and highly competitive external environment. Role culture and tall structure is perfectly suited in a stable external environment but cannot maintain maximum productivity in an unpredictable and rapidly changing external environment. Such structures and cultures lack the flexibility to quickly adapt to external influences; it is commonly known that if one cannot adapt to ones external environment then one is in great danger of becoming extinct. It is important to identify the need for reorganisation culture, process and structure. If reorganisation can be justified than the most feasible and effective approach should be implemented to replace its predecessor. The structure at Gazda is a much closed system where information processing and co-operation are slow. It can be said communication is the way to success, hence in order to achieve maximum efficiency champion manufactures need to increase levels of cooperation and information processing to improve the internal environment. Maybe a more organic approach, being an open system which emphasis is placed in group actions; co-operation and team work should be integrated into the present structure and culture along with lateral relationships. The pre dominant advantages of integrating these two new elements are firstly, allowing direct contact between employees and those higher up the hierarchy, hence problems are addressed quicker and time is used efficiently both the current structure and culture will successfully take the business further. In contrast to a tall organisation, a flat organisation will have relatively few layers or just one layer of management. This means that the â€Å"Chain of Command† from top to bottom is short and the â€Å"span of control is wide†. Due to the small number of management layers, flat organisations are often small organisations similar to Bomino Printing. A task culture refers to a team based approach to complete a particular task. They are popular in today’s modern business society where the organisation will establish particular ‘project teams’ to complete a task to date. A task culture clearly offers some benefits. Employees feel motivated because they are empowered to make decisions within their team, they will also feel valued because they may have been selected within that team and given the responsibility to bring the task to a successful end. I say they are both related because the informal structure relates to a particular task carried out by particular groups of individuals working together this is of a similar nature to a task culture. Decision making at managerial levels is more efficient as fewer people need to be informed/included in this process. Thirdly, staff motivation is increased at higher levels of co-operation means employees are not constantly being given simple direct orders by managers. This has a boosting affect on morale and motivation. Last but not least with a free flow of information present, all departments can be encouraged to succumb to change, therefore enabling the organisation to respond to influential external factors. Bomino Printing should remain loyal to the present culture and structure because this will help them build and progress further in the future.    Bibliography Human resource management – Ian Beardwell and Len Holden Management – James A.F Stoner (Fifth edition) Organisations and behaviour – Patrick Corner Principles of scientific management – Fredrick W. Taylor Web sites – http://www.northstar.k12.ak.us/schools/ryn/projects/inventors/taylor/taylor.html http://www.business.com/directory/management/management_theory/contingency_and_system_theory/ http://www.uniqindex.co.za/maslows.htm