Against the Odds - Assignment Example

Against the Odds xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecturer xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Question 1 Structural frame is said to refer to organizational structures policies, processes and structure-the basic skeleton upon which an organization is built. It emphasizes on goals, specialized roles, and formal relationships. This skeletal framework largely determines or rather influences the operation methods applied by an organization. Employees services, staffing patterns, and to some extent the culture are examples of the various facets operation that are affected by the structural frame. It is important to note that structure frame upholds the notion that any organization is are judged on the proper functioning of the elements that constitute a good organization. The Finance Department was mainly judged according to its irrelevant to the agencies and thus not accorded the required respect (Bolman & Deal 2003). The basic responsibility of leaders and managers is to elucidate organizational goals, to focus to the relationship between environment and structure, and develop a structure that is comprehensible and appropriate to the task, the goals and environment. Lacks of structure, people become uncertain on what they are supposed to carry out. Eventually frustration, confusion and conflict will settle in. Effective organization has individuals who have clear view of their contribution and responsibilities. When any organization got the right structure which people understand, its goals and objectives are easily achieved (Bontrager 2002). The structure in terms of specialized roles has resulted to different basic structure: the manager, whose main job is to focus on facts, logic and task. The managers are expected to design to implement a structure appropriate to the circumstances and problem. In the case presented, the Finance Director, after her appointment had to come up with strategy to solve the problems that the MIS project was facing. She had to take up the initiative despite of the risks involved. She basically gave direction. In an organization, a committee is naturally an advisory body. This means that it lacks ownership, hold others accountable, may alter the structure of the organization and also garner the needed resources. The steering committee was requested by the Finance Director to fund the department, that is, to garner the resources that were needed in the department. The working group did report to the committee all the activities that it was undertaking. The committee did advice the working group to be cautious as they were to apply SAP which had failed with other previous government agencies. However, it did approve of the project. Policies made in organization should be friendly to the organization and the people involved. Dissatisfaction with the organization should be handled accordingly, for example, when Henry refused to participate in the project as a result of him not support the project, the Finance Director had to treat the issue with caution, to show respect to all parties involved. Matrix structures are part of the structure frame and identifying significant linkages among divisions. They play a role in eliminating conflicts, turf protection and confusion. For example, in the case presented, there was confusion on who to support on the way forward on the project, that is, between Henry and the Finance Director. Henry felt it was not necessary to make any changes in the project, however, the committee resolved the matter which led to Henry actively promoting his idea that led to much confusion (Bolman & Deal 2003). The benefits of the structural perspective is that it will improve the organizational functioning, as the structure elements align process, technology and people, leading to support of the work, the workforce and organization structure will complement each other, and both effectiveness and efficiency will assist in achieving the organization’s goals. Limitations are clearly obvious when these structure elements become important than the people working in the organization and this result to: the structure remaining impervious to challenges, mounting of tensions between people and structure, new management set up will re-establish control and the organization may flounder until it dies in its environment. Question 2 The human resource frame is built on the focus of establishing and working towards fulfilling the human resource needs in an organization. It is built on core assumptions highlighting the linkage between the human resource capacities and abilities, and organizational success. The linkage details that organizations exist to serve human needs; not the converse, people and organizations require each other, a poor fit ills both parties, and that when it is good, both benefit as individuals find meaningful and satisfying work, and organizations get the talent and the energy they need to succeed (Bolman & Dea 2008). In this, the leaders emphasise goals and mutual relationships, communicate openly and publicly test assumptions and beliefs, and combine advocacy with inquiry (Deal & Roper 2010). It is evident that the success of the Agency’s IT Project implementation depended on the performance of this linkage since the organisation banked on the staff. Unfortunately, there are details that the staff in the finance department were not skilled enough to meet the threshold of time change and the policy demands the government put in place regarding the new accounting system. As indicated, the staff were cash based which is significantly easier than accrual accounting. After a few years that was all you knew and you couldn’t get a job in another organisations. As such there was significant lack of much needed imagination and self intuition which is an empty chasm between noble aspirations and disappointing results (Bolman & Dea 2008) of the organisation. In addition, the staff were also feeling left out and being treated as not belonging to the organisation or as playing second fiddle in achieving results. This arose due to highly politicised relationships as key opinion drivers such as Henry Tell influenced the leadership environment whose results were The choice and use of any frame in leadership and change management is relative to the choice and use of others over a situation. The use of this frame has a result of motivating a team to play as one (Palestini 2008). Behaviors like compassion as displayed by the newly appointed finance director who got concerned about the hurting of her staff, and so often called meetings to air out, are an application of this frame. It entails empathizing with the staff which can be transformative (p.55) on the team since apart from easing anxieties and tensions it also inspires reciprocated consciousness over others’ needs. As such, though the staff were rather ‘incapable’ the collaboration of Mark and the finance director in creating a suitable saw the ‘incapables’ deliver results. Using this leadership behavior can empower individuals since the frame helps the leader to find structure that would empower everybody on the team, not just the stars, and allow the team players participate. There were decisions made by the implementation leadership over which one project staff learned ‘you don’t have to do everything you are supposed to do’ (Young 2005). The project staffs, who was applauded for his efforts, indicated that it was more necessary to work well with key decision makers to scale activities to fit the resources and time available (p.14) Overemphasizing the human resource frame to the detriment of the structural frame can actually lead to a decline in performance and unwarranted additional incurred costs. It is needed to strike a balance between the structural and human resource, so that both the organization and individual are catered for. The Agency has undertrained staff in an understaffed project. It can lead to missed deadlines and postponement of project deadlines. The Agency would have dealt-off the redundant staff at an earlier stage or now that it were indicated of their incapability. Such times call for an emphasis on the structural frame especially when the Agency was at pressure from the government and a risky publicity status. Based on this, and the environment created after the departure of Henry Tell, there was precedence for actions such as skipping the load testing on the premise that they had enough experience and deferment of HR modules implementation on the new system. One staff member noted that you didn’t have to do everything you were supposed to do (Young 2005). This also affected training of individuals since if someone did not want to do a thing then they did not have to do it. Question 4 Organizational politics are inevitable in any organization over varied situations with great effects being felt over scarcity of resources and pressure for and of change. In the politics, special interest groups exercise power to get their share and to have their way (Deal & Roper 2010). The finance director’s entry into the Agency presented her a tough power struggle over control of change. There was pressure from the government and system resistance from within the Agency. In addition, she ‘needed the right people to bring along with her’ and as such had to stand between the CEO and the workers (Young 2005). The opposition of the senior financial officer and a peer, who later exit the Agency, had created significant doubt about the project success, far beyond the the finance department. There was notable dissention in the ranks, often displayed in corridors. Indulgence in the political frame entails the development of an agenda, seek support of the agenda and the ability and the willingness to bargain and negotiate. Deal & Roper (2010) refer to these as core leadership skills practiced daily by effective leaders. Leaders taking political frame are realists clarifyng what they want and what they can get. The political frame underlines that organisations are coalitions of varied persons and interest groups with the members having divergent and enduring differences in various concerns and that most vital decisions involve allocating scarce resources (Bolman & Dea 2008). The scarcity of resources and the enduring differences are conlfict epicenters making power important while bargaining yields into goals and decisions. The staff constraint in the pressure situation heightened tension. Admitting to the situation conditions, the finance director began by winning allies. She needed to work with right people and coalitions were vital. There was a need for support by the senoir management, an interest group who had their reservations about the whole saga She got the support of Mark and Brian Minister who became ‘important to her’(Young 2005) and whose open support sent a clear signal to ter rest of the organisation. She steadily worked at winning support until at the end of the day, she was tasked to manage jelousy due to the attention the project commanded. Recognising the competition in the organisation and the government for scarce resources, they emphasized individual and group interests, balancing the project staff, the finance department staff, the consultants and and the senior management. Across this board, they engaged in advocacy and negotiations with high level expediency. The political frame has a unique view it accords conflict, not from the perspective of a problem, but rather on tactics and strategies in the conflict with an aim of gaining from the conflict. Once applied, a conflict, which is inevitable in an organisation, poses less risk to stability and so the focus is not always on conflict resolution-from the human resource frame- but on goals. The human frame perceives conflict as a problem. In addition, this frame has potential to save leaders and managers wastage of resources due to its space for negotitions and bargaining over situations. Key resources such as time and human resources are well dealt with. However, leaders can easily by-pass the balance and interrelation of the other frames. This may be due to a narrow focus given to inconviniences and differences relative to strategies and tactics leading to imbalances. A leader may be too much focused on relations and coalitions in a bid to minimize inconviniences. Section B Question 5(a) Given that the four frame models have significant role in an organization, it is therefore, important to apply them in the management of future change processes at the Agency. The four frames will see to it that, the Agency will be well organized in terms of structure and teams necessary for the Agency environment and technology. It will also assist in alignment of human needs and organization to build group dynamics and positive interpersonal. There is need for effective leader in the senior positions as it highly affects the decision made in by the employees working in the lower position. The workers may have brilliant ideas which even not supported by their manager may go down the drain. It is obvious that in the Agency, negative publicity have resulted to a failed finance department to the extent of affecting the appointed Director. For future implementation, the relationships among the employee should be positively cultivated in order to ensure that any project underway is not affected as a result of poor relationship. Having the right people to handle the changes is very significant. They become tools for a positive improvement of the Agency. The right people will ensure that the risks to be taken are done so sensitively and they are ready prepared for any challenging faced during the changes (Palestini 2008). The workers should hold specific qualifications for the work that is assigned to them. They will be able to specialize and be effective and efficient resulting to manageable changes. In addition it will be easy to manage the Agency leading to well implemented changes and they will be able to see the need of positive changes rending their support. Despite the limitations, the four frames are necessary as they give an array of development and options. 5 (b) Organization are said to be complex entities that is often difficult to understand. The biggest challenge to the leadership is finding the right way to frame the organization in the present world that has become more competitive, turbulent and global. Bolman and Deal (2003) concluded that if an organization is overmanaged, it will lose the purpose and spirit. Alternatively, a poorly managed organization, with a charismatic and strong leader, may only soar for a short time and eventually experience a huge downfall later. Organization, therefore, require people with managerial roles who are capable of dealing with chaos and confusion by creating order and establishing simplicity. The leaders should love their organization and work and hold respect each life that they affect. Respect may be observed in various ways, for instance, allowing the employees to air out the issue they are encountering will complication in the project will definitely clear up any Effective leadership is significant in meeting the challenges of a successful approach in implementing the project (Young 2005). Leaders should be analysts and artists, who are versatile and flexible enough to use their experience, as well as seek novel issues as they are discovering possibilities. They should view management as an ethical and moral undertaking, therefore, can attempt to link up passionate commitment and business realism to larger purpose and values. A leader should train the employees to work efficiently through demonstration, drill and practice, monitor workers performance; select the best person to do the job designed, and eventually shift the responsibility from the workers to him (Black 2003). Lots of commitment is needed in order to ensure that the projects being implemented are successful. This will play a major role as the employee will also be motivated to work. Eventually, teamwork will be established leading to the smooth running of the projects. Consequently, in future the management will be working on a positive environment. Leaders equipped with conflict management tools stand a better position to ensure the implementation of the project is successful. It comes in handy when the people working in the project face some disagreement and the leadership role come in place to give direction. References Black, J, 2003, Enrollment management and conceptual underpinnings. In G.L. Kramer (Ed.)Student academic services. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Bolman, L, Deal T, 2003, Reframing Organization: artistry, choice and leadership, London: John Wiley and Sons. Bolman, L., & Deal, T., 2008, Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and Leadership. San Fransisco: John Wiley and Sons. Bontrager, B, 2002, Strategic enrollment management: An introduction to core concepts and strategies. Washington, DC: American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. Deal, T., & Roper, S., 2010, Peak performance for deans and chairs : reframing higher education's middle. Washington, DC: American Council on Education. Palestini, R., 2008, game plan for effective leadership : lessons from 10 successful coaches in moving from theory to practice. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Education. Young, R., 2005, Against the Odds. Sydney: Macquarie Graduate School of Management. Read More