Foundations of Managing and Organizing - Coursework Example

Foundations of Managing & Organizing Author’s name Institutional affiliation Management: Foundations of Managing and Organizing Introduction Rationalization is the process of replacing ancient values and psychological thoughts as motivators of the socialization process and behavior in the society with more calculated and rational ones ( Bowie et al.,1931). In the corporate world, rationalization refers to the process of selling off or cutting down some organization’s branches to reorganize the company. Rationalization may be caused by the need for an organization to reduce costs, a strategic plan or in the interest of efficiency. For instance, Implementation of government bureaucracies and the establishment of ample living spaces in urban planning and architecture are forms of rationalization. Rationalization can as well present itself in a form of the European country trying to modify the culture and norms of an underdeveloped country that according to their understanding will be of help to them. They are replacing what is believed to be an old-fashioned process with a more westernized and modern process. Features of rationalization and why organizations might consider adopting it. Rationalization of culture is evident because of the process of globalization. Countries are forming links through the advancement of technology. With the adoption of appropriate technology, nations can quickly impact each other via various social networking sites, politics, and media. For instance, the witch doctors are seen as important people in the society in many African countries as part and parcel of their culture and traditions. Many Europeans have devised ways of rationalizing the practice by educating the Africans on current medicinal practices (Giddens, 2013). Consumption of food is an example of rationalization. Where Preparation of food in ancient societies is technically inefficient and more laborious, the modern society has moved towards precision and speed in its delivery. Fast food restaurants, whose main motivation is profit maximization, continue to work hard towards total efficiency since their initiation. High level of efficiency has been as a result of strict monitoring of human resources and replacing complicated production systems with time savers, simple systems and replacing meal cards with only numbered systems. Rationalization is often used as an excuse for firing workers in the downsizing process. Another observable feature of rationalization is evident in the replacement of ancient stores with modern stores (Giddens, 2013). Rationalization in this context denies customers the subjective advantage of a natural environment that is less regulated and replaces it with the objective advantage of minimal prices to consumers. The preference of the public for cheaper prices has propelled the expansion of enterprises despite the fact that they are responsible for displacing traditional stores and ancient values. How do you control an organization as it grows? Rationalization in an organization is always accompanied by pressures to increase efficiency. As a result, many organizations spend a lot of money on initiatives that only offer short term advantages. To realize the efficiency and cost saving strategy, many organization revert to downsizing and adoption of appropriate technology. It’s recommended that companies should employ an Application Portfolio Management ( Beissinger,1988) Application Portfolio Management is a tool that allows organizations to complete their application rationalization in order to improve efficiency and reduce costs. It starts by creating an inventory of current systems in operation. Its evaluation can be complex or simple depending on the maturity of the corporation. Reviewing the strategic objectives of an organization may be of great help in evaluating where to reduce the cost or make amendments. Recommendations for APM evaluation are prioritized depending on the company’s resource availability. Application management value to a growing corporation is of importance in the following ways. First, it cuts cost for new plans by exposing saving opportunities. Second, it reduces application purchases by providing ways of analyzing requests for new systems. Third, it ejects unnecessary investment by explaining the objective and vision of the organization (Bessinger, 1988). Finally, it eliminates redundancy by identifying systems that perform the same roles in the organization. Brief discussion of Leadership, power and politics in an organization Besides rationalization, there are other factors that affect the body. Leadership, Power, and Politics are part and parcel of organizations. Gareth Morgan argues that organizations are ‘intrinsically political’ such that they are systems of government ( Vecchio et al., 2007). Gaining individual power in a company depends on the knowledge of how the power significant in decision-making and shaping actions is assigned. If your aim is attaining power in your organization, you must be able to manage yourself and understand the political pool of the group. Political and leadership dynamics are exercised when two individuals advance their diverse, distinct and conflicting interests. Power and leadership shape mediations and negotiations in an organization. They maintain and create order among the organizations members. Features of early rational organization Rationalization in groups developed in different ways in ancient times in the various countries. Cultural differences, developmental stage of the forces of production, and socio-political aspects in different European countries and America are some of the factors that influenced rationalization process (Ivanko, 2007).Traditional rationalization process revolved around the formal aspects of the corporation and the principles of organization. However, the features of traditional rationalization process can further be analyzed using the work of Taylor, Ford, and Fayol. The micro-organizational view and the inductive method application in the organizations phenomena are a clear example of ancient scientific management of organizations. The researchers were first interested in dealing with workplace problems before solving higher level problems at the workplace. One of the scholars of this theory is F. W. Taylor. Scientific management embraces Taylor’s concept of the division of labor, organization specialization, management, and professional orientation. Through the management of workshops concept, he accelerated the growth of the scientific organization. F.W.Taylor, the founder of the scientific management theory, stipulated his arguments as he rose from laborer position to chief engineer ( Winkler, I. 2010) Scientific management principles focused on efficiency improvement. It systematized jobs across all departments and differentiated management officers from non-supervisory workers. He argued that corporation’s net revenue could be realized only by discovering one best way to perform each task. Managers were assigned with roles in teaching employees this technique and establishing a system of punishment and rewards to encourage its adoption. Taylor practically employed this approach in improve the quality and productivity of Coal shovellers during his tenure at Bethlehem Steel company. He received a lot of publicity. As a result, many countries adopted his approach. Irrespective of several criticisms, modern theoreticians appreciated Taylor’s methodology and his merits of being the founding father of analyzing human resources. Taylor’s principle went ahead to be employed during the first world war in an upswing manner. The need for military products in increased volumes and the lack of human resource influenced the adoption of mass and serial productions. Taylor’s methods were used in this production in a more consequent way. Another scholar who tried to explain organizational rationalization in ancient times was Engineer H. Fayol. The most important feature of his argument is the standard operations division into operational roles. He argued that there existed six primary business functions in an industrial corporation. The services mainly included: commercial, technical, accountancy, administrative, protective and financial. He sees the administrative role as the most significant of all the functions. He identified it together with the role of managing and administering. The emphasis of this school of thought revolved around the administrative function. He argued that executive function comprised of the following attributes; planning, commanding, organizing, supervising and coordinating. These administration elements were seen as fundamental roles of each manager. In Fayol’s further breakdown of government, he constructed corporation’s principle that enables managers to perform the administrative function successfully. He outlined the following principles to support his argument (Winkler, 2010). First, the division of labor: He believed that organizations tasks should be simplified into specialized roles that match demands with the workers skills. Second, Authority and Responsibility: No individual should possess orders without having responsibility. The third principle is discipline: Every person must perform their tasks with obedience and diligence. Discipline can only be realized when the subordinates and managers agree upon work ethics and subordinate roles. Order, the stability of tenure, initiative, Centralization, remuneration of personnel, Unity of command, unity of direction, individual versus direction, and spirit de corps are other principles that Fayol stipulated. Fayol laid a fundamental foundation for further development of rationalization process in Europe through further analysis of scientific management and administration. The totality of his school of thought and that of his collaborators is referred to as Fayolism. Development of scientific organization in other European countries developed under the mentorship of Fayolism in Taylorism. Weber’s bureaucratic organizational approach is a clear example of human effort within the transitional processes of labor upon bureaucracy ( Winkler, 2010). The fundamental foundation of his school of thought is the legal authority. He discussed his approach as he has witnessed it in the practice of the political and religious organization. Written rules govern human behavior. It’s only on the principles of written norms and standards that people are evaluated. The efficiency condition is an impersonality of those in leadership positions. Weber’s school of thought emphasizes strict adherence to the rules by all the workers of the organization. Responsibilities and competencies must be delimited apparently. Division of labor and specialization creates a chain of command that ensures efficient task performance. The bureaucratical nature of any corporation, the hierarchical relationship is its unique feature. The bureaucratic organization is preferred over other forms of the organization because of its technical superiority. A fully established system of bureaucracy is likened to automation in a non-mechanized production. Weber highlighted some features that characterize a bureaucratic organization. First there is selection and promotion: a Favoritism or friendship criterion is discouraged ( Winkler, 2010). The second feature is a hierarchy of authority: The superiors can direct subordinate actions. The third attribute is the division of labor: tasks can be assigned to workers in a productive and efficient manner. The fourth characteristic is rules and regulations: It provides members of the organization with impartial and consistent guidance. The fifth attribute of bureaucracy is a written document that provides a basis and consistency for analyzing bureaucratic procedures. Finally, there is separate ownership such that workers cannot attain favorable advantages as a result of ownership. Rationalization in the contemporary organizations McDonaldization is a modification of rationalization. It refers to the transition from ancient ways of thought to scientific management and rational thoughts. Where Marx Webber used the bureaucracy model to analyze the evolution of human society, Ritzer uses a fast food restaurant as an explicit representative paradigm of the modern society ( King et al., 2012). George Ritzer argues that McDonaldization is made up of four principal components. The first component is efficiency: refers to the optimal criterion of fulfilling a task. In McDonaldization, Efficiency just means that each department of the corporation is geared towards time-saving. In a consumer’s point of view, efficiency is the quickest possible way of getting satisfied. The second aspect of McDonaldization is calculability. Calculability defines the quantifiable goals of fast –food stores. George Ritzer model developed a belief that quality equals quantity. A large amount of goods and services delivered within the shortest time is equal to a high-quality product ( King et al. 2012). Calculability approach allowed individuals to analyze how much they are getting versus the price. Human resources in this plan are evaluated by the speed they use to accomplish tasks instead of the quality of tasks they perform. The idea of variety versus availability such that lots of goods and services are available but not necessarily the product you want. The third component of McDonaldization is Predictability. Switching of locations guarantees acquisition of the same product so long as McDonaldization is employed. Predictability also applies to the laborers of the corporation. Their jobs are highly routine and highly repetitive hence making them predictable. The fourth component is that workers are standardized and replaced by machines.as a result of standardization, hybridization of the culture occurs. McDonaldization unifies consumer patterns and the local cultures witnessed in the food chains are replaced by western values. Ritzer also identifies irrationality of rationality as a final aspect of McDonaldization. According to Ritzer, irrationality stipulates that rational systems are systems that are unreasonable. By that, Ritzer meant that, these systems deny the fundamental humanity the human reason of both employees and those being served. Travelodge Hotel as a case study for contemporary organization Travelodge is a hotel chain based in the United States. Travelodge wants to rationalize a number of its Properties in the UK. The hotel chain is to cut off up to 10 % of its 500 assets in the form of features and purposes to shed rent bill on around 100 properties( O’Fallon 2011). The contemporary rationalization is a move by the former owners handing it over to the current owners as debt equity. The company realized a net revenue increase of 20%, but KPMG is supposed to ask the creditors to exclude $ 720m w of the debt owned by Travelodge. If 75% of Travelodge creditors won’t agree to the calling, it will be reentered into liquidation. The debt accrued in 2005 in a buyout deal has been costing Travelodge over $ 100m each year ( O’Fallon et al., 2011) In the case of Travelodge hotel, they can still realize their dream of expanding by employing an appropriate model of scientific management. It should standardize the cooking process. Chips and Burgers should be batched together and kept warm in a timely set period instead of being cooked individually under waiter’s supervision. It makes the service faster and better. Application Portfolio Management is an effective way of evaluating the problem facing the Travelodge chain and stipulates simple solutions to their problem. It starts by creating an inventory of current Travelodge systems available in operation. Its evaluation can be complex or simple depending on the maturity of the Travelodge chain hotel such as the 500 properties available in the UK. Reviewing the strategic objectives and visionary statements of Travelodge chain hotel may be of great help in evaluating where to reduce the cost or make amendments in order to reduce the $ 100m debt loss each year. Recommendations for APM evaluation are prioritized depending on the company’s resource availability. For instance, they offer a decent shower, and a bed is reducing the usage of extra stuff like shampoo and hairdryers. They have adopted this strategy to shed off costs and improve their service delivery. Benefits and criticism of rationalization Rationalization is of greater benefits to contemporary society as a whole. The benefits of rationalization can be broken down into various enumerations as benefits to manufacturers, workers, consumers and the society as a whole. First, streamlining reduces the cost of production to manufacturers as a result of specialization of goods and services. The lesser cost of production, therefore, converts uneconomical units of value into efficient and profitable units. Rationalization uproots the growth of unhealthy competition within the industry and cuts off the wasteful expenditure on promotions, distribution, transportation and marketing of products. Rationalization encourages economies of large scale distribution and production. Through mutual understanding of firms operating in the market, centralized advertising, bulk purchasing, distribution and production policies are ensured. Different units operating a manufacturing plant can set up a collective research facility and programs. Rationalization is also of greater benefits to workers of an organization. As an result of improved net revenues and reduction of the cost of production, workers’ salaries increase. Workers, therefore, can attain higher standards of living and obtain a greater sense of security. With the improved working environment and better conditions of work, the output and efficiency of workers increase (Halari, P. (2008). Rationalization plays a significant role in establishing mutual understanding and cooperation between the workers and the employer. A proper procedure is followed in the selection, recruitment, placement and training of workers. With the proper method, workers get ample opportunities to express their skills hence increasing their efficiency. Consumers are not left behind during the rationalization process. Improved and high-quality goods are available to consumers because of adoption of standardization and specialization methods of rationalization. Standardization offers customers the convenience of choice as a result of limited varieties. With high-quality products at cheaper prices, the living standards of customers improve. Consumers can buy more goods on account of more reasonable prices. Although rationalization has benefited the society in various ways, it has received its fair share of criticism. The schemes of rationalization such as standardization, mechanization and specialization require massive capital investment to operate. During depression periods, this economic cycle, it can be hard to recover the sum of money invested in the project. Workers may also start asking for high salaries because of the increase in net revenues as a result of rationalization. Mechanization process cuts the labor resource hence so many workers may lose their jobs in the process. Leadership, power and politics Leadership, power, and politics are other aspects of the organization that can be used to curb the hitches that result from rationalization (Vecchio et al. (2007). Organizations function by allocating authority and laying a foundation leadership and exercise of power. Individuals who have an urge for leadership and power always find their satisfaction in politics. Administrators of organizations delay acknowledging the place of leadership and power in both the organization and individual motivation. Linking power and politics in an organization to the play of different personalities makes some executives to withdraw into the safety of the logics of the company. The quality of the company can be improved by realizing the significant role of personalities in making a decision on distribution of power. Companies should provide a power base for Human Resource. In an economic view, corporations exist to increase profit over costs. Organizations are also political structures that provide a foundation for people’s motives and interests hence enabling them to develop careers. Career advancement especially at professional levels and managerial levels lies in power accumulation as a tool for modifying individual’s motives and interests into behaviors that influence other individuals. The political pyramid is said to be triggered when individuals struggle for leadership in an economy of scarcity. In other words, they have to contest to achieve their interests and motives (FAIRHOLM, (2009). . They have to make a decision on how to redistribute power in a formal corporation’s structure. Power struggle arises under two conditions. The First condition is where an individual attains leadership at the expense of another. Second, where there exists gain comparatively-no one is at a loss. Individuals tend to compare and evaluate themselves as a sense of self- esteem. He may conclude that his absolute loss of power reflects an interruption in his leadership base. Individuals may also compare their personal standards relative to others and experience a sense of loss. The tendency to compare and evaluate is engrained deeply in people especially if they are suffering from effects of comparison during early life socialization process.  Definition of power makes a point in conceptualizing the leadership and control concept in an organization. It is necessary to avoid conceptualization that neglects the power struggles over the resources of the organizations whether the concept is rational or legitimate. Where power and leadership distribution is asymmetrical and hierarchical, organization learning will revolve around the status quo. Encouraging power struggles in an organization helps in eliminating the political equilibrium running the organization that implements policies that serve political interests and motives. Impact of rationalization, leadership, power and politics on the issue facing Juction Hotel Junction hotel has been undergoing through a rough patch as a result of poor leadership and management. It has been unable to satisfy customers’ needs because of the high cost of quality services and goods. There are no clear roles and responsibilities across all departments. The absence of It systems and rules worsen the situation further. As the new Executive branch manager of junction hotel, I will revolutionize the problem facing junction hotel by rationalizing the organizational structure (O’ fallon et al. 2011). Lower the rates of rooms will attract last-minute customers, and this will be a driving force in defeating competitors. According to Scientific management theories, rationalization should have a well-established bureaucracy( Beissinger et al. (1988). Precise definitions of responsibilities and functions execution of explicit regulations and rules should be implemented as part of the administration. James task is always inferred by Austin, who believes understands the job better than him because responsibilities and roles are an undefined Injunction Hotel. If rules and responsibilities injunction hotel were clear, then unnecessary disturb will be eliminated. They will spend less time if they try to be more professional hence improving service delivery ( O’ fallon et al. 2011). Leadership, power and politics versus rationalization Leadership, power, and politics will enable the workers to express their interests and motives at work by competing for promotions which is of benefit to Junction hotel. Injunction hotel will allow chefs to compare themselves with others. For instance, Titles like the “best Chef of The week” will encourage competition in service delivery in terms of cooking hence improving the service delivery of Junction hotel. Rational work and design analysis will benefit Junction hotel. Taylorism theory emphasized the evaluation and standardization of mechanisms of work and working environment. Separating the tasks assigned to waiter’s chefs into simpler tasks will help junction hotel eliminate useless actions like overlapping of work. Using the six functions of management stipulated by Fayol, it smoothen the coordination of work and make it more efficient (Fairholm, 2009 ) Rationalization offers a more substantial solution to an organization in a unique way. It aims at replacing traditional thoughts with more rational ones. It uses division of labor, specialization, standardization and mechanization as its schemes of work. Rationalization is appropriate in the overall management of the organization. Leadership, power, and politics use power struggles of interests and motives as its weapon for change. Purposes and interests are essential in shaping mediations and negotiations in the organization ( Endres, 2002). Conclusion In conclusion, leadership, power, politics, and rationalization both presumes that human beings are rational. They work hard to achieve their economic interests. They are interlinked with emotions. An appropriate strategy for solving Junction hotel is adopting an appropriate bureaucratical procedure where roles, responsibilities, rules and regulation are clearly identified. References KING, D., & LAWLEY, S. (2012). Organizational Behavior. Oxford, Oxford University Press. HALARI, P. (2008). IT Portfolio Rationalization. New Delhi, Tata McGraw-Hill Pub. BOWIE, J. A. (1931). Rationalization. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons. BURKE, R. J., & COOPER, C. L. (2009). A research companion to corruption in organizations. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=487364. ENDRES, A. M., & FLEMING, G. A. (2002). International organizations and the analysis of economic policy, 1919-1950. Cambridge [etc.], Cambridge University Press. FAIRHOLM, G. W. (2009). Organizational power politics: tactics in organizational leadership. Santa Barbara, Calif, Praeger/ABC-CLIO. VECCHIO, R. P. (2007). Leadership: Understanding the dynamics of power and influence in organizations. Notre Dame, Ind, University of Notre Dame Press. WINKLER, I. (2010). Contemporary leadership theories are enhancing the understanding of the complexity, subjectivity and dynamic of leadership. Berlin, Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7908-2158-1. O'FALLON, M. J., & RUTHERFORD, D. G. (2011). Hotel management and operations. BEISSINGER, M. R. (1988). Scientific management, socialist discipline Read More