How the Management Responds to the Environment - Example

Management theories are developed in response to the problems faced by managers and to develop a clear set of instructions for doing work and assigning job responsibilities. So, management theories are very important for delegating work tasks and implementing business strategies. Here, the question may arise that why should managers study management theories? And the obvious answer from my side will be that it helps them to seek ideas that will ultimately improve their management capabilities and allow them to make better contributions towards their respective organizations. The past is all around, and managers frequently study history to learn about the present and to find new ways for addressing their future. The members of Nordstrom family who run the Seattle-based departmental store chain regularly refer to the roots of store’s chain. For example, when they were expanding their product line from shoe retailing to apparel retailing, Nordstrom management made a conscious and precise decision to remain committed to the store’s traditional high level of personal service. So in the same way, for many other organizations around the globe, the past is a valuable source of ideas and warnings that can help managers to understand and cope with the expected and the unexpected, simple and the complex. So, by reviewing the lessons learnt from the past, mangers see the patterns and the turning points that help them anticipate and meet the challenges of future. However, the pioneers of management thought that they have proposed ideas that may offer valuable clues to improve managerial practices. When a western-style management program was established at the International Management Center in Hungary in 1989, at that time the curriculum included a course on the history of management, which was designed to help the Hungarian managers to understand how capitalistic business management evolved in western nations. So this concludes that older theories of management offer insights that helps to explain the results of the past and that can also be applied to the current situations. As we all know that management is a dynamic process that defies easy classification, regardless of the fact that how tempting it may be to describe management through theories like quantitative and classical management. Furthermore, applying a neat timetable for the development of progressive schools of thought is almost impossible; theories may emerge concurrently, influencing each other and stimulates research on various key factors. Managers typically draw from different schools of thoughts for achieving their goals. One way to learn about management theories is to study the method and the results shown by successful managers and by keeping in mind that what works in one situation may not work well in other situation. So mangers also have to do a situational analysis. Managers must constantly evaluate theories and techniques to see which strategies should suit their particular business situation. Researchers and practitioners are continuously trying to improve the management approaches for today and in the future. Forces that shape Management Theories The major forces that influenced management theories are technological, economical, social and political forces. 1. Technological Forces. These forces include the knowledge, techniques and activities that may lead to profound changes in the products and services or processes. These forces brought about Industrial Revolution that made possible the advanced communications and electronics that today supports the business and governments around the globe. 2. Economic Forces These forces include economic trends and most importantly the availability of all types of resources that include physical, human, financial, and information resources. Scarcity of these or either of these resources leads towards technological advances. Economic forces have influenced management theories in the areas of environmental analysis, decision making and goals, planning human resource management, control and organizational design. 3. Social Forces These are the values, needs and norms that influence the behavior of people within a specified culture. Major social forces that are in interest nowadays are preserving the natural environment, dual-career families and worldwide immigration patterns. So as the societies continue to grow further, there’s also need of supervising them. As a result, managers had to adopt new theories of employee motivation, organization structure, leadership and that of human resource management. 4. Political Forces These forces consist of government policies and legal institutions. These forces impact organizations both in public and private sector. And moreover, the political actions in one nation also have a profound impact on other nations as well. Early Management Thought and Practices Contemporary management theories are latest in a long line of management practices. The application of management principles stretches back to the early history of around 5000 B.C. Those management functions, which were applicable at that time, are also still being studied and applied by today’s managers. For instance, as early as 5000 B.C., Sumerain temple priests used to keep written records to control their tax system, monetary holdings and lands. The ancient Egyptions also were able to erect the pyramids by using management functions to plan, organize and control these large-scale projects. One of the world’s oldest non-governmental organizations, the Roman Catholic Church also a long history of applying management functions. Before the Industrial Revolution, families owned and operated relatively small businesses that made only one type of product line or services under the watchful eyes of owners. So managers of all these large-scale organizations faced new management problems, and it has been argued that the switch from home-centered business to factory businesses was in fact a management revolution. Three pioneers who practiced a lot and wrote about success in solving problems of handling and managing large-scale organizations. Their names were Robert Owen, a British Industrialist; Charles Babbage, an English mathematician and Henry Towne, an American mechanical engineer. So these ancient pioneers in management theories set the stage or laid the foundation or made a stepping-stone for more formal management theories that followed. The Classical Management Perspective By the end of 19th century, industrial expansion paced up, and management was spending much more time and money in training their employees in order to handle specialized machines and other related tasks. Despite the rapid technological advances, employee’s productivity remained comparatively low. So in order to increase their efficiency, effectiveness and overall productivity, practitioners began to study management theories much more intensely. Because, already the foundation have been led by the pioneers in this arena. So these theories shed light on the relationships of managers and employees and emphasized the efficiency and effectiveness in operations of organizations as a whole. Therefore, these theories are collectively referred as “classical management theories”. This classical management perspective includes two major schools of thoughts, which are ‘scientific management’ and ‘classical organization’ theory. Scientific Management Theory It’s a first branch of classical management perspective that emphasizes the objectives and scientific study of work for improving employee’s efficiency and productivity. Some few prominent contributors of scientific management theory are Fredrick W. Taylor, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, Henry Gantt and Harrington Emerson. Classical Organization Theory It’s a second branch of classical management perspective that focuses on the organization as a whole and on the ways to improve its effectiveness and efficiency. Major contributors of this theory are Henri Fayol, Max Weber, Lyndall Urwick, Luther Guliick and Chester Bernard. Outcomes Management skills are meant to deal with the art of delegating work but not delegating responsibility. These management skills involve setting deadlines and maintaining effective follow-up, being a good team worker, exhibiting true leadership and ownership, having good communication all across, providing direction to people as and when required, problem solving approach, leading by example, doing hard work, understanding each person strengths and utilizing those efficiently while at the same time helping people overcome their weaknesses and dedication. A lot of managerial skills get better and better with time and experience than and as long as you are willing to learn and apply your lessons to work. Managers are responsible to supervise and take charge of the overall activities and productivity of their workers. They play a vital role in managing the performance of their staff. They are also involved in employee selection, career development, succession planning and working out compensation and rewards for their subordinates. They are also responsible for the growth and increase in the organizations' finances and earnings. Roles and Responsibilities of Mangers Decision making A manager is the one who makes organizational decisions and handles a variety of problems that arises on a regular basis. He/she has to identify the problems and to create choices and select alternative courses of actions. The daily routine of decision-making includes determining how to approach an employee who is not performing well at all or lacking progress and how to bring about the necessary changes to the organization and its team members. It involves thinking, crafting and implementing strategies on how to improve quality besides being cost conscious and effective. Goal setting, planning and organizing. In order to achieve long-term goals and remain committed to strategies for substantial earnings, managers have to communicate the vision of the company to their subordinates. They break down and clarify the goals, which each team or individuals have to perform and assign work schedules and make strategies for fulfilling those set goals. Having set goals and planning out the needed directions, allow for effective time management and saves cost and resources. Guiding and giving directions. The manager’s role as the ‘head’ of an organization is to guide and give complete directions to their staff so that their team can perform effectively and efficiently even under tense conditions. Managers offer on-job coaching, training and support. For individuals to meet the needs and objectives of the organization, they may need extra input, information or skills. Empowering others. The performance of the teams depends on their abilities to empower them. How well a person performs under a given condition depends on his/her motivation level. The manager’s task is to encourage and coach others to improve themselves and the quality of their work. They need to implant the key factors of success in their subordinates; desire to excel and accept responsibility and self-management. Communication and people skills. As a boss, his/her ability to develop trust and confidence and resolving problems and issues will result in a productive and goal oriented work group. Managers should encourage their teams to ask for help when needed and remain involved and participate in company matters. They should practice empathy and respect their personal values, opinions and ideas. Listen and respond and offer praises and encouragements whenever they make progress. By doing that it enhances their self-esteem and they will offer the cooperation. A manager is the middle person in between the top-level management and the team that reports to him. So, therefore he/she has to ensure that communication is smooth and conveyed clearly to avoid misinterpretations and dissatisfaction. Evaluating and analyzing. Managers need to have the capacity to evaluate and examine a process or procedure and then deciding the best choice to produce an outcome. They should look at the importance of work, quality and values and then taking the best approach suitable at that particular time. They are also expected to track the progress of each and every individual's activities and effectiveness, review them and offering feedback and counseling. Provide satisfaction among the staff and the customers. Manager’s subordinates are always happy when they know that their supervisors provide them with the necessary tools and resource. They feel immensely secure if the management puts priority on health, safety and cleanliness issues of their employees. Because they satisfy customers by giving good quality of services or products and take care of their subordinate’s needs. Being an exemplary role model. Managers, who set quite high standards or goals and then able to achieve them are truly the great leaders. Their ability to tolerate stress and remain poised under job pressures and still maintaining a high activity and energy level are communicable. They should really set the example by being accountable for their own activities and performance. So work hard on your personal growth and you will become a respected and efficient leader. As far as environmental factors are concerned, I would like to tell about some major environmental factors, which immensely influence are organizations and its management as a whole. These environmental factors play quite vital role in shaping management philosophies and different strategies. Therefore, managers of all types of organizations and in all parts of the world must consider that how the environment affects their decisions and activities so that they will be able to react to potential threats recognize opportunities and then plan for the future. So organizational environment can help or even hurt management’s effort to attain organizational goals because it consists of all the forces that influences the organizations either directly or indirectly. However, environmental factors consist of two broad categories, namely Internal Environment and External Environment. Internal Environment It contains forces inside the organization, including owners and shareholders, the board of directors, employees and the organizational culture. External Environment It contains all the forces, which are outside the organization. In order to distinguish between general forces and more direct forces outside the organization, it is therefore helpful to further divide external environment into ‘General Environment’ and ‘Task Environment’. General environment is that portion of the external environment that contains those external forces outside the organizations that have a general impact on organization. These forces include political-legal forces, economic forces, technological forces, socio-cultural forces and international forces. Task environment, also known as ‘operating environment’, contains those forces that have a more direct impact on the organization as compared to general forces. It includes customers, suppliers, competitors, labor supply, regulators and partners. Management within the Organizational Environment In this section, we analyze two major components that are as follows: How the environment influences the organization and How should the management respond to the environment? How the Environment Influences the Organization The environmental forces can potentially affect organizational performance in a variety of ways. Therefore, managers must identify the specific forces that influence their particular organization and then determining their nature of impact. Two major frameworks are commonly used to analyze environmental influence on the organization. They are ‘environmental uncertainty’ and ‘environmental interaction’. How the Management Responds to the Environment To deal with an impact of environmental forces, managers must gather all the information about the environment, determine whether and when to respond and then taking an appropriate action at the right time. First step of managers is whether to respond to environment or not. In this step, managers connect the organization with the environment and then coordinate interaction with the key environmental forces by setting boundary-spanning roles and activities. ‘Boundary-spanning’ involves collecting and processing information about the environment and then passes the relevant details to the managers inside the organization. And the next step is to decide how to respond to the environment. Managers can use variety of available resources and transformational processes in order to respond to environment. References Johnson, G. & Scholes, K.(2002), Exploring Corporate Strategy, Text and Cases, 6th ed, Pearson Education Limited, . Bovee, C. Thill, J. & Wood, M.(1993), Management ,International ed, McGraw-Hill, . (2008), Managers - Roles and Responsibilities. Available from: http://www.about-personal-growth.com/managers.html [Accessed: November 26, 2008]. Shiksha (2008), Management Issues. Available from: http://ask.shiksha.com [Accessed: November 26, 2008]. Read More