Organisational Elements within the Context of University Environment - Essay Example

University Environment Name & ID Course Name & Code Instructor’s Name 4th Feb. 2010 Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Power and Politics 3 Conflict and Negotiation 4 Organisational Structure 5 Organisational culture 7 Conclusion 8 Reference 9 Introduction Organisation main aim is to ensure requirements of stakeholders are fulfilled. Different organisations exist that utilise different fundamentals that are aimed at fulfilling organisation requirements. In any organisation, there are characteristics that are common, and they include power and politics, conflict and negotiations, organisational culture, and organisational structure. Each of these elements comes with specific features that impact on the way organisation operates. Thus, the aim of this report is to analyse some organisational elements within the context of university environment. Power and Politics Power can be defined as the capacity of an individual, organisation or team to influence others. Power can come in different perspectives that may include control, influence, and authority, which are usually used interchangeably. In an organisation, power can be looked in terms of institutional, processual, and organisational. Processual view stresses power as bargaining and negotiation tool; institutional view sees power resting on economic and social structures while organisational view lies between the fundamentals of processual and institutional structure (Breu & Benwell, 1999). These types of power are commonly evident in university environment. For example, vice chancellor of a university may pass policies and utilise their power based on their position to ensure the considerations and views of stakeholders are incorporated in the way the university is managed. Departmental heads can also exhibit power when they guide tutors and lectures within their departments to achieve the goals that the department had set. Power in organisations brings into consideration process rather than managerial decision-making and structure may be seen as a political activity. For an individual or a team to survive and prosper in an organisation, the person or team should be able to bargain effectively for a share of resources, this mean that the individual should play the game of organisational politics (Brown, Waterhuse, & Flynn, 2003). In a university environment, politics is important and either can come in term of persuasion or controlling the agenda. Certain position in university is associated and determine with elections. For example, deans (heads of schools) and student bodies frequently participate in election to choose their preferred leader. Thus, for these individuals to succeed, they should possess political skills to ensure they can win the seats, and utilise the power associated with the seat to achieve and manage the sector or span of control effectively. Conflict and Negotiation Conflict can be defined as a natural misunderstanding that results from teams or individuals that differ in values, beliefs, attitudes and needs. Moreover, conflict may also originate from personality and past rivalries differences. Generally, the ingredients of conflict includes needs – essential requirements to well being, perceptions – interpretation of reality differently, power – definition and usage of power, values – principles or beliefs, feelings and emotions. Conflicts should be managed because it may become obstacle in management and fulfilment of organisation requirement. Causes and avenues of conflict in university environment are common especially between teaching staff and administrators, and between the university fraternity and students (Fryer, Antony & Douglas, 2007). Teaching staff may see that benefits and requirements needed to effectively fulfil teaching are not available while the students may disagree with the university administration because of rules, policies and regulations been passed that are not favourable. These are some examples of avenues of conflicts in a university environment. Conflicts deter achievement of organisation requirements, and thus numerous strategies exits that can be used to mitigate against conflicts. One of these strategies is negotiation (Fryer, Antony & Douglas, 2007). Negotiation can be defined as a dialogue that is intended to resolve disputes, to bargain for collective and individual advantage, to produce an agreement, or to formulate outcomes to satisfy various interests. Generally, it can be seen as an alternative dispute resolution. Negotiations strategies can be used to ensure misunderstandings within the university are resolved amicably (Brown, Waterhuse, & Flynn, 2003). Negotiation can be used to reach an agreement between the teaching staff and the institution administration in matters such as allowances, rewards and means/avenues in which they can raise their grievances. Moreover, student fraternity may utilise negotiation strategies to improve their way of learning, helping the student to access appropriate resources and generally ensuring conflicts are effectively managed. Organisational Structure Organisational structure is a hierarchical concept that brings into consideration subordinate entities that contribute and collaborate to serve specific organisational requirements. This means organisations are structured in numerous ways but dependant on their culture and objectives. Thus, organisational structure determines and defines the manner in which its performance and how it operates (Breu & Benwell, 1999). Organisational structure provides a means in which responsibilities for different processes and functions that are clearly allocated to different employees and different departments. Usually, organisation structure that is wrong usually hinders the success of the business. Thus, organisation structure that is effective should facilitate working relationships between the various divisions of the organisation. Some factors that influence organisation structure especially internal factors that may include product, size and skills of the workforce. When the organisation expands, the chain of command also increases while the span of control also expands (Fryer, Antony & Douglas, 2007). Numerous types of organisational structures exist but the most favourable for a university setting is mechanistic structure/model. Mechanistic model is a hierarchal structure that allows and controls the span of control, a factor that is applicable to a university setting. In a university, there are schools, departments, administration and other sectors as illustrated by the following sketch. The sketch shows different departments and sectors that are in an organisation and the span of control. For example, there is head of physics department (commonly referred to as chairperson) and then a dean is the leader in pure and applied sciences school while the vice chancellor is responsible for all activities that take place in the institution ranging from education, administration to other departments in the university (Kotter, 1996). Generally, organisational structure in a university environment is important in determining the appropriate approach that the organisation will utilise in achieving its goals while ensuring boundaries of responsibility and roles is clearly define (Breu & Benwell, 1999)d. This also will reduce conflicts and thus universities usually utilise organisation structure especially mechanistic to ensure workers operate efficiently. Organisational culture Organisational culture brings into consideration the way an organisation operates. Organisation culture can be associated with attitudes, psychology, beliefs, experiences, values and believes of an organisation (Johnson, 2004). It can be described as the norms and values that are shared between groups and individuals in an organisation, controls the way stakeholders operate within and outside of an organisation. Thus, organisational culture usually reflects the way people within an organisation relate, the way things are done, the things people value and the general perception towards each other. Moreover, organisational culture includes priorities, shared view of directors, commitments, values, personal worth and loyalty within an organisation. Generally, a positive organisational culture is important for university environment to be successful (Breu & Benwell, 1999). Moreover, positive organisational culture provides physical wellbeing, supports emotional, work satisfaction and generates high morale, and general perception of the organisation. University appreciates and possess specific culture that controls and direct the way the organisation operates. Culture originates from the founders of the organisation and through socialisation; the culture is transmitted throughout the organisation. Culture in a university is diversified because different personalities come from different parts of the world with specific culture shown by the administration and students (Brown, Waterhuse, & Flynn, 2003). Administration (i.e. teaching staff, finance controllers and library officials) share similar culture and are usually are determine to ensure the institution operates efficiently. On the other hand, students’ culture is different because their aim is to obtain maximum and quality education and assistance from the administration and teaching staff. Therefore, culture shape the way organisations operate what they aim to achieve in the future and usually are within the vision and mission statement (Fryer, Antony & Douglas, 2007). Conclusion Organisations are formed through combining different fundamentals, philosophies and views. Some common characteristics that form an organisation include conflict and negotiation, power and politics, organisation culture, and organisation structure. Conflict and negotiation should be managed effectively ensuring that conflicts are mitigated while negotiations are championed. Power and politics are an important approach in which it helps the organisation in means of asserting power and determining appropriateness of distributing and allocation of resources. On the other hand, organisational structure determines the way roles and responsibilities are determined authority, power and general operations within the organisation. Organisational culture brings into consideration the values, norms, frameworks and other contents that are paramount in ensuring the organisation achieves its goals. Organisational culture creates a feeling of togetherness and ensuring the founders dream are managed through the organisational development. These characteristics of organisation are clearly seen in a university environment when roles and responsibilities are clearly identified, championing the vision and mission statement of the university. Reference Breu, K. & Benwell, G. 1999. Modelling individual transition in the context of organisational transformation. Journal of Management Development, 18(6), pp. 495-520. Brown, K., Waterhuse, J. & Flynn, C. 2003. Change management practices: Is a hybrid model a better alternative for public sector agencies? The International Journal for Public Sector Management, 16(3), pp. 230-241. Fryer, K., Antony, J. & Douglas, A. 2007. Critical success factors of continuous improvement in the public sector. The TQM Magazine, 19(5), pp. 497-517. Johnson, D. 2004. Adaptation of organisational change models to the implementation of quality standard requirements. International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, 21(2), pp. 154-174. Kotter, J. 1996. Leading change: why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review. Mar-Apr. P. 59-67. Read More