Management in Australian Perspective - Case Study Example

Management in Australian Perspective Introduction In all organizational and business activities, management is the act of getting people together in order to achieve desired goals and objectives effectively and efficiently. Management consists of organizing, staffing, planning, directing and controlling an organization for achieving the said objectives. Management can be defined as human action, which aids in the production of constructive results from a system. In every organization, managers are expected to carry out various roles and responsibilities in order to help the organization meet the desired goals. For instance, managers are expected to assist in achieving the organization objectives, visions and goals; they are responsible for the increase and growth in the organizations earnings and finances, supervise the overall performance of the staff in the respective departments; and identify problems, create choices and give alternatives for actions among other responsibilities (Gomez-Mejia et al, 2008). Due to the challenging opportunities in the economy, companies and organizations must find ways to face the competitive nature of the market and as a result, managers must put efforts to ensure efficiency and profitability. In many cases, managers are given limited time, staff or resources to solve challenging problems and it is their responsibility to ensure that things are done in a given time and within budget. In Australia, most managers have a tendency of focusing on economic results at the expense of other important things such as workplace diversity, downsizing, quality, globalization and restructuring. This can be seen as a result of most responsibilities they are expected to meet and above all they have to ensure profitability of the company. This essay will focus on various reasons why Australian managers focus on achieving economic results at the expense of other vital things, organization culture and its effectiveness, and managements role in managing organization culture. Organizations can carry out various actions such as downsizing or restricting in order to achieve its objectives. Downsizing is intended at reducing the size of the organization. The managers achieve this by reducing the number of employees through redeployment, layoffs, early retirement, and attrition and also by reducing the number of managerial levels through outsourcing, divestiture, de layering or reorganization. Most managers in Australia are seen to downsize and restructure in order to achieve economic results. They believe by reducing the number of employees, and managerial levels will reduce the company’s expenditure and also do away with inefficient employees, therefore retaining only the efficient and productive ones who are able to meet the goals of the organization (Paul, 2008). Downsizing can make organization lose important staff members who are essential for future growth thus it is questionable if downsizing and restricting is really development. In order to achieve economic results, Australian managers have seen the importance of going global. Globalization is the movement across states of investment, trade, finance, technology and labour. In other terms, globalization is defined as process of businesses becoming international and conducting their operations in different nations. The process of globalization combined with technological revolution is modifying the shape of global markets and the nature of businesses. Globalization can be in form of markets or production (Paul, 2008). Managers in many organizations are seen to adapt the globalization process in order to achieve economic results more so in Australian organizations. Workplace diversity is disparity between individuals in an organization. This encompasses gender, race age, organization function, personality, and education among others. Through employing staffs with different talents, an organization is able to cope with various problems as it has adequate solutions to it. An organizations competitiveness and success lies upon its capability to embrace diversity and appreciate its benefits. A diverse collection of experiences and skills enables a company to offer services to customers at international basis. In Australia, organizations are seen to fight against work place diversity by employing staffs from all races despite color or gender. As a result, they are able to attain their set economic outcomes. Organization culture and its effectiveness Currently, organization culture is defined to include the leadership style, symbols and language, routines and procedures, and the definition of success that describes an organization. It is an exact compilation of norms and values that are shared by groups and people in an organization and that directs the way they interact with one other and with such people as stakeholders outside the organization. Organizational values are ideas and beliefs that pertains objectives and goals each member of the organization should practice and the suitable standards of behavior organizational members should use to attain the said goals and objectives (Daniel et al, 1995). Organization guidelines and norms usually develop from organizational values and they describe apt kinds of behavior by staffs in precise situations and manage the behavior of organizational members towards each other. According to Daniel (1995), contemporary, organization culture has gained acceptance as a method of understanding human systems. Every feature of organization culture can be seen as a vital environmental condition that affects the system and its sub system. As a result of increased competition, mergers, globalization, alliances and acquisitions, the need for organization culture has raised and it has become an essential pattern for the development of the organization. Organization culture consists of various key ingredients which include: it focuses interest on the human side of organization existence, it clarifies the significance of creating suitable systems of shared meaning to assist people work jointly towards achieving desired results, and it also necessitates members particularly leaders to admit the impact of their behaviors on the organizations culture. Organizational culture is the most critical factor determining an organization effectiveness, capacity, and longevity in addition to contributing to the organizations brand promise and brand image. Positive organization cultures have been associated to augmented staff alignment, resulting in improved organizational effectiveness, amplified staff productivity, heightened agreement concerning strategic direction, and superior levels of staff commitment. Strong organization culture in a company can result to various benefits such as a shared understanding, facilitates open communication among staff and the management, strong sense of identification, mutual trust and cooperation, informal control mechanism and fewer disagreements resulting to efficient and effective decision making processes (Solomon, 2010). Management’s role in managing organizational culture Organizational leaders usually manage their operations and finances but they should also manage their cultures. Managing organization culture is vital as its effectiveness can also help an organization in advancing corporate aims. Managers have the responsibility of managing culture in the contemporary society (Gomez-Mejia, 2008). This should be a continuing process if the organization is to keep rate with the changing customer needs, markets, and the increased competition. Culture management is significant when you consider an organization microenvironment and macro- environment. Such external forces as regulatory, socio-economic and geo-political constitute macro environment while microenvironment includes internal forces such as staff decisions, corporate development strategies, and resource allocation, which are within management control (Daniel et al, 1995). The management has diverse roles that ensure the maintenance of an effective organization culture. Among them include: planning- The management has a role of planning on how to accomplish its productivity objectives and goals, major important development scenarios, planning a strategic formula to the employees, and appraising percentage returns of the organization (Solomon, 2010). The other function of the management in maintaining an effective organization culture is budgeting. Every organization has a set of goals and objectives to achieve. These are determined by an annual budget, which shows the organizations expenditure and incomes and the expected returns. It is the management responsibility to show an annual budget of the organization, which enhances development. Management also has the responsibility of evaluating. A management that has good leadership and effective functions also gives motivation to the surrounding environment. Staffs can get ideas from observing other related successful companies due to its management and the way leaders perform their roles. Managers should work jointly with the employees to motivate them to work towards achieving the desired goals. The last role of management is facilitating. Every organization requires having a stimulating relationship between the workers and the leaders. In order to inspire and raise the effort of the labour to the employees, the organization should provide a good and efficient working environment. Managers should set a good example and develop trust to the employees by doing what they say (Wesee, 1995). Organization policy implementation has to be focused on every day actions in order to facilitate the organization in achieving its objectives. Employees share responsibilities with their managers for understanding and taking part in formal development of the organization. Conclusion This essay has encompassed an introduction to management and has focused on Australian managers. As stated above, every organization has set goals such as economic goals, which it aims at achieving. It is the managers’ role to ensure that the company achieves these goals. Most managers undertake downsizing and restructuring, globalization and workplace diversity in order to achieve positive economic results. The essay has also focused on organization culture and its effectiveness. As mentioned above, good organization culture can help an organization improve its efficacy and also amplify staff productivity. In addition, the essay has also focused on management’s role in managing organizational culture. Some of these roles include planning, budgeting, evaluation and facilitation. Therefore, we can conclude that every organizations achievements and failures lies in the hands of managers who are entrusted by the stakeholders to run their organization effectively and efficiently. References Daniel, R. Aniel, K. (1995), Towards a Theory of Organizational Culture and Effectiveness, Journal of Organizational Science, 6(2): 204-223. Gomez-Mejia, R.; David, B. and Robert, L. (2008), Management: People, Performance, Change, 3rd edition. New York, McGraw-Hill. Paul, D. (2008), Core Concepts and Applications, Sydney, John Wiley & Sons Australia. Solomon, G. (2010), Managing Organizational Culture for Effective Communication, Journal of Social Sciences, 5(2):70-75. Weese, J. (1995), Leadership and Organizational Culture. Journal of Sport Management, 9, 119-133. Read More