Work and Organisation Systems - Assignment Example

WORK AND ORGANISATION SYSTEMS Answer 1: Structural Frame The basic premise of the structural frame is mired in the philosophy that clear, well-understood goals, roles, and relationships and adequate coordination are essential to organisational performance. This would also then imply that right structure forms a solid underpinning to combat the risk that individuals, however talented, will become confused, ineffective, apathetic, or hostile. The structural frame deals with how the organisation is structured (usually depleted in an organisational chart) and focuses on different groups’ roles and responsibilities in order to meet the goals and policies set by top management. This frame is very rational and focuses on coordination and control. For example, within the structural frame, a key information technology personnel in one department and decentralize across several departments. The structural frame emphasizes the importance of formal roles and relationships. Structures-commonly depicted by means of organisational charts is created to fit an organisation’s environment and technology. The focus is on an organisational direction and goals, roles and policies, procedures and coordination and planning. The structural process basically provides the vehicle by which clarification of direction, roles and documentations of policies and procedures can be communicated and undertaken, and therefore, is a means by which the vision of the school is put into practice. Caldwell and Spinks’ (1988) model offers an example of a structural framework for planning where organisational direction, roles, policies and procedures are coordinated and systematically managed through a process of collaboration which: 1. Integrated goal setting, policy making, planning, budgeting, implementing and evaluating in a manner which contrasts with the often unsystematic, fragmented processes which have caused so much frustration and ineffectiveness in the past 2. Secures appropriate involvement of staff, students and the community, with clearly defined roles for governing bodies where such groups exists and have responsibility for policy making 3. Focuses on the central functions of schools-learning and teaching-and accordingly organizes the management of the organisation around programmes which correspond to the preferred patterns of work in the company. In the current organisation, the problem with structure is well established. The financial department, whose role should be to clarify the finances of the company, in an important capacity has been relegated to the background and ascribed the role which is of no significance. The issue of structure is also one of teamwork and leadership. The idea with the implementation of the project should have been made clear in the very beginning with a clear definition of the roles and the responsibilities that each member of the team would be expected to fulfill. The structural frame also needs to address the issue of change within the organisation. Change in this case is related to the development where the company proceeds through stages in a fairly predictable order. This change is usually strategic and planned given the fact that in most such cases tasks are identified for each stage of change management and most of these need to be accomplished for the completion of the stage in general and the overall process of change in particular (Harrington and Terry, 2008). It involves advanced strategy by a change agent-a champion responsible or leading the group through change.  Incremental change in this context involves a panned change that occurs gradually in steps or stages. The main responsibility on the part of the finance director for Henry and Mark and other members of the team therefore is to ensure that there is clarity in the organisational goals. They also needed to attend to the relationship between structure and environment, and to develop a structure that is clear and appropriate to the goals, the task, and the environment. Without such a structure, people become unsure about what they are supposed to be doing. The result is confusion, frustration, and conflict. In an effective organisation, individuals are clear about their responsibilities and their contribution. Policies, linkages, and lines of authority are well-defined. When an organisation has the right structure and people understand it, the organisation can achieve its goals and individuals can be effective in their roles. In this case, the problem was that the various members of a team, although necessarily sharing certain similar basic assumptions and working along the lines of certain pre determined paths, was confused about the exact nature of the roles that they were expected to shoulder. Also the role expected of the finance department was not defined, in as much as it was not seen as performing an important subset of functions in the context of the larger organisational functions. The subset needed to bear a kaleidoscope of contrasting an overlapping perceptions and interpretations in regard to each case and each process of problem solving within a given context. From this potential richness could evolve perspectives and ideas for intervening that could be reflective of the depth of understanding not easily available to a single therapist. Also important is the fact members of the structure should have been able to punctuate events in a different way leading potentially to a more distinct analysis, whereas a single person might more easily be persuaded into a particular perspective or punctuation and thus unwittingly to join the game without end. This could be particular tricky in the instance of a problem that is particularly complex. Ideally, given the structural frame, teams have several ideating forces and thus have access to several points of view and several manners of perception thereby creating multiple avenues for problem solving. In addition to offering varied perspectives and greater levels of objectivity, working as a team can also lead to increased inventiveness and creativity. Ideas can be “thrown around”, argued about, built on or modified; free association and pout of the blue ideas can be shared and utilized; seemingly irrelevant ideas could at times lead to discussions and into new and sometime more productive directions. Answer 2: Human Resource Frame The human resources frame focuses on producing harmony between the needs of the organisation and the needs of the people. It recognizes that there are often mismatches between the needs of the organisation and the needs of individuals and groups and works to resolve any potential problems. For example many projects might be more efficient for the organisation if personnel worked 80 per cent or more hours a week for several months. This work schedule would probably conflict with the personal lives of those people. Important issues in information technology related to the human resources frame are the issues of skilled information technology workers within the organisation and unrealistic schedule imposed on many projects. The human resource frame is underpinned by the premise that companies are organisations steeped in human needs, wants and claims. There is constant interplay between the individual and the organisation to ensure a fit between administrative goals and individual and the organisation to ensure a fit between administrative goals and individual members. If organisations are alienating in their operatuin, valuable human talents are lost and human lives become unfulfilled. Effective leadership takes account of the fact that people and organisations need each other. Organisations need professional experience and expertise, ideas and commitment; people need satisfying work, an income and social and personal expression. Good leadership is sensitive to this interdependence, arranging structures and conditions to meet the professional and personal needs of staff. The quality of the decisions which are made, and the improved outcomes for students that result from them will depend on the extent to which leaders operate all over the broad base of all those who are directly responsible for the development of the organisational goals. Genuine involvement the decision making activities of the company acknowledge and values the collective skills and expertise of all within the organisation, believing which can contribute meaningfully in their own way. Participatory decision making ensures that those responsible for implementing decisions or policies are actively enagaged in the decision making process itself; not in one-off or occasional capacity but as a continuous, on-going and integral part of the company. Also, it was found by Hunter et al (1990) that productivity difference between average and above average employees nearly double in high versus low complexity jobs. Specifically as job complexities tend to increase, above average employees become more and more productive. Above average employees productivity increases because their ability helps them effectively manage the discretion and autonomy that frequently accompany job complexities. Above average employees may be more effective at high organisational levels because employee discretion and autonomy which are correlates of job complexity increase by organisational levels. Therefore at high organisational levels, the cost of above average employees may be justified because of difference in their organisational impact, compared to that of average of below average employees. As organisation utilize strategic human resource management, practices targeted at the increase of employee retention and performance, management scholars continue to investigate both the discrete and the combined effects of human resource management on these organisational outcomes (Wright and Snell, 1998). One such HRM function that continues to receive considerable attention is compensation. While an organisation’s compensation strategy has in general been found to predict organisational performance research is suggestive of the fact that an organisation’s ability to attract, motivate and retain employees while simultaneously increasing performance through its compensation policies is contingent on a myriad of contextual factors (Brown, Sturman and Simmering, 2003) The philosophy of training in the context of this case would be centered on not just the improve skills for the current job but also to prepare the employee for future responsibilities. Job rotation and participation in cross functional or cross divisional tasks can get rid of the feeling of stagnation and boredom that seems to have set in (Charvatova and Veer, 2006). The idea is to give the employee a new challenge, continuously helping him evolve thereby adding greater value to the organisation’s resources with the same amounts of inputs. There is also a certain amount of stress that needs to be laid on promotion from within the organisation itself, thereby help remove the feeling of alienation and disillusionment from the staff.    There is no real sense of purpose or a strategic outline behind the manner in which human resources or the people working in the organisation are managed. Managers are regarded as being high handed and autocratic. Training is obviously not provided to the staff regarding work specifications given the fact that there are complaints from customers about the unfriendly and inefficient nature of the airline staff. There is zero recognition of the approach that needs to be adopted while dealing with customers. Finally there is general job dissatisfaction within the ranks of the staff. This is due to absence of learning and promotion opportunities. The performance evaluation criteria and processes need to be related to broad contributions. In addition to individual evaluation, performance appraisal by peers and based on team performance should be made a more common feature. The broad based contributions can be captured in what is known as the 360-Degree feedback mechanism. Finally, the key to using compensations and benefits in building a mutual investment oriented employee relations process is not focused merely on increasing the absolute pay or benefits but communicating preferred behavior and accentuating long term investment in employees. Family friendly benefits are one way of doing this.   Also important here is the concept of training. The problem in this case, would be aligned to the fact that the training exercise was depicted as the necessitated by the need for problem redressal rather than providing the employees with career advancement opportunities. This made the process of training tedious and made the employees feel like second rate citizens, ensuring that the very purpose which should have made the process a success was defeated in its entirety. Training, in keeping with the theory should have become an ongoing process, with no stigma attached to it. It is important here, to look at the various facets of the training process. Training can be classified into two essential formats: On the job training and off the job training. On the job training is a structured process conducted at the employee’s work area to provide the employee with the knowledge and skills aimed at the performance of job tasks, It is an ongoing process that is designed mostly to help the employee in gaining greater competence and overcome barriers to the improvement of performances. On the job training experiences would include coaching understudy programs and assignments job rotation, lateral transfer, project and committee assignments and staff meetings. Training means increasing the temporary and necessary skills of the new employees. it is two types on the job and off the job. Bohlander and Snell (2009) identify off the job training as training in which employees learn his work by attending seminar, meeting, conference or by viewing. He is not allow to work on floor till he become expert in all the necessary field. These would include methods such as conference or discussion methods, classroom training, programmed instructions, computer based training simulation, closed circuit TV, tele-training and interactive e-learning. Off the job experiences include analysis of case studies, management games, role-playing and behavior modeling.   The final thread to the programme needed to be the implementation of the skill perfection session, in essence an extension of the repetition or the discussion session. The idea is the improvement of the overall skill set. The idea here was to help the workers gain practicable knowledge of the skill that has been acquired, through implementation in practice that which has been taught in theory. Instead in this case, the training process acquired a bad case of unwanted attention ensuring that the participants did not want to participate. Important in this case was the role played by the finance director in kotivating an understaffed team in achieving their goal. The human resource frame relevant here has to do with the fact that workers will give their 100 per cent when they feel they are valued. It is here that the role of the leader in ensuring that her workers remained motivated became important. Answer 3: Political Frame The political frame addresses organisational and personal politics. Politics in organisations take the form of competition among groups or individuals for power and leadership. The political frame assumes that organisations are coalitions composed if varied individuals and interest groups. Often, important decisions need to be made based on the allocation of scarce resources. Competition for scarce resources made conflict a central issue in organisations and power improves the ability to obtain scarce resources. Project managers must pay attention to politics and power of they are to be effective. It is important to know who opposes your projects as well as who supports them. Important issues in information technology related to the political frame are the power shifts from central functions to operating units from functional managers to project managers. According to Bolman and Deal (1991), the political frame asserts that the face of enduring differences and scarce resources, conflicts among members of a coalition is inevitable and power incidentally becomes a resource. Political behavior is an inevitable and power consequence of a asocial organisation and includes as Robbins (1989) states, “ those activities that are not required as part of one’s formal role in the organisation but that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organisation. Political tactics need not bear negative connotations. Used wisely, political power is a constructive and necessary part of the leadership function. Leaders use power as a means of attaining group goals and facilitating achievements. Solutions to problems can be developed through political skill and acumen. Negotiation and bargaining are all part of everyday organisational life. If as Bolman and Deal (1991) suggest, the goals, structure and policies of a school emerge from ongoing process of bargaining and negotiating among staff then there is a pressing need for leaders to be active in the political process. Given the social nature of schools and the fact that the entire enterprise revolves around people, political behavior is inescapable. As Robbins (1989) state, the acquisition and distribution of power is a natural process in any group or organisation. Here political realities are recognized and human beings live out their daily lives and socially construct their reality through the negotiations, contractions and resistances of rules and resources within which their lives and entwined. Where the problems of teamwork are concerned, one has to understand the fact that most of these problems stem from the fact that requisite effect teamwork comes preloaded with prerequisites of its own in terms of the fact that it needs members to be cooperative and supportive. They also have to have the ability to put others before themselves, a feat that is not easily achievable. There is always a danger within a team that a wrong opinion get pushed through just because it has majority support, thereby making the role of the individual pitifully small, having reverse effects in terms of promoting participation and motivation by leaving the individual out and removing the drive for excellence. The first relevant section here is that despite resource crunch and an obvious power struggle in recognizing various branches as important, the implementation of the project got the finance team the recognition it deserved. Also important here is the fact that there was an obvious case of neglect and insufficient resource allocation where the department was concerned. at this juncture the leadership capabilities displayed by the finance director assumes relevance. Not only did she put her foot down and got the management to approve the project, she also played the role of soothing frayed nerves, of dealing with jealousies and of recognizing the problems that cropped up at various stages of project implementing and dealing with them in a quick and timely manner. A leader could be defined as the individual having ,managerial control along with a echelon of sway over the ultimate organisational outcomes along with control over the actions of the members of his team” (Cook, 2007) In the above cited case, the problems facing the organisation are relatable to the issue of resources. There is an obvious resource crunch because of which the project saw delays at intermittent levels and time periods. Answer 4: Projects in large organisations Large organisations, which have mature and well run IT departments may well have formal project offices with established project planning standards, dedicated project office staff and probably automated plan-quality checking systems. Effective examples would be seeking orphan tasks, missing dependencies and measuring other metrics to provide an overall 'plan quality' assessment. In the context of this case, there needs to be mix of the structural, political and Hr frames to be deployed in effectively dealing with the problems facing the organisation at present. Role of the leader: Political frame The manager who makes the occasional witty remark is likely to be perceived as being approachable and friendly effective leaders demonstrate good emotional intelligence and the ability to manage themselves and their relationships effectively-this would broadly encompass traits related to leadership effectiveness including self confidence empathy and passion for the task.   The Leaders One has to remember the fact that one o the primary desirable qualities that need be inherent in a leader is the ability to inspire trust from his/team members. This one could term as flexibility. It is required for a manager especially when dealing with new team members who may need specific , firm direction to get started. PM should be able to adopt various styles of leadership (Authorative, Colloborative etc) with various people. It is often essential that a manager has the ability to ensure that team members and subordinates are comfortable sharing their doubts and insecurities along with the ability to admit their mistakes in front of the manager. this would then automatically then mean that a manager that scares rather than inspires people would never be the kind of leader that would get trust necessary for the success of a team. Keeping the political frame in employment, one has to argue about the correct deployment of available resources, keeping in mind the constraints. Here the role of the leader/project manager assumes significance. One has to remember the fact that one of the primary desirable qualities that need be inherent in a leader is the ability to inspire trust from his/team members. This one could term as flexibility. The leadership in the context of the company would need to have the ability to adopt various styles of leadership (Authorative, Colloborative etc) with various people. It is often essential that a manager has the ability to ensure that team members and subordinates are comfortable sharing their doubts and insecurities along with the ability to admit their mistakes in front of the manager. The focus of this particular style of decision making is an organisational style that is a lot less hierarchical (Cottam, 2004).   The team The various members of a team, although necessarily sharing certain similar basic assumptions and working along the lines of certain well defined pre determined paths would also bring to bear a kaleidoscope of contrasting an overlapping perceptions and interpretations in regard to each case and each process of problem solving within a given context. From this potential richness can evolve perspectives and ideas for intervening that could be reflective of the depth of understanding not easily available to a single therapist. Each member may also be able to punctuate events in a different way leading potentially to a more distinct analysis, whereas a single person might more easily be persuaded into a particular perspective or punctuation and thus unwittingly to join the game without end. This could be particular tricky in the instance of a problem that is particularly complex. A team on the other hand would have several ideating forces and thus have access to several points of view and several manners of perception thereby creating multiple avenues for problem solving. In addition to offering varied perspectives and greater levels of objectivity, working as a team can also lead to increased inventiveness and creativity. Ideas can be “thrown around”, argued about, built on or modified; free association and pout of the blue ideas can be shared and utilized; seemingly irrelevant ideas could at times lead to discussions and into new and sometime more productive directions. Theoretically, variables internal to a company are referred to as the 'internal environment of the organisation which are in general reviewed through the application of 'Five Ms', which include Men, Money, Machinery, Materials and Markets. The internal environment is as important for managing change as the external. This would mean in essence that in order or the organisation to succeed, it would need to focus internally as much as it focuses externally-this would lead one to consider the process of management, training and leadership development at the agency. It is also important here to pronounce the importance of shared experiences and teamwork within the organisation- The basic functioning ideology that govern the process of teamwork promotion is that of the advent of the one way mirror to the discovery of the telescope that allows for two different perspectives to be taken simultaneously-that of the participant in a process and that an observer of an commentator on that process. The idea essentially is that seeing things differently makes it possible that one thinks differently as well. The meeting of the double or multiple process and comparisons from which new possibilities for discerning relationships between variable patterns could evolve. This is the basic function of teams and teamwork (Deployment of the structural frame). Structural Frame: the organisational bricks Again, coming back to the political frame, the connotations of the interactions between individuals needs to be clarified better. Where the management of the overall organisation is concerned, it would be important first and foremost the perceptions about the top level of management being autocratic need to be addressed. The reasons for this particular set o mid in the middle and lower rung of the employee chain arises from the Top-Down model of decision making the organisation employees. The overall mindset of the organisation that the finance department is an inferior section would need to change. The higher echelons of management needs to be more aware of the responsibilities and roles that need to be ascribed to the department and more aware of the problems that are faced by these employees or the needs of the other departments at the day to day level. The top down approach to functional and operational management of an organisation is a hierarchical style of decision making that has been considered by some as being autocratic and high handed (Mora, 2006).   Decision making The solution to this problem is simple. The decision making process needs to be made more interactive, diverse and democratic, keeping the political frame in operation. By allowing for a ‘bottoms up’ process of decision making and management, not only is the problem of perception dealt with, it will lead to an increased level of employee participation and interaction thereby leading to greater job satisfaction and lesser rates of attrition. Further, it would give the manage met the benefit of access to information related to customer feedback that only the ones dealing with it on a day to day level can provide. This requires that the managers be converted from being theory X managers to theory Y managers who work on the assumption that employees are hard working and motivated rather than on a belief that they are lazy and self seeking individuals. This could b done by increasing interactions between employees and managers and by holding workshops to train managers in a better manner.   HR Frame: The approach therefore needs to be the mutual investment approach. From the very outset, there has to be a communication of the value of long term loyalty and commitment to not just the task but to the job (Losey et. Al., 2005). Every recruit needs to be made aware of the inducements that are on offer. This can be achieved by following a process initiated by peer recruitment and team based interviews. Third there has to be some amount of stress that has to be put on training and development for the staff. The idea behind this focus is not just to improve skills for the current job but also to prepare the employee for future responsibilities. Job rotation and participation in cross functional or cross divisional tasks can get rid of the feeling of stagnation and boredom that seems to have set in (Charvatova and Veer, 2006). The idea is to give the employee a new challenge, continuously helping him evolve thereby adding greater value to the organisation’s resources with the same amounts of inputs. There is also a certain amount of stress that needs to be laid on promotion from within the organisation itself, thereby help remove the feeling of alienation and disillusionment from the staff.   References: Caldwell, B., and Spinks, J. M., (1988). Beyond the self-managing school. Oxord Books. pp351-355 Brown, M., Sturman, M. C., & Simmering, M. (2003). Compensation policy and organisational performance: The efficiency, operational, and financial implications of pay levels and pay structure. 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Pp102-110Mora G R, 2006, Power Management ICs A Top-Down Design Approach, Edition: Paperback, Pub, USA, Princeton university press pp3-15 Das, H. and Wagar, T., (2007). Canadian Human Resource Management: A Strategic Approach (8th Ed.). McGraw-Hill Ryerson: Toronto, pp31-48  Read More