Understanding Gender and Organizations, Intelligent Leadership, and Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example

Reflective marker Name Course Tutor Institution Date Reflective marker A central theme that I have taken from analyzing the theoretical frameworks and case studies that have been presented in the unit is that, when organizations are managed well, there are likely to achieve positive outcomes. A great number of organizations seems to be struggling greatly in their attempt to deal with the various realities and more so in the manner in which they affect the organization and its management (Morgan 1997). This necessitates the need for organizations to be more flexible, market driven, decentralize, adapt, self organized and be a learning organization just to mention a few. This will ensure that the organization achieve the required level of performance for them to be successful in their respective industries. This decision is mainly informed by the fact that in the new global environment the olds styles of management and organization are not applicable and thus an urgent need for alternatives. A major concept that I have learned is that organizations are social entities, they are usually goal oriented, the organizations are designed as coordinated activities and deliberately structured system, and they are linked to the external environment in which they operate in (Daft 2010). There also seems to be a great need of performance measurement in organization in that through it there can be the prevention of organizational failure and there is anticipation, shaping, control, directing and enabling of the organization to achieve greater things and perform better than their competitors in the market. I have understood that there are wide ranges of perspective of measuring organization such as the structural perspectives, power political perspective and the systems perspective. I clearly understand that the structural perspective entails the quantifying of the inputs and the processes of the organization and then measuring them agaiant the outcomes and outputs. Thus, the perspective offers a practical way of understanding the roles, roles, responsibilities as well as resources that are relevant to the organizational performance. Additionally, through the study of the structural frame, I understood that by putting people in the right relationships, departments and roles and when these are properly designed, the formal arrangements will in a way lead to the accommodation of the individual differences and collective goals (Bolman and Deal 2008). Through this, the performance of organization can be enhanced since all the employees will have competence in certain areas and they will work hard and efficiently to ensure that they achieve their individual goals and this is enhance the achievement of the overall organizational goals. In relation to the power political perspectives individuals in different systems works towards different purposes and this means that, they try to optimize their own systems (Langley el al 2009). This makes conflict and the rules that can limit conflict inherent parts of organizations. Thus, I understood the political frame as being a rolling arena, which hosts a number of contests of the group and individual interests (Bolman and Deal 2008). In order to get adequate knowledge on how performance of an organization can be enhanced the management team needs to understand how power affects an organization and the different types of power. Palmer and Hardy 2000 offer a brief over view of the various types of power as shown in the diagrams below I also acknowledge the fact that in managing organizations those in leadership positions needs to view organizations as being a complex set of dynamically interconnected and intertwined components. Thus, individuals needs to understand of the aggregation and the interplay that exist between the organizational components since they are ensure to individuals who needs to understand the organization in a more better way. Thus, the system perspectives view each part of the organization as being independent from the others and thus the performance of each of them can be judged separately. Organizations needs also to evaluate and be aware of the benefits of the system perspectives which include but are not limited to more effective leadership, problem solving, planning communication and organizational results. The systems perspective also accommodates the power political and the structural perspective elements (Kast and Rosenzweig 1974). From this perspective, managers and the employees can broaden their theoretical lens when it comes to viewing organizational behavior (Mant 1997) Another important aspect that I have understood and learned from the unit related to having a clear understanding of an organization. this seems to be a core to enhancing the performance of organizations since one will know what an organization is, the manner in which they behave, reason as to why they behave in a certain manner, the consequences of organizational behavior and the link that exist between organizational behavior and an organizational performance. In this respect the organization are made up of two major dimensions that is the institutional and the technical dimensions (Daft 2010). The technical dimension relates to the day-to-day work, operating requirements and technology. The institutional perspective relates to the aspect of the organization that is readily visible to the public and in this respect, organization mainly incorporates activities as well as positions which may be perceived as essential by the public. This is mainly done with the aim of increasing their survival prospects as well as their legitimacy but at times, these elements may also play a part in reducing efficiency (Greenwood and Hinings 1999). Additionally, the technical dimension is greatly governed by norms of efficiency and rationality the on the other hand the institutional dimension is mainly governed by a number of expectations and thus are mainly from the external environment. I also understood that the pressure associated with doing things in the correct and proper way is mainly reflected in the manner in which the formal structures of organization tend to reflect to the values and expectations of the environment as opposed to demand of their work activities. It is also clear that with the complex regulatory, political and technological changes that face a great number of organizations currently have made organizational change to be treated as an issue that should be considered and researched on widely. The ability of organizations to cope with the changing contextual forces ought to be viewed as being an essential determinant of the survival of an organization since organizations will gain a competitive advantage over their competitors in the industry (Greenwood and Hinings 1996). Another essential perspective in the understanding of the organization is the critical perspective and it core aim is to create workplaces and societies from all forms of domination. Based on these all the members are offered with equal opportunities when it comes to contributing to the production systems in an organization (Alvesson and Deetz 2005) and this meets the needs of all people and lead to progressive development. This understanding will be of great benefit since through its application in an organizational setting their will be the achievement of positive outcomes in an organization. The uncovering of the practices that usually serve as being essential determinants of the unhealthy imbalance on the organization will be essential in enhancing and leading to certain positive outcomes for instances healthy balance in the organization and thus the enhancement of the performance of the organization in the end. Alvesson and Billing 2009 also offers adequate knowledge in the manner in which the performance of organisation can be enhanced by taking note of the gender perspective and it can be noted that a great number of organisations are usually male dominated and this should not be the case. This is based on the notion that any form of discrimination leads to less performance from the discriminated employee. I also learned that organisations could enhance their performance in theory respective markets by ensuring that they engage in corporate social responsibilities (Carroll 1999). This a concept that a great number of organisation have been making use of over some period now and this shows that organisations need to contribute positively to the society in which they are operating in by all means. I have also learned that irrespective of the industry and area that an organisation is operating in they need to constantly measure their performance this includes organisations in the private sectors, public sector and the international organisations. When an organisation is lagging behind in terms of their performance the management team needs to come up with clear details of the reduced performance and thus take measures into ensuring that the performance is increased. In conclusion, evaluation and the measuring of performance in an organisation needs to be viewed understood as being a great opportunity for individuals and organisational learning. At the same time, it is likely to lead to improved performance and accountability for better outcomes and there will also enhance the capacity and through this there will be an understanding as to why some aspects and initiatives in the organisations works well and why others fail. This will ultimately ensure that those aspects and initiatives that limit the achievement of the positive outcome in organisation are done away with while those that enhance and lead to improved outcomes will be adopted in all the departments to ensure overall success of the organisation. References Alvesson, M & Billing, D 2009, Understanding Gender and Organizations, Sage publications, Thousand Oaks. Alvesson, M & Deetz, S 2005, Critical Management Studies, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Bolman, G & Deal, E 2008, Reframing Organizations, John Wiley and Sons, New Jersey. Carroll, B 1999, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’, Business & Society, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 268-295 Daft, L 2010, Organizational Theory and Design, Cengage Learning, Boston. Greenwood, R and Hinings, R 1996, ‘Understanding Radical organizational change: Bringing together the old and the new Institutionalism’, Academy of management review, vol. 21, no.4, pp. 1022-1054. Kast, E and Rosenzweig, E 1974, Organization and Management, Mc Graw Hill, New York. Mant, A 1997, Intelligent Leadership, Allen & Unwin, Australia Morgan, G 1997, Imagination, Sage Publication, Thousand Oaks. Palmer, I and Hardy, C 2000, Thinking about management: Implications if organizational debates for practice, Sage publications, Thousand Oaks. Read More