MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES AND CULTURE-2014 Levels of management in an organization There are basically three levels of management in an organization namely

top level, middle level and low level management. The top level management has full authority and responsibility over the organization making them to be directly responsible or liable to other

stakeholders such as the government, shareholders, creditors and the members of the public. It is composed of Board of Directors (B.O.D) who are usually selected or voted in by the shareholders or the owners of the organization. Another member of the top level management is the Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O) also referred to as the General Manager (G.M), the president or the Managing Director and the appointment is made by the Board of Directors. The top level management outlines the objectives, policies as well as both long term and short term plans of the organization. Mobilization and utilization of resources of the organization is determined by the top level management who are required to possess conceptual skills as opposed to technical skills. (HOLT, D. B. 2004). The middle level management is made up of the Branch Managers, Head of Departments as well as the junior executives. The employees in this level act as a link between the top level management and the low level management. They are responsible for executing the policies and the plans that are designed by the top level management through proper coordination of the activities of each department. Preparation of short-term plans for their departments is a major role to be undertaken by people in this level together with offering advice and giving recommendations to the top level management. Management and technical skills are highly required in this level of management.

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The lower level management consists of supervisors and the foremen who are appointed by the middle level management. They perform the role of directing the workers as they develop morale in them. They link the middle level management and the worker. They have very limited authority of ensuring that work is done by the workers and making daily or weekly plans which they must report the progress to the middle level management on regular basis. They are required to have good communication skills as well as technical skills (MORDEN, T. 2004). Management culture Management culture refers to the general beliefs, experience and values both personal and cultural that are attributed to an organization. It therefore determines how employees from the same organization relate with each other as well as how they relate with their customers and shareholders thus establishing efficiency and effectiveness. It is a set of mental assumptions that are shared by members of a particular organization and are usually passed on from time to time. Factors that influence management culture include type of employees in an organization, the products that the organization is dealing with, management style, level of technology as well as the general culture that is common in a given nation. Different methods have been adopted in an effort to classify management cultures. According to Hofstede management culture can be classified based on the national or regional cultures. There can be individualism versus collectivism which relates to clash of interest between personal and collective interest. Uncertainty avoidance is a management culture in which organizations strive to cope up with the changing technology, laws and traditions across regional boundaries. Masculinity versus femininity defines management culture based on gender

MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES AND CULTURE-2014 roles and cultural values. Power distance is a form of classification that considers social inequality that exists in the society in which an organization is situated.

The organization linked to this study is the global discount supermarket chain known as Lidl Company. The management culture of the company involves creation of a working environment that encourages initiation and enjoyment as well as satisfaction at the work station. The firm enables its employees to perform their duties effectively and efficiently as it takes care of their wellbeing and personal development. The top level management is to lead by example in the achievement and fulfilment of the company goals and objectives. The management principles are aimed at creating a good working condition for each employee through creation of equality and fair treatment to all. Effective planning The management can employ various techniques in coming up with proper plans for their organizations. Nominal ranking is a planning technique that is used to prepare long lists based on priorities as outlined by the organization. The list is made up of the things that a firm wished to attain and then they are ranked in order of their preferred priorities. Another planning technique is the team facilitation in which a facilitator guides a group of people who come up with various ideas on how to achieve a particular objective. The devises involved in this process include active listening, constructive feedback and positive reinforcement. SWOT analysis is another technique used in planning both in short-term and long-term processes so as to come up with desired results for the benefit of the organization. SWOT analysis offers a structured form of planning based on weaknesses, strengths, opportunities and threats that are involved in given business idea. This technique should be

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undertaken before the organization set up its key goals, objectives and strategies. SWOT analysis assists the organization in determining the right path to take regarding a particular strategy to be undertaken by an organization as well as establishing the areas that need to be changed in the adjustment and refinement of plans. Strength and weaknesses form the internal factors within the organization which include basic components such as human resource, finances, physical resources and past experiences witnessed in the firm which it can control and determine with a high degree of accuracy (TRIPATHI, P. C., & REDDY, P. N. 2008). Opportunities and threats are the external factors that the organization has very little control over. Such include economic conditions, the physical environment, technological changes, demographics, legislations and industrial Acts. These are generally referred to as externalities which can either be positive or can be negative depending on their impact on the organization and the surrounding community. An organization them must find proper means of advancing on their strengths, minimizing their weaknesses, seizing the available opportunities and dealing effectively with the perceived threats after conducting a comprehensive SWOT analysis. It must be in line with the organizations set objectives, motto and mission statement so as to avoid any conflict of interest in its implementation. Matching and converting procedure provides a means of applying SWOT analysis in the sense that the firm is in a position to match the strengths and opportunities available so as to come up with competitive advantage. Conversion strategies are aimed at changing the threats and weaknesses into viable opportunities and this can be achieved by adopting strategies such as identification of new markets, product diversification and differentiation. In case proper conversion cannot be attained, then it will be proper for the organization to aim at eliminating or minimizing the threats and weaknesses. Through SWOT-landscape analysis, it is easy to

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establish the factors that are more likely to have high influence on the in the context of the values that are being used in the process. It outlines those projects that have high potential risks and those with great opportunities to be undertaken by the organization. (DAYAL, R., ZACHARIAH, P., & RAJPAL, K. 1996). In order for an organization to fully utilize SWOT analysis, the management need to ensure that the strategies being generated in the process are implemented to the latter and it need to be precise as well as being made up of verifiable statements. SWOT analysis need to be supported by other strategy tools such as Unique Selling Proposition (USP) analysis and Core Competence Analysis in order to obtain a comprehensive overview of the entire situation at hand. As a corporate planning tool, SWOT analysis assists in monitoring of the results so that corrective measures can be undertaken (SMIT, P. J. 2007).

Bibliography

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DAYAL, R., ZACHARIAH, P., & RAJPAL, K. (1996). Management principles and practices. New Delhi, Mittal Publications. HOLT, D. B. (2004). How brands become icons: the principles of cultural branding. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=n labk&AN=675066. MORDEN, T. (2004). Principles of management. Aldershot [u.a.], Ashgate. SMIT, P. J. (2007). Management principles: a contemporary edition for Africa. Cape Town, South Africa, Juta. TRIPATHI, P. C., TRIPATHI, P. C., & REDDY, P. N. (2008). Principles of management. New Delhi, Tata McGraw-Hill Pub.