Workplace culture and the role of management

Defining management

Management is about finding the best ways of utilising resources to reach the organisational aims and
objectives;

* Resources include: Land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship. These are known as the Factors of
Production;
DIFFERENT LEVELS MANAGERS WITHIN THE
ORGANISATION
• Top Management: Also called senior management or executives. These individuals are at the top one or two
levels in an organization, and hold titles such as: Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief
Operational Officer (COO), Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chairperson of the Board, President, Vice president,
Corporate head.

• Middle Management: General manager, Plant manager, Regional manager, and Divisional manager.
Responsible for carrying out the goals set by top management. They do so by setting goals for their departments
and other business units.

• First Management: Also called first-line managers or supervisors. These managers have job titles such as: Office
manager, Shift supervisor, Department manager, Foreperson, Crew leader, Store manager. Responsible for the
daily management of the business.
HENRY FAYOL’S FUNCTIONS OF
MANAGEMENT

● Planning: determining objectives and how to achieve them;

● Organising: work scheduling and work allocation;
● Commanding: instructing and motivating subordinates;
● Co-ordinating: harmonisation, communication;
● Controlling: monitoring of performance
PLANNING AND ORGANISING

• What to do in the future?

• How to do it?

• When to do it?

• Who should do it?

Case Study: Imagine that you are part of the strategy team at Facebook. Part of your work is to devise a brief
plan for the future by asking the above four questions.
COMMANDING AND CO-ORDINATING

• Motivating people;

• Delegating work;

• Lead people;

• Communicate with people;

CONTROLLING

● Business: customers, innovation;

● Culture; needs to be a learning culture where talent is promoted;
● Employees; motivating employees
Motivating employees

Ref: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zdn992p/revision/1
Case study

● Can you think of the following:

- An example of when you were unmotivated at your workplace. What did the management do about
it?
- An example of when you motivated a subordinate/colleague.
MCGREGOR THEORY X AND Y

● Refer to two different styles of management – authoritarian (Theory X) and participative (Theory Y);

McGregor believes that:

• Theory X should be used when employees dislike their work and have little motivation, as this theory is
seen as more ‘hands-on’- this theory makes sure that tasks are actually implemented;

• Theory Y should be used when employees take pride in their work and see it as a challenge. Managers who
use this approach trust their people to take ownership of their work and do it effectively by themselves;
THEORY X

This style of management assumes that workers:

• Dislike their work;

• Avoid responsibility and need constant direction;

• Have to be controlled, forced and threatened to deliver work;

• Need to be supervised at every step;

• Have no incentive to work or ambition, and therefore need to be enticed by rewards to achieve goals;
Theory Y

● Happy to work on their own initiative;

● More involved in decision making;
● Self-motivated to complete their tasks;
● Seek and accept responsibility, and need little direction;
● View work as fulfilling and challenging;
● Solve problems creatively and imaginatively;
● Take responsibility of their work;
MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
MANAGEMENT STYLES
1. Autocratic: the manager makes all the decisions, and issues instructions which must be obeyed without
question;

2. Persuasive: the manager still makes all the decisions but explains them to subordinates and attempts to
motivate subordinates to carry them out willingly;

3. Participative: the manager discusses with subordinates but retains the right to make the final decision;

4. Democratic: leaders and followers make the decision together on the basis of consensus;
PROS AND CONS OF AUTOCRATIC
MANAGEMENT
+

Quick decisions Highly-programmed

Lacks feedback No sense of initiative

PROS AND CONS OF PERSUASIVE
MANAGEMENT
+

Increase willingness of staff Staff will not what is happening around/inside the organisation

Subordinates will not necessarily be committed to decisions in which they have not been involved
PROS AND CONS OF PARTICIPATIVE
MANAGEMENT
+

Employees are involved in the decision-making process. This promoted motivation through greater interest
and motivation Employees contribute their knowledge and experience.

Long to take decisions If the manager does not take employees’ advice, they might perceive the process is
meaningless.
PROS AND CONS OF DEMOCRATIC
MANAGEMENT
+

High employee commitment Flexible-decision making based on different expertise and knowledge

Authority of manager might be undermined Decision-making process might take very long
What makes a good manager?

● List the most 5 important management skills in your opinion. Rank them according to their
importance.

NB: There is no right or wrong answer.

MANAGERS’ SKILLS

• Specialised technical knowledge;

• Interpersonal; sensitivity, persuasiveness, empathy

• Conceptual; logical, sense of judgement, analytical

COMMONALITIES OF EFFECTIVE MANAGERS

• Expect high levels of performance;

• Employee-centred;

• Do not practise close supervision;

• Involve people in problem solving;

SUCCESSFUL MANAGERS

● Have demonstrated ability in different sectors;

● Maintain composed in stressful situations;
● Make few mistakes – but when they do, they admit to them and improve;
● Seek advice from many sources;
● Be proactive;
● Can get along well with different types of people;
● Expect high levels of performance;
● Employee-centred;
● Do not practise close supervision;
MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

• Managing change, especially in light of Information Technology;

• Managing resources;

• Fair performance management;

• Dealing with trade unions;

• Communicating difficult decisions ie redundancy etc;

ASSESSING/CHOOSING MANAGEMENT
STYLES
• Personality of the leader

• Subordinates (individual and collective personalities and preferred management style)

• Tasks (the objective of the jobs, methods of work)

MANAGERS’ WORKLOAD

• Solitary work: planning and scheduling

• Entrepreneurial activities: external dealings

• Interaction with superiors and colleagues

• Supervision
BAD MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

• Indecision;

• No guidance;

• One-way communication;

• Unfairness regarding workload, performance management and career progression;

• Reactiveness rather than proactiveness

Can you mention any other bad management practices?

SPAN OF CONTROL

• The span of control refers to the number of subordinates immediately reporting to a superior official

• ie a marketing manager is managing a department of 20 marketing specialists and assistants. Therefore,

the span of control of this marketing manager is 20.

• If the span of control is too wide, the manager might not be able to supervise adequately – if it is too
narrow, the manger might interfere in others’ work or over-supervise the subordinates.

• Physical and mental attributes determine how wide the span of control should ideally be

• For close group cohesion, a narrow span of control might be needed

TALL ORGANISATION

● Tall organization: has a large number of levels of management hierarchy. This shows a narrow span of
control:
● Benefits: smaller groups thus enabling team members to participate in decisions. Numerous
promotional prospects for employees thus increasing motivation
● Problems: might create rigid supervision whilst also increasing overhead costs
FLAT ORGANISATION

● A flat organization has a small number of hierarchical levels. This implies a wide span of control.
● Benefits: managers can delegate more; cheap
● Problems: significant workload for managers
DELAYERING

• Delayering is the reduction of the number of management levels from bottom to the top. When this occurs,
centralization is promoted.
CENTRALISATION VS DECENTRALISATION

• Centralisation is the concentration of authority for making most decisions at the top level of the
organization;

• Decentralisation is the dispersion of authority to make decisions throughout all levels of the organization
(delegation of power/authority/decision-making)

WORKSHOP: Determine the pros and cons of centralisation and de-centralisation

 PROS OF CENTRALIZATION AND
DECENTRALISATION

+ of centralization + of decentralization

-Cheaper as it decreases the number of -Managers can focus more on subordinates’

managers
-Managers have a wider view thus theoretically
they can take better informed opinions as they
have more subordinates from where to take
insights and feedback
-Decisions are easier to co-ordinate
-Policies and procedures can be easily
standardized
individual performance
-improves the motivation of both managers
(they feel empowered) and subordinates
-Managers can identify and address better the
strengths and weaknesses of the workforce
CULTURE

• “Organisational Culture is the collective self-image and style of the organisation; its shared values and
beliefs, norms and symbols”- BPP Learning Media

• The elements that link all stakeholders of the organisation together (ie BOD, managers, employees)
ELEMENTS OF ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
• Company’s history;

• Rituals, ceremonies and habits;

• Inspirational people within the organisation;

• Past stories;

• Cultural network (informal communication channels ie gossiping, stories etc)

• Nature of the business: the pace of operations (ie in international money market companies the environment will be super busy);

• Leadership style: whether authority is used to involve employees;

• Policies and practices; clear and understandable. They should show an element of trust. The might be rigid or lenient;

• Structure: the way work is organized, flexible/control;

• Characteristics of the workforce; age, sex, personality, habits;

WHY A STRONG CULTURE MATTERS?

Culture is important as it:

• Improves competitiveness;

• Improves co-ordination;

• Attracts and retains talent;

• Creates a positive energy;

• Gives employees a sense of belonging,

• Decision-making is faster as everyone understand the firm’s values, beliefs and vision
PROBLEMS AN ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
MIGHT FACE
• Everyone is too much like-minded, meaning that everyone thinks in the same way

• Arrogance – a belief that everything the firm does is right

CHANGING AN ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

• Embrace training and development;

• Integrate all departments;

• Make sure that the mission statement is communicated and explained to all employees;

• Empowerment and self-managed teams;

WORK ON YOUR MANAGERS FIRST

HAVING AN EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE
CULTURE
An effective working culture embraces:

• Teamwork

• Empowerment

• Continuous improvement through training and development

• Positive

• Change

• New challenges
TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURES

• Power Culture

• Role Culture

• Task Culture
POWER CULTURE

• Based on the personality of the directors or founder

• Adaptable and informal – however the success of this is based on key figures of the organization, namely
the directors or the founder

• As the organization grows larger, the influence of the personality decreases. For example, as Apple grew
bigger, the BOD kicked-out Steve Jobs.

• Good personal relationships where people get along well with each other
ROLE CULTURE

• Based on the authority and responsibility of individual managers

• Employees are not risk-takers – they just do their job

• Rather bureaucratic

• Slow to change

• Public Departments are clear example of a Role Culture

TASK CULTURE

• Decisions and problems are dealt with as a team

• Eager to work

• Expertise and talent are more important than length of service

• Tend to be costly as it requires a variety of employees with a variety of skills

• Employees have high job satisfaction

• Google, facebook and gaming companies have characteristics of Task Culture