Management Practice in an Organization

[Pages:36]Management Practice in an Organization

Anastasia A. Eze

Chapter One Introduction Philosophy of Management

Table of Content

Chapter Two Overview of Management Effectiveness and Efficiency Management Process Evolution of Management Theory The Theory of Management

Chapter Three Scientific Management Problem of Scientific Management Decision Making in an Organization Importance of Decision Making in an Organization Causes of Delay in Decision Making in Nigeria Organizational Design and Structure

Organizational Structure Organizational Chart

Chapter Four Functions of Management Introduction

Planning Function of Management Types of Planning Business Planning in Nigeria Planning Verses Decision Making Features of Planning Organising Function of Management Directing Function of Management Controlling Function of Management Need for Control

Forms of Control

Chapter Five Operations Management Brief History of Operations Management Forms of Operations Management Task of Operation Manager Operations Risk Conclusion References

Chapter One

1.0 Introduction

Every institution, Organization, sect, household and business needs proper management to ensure a smooth running of such Organizational set up. An institution such as an educational institution, if not properly managed, planned and controlled cannot achieve success. In a nutshell, good management needs to be established. Human, material and financial resources must be present to achieve managerial goals and objectives. If proper manpower budget is not well planned, the Organization would be faced with a high risk failure. Individual staffs control all the other resources of the Organization. Cole (2002) posit that Human resources Planning is not just a number game, even though labour statistics are an important element in it. Human resource planning is as much, if not more, concerned with the quality of personnel and with their deployment throughout the Organization. (Maxwell J. 2001) Posit that "Stop trying to grow your Organization. Work on people's attitudes. If you do that, your organization will experience 10% growth overnight". In an Organization, people are the most difficult resources to be managed. With this reason, proper care has to be established in selecting personnel to man sensitive positions within an Organization. Most Organizations in Nigeria especially in Public Sector, to achieve managerial success need set up an administrative department so as to have a proper coordination of the activities. An administrative office need plan to source for its manpower. The idea of selecting staff to man and occupy positions in most Organizations like the public sector is known as recruitment and appointment. Administrative functions also include discipline, promotion, training and the rest to achieve set targets. A housewife who plans her day to day domestic functions like getting the home tidied up, getting meals prepared at appropriate time, getting the children ready for school, ensuring that they are performing greatly in their academics and setting some control measures is already carrying out management act.

Management in a general context involves the act of getting things done and evaluating performance which is known as controlling. Controlling is one important aspect of management that ensures that things are done orderly that is in a proper way. A micro business for instance a block industry that is just establishing needs to carry out a feasibility study in determining how best the business is to be managed in respect of costing, financing and in every expected outcome. Raw materials like water, cement, soil and so on needs to be put into consideration in the management of such businesses. It needs capital, assets like land and building, plant and machinery, motor vehicle and so on for the commencement of such. In a nutshell, management encompasses every spheres, every activity, be it in religion, sports, market and so on.

1.1 Philosophy of Management

Management is an art and science that encompasses all activities within an Organization. It is the life wire, root and core of every institution, Organization, firm, and business micro, macro, public or private. It involves the planning, coordinating, controlling, organising of all the activities that go on within an Organization. Philosophy is seeing things and knowing why things are the way they are. It is more of the basic laws which drive other acts.

(Springer M. 2005) p15 posit that philosophy of Management is being able to identify and manage what needs to be done. He called this process "requirements management." Springer further describes the Requirements of management which involves five steps; 1. Identification, 2. Analysis, 3. Allocation, 4. Verification, and 5. Traceability. (Springer 2005) found out that Requirements identification is the process of collecting stated and derived requirements from both internal and external sources. External documentation that provides a source for program stated and derived requirements include the customer supplied description of what is needed (the "request for proposal"). Internally, even though the customer never asked for, as an example, a specific gauge of wiring, the electricians are required by code to install only a certain gauge of wiring. This, therefore, is considered an internal requirement, meaning it came from the contractor, not the customer. An explicitly stated requirement is one which is stated directly by the customer--for example, "I want a four bedroom house with 2? baths." In this case, the two stated requirements are: (1) four bedrooms, and (2) 2? baths. Now, as a contractor, you know that creating four bedrooms requires a whole lot of other activities. Philosophy of Management is the way by which management should function. It is the flow of management activities by which an Organization's objectives could be achieved. There are certain ethics that management of an Organization need inculcate in order for the Organization to succeed and to meet its goals. They include;

a.. Open Communication: In order for an Organization to function and perform successfully, there is need to communicate freely among employees, employees and employers, (i.e) the need for

vertical and horizontal communication must be feasible. The Top management level should be able to know what happens at the lower level, be able to review, analyse and take adequate measures to correct whatever lapses or variance. Open communication should assist serve as a control measures for evaluating performance. Informal communication should be encouraged in an Organization. It should not be formal always. This would make the staff freer and open in reporting issues.

b. Responsibility: Each staff should be faced with responsibilities of performing certain task and duties delegated to them. When staffs are faced with responsibility, they are equally empowered by authority to perform their responsibilities. In other words, responsibility and Authority are inseparable.

c. Affinity to action: Individual staff should not be too satisfied that he has reached the climax of his achievement. In other words, the longing to put in their best and perform better is something that should awaken within them. It should be a desire that would unfold within an individual. Each individual should be able to develop new ideas that would create room for improvement. There can never be stagnation but improvement in what we can do for the betterment of the Organization's goal.

d. Teamwork: Working as a team obviously has a great and positive impact on the success of every Organization. Management of any Organization should thereby encourage teambuilding which enables staff to share ideas that would lead to the success of the Organization.

e. ICT: Information Communication Technology (ICT), is a means of receiving and sending of information in an electronic form amongst management staff and outside the Organization through the internet access with the use of an electronic device known as the computer. With the aid of a computer, it can also be used to process raw data into information. Management should avail each individual staff the opportunity to acquaint them0 with recent technology. People do not like change. This is because people dislike adjusting to new ideas which might task their brains. Wilson W. posits that "If you want to make enemies try to change something". The management of an Organization should encourage the use of computers amongst its employees in the Organization. This would give management competitive advantage and also meet with current trend in its external environment.

f. Customers' satisfaction: It is a common saying, that "Customers are always right". Organizations depend on their customers for their growth and success. When customers are

satisfied and happy, they tend to call back. In other words, they should be treated with all hospitality and fairness. g. Fairness to employees: The remunerations of the employee should be attractive. The same rules and laws should apply to every employee in an Organization. There should not be any form of biasness in whatever form. If such is bound to happen, it would be creating an unhealthy environment. h. Flexibility and Resilience: Employees of an Organization should be not be rigid as to adjust to changes. Changes might come in form of new technology; market strategies that would help move the Organization forward. Being able to rise again after a fall is a good quality that should be emulated in other to achieve Organizational goals and objective. Such act is known as managerial resilience. i. Individual Differences: Management should develop the skill that would enable them identify each individual quality. Management should know that it is the collaboration of each individual quality and skills which lays their strength that brings forth growth and development. It is in this that the Organization can grow and succeed. j. Collaborative Decision Making: The management of every Organization should involve every staff at all levels within the Organization to participate in the decision making of an Organization. The essence of this is to carry all personnel along and also to have clear view and understanding of all situations in the internal and external environment. k. Employee recognition: Employees should be recognised especially when they do extraordinary things. They should be motivated in their jobs if possible be given some incentives that would motivate them into putting best in their jobs. They should be spoken well of. l. Courageous and Determined: Being courageous and determined is one of the good qualities an individual should possess to achieve success in every endeavour. Determination can lead to managerial resilience. Creativity: Employees should not just be the "do only what is required of you". They should have the spirit to initiate new ideas and be creative in their work. Creativity is life and movement. The spirit to create should burn out from each individual.

Chapter Two

2.0 Overview of Management

Management as defined by (Kreitner 1995) page 4 is a process of working with and through others to achieve organizational objective in a changing environment. Central to this process is the effective and efficient use of limited resources. (Heinz W. Et al.) Posit that management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims. The key aspects of management are getting things done through people in an effective, efficient and economic manner in order to achieve the organization's objectives. It is the effective and efficient use of related resources, human, material, capital for the actualization of a goal known as the overall Organization's goal.

2.1 Effectiveness and Efficiency

(Laurie 1996) defined Effectiveness as concerned with `doing the right thing', and relates to inputs and what the manager does. (Laurie J. 1996) posit that Efficiency "is concerned with `doing things right', and relates to inputs and what the manager does''. This however involves balancing the amount of resources used to achieve an objective, against what was actually accomplished. Here the more favourable the ratio of benefits to costs, the greater the efficiency. It is the achievement of ends with the least amount of resources. Most Organizations who are more profit oriented rather than satisfying their customers, end up running into loss that they least expected. A scenario is a block industry that moulds/produces blocks to sell for erecting building. If for every 100 blocks to be moulded or produced, the quantity of sand to be used to produce a quality product (block) is one tipper load of sand and the quantity of cement needed to produce that same quality is thirty (30) bags, the company is said to meet the needs of the consumers. This also goes in achieving the objective of the Organization. In some industries where inefficiency does not exist, and the management in the quest to maximise profit rather than maximising quality, they tend to use less materials like cement, thereby increasing the quantity of sand. It is found out that the quality is poor at times even lead to loss when the finished products (blocks) cannot be used as to achieve the purpose for which is meant for. It goes further causing damage rather than benefit to the end user.

Greitney illustrated how effectiveness and efficiency can be balanced.

Effectiveness

Efficiency

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