Dear all this book is an effort to bring the ease in understanding of the

management concepts for the MBA students or management graduates.

I would like to inform all who rread this book can seek furthe help and
assistance on most of the management issues and concepts.

For further queries and feedback please write me to

shrikantathavale@rediffmail.com

or can call me on 09716400599.

Thank you all.

Shrikant Athavale

MBA-Marketing.

Contents
I
• Task of a Professional Manager
• Responsibilities of a Professional Manager
• Management Systems and Processes
• Managerial Skills

• Organizational Contexts of Decisions

• Decision Making Models Problem Solving
• Decision Making-Techniques and Processes
• Management by Objectives

• Organizational Structure and Managerial Ethos

• Management of Organizational Conflicts
• Managing Change

• Organizational Structure and Design

• Managerial Communication
• Planning Process
• Controlling
• Delegation and Interdepartmental Coordination

• Analyzing Interpersonal Relations Leadership

• Leadership Styles and Influence Process
• Group Dynamics
• Professional Management
• Task and Responsibilities

Subject Introduction:
In 21st century the market has become more complex and the task of
managers has become more tedious. The product life cycle is shrinking day
by day and today’s decisions are tomorrow’s absolute waste, hence the job
of a manager becomes more challenging. In this fierce competition only
those survive who fit themselves with the ever changing and dynamic
environment.

This book is designed and written as an introductory text for the MBA
students.

Following three attributes characterize the book as a suitable text for the
MBA students and guidelines for the practical aspects of management.

BREADTH: this book covers all the aspects of management functions. This
book also covers all the essential aspects of the topics included.

DEPTH: this book is strategically to cover the academic grounds of

managerial functions. It also emphasizes important theoretical concepts and
frameworks. It also provides conceptual guidelines to solve the practical
problems.

RELEVANCE: we have tried to provide the suitable and relevant examples

after every concept.
Unit 1: Role of a manager.

Contents:

Introduction,

What is Management?

Manager’s role in an organization

Professional managers and their role

Responsibilities of professional managers

What skills should the managers have to make an organization successful.

What is Management System and process?

Introduction:

Management is an art of getting things done or in other language it is an

ability of a manager to get the tasks achieved through the team of people
working under/with him. Management involves four main functions the
managers must do are: Planning, Organizing, Staffing and Leading and
Controlling.

According to Lakshmi Gopal Krishnan what managers learn quickly is: A large
part of success in any manager’s job is developing good interpersonal skills.
Managers must be technically proficient in their area of expertise. A manager
in order to be successful must have good interpersonal skills to work with
others.

Before we discuss the role of managers we should have a brief about what
management is?

Many management Gurus Say “Management is an Art of getting things done

with the help of people.”

Another definition of Management is “it is an organizational process of

Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing/Leading, Coordinating and
Controlling”.

The functions of management are nothing but the management process

which would be discussed later in this unit.
WHAT MANAGERS DO IN THE ORGANIZATION?

Managers are the individuals who achieve goals through other people-
Robinson

Managers, generally said, get things done through other people. It is true but
how?

It is as follows,

They take decisions; allocate resources, and direct activities of people

towards the achievement of organizational goal.

According to Henri Fayol managers perform five important functions viz.

Planning, Organizing, Commanding, Coordinating and Controlling.

Some other management Gurus Have also their say as managers perform
multiple activities in the organization like planning, decision making, staffing,
leading and directing, coordinating and controlling.
 ROLE OF MANAGER:

Figure 1.1

ROLE OF MANAGER:
MINTZBERG

MANAGERS

Interperson Informationa Decisional

al l

 Figurehe  Monitor  Entrepreneur

ad  Dissemina  Disturbance
 Leader tor Handler
 Liaison  Spokesper  Resource
son Allocator

Provide Information Process information Use

Information
The above figure is based on the Henry Mintzberg’s study at MIT. According to him
the managers role can be categorized under three heads:

1. Interpersonal

2. Informational

3. Decisional

Interpersonal Role:

Managers perform the following three interpersonal roles to keep interpersonal

relations like;

When manager represents the organization in all events and matters and has
number of routine duties to perform, this role is called figurehead role. For example
greeting the dignitaries visiting the organization during the organizational functions,
delegating the authority, taking the important customer for a lunch or dinner etc.

When the manager motivates and encourages his employees to undertake new
projects or to perform the current tasks effectively and efficiently he performs the
role of leader.

When the manager tries to retain contacts with outsiders like media people or
people at higher level than him to collect or give information useful for the
organization, he performs the role of liaison.

Informational Role:

Manager receives and gathers information from his colleagues, friends, outsiders, or
from other sources. The interpersonal role helps him get the vital information for
decision making. In Informational role manager has to perform the following three
roles:

Monitor: Receive wide variety of information, Serves as nerve centre of internal

and external environment of the organization. The manager has to scan the
environment for the information. He often uses his contacts to gather the
information and monitor it.

Disseminator: the manager then passes the information to his subordinates,

colleagues, superiors etc who would not get this particular information.
Spokesman: he serves as an expert on organization. He informs various groups of
people who have major impact on the organization and its policies. He also advises
shareholders about the financial position of the company, meeting the government
needs.

Decisional Role:

In this role the manager is obligated to take certain important decisions about the
company policies, financial decisions, law and legislation etc. In this role the
manager performs the following four roles.

Entrepreneur: Manager searches the information in the company’s environment

about the new opportunities and initiates new projects.

Disturbance handler: he takes certain important decisions regarding the

employee grievances and certain unpredicted or unexpected shortcomings in the
organization. Manager is responsible for the corrective decisions when the company
faces unexpected disturbances.

Resource Allocator: in this role manager divides work and delegates the
authority. Manager has knowledge about the resources and he tries to utilize the
resources to the extent possible. His role is to allocate right resource at right time.

Negotiator: he is responsible for representing the organization at major

negotiations.
Managerial Skills:
The manager has to undertake multiple tasks in the organization and
therefore he should have good technical knowledge, good communication
skills, he should have sound concepts so as to design the new tasks for his
subordinates.

According to Robert L. Katz the managers must have following three skills:

Technical skills, Human skills, and Conceptual skills.

The manager’s levels in the organization determine the relative importance

of these skills.

Following figure depicts the relative importance of these skills at the various
levels of management.

Figure 1.2: Management Skills.

Top level Conceptual skills

Middle level
Human Skills

Lower level
Technical Skills
Technical Skills: these skills encompass the ability to apply specialized
knowledge or expertise.

These skills involve knowledge of machinery running in the plant computer

knowledge, manufacturing, accounting etc.

Technical skills are important at lower level of management as these

managers have to deal with the employees working at plant level. The
manager’s understanding of the job contributes significantly to the technical
skills of the manager.

For example, in the construction of fly over the management may have
different technical skills from the manager who is constructing a building for
the purpose of office.

Human Skills: the managers ability to work with employees and to

understand them, interact effectively with them, motivate the employees at
the time of difficulty, manage the people at different levels all together
contribute to the human skills that a manager has.

Many people are proven to be inefficient because of lack of interpersonal

skills though they have good technical knowledge, they might be poor
listeners, they might not be good communicators, and they may not be able
to handle the conflicts etc. human skills are equally important at all levels of
management.

Conceptual Skills: conceptual skills are the mental ability of the manager
to analyze and anticipate the complex situations. Managers working at top
level have a high level of conceptual skills as they have to take major
decisions. Decision making requires managers to identify the problem,
develop alternative solutions, evaluate these alternatives, and select the
best one. The managers have to understand the interconnections among
various subunits and visualize the organization on a broader perspective.
What are the tasks of a professional manager?

Specialization in every field, technological advancement, globalization of

business results into appointment of qualified managers. They can be called as
professional managers.

A professional manager is an expert, trained and experienced enough to adeptly

manage any type of organization be it a manufacturing house, a service
organization, a hospital or a government agency. Professional managers:

• Are objective focused and performance oriented.

• Help in meeting competitive challenges of business.
• Are creative and dynamic.
• Follow management practices based on worldwide experiences and
information.
• Apply theories of management to solve emerging organizational problems.

Some Professional Manager Tasks

Providing direction to the firm: The first task, envisioning goals, is one of the
tasks that should never be delegated. This is the ability to define overarching goals
that serve to unify people and focus energies. It’s about effectively declaring what’s
possible for the team to achieve and compelling them to accomplish more than they
ever thought possible.

Managing survival and growth: Ensuring survival of the firm is a critical task
of a manager. The manager must also seek growth. Two sets of factors impinge
upon the firm’s survival and growth. The first is the set of factors which are internal
to the firm and are largely controllable. These internal factors are choice of
technology, efficiency of labor, competence of managerial staff, company image,
financial resources, etc. The second set of factors are external to the firm like
government policy, laws and regulations, changing customer tastes, attitudes and
values, increasing competition, etc.
Maintaining firm’s efficiency: A manager has not only to perform and produce
results, but to do so in the most efficient manner. The more output a manager can
produce with the same input, the greater will be the profit.

Meeting the competition challenge: A manager must anticipate and prepare

for the increasing competition. Competition is increasing in terms of more
producers, products, better quality, etc.

Innovation: Innovation is finding new, different and better ways of doing existing
tasks. To plan and manage for innovation is an on-going task of a manager. The
manager must maintain close contact and relation with customers. Keeping track of
competitor’s activities and moves can also be a source of innovation, as can
improvements in technology.

Renewal: Managers are responsible for fostering the process of renewal.

Renewing has to do with providing new processes and resources. The practices and
strategy that got you where you are today may be inadequate for the challenges
and opportunities you face tomorrow.

Building Human Organization: Man is by far the most critical resource of an

organization. A good worker is a valuable asset to any company. Every manager
must constantly look out for people with potential and attract them to join the
company.

Leadership: Organizational success is determined by the quality of leadership

that is exhibited. "A leader can be a manager, but a manager is not necessarily a
leader," says Gemmy Allen (1998). Leadership is the power of persuasion of one
person over others to inspire actions towards achieving the goals of the company.
Those in the leadership role must be able to influence/motivate workers to an
elevated goal and direct themselves to the duties or responsibilities assigned during
the planning process. Leadership involves the interpersonal characteristic of a
manager's position that includes communication and close contact with team
members. The only way a manager can be acknowledged as a leader is by
continually demonstrating his abilities.

Change management: A manager has to perform the task of a change agent.

It’s the managers task to ensure that the change is introduced and incorporated in a
smooth manner with the least disturbance and resistance.

Selection Information technology: Today’s managers are faced with a

bewildering array of information technology choices that promise to change the way
work gets done. Computers, the Internet, intranets, telecommunications, and a
seemingly infinite range of software applications confront the modern manager with
the challenge of using the best technology.

Example
A professional manager or a chief administrative officer for a city has duties which
include meeting with elected council to determine polices that are determined by
the council and to notify council members and citizens about the local government
operations. Discussing of certain reforms, installing a bridge, setting up new traffic
plans, or proposing a new building-all these and many more things which can affect
community life are some of the responsibilities of the professional manager in a
township. He is also responsible for preparing the annual budget, presenting it to
elected officials for sanction and then implementing it, after it is approved. Listening
to citizen grievances with regards to administration, civic problems, law and order
and presenting the matter to the elected officials for appropriate actions are some
of the tasks of a professional manager who is in charge of the administration of a
city

Management Process:
According to several management gurus Management is a creative problem
solving process.

The functions of management constitute the management process. Hence

the functions of management are Planning, Organizing, Staffing,
Coordinating and Controlling.

The management process start with planning and ends with effective control
over what has planned and what has implemented.
 Figure 1.3: Management Process

CONTROLLI
NG
PLANNING

Coordinat
ing ORGANIZI
NG

STAFFIN
G

PLANNING: “A process that includes defining goals, establishing strategy,

and developing plans to coordinate activities.”- Stephen Robbins.

It is also defines as the future of today’s decisions. It is the fundamental

function of management from which the other functions stem up. Planning is
the function which determines what to do and how to do and when to do. It is
looking ahead and preparing for the future. It is the process of deciding the
business objectives and charting out the methods of attaining those
objectives. It is the function performed at all levels of management viz. top,
middle and lower level of management.
ORGANIZING: it is the activity of determining what tasks are to be done,
who is to do them, how these tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom,
and where decisions are to be made. Managers are also responsible for
designing the organization structure; this process is referred to as
organizing. In other words organizing is establishing the internal
organizational structure of the business. This function focuses on division,
coordination, control of tasks and the flow of information within the
organization. The manager’s job is to allocate the resources at right place at
right point of time. The resources like raw material, tools, capital, personnel
are very much cost intensive hence the proper organization of resources is
must.

STAFFING: It is the process of recruiting, selecting, hiring and training of

employees. Today the business is very complex and the performance level of
the business is supposed to be increased. To improve the performance the
organization needs efficient staff to carry out the complex business tasks.
The success of the organization depends on the people working in the
organization; hence this becomes the important function of management.
The success of staffing depends largely on the planning and organizing
functions of management.

It is important to know that different objectives require different kinds of

organization to achieve them. For example the organization structure for
R&D would be different from that for Marketing.

COORDINATING: It is the process of establishing the coordination among

the resources and people. Coordinating function includes manager’s tasks to
lead the people, direct them to do the tasks according to the plan, motivate
the employees as and when required. The proper coordination among the
various departments in the organization or in the different organization
structures is the key to success of the organization. No organization wants to
bear the cost of wastage of time, material and output therefore
establishment of proper communication channel is required to establish the
coordination among the people/ departments.

CONTROLLING: It is the process of monitoring activities to ensure they are

being accomplished as planned and correcting any significant deviations. It
involves the following four activities:

1) Establishing standards of performance

 2) Measuring current performance

3) Comparing it against the established standards

4) Taking corrective actions if the set standards are not achieved.

In the absence of sound control, the objectives of the organization cannot be

accomplished and the management tends to commit more mistakes rather
than minimizing them and improving the performance. Control compels
events to confirm to plans.

Systems Approach to Management Defined

The systems approach to management is based on general system theory –
the theory that says that to
understand fully the operation of an
entity, the entity must be viewed as a system. This requires understanding
the interdependence of its parts.
Subsystems
Subsystem is a system created as part of the process of the overall
management system. A planning subsystem increases the effectiveness of
the overall management system.
Management System
The management system is composed of a number of parts that function
interdependently to achieve a purpose.
The management system is an open system. It interacts with its business
environment. Environmental factors with which the management system
interacts include customers, suppliers, competitors, and government. Each
of these factors can significantly change the future of the management
system.
Example:
The objectives of Canon Production System (CPS) are to manufacture better
quality products at lower cost and deliver them faster.Canon invited all
their employees to suggest ideas for improvement and developed 6
Guidelines for the Suggestion System to make it most effective. The
company developed also a list of 9 wastes to help their employees become
problem-conscious, move from operational improvement to systems
improvement, and recognize the need for self-development.

7-S Model
The 7-S model is a framework for analyzing organizations and their
effectiveness. It looks at the seven key elements that make the
organizations successful, or not: strategy; structure; systems; style; skills;
staff; and shared values. To be effective, your organization must have a
high degree of fit or internal alignment among all the seven Ss. All Ss are
interrelated, so a change in one has a ripple effect on all the others. Thus,
to improve your organization, you have to pay attention to all of the seven
elements at the same time. The 7-S model is a tool for managerial analysis
and action that provides a structure with which to consider a company as a
whole, so that the organization's problems may be diagnosed and a
strategy may be developed and implemented.
Shared Values
Shared values are commonly held beliefs, mindsets, and assumptions that
shape how an organization behaves – its corporate culture. Shared values
are what engender trust. They are an interconnecting center of the 7Ss
model. Values are the identity by which a company is known throughout its
business areas, what the organization stands for and what it believes in, it
central beliefs and attitudes. These values must be explicitly stated as both
corporate objectives and individual values.
Structure
Structure is the organizational chart and associated information that shows
who reports to whom and how tasks are both divided up and integrated. In
other words, structures describe the hierarchy of authority and
accountability in an organization, the way the organization's units relate to
each other: centralized, functional divisions (top-down); decentralized (the
trend in larger organizations); matrix, network, holding, etc. These
relationships are frequently diagrammed in organizational charts. Most
organizations use some mix of structures - pyramidal, matrix or networked
ones - to accomplish their goals.
Strategy
Strategies are plans an organization formulates to reach identified goals,
and a set of decisions and actions aimed at gaining a sustainable
advantage over the competition.
Systems
Systems define the flow of activities involved in the daily operation of
business, including its core processes and its support systems. They refer to
the procedures, processes and routines that are used to manage the
organization and characterize how important work is to be done. Systems
include:
• Business System
• Business Process Management System (BPMS)
• Management information system
 • Innovation system
• Performance management system
• Financial system/capital allocation system
Style
"Style" refers to the cultural style of the organization, how key managers
behave in achieving the organization's goals, how managers collectively
spend their time and attention, and how they use symbolic behavior. How
management acts is more important that what management says.

Staff
"Staff" refers to the number and types of personnel within the organization
and how companies develop employees and shape basic values.

Skills
"Skills" refer to the dominant distinctive capabilities and competencies of
the personnel or of the organization as a whole.
The success story:
Dhirubhai Ambani

Born: December 28, 1932

Achievements: Dhirubhai Ambani built India's largest private sector

company. Created an equity cult in the Indian capital market. Reliance is the
first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list

Dhirubhai Ambani was the most enterprising Indian entrepreneur. His life
journey is reminiscent of the rags to riches story. He is remembered as the
one who rewrote Indian corporate history and built a truly global corporate
group.

Dhirubhai Ambani alias Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani was born on December

28, 1932, at Chorwad, Gujarat, into a Modh family. His father was a school
teacher. Dhirubhai Ambani started his entrepreneurial career by selling
"bhajias" to pilgrims in Mount Girnar over the weekends.

After doing his matriculation at the age of 16, Dhirubhai moved to Aden,
Yemen. He worked there as a gas-station attendant, and as a clerk in an oil
company. He returned to India in 1958 with Rs 50,000 and set up a textile
trading company.
Assisted by his two sons, Mukesh and Anil, Dhiru Bhai Ambani built India's
largest private sector company, Reliance India Limited, from a scratch. Over
time his business has diversified into a core specialization in petrochemicals
with additional interests in telecommunications, information technology,
energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital markets, and
logistics.
Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with shaping India's equity culture, attracting
millions of retail investors in a market till then dominated by financial
institutions. Dhirubhai revolutionized capital markets. From nothing, he
generated billions of rupees in wealth for those who put their trust in his
companies. His efforts helped create an 'equity cult' in the Indian capital
market. With innovative instruments like the convertible debenture, Reliance
quickly became a favorite of the stock market in the 1980s.
In 1992, Reliance became the first Indian company to raise money in global
markets, its high credit-taking in international markets limited only by India's
sovereign rating. Reliance also became the first Indian company to feature in
Forbes 500 list.
Dhirubhai Ambani was named the Indian Entrepreneur of the 20th Century
by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). A
poll conducted by The Times of India in 2000 voted him "greatest creator of
wealth in the century".
Contents
• Organizational Contexts of Decisions
• Decision Making Models Problem Solving
• Decision Making-Techniques and Processes
• Management by Objectives
Organizational Contexts of Decisions

Do decision makers carefully assess the problem, identify criteria, evaluate

the best one, and find the optimum solution to the problem? If yes the
decisions are rational if no then what?

In the real life situation people usually tend to find the acceptable or
reasonable solution to their problem rather than the optimum one. Decision
makers want to have quick decisions rather than time taking ones.

According to a decision making expert “Most significant decisions are made

by judgment, rather than by a defined perspective model.”

The following paragraphs depict “How most decisions in organization actually

made? “

Bounded Rationality:

Bounded rationality means making decisions by constructing simplified

models that extract the essential features from problems without capturing
all their complexities.

When faced with complex problem, most people respond by reducing the
problem to a level at which it can be readily understood. This is because the
limited information- processing capability of human beings makes it
impossible to assimilate and understand all the information necessary to
optimize. So people seek those solutions that are satisfactory and sufficient.

The capacity of the human mind for formulating and solving complex
problems is too small to meet the requirements for full rationality; individuals
operate within the confines of bounded rationality. They prefer to construct
simplified models that extract the essential features from problems without
capturing all the complexity.
In bounded rationality the decision maker will identify a limited list of more
conspicuous choices. These are the choices that are easy to find and tend to
be highly visible. In most cases they will represent familiar criteria and
previously tried-and- true solutions. Once this set of limited alternatives is
identified, the decision maker will begin reviewing them. But the review will
not be comprehensive, not all the alternatives will be carefully evaluated.
Instead the decision maker will begin with alternatives that differ in small
degree from the choice currently in effect. Following along familiar and well
worn paths, the decision maker proceeds to review alternatives only until he
or she identifies an alternative that is good enough-one that meets an
acceptable level of performance. The first alternative that meets the “good
enough” criterion ends the search. So the final solution represents the
satisfying choice rather than the optimal one.

Case at point:

Operating within the confines of bounded rationality, Rose Marie Bravo

revitalized the British retailer Burberry Group PLC when she became CEO.
Based on her retail experience as a president of Saks in the United States,
Bravo decided to capitalize on Burberry’s quality heritage and trademark
plaid design as the solution to the company’s stagnant growth. She
repositioned Burberry as a global luxury retailer by opening stores around
the world, running a celebrity campaign with female supermodel Ben Grimes
to redefine the brand’s image as hip for the younger generation, and by
using the plaid design on new lines of swimwear, footwear, and children’s
clothing.

Common Bias and Errors:

Decision makers engage in bounded rationality, but an accumulating body of
research tells us that decision makers allow systematic biases and errors to
creep into their judgments. Following are the errors and biases tend to creep
in the decisions.

Overconfidence Bias: it’s been said that no problem in judgment and

decision making more prevalent and more potentially catastrophic than
overconfidence. From organizational point of view on of more interesting
findings related to overconfidence is that those individuals whose intellectual
and interpersonal abilities are weakest are most likely to overestimate their
performance and ability. So as managers and employees become more
knowledgeable about an issue, the less likely they are to display
overconfidence. And overconfidence is most likely to surface when
organizational members are considering issues and problems outside their
area of expertise.

Anchoring Bias: The anchoring bias is a tendency to fixate on initial

information, from which we then fail to adequately adjust for subsequent
information. The anchoring bias occurs because our mind appears to give
disproportionate amount of emphasis to the first information it receives. So
initial impressions, ideas, prices, and estimates carry undue weight relative
to information received later.

Confirmation Bias: The tendency to seek out information that reaffirms

past choices and to discount information that contradicts past judgments.

Availability Bias: The tendency of people to base their judgments on

information that is readily available to them. Events that have happened
recently contribute to the decisions.

Representative Bias: Assessing the likelihood of an occurrence by

inappropriately considering the current situation as identical to ones in past.
For example managers frequently predict the performance of a new product
by relating it to a previous product’s success in the market.

Escalation of commitment: An Escalation of commitment refers to

staying with a decision even when there is clear evidence that it’s wrong. For
example consider a company is producing toothpaste which is not really
performing well in the market bur still they continue it because of the
thinking “we have invested a lot into this plant” Escalation of commitment
has obvious implications for managerial decisions. Many organizations have
suffered huge losses because of manager was determined to prove his
original decision was right by continuing to commit resources to what was a
lost cause from the beginning.

Randomness Error: The tendency of individuals to believe that they can

predict the outcome of random events.

Winner’s Curse: A decision-making dictum that argues that the winning

participant in an auction typically pay too much for winning the item. It is
competitive bidding.

Hindsight Bias: The tendency for us to believe falsely that we’d have
accurately predicted the outcome of n event, after that outcome is actually
known.
Simple processes for problem-solving and decision-
making
Problem solving and decision-making are important skills for business and
life. Problem-solving often involves decision-making, and decision-making is
especially important for management and leadership. There are processes
and techniques to improve decision-making and the quality of decisions.
Decision-making is more natural to certain personalities, so these people
should focus more on improving the quality of their decisions. People that
are less natural decision-makers are often able to make quality assessments,
but then need to be more decisive in acting upon the assessments made.
Problem-solving and decision-making are closely linked, and each requires
creativity in identifying and developing options, for which the brainstorming
technique is particularly useful. See also the free SWOT analysis template
and examples, and PEST analysis template, which help decision-making and
problem-solving. SWOT analysis helps assess the strength of a company, a
business proposition or idea; PEST analysis helps to assess the potential and
suitability of a market. Good decision-making requires a mixture of skills:
creative development and identification of options, clarity of judgment,
firmness of decision, and effective implementation. For group problem-
solving and decision-making, or when a consensus is required, workshops
help, within which you can incorporate these tools and process as
appropriate. Here are some useful methods for effective decision-making
and problem-solving: First a simple step-by-step process for effective
decision-making and problem-solving.

Decision-making process

1. Define and clarify the issue - does it warrant action? If so, now? Is the
matter urgent, important or both. See the Pareto Principle.
2. Gather all the facts and understand their causes.
3. Think about or brainstorm possible options and solutions. (See
brainstorming process)
4. Consider and compare the pros and cons of each option - consult if
necessary - it probably will be.
5. Select the best option - avoid vagueness or 'foot in both camps'
compromise.
6. Explain your decision to those involved and affected, and follow up to
ensure proper and effective implementation.

Decision-making maxims will help to reinforce the above decision-making

process whether related to problem-solving or not, for example:
"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They
get run down." (Aneurin Bevan)

"In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the
next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is
nothing." -Theodore Roosevelt

JFDI - Just Frigging Do It (polite version).The decision-maker’s motto. There

are usually several right answers when you are faced with a complex
decision. When you've found the best solution you can find, get on with it,
make it work, and it most probably will.

Pros and cons decision-making method

Another simple process for decision-making is the pros and cons list.

Pro means 'for', and con means 'against'. In other words, advantages and
disadvantages.

This method also applies to all sorts of problem-solving where issues and
implications need to be understood and a decision has to be made.

Some decisions are a simple matter of whether to make a change or not,

such as moving, taking a new job, or buying something, selling something,
replacing something, etc. Other decisions involve number of options, and are
concerned more with how to do something, involving a number of choices.
Use the brainstorming process to identify and develop options for decision-
making and problem-solving.

1. First you will need a separate sheet for each identified option.
2. On each sheet write clearly the option concerned, and then beneath it
the headings 'pros' and 'cons' (or 'advantages' and disadvantages', or
simply 'for' and 'against'). Many decisions simply involve the choice of
whether to go ahead or not, to change or not; in these cases you need
only one sheet.
3. Then write down as many effects and implications of the particular
option that you (and others if appropriate) can think of, placing each in
the relevant column.
4. If helpful 'weight' each factor, by giving it a score out of three or five
points (e.g., 5 being extremely significant, and 1 being of minor
significance).
5. When you have listed all the points you can think of for the option
concerned compare the number or total score of the
items/effects/factors between the two columns.
6. This will provide a reflection and indication as to the overall
attractiveness and benefit of the option concerned. If you have scored
each item you will actually be able to arrive at a total score, being the
difference between the pros and cons column totals. The bigger the
difference between the total pros and total cons then the more
attractive the option is.
7. If you have a number of options and have complete a pros and cons
sheet for each option, compare the attractiveness - points difference
between pros and cons - for each option. The biggest positive
difference between pros and cons is the most attractive option.
8. N.B. If you don't like the answer that the decision-making sheet(s)
reflect back to you, it means you haven't included all the cons -
especially the emotional ones, or you haven't scored the factors
consistently, so re-visit the sheet(s) concerned.

You will find that writing things down in this way will help you to see things
more clearly, become more objective and detached, which will help you to
make clearer decisions.

Pros and cons weighted decision-making template - example

This example weighs the pros and cons of buying a new car to replace an old
car.

The weighted pros and cons are purely examples - they are not in any way
suggestions of how you should make such a decision. Our decision-making
criteria depend on our own personal situations and preferences. And your
criteria and weighting will change according to time, situation, and probably
your mood too.

Use whatever scoring method you want to. The example shows low scores
but you can score each item up to 10, or 20 or 100 - whatever makes sense
to you personally. Or you can use an 'A/B/C' or three-star scoring method,
whatever works for you.

Should I replace my old car with a new one?

pros (for - advantages)
better comfort
lower fuel costs
lower servicing costs
better for family use
better reliability
it'll be a load off my mind
scorecons (against - disadvantages) score
cost outlay will mean making
3 5
sacrifices
3 higher insurance 3
time and hassle to choose and buy
4 2
it
3 disposal or sale of old car 2
big decisions like this scare and
5 4
upset me
2

total 6 pros 20 total 5 cons 16

In the above example, on the basis of the pros and cons and the weighting
applied, there seems to be a clear overall (and quantifiable) advantage in the
decision to go ahead and buy a new car.
Notice that with this decision-making method it's even possible to include
'intangible' emotional issues in the pros and cons comparison, for example
'it'll be a load off my mind', and 'decisions scare and upset me'.
A decision-making pros and cons list like this helps remove the emotion
which blocks clear thinking and decision-making. It enables objectivity and
measurement, rather than reacting from instinct, or avoiding the issue
altogether. Objective measurement helps in making a confident decision.

The total weighted scores are the main deciding factor rather than the total
number of pros and cons, although there is not a scientific 'right' or 'wrong'
way to consider the total number of pros and cons compared with the total
weighted scores.
If the weighted scores are indicating a decision which makes you feel
uncomfortable, then check your weightings, and also check that you've not
missed out any factors on either side of the table.
If the decision makes you feel uncomfortable and this is not reflected in the
table, then add it as a factor and give it a score.
Seeking feedback or input from a trusted neutral friend can be helpful in
confirming your factors and their scores.

Blank pros and cons decision-making template

You should be able to cut and paste this template into a text editor or
spreadsheet. Add more rows as required.
question/decision/option:

cons (against -
pros (for - advantages) score score
disadvantages)

totals totals

Brainstorming
Brainstorming is an effective way to open up the decision-making
process, by stimulating a team to initially look at the broad picture and
then focus on the most important issues. In order to come to a conclusion,
brainstorming requires structure and rules, such as:
1. Agree upon the purpose of the session.
2. Set a time limit to the brainstorming session.
3. Create broad categories, then condense and refine them.
4. Analyze possibilities through quick pros and cons decision making.
5. Prioritize your results.
6. Agree upon specific actions and create a timetable for enactment.
7. Finally, follow up.

PEST and SWOT Analysis

A PEST analysis (political, economic, social, and technological) creates an
assessment of a market and competitors from a proposition or business'
viewpoint. A SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
threats) assesses a business or proposition. A PEST analysis is usually
performed before a SWOT. With both procedures, you create a chart with
four sections labeled with the respective attributes. For example, in a
SWOT analysis, the decision makers list the business' strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and then review the results to
help them draw conclusions and present necessary initiatives.

Other Decision-Making Tools

A number of techniques have been developed around various aspects of
decision making. Some of the most popular ones include:
* Pareto analysis (also known as the 80-20 rule), which helps to focus on
the most important changes to make.
* The stepladder technique, which allows for better group decisions.
* Cost/benefit analysis, in order to determine if something is worth the
expense.
* Grid analysis, used when a number of factors enter in to the decision-
making process.
* Force field analysis, which analyzes the pressures asserted for and
against a change.

There are many more decision-making techniques, some more effective

for the precise decision you are trying to make.
Decision making models
Rational Decision Making Model:

The person who makes consistent, value maximizing decisions within

specified constraints is supposed to be rational decision maker. The rational
decision making model is a six step model as mentioned below:

1) Define the problem

2) Identify and design the criteria that will be important in solving the
problem

3) Allocate weights to the criteria

4) Develop the alternatives

5) Evaluate the alternatives

6) Select the best alternative

The model begins by defining the problem. The problem exists when
there is a discrepancy between an existing and a desired state of
affairs.

Once the decision maker identifies the problem he needs to identify

the decision criteria that will be important in solving the problem.

The criteria identified are rarely of equal importance; hence the third
step is to weight the previously identified criteria.

The fourth step requires the decision maker to develop the possible
alternatives that could succeed in resolving the problem.

Once the alternatives have been generated the decision maker must
critically analyze and evaluate each one of the alternatives. This is
done by rating each alternative according to the importance and
relevance of the alternative.

The final step in this model is to select the best alternative as a

decision.
Assumptions of the model:

The model works with some of the assumptions mentioned beneath:

1) The problem is clear and unambiguous.

2) The decision maker can identify all the alternatives and is aware of
all the consequences of each alternative.

3) The criteria are ranked and weighted to reflect their importance

4) Decision criteria are constant and the weights assigned to them are
stable over time.

5) No time Constraint

Another model is bounded rationality which is mentioned in

organizational context of decision making.
MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES

What is MBO?
Management by objectives (MBO) is a systematic and organized approach
that allows management to focus on achievable goals and to attain the best
possible results from available resources.
It aims to increase organizational performance by aligning goals and
subordinate objectives throughout the organization. Ideally, employees get
strong input to identify their objectives, time lines for completion, etc. MBO
includes ongoing tracking and feedback in the process to reach objectives.
Management by Objectives (MBO) was first outlined by Peter F. Drucker in
1954 in his book 'The Practice of Management'. In the 90s, Peter Drucker
himself decreased the significance of this organization management method,
when he said: "It's just another tool. It is not the great cure for management
inefficiency... Management by Objectives works if you know the objectives,
90% of the time you don't."

MBO managers focus on the result, not the activity. They delegate tasks by
"negotiating a contract of goals" with their subordinates without dictating a
detailed roadmap for implementation. Management by Objectives (MBO) is
about setting your objectives and then breaking these down into more
specific goals or key results.

The MBO style is appropriate for knowledge-based enterprises when your

staff is competent. It is appropriate in situations where you wish to build
employees' management and self-leadership skills and tap their creativity,
tacit knowledge and initiative.

Setting Objectives: guidelines

In Management by Objectives (MBO) systems, objectives are written down
for each level of the organization, and individuals are given specific aims
and targets. "The principle behind this is to ensure that people know what
the organization is trying to achieve, what their part of the organization
must do to meet those aims, and how, as individuals, they are expected to
help. This presupposes that organization's programs and methods have
been fully considered. If they have not, start by constructing team
objectives and ask team members to share in the process."
"The one thing an MBO system should provide is focus", says Andy Grove
who ardently practiced MBO at Intel. So, have your objectives precise and
keep their number small. Most people disobey this rule, try to focus on
everything, and end up with no focus at all.
For Management by Objectives (MBO) to be effective, individual managers
must understand the specific objectives of their job and how those
 objectives fit in with the overall company objectives set by the board of
directors. "A manager's job should be based on a task to be performed in
order to attain the company's objectives... the manager should be directed
and controlled by the objectives of performance rather than by his boss."
The managers of the various units or sub-units, or sections of an
organization should know not only the objectives of their unit but should
also actively participate in setting these objectives and make responsibility
for them.
The review mechanism enables leaders to measure the performance of
their managers, especially in the key result areas: marketing; innovation;
human organization; financial resources; physical resources; productivity;
social responsibility; and profit requirements.
However, in recent years opinion has moved away from the idea of placing
managers into a formal, rigid system of objectives. Today, when maximum
flexibility is essential, achieving the objective rightly is more important.

Figure: Process of MBO.

Benefits of MBO

1) Improvement of management through results oriented planning.

2) Clarification of organizational goals, structures, delegation of authority

according to the results expected of the people occupying the roles.

3) Encouragement of personal commitment to their own and

organizational goals.

4) Development of effective controls, measuring results, leading to

corrective actions.

Failures of MBO

1) Failure to teach the philosophy of MBO is one of the weaknesses of

certain programs

2) Failure to give guidelines to goal setters is often another problem.

3) There is also difficulty in setting verifiable goals with the right degree
of stretch or pull.

4) Emphasis on short run goals can be done at the expense of the longer
range health of the organization

5) The danger of inflexibility can make managers to hesitate to change

objectives even if a changed environment would require such
adjustments.
Contents:
1) Organizational culture

2) Management of Organizational Conflicts

3) Managing Change

4) Resistance to change
Organizational culture:
The organizational culture is one system which defines the organization as a
unique organization, which differentiates the organization from others.
Google, Microsoft, apple etc are the corporations which are known for their
culture and climate. It provides directions to employees. A strong culture
additionally provides stability to an organization.

Definition:

Organizational culture refers to a system of shared meaning held by

members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations. The
system is a set of characteristics that the organizations value.

Characteristics of good organizational culture:

1) Innovation and risk taking: organizational culture encourages the

ability of employees to innovate and take a risk of innovations,
investments etc.

2) Attention to details:a good organizational system teaches the

employees to pay attention to every minute aspect of data.

3) Outcome orientation: the degree to which management focuses on

results or outcomes rather than on the techniques and processes used
to achieve those outcomes.

4) People orientation: the degree to which management decisions take

into consideration the effect of outcomes on people within the
organization

5) Team orientation: the degree to which work activities are organized

around teams rather than individuals.

6) Aggressiveness: the degree to which people are aggressive and

competitive rather than easy going.
 7) Stability: the degree to which organizational activities emphasis
maintaining the status quo in contrast to growth.

Figure: layers of organizational culture.

Dominant Culture: A culture that expresses the core values that are
shared by a majority of the organization’s members.

Subculture: Minicultures within an organization typically defines by

department designations and geographical separation.

Core Values: The primary or dominant values that are accepted throughout
the organization.

Functions of organizational culture:

Organizational culture performs number of functions in an organization.

Some of them are as mentioned below:

1) It creates the distinction between one organization and others.

2) It conveys a sense of identity for organization members

3) Culture facilitates the generation of commitment to something larger

than one’s individual self-interest.
 4) It enhances the stability of the social system.

Formation of organizational culture:

Figure: formation of organizational culture.

Philosophy of founders:

The founders of an organization traditionally have a major impact on that

organizations early culture. They have a vision of what the organization
should be. They are unconstrained by previous customs or ideologies.
Founders hire and keep only employees who think and the same way they
do.

Selection of criteria:

The explicit goal of selection process is to identify and hire individuals who
have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the jobs within the
organization successfully. More than one candidate will be identified who
meets any given job’s requirements. When that point is reached, it would be
naive to ignore the fact that the final decision as to who is hired will be
significantly influenced by the decision maker’s judgment of how well the
candidate will fit into the organization. This attempt to ensure a proper
match, whether purposely or inadvertently, results in the hiring of people
who have values essentially consistent with those of organization, the
selection process provides the information to applicants about the
organization. Candidates learn about the organization and if they perceive a
conflict between their values and those of the organization. Selection
becomes two way process allowing employer or applicant to abrogate a
marriage if there appears to be mismatch. The selection process sustains an
organization’s culture by selecting out those individuals who might attack or
undermine its core values.

Top management

The actions of top management also have a major impact on organization’s

culture. Through what they say and how they behave, senior executives
establish norms that filter down through the organization as to whether risk
taking is desirable, how much freedom managers should give their
employees what is appropriate dress, what actions will pay off in terms of
pay rises, promotions, and other rewards, and the like.

Socialization:

No matter how good a job the organization does in recruiting and selection,
new employees are not fully indoctrinated in the organization’s cultures.
Because they are unfamiliar with the organization’s culture, new employees
are potentially likely to disturb the beliefs and customs that are in place.
The organization will therefore want to help new employees adapt to its
culture. This adaptation process is called socialization.

Socialization process
outcome
Figure: Socialization process.
Socialization process is made up of three stages: prearrival, encounter, and
metamorphosis.

Prearrival Stage: each individual arrives with a set of values, attitudes, and
expectations. These cover both work to be done and the organization. This
stage encompasses all the learning occurs before new member joins the
organization.

Encounter Stage: in second stage the new employee sees what organization
is really like and confronts the possibility that expectations and reality may
diverge. Here the individual confronts the possible dichotomy between
expectations about the job and the reality.

Metamorphosis: in this stage the relatively long lasting changes take place.
The new employee masters the skills required for the job successfully
performs the new roles and makes the adjustments to the work group’s
values and norms. Successful metamorphosis should have a positive impact
on new employees’ productivity and their commitment to the organization
and reduce their propensity to leave the organization.
Conflict:
One of the problems in organizational conflict is that the term has been defined in
many ways by academics and managers. But despite the divergent meanings the
term has acquired , several common themes which underlie most definitions. A few
definitions are reproduced below:

According to Gray and Starke- “conflict is behavior by person or group that is

designed to inhibit the attainment of goals by another person or group. This
purposeful inhibition may be active or passive.”

R w woodman defines conflict “as any situation in which incompatible goals,

attitudes, emotions or behaviors lead to disagreement or opposition between two or
more parties.”

K w Thomas defines conflict as “a process that begins when one party perceives
that another party has negatively affected or is about to negatively affect,
something the first party cares about.”

According to b Kabanoff,” conflict refers to a disagreement, opposition, or struggle

between two or more individual or groups. It results from incompatible influence
attempts between and within individual, groups or organizations.”

From the above definitions we can state that the conflict most commonly arises
from four circumstances:

1. Conflict can occur when individuals or group perceive they have mutually
exclusive goals or values.

2. Behavior designed to defeat, reduce or suppress an opponent may cause

conflict.

3. Groups that face each other with mutually opposing action and counter
actions cause conflict, and
 4. If each group attempts to create a relatively favoured position vis-à-vis the
other, conflict may ensue.

Today, originations may face greater potential for conflict than ever before. The
market place, with its increasing competition and globalization, magnifies difference
among people in terms of personally values, attitudes, perceptions, languages,
cultures and nation.

Outcomes of conflicts:

Not all conflicts are bad. In fact, some types of conflicts encourage new solutions to
problem and enhance the creativity in the organizations. In these cases, managers
will want to encourage the conflict. Functional conflicts are conflicts that hinder
group and improve its performance. There are also conflict that hinder group
performance these are dysfunctional or destruction forms of conflict. Therefore,
managers should stimulate functional conflict and prevent or resolve non-
dysfunctional conflict. This is the key to conflict management.

Positive consequences Negative consequences

1. Leads to new ideas. 1. Diverts energy from work.

2. Stimulates creativity 2. Threatens psychological well-being.

3. Motivates change. 3. Wastes resources.

4. Promotes organizational vitality. 4. Creates a negative climate.

5. Helps individual and groups 5. Breaks down group cohesion.

establish identities.
6. Can increases hostility and
6. Serves as a safety valve to aggressive behaviors.
indicate problems.

1. Functional conflict: some conflicts support the goals of the group and improve
its performance; these are functional, constructive disagreements between
two or more people. Functional conflict can produce new ideas, learning ad
growth among individuals. When they engage in constructive conflict, they
develop a better awareness of themselves and others.
 2. Dysfunctional conflict: there are conflicts that hinder group performance, and
are therefore known as dysfunctional or destructive forms of conflict.
Dysfunctional conflict is an unhealthy, destructive disagreement between two
or more people .a key for recognition a dysfunctional conflicts is that its
origin is often emotional or behavioral. Disagreements that involve
personalized anger and resentment directed at specific individuals rather
than specific ideas are dysfunctional. In dysfunctional conflict, the losses to
both parties may exceed any potential gain from the conflict.

The demarcation between functional and dysfunctional conflict is neither clear nor
precise. The criterion that differentiates functional and dysfunctional conflict group
performance. Since groups exist to attain a goal or goals, it is the impact the
conflict has on the group, rather than on any individual member, that determines
functionality. The manager must look at the issue, the context, and the parties
involved.

Sources of organizational conflict: prominent among the sources of conflict in

organizations are:

1. Line and staff competition: the growth of highly specialized, creative, well-
educated staff poses unique problems for line managers. Faced with a
growing dependence on staff, line managers must adjust to a reduction in
organizational power and prestige. Conflict in most organizations persists
between line and staff because it is virtually impossible to define precisely
the responsibility and authority relationships between the two.

2. Organization-individual disagreements: from one perspective, the conflict

between the organization and the individual centers around the individual’s
failure to fulfill the organization’s expectations regarding productivity or
compliance with rules. From another, the conflict is often seen as resulting
from excessive organizational demands. Such conflict may be overt or hidden
from view, depending on the perception each side has of the power of the
other.

3. Overlapping responsibility: organizations constantly change in response to

personnel turnover, expansion, contraction, the adoption of new policies,
changes in external environment, and so on. As a result, it is impossible to
 establish job responsibilities once and for all. When a change occurs, one
person reaches out to assume more responsibility, another retrenches and
still another tentatively assumes responsibility for certain function without
knowing definitely who should be performing them. Thus, the stage is set for
conflict.

4. Functional interdependence: conflicts between an organization’s functional

units, such as sales, accounting and manufacturing are commonplace.
Although departments are separated on the basis of function, they can never
function as completely autonomous units. They must somehow resist the
constant urge to view the organization in terms of their narrow self-interests.

5. Personality clashes: individual differences in such personal qualities s values,

attitudes and personality traits are often the cause of conflict. Two managers
may learn to despise each other thoroughly for reason totally unrelated to
their work, but their performance on the job may suffer because of it.

6. Disagreement over goals: conflict among managers is often caused by the

fact that there is poor agreement over goals. Perhaps, an even more common
source of conflict is the clash of the personal goals of managers and
employees with goals of the organization.

7. Bottlenecks in the flow of work: a bottleneck at any point can prevent the line
supervisors from being effective and is quite naturally an occasion for
interpersonal conflict.

Levels of conflict or forms of conflict

We can analyze the effects if conflict from five different perspectives. They are:

1. Intra- individual or interpersonal conflict: this refers to conflict within an

individual about which work activities to perform. An individual may
experience.

(a) Cognitive conflict: an intellectual discomfort created by trying to achieve

incompatible goals.

(b) Affective conflict: occurs when competing emotions accompany the

incompatible goals and result in increased stress, decreased productivity
or decreased satisfaction for the individual.
There are several types of intrapersonal conflict, including inter-role intra-role and
person- role conflicts.

Inter-role conflict: occurs when a person experiences conflict among the multiple
roles in his or her life. One inter-role conflict that many employees experience is
work/home conflict, in which their role as worker clashes with their role as spouse or
parent.

Intra-role conflict: is conflict within a single role. It often arises when a person
receives conflicting message from role senders about how to perform a certain role.

Person-role conflict: occurs when an individual in a particular role is expected to

perform behaviors that clash with his or her values.

2. Inter –individual conflict: when two individual disagree about issues, actions,
or goals and where joint outcomes become important, there is inter-individual
conflict. Inter-individual or interpersonal conflict often arises from difference
in individuals’ status, perception and orientations. Such conflict may motivate
individuals to reveal additional relevant issues or it may prevent any further
communication. To further complicate matters, some individuals are more
likely to engage in conflict than others.

To manage interpersonal conflict, it is helpful to understand power networks in

organizations, defense mechanisms exhibited by individuals and ways of coping
with difficult people.

Power networks: according to mastenbrock, individuals in organizations are

organized in three basic types of power networks.

• The first relationship is equal versus equal, in which there is a horizontal

balance of power among the parties. The behavioral tendency is the focus on
a win loses approach to problems and each party tries to maximize its power
at the expense of the other party.
 • The second power network is a powerful versus a less powerful relationship.
Conflicts that merge here take the basic form of the powerful individual trying
to control others, with the less powerful individuals trying to become more
autonomous.

• The third power network is high versus middle versus low. Two particular
conflicts are evident for middle managers: role conflict, in which conflicting
expectations are placed on the manager from bosses and employees, and
role ambiguity in which the expectation of the boss and unclear

Defense mechanism: when individuals are involved in conflict with other human
beings, frustration often results. Defense mechanisms are common reactions to the
frustration that accompanies conflict.

• Aggressive mechanisms are aimed at attacking the source of the conflict.

Some of these are fixation, displacement and negativism.

• Compromise mechanisms are used by individuals to make the best of a

conflict situation. Compromise mechanisms in clued compensation,
identification and rationalization.

• Withdrawal mechanisms are exhibited when frustrated individuals try to flee

from a conflict using either physical or psychological means.

Coping with difficult people: many interpersonal conflicts arise, when one person
finds another person’s behavior uncomfortable, irritating or bothersome in one way
or another.

3. Individual-group conflict: in organizations, there are two important situations

where individuals find themselves in conflict with groups. The first situation is
one in which an individual is violating group norms. The reason for this
conflict is that groups have a greater ability to block an individual’s goal
achievement that the other way around. Only in usual cases will a individual
be able to mobilize the resources to block the group’s movement toward its
goals.

The second case of individual-group conflict is one in which subordinates of one

boss collectively disagree with a course of action the boss wants to take. A conflict
exist s here because the subordinates are blocking the goal achievement plans of
the boss. Although the boss can exercise formal authority to suppress this type of
conflict, this is generally an unwise course, since subordinates often find a way to
retaliate.

4. Inter-group conflict: this involves conflict between groups of people,

irrespective of the size of the group. Included in this category, therefore, is
 interdepartmental conflict with organizations. Inter group conflict exist
between or among. Such conflicts can be traced to competing goals,
competition for limited resources, cultural differences, power discrepancies
and attempts to preserve the groups’ separate identities.

5. Organizational level conflict: conflict can also exist between organizations.

The amount of conflict may depend in the extent the organizations create
uncertain conditions for competitors, suppliers, or; encourage
communication; attempt to balance power in the marketplace; and develop
procedures for resolving existing conflict.

Conflict management strategies

Manager have at their disposal a variety of conflict management styles: avoiding ,

accommodating, competing, compromising and collaborating. The away they
handle conflict depends on the degree to which they seek to satisfy their own
concerns (assertiveness) and the degree to which they try to satisfy the other
person’s concerns (cooperativeness).

1. Avoiding: managing a conflict with as avoiding strategy involves just what the
terms sounds like: not seeking to meet your own objectives or the objectives
of the other person. Avoiding is a style low on both assertiveness and
cooperativeness. Avoiding is a deliberate decision to take no action on a
conflict or to stay out of a conflict situation.

2. Accommodating: in as accommodating strategy, one person attempts to

satisfy another person’s objectives. Appropriate situations for
accommodating include those when you find you are wrong, when you want
to let the other party have his or her way. Accommodating is cooperative but
unassertive.

3. Competing: a competing strategy involves attempting to win, with the

presumption that others will lose. Under this strategy, you want to satisfy
your own interest and are willing to do so at the other party’s expense.
Competing is a style that is very assertive and uncooperative.

4. Compromising: in a compromising strategy, the parties reach a mutually

acceptable solution in which each person get only part of what he or she
wanted. Often, this means the parties decide to “split the difference”. The
compromising, because each party must give up something and
cooperativeness to reach a solution to the conflict.

5. Collaborating: this strategy seeks to make everyone winner. Working towards

collaborating involves an open and thorough discussion of the conflict and
 arriving at a solution that is satisfactory to both parties. Collaborating is a
win-win style that is high on both assertiveness and cooperativeness.

Organizational change:
Organizational change refers to a modification or transformation of the
organization’s structure, processes or goods. Flexibility requires that organizations
be open to change in all areas, including the structure of the organization itself. In a
flexible organization, employees can’t think of their roles in terms of a job
description. They often have to change the tasks they perform and learn new skills.
The most flexible organizations have a culture that (a) values change, and
managers who know hoe to implement changes effectively.

Forces for change in organizations:

More and more organizations today face a dynamic and changing environment that
in turn requires these organizations to adapt. Changes have become the norm in
most organizations. Plant closing, business failures, mergers and acquisition, and
downsizing have become common experiences for most organizations.
Adaptiveness, flexibility and responsiveness are terms used to describe
organizations that will succeed in meeting the competitive challenges that
businesses face. In the past, organizations could succeed by claiming excellence in
one area-quality, reliability or cost. But this is not the case today. The current
environment demands excellence in all areas.

“We live in the midst of constant change” has become a well –worn but relevant
cliché. Pressures for changes are created both inside and outside the organization.
Organizations must forge ahead on these forces to survive. Some of these are
external, arising from outside the company, whereas others are internal arising
from sources within the organization.

1. External forces: when the organization’s general or task environment

changes, the organization’s success often rides on its ability and willingness
to change as well. The modern manager is change conscious and operating in
the constantly changing environment. Many external changes bombard the
modern organizations and make change inevitable. The general environment
has social, economic, legal, political and technological. Any of these can
introduce the need for change. In recent years, far-reaching forces for change
have included developments in information technology, the globalization of
competition, and demands that organizations take greater responsibility.
• Technological changes: rapid technological innovation is a major force for
change in organizations, and those who fail to keep pace can quickly fall
behind. It is perhaps the greatest factor that organizations reckon with.
According to c. handy,” the rate of technological changes is greater today
 than any time in the past and technological changes are responsible for
changing the nature of jobs performed at all levels in the organization”.

Technological innovations bring about profound change because they are not
just changes in the way work is performed. Instead, the innovation process
promotes associated changes in work relationships and organizational
structures. Sophisticated information technology is making also making
organizations leads to flatter structure, decentralized decision making and
more open communication between leaders and team members.

• Globalization: the global economy means competitors are likely to come

from across the ocean. The power players in the global market are the
multinational and trans-national organizations. This has led companies to
think globally. There are no longer any mental distinctions between
domestic and foreign operations. Globalization of an organization means
rethinking the most efficient ways to use resources, disseminate and
gather information and develop people. It requires not only structural
changes in the mind of employees. Successful organizations will be the
ones that can change in response to the competition. They will be fast on
their feet, capable of developing new product rapidly and getting them to
market quickly.
• Social and political changes: a firm’s is also influenced by such
environment pressures as social and political changes. Many new legal
provisional in the corporate sector get introduced every time, which
affects organizations.
• Workforce diversity: related to globalization is the challenge of workforce
diversity. Workforce diversity is a powerful force for change in
organizations. The demographic trends contributing to workforce diversity
are:
 The workforce will see increased participated from females, as the
majority of new workers will be female.
 The workforce will be more culturally diverse than ever (part of this
is attribute to globalization).
 The workforce is aging. There will be fever young worker and more
middle aged workers.
• Management ethical behavioral: employees face ethical dilemmas in
their daily work lives. The need to manage ethical behavior has
bought about several changes in organizations. Most centre on the
idea that an organization must create a culture that encourages
ethical behavior. Society expects organizations to maintain ethical
behavior both internally and in relationship with other organizations.
Ethical behavior is expected on relationships with customer, or they
may come in the form of increased legal requirements.
These are challenges are forces that place pressures to change in the organizations.
Organizations cannot afford to be rigid and inflexible in the wake of environment
pressures, rather they must be dynamic and viable so that they survive.
2. Internal forces: besides reacting to or anticipating changes on the outside,
an organization may change because someone on the inside thinks a new
way of doing things will be beneficial or even necessary. Pressures for change
that signals indicating that something needs to be altered –these formal are
discussed below.
• Changes in management personnel: one of the most frequent reason
for major changes in an organization is the change of executives at
the top. No two managers have the same styles, skills or managerial
philosophies. Managerial behavior is always selective so that a newly
appointed manager might favor different organization design,
objectives, procedures and policies than a predecessor. Changes in
the managerial personnel are thus a constant pressure for change.
• Declining effectiveness: declining effectiveness is a pressure to
change. A company that experiences losses is undoubtedly motivated
to do something about it. Some companies react by institution layoffs
and massive cost cutting programmes, whereas other view the loss as
symptomatic of an underlying problem, and seek out the cause of the
problem.
• Changes in work climate: changes in the work climate at an
organization can also stimulate changes. A workforce that seems
lethargic, unmotivated, and dissatisfied is a symptom that must be
addressed. This symptom is common in organizations that have
experienced layoffs. Workers who have escaped a layoff may find it
hard to continue to be productive. They may fear that they will be laid
off as well and may feel insecure in their jobs.
• Deficiencies in the existing system: another internal pressure for
organization change is the loopholes in the system. These loopholes
may be unmanageable spans of control, lack of coordination between
departments, lack of uniformity in policies, non-cooperation between
line and staff etc.
• Crisis: a crisis is also may stimulate change in an organization; strikes
or walkouts may lead management to change the wage structure. The
resignation of a key decision maker is one crisis that causes the
company to rethink the composition of its management team and its
role in the organization.
 • Employee expectations: changes in employee expectation also can
trigger change in organization. These forces may be:
 Employees’ desire to share in decision-making.
 Employees’ demand for effective organizational mechanism.
 Higher employee expectation for satisfying jobs and work
environment
 Employees’ desire for higher wages.

Forms of change

Change has become the norm in most organizations. Adaptiveness, flexibility and
responsiveness are terms used to describe the organizations that will succeed in
two basic form of change to meet the competitive challenges that business face.
There are two basic forms of change in organizations:

1) Planned Change:
Planned change is change resulting from a deliberate decision to alter the
organization. It is an intentional, goal oriented activity.

2) Unplanned Change:
Not all changes are planned. Unplanned change is imposed on the
organization and is often foreseen. Responsiveness to unplanned change
requires tremendous flexibility and adaptability on the part of organizations.

Change Agents:

Internal change agent: internal to the organization, managers,

employees, board of directors etc.
 External change agent: people or factors external to the organization.

Resistance to change
• Organizational Structure and Design
• Managerial Communication
• Planning Process
• Controlling
• Delegation and Interdepartmental Coordination
Organizational Structure and Design
A number of writers have pointed out the importance of an organization’s
structure and the relationship between it and an organization’s size,
strategy, technology, environment and culture.
DEFINITIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Mullins (1993) and Mabey, Salaman & Storey (2001) describe the structure of
an organization as the pattern of relationships between roles in an
organization and its different parts.
They see the purpose of this structure as serving to allocate work and
responsibilities in order to direct activities and achieve the organization's
goals. Structure enables managers to plan, direct, organize and control the
activities of the organization.
“An organization's structure is the architecture both visible and invisible
which connects and weaves together all aspects of an organization’s
activities so that it functions as a complete dynamic entity.”
Organizational structure - the formal framework by which job tasks are
divided, grouped, and coordinated.
– Organizational design - process of developing or changing an
organization’s structure.

Organizational structure: Departmentation

The organizations are grouped on the basis of following points:
• Functional - Groups’ jobs by functions performed

• Product - groups jobs by product line

• Geographical - groups jobs on the basis of territory or geography

• Customer - groups jobs on the basis of common customers

Functional Departmentalization

Plant
manager

Manager Manager
Manager Manager Manager
Marketing Human
Purchasing Finance Production
Resource

Grouping activities according to the functions of an enterprise embodies

what enterprises typically do. In this approach the departmentalization is
done according to the functions of management or managers.
The functional Departmentation is the most widely employed basis for
organizing activities and is present in almost every enterprise. The
coordination of activities may be achieved through rules and procedures,
various aspects of planning, the organizational hierarchy. Etc.

Advantages of Functional Departmentation

1) It is logical reflection of functions
 2) Maintains power and prestige of major functions
3) Easy to understand and establish the coordination.
4) Follows principle of occupational specialization
5) Simplifies training
6) Furnishes means of tight control.

Disadvantages of Functional Departmentation

1) De-emphasis of overall organizational objectives
2) Overspecialization narrows viewpoints of key personnel
3) Slow adaptation to changes in environment
4) Responsibilities of profit are at top only
5) Limits development of general managers

Departmentation on the basis of Product:

Grouping of activities on the basis of products or product lines has been
growing in the multiline, large scale enterprises. Companies adopting this
form of Departmentation were organized by enterprise function. With
growing complexity in the manager’s job because of the growth of company
the reorganizing on product basis became necessary. Enterprises now have
more than one product. The organizational structure is as shown in the
following figure.
 President

Manager recreational
Manager Retail Manager Rail
utility and vehicle
Accounts Product’s sector
sector

Mass transit division Recreational

products

Bombardier- Rotax
Logistic Equipment
(Vienna)

Industrial Equipment

Bombardier – Rotax
Gunskirchen)

Advantages:

1) Places attention and effort on product line

2) Facilitates use of specialized capital, facilities, skills and knowledge.

3) Permits growth and diversity of products and services

Disadvantages:
 1) Requirement of more people with general management abilities

2) Tends to make maintenance of economical central services difficult

3) Presents increased problem at top management control.

Geographic Departmentation:

Departmentation on the basis of territory is rather common in enterprises

that operate over wide geographic areas. Large scale firms use this kind of
Departmentation. The Geographic Departmentation is as shown in the
following figure.
 V.P sales

Sales Sales Sales Sales

director director director director
western Eastern Southern Northern
region region region region

Advantages:

1) Places responsibilities at a lower level

2) Places emphasis on local markets and problems

3) Improves coordination in a region

4) Takes advantage of economies of local operations

5) Better face to face communication with local interests

6) Furnishes measurable training ground for general managers

Disadvantages:

1) Requires more persons with general manager abilities.

2) Tends to make maintenance of economical central services difficult

and may require services such as personnel or purchasing at the
regional level.

3) Increases problem of top management control.

Customer Departmentation
Grouping activities so that they reflect a primary interest in customers is
common in a variety of enterprises. Customers are the key to the way
activities are grouped when each of the different things an enterprise does
for them is managed by one department head. It is as shown in the following
figure.

President

Real estate
Community- Corporate
mortgage Agricultural Institutional
city Banking banking
loans banking banking
manager manager
manager

Advantages:

1) Encourages concentration on customer needs

2) Gives customers feeling that they have an understanding supplier

3) Develops expertness in customer area

Disadvantage:

1) May be difficult to coordinate operations between competing customer

demands

2) Requires managers and staff expert in customers’ problems

3) Customer groups may not always be clearly be clearly defined

MATRIX ORGANIZATION:

Matrix Structure assigns specialists from different functional departments

to work on projects led by project managers
• adds vertical dimension to the traditional horizontal functional departments
• creates a dual chain of command
This type of organizational structure violates unity of command. Project
managers have authority in areas relative to the project’s goals. Functional
managers retain authority over human resource decisions (e.g., promotions)

The following figure gives an idea about Matrix organizational structure.

This is a matrix organization of an aerospace firm.

Managerial Communication
Communication is the most important factor in everybody’s life. In an
organization the flow of information is a continuous process. The faster the
information passes from one person to another the better is the organization.
Communication applies to all phases of management, it is important for
planning, organizing, leading and controlling. In other words communication
is the life line for all the functions of management.

Communication can be defines as “the transfer of information from sender

to the receiver through a specific medium in a way that is understood by the
receiver.”

Communication process:

From the above definition, it’s quite clear that the communication is a
process of transfer of information from one person to another through a
medium. Following figure illustrates the process of communication.

Figure: communication process.

The communication process starts with a sender and ends when he message
is understood by the receiver. If receiver fails to understand the message
sent by sender the process of communication is incomplete.

The Sender:

Communication begins with the sender who has a thought or an idea which
is then encoded in a way that can be understood by both the sender and
receiver. In other words the sender who has an idea encodes the idea in a
language that is understood by both of them.
Use of medium or channel:

The information is transmitted over a channel or a medium which links with

the receiver. The message may be oral or written and may be transmitted
through a computer, telephone, mail, telegram, television or any other
medium. Since many channels are available, each with certain advantages
and disadvantages, the proper selection of channel is vital for effective
communication.

The Receiver:

The receiver is the person whom the message is sent or initiated. The
receiver has to be ready for the message so that it can be decoded into
thought. The next step in the communication process is decoding in which
the receiver converts the message in thoughts or the ways he understands
the message. Proper communication can happen only when both sender and
receiver interpret the message in same language or same thought.
Understanding is in the minds of both the sender and the receiver persons
with closed minds will normally not understand the message completely.

Feedback in communication process:

Feedback is the reply by the receiver to sender whether he has understood

the message or not. To check the effectiveness of communication person
must have feedback.

Communication in the Organization:

In any organization communication flows in various directions, the direction

in which the message is sent constitutes the form of organizational
communication. Depending upon the flow of information the communication
in the organization may be of the following types:

1) Upward

2) Downward

3) Horizontal

4) Crosswise
Upward communication

Upward communication travels from subordinates to superiors and continues

up the organizational hierarchy. This flow is hindered by managers in the
communication chain who filter the messages and do not transmit all the
information to their bosses. Upward communication is primarily nondirective
and usually found in participative and democratic organizational
environments. Typical means for upward communication are suggestion
systems, appeal and grievance procedures, complaint systems, counseling
sessions, meetings, practice of open door policy, moral questionnaires, exit
interviews etc. Effective upward communication requires an environment in
which subordinates feel free to communicate. Since the organizational
climate is greatly influenced by upper management, the responsibility for
creating a free flow of upward communication rests to great extent with
superiors.

Downward communication

Downward communication, in which, the flow of information from people at

higher levels to those at lower levels in the organizational hierarchy. This
kind of communication exists especially in organizations in with authoritarian
atmosphere. The kinds of media used for downward communication include
instructions, speeches, meetings, the telephones, loudspeakers, and even
the grapevine.

The information is lost or distorted as it comes down through chain of

command. Downward flow of communication through different levels of
organization is time consuming. Indeed delays may be so frustrating that
some top managers insist that information be sent directly to the person or
group requiring it.

Horizontal Communication:

In this type of communication the flow of information at the same level.

This is also called interdepartmental communication at same level. The

media used in this type of communication are more or less same as those
used for these two types of organizational communications.
Crosswise Communication

Crosswise communication involves the horizontal flow of information among

people at same level and diagonal flow among persons at different levels
who have no direct reporting relationships with one another. This kind of
communication is used to speed information flow, to improve understanding,
and to coordinate efforts for the achievement of organizational objectives. A
great deal of communication does not follow the organizational hierarchy but
across the chain of command.

Because information may not follow the chain of command, proper

safeguards need to be taken to prevent potential problems. Specifically
crosswise communication should rest upon the understanding that

a) Crosswise relationships will be encountered wherever they are

appropriate

b) Subordinates will refrain from making commitments beyond their

authority

c) Subordinates will keep superiors informed of important

interdepartmental activities.

Types of Communication

a) Verbal communication

b) Nonverbal communication

A) Verbal communication

a) Written communication: in the forms of written letters, emails etc. it

keeps records, references, legal defenses.

b) Oral communication : face to face meeting, group discussions,

presentations, etc.

B) Non- verbal communication :

People communicate in many different ways such as facial

expressions, body languages, gestures etc.
Planning Process:
Planning is an essential function of management. It encompasses defining an
organization’s goal and establishment of overall strategy. This function is
generally undertaken by top management.

The planning process can be defined as follows:

A process that includes defining goals, establishing strategy, and developing

plans to coordinate activities.

A plan is a blueprint of activities like what is to be done, when it is to be

done, how it is be done, by whom it is to be done.

Planning involves selecting missions and objectives and the actions to

achieve them; it requires decision making, which is, choosing from the
alternatives for future course of action.

Planning can also be defined as it is an activity to determine future course of

action.

This process involves following steps:

1) Identify the opportunity

2) Establishment of objectives

3) Developing planning premises

4) Identifying alternatives

5) Evaluating alternatives

6) Selecting the best course of action

7) Formulation of derivative or back up plan

Figure: planning process:

Identifying
opportunities

Establishing objectives

Developing planning
premise

Identifying
alternatives

Evaluating
alternatives

Selecting the best

alternative

Creating a
derivative/backup plan
Step I: Identifying opportunities

The external environment of the company is full of the opportunities; the

manager has to be aware of the opportunities to grow. He has to identify the
opportunity which is best suitable for the organization. Identification of
opportunity is the background process of planning. It gives rise to formulate
the plans. The environmental scanning involves analysis of strengths,
weakness, opportunities and threats.

Step II: Establishing Objectives

The planning process takes birth with the identification of opportunity. The
next step in the planning process is to establish the objectives for the entire
enterprise and then for each subordinate work unit. This is to be done for the
long term as well as for the short term.

Enterprise objectives give direction to the major plans by reflecting these

objectives; define the objective for every major department.

Step III: Developing Planning Premises

The third step in the planning process is to develop the planning premises
such as forecasts, policies, and existing company plans. Forecasting is one of
the most important planning premises.

Step IV: Determining Alternative Courses of Action

The fourth step in planning is to search for and examining alternative

courses of action, especially those not immediately apparent. The more
common problem is not finding alternatives but reducing the number of
alternatives so that the most promising may be analyzed.

Step V: Evaluating the best course of action

After the alternatives have been determine the manager’s task is to choose
the best one. To choose the best alternative that suits the best to the plan is
selected by evaluating each alternative. Each course of action is given
certain weightage according to their importance and relevance to the
objective.

Step VI: Selecting the best course of action

When the courses of action evaluated the alternative that suits best to the
criteria or to the objective is selected and the plan is made. This is the stage
in which the actual plan is made. The evaluation of alternatives gives the
opportunity to identify the relevance of alternatives for the specific
objectives.

Step VII: Formulating derivative or backup plan

In this step the derivative plans or backup plans are created in order to
reduce the risk of failure of the main plan. This is also called the plan B.
Controlling:
Control is one of the managerial functions like planning, organizing, staffing
and directing. It is an important function because it helps to check the errors
and to take the corrective action so that deviation from standards are
minimized and stated goals of the organization are achieved in desired
manner.
According to modern concepts, control is a foreseeing action whereas earlier
concept of control was used only when errors were detected. Control in
management means setting standards, measuring actual performance and
taking corrective action. Thus, control comprises these three main activities.

Definitions
According to Henry Fayol,

Control of an undertaking consists of seeing that everything is being carried

out in accordance with the plan which has been adopted, the orders which
have been given, and the principles which have been laid down. Its object is
to point out mistakes in order that they may be rectified and prevented from
recurring.

According to EFL Breach,

Control is checking current performance against pre-determined standards

contained in the plans, with a view to ensure adequate progress and
satisfactory performance.

According to Harold Koontz,

Controlling is the measurement and correction of performance in order to
make sure that enterprise objectives and the plans devised to attain them
are accomplished.

Features of control:

• Control is a continuous process

• Control is a management process
• Control is embedded in each level of organizational hierarchy
• Control is forward looking
• Control is closely linked with planning
• Control is a tool for achieving organizational activities

Controlling procedure: The controlling procedure involves three steps,

1) Establishing standards

2) Measuring performance against the standards

3) Correcting variations standards and plans.

Establishment of standards:
The first step in controlling process is establishing standards. Plans are
yardstick against which managers devise controls. Standards are simply
criteria of performance. They are the selected points in an entire planning
program at which managers can receive signals about how things are going
on and thus do not have to watch every step in the execution of plans.

Measurement of performance:
The measurement of performance against standards should ideally be done
on a forward looking basis so that deviations may be detected in advance of
their occurrence and avoided by appropriate actions.

If standards are appropriately drawn and if means are available for

determining exactly what subordinates are doing, appraisal of actual or
expected performance is fairly easy.
Corrections of Deviations
Standards should reflect the various positions in an organization structure. If
performance is measured accordingly, it is easier to correct deviations.
Managers know exactly where in the assignment of individual or group
duties, the corrective measures must be applied.

Correction of deviations is the point at which control can be seen as a part of

the whole system of management and can be related to the other
managerial functions. Managers may correct deviations by rewarding their
plans or by modifying their goals. The managers may correct deviations by
adding more staff by better selection and training of subordinates.

Standards may be of following types:

1) Physical standards

2) Cost standard

3) Capital standards

4) Revenue standards

5) Program standards

6) Intangible standards

7) Goals as standards

8) Strategic plans as control points

Controlling as a feedback system:

Many systems control themselves through information feedback, which
shows deviations from standards and initiates changes. In other words,
systems use some of their energy to feed back information that compares
performance with standards and initiates corrective action.
Management control is usually perceived as a feedback system similar to
that which operates in the common household thermostat. This system
places control in more complex and realistic light than would regarding it
merely as a matter of establishing standards, measuring performance and
correcting for deviations. Managers do measure actual performance compare
this measurement against standards, and identify and analyze deviations.
But then to make necessary corrections, they must develop program for
corrective action and implement this program in order to arrive at
performance desired.

Requirements for effective control:

1) Designing controls to plans and positions

2) Designing controls to individual managers

3) Designing controls to point up Exceptions at critical points

4) Seeking objectivity of controls

5) Ensuring flexibility of controls

6) Fitting the control system to the organizational culture.

COORDINATION AS A MANAGEMENT FUNCTION

Introduction
Coordination is considered as an essential element of administration. Co-
ordination is the integration, synchronisation or orderly pattern of group
efforts in the institution towards the accomplishment of common
objectives. To ensure a harmonious and smooth working of an
organisation with a number of its divisions ,department or its units , the
activities in all the areas are required to be pulled together , unified and
blended so as to give them a commonness and purpose.

Definitions

• "Co-ordination is the orderly synchronisation of efforts to

provide the proper amount, timing, and directing execution resulting
in harmonious and and unified actions to a stated objective"
 • "Co-ordination is the integration of several parts into an orderly
whole to achieve the purpose of undertaking"

• "Co-ordination is the integrating process in an orderly pattern of

group efforts in an organisation toward the accomplishment of a
common objective"

The concept of co-ordination is much broader than that of co-operation.

Both these have to go side by side. Co-ordination is only a means to an
end and not an end itself.

Principles of co-ordination

1. As the thinking function of management precedes the doing

function, co-ordination endeavour must sort at the planning stage,
otherwise it becomes impossible to secure co-ordination of activities
and efforts in the execution of work.

2. There is need for importance of direct personal contact in

removing misunderstanding and conflict between departments.

3. Co-ordination is continual activity that permeates through each

each managerial function.
 4. There should be an integration of all efforts, actions and
interests toward a common purpose. For this co-ordination call for
the establishment of a reciprocal relationship among all pertinent
factors by way of balancing, blending and joining together the
factors with one another.

Need for co-ordination

• Diverse and specialized activities-total activities of an

organisation are divided into several units and subunits on the basis
of either product specialisation. Every manager tends to concentrate
his attention on activities and objectives of has own department.
Hence co-ordination is needed to prevent and discourage too much
concentration on one aspect of work.
 • Empire building- to exaggerate self importance and personal
motive is deeply implanted in human nature. This motive causes the
individual department to be isolated from others, thus turning it as a
separate entity. So co-ordination is needed to curb the growing
tendency towards the empire building.

• Personal rivalries and prejudice-human organisation give

rise in course of time to the development of personality politics
among members. Under such situation, co-ordination is deliberately
damaged by the members of the rival group. The perceptual conflict
between line and staff positions or between personnel is a pointer
to this problem

• Conflict of interests- subordination of individual interest to

general interest acts as a bar to co-ordination. This subordination
may arise from a number of causes by a laziness, incompetence and
ambition as well as lack of loyalty, integrity or initiative on the part
of employees. There is need for co-ordination to avoid conflicts or
overlapping in the work of employees or units or as organisation.

Techniques of co-ordination

• Communications-effective communication is arranged not

only by building a network of communication systems but by
allowing wide participation also in the decision making on the part of
the affected persons.

• Orderly plans- standing plans like policies and procedures,

standing orders and instructions communicate the expected pattern
of behaviour required for co-ordinated action. Because of checking,
observation and guidance involved and supervision, it aids much in
developing co-ordinated efforts.

• Supervision- effective supervision aids in co-ordination much

in developing co-ordinated effort by checking, observation and
guidance.

• Leadership-leadership provides individual motivation and

persuades the group to have identity of interests and outlook in
group efforts.

• Departmentation-Departmentation arranges for necessary

correlation and interconnection of activities in an analytical manner
by assigning duties and delegating authority in different positions is
the work of Departmentation.

• Direct contact-it permits the management members to

exchange their ideas, prejudices and problems as well as to
understand each others.
Types of co-ordination

• Internal co-ordination- it refers to the blending of all efforts

and activities and forces operating within an organisation or
enterprise.

• External co-ordination- the blending of all efforts and

activities and forces operating outside the enterprise or organisation
which contribute to achieving the goals and objective of the
organisation.

Internal co-ordination

• Planning- it is a well thought out course of action to be taken

for realising certain objectives through the available means, a good
plan requires a perfect harmonisation between mean and ends and
this in itself is an ct of co-ordination. To reach ends all plans
include a programme mapping out the orderly course of action. To
draw up an orderly course of action, all activities and efforts are to
be interlinked, and desired for their guidance toward the desired
end.

• Organization – organisation is set up with the primary purpose

of securing co-ordination particularly interdepartmental and
interpersonal. Departments and divisions are established to ensure a
smooth flow of work without friction, failing or delaying.

• Direction – direction is concerned with making the human

efforts more effective and productive through leadership, guidance,
motivation, communication and supervision. Managers directing the
efforts of employees towards a common goal. Supervision is a
cementing force for securing better performance from workers.
Supervisor gives assistance, advice or direction to obtain cohesive
group efforts
 • Control-control ensures the realisation of planned objectives
through the process of work evaluation. The work progress is
analysed and appraised in terms of quantity, quality, time use and
cost.

External co-ordination
There are 3 interesting parties-the customers, employees and the owners
whose conflicting needs and demands have to be satisfied by managers of
any business.
• Consumers desire an uninterrupted supply of quality goods
and services at fair process and expect a steady improvement in the
quality of goods and services so as to give them a higher standard of
living.
• Employees-demand fair wages ,congenial working
conditions ,steady employment satisfaction from the work as well as
protection against hazards of accidents and sickness or old age
• Owners –want conservation of assets, efficient and continuous
operation of business, fair returns on the investments and accurate
information on several aspects of business.
• Other enterprise – an enterprise affects and is affected in
turn by the activities of other enterprises particularly those in the
same line of business. An enterprise purchase materials and services
from other enterprises. Many enterprises are chained together by
their customer –buyer relationships. Non-availability of materials
may lead to forced stoppages of production on the part of some
enterprise.
• Government regulations-the government at city, state or
central level exerts potent forces that are to be recognised by all
managers. Regulatory measures of government become so
extensive that no enterprise can stay in business without becoming
thoroughly familiar with the socioeconomic trends which produce
these restrictive regulations. Compliance with various laws relating
to tax, tariff, labour etc is necessary
• General business economy-enterprises must adjust
themselves with the swings of the trade cycle through economic
forecasting and trend study.
• Technology advances-an enterprise must secure the benefit
of new technology which is being made continually available in our
 society through research and interventions .technological advances
contribute significantly towards the reduction of cost and the
improvement of productivity. Without introducing new technological
changes an enterprise cannot go ahead.

Importance of co-ordination

1. Quintessence of management: in a sense, management is

primarily a task of co-ordination of all efforts, forces and activities
that affect the enterprise from within and without it.

2. Creative force- group efforts when co-ordinated create a

result greater than the sum total of the individual and isolated. This
composite effort is brought about by executive action on human
relation and leadership.

3. Unity of direction- co-ordination ensures unity if direction by

way of securing spontaneous collaboration on the part of different
departments.

4. High employee morale- co-ordination tones up the general

level of employee morale and provides satisfaction.

Hindrances to co-ordination

1. The uncertainty of the future, as to the behaviour of the

individual and the people.

2. The lack of knowledge, experience, wisdom and character

among leaders and their confused and conflicting ideas and
objectives.
 3. The lack of administration skill and technique.

4. The vast number of variables involved and the incompleteness

of human knowledge, particularly with regard to men and life.

5. The lack of orderly methods of developing new ideas and

programmes.

6. Size and complexity, personality and political factors.

7. Lack of leaders with wisdom and knowledge pertaining to public

administration

8. The accelerated expansion of public administration of

international dimension.

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DELEGATION AS MANAGEMENT FUNCTION:

Delegation is getting the work done by others or as directing the

performance of one or more people to accomplish organisational goals.

Definitions

• "Delegation is defined as the transfer of responsibility for the

performance of a task from one person to another"

• "Transferring to a competent individual the authority to

perform a selected nursing task in a selected nursing situation . The
nurse retains accountability for delegation"

5 Rights to delegation

National Council of State Board of Nursing in the US presented 5 rights to

delegation from the perspectives of both nursing service administrator and
staff nurse. Nursing service administrator is responsible for job
description, role delineation, development of organisational policies,
procedures and standards an assurance of adequate human resources.
Staff nurse is responsible for assessing client, delegating appropriately,
communicate clearly, providing monitoring and supervision.

1. Right task

2. Right circumstance

3. Right person

4. Right direction/communication

5. Right supervision/evaluation

Strategies for effective delegating

• Plan ahead

• Identify necessary skill and levels

• Select most capable person

• Communicate goal clearly

• Empower the delegate

• Set deadlines and monitor progress

• Model the role: provide guidance

• Evaluate performance

• Reward accomplishment
Common delegation errors

• Under delegating-frequently occurs from managers false

assumption is that it may be interpreted as a lack of ability on his
part to do the job correctly or completely. Another cause is
manager’s desire to complete the whole job personally due to lack
of trust in sub-ordinates.

• Over delegating- some managers over delegate burdening

their subordinates. Others do so because they feel insecure in their
ability to perform a task, and due to lack of organisation time. It can
decrease the productivity.

• Improperly delegating- it includes delegating the things at

wrong time, to the wrong person or for the wrong reason. Also
delegating the yaks and responsibilities that are beyond the
capability of the person to whom they are being delegated or that
should be done by the manager.

Barriers to delegation

• The belief that “i can do it better myself”

• Lack of confidence and trust in workers

• Low self confidence, insecurity

• Vague job description

• Inadequate training

• Lack of adequate recruitment and selection

• Time involved in explaining the task

• Reluctance to take the risks involved in depending on others.

 • Fear of loss of power

Delegation as a function of professional nursing

With the restructuring of care delivery models registered nurse at all

levels are expected to make assignments for and supervise the work of
different levels of employees. Registered nurses should perform role of
supervisor and delegator need preparation to assume these leadership
tasks. Nursing schools and health care organisations have to prepare
professionals for the delegator role. This includes basic principles of
delegating to right person, at a right time and for the right reason, and an
action that must be undertaken when work is delegated in an appropriate
or unsafe manner.

• Delegating to unlicensed assistive personnel’s (UAP)

Assuming the role of delegator and supervisor to UAP increases the scope
of liability for the registered nurses. Although nurses are not directly liable
for all acts of negligence on the part of those they supervise, they may be
held liable if they were negligent in the supervision of those employees at
the time when they committed negligent acts.

In delegating tasks to the employees the RN must be aware of job

description, knowledge base and demonstrated skill of each person

• Subordinate resistance to delegation

Common cause of this can be

• Failure of the delegator to see the subordinates perspectives

• Workload assigned are highly challenging both physically and

mentally

• Belief of employees that they are incapable of completing the

delegated task.

• Inherent resistance to authority

 • Due to over delegation

• Delegating to a transcultural work team-factors which may

affect here include

• Communication

• Space

• Social organization

• Time

• Environmental control

• Biological variations

• Integrating leadership roles and management functions

in delegation

Delegation provides a means for increasing productivities. It is also a

managerial tool for subordinate accomplishment and enrichment. It also
requires highly developed leadership skills such as sensitivity to
subordinate capabilities and needs, and the ability to communicate clearly
and directly, the willingness to support and encourage subordinates in
carrying out delegated tasks and the vision to see how delegation might
result in increased personal growth for subordinates.

Conclusion

For the effective administration of any organisation co-ordination and

delegation are essential. Without these two functions it will be difficult to
achieve the organisational goals. The right to delegate and the ability to
provide formal reward for successful completion of delegated tasks reflect
the legitimate authority inherent in the management role.
Contents:
 • Analyzing Interpersonal Relations Leadership
• Leadership Styles and Influence Process
• Group Dynamics
• Professional Management
• Task and Responsibilities

Managing Leadership and Influence Processes

As a process, leadership is the use of no coercive influence to shape the

groups or organization's goals, motivate behavior toward the achievement of
those goals, and help define group or organization culture. As a property,
leadership is the set of characteristics attributed to those who are perceived
to be leaders. Leadership and management are often related but are also
different. Managers and leaders use legitimate, reward, coercive, referent,
and expert power.

The trait approach to leadership assumed that some basic trait or set of
traits differentiated leaders from nonreaders. The leadership-behavior
approach to leadership assumed that the behavior of effective leaders was
somehow different from the behavior of nonreaders. Research at the
University of Michigan and Ohio State identified two basic forms of
leadership behavior-one concentrating on work and performance and the
other concentrating on employee welfare and support. The Managerial Grid
attempts to train managers to exhibit high levels of both forms of behavior.

Situational approaches to leadership recognize that appropriate forms of

leadership behavior are not universally applicable and attempt to specify
situations in which various behaviors are appropriate. The LPC theory
suggests that a leader's behaviors should be either task-oriented or
relationship-oriented depending on the favorableness of the situation. The
path-goal theory suggests that directive, supportive, participative, or
achievement-oriented leader behaviors may be appropriate, depending on
the personal characteristics of subordinates and the environment. Vroom's
decision tree approach maintains that leaders should vary the extent to
which they allow subordinates to participate in making decisions as a
function of problem attributes. The leader-member exchange model focuses
on individual relationships between leaders and followers and in-group
versus out-group considerations.

Related leadership perspectives are the concept of substitutes for

leadership, charismatic leadership, and the role of transformational
leadership in organizations.

Political behavior is another influence process frequently used in

organizations. Impression management, one especially important form of
political behavior, is a direct and intentional effort by someone to enhance
his or her image in the eyes of others. Managers can take steps to limit the
effects of political behavior.

Leadership As a process, the use of no coercive influence to shape the

group's or organization's goals, motivate behavior toward the achievement
of those goals, and help define group or organization culture; as a property,
the set of characteristics attributed to individuals who are perceived to be
leaders

Leaders People who can influence the behaviors of others without having to
rely on force; those accepted by others as leaders
Power

Power is the ability to affect the behavior of others

Legitimate power granted through the organizational hierarchy; it is the

power defined by the organization that is to be accorded people occupying
particular positions

Reward power The power to give or withhold rewards, such as salary

increases, bonuses, promotions, praise, recognition, and interesting job
assignments

Coercive power: the power to force compliance by means of psychological,

emotional, or physical threat

Referent power: The personal power that accrues to someone based on

identification, imitation, loyalty, or charisma

Expert power: The personal power that accrues to someone based on the
information or expertise that they possess

LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOR

Job-centered leader behavior: The behavior of leaders who pay close

attention to the job and work procedures involved with that job

Employee-centered leader behavior: The behavior of leaders who develop

cohesive work groups and ensure employee satisfaction

Initiating-structure behavior: The behavior of leaders who define the leader-

subordinate role so that everyone knows what is expected, establishing
formal lines of communication, and determine how tasks will be performed

Consideration behavior: The behavior of leaders who concern for

subordinates and attempt to establish a warm, friendly, and supportive
climate

Concern for people: That part of the Managerial Grid that deals with the
human aspects of leader behavior

Concern for production: That part of the Managerial Grid that deals with the
job and task aspects of leader behavior
LPC theory:

A theory of leadership that suggests that the appropriate style of leadership

varies with situational favorableness

Least preferred co-worker (LPC) The measuring scale that asks leaders to
describe the person with whom he or she is able to work least well

Path-goal theory A theory of leadership suggesting that the primary

functions of a leader are to make valued or desired rewards available in the
workplace and to clarify for the subordinate the kinds of behavior that will
lead to those rewards

Vroom's decision tree approach Predicts what kinds of situations call for what
degrees of group participation

Leader-member exchange (lmx) approach stresses that leaders have

different kinds of relationships with different subordinates

Substitutes for leadership a concept that identifies situations in which leader

behaviors are neutralized or replaced by characteristics of subordinates, the
task, and the organization

Charismatic leadership assumes that charisma is an individual characteristic

of the leader

Charisma A form of interpersonal attraction that inspires support and

acceptance

Transformational leadership; a Leadership that goes beyond ordinary

expectations by transmitting a sense of mission, stimulating learning
experiences, and inspiring new ways of thinking

Political behavior The activities carried out for the specific purpose of
acquiring, developing, and using power and other resources to obtain one's
preferred outcomes

Impression management a direct and intentional effort by someone to

enhance his or her image in the eyes of others
Distinctions between Management and Leadership

Leadership Activity Management

Establishing direction and vision for the organization

Creating an agenda Planning and budgeting, allocating resources

Aligning people through communications and actions that provide direction

Developing a human network for achieving the agenda
Organizing and staffing, structuring and monitoring implementation

Motivating and inspiring by satisfying needs

Executing plans
Controlling and problem solving

Produces useful change and new approaches to challenges

Outcomes
Produces predictability and order and attains results
 GROUP DYNAMICS:
A. GROUP FORMATION
• A group is able to share experiences, to provide feedback, to pool
ideas, to generate insights, and provide an arena for analysis of
experiences. The group provides a measure of support and
reassurance. Moreover, as a group, learners may also plan collectively
for change action. Group discussion is a very effective learning
method.

1. Participation

Participation is a fundamental process within a group, because many of

the other processes depend upon participation of the various
members. Levels and degrees of participation vary. Some members
are active Participants while others are more withdrawn and passive. In
essence, participation means involvement, concern for the task, and
direct or indirect contribution to the group goal. If members do not
participate, the group ceases to exist.

Factors which affect member’s participation

- The content or task of the group- is it of interest, importance

and relevance?
- The physical atmosphere -is it comfortable physically, socially
and psychologically?
- The psychological atmosphere - is it accepting, non-
threatening?
- Member’s personal preoccupations -are there any distracting
thoughts in their mind?
- The level of interaction and discussions - is adequate
information provided for everyone to understand? - is it at a level
everyone understands?
Familiarity- between group members- do members know each
other from before?
II. Communication

Communication within a group deals with the spoken and the

unspoken, the verbal and the non-verbal, the explicit and the
implied messages that are conveyed and exchanged relating to
information and ideas, and feelings.
Two-way communication implies a situation where not only the two
parties talk to each other, but that they are listening to each other
as well. It helps in
- Clarification of doubts, confusions and misconceptions
- Both parties understanding each other
- Receiving and giving of feedback

It indicates the degree of respect between the two parties

Helpful hints for effective communication

1. Have a circular seating arrangement so that everyone can see
and interact with everyone else
2. If there are two facilitators, they should sit apart so that
communication flow is not in one direction
3. Respect individuals- let everyone call everyone else by name
respectfully
4. Encourage and support the quiet members to voice their
opinions
5. Try and persuade the people who speak too much to give others
a chance
6. Ensure that only one person speaks at a time or no one else will
be heard
7. Discourage sub groups from indulging in side talk

iii. Problem solving

Most groups find themselves unable to solve problems because

 they address the problem at a superficial level. After that they find
themselves blocked because they cannot figure out why the
problem occurred and how they can tackle it. Therefore an effective
problem solving procedure would be to:

1. Clearly define the problem: Is it what appears on the surface or

are there deep hidden aspects?
2. Try to thoroughly explore and understand the causes behind the
problem
3. Collect additional information, from elsewhere if necessary, and
analyze it to understand the problem further
4. The group should suspend criticism and judgment for a while
and try to combine each other's ideas or add on improvements. The
objectives should be to generate as many ideas and suggestions as
possible. This is called "brainstorming" in a group, when individuals
try lateral thinking.

IV. Leadership
Leadership involves focusing the efforts of the people towards a common
goal and to enable them to work together as one. In general we designate one
individual as a leader. This individual may be chosen from within or appointed from
outside. Thus, one member may provide leadership with respect to achieving the
goal while a different individual may be providing leadership in maintaining the
group as a group. These roles can switch and change

DEVELOPMENT OF GROUPS

The developmental process of small groups can be viewed in

several ways. Firstly, it is useful to know the persons who compose
a particular small group.

• People bring their past experiences

• People come with their personalities (their perceptions, attitudes
and values)
• People also come with a particular set of expectations

The priorities and expectations of persons comprising a group can

 influence the manner in which the group develops over a period of
time

Stages

Viewing the group as a whole we observe definite patterns of behavior

occurring within a group. These can be grouped into stages.

FIRST STAGE
The initial stage in the life of a group is concerned with forming a group. This
stage is characterized by members seeking safety and protection,
tentativeness of response, seeking superficial contact with others,
demonstrating dependency on existing authority figures. Members at this
stage either engage in busy type of activity or show apathy.

SECOND STAGE
The second stage in this group is marked by the formation of dyads and
triads. Members seek out familiar or similar individuals and begin a deeper sharing
of self. Continued attention to the subgroup creates a differentiation in the
group and tensions across the dyads /triads may appear. Pairing is a common
phenomenon.

THIRD STAGE
The third developmental stage is marked by a more serious concern about task
performance. The dyads/triads begin to open up and seek out other members in the
group. Efforts are made to establish various norms for task performance. Members
begin to take greater responsibility for their own group and relationship while the
authority figure becomes relaxed.

FOURTH STAGE
This is a stage of a fully functional group where members see themselves as a
group and get involved in the task. Each person makes a contribution and the
authority figure is also seen as a part of the group. Group norms are followed and
collective pressure is exerted to ensure the effectiveness of the group. The
group redefines its goals in the light of information from the outside
environment and shows an autonomous will to pursue those goals. The long-
term viability of the group is established and nurtured.

FACILITATING A GROUP

A group cannot automatically function effectively, it needs to be facilitated.

Facilitation can be described as a conscious process of assisting a group to
successfully achieve its task while functioning as a group. Facilitation can be
performed by members themselves, or with the help of an outsider.

To facilitate effectively the facilitator needs to

• Understand what is happening within the group
• Be aware of his/her own personality
• And know how to facilitate