Topic 1 – What is an organisation?

Types of Organisations

 Social organisations eg. Schools, Hospitals, charities

 Govt organisations eg. Prisons, schools, hospitals, defence forces
 Business organisations eg. Schools, prisons, hospitals, armies, Workers cooperatives
 Sporting organisations eg. Cricket Australia, NRL, AFL

Other ways to classify organisations:

 By size (small medium or large)

 By Industry (eg telecommunications, mining and finance)
 By geographical location (eg local business, Australian / multinational)
 Ownership (eg sole trader, company, membership, not for profit, listed corporation)

No two organisations are ever identical!! (People are different)

Characteristics of an organisation

 Purpose, objective, goals

 Action within organisations designed to achieve the goals
 Structure, rules and boundaries
 Selling as much as possible – future oriented (want to exist in the future – keep making
profit & returns for shareholders)
 People
 Organisations are independent of the people within them; they go on while members
change. The rules and structures still exist
 Is part of an open system

“Organisations mediate between the wider society and the individual, and joining an organisation as
an employee exposes the individual to substantial direction and control. Despite the self-activity of
their members, organisations as corporate bodies do have economic and political powers above and
beyond those of the particular individuals that comprise them” ( Thompson and McHugh 2009 p.5)

Informal Collectivity – people are familiar with each other, continual communication. Lack explicit
rules and procedures, spontaneous in nature. Select leaders through more personal means.

Formal organisation – set structures that are followed, less spontaneous. They work within a
traditional framework of expectations and laws. Longer lifespan

Fallacies used to understand issues in organisations  1. To blame people 2. To blame the

bureaucracy 3. A thirst for power.

Topic 2 – What is management

 a manager is someone who coordinates and oversees the work of other people so that
organisational goals can be accomplished.
  FIRST LINE MANAGERS  lowest level of management, manage the work of non-managerial
employees. ALSO called line managers, team leaders
 MIDDLE MANAGERS  includes all levels of management between the first line and top
managers. They manage the work of first line managers.
 TOP MANAGERS  the people responsible for making organisation wide decisions, and
establishing goals and procedures. ALSO called CEO, CFO, executive, chairman

Management involves coordinating and overseeing the work activities of others so that their
activities are completed effectively and efficiently.

Effectiveness doing the right thing so that organisational goals are attained

Efficiency  getting the most output from the least amount of inputs.

MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS  Planning (define goals, strategies), organising (allocating

resources to achieve goals), leading (motivating, influencing subordinates), controlling
(monitoring actual with perceived performance.)

MANAGEMENT ROLES 

Category Role Description Activity

1. Figurehead - symbol of legal authority - signing documents
(acts - attending functions
Interpersonal as a host)
2. Leader - motivates employees - communicates with
subordinates
- establishes & maintains a - interacts with outside
3. Liaison network of contacts ppl
(manager-to-manager)
- interacts with other bizs - answers letters, emails
- attends conferences
- seeks & receives info from - deals with all forms of
4. Monitor
variety of sources to better communication &
Informational understand the biz & its contacts
environment - receives all types of
communication
5. Disseminator - disseminates (shares) info - forwards communication
with to other areas of the
employees in the biz biz
- presents outsiders with info - attends board meetings
6. Spokesperson
about the biz’s plans, - complies newsletters
policies, - conducts media
results and structure interviews
7. Entrepreneur - scans envrmt for - conducts review sessions
opportunities - undertakes evaluations
Decisional - initiates projects to improve - organises research
(Decision- making) performance
- brings about change
8. Disturbance - takes corrective action - implements strategies to
handler inside resolve conflicts
and outside biz
 9. Resource allocator - allocates human, financial,
physical & info.nal
resources
10. Negotiator - negotiations with other
parties
- prepares budgets
- authorises expenditures
- negotiates, bargains

Management Skills 
1. Technical skills – job specific knowledge needed to perform tasks proficiently. They are generally
more important for lower level mangers.
2. Human skills – also known as interpersonal skills  the ability to work with other people
individually and in a group. Important for managers at all levels.
3. conceptual skills – the ability of managers to think and to conceptualise about abstract and
complex situations. More important in top level management positions.

All managers make decisions, but the amount of time they give to each function is not necessarily
the same. As managers move up the organisation, they do more planning and less direct supervision.

 Scientific approaches to management – job design. Introduction of scientific

management lead to massive strikes. ‘one best way’ of doing things
 Innovations in administrative management bureaucracy. – clear lines of
authority/formal rules and procedures/impersonality/well defined hierarchy/ career
advancement based on merit.
 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – we satisfy the most basic needs first then work our
way up.
 Henri Fayol – came up with POLC.

Behavioural theory  Focus on motivational and behaviour as a mechanism to improve organisational

performance
Hawthorne studies  research concluded that social norms were the key determinants od individual
work behaviour.

Topic 3 - the organisational environment

The organisation environment influences the decisions you make. It is also about the culture within
the organisation.

 THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT is split up into 2 parts – the general environment and the task
environment. The task environment is those areas of the external environment where the
organisation is likely to have a greater deal of influence. Eg customers, suppliers, competitiors.
The general environment is demography, economic cycle etc.
o Demographic factors: ethnic locations, aging of the population, leisure activities.
o Political and legal forces: Laws are ever-changing, businesses need to adapt to these
regulations. The government will implement new laws such as workplace
o Global forces: changes in international relationships such as wars. Businesses need to
adapt to this. Eg an airplane flying into a country at war may need to change locations
due to safety reasons.
 o Technological developments affect the way that organisations perform tasks. Eg
introduction of computer systems led to phasing out of typewriters, typists and created
new jobs for technicians.
o Sociocultural changes: social structures influencing educational systems and
employment decisions.
o Economic forces: include interest rates, inflation, unemployment and economic growth.
 PESTLE analysis.
o Political -
o Economic – taxes on travel
o Social/demographic -
o Technological – better planes.
o Legal -
o Environmental
 Specific Environment:
o Suppliers – individuals and companies that provide the input resource needed to
produce goods or service.
o Distribution – organisations that help other organisations sell their goods or services.
These may be transport services, marketing and advertising, retailers.
o Customers and clients – the type of good or service you produce will impact on the type
of relationship you have with your customers.
o Competitors: what your competitiors do, advances they make will have a direct effect on
your company.
o Environmental uncertainty- Funeral companies/insurance companies/women’s
fashion/software companies.

Primary Stakeholders
 􀂄 Owners, shareholders & financiers
 􀂄 Boards of directors
 􀂄 Senior managers
 􀂄 Employees
Secondary Stakeholders
 􀂄 Governments and regulators
 􀂄 Media and commentators
 􀂄 Civic institutions
 􀂄 Social pressure groups
 􀂄 Competitors
 􀂄 Customers
 􀂄 Suppliers & other business partners
 􀂄 Local communities
 􀂄 Unions
 􀂄 The natural environment

 What is culture – shared values, principles, traditions and ways of doing things that influence the
way organisational members act.
 o Culture is like an iceberg. Only 10% is above the surface. We only ever see 10% of an
iceberg. Same is true for an organisational culture. What we see is known as the
artefacts of organisational culture.

STRONG CULTURE  is cultures in which the key values are intensely held and widely shared.

Artefacts – stories and legends, rituals, organisational language, physical structures and symbols.

Values – eg customer charter, vision, language, attitude.

Beliefs – the unwritten rules that everyone in the organisation follows.

CULTURE constrains what managers can and can’t do.

Managers need to create an ethical culture in today’s world.

Organisational culture can be changed but it takes time cannot be done overnight.

Types of sub-cultures (Martin & Siel)

– Enhancing
– Orthogonal
Counter cultural

Topic 4 – Creating sustainable organisations

Social responsibility – management’s social responsibility goes beyond making profits to include
protecting and improving society’s welfare.

Companies are greedy in our day and age, movements have been held to try and control this. Ethics
developed.

Companies argue being socially responsible lowers profits, but today if they are not SR then
customer behaviour will make revenues fall.

Media focus on ethics and corporate behaviour to alert consumers of breaches.

􀂄 Growth in consumer and shareholder activism
􀂄 Increase in litigation related to corporate social and environmental behaviour
Ecologically sustainable management – recognition of the close link between an organisations
decisions and activities and its impact on the natural environment

Ethics can be defined as “what is good or right for human beings”

Need to be ethical to avoid civil/criminal liability.
Good ethics means good business.
Encourage ethics by – ethics training, leading by example, code of ethics, independent social audits.

􀂄 Individual– Individual choices, professional ethics; what kind of person/ leader am I?

􀂄 Organisational – Organisational actions, decisions, strategies; culture, corporate social
responsibility
􀂄 Macro/systemic– Economic, political, legal & social systems in which business operate;
environmental, social, political consequences of business activity

Factors that influence ethics

  Managers (individuals) – family influences, religious influences, personal standards and
needs
 Employing organisation – polies, code of conduct, culture
 External environment – laws and regulations, norms of society and ethical climate of society.
ALL these factors will influence ethical management.
Consequence based frameworks 
􀂄 Utilitarianism: The end goal can justify the means to get there
􀂄 ‘Ethical egoism’: seeking self-interest only
􀂄 Consequentialist frameworks are typical in business settings
Utilitarianism  seeks the greatest good for the greatest amount of people

Nothing in ethics excludes financially sound thinking, and there is nothing about ethics that requires
sacrificing the bottom line. In both the long and the short run, ethical thinking is essential to strategic
planning.

Topic 5 – Strategic management and HRM

Strategy – Direction in which an organisation intends to move and creation of a path by which it
intends to get there.
Strategic management
– The set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long run performance of an
organisation.
– A process or approach to addressing the competitive challenges faced by an organisation.
Strategic management is important because
 It can make a difference to how the organisation performs.
 A strategy may lead to higher organisational performance
 Strategy helps coordinate diverse organisational units, helping them focus on organisational
goals
 Strategy development requires an examination of internal organisational characteristics and
external environment changes
 It is involved in many of the decisions that managers make.

Strategic Management Process

 Step 1 – Identify the organisations current mission, goals and strategy
Mission statement – the statement of the business’ purpose
Customers: Who are the organisation’s customers?
Products or services: What are the organisation’s major products/services?
Markets: Where does the organisation compete geographically?
Technology: How technologically current is the organisation?
Concern for survival growth, and profitability: Is the organisation committed to growth and
financial stability?
Philosophy: What are the organisation’s basic beliefs, values, aspirations, and ethical
priorities?
Self-concept: What is the organisation’s major competitive advantage and core
competencies
Concern for public image: How responsive is the organisation to societal and
environmental concerns?
Concern for employees: Does the organisation consider employees a valuable asset?
Goals – the foundation for future planning. What does the organisation hope to achieve?
  Step 2 – External Analysis – SWOT ANALYSIS – identify opportunities and threats as well as
internal strengths and weaknesses.
 Step 3 – analysing the organisations resources and capabilities. Examine internal factors of
swot. It forces managers to recognise that their organisations, no matter how successful are
constrained by their resources and capabilities. IT INCLUDES INTANGIBLE ASSETS
 Step 4 – once SWOT is complete, managers need to formulate and evaluate strategic
alternatives. (LINK TO DIFFERENT STRATEGIES USED LATER)
 Step 5 – Implementation – if not implemented properly, a business cannot succeed.
 Step 6 – Evaluating results.
TYPES OF ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGIES
Organisational strategies include strategies at the corporate level, business level and functional
level.
MANAGERS AT TOP  CORPORATE STRATEGY (entire organisation)
MANAGERS IN MIDDLE  business level strategy (focuses on strategic business units)
LOWER LEVEL MANAGERS  functional level strategy.

A corporate level strategy seeks to determine what business a company should be in or wants to be
in. There are three main types of corporate strategies – growth, stability and renewal.

A) GROWTH STRATEGY  seeks to increase organisations business by expanding the number of

products offered or markets served.
 Growth through concentration – achieved when an organisation concentrates on its primary
line of business and increases the number of products offered or markets served in the
primary business.
 Vertical integration – attempt to gain control of inputs or outputs or both.
 Horizontal integration – a company grows by combining with other organisations in the
same industry. That means combining with competitors.
 Related diversification – when a company grows by acquiring firms by merging with or
acquiring firms in different but related industries.
 Unrelated diversification – when a company grows by merging with or acquiring firms in
different and unrelated industries.
B) STABILITY STRATERGY  seeks to maintain the status quo, with an absence of significant change.
Continues to serve the same audience, with the same products, the firm does not grow but does not
fall behind either.
 Companies may do this because:
o The industry is in a period of upheaval with external factors drastically changing and
making the future uncertain
o If the industry is facing sow or no growth opportunities.
o They feel that their business is adequately meeting their personal goals, and don’t
want the hassles of a growing business.
C) RENEWAL STRATERGY  managers need to develop strategies that address organisational
weaknesses that are leading to performance declines.
 A retrenchment strategy is a short run renewal strategy.
 A turnaround strategy is a renewal strategy for situations organisational problems are
serious.
 MANAGERS CUT COSTS AND RESTRUCTURE ORGANISATION

Business level strategies include

1. Cost leadership strategy  low cost leader aggressively searches out efficiencies in production,
marketing and other areas of operation.
2. Differentiation strategy  companies offer unique products that are widely valued by customers.
3. Focus strategy  the company pursues a cost or differentiation advantage in a narrow industry
segment.
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Growing recognition:
– Traditional sources of competitive advantage are eroding
– Specific products and technology can be copied by competitors
But a cohesive, skilled workforce and appropriate organisational culture cannot be easily
replicated by competitors
WHY IS HRM IMPORTANT?
Various organisations have concluded that an organisations people are a significant source of its
competitive advantage.
 Necessary part of the organising function of management
o – Selecting, training, and evaluating the work force
• Legal compliance
o – Laws governing the employment relationship
• Adds value to the firm
o – High performance work practices lead to both high individual and high
organisational performance.

WHAT IS HRM  The policies, practices and systems that influence employees’ behaviour, attitudes
and performance. Many refer to HRM as involving ‘people practices’.

Job analysis – An assessment that defines a job and the behaviors necessary to perform the job

Knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) – Requires conducting interviews, engaging in direct
observation, and collecting the self-reports of employees and their managers.

Job description – A written statement of what the job holder does, how it is done, and why it is
done.

Job specification – A written statement of the minimum qualifications that a person must possess
to perform a given job successfully.

RECRUITMENT  the process of locating, identifying and attracting capable applicants to an

organisation.
Aims of recruitment
– Increase the pool of qualified job applicants.
– Reduce the number of under or over-qualified job applicants.
– Increase the probability that job applicants, once recruited and selected, will remain with the
organisation for a long period of time.
– Meet EEO and other legal and social obligations

SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT Internal

• Skills inventory (computerised record systems)
• Job posting via bulletin boards (including electronic or intranet),
External
• Advertising
• Employment agencies
• Educational institutions
• Employee referrals newsletters or personal letters. • Unsolicited applications

NEXT STEP IS SELECTION OF employees.

Selection is an exercise in prediction. It seeks to predict which applicants will be successful if hired.
If a bad choice is made, the cost incurred is retrenchment, and future hiring. If a good choice is not
made, there is a chance of the organisation being subject to discrimination EEO.

APPLICATIONS, INTERVIEWS, REFERENCE CHECKS, HONESTY TEST, DRUG SAMPLE TEST, DRUG TEST
BACKGROUND CHECKS AND PHYSICAL EXAMS

Training – A planned effort by a company to facilitate employees’ learning of job related

competencies.
Presentation methods – Classroom instruction, Audio-visual methods
Group-building methods – Adventure learning, Team training
Hands-on methods – On-the-job training
– Simulations and activities
– Case studies
– Behaviour modelling
- Mentor training
What does effective training do?
– Affective outcomes
– Cognitive outcomes
– Skill-based outcomes
– Results
– Return on investment (ROI)
Purposes of training and development
– Improve performance
– Update employee skills
– Solve organisational problems
– Orient new employees
– Satisfy personal growth needs

Performance management
Performance management system
– Establishing performance standards and appraising employee performance in order to arrive at
objective HR decisions and to provide documentation in support of those decisions.
– Ensuring that employees’ activities and outputs are congruent with the organisation’s goals.
Performance appraisal
– Obtaining data on how well an employee is doing his or her job
Performance feedback
– Providing data to employees about their performance effectiveness
Performance appraisal methods
– Written essays – evaluator writes out description of employee’s strengths and weaknesses,
- Critical incidents – evaluator focuses on those behaviours that separate effective and ineffective
job performance
- Graphic rating scales – a form is used, evaluator rates each aspect of the employee based on
criteria given
- behaviourally anchored rating scales (BARS) – rating scale used to rate the employee ,
- Multi person comparisons – compares individual employees with others
- Management By Objectives (MBO) – evaluate employees on how well they do things
- 360 Degree feedback – uses feedback form supervisors, co-workers and employees.

COMPENSATION
Benefit of a fair, effective & appropriate compensation system
– Helps attract and retain high-performance employees
– Impacts on the strategic performance of the firm
Types of compensation
– Base wage or salary
– Wage and salary add-ons
– Performance related pay
Merit pay
Incentive pay
Profit sharing
Ownership
Skill-based
Group incentives/awards

Today’s day, individuals determine career progression (boundary-less career).