Introduction to Management Notes
Management in Context
• Capitalism
• Management and Managers
• Critical Theory and Management
• Democracy and Management Organisations – Origins and Reasons
• Characteristics of an organisation
• Theories of Management: Classical, Scientific, Human Relations, Systems, Contingency Managing in and Beyond Corporations
• For-Profit Organisations
• Not-for-profit Organisations
• External environment
• Socially Responsible Management Management in Asia
• Importance of understanding management in Asia
• Western Vs Eastern Management
• East-Asian Management Systems
• Impact of Cultural, political and economic factors POLC
• Planning
• Organising
• Leading
• Controlling
Management Information and Decision Making
• Managing and Decision Making
• Methods of Managerial Decision Making
• Managerial problems and Decisions
• Decision making Styles
Managing for Inclusion – Equity and workplace diversity
• The need to manage workplace diversity
• Social Identity theory
• Solutions for Social Dilemmas
• The Glass Ceiling Emotional Intelligence
• Importance of Emotional Intelligence
• Self-Management Skills
• Relationship-Management Skills
Critical Perspectives on Management and Organisations
• Ideal Worker and Professional Identity
• How do organisations control employee’s professional identity
• Coping with conflicting professional identities
• External Perceptions and performance evaluations The Changing Concept of Career
• Tri-Sector Leaders
• Employer-Employee Compact (White-Collar)
Employee Wellbeing
• Importance of Employee Wellbeing
• Factors Challenging Employee Wellbeing
• Forms and Directionality: work-family conflict
• Conflict, coping and wellbeing Employee Voice
• Importance of Employee Voice
• Effect of Employee Voice in the workplace
• Outside the Workplace
Week 1: Management in Context
Capitalism
Capitalism promotes the idea of individual citizens to utilise their own skills and abilities to accumulate resources and utilise these resources to engage in productive activity.
• Capitalism believes in the fact that free markets are necessary to ensure that people have individual freedom, and with that freedom, individuals become far more efficient in the way they go about their daily activities.
• Through productive activities, individual capitalist can accumulate increased levels of affluence, which can perhaps serve as a route to happiness.
• A politico-economic system where labour can be hired to create goods and services that are sold for profit.
• Promotes innovation, and emphasises short-term gains, but long-term goals may be undermined. Beneficial for individual capitalists, but may result in economic and environmental consequences as it may not be in the best interest of society.
Management and Managers
Management is a universal process comprising of a number of functions.
• Today management is branded through the wording of autonomy, empowerment and flexibility.
• In reality, it is a social practice, influenced by the values, interests and relations that underpins a particular group of people.
Critical theory and management practice
Critical theory is used to challenge oppressive practices where there is little to no democratic accountability and/or there are negative consequences.
• Critical theory challenges the idea of individualism, where individualism suggest that people have complete control over what they do, and what they achieve is a product of their own skills and talents.
• Promotes the idea that modern management tends to reward certain values and behaviour, whilst discouraging others, not necessarily based on ethics, but what is in the best interests of the organisation.
Democracy and management
Democracy is a system of governance where decision-makers are elected into power by those that they govern and are held accountable for the decisions they make.
• The need for democracy in management is critical, from employees being able to elect individuals into managerial positions, or to even be held accountable for their own decisions.
Making sense of Management
• Managers are believed to be able to influence subordinates simply because they are powerful positions.
• However, this isn’t always true, as some managers may lack the required skill-set or personality to be an effective manager.
• It is not solely a technical practice where individuals perform functions, but where individuals engage in a complex environment with varying factors such as age, ethnicity and educational backgrounds.
Week 2: Organisations- Origins and Reasons
Characteristics of an organisation
Organisation is a social arrangement for the controlled performance of collective goals.
• Consists of people who perform role without being guaranteed membership.
• Comprise of collective goals where individuals should work together
• Clearly defined hierarchy
Why do organisations exist?
• To bring together individuals of varying skill sets to work towards a common objective.
• To create an efficient work environment in which individuals can work in conjunction with each other.
• Establish formal systems of authority and responsibility.
Theories of Management
Classical theories of Management
• Highlighted the importance of organisations and formal structure
• Focused on organisational productivity rather than individuals
• Used money as a main motivator.
Henry Fayol
• Outlined principles and functions of management (pioneer).
Scientific Management
Fredrick Taylor
• Used time and motion studies where he would time workers and later record individual’s movement to see if they could move in a different pattern to see whether efficiency could be gained.
Criticisms
• Ignores psychological needs of workers
• Assumed money is the only motivator
• Adopts a simplistic view of productivity Contributions
• Prompted the assembly line work study personnel maintenance and quality control.
Human Relations Theory
• Believes that human resources are the most valuable resource for increased efficiency.
Elton Mayo and the Hawthorne Studies
• Focused on studying humans and their relationships at work
• Experiments controlled social arrangements and factors such as lighting, level of pay, amount of rest etc. to pin down what creating the optimal level of productivity.
• Experiments found that worker productivity were improved when managers allowed social relationships to improve throughout the workplace.
Systems Theory
• Attempts to integrate the ideas of classical and human relations theory.
• Overarching view is that organisations represent a total system of interdependent parts that are open to influences from the external environment.
• Maximal organisational productivity is achieved by managers understanding the interrelationship between social conditions and technology.
Contingency Theory
• Rejects straight forward approaches proposed by the classical and human relation theories.
• Don’t completely reject the ideas of earlier theorists, but argues that it is not applicable to all organisations.
Mechanistic organisations.
• Rigid structure, suitable and stable environments Organic organisations
• Suitable to volatile environments, where there is a focus on cross-functional teams working together to provide a good-service.
