Professional Documents
Culture Documents
MGMT Notes Part 1
MGMT Notes Part 1
Types of Organisations
Characteristics of an organisation
“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
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 ROLES
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.
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.
Organisational culture can be changed but it takes time cannot be done overnight.
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.
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.
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.
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.
APPLICATIONS, INTERVIEWS, REFERENCE CHECKS, HONESTY TEST, DRUG SAMPLE TEST, DRUG TEST
BACKGROUND CHECKS AND PHYSICAL EXAMS
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