Faculty of Business, Economics & Accounting

Department of Business Studies

HELP Bachelor of Business (Hons)

ASSIGNMENT
University of Finance – Marketing

September 2019 Semester

Subject: MGT101

Principles of Management

Subject Convener: Pn Norzan Abdullah

Telephone: 603-2716 2000

Email : norzan54@gmail.com

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 Student information
Grade/ Marks
(For group assignment , please state name of all members )
Name ID

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Module/Subject Information
Acknowledgement
Module/Subject Code MGT101

Module/Subject Name Principle of Management

Lecturer/Tutor/Facilitator Miss. Vu Thi Tinh

Due Date Friday 29 November 2019

Assignment Title/Topic Case Sudy ‘ Humanised Robots’

University of Finance-Marketing
Intake( where applicable )
(UFM )

Word Count 2.512

Date/Time

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 Declaration
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Signature : Date : 29 November 2019

Mail : hongsam2612@gmail.com

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Date: Date:

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 Contents
I. INTRODUCTION 6
II. ANSWER 6
Summary of Case study “Humanized Robot” 6

Question 1: Management Perspective that Jake Bowers implemented 7

a. Identification 7
b. Definition 7
c. Explain 8
Question 2: Management Perspective that Helen Bowers implemented 9

a. Identification 9
b. Definition 10
c. Explain 10
Question 3: Challenges to wait staff 11

1) Two challenges that Helen Bowers confronted 11

2) Two way for Helen Bowers overcome the challenges 12
III. CONCLUSION 14
References 15
Turnitin Report 16

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I. INTRODUCTION
Management is one of the most important and necessary elements in operating businesses.
There are various ways that economists use to describe the meaning of administration but they
all have the same collective point. Generally, management is administering, guiding the
people to utilize the existing assets in the best way so that the organization reaches the targets
as soon as possible [ CITATION Fre20 \l 1033 ]. Moreover, management carries
characteristics belonging to both science and art. In the science aspect, management procedure
includes collecting statistics, proofs, studying the information, concluding final judgment
according to the studying, which is similar to science structure. Besides, the administration
also consists of utilizing the wisdom, experience to find solutions to the administrative
troubles in the social, political backgrounds. An excellent manager is an individual who
combines these two aspects of management harmoniously. To do that, there are diverse
administration perspectives that directors need to acknowledge and understand so that they
can maximize the human resources and inputs of the corporation. From this case study
“Humanized Robots”, by collecting statistics, referring to reliable sources of information, our
group will analyze and clarify the management perspectives that the case refers to in this
assignment.

II. ANSWER

Summary of Case study “Humanized Robot”

Helen aimed to generate productivity higher than the current production rate of The Bowers.
However, the more strategies she applied, the more disappointment she got. Her father, Jake
Bowers unfortunately left this world, retransmitted the business founded 40 years ago to his
daughter, Helen. His company expanded adequately into a medium-size organization
including three factories, a head office situated in Kansas. Helen always had a conflicting view
comparing to the previous director- her father. Her opinions were all about the increase in
outputs, labor efficiency, which resulted in the indifference in not only the relationship
between the leader and employees but also the devotion of the staff towards the corporation.
To deal with the Japanese firms in the heavy mechanical market, she had demanded lots of
reconstructions in management consisting of increasing by 20 percent of quotas, destroying

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the softball field, and so on. This led to a conflict existing within the company about the needs
of workers, the differences between what they used to have when her father was a chairman
and the present. She just did it in her way and concluded that the boss doesn’t have to listen to
any other perspectives. Hence, things were done the opposite, many troubles occurred
unexpectedly. After that, despite the fact that the consultant advised Helen to follow Jake’s
management perspective, Helen stubbornly kept putting more pressure on the workers without
listening.

Question 1: Management Perspective that Jake Bowers implemented

a) Identification
The management perspective that Jake Bowers implemented in Bowers Machine Parts is
behavioral management. Human is one of the most crucial elements that build up an
organization because it is human who initiates, improves, develops the business. Behavior
administration hypothesis is frequently alluded to as the human relations development since it
bargains with the human perspective at work. The behavioral scholars accept that distant
better, a higher understanding of human behavior within the work environment, such as group
flow, clashes, desires, and elements moves forward productivity [ CITATION Tho67 \l 1033 ].
For that reason, the manager who applies well the knowledge of the behavioral management
perspective in the organization manages their human resources successfully. Understanding
this administrative theory assists the directors in achieving their objectives more easily, which
will lead them to success sooner or later.

b) Definition
The behavioral administrative method is described in diverse aspects and ways. In the case
study, Jake Bowers used two areas of it to manage his corporation. The first one is the
Hawthorne studies established by Elton Mayo. Hawthorne’s investigation could be an
arrangement of examinations conducted by the portion of a refocusing on administration
methodology with a center on psychosocial viewpoints in organizations. According to Elton
Mayo, if the staff’s workplace fulfills their needs, they will certainly work more efficiently.

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Mayo proposed the following opponents about management included in the employees’ needs
as a result of the Hawthorne experiments: social system, social environment, informal
organization, group dynamics, informal leader, non-economic reward [CITATION Kat17 \l
1033 ]. The second one is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs studied by Maslow Abraham. This is
a hypothesis incorporating five stages of human needs, regularly depicted as progressive levels
in a pyramid. Needs are divided into five stages from the foot of the chain up to the top:
physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs
[ CITATION Sau20 \l 1033 ]. Higher needs within the pyramid can only be fulfilled if a
human’s lower needs are satisfied.

Figure 1: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Source: [ CITATION Ala93 \l 1033 ]

c) Explain
Jake Bowers is the one who established the Bowers Machine Parts Company. The firm creates
substitution components for extensive fabricating machinery like rotating machinery, grinders.
With Jake’s behavioral management perspective, he had managed to build a healthy and
pleasant social environment, which made the workers feel more comfortable working in the

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company. The ways that he cared about them were similar to the ways he looked out for his
relatives, which satisfied the workers’ social needs. This also showed that there was no
hierarchy or compulsory formality in the company’s system, which met the informal
organization and leader factors of the Hawthorne studies. Thanks to that act of Jake, the staff
had been more connected to the organization through strong relationships. Hence, the mutual
connections among the people in the firm not only grew stronger every day but also helped
avoid conflicts in the working environment. Therefore, the productivity of the firm had
increased stably throughout four decades without any internal problems. Furthermore, Jake
had always been appreciating the fact that his employees shared their thoughts and opinion
with him, which assisted him in improving the organization and satisfying his workers for the
better. He truly wanted to take care of the employees’ physical and mental health by building a
softball field for the staff to keep them entertained, made their working days more enjoyable.
With all those acts, Jake had ensured that the physiological needs of his staff are fulfilled
because the satisfaction of a human being from physiological needs is the priority before any
other needs. The company was filled with full of energy workers who are motivated and
inspired by Jake’s magnificent behavioral management to work harder and contribute to the
Bowers Machine Parts Corporation as much as possible. Moreover, the staff’s esteem needs
were satisfied because he made them truly feel like a part of the company. The way to do this
is not just by engaging or manipulating them but by asking for their advice. Jake empowered
his employees to make a real difference by trusting them with responsibility, which boosted
their self-esteem and value. Since all of their works were appreciated and valued, they would
keep working at the firm in the long-term, which also helped decrease the percentage of
turnovers. With the feeling of belongingness towards the organization and the recognition
from Jake, the staff of Bowers Machine Parts devoted themselves entirely to the development
of the firm, assisting in expanding the size of the corporation years after years.

Question 2: Management Perspective that Helen Bowers implemented

a) Identification
The management perspective that Helen Bowers implemented in Bowers Machine Parts is
scientific management. Frederick Taylor was one of the founders of the scientific management

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movement known as Taylorism. There are Henry Gantt, Harrington Emerson, Lillian Gilbreth
accompanying Taylor in studying the theory of scientific administration. Frederick Taylor
pondered how the workers could perform their duties as efficiently as possible. He aimed to
exploit the workers most effectively because, at that time, people were considering expanding
machines [ CITATION Dav88 \l 1033 ]. Moreover, Frederick Taylor is known as the pioneer
in the classical management aspect of the organization. After finishing doing the research, he
presented many essential factors and methods for others to implement so that they can
increase their productivity as much as possible.

b) Definition
Scientific management is about utilizing scientific, innovative, arithmetical analysis to
enhance the corporation’s efficiency. The priority of this management perspective is
maximizing labor productivity. Moreover, this theory consists of selecting, training workers
scientifically according to their abilities, researching the entire workflow of the workers,
breaking down the above tasks into different stages to find ways to improve, optimizing the
operations, and ultimately bringing big surplus capitalists [ CITATION CBe \l 1033 ]. Taylor
argued that a good organization with a shabby factory would have better results than a modern
factory with a poor organization. This means that the role of management, organizational
capacity based on machines, technology, and human factors are important to the success or
failure of the business [ CITATION Dan74 \l 1033 ]. Furthermore, he assumed that people are
often lazy, avoid work, so it is necessary to put them in a disciplined framework, work under
the reward-penalty mechanism, from which he has a policy of paying by-product and
rewarding for excess quota.

c) Explain
When Helen Bowers took over the company, she changed a lot of things. Typically, she
implemented a different management perspective which is scientific management comparing
to the one her father applied. Helen is stricter on the employees, she doesn’t care much about
their feelings but sees them as working tools for her to achieve her goals. She decided to build
a hierarchy between her and her staff by treating them as the lower-level workers so that they
would seriously work hard. Furthermore, Helen wanted to save as much time as possible so

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she reduced the amount of leisure time of her staff so that they could spend those times raising
the production and profits of the firm. According to scientific management, she believes that
self-styled work is not sufficient. That explained her instruction to the operative level
managers that demanded them to always supervise and direct the low-level employees, which
made the organization work more consistently and harmoniously as a unity. This act also
shows her desire for wanting to ensure that the system works out perfectly and effectively.
Moreover, because Helen Bowers’ priority is maximizing the output of the company, she
removed the softball field built for the employed for forthcoming enlargement of Bowers
Machine Parts Corporation. To compete with the Japanese competitors, she set a clear labor
norm of growing 20 percent of the output proportion for the company and forced employees to
comply. Taylor states that “all workers were motivated by money”, which shows his support
in “a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work” point of view. With Helen’s belief in scientific
management, she chose to pay her staff with the ordinary amount of money and no
remuneration because their contribution earned just that much. Additionally, Helen created a
motivation of cutting down the workers’ salary if they failed to increase 10 percent of the
organization’s productivity so that it can encourage them to diligently devote more to the firm,
reducing their laziness. Last but not least, Helen applied Taylor’s theory in the decision-
making part in the operating system. She believes that planning and making decision belongs
to the specialist or the director, which means the employees have no right to contribute to the
firm’s strategy or anything. She assumed that workers just have the responsibility in executing
the plan that Helen had created. Therefore, she refused to ask for anyone’s opinions and
decide everything on her own.

Question 3: Challenges to wait staff

1. Two challenges that Helen Bowers confronted

As mentioned, Helen Bowers controlled her firm with scientific management which led to an
unsatisfied result as she foresaw. It seems like by applying the behavioral management
concept (human relations), her father, Jake Bowers handled all the drawbacks affecting the
company’s benefits and the mentality of the hired help better than Helen does right now.
Helen, on the other hand, faces two challenges appearing when her scientific theory was

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implemented. First of all, implementing the wrong philosophy had resulted in lots of troubles
in managing her staff. The considerable reduction in the employees’ aspiration at work is
rapidly noticed by Helen after executing the removal of the workers’ rest time. Normally,
working after a while the humane body both mentally and physically needs to take a break to
refresh from the stress status that it received in the process of working. To reduce the negative
influences after a hard day of work, attending social exercises or relaxing by enjoying your
hobbies are the best suggestions [ CITATION Soo17 \l 1033 ]. Furthermore, to approach the
growth of output, they have to suffer from being forced to increase 20 percent of the quotas. If
they failed to obtain the goal, they will receive a pay cut equivalent to the amount of
unaccomplished percentage. A number of employees who did not accept her managing
strategy decided to leave the organization because of Helen’s indifference towards their
satisfaction. As a result, finding another workplace became the most common solution to
enhance the working environment standards for those who had reached the edge of endurance
under the strictly old-concept company. For that reason, there is a remarkable rise in the drop-
out-of-work rate. Therefore, hiring newbie was the only option, which made a considerable
amount of training costs go up. To what she planned, she hoped that payroll costs would go
down and profits would go up. However, in the end, profits are just slightly higher, the scrap
rate and personnel costs also rose.

Helen’s second challenge was the ability to survive in the competitive long-run markets with
Japanese competitors which were going strong in the heavy mechanical marketplace. By
demanding quotas had to be 20 percent more and publishing a code about wage punishment,
she expected that the strategy would work out well and lead her to success. However, the
strategy failed horribly because she was blindly trying to pursue her dreams by carelessly
guiding her staff with unthoughtful instructions. Hence, consequently, the workers’ daily spirit
rapidly declined without any solutions from higher-level managers, because none of the
employees’ levels of needs which Maslow mentioned were fulfilled. In the end, Bowers’
productivity undoubtedly fell, which could be a vital weakness to her international challenge,
her family carrier.

2. Two way for Helen Bowers overcome the challenges

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To overcome the first challenge, Helen needs to change her ways of management by
combining scientific and behavioral management perspectives. Since Helen has taken away
the leisure times of her employees, she should offset those necessary relaxing times for the
staff. Mayo’s Hawthorne theory of management states that: “Money is not only a driver of
human behavior. Humans are motivated by various factors, most important of which are socio-
psychological factors” [ CITATION JHS87 \l 1033 ]. Besides, relaxation is one of the crucial
physiological needs of any employed individual because it assists the employee in obtaining
fully recharged willingness to work and motivating his/her enthusiasm for working. Moreover,
Helen should adjust her behaviors towards her staff in Bowers Machine Parts by supporting
and taking care of them as same-level colleagues instead of treating everyone else as lower-
level hired people. With that change in her actions, she will be able to provide the staff with an
encouraging and relaxing working environment where they can express themselves freely and
utilize their skills in the workplace. To assist the workers in enhancing their working
conditions, Helen is required to collect and listen to not only their desire and needs but also
their grievances. The relationship between Helen and the employees plays an important role in
the growth of Bowers Machine Parts Company. Furthermore, Helen should show her
appreciation towards her workers’ effort in helping build a better operating system because it
will truly make them feel like part of the company.

The solution to the second challenge that Helen should execute is to reduce the employees’
pressure to meet the target profits of the organization. She diminished the staffs’ satisfaction
with safety needs by announcing to cut down their salary if they were not capable of raising 10
percent of their productivity. On the other hand, Helen should offer her workers a pay raise or
additional bonus as they succeeded in increasing 10 percent of their productivity instead of
using economic benefits to threaten them. This adjustment in managing the staff will succeed
in making the productivity of the firm go up stably in long-term management, which helps
Bowers Machine Parts Company compete with the production of Japanese firms in the
international competition. Besides, if Helen continuously laying pressure on the staff or a
long period, the rate of turnovers will immensely rise and cause counter-effects. Other ways
to increase the quality of human resources and the number of products are rewarding the
workers with company traveling trips, setting up occasional celebrations, providing the
employees having the high target profits with a pay raise, and honoring them.

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III. CONCLUSION
The combination of scientific and behavioral management is the most suitable solution that
Helen Bowers should apply to the Bowers Machine Parts Company’s operating system. The
quality of the human resources department plays an important role in the process of
reinforcing and developing the mission statement of the business or organization. Therefore,
one of the major tasks of the manager is managing successfully the personnel department,
which builds consistency in the enterprise and strong connections existing in the workforce. If
the manager performs this task successfully, achieving the organizational objectives in the
process of the firm’s evolution will be incredibly easier. To control and guide the employees
efficiently, the manager needs to have enough knowledge of many kinds of management
perspectives in the working environment. Understanding the management methods is a crucial
requirement for the manager position because the director’s decisions have huge influences on
the existence of the organization, more specifically the firm’s profits, productivity.

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