Glossary.txt

In the 1960's researchers began looking at organisations from a scientific systems approach. In science there are two types of systems; open systems and closed systems. Organisations are open systems. Organisations interact with their environment taking in "inputs" and producing "outputs". Systems researchers saw an organisation as consisting of interdependent factors, including individuals, groups, attitudes, motives, formal structure, interactions, goals, status and authority. This means that managers coordinate the work activities of the various factors and ensure all are working together to achieve the organisations goals.

The breaking down of national borders in regard to trade. Businesses are now able to access resources (including labour) from where it most effective or efficient. Managers now need to consider the impact that different cultures, backgrounds and the viewpoints that are generated. Organisations are now able to source cheaper labour and products in other market places and managers are faced with the challenge of balancing the interests of their organisation, while minimising overheads, remaining competitive, and maintaining social responsibility.

Ethics encompass the following of local laws, accounting rules, honesty in dealings, consideration of the impact on internal and external stakeholders, and putting these things before a person's own self-interest.

A workforce that is more heterogeneous in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, age and other characteristics that reflect differences.

A culture where organisational values promote a sense of purpose through meaningful work that takes place in the context of the community. Organisations with a spiritual culture recognise that people have a mind and a spirit, seek to find meaning and purpose in their work, and desire to connect with other human beings and be part of a community.

Any constituencies in the organisation's external environment that are affected by the organisation's decisions and actions. Stakeholders may include customers, shareholders, suppliers, employees, media and others.

A business's intention, beyond that required by law or economics, to pursue long-term goals that are good for society. Note that this definition assumes that organisations have to differentiate between right and wrong.

The ability of humanity to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. From a business perspective, sustainability has been defined as a company's ability to achieve its business goals and increase long-term shareholder value by integrating economic, environmental and social opportunities into its business strategies.

A deliberate arrangement of people to accomplish some specific purpose. First, each organisation has a distinct purpose. Second, each organisation is composed of people. Third, all organisations develop some deliberate structure so that their members can do their work. In summary, the term organisation refers to an entity that has a distinct purpose, includes people and has some type of deliberate structure.

Doing things right, or getting the most output from the least amount of inputs. Because managers deal with scarce input - including resources such as people, money and equipment they are concerned with the efficient use of those resources.

According to the functions approach, managers perform certain activities or duties as they efficiently and effectively coordinate the work of others. Today most management textbooks are still organised around management functions. They have been condensed down to four functions:

Management function that involves defining goals, establishing strategies for achieving those goals, and developing plans to integrate and coordinate activities.

Management function that involves determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom and where decisions are to be made.

Management function that involves motivating subordinates, influencing individuals or teams as they work, selecting the most effective communication channels, or dealing in any way with employee behaviour issues.

Management function that involves monitoring actual performance, comparing actual to standard, and taking action if necessary.

Manager's need certain skills in order to perform the duties and activities associated with being a manager. Research by Robert L. Katz found that managers need three essential skills or competencies:

Knowledge of and proficiency in a certain specialised field.

The ability to work well with other people individually or in a group.

The ability to think and to conceptualise about abstract and complex situations.

Someone who coordinates and oversees the work of others so that organisational goals can be accomplished. A manager's job is not about personal achievement; it is about helping others to do their work and achieve. That may mean coordinating the work of a departmental group, or it might mean supervising a single person.

Doing the right things, or completing activities so that organisational goals are attained.

Mintzberg's managerial roles.

Managerial roles that involve people and other duties that are symbolic in nature.

Managerial roles that involve receiving, collecting and disseminating information.

Managerial roles that revolve around making decisions.

The reality that management is needed in all types and sizes of organisations, at all organisational levels, in all organisational areas and in organisations in all countries around the globe.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

The use of scientific methods to define the "one best way" for a job to be done.

The organisational behavioural approach has largely shaped today's organisations. From the way managers design motivating jobs to the way they work with employee teams to the way they use open communication, we can see elements of the behavioural approach. Behavioural Science Theorists and & Human Relations theorists are categorised as Organisational Behaviour theories. Behavioural science theorists were psychologists and sociologists who relied on scientific method for the study of organisational behaviour. Members of the Human relations movement believed, for the most part unsubstantiated by research, that a satisfied worker will be productive.

General administrative theorists developed more general theories of what managers do and what constituted good practice. Includes Fayol & Weber.

Today when we describe organisations as systems we mean open systems. An organisation takes in inputs (resources) from the environment and transforms or processes these resources into outputs that are distributed into the environment. The organisation is "open" to, and interacts with, that environment.

The contingency approach is an approach that says that organisations are different, face different situations (contingencies) and require different ways of managing.

Also called the contingency approach

A workforce that is more heterogeneous in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, age and other characteristics that reflect difference.

• Develop a science for each element of an individual's work, which will replace the old rule-of-thumb method.
• Scientifically select and then train, teach and develop the worker. (Previously, workers chose their own work and trained themselves as best they could).
• Heartily cooperate with the works so as to ensure that all work is done in accordance with the principles of the science that has been developed.
• Divide work and responsibility almost equally between management and workers. Management takes over all work for which it is better fitted than the workers are. (Previously, almost all the work and the greater part of the responsibility were thrown on the workers).

• Division of work. Specialisation increases output by making employees more efficient.
• Authority. Managers must be able to give orders. Authority gives them this right. Along with authority, however, goes responsibility.
• Discipline. Employees must obey and respect the rules that govern the organisation.
• Unity of direction. The organisation should have a single plan of action to guide managers and workers.
• Subordination of individual interests to the general interest. The interests of any one employee or group of employees should not take precedence over the interests of the organisation as a whole.
• Remuneration. Workers must be paid a fair wage for their services.
• Centralisation. This term refers to the degree to which subordinates are involved in decision making.
• Scalar chain. The line of authority from top management to the lowest ranks in the scalar chain.
• Order. People and materials should be in the right place at the right time.
• Equity. Managers should be kind and fair to their subordinates.
• Stability of tenure of personnel. Management should provide orderly personnel planning and ensure that replacements are available to fill vacancies.
• Initiative. Employees who are allowed to originate and carry out plans will exert high levels of effort.
• Esprit de corps. Promoting team spirit will build harmony and unity within the organisation.

Those factors and forces outside the organisation that affect the organisation's performance. The external environment is composed of General Environment and Specific Environment.

• Broad external conditions that may affect the organisation:
• Economic Conditions
• Political/Legal Conditions
• Sociocultural Conditions
• Demographic Conditions
• Technological Conditions
• Global Conditions

• Those external forces that have a direct impact on managers' decisions and actions and are directly relevant to the achievement of the organisation's goals.
• Customers
• Suppliers
• Competitors
• Pressure Groups

Demographic Conditions refer to the characteristics of the population of the society in which the organisation operates. An ageing society, such as Australia, has implications for organisations in terms of employment and skills as well as values and expectations.

Socio-cultural conditions refer to the values, customs and expectations of the society in which an organisation operates. The values of the members of the organisation stem from their own cultural and social roots. These determine expectations. How well these are met will influence productivity. Thus the actions of managers, as leaders and organisational decision-makers, are driven by, impacted by, and evaluated by the society. However, managers must not only be aware and responsive to the socio-culture in which they are working, they must also be sensitive and adapt to its changes.

Legal-political conditions refer to laws and regulations that articulate societies, boundaries. The political-legal system allocates power to various groups to design, administer and enforce the law. Political and legal systems are used to ensure compliance to society's values, while the underpinning ideology impacts on attitudes towards business activity. For example, a pro-business mood will encourage business growth and development. And the consequences of a big-is-better ideology are likely to be deregulation of certain industries, and the stimulation of organisational mergers. Thus, managers must not only monitor the laws that govern organisational behaviour, but also the shifts in political ideologies amongst those groups within the legal-political domain that control the legal-political system.

Pressure groups are those within the environment that can influence the organisation's policies and practices, formally through the legislative system, or informally by bringing pressure to bear through the activities of special interest groups. For example, in Australia, the power of the unions to influence organisation's work and labour practices fluctuates in response to a number of factors. These are largely influenced by the persuasion of the governments in power, and the economic climate. Other pressure groups such as Greenpeace, or the Australian Conservation Foundation cannot exercise any legally based influence on organisations, but nevertheless, they have a considerable impact. Their power lies in their ability to tug on the collective conscience, using the media to communicate and influence the general public.

Multinational Corporation (MNC) is a broad term that refers to any and all types of international companies that maintain operations in multiple countries.

A transitional or borderless organisation is a global type of organisation in which artificial geographical barriers are eliminated.

An approach to help managers better understand the differences between national culture developed by Geert Hofstede. He presented 5 dimensions of national culture:

...

...

...

...

...

Feelings of confusion, disorientation and emotional upheaval caused by being immersed in a new culture.

The shared values, principles, traditions and ways of doing things that influence the way organisational members act.

...

The process that helps employees adapt to the organisation's culture.

Corporate rituals are the repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the key values of the organisation, what goals are most important and which people are important (i.e. award ceremonies).

Material symbols convey to employees who is important, the degree of equality desired by top management, and the kinds of behaviour (e.g. risk taking, conservative, cost-conscious, participative, and so forth) that are expected and appropriate.

The high-trust climate in spiritual organisations, when combined with the desire to promote learning and growth, leads to managers empowering employees to make most work-related decisions. Managers trust employees to make thoughtful and conscientious decisions.

An approach to managing in which managers establish and uphold an organisation's shared values.

...

...

The view that management's social responsibility goes beyond making profits to include protecting and improving society's welfare.

A business's intention, beyond that required by law or economics , to pursue long-term goals that are good for society.

The obligation of a business to meet its economic and social responsibilities.

The capacity of a firm to adapt to changing societal conditions.

...

...

...

...

...

Describes choices that are consistent and value maximising within specified constraints.

Behaviour that is rational within the parameters of a simplified decision-making process that is limited (or bounded) by an individual's ability to process information.

Acceptance of solutions that are "good enough".

A subconscious process of making decisions on the basis of experience and accumulated judgment.

An organisation's assets that are used to develop, manufacture and deliver products or services to its customers

An organisation's skills and abilities in doing work activities needed in its business.

Any activities the organisation does well, or any unique resources that it has.

Activities the organisation does not do well, or resources it needs but does not possess.

Positive trends in external environmental factors.

Negative trends in external environmental factors.

...

The formal arrangement of jobs within an organisation.

Developing and changing an organisation's structure.

The degree to which decision making is concentrated at upper levels of the organisation.

The degree to which lower-level employees provide input or actually make decisions.

Dividing work activities into separate jobs.

The basis by which jobs are grouped together.

An organisational design that is rigid and tightly controlled.

An organisation design that is highly adaptive and flexible.

An organisational structure in which the entire organisation is made up of work groups or teams.

An organisational structure that assigns specialists from different functional departments to work on one or more projects.

An organisation structure in which employees continuously work on projects.

An organisation whose design is not defined by, or limited to, the horizontal, vertical or external boundaries imposed by a predefined structure.

Activities necessary for staffing the organisation and sustaining high employee performance.

...

Someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority.

The process of influencing a group to achieve goals.

...

The power a leader has as a result of his or her position in the organisation.

The power a leader has because of his or her ability to punish or control.

Influence that is based on expertise, special skills or knowledge.

Power that rises because of a person's desirable resources or personal traits.

The process by which a person's efforts are energised, directed and sustained towards attaining a goal

...

Focus on analysing what motivates an individual, they suggest that managers should identify an employee's needs in order to understand job satisfaction and work behaviours. Theories include Maslow's hierarchy of needs, McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y, Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory and McClelland's three-needs theory.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...