MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES Contents Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................3 Introduction......................................................................................................................................3 The Role and Functions of Mid-level Managers.............................................................................4 How the External Organizational elements Impacts an Organization’s Performance.................5 Management Function (Fayol).....................................................................................................6 Commanding................................................................................................................................6 Controlling...................................................................................................................................6 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7 Recommendations............................................................................................................................7 2
MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES Management Principles Executive summary Management is one of the vital department of any firm. Managers are the engines of any organization as their functions include planning, controlling, organizing commanding, and coordinating. These functions of management enable a firm to survive amid stiff competition from other firms in the industry. However, the managers are always faced with challenges when trying to strike a balance between the organization's performance and the external factors to the organization. Frank’s company case study can well illustrate this. The recommendations are given in this report which includes assigning the Muslim workers the day shift in the organization and utilizing the functions of management to smoothen the organization’s and the workers’ engagement to overcome these challenges. 3
MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES Introduction The purpose of this report is to highlight the roles and functions of managers in the effectiveness of a business. The report also seeks to address some of the external factors that present a challenge to an organization. Some of the external factors that are addressed include the completion and social elements within the business environment. To help us discuss the report, we are going to use a case study of Frank Piechowski, who is a manager of refrigerators manufacturing company. The case study highlights how the rituals performed by the Muslim workers can influence the success or the failure of the organization. Principles of management is a broad guidelines for managerial decision making and behavior of employees towards the organization. Without an authority in position anarchy would be unavoidable in an organization especially with no structure. Common sense indicates that without principles of management common aims and objectives wouldn’t be achieved, or even coming up with the objectives in the first place. The discussion will follow a basic report structure which has an introduction, the body, the conclusion, and finally the recommendations. The Role and Functions of Mid-Level Managers From the case study, Frank Piechowski is a middle-level manager. The findings show that the company that frank heads are experiencing stiff competition from other firms based on the price of refrigerators. As a manager, Frank has to hire cheap labor to reduce the production costs so that the company can charge low prices for its products. The only available cheap labor can only come from the Muslim Somali refugees. However, managing this group of workers presents a challenge to the firm due to their disruptive rituals in the day (Samson, Donnet & Daft, 2018). 4
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MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES Frank directly receives instructions from the vice president of the company. Frank is also a plant manager who is entrusted with the hiring of the employees in his department. Mid-level managers are also known as executory managers, and they are always below the top level management in the hierarchy of command. The primary role of the middle-level level management is to coordinate the activities of the organization and give directions to the low- level management (Shafritz, Ott & Jang, 2015). Besides, the middle-level management are semi- executives who are mostly composed of the branch, departmental, or the plant managers. These individuals are also links between the employees and the top level management. The mid-level managers also ensure the efficiency and the effectiveness of the firm by aligning the factors of production such as labor, capital, and skills. Frank is responsible for communications between the low-level management and the top level management. He is also entrusted with the mandate to ensure effectiveness and the efficiency of the firm. The middle-level managers always have a long experience with the firm and the operations in the same firm. They know what the firm needs to survive the competition from the other firms. Therefore, it can be asserted that Frank is a mid-level manager because he seems to have more a good experience of the firm in which he works for (Ho, 2014). Frank knows from the experience that the majority of the new hires for the company are the Muslims of the Somali origin. He has worked with this group of employees, and he knows their strengths and weaknesses as employees of an assembly line. How the External Organisational Elements Impacts an Organization’s performance External organizational factors may influence the success or failure of an organization. The external factors that face Frank’s company are the social factors and the completion from the firms which produce similar goods. Competition is one of the external force that a firm will 5
MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES always experience from its competitors. Firms will always try to gain a competitive advantage through improving their processes and lowering the cost of production (Bossmann, Ditzen & Schweitzer, 2016). Most of the firms operating in the refrigerators production industry have been competing mainly on price. Therefore, Frank has to hire a competitive workforce that will enable him to survive the competition from other firms in the industry. The consumers are another element that affects Frank’s company as they can now easily compare the prices of the refrigerators through the internet. Therefore Frank experiences pressure to keep the production costs as low as possible so that he can retain the customer for the success of the business. Besides, the only workforce that is available for Frank can only come from the Muslim Somalis. This group of the workforce has a different culture from what is exercised by most workers. The have to be allowed sometime during the day to say their sunset prayers (Bossmann, Ditzen & Schweitzer, 2016). Since Frank intends to hire forty of them, it will be a challenge to the company since they will all leave the production line and proceed to their sunset prayers every evening which will render the company inefficient in the long run. The social aspect of the Muslim workforce can end up influencing the performance of the organization negatively. Management Functions (Fayol) Commanding Commanding is a management function that conveys clear instructions from the management to the employees. Commanding as a function enables the employees to know what is required of them. The function also helps the managers to run the organization effectively and efficiently. The input from the employees will be significantly optimized if concrete instructions 6
MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES are given to them concerning activities that they must carry out (Alika & Aibieyi, 2014). Effective and efficient managers communicate, have integrity, and they make their decisions based on regular audits. Proper communication helps the managers to encourages and motivate employees to take the initiative. Referring to the case study, Frank’s organization was operating efficiently when the organization had a few numbers of Muslim workers. However, the influx of 40 more Muslim workers may render the organization ineffective and inefficient since their pray schedule disrupts the production line operations. Controlling Controlling is a management function that ensures that every activity and process goes according to plan. The management has to ensure that the operations are carried out to conform to the plan. The controlling function takes four major steps which are: Establishing the organization's performance standards, measuring and reporting of the actual performance, comparing results with standards and taking preventive and corrective measures (Conkright, 2015). Franks organization has the plan to compete fairly with the other firms in the industry. This means that the company has to conform to the standards in the industry for it to be efficient. Therefore, Frank’s organization is not effective and efficient when measured and compared against the other firms in the industry. Conclusion Management skills and roles are critical attributes that will make or break an organization.The role of an organizations management is to align the factors of production and the activities in the organization so that the organization can operate effectively and efficiently. Managers have the responsibility and duties to hire employees who enable the company to remain competitive and profitable in the business environment. The managers can ensure that 7
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MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES their organizations are competitive by lowering the production cost, which at times can be attained by hiring cheap and temporary workforce. However, several external challenges face organizations which include the social element of the employees. An example is the dilemma facing Frank Piechowski as a manager. The culture of the Muslim workforce in his organization may affect the efficiency of the firm due to unique demands that are not synonymous with the western culture. These management principles will assist managers in successfully carrying out their responsibilities and also keeping in mind the emerging challenges and other aspects of uncertainty. Recommendations It is the goal of every manager to lead his or her firm or department to success. However, there are challenges which face these managers while trying to balance between the internal factors of the firm and the external factors. For example, Frank has to balance between the firm’s performance and the social elements of the diverse workforce. To achieve this balance, Frank should ensure that he executes the functions of management as suggested by Henri Fayol for the success of the firm. Secondly, it is already known that the mid-day and the afternoon rituals are not disruptive because they were conducted at the same time each day. Frank should assign more Muslim workers the day shift duties and the non-Muslim workers the second shift. This allocation of responsibilities would help him to run the plant effectively and efficiently. 8
MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES References Alika, I. J., & Aibieyi, S. (2014). Human capital: Definitions, approaches, and management dynamics. Journal of Business Administration and Education, 5(1). Bossmann, U., Ditzen, B., & Schweitzer, J. (2016). Organizational stress and dilemma management in mid-level industrial executives: An exploratory study. Mental Health & Prevention, 4(1), 9-18. Conkright, T. A., (2015). Using the four functions of management for sustainable employee engagement. Performance Improvement, 54(8), 15-21. HK Ho, P. (2014). An exploratory study of the impact of organizational environments on property development firms. Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction, 19(3), 226-245. Samson, D., Donnet, T. & Daft, R. L. (2018). Management (6th Asia Pacific Ed.). South Melbourne, Vic: Cengage Learning Australia. Pages 558-559. Shafritz, J. M., Ott, J. S., & Jang, Y. S., (2015). Classics of organization theory. Cengage Learning. 9