Decision Support Systems for Palestinian Universities

This assignment examines the application of decision support systems (DSS) for re-engineering operations within Palestinian universities. It delves into existing research on DSS implementation in higher education contexts, particularly focusing on job enrichment techniques and their impact on organizational efficiency. Students are tasked with analyzing relevant studies and applying the insights gained to propose practical solutions for enhancing operational effectiveness at Palestinian universities.

RUNNING HEAD: Scientific Management 1
Scientific Management

Scientific Management 1
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Four Approaches to Management...............................................................................................................2
Scientific Management............................................................................................................................2
Job Enrichment........................................................................................................................................3
Japanese Management............................................................................................................................4
Re-engineering........................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................8
References...................................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
Management is the activity of managing the things or activities conducted in an organization.
Management is the act of supervision and includes planning, organizing, staffing, direction &
control in a business in order to achieve goals (Morden, 2017). BOD (Board of Directors) have
important role in the management. In this assignment we are going to discuss four approaches of
management. First is scientific management. This method focuses on using scientific approach in
each and every activity of organization that how work should be done, also match work
according to the special skill of workers. Second is job enrichment, in this responsibility of
employees is increased by assigning them some work of higher authority, which improves their
position & gives employee a greater satisfaction. In the third approach that is Japanese
management concentrates on team work or collectivism. Finally in the fourth approach re-
engineering, process of business is redesigned.
Four Approaches to Management
Scientific Management
The idea of scientific management was given by Frederick Winslow Taylor. He was the first to
bring in notice to work scientifically and defined the way work should be done. He suggested
that managers should measure productivity scientifically and set high level of records for
workers to achieve (Cohen, 2013). Managers should cooperate with workers. Scientific managers
focused supervisors to walk around with stop watches and note pads carrying out time & motion
studies on workers in various department of the organization (Trujillo, 2014). It is the piece rate
system in which workers are paid for the work done not for their time. It simplifies the job and
increases efficiency & productivity. Selection of the people who are right and efficient can be
done by following this process and such people should be hired in future. It focuses on the lower
level of management and the relationship among nature of work and workers (Jeacle & Parker,
2013). Scientific Management leads to specialization, technical competence & organizational
efficiency.
Principles of scientific management:
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1. Replace rule of thumb by scientific approach to get efficient management: Rule of thumb
is basically guideline that is given on a particular subject or topic to accomplish a task. It
develops by practice and experience by an employee whereas scientific management is
knowing already what to do exactly and knowing this goals can be achieved easily.
2. Assign work to the workers in which they have specialized skills: Scientific management
focuses on the specialization. The persons who are specialized in a particular process
brings more efficiency to the organization.
3. Monitor task of workers, check the way they perform the activity and supervise them:
Managers assign the task to employees & check the way they perform initially and
according to that they assign the work further and supervise them (Waring, 2016).
4. Divide work between top level and low level of management so that managers can plan
work to be done scientifically: Managers divide the task between top and low level
management as managers are already known to scientific management which can bring
specialization to lower level (Vance, et. al.,2014).
Job Enrichment
Job enrichment is the common motivational technique in which management motivates
employees by giving them some extra work which was reserved for managers (Adeyemo,
Sehoole & Cueno, 2015). Job enrichment makes work more interesting and challenging.
It reduces repetition of work. It provides opportunity for employees’ growth,
achievement, advancement and recognition of employees. It gives satisfaction to
employees and satisfied employees are more productive & loyal towards organization
(Saleem, 2012). Employees found themselves a level higher, also it reduces boredom. It
is a medium through which employees learn new things and creates a better work for
environment.
Components of job enrichment:
a) Social needs: Social needs can be appreciation, intimacy, acceptance, love,
friendship, relationship, companionship and belonging. Social needs are essential for
growth & development. If a person’s social needs are fulfilled then that person can
save himself from depression, anxiety and loneliness (Dastranj & Helali, 2016). A
person feels encouraged when he or she is in good relationship with friends &
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relatives. Problems of employees can be solved by interacting and supporting them,
which helps them to contribute their efforts towards growth of organization.
b) Achievement: Achievement is a motivator that an employee develops. Achievement
can be something such as completing a project, reaching goal, achieving targets. It
improves performance and increases productivity. Achievement leads to employee
recognition. Once a person gets desired results then he is more focused on the work
from which he achieves something. Achievement gives financial reward to employees
in the form of bonus, incentive and gifts.
c) Recognition: Recognition is the acknowledgement of an individual’s efforts towards
the growth of an organization. Employee recognition is important as it enhances
employees’ loyalty, builds up morale, increases motivation & let them know that their
work is valued and they are important to organization. Some activities can be
conducted for employees recognition such as leadership rewards, personal note to the
employees, praise by top level management for the contribution of employees, gift
them as a sign of appreciation, mention their achievements at notice board.
d) Responsibility: When employees understand what other members of the organization
expect of them, then it is much easy to understand their rights & responsibilities
towards organization. Responsibilities of an employee towards organization are to be
punctual, loyal, treat customers as he is the owner of business, ensure safety and
security of clients, and follow instructions of employer carefully. Employer’s
responsibility is reporting to employees, ensure employees health and safety at work
place, welfare of employees, guidelines, training and supervision and provide them
instructions.
Japanese Management
The Japanese management approach was derived in japan in 1988. To see the success of
companies in japan, many other countries also have opted this concept. This method is based on
living style & working conditions of japan. This concept stresses on improvement in quality and
reduction of waste. The Japanese companies provide the best working conditions with best salary
packages (Danford, 2013). But the job in these Japanese companies is a dream which is limited
to the men and women who are graduated from top thirty colleges & universities in japan. The
students who don’t get admission in these colleges and universities have no chance to work in
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these companies. So they have to work in small and medium size enterprises. The key features
of Japanese management are:
a) Practice of permanent employment: Employees are hired on the basis of their intelligence
and educational background not on the basis on their specialization & skills
(Wakabayashi & Yamada, 2017). These employees are hired directly from colleges and
trained for six months to one year. After a few years of practicing in an organization,
employees know each and every aspect of the company. If the employees survive for
initial six months then they are expected to survive for their whole life in that
organization only. This is productive to an organization.
b) System of promotion and reward: Seniors have the better condition in the organization
compared to the younger ones. Youngers accept this fact because they know that their
condition will also be better in the future once they are experienced (Fried, et. al., 2014).
So, seniority is given more importance in the organization and they will have more
rewards and better promotions. Rewards are given in the form of tangible and intangible
benefits such as low cost of loans, vacations and more.
c) Decision making process: Employees have fully involvement in decision making
process. Top level management has important role in the decision making process.
Seniors understand each and every facet of organization, so they can take decisions
appropriately. Youngers are kept away in decision making process.
d) High salary packages: Companies who are following Japanese management are in better
working conditions. Japanese management companies provide excellent salaries and
permanent employment. These companies provide all the elite facilities, which increase
their contribution towards the company. It is the dream of everyone to work in such
company. Once the employees are satisfied towards company it will impart to company’s
progress.
e) Employment welfare: Employment welfare is the main element of Japanese management.
It is done by providing health care facilities, low rent homes, vacations, low cost of loans,
medical facilities, holidays and more (Haghirian, 2016). Increment in salary and
promotions are given every year based on their work. Welfare’s main purpose is to bring
change and remove stress in the organization.
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f) Training: Training is given on time to ensure an employee meets the requirement of job
easily. Management trainees who are recruited directly from colleges & universities have
to complete a six month probation period and are trained in the company way. Research
& Development activities are also conducted for the improvement of organization.
Re-engineering
Re-engineering approach also known as Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) is re-design of
business processes to achieve improvements in productivity and quality. The concept of BPR
was first introduced in 1990.BPR is the activity to rethink and redesign the processes that how
work should be done which helps to reduce costs and achieve organizational goals (Abu Naser &
Al Shobaki, 2016). By concentrating on the ground up design of the business process BPR can
restructure the organization & for concentrating on the design we are supposed to follow some
principles of re-engineering:
a) Build-up leadership: Leadership is the most important principle of Business process re-
engineering. A leader always lead and is followed by his followers. Qualities of a leader
are honesty, confidence, creativity, positive attitude, responsible, sense of humor, ability
to inspire and managing failure.
b) Process orientation: Identify all the processes of organization and prioritize them
according to urgency. Organize around outcomes, users of output must perform the task.
Those who perform the process must use the output.
c) Define customer needs: BPR is used mainly to increase customers. This is the reason a
business keep on redefining the process to meet customer requirements.
d) Capture information: Information and knowledge are the sources that are aimed to
achieve competitive advantage. Capture information once and at the source (Matthews,
et. al., 2015).
e) Goal-oriented: A business should focus on the goals not on the task. If a business is not
able to achieve the goals then the process is redesigned to achieve the goals.
f) Stress on value added activities: This principle states that value added activities should be
identified and focus should be on these activities as it adds something to organization.
Non value added activities should be eliminated as it is time wastage plus resource
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wastage to an organization. Techniques such as ABC Analysis realizes the value focus
principle.
After knowing the principles of BPR, it is easy to attempt the process. Business process re-
engineering is also called business process redesign, business process transformation. Steps
involved in re-engineering process are:
a) Refocus on customer needs.
b) Put together a team of experts.
c) Recognize all processes in an organization and redesign them if needed.
d) Use information technology to improve performance and cut cost (Doumeingts &
Browne, 2016).
e) Recognize issues related with organization.
f) Improve business process of whole organization.
An organization opts for re-engineering when it needs to be fast. After knowing the process of
re-engineering, we need to concentrate mainly on these two points:
Focus on leadership: An organization functions more effectively when the leaders are appointed.
Characteristics of leadership include hardworking, competence, patience, involvement & goal
oriented. Leaders motivate employees to redesign the organization by using information
technology. Leaders bring realization to employees that their efforts can contribute to
organizational goals and can manage performance. Persons who are leading involve in the
process of redesigning the process conducted in an organization. Successful and unsuccessful
BPR depends on the competitive advantage of leadership. Successful BPR leaders use leadership
style that fits into the type of task to be performed. This is the reason leadership is the reason for
the high rate of success and failure of BPR projects.
Focus on customer: BPR activities ultimately lead to increasing the number of customers and
users. Customer satisfaction is the ultimately aim of BPR. Process is redesigned to response
customer needs. The process of re-engineering is to make organizations more effective, flexible
and efficient for their customers. Value added systems are also recognized to satisfy and
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prioritize them. Value added systems are used to generate valuable output of value to the
customer. It directly increases the profitability and efficiency of the organization.
Conclusion
From this report, it has been concluded that organizations have become more efficient and
productive after applying scientific techniques because scientific management leads to
specialization. Employees become more responsible and loyal to the organization after applying
job enrichment because repetition of work is reduced and position of employees is improved.
After adopting Japanese management, companies started providing better work conditions with
good salary packages and employee welfare is also given more importance. So, as a result
employees started giving more contribution to the organization. Companies whose performance
is not good have started re-designing the process of organization and as a result company gained
competitive advantage. Information technology is also applied in the process. This shows that
scientific management principles are important to the organization.
References
Abu Naser, S.S. and Al Shobaki, M.J., 2016. Enhancing the use of decision support systems
for re-engineering of operations and business-applied study on the Palestinian universities.
Adeyemo, K.S., Sehoole, C. and Cueno, C.G., 2015. The use of the job enrichment technique
for decision-making in higher education: The case of the Philippines. SA Journal of Human
Resource Management, 13(1), pp.9-pages.
Cohen, Y., 2013. Scientific management and the production process. Science in the twentieth
century (Amsterdam, 1997), pp.111-24.
Danford, A., 2013. Japanese management techniques and British workers. Routledge.
Dastranj, F. and Helali, F., 2016. Implementing" Job Enrichment" with using Ergonomic
Checkpoints in an'Appreciative Way'at a Manufacturing Company in an Industrially
Developing Country and its Meta-reflection. Journal of Ergonomics, 6(4).
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Doumeingts, G. and Browne, J. eds., 2016. Modelling techniques for business process re-
engineering and benchmarking. Springer.
Fried, Y., Laurence, G.I., Shirom, A., Melamed, S., Toker, S., Berliner, S. and Shapira, I.,
2014. The Relationship Between Job Enrichment And Abdominal Obesity: A Longitudinal
Field Study Of Apparently Healthy Individuals. Cardiology, 128, p.70.
Haghirian, P. ed., 2016. Routledge Handbook of Japanese Business and Management.
Routledge.
Jeacle, I. and Parker, L., 2013. The ‘problem’of the office: Scientific management,
governmentality and the strategy of efficiency. Business History, 55(7), pp.1074-1099.
Matthews, J., Love, P.E., Heinemann, S., Chandler, R., Rumsey, C. and Olatunj, O., 2015.
Real time progress management: Re-engineering processes for cloud-based BIM in
construction. Automation in Construction, 58, pp.38-47.
Morden, T., 2017. Principles of management. Routledge.
Saleem, S, 2012, “The Impact of Job Enrichment and Job Enlargement on Employee
Satisfaction Keeping Employee Performance as Intervening Variable” , Kuwait Chapter of
Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review.- 2012, Vol. 1, No.9, Pages 145-165.
Vance, E.D., Loehle, C., Wigley, T.B. and Weatherford, P., 2014. Scientific basis for
sustainable management of Eucalyptus and Populus as short-rotation woody crops in the
US. Forests, 5(5), pp.901-918.
Trujillo, T., 2014. The modern cult of efficiency: Intermediary organizations and the new
scientific management. Educational Policy, 28(2), pp.207-232.
Wakabayashi, N. and Yamada, J.I., 2017. 8 Networks and management in the Japanese
creative. Japanese Management in Evolution: New Directions, Breaks, and Emerging
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Waring, S.P., 2016. Taylorism transformed: Scientific management theory since 1945. UNC
Press Books.
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