Kaplan Business School: BUS102 Management Assignment - Semester 1

This assignment explores key concepts in management, focusing on organizational design, emotional intelligence (EI), and team dynamics. The first part of the assignment defines and discusses organizational design elements, such as centralization and decentralization, and their application in a workplace setting. The second part delves into emotional intelligence, explaining its components, importance in the workplace, and strategies for personal improvement. The final section examines task roles and group maintenance leadership, highlighting their significance in achieving team goals. The assignment draws on relevant theories and provides practical examples to illustrate the concepts. References from academic sources are also included to support the arguments presented.

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student:
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1INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Answer 1
Centralization and decentralization are considered as organizational design
fundamentals determining the degree types of decision-making process is completed at one
essential level or at numerous levels by employees. For instance, all critical budget results
tend to filter to the top management level of the organization in centralized approach.
According to Santos, Pache and Birkholz (2015), customer service decisions show a tendency
to be decentralized providing the ones interacting with client directions on the way to deal
with issues, but the authority to make specific decisions. However, contrary to
centralized corporations, decentralized organizations show less concentrated power. In a
decentralized organization, inferior levels in the organizational hierarchy can engage
in decision-making procedures (Gruber et al. 2015). For instance, decentralized organization
can be considered as fast-food franchise chain, where each franchised restaurant unit in the
chain is accountable for individualistic operation.
Elements related to workplace environment pose significant impact to the employees’
performance towards the negative or constructive outcomes. According to Herzberg theory,
factors of work environment which tend to satiate employees vary from the factors which
cause dissatisfaction to them. Herzberg theory indicates that cultivating the environment
where job is performed stimulates employees to offer improved employment outcomes with
utmost efficiency. The shift to team-based organizational structure has emerged from
demands to conduct rapid decisions in order to lessen inefficiencies and further to continually
enhance work progressions. For example, Woolworths, Australian super retail giant has
realized utmost value and importance of its team and clientele. Reports of author reveal that
Woolworths aim to attain structured workplace environment through training and educational
developments of wide range employee base (Mayer, Caruso and Salovey 2016). Authors have
noted that training is an imperative element in producing the human capital as it offers

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employees with the services, abilities and knowledge essential to perform their tasks.
Furthermore, the organization has established inclusive communication base with its
workforce in order to receive constant feedback.
Answer 2
Emotional Intelligence (EI) establishes the stage at which understanding and emotion
meet. Petrides et al. (2016) are of the opinion that EI facilitates employees for resilience,
enthusiasm, empathy, cognitive, stress management and the capability to read as well as
direct range of social situations and conflicts. EI serves decisive role in contemporary
organization and if yielded efficiently tends to offer avenues to distinguish more achieved
and contented life. There can be identified five components of EI related to self-awareness,
motivation, social skills, empathy in addition to self-regulation. EI is developing highly
imperative to humans’ achievements in the progressing digital future of work.
Considering Goleman’s model, employees possessing higher level of EI tend to have
the capacity to self-regulate. Furthermore, increased levels of motivation and stimulation tend
to lessen the propensity to procrastinate thus advancing to elevated self-buoyancy and
facilitates them to focus on successfully acquiring long-term goals (Focht and Ponton 2015).
While, leaders with elevated levels of EI assist teams for efficient collaboration and
identification of particular determinants which stimulate individual employees, teams can
further develop an emotional intelligence of their own. For example, Aldi Australia has
established robust team with utmost trust and deference for providing as well as receiving
feedback. Aldi efficiently accentuates on fostering robust workplace culture by EI, which
makes it less complex in establishing constructing affirmative environment from corporate,
traders, stores and workforce (MacCann et al. 2014).

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Poor EI tends to pose severe impacts in several arenas of an individual’s life. Drawing
relevance to this factor, I have realized my insignificant level of empathy towards others
necessitate significant attention. With my low level of empathy, I have been failing to form
stronger and constructive associations and thus unable to attain success in my professional
domain. Studies revealed that emotional regulation primarily serves as decisive objective to
focus attention, seek incentives and further advance towards self-possession and to creativity.
Emotional willpower appears to be overdue to any kind of succuss (Côté 2014). Thus, failing
to show this ability is acting as critical impediments for me in showing effectiveness towards
my work. However, to successfully increase empathy towards others, it is important to
upsurge one’s level of awareness regarding individual non-verbal expressions such as micro-
expressions and further ask for feedbacks in various situations.
Answer 3
There are two chief types of task roles namely task leadership and group maintenance
leadership. It has been noted that task leadership roles typically include leadership roles by
offering as well as seeking information from the group, asking the ideas of all group
associates, maintaining enthusiasm within the group and strategically assessing performance
and offering way to the group. Functional group roles encompass task and maintenance roles.
To positively and efficiently achieve the goal, the team associates must take liability for
distinguishing and performing the functions either the task or preservation based necessitated
by the group at any particular point in time.
Task roles are regarded as the type of roles, which relate to getting work
accomplished. The represent the varied type of roles required to take project systematic from
initial conception through to action. For example, initiator or contributor suggests innovative
ideas or diverse ways of impending group difficulties or goals. This specific role initiates
thoughts and shift groups into new areas of investigation (Nickerson and Mele-Taylor 2014).

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Information Giver – These task roles primarily offers information to the group. These task
roles are perceived as an authority on the topic and relates individual experience when
applicable.
Information Seeker – Requirements explanation of comments in relation to accurate
adequacy. Information Seeker determines what information is misplaced and necessities to be
found before progressing.
Maintenance group roles and behaviours function in order to create as well as
maintain social cohesion and accomplish the relational needs of the group members
(McCleskey 2014). For example, the harmonizer in maintenance groups tries to lessen
negotiations and discord in the group by stimulating members to show reverence and
consideration. They further permits them to share feelings related to anxieties or anger at
other individuals.
While, gatekeepers attempts to stimulate communication by inviting members to
involve in discussions who have not offered their ideas and maintained stability of the
discussion and its accuracy.

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References
Côté, S., 2014. Emotional intelligence in organizations. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol.
Organ. Behav., 1(1), pp.459-488.
Focht, A. and Ponton, M., 2015. Identifying primary characteristics of servant leadership:
Delphi study. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 9(1).
Gruber, M., De Leon, N., George, G. and Thompson, P., 2015. Managing by design.
MacCann, C., Joseph, D.L., Newman, D.A. and Roberts, R.D., 2014. Emotional
intelligence is a second-stratum factor of intelligence: Evidence from hierarchical and
bifactor models. Emotion, 14(2), p.358.
Mayer, J.D., Caruso, D.R. and Salovey, P., 2016. The ability model of emotional
intelligence: Principles and updates. Emotion Review, 8(4), pp.290-300.
McCleskey, J.A., 2014. Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and
leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), p.117.
Nickerson, A.B. and Mele-Taylor, D., 2014. Empathetic responsiveness, group norms,
and prosocial affiliations in bullying roles. School Psychology Quarterly, 29(1), p.99.
Pereira-Moliner, J., Pertusa-Ortega, E.M., Tarí, J.J., López-Gamero, M.D. and Molina-
Azorin, J.F., 2016. Organizational design, quality management and competitive
advantage in hotels. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, 28(4), pp.762-784.
Petrides, K.V., Mikolajczak, M., Mavroveli, S., Sanchez-Ruiz, M.J., Furnham, A. and
Pérez-González, J.C., 2016. Developments in trait emotional intelligence
research. Emotion Review, 8(4), pp.335-341.
Santos, F., Pache, A.C. and Birkholz, C., 2015. Making hybrids work: Aligning business
models and organizational design for social enterprises. California Management
Review, 57(3), pp.36-58.