BUMGT1501 Management Principles: Case Study Report Evaluation

This report analyzes a case study focusing on management principles within a refrigerator manufacturing company. It examines the roles and functions of mid-level managers, particularly in the context of external organizational elements such as competition and social factors, including the impact of a Muslim workforce and their prayer rituals. The report utilizes Fayol's management functions (commanding and controlling) to evaluate the organization's challenges. It also discusses the importance of balancing organizational performance with external influences, offering recommendations for managers to navigate these complexities, such as optimizing shift assignments and applying Fayol's principles. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and suggestions for enhancing operational efficiency and employee engagement. The report uses academic references and adheres to APA citation guidelines.

Running Head: MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES 1
Management Principles
Student’s Name
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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
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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.
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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).
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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