Foundations of Management Essay: Ideology, Obstacles, and Choices

This essay delves into the multifaceted world of management, exploring key concepts such as managerial ideology, which encompasses an individual's beliefs about management practices. It examines obstacles that hinder effective decision-making and goal achievement within organizations, including lack of teamwork and bureaucratic processes. The essay also discusses the concept of 'common moral' in the workplace, emphasizing the importance of ethical behavior and adherence to organizational rules. Furthermore, it analyzes the management's dilemma of choosing between specialization and flexibility, arguing for a balanced approach where both aspects coexist to ensure organizational success. References to relevant research and scholarly articles support the arguments presented, providing a comprehensive understanding of the core principles of management.

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Foundations of Management
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Managerial ideology
Management is a complex role in the modern world such that managers usually face many
difficulties in trying to achieve their own goals or the goals of an organization. It involves
working with people and all that require organization to enable a certain goal be achieved. It
is important to note that in management, the one that leads is the manager. He is responsible
for giving direction and overseeing all the activities. It is an area, which has been
scientifically and socially studied by many researchers. They have linked it to many theories
to try to explain certain concepts that would really dissect its origin, importance, and impacts.
In giving definitions of management, researchers have tried to explain the other terms
associated with it such as managerial ideology (Andrews and Russell, 2012). Managerial
ideology can be viewed as a concept of having in mind or bearing beliefs about management
aspects in one’s mind. As have been explained in this text, management is an aspect that
involves a number of things that must be done to ensure that the organization goals and
objectives are attained. A manager is required to choose among the many things that are
required of him to do and carry them out as effectively as possible. However, it may not be
the same with all the managers; it is upon them to ensure that their management style is that
which everybody feels comfortable while under their authority. An ideology can be seen as a
notion that is inscribed in the minds of people about the entire management process. This
notion can be positive or negative depending on how an individual views the whole process.
A good manager should thus practice tolerance, tries to be good to everybody, and at the
same time should not condone bad or unethical behaviours (Bharathi, 2016).

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Obstacles to making the best decisions about ways to problem solution and goal success
Organizations have different structures that are set to deal with any form of problem.
However, solution to problems may sometimes become challenging especially if certain
things are not put in order. It is always mandatory for organizations to achieve their set goals
however tough it may be because this is the core value of which they exist. However, some
goals may not be easy to reach due to some obstacles. Some of these hindrances can be
removed while others are challenging enough and cannot be avoided but can only be lived
with. A common problem with large organizations is lack of teamwork among employees
with the top management inclusive (Potter, 2002). Lack of teamwork can make it very
difficult make decisions and even to solve problems that may be arising in the course of the
work. One of the basic responsibilities of a manager is to bring everyone together and built
team spirit so that each and everyone feel part of the organization. It is very clear that goals
are very crucial components of management vision and the every stakeholder is bound to
work towards achieving them. Secondly, decisions may be hard to arrive or take too long to
be made simply due to bureaucratic processes that would take too much time to arrive at
(Miller, Biggart, and Newton, 2013). A goal is key to the success of any organization, for
example, an organization may need to be the best provider of certain services in a region.
Therefore, each employee must take upon himself or herself to see that this is achieved.
Lastly, the management has to deal with different kinds of problems for example, strikes,
lateness, incompetency among others.
‘Common moral’
In many organizations, there are different people who are from different places. Each
individual subscribes to his or her morals. However, sometimes individuals may be required
to fulfil certain level of behaviour in conformity to the laid down rules and regulations of that

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organization. The term common moral is thus a good way of describing the overall situation
in work organizations. The fact that organizations are made up of people who are responsible
for the discharge of their duties to achieve the set goals, there must be a common behaviour
that is expected from all of them to ensure that this is done. Ethical behaviours are mandatory
requirements for anyone in a business field just as in organizations. People must behave in a
good manner to win the votes of the outside world because they cannot exist alone in their
world. They both need each other; therefore, all the employees must act and behave in a
manner that is unquestionable within the social corporate responsibility (SCR). Common
moral is a term that describes the uprightness of an employee so that one is not seen as
deviating from the common rules that every individual is mandated to follow (Haasler, 2013).
It makes an individual understands and choses what is right and wrong. However, even it is
upon an individual to choose from the good and bad, it is highly expected that an individual
always choses the right thing.
The management choice to specialization and flexibility
Managers are sometimes faced with a situation where a choice has to be made between
achieving economies of scale and economies of scope. In this situation, two things come into
play, the organization needs to specialize and at the same time be flexible in what it does
(Lavy, 2013). However, all these situations are very crucial in the survival of the
organization; the management must thus weigh and allocate attention to both of the
situations. Since both aspects are beneficial to the organization, it is important that they be
given equal attention in order for them to coexist. Specialization enables the organization
explore the greatest steps in a single line as to emerge the best, however as they do this, they
must also be flexible enough so that in case there is failure in one side, they can easily shift
attention to a different thing and still succeed (Potter, 2002). It is important to look at the two

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factors as brothers because if there is a decline in one, an organization can ride its survival on
another one. Therefore, equal time and attention need to be given to both of the situations. In
this case, there is no doubt that they will coexist peacefully within the organization.

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References
Andrews, G. and Russell, M. (2012). Functions of management: strategy, evaluation and
impact. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 2(1), pp.33-44.
Bharathi, A. (2016). Communication Skills in managerial positions: Issues & Concerns.
Higher Learning Research Communications, 6(4).
Haasler, S. (2013). Foundation Management practices. International Journal of Training and
Development, 17(3), pp.233-243.
Lavy, I. (2013). Soft Skills – An Important Key for Employability in the management sector.
International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning.
Miller, L., Biggart, A. and Newton, B. (2013). Business ethics and morals . International
Journal of Training and Development, 17(3), pp.173-175.
Potter, E. (2002). Improving Skills management skills in the 21st Century. Industrial and
Labor Relations Review, 55(4), p.739.