The Roles of Management in an Organization

The success of an organization rests on the ability of managers to jut, organize, direct and control. The aim of this undertake is to examine to what extent the to a higher place statement is an accurate appraisal of undefeated management? To illustrate the arguments put forward this essay will give ear to the sequel study The launch of the centaur taken from Paton et al text Organizations, Cases, Issues and Concepts. The model study reports on the problems that occurred when Centaur replaced Paravel car manufacturers.This essay will include a study of Henri Fayols tailfin key managerial elements in order to unwrap whether it is essential to excogitate, organize, direct and control followed by practical examples drawn from the sidle uped case study. Fayols career began as a mining engineer and then locomote into research geology and in 1888 joined, Comambault as Director. The confederation was in difficulty hardly Fayol turned the deed round.On retirement he published his crap a comprehensive theory of administration described and classified administrative management roles and processes then became recognised and referenced by others in the maturement discourse about management. Fayol categorized management into five key elements, which domiciliate be seen in appendix one. The first of the elements is intend Fayol believes that planning marrow some(prenominal) to access the future and make provision for it1 Fayol views the action plan as the most utilisationful output of the planning process.He notes that this plan must go out the firms resources, work- in-progress, and future trends of the eternal environment. Fayol also believes that a scoop up action plan must consist of continuity, unity, flexibility and precision. Pugh and Hickson state that The problems of planning which management must overcome are do sure the objectives of distributively part of the institution are securely welded together (Unity) using both short and lo ng term auguring (continuity) being able to hold the plan in the light of changing circumstances (flexibility) and attempting to accurately bode courses of action Precision2.The essence of planning is to entirelyow the optimum use of resources. The views of Fayol and Pugh and Hickson illustrate the importance of planning when seeking to be a self-made manager. The second of the elements is organizing, Fayol states that personnel is the focus of this section3 He believes that managerial duties of an organisation must be realised through the use of personnel. He argues that contempt the variety of business, every firm of similar employee size differs importantly in the nature and relative value of constituent elements4.The task of management is to lay down up an organisation that wholeows the activities to be carried out in an optimal manner. Pugh and Hickson state, interchange to this is a structure in which plans are effectively prepared and carried out. thither must be u nity of command and concern, clear definition of responsibilities, microscopic decision making backed up by an efficient organisation for selecting and training managers5. The views of Fayol and Pugh and Hickson illustrate the importance of organizing when seeking to be a flourishing manager.Fayol has identified that there are many key objectives of organising, which can be located on adjunct 2 The Fayols third element comes logically after the first two, plan and control his third element is to command. In relation to the question command is part of the ability to direct. Fayol states that commanding is the province of every manager6. The calculate of this is to achieve the maximum contribution from all personnel to help with the interests of the organization. Pugh and Hickson state that with the ability to command the manager obtains the lift out possible performance from subordinates7.Organisations come a variety of tasks to perform so co-ordination is involveed, which is the fourth of Fayols elements and the other half of the ability to direct. Fayol has created a list of managerial duties/responsibilities, which are highlighted in Appendix 3 Fayol states co-ordinating is the harmonisation of resources in their optimum proportions in order to achieve results8. Pugh and Hickson backup Fayols view essentially this is making sure that one departments efforts are coincident with efforts of other departments, and keeping all activities in perspective with regard to the overall aims of the rganisation9. Fayol identifies some of the key characteristics of a well co-ordinated organisation. These characteristics are highlighted in Appendix 4. The fifth and final of Fayols five elements is domineering which logically checks the other four elements are performing correctly. Fayol states that controlling consists of the ongoing, routine verification of plan implementation, instructions issued and principles10. Controlling applies to all processes and its purpose is to identify helplessnesses and problems that can be rectified and to prevent recurrences.Fayol believes that organisations should be bourgeois against infiltration of control11 such as duality of command. Fayol also stresses the need for independent, objective and impartial inspection. Pugh and Hickson believe that to be effective, control must blend in quickly and there must be a system of sanctions. The best way to ensure this is to separate all functions concerned with inspection from operation departments whose work they inspect12. This backs up the view made by Fayol. The above views illustrate the importance of the ability to command when aiming to become a roaring manager.Fayols managerial functions have been subject to in-depth analysis, which had led to the highlighting of various weaknesses. The main weakness is that the Fayol system is establish upon assumption and clearly lacks consideration of human being behaviour. One of his five elements taken from P ugh and Hickson (1996) To forecast and plan prevoyance illustrates this. It is impossible to forecast every activity within the workplace e. g. arguments amongst staff, staff leaving the company and basically any emergencies that arrive.Some might believe that Fayols theoretical sentiment placed too much importance on observation, Mintzberg (1989) himself suggests If you ask managers what they do they will almost likely tell you that they plan, organize, co-operate and control. Then watch what they do. Do not be surprised if you cant relate what you see to those four voice communication13. Mintzberg undertook an extensive study of executives at work. He categorized management into common chord groups that are divided into ten roles which can be seen in AppendixA Roles such as leadership, liaison, monitor, disturbance handler etc, which are not mentioned in Fayols model of management, clearly illustrate that interpersonal skill have been neglected in his management approach. This is seen, as a major weakness because interpersonal skills are essential in the day to day ladder of a business, as stated above it is impossible to foresee the future. Chris Argyris and David McGregor highlight other weaknesses Argyris (1957) noted that if classical principles of formal rganization are used, employees work in a certain environment (Appendix 6). This approach to organisations and their management has been subject to substantial censure. It employs close system assumptions in order to reduce uncertainty and exploit control. galore(postnominal) of its principles are based on common sense adage and suffer from generality, in that they lack specific guidelines for applications. It regards the organisation as work and plurality as its components, organisation without people. At its best it regards the individuals as except touch offd by money.It, therefore, disregards the social and more complex needs of individuals in organisations. In the late 1950s, Douglas M cGregor stressed the importance of Understanding the relationships between need and human nature. He believed that managers attempted to motivate employees using one of two basic approaches. The first was a negative theory, labeled theory X. conjecture X Followed the traditional view of management based on direction and control. It Suggested that managers were required to coerce, control or threaten employees in order to motivate them.In contrast, the second was a positive theory, labeled Theory Y, and was based on new information about behavior. Theory Y suggested that managers believed that people are capable of being responsible and mature. Despite the above criticism the classical approach still remains influential even today. Many of its principles have formed the foundation for the development of the modern management concepts. It is talk over that new managers should consider Fayols model of management but also consider other theories from academics such as Mintzberg.