...The Hawthorne Studies; conducted in 1927 to 1932 by Elton Mayo, has been revered in the fields of psychology and management respectively. Both have derived various lessons from different aspects of the study. For example, the field of psychology looks at the affects that working in a form of an exclusive group has as presented in the Relay Assembly Test Room experiment. Management on the other hand has learned that the human psyche has varying effects on their productivity and are not merely drones driven by a single goal. (Hai, 2011) However, many criticise the relevance and contributions of the Hawthorne Studies to the studies of work and organizations. Criticisms sprouted from the results of the studies conducted which were; for the majority, inconclusive and hence being unreliable. The fact that those making these statements are ignoring is that; many management theories wouldn’t have been developed without these studies. Before the time of the Hawthorne Studies, management viewed their workers as simple drones in the company who do as they were told without question. To cut cost whilst maintaining production levels, companies would subject longer working hours and lower wages under considerably poor working conditions in order to maximise their profit. They did so because they believed the workers would continue production regardless similar to machines. When scientific management was introduced in the early twentieth century by Frederick Taylor, a huge shift in managerial...
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...theory, applying theory can cause change in actual behaviour and managers reading the work of leading writers may see their ideas, attitudes and conclusions being influenced by management practise. The classical approach towards management theory was developed shortly after scientific management came into widespread use as a complementary set of ideas, as while scientific management initially focused on the micro level issue of job design, classical theory attempted to lay down guiding principles for the design and functioning of the whole organisation. The classical writers thought of the organisation in terms of its purpose and formal structure so emphasis was placed on the planning of work, the technical requirements of the organisation, principles of management and the assumption of rational and logical behaviour. This analysis is associated with the work by writers such as Taylor, Fayol, Mooney and Reiley, which will later be discussed in greater detail. The alternative approach known as human relations was developed during the 1920’s, the years of the great depression when greater attention began to be paid to the social factors at work and to the behaviour of employees within an organisation. The turning point in the development of the human relations movement came with the famous experiments at the Hawthorne plan of the western electric company in Chicago, Elton Mayo was among the people who wrote about these experiments and he often quoted as having being a leader of the...
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...TO ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT Organisational behaviour is a discursive subject and much has been written about it. The study of organisations and management has therefore to proceed on a broad front. It is the comparative study of the different approaches that will yield benefits to the manager. The study of organisations, their structure and management is important for the manager. Identification of major trends in management and organisational behaviour, and the work of leading writers, provide a perspective on concepts and ideas discussed in more detail in other chapters. Learning outcomes After completing this chapter you should be able to: ■ identify major trends in the development of organisational behaviour and management thinking; contrast main features of different approaches to organisation and management; evaluate the relevance of these different approaches to the present-day management of organisations; explain the relationships between management theory and practice; assess the value of the study of different approaches to organisation and management; recognise the relationship between the development of theory, behaviour in organisations and management practice; establish a basis for consideration of aspects of organisational behaviour discussed in subsequent chapters. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Critical reflection ‘It is often claimed that what leading writers say is an important part of the study of management and organisational behaviour. Others say that all these different...
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...Organisational Behaviour in Hospitality Industry BY GORICA STANISIC NOVEMBER 20, 2013 Lashley and Morrison (2000) have produced definition of hospitality industry; which they see it as, compromises of commercial organisations that specialise in providing accommodation, food and drink through voluntary exchange, and highlighted that the issue of human exchange is a hart of the hospitality concept. Barrows and Powers (2009) have pointed out that hospitality industry includes hotels and restaurants and other kinds of institutions that offer shelter or food or both of them to people away from their homes. Research conducted by Hayes and Ninemeier (2009) have stated that hospitality industry has often been described as a people business. Hospitality industry is UK’S fifth largest employer and plays vital role in UK industry, employing more than 2.4 million people. Hilton Hotels Corporation is the leading global hospitality company with more than 3,000 hotels in over 74 countries (Hilton Worldwide; 2012). Understanding group behaviour in an organisational environment is a challenge and great managerial tasks. A leading author, Mullins (2007) has pointed out that organisational behaviour is concerned with study of the behaviour of the people within organisation. In his research Singh (2007) argued that organisational behaviour is a way of thinking and it is directly concerned with understanding, prediction, and control of human behaviour and application...
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...The results of the experiment have been argued to demonstrate the impressionability and obedience of people when provided with a legitimising ideology and social and institutional support. The experiment has also been used to illustrate cognitive dissonance theory and the power of authority. The results of the experiment favour situational attribution of behaviour rather than dispositional attribution. In other words, it seemed that the situation, rather than their individual personalities, caused the participants' behaviour. Under this interpretation, the results is that, ordinary people fulfilled orders to administer what appeared to be agonising and dangerous electric shocks to a confederate of the experiment. Power tactics are ways in which the individuals translate power bases into specific actions. In the experiment, people are using legitimacy, it is relying on your authority position or saying that a request accords with organisational policies or rules. In the experiment, Zimbardo said that people's behaviour changed under the environment of power and authority, the prisoners at first might not perfectly obey to what they were asked to do, however they started to obey what the guards say when the experiment went on, even though all participants know that they are not in a real prison situation. But the environment is too real that people started to think they are in a real prison, no matter it's the prisoners, or the guards. They follow the theory of power...
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...Technical-rational approaches to organisation (see Brooks, 2006 or 2009) are of little use to managers. The aim of this essay is to examine and discuss the different approaches to organisation such as Technical-rational approach. Evaluate the idealists and theories behind the approaches and to compare how effective they are in management and in today’s business environment. Managers use different perspectives in organisational management to maximise their workforce, to achieve business goals. Each approach is developed by a series of academics and researchers as a result of studying and understanding organisations. The technical-rational approach is a conception of the business enterprise as a mechanism for coordinating economic inputs and activities, and of the manager as a morally neutral technician engaged in a world of purely rational problem solving in the pursuit of efficiency (John et al, 2006). Principles were designed to be universally applicable and based on rational, ordered technical arrangements (Brooks, 2009). Organisations were viewed as machines and humans ‘as mere cogs within them’ (Graley, 2012). Bureaucracy, Classical school (Of Thought) and scientific management are divisions of a technical approach. Bureaucracy was founded by Max Weber a German philosopher who reported that (Brooks, 2009) people in organisations have their own well defined tasks and responsibilities. Organisations contain hierarchical structures with each developing their own rules...
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...INTO Newcastle University INU 3506 Management and Organization Seminar Tutor: John Timney Name of Student: Muyi Peng Student Number: b1028149 Group: 7 Date: 15/ 3/ 2010 Word Count: 981 The systematic development of management thinking is viewed, generally, as spanning from the end of the nineteenth century with the emergence of large industrial organizations. Management theories consist of two group—classical management theory and human relations theory. In this essay, the nature of the “Classical” and “Human Relations” approaches to management will be described at first and then bring out the differences and similarities between them. The classical theory of management was formed in the early 20th century and based on a pyramid, formal structure. To be more precise, it puts an emphasis on technical requirements of the organisation, common principles as well as hierarchy of management. There are three well-established theories of classical management, such as Bureaucratic Organization of Weber, Administrative Management of Fayol and Scientific Management of Taylor. Weber features extensive and binding systems of rules, a strict hierarchical organizational structure. Fayol identified POCCC: plan organize command, coordination, control. Scientific management is a branch of the classical school of management and concentrates on the philosophies of economic rationality, efficiency, individualism as well as the scientific...
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...How Personal Management Changed Over the Years Nowadays there is a great focus on the way people in organisations are being managed to ensure the organisational goals and objectives are being met. The HR department manages, supports and develops the people in an organisation which translates into responsibilities such as man power planning, job analysis, recruitment, staff training, performance appraisals, employee welfare, implementing organisational policies, employee dismissal and more. Personal management has changed greatly over the years and is a result of hundreds of years of analysing and documenting human behaviour at the work place. During the early 20th century people started analysing employees’ work performance and developed two main organisational approaches – the Classical and the Human Resources Approaches. The classical approach concentrates on increasing employees’ efficiency within the organisation by breaking down the production process into a sequence of stages and assigning workers to particular stages, also known as division of labour. The advantages of this approach are highly skilled employees who are specialised in certain business areas or locations which leads to increased production levels and reduced production costs. On the negative side, training workers to be experts in a specific field is more expensive and means that employees’ tasks will be rather repetitive. In this way employees are more likely to get bored which will negatively...
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...Theory of Planned Behaviour (ATPB) in explaining the persisting slash-and-burn behaviours in Indonesia. However, it remains debatable whether ATPB can adequately do so. This essay will critique the suitability of ATPB in explaining the problem through analysing the author’s argument, examining the evidence employed, uncovering underlying assumptions, and finally, seeking alternative theories to better explain the issue. Figure 1. Model of Azjen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour. It shows how behaviour can be predicted by considering intention, which is determined by three interacting factors. To some extent, ATPB is able to explain the plantation’s behaviour by acknowledging several factors that can each influence behaviour to a small extent i.e. attitude towards the behaviour, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control. For instance, on attitude, the author claimed plantations favour slash-and-burn as “it is much cheaper, convenient and less time consuming [than other methods]”. Having a favourable attitude towards slash-and-burn encourages plantations to carry it out, but is overall insufficient given restrictive circumstances e.g. strict controls. Now consider perceived behavioural control – the author claimed plantations perceive great ease in slashing-and-burning due to high self-efficacy from successfully practicing slash-and-burn for generations without being caught. Yet, on its own, perceived ease does not always translate into actual behaviour. Suppose a plantation...
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...The culture of an organization consists of beliefs, feelings, behaviors, and symbols that forms characteristic of an organisation (Lunenburg 2015). It also defines as what to be or not to be concern crucially in the company, consequently, this guides everyone in the organisation to handle any tasks or objective in the right way. Organisational culture work as the DNA of the company, it is intangible but yet a powerful template that shapes the contents in the workplace. The following 4 perspective of organisational behaviours, MARS model and leadership discussed the considerations, impact and effect on the organisation success when having an adaptive culture. Wesfarmers is a good example of having successful organizational culture and brings a significantly strong performance culture to Coles. They understand stability keeps their staff in permanent employment status. They also aligned its work processes and external environment in their diverse businesses with the input of robust financial capacity, superior human capital and strong corporate infrastructure and achieve the output of superior long term financial performance and become the most admired company. In the open system perspective, organisation likes Wesfarmers is an effective organisation to maintain high correlation with their external changing environment. Wesfarmers highly focuses on discipline and business culture with the values of integrity, openness, boldness and accountability which shared among people within...
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...Name- Reshiv Nayar Student ID – 3102380 Course Code- IRHR 1001 Tutorial Group B6 Theory of Scientific Management An organisation’s success or failure is determined by the performance of its employees and how they are managed. There are a number of approaches by which the organisation can be managed, for e.g. the classical approach, the general administrative approach, the behavioural approach, the human relations approach etc. These approaches or theories form a solid foundation for action (Boddy 2002). According to Charles Handy(1993 cited in Mullins 2005), theories assist in the explanation of the past , which is helpful in comprehending the present and thus foreseeing the future, which leads to more influence on the future events and less disorder from the unexpected (Mullins 2005 ). One of the major theories which have played a vital role in increasing productivity and boosting an organisation’s performance is The Theory of Scientific Management. The major contributor for this theory is Frederick Taylor but this approach was later on promoted by a few eminent personalities like Henry Ford and Frank& Lillian Gilbreth and Henry Gantt. Though Taylor’s theory increased productivity, it was criticized later on and due to some of its features. But even today, application of some of his principles can be found in a few industries. Frederick Winslow Taylor who is famous for his theory of scientific management published his work, The Principle...
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...implementation difficult and their counter-productive behaviors tend to jeopardise the success of the change process and thus the intended objectives. Successfully reducing resistance and motivating employees through the transition is vital in organizational change efforts. Salient factors from literature reviews in enabling organizational change are presented and the need of leadership and role of leaders as effective change agents is discussed in this essay. Successful organisational change is about the interplay of all organizational elements such as human resources, systems and technologies. Good leaders and leadership skills have been identified as pivotal to garnering support of people in championing change initiatives that steer organisations to new frontiers. On the contrary, leaders with a perverse agenda may hamper the well intended change. However, leaders are crucial to cast the vision and the leadership role of all is needed for reinforcing and directing sustainable change. Keywords : organisational change, leadership, resistance, change agent, culture. Introduction: Organisations and Change From Mahatma Gandhi,...
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...Contemporary management functions replicate thoughts from past management theories in aiming to improve and strengthen employer-employee relationships as well as improving productivity and a positive work environment for all workers. The four management functions are performed by managers in assisting to “efficiently and effectively coordinate the work of others.” (Robbins, 2012, p13) The four functions are planning, organising, leading and controlling. Hawthorne, the Myth of the Docile Worker, and Class Bias in Psychology, American Psychologist, 1981, 36(8) p 867-878. By Bramel, D, is an article written about the research conducted between 1924-1933 at the Hawthorne Plant of Western Electricity for the “development of human relations in industry.” (Bramel, 1981, p867) It also looks at identifying the relationship between numerous working conditions and productivity and output. This article emphasises how the use of the General Administrative Theory with the use of Fayol’s 14 principles of management are needed to create or maintain a strong culture within the workforce. When management functions are poorly executed by leading management, then the trust between employers and employees diminishes causing a divide between the employees and employers. This divide can cause a drop in productivity and work culture. The introduction of the general administrative theory helps reduce this divide between employee and employer; this theory is “an approach to management that focuses on...
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...Module: Risk Management and Assurance ACCT 627 Introduction The Lucifer effect describes Philip Zimbardo’s experiment in 1971 in which college students under took the roles of guards and prisoners in a study that was originally intended to examine how prisoners would adapt to prison life. However, the study took on a different focus as the behaviour of the guards (and authoritative figures) become a key point of interest. Before the study commenced, participants were dutifully screened for abnormal psychological traits and were randomly assigned the roles of prisoners and guards. The experiment was to be conducted over two weeks with Zimbardo himself dual hatting as a prison supervisor and that of a researcher. Steps were taken conceal the identities of the guards, to create a sense of anonymity and deindividuation. The students were not given any form of training on how to perform as normal prison guard and rules were poorly defined. As part of the study process, the counts sessions were simply intended as a role call and to ensure that the prisoners were made aware of their identification numbers and the rules. However, the count sessions very quickly became abusive from the first day. The sessions went beyond the intended duration, during which prisoners were humiliated, physically abused, psychologically weakened and punished without reason. At one point, the abuse even turned sexual in nature. As a result of the rapid escalation of abuse, the study was terminated...
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...Conflict at work stems from employees’ petty, childlike behaviour and their inability to understand the necessary decisions that manager’s make for the good of the whole organization. Critically discuss this statement, drawing upon course readings that engage with the issue of employee resistance. Introduction In the following essay I am going to argue that conflict at work stems from managers decisions to control and dominate the lives of its employees, as it misuses the power relationship in an attempt to enhance its control. I will discuss the article by (Prasad and Prasad 2000), (Clegg, Kornberger and Pitsis 2008) and (Knights and Roberts 1982) to demonstrate this point. I also argue that conflict stems from attempts by employees to counteract the domination of basic human qualities such as feelings and emotions as they act in an attempt to restore dignity within their lives. I will do this with reference to texts by (Cohen and Taylor 1992), (Prasad and Prasad 2000), (Knights and Collinson 1987) and (Roberts 1984). As organisations are clearly places of domination I argue the importance of conflict within society to inhibit organisations exploiting and manipulating its employees and society at large. For this argument I will use texts by (Morgan 2006), (Baken 2004), (Rothschild and Miethe 1994) and (Blau 1963). Through the use of (Milgrams 1974) text I will argue the detrimental effects of obedience, with reference to the Nazi occupation of Europe, and thus the need...
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