...Managerial Authority: Is It Abused or Justified? GM591 – Leadership & Organizational Behavior Managers are responsible for taking the necessary steps to provide a work environment that is free from harassment and discord and for effectively communicating individual expectations to all employees under their supervision. This reinforces the responsibility of management to foster a work environment in which employees can thrive and work together harmoniously. I was hired by Noble Investment LLC as a conflict negotiator to address the complaints that have been initiated by current and former employees in regards to unfair treatment of certain employees by a particular upper-level manager. The manager has allegedly written up and terminated employees with whom she perceives as a threat to her position because of their level of education. Before my arrival, every employee, including the complainants, were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their with the organization’s structure and culture. They were asked to answer questions such as: their level of experience and education, their feelings about the work environment, improvements that should be made, their overall view of management including fairness and effectiveness, and what they would like to see come out of this negotiating process. I then anonymously compiled the results and shared them with the Director of Human Resources and the manager in question. The results indicated that there was some possible disparity...
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...either everyday or random tasks of service delivery. This could be due to various reasons, such as; lack of communication, misunderstanding the chain of command, individuals or groups being appointed to complete such tasks that have insufficient knowledge and/or authority required for the fulfilment of such tasks etc. etc. Such shortfalls on tasks as vitally important to a country as service delivery can cripple Government infrastructure and create political unrest amongst unsatisfied citizens. When we are referring to ramifications of this extent, it is imperative that governments / organisations implement safety measures that cover and maintain the correct execution of service delivery. Project management is a clear and concise method that can be implemented simply and cost effectively, and integrate simply into existing infrastructure. Basically what Project Management boils down to, is a simplified process of getting the right person, with the required authority and capability to manage a need, and ensure the fulfilment of said need. So instead of having various groups, reporting to various authorities, with regards to multiple tasks, you have one group of individuals, who have the relevant authority to delegate specific tasks. Service Delivery of Basic Education Curriculum Reform In a nutshell, service delivery of Curriculum Reform is referring to Governments responsibility to provide basic education that matches up with certain international standards...
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...Child’s Power and Authority Children and the Natural World Story Books and Telling Contrast: Childhood and Social Class Compare and Contrast: Matilda to the Prisoner of Azkaban Roald Dahl’s novel, “Matilda” tells the story of a young girl in oppression by her parents who show no interest in their daughter and is mean for sport. It is a story of triumph in which her intelligence and magical abilities taught her the ins-and-outs of life. But more importantly, it taught Matilda how to take care of herself. Similarly, J.K. Rowling’s novel, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” also addresses the oppression of the magical Harry Potter by his aunt and uncle and the various death threats on his life. I argue that if Harry and Matilda had not been oppressed, they would not have become the characters at the end of the novels. Matilda’s oppression started at birth. Upon her birth, Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood showed no interest in her. She was viewed as a “scab” because it’s something you have to wait for until it can be snatched off and thrown away (Dahl 1). Based on their actions and attitude towards their daughter, her parents could wait to remove this scab. The narrator describes Matilda’s parents “half-witted” because they were unaware of the extraordinary ability their daughter. They were also unaware that at a very young age, Matilda knew how her parents felt about her (Dahl 1). Strangely, even with their dislike, the Wormwoods assumed their daughter was normal. Harry is a...
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...Organizational Behavior Analysis Timothy Carter BUS 610 Dr. Carl Proehl August 5, 2013 Organizational Behavior Analysis Organizations rely heavily on human resource to maintain their competitive advantage. A strong organizational culture motivates employees to help achieve organizational goals. Productivity increases and positive atmosphere prevails in an organization when attitudes and behaviors are in conformity with the organizational culture (Baack, 2013). This paper will examine the action of individuals and groups within an organization. The organization that will be examined is a small school located in rural Guyana, South America. As the story goes, the school was established by the Anglican Church many years ago, and its principal, May. I. Ogle, a staunch Christian, actually had a physical input in the construction of the building. She set very high standards in the disciplines prescribed in the curriculum. The school was populated by less than 200 students and nine teachers. About eighty to eighty five percent of the teachers were former students who grew up in the small farming community which the school served. A young teacher joined the staff. For convenience, James will be used to refer to that teacher. James was assigned to Grade 3. The teacher in charge of that class was a senior teacher who had been in the profession for over fifteen years. Over a period of several months, James was taught a number of important skills. These skills...
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...attending the sessions. because most of them had this notion that they have to pay for this tuition classes and they did not see any reason why they should send their wards to these session when they are already sending them schools. But we explained them that despite they are attending classes, these students must have some doubts, issues regarding their academics so that we can guide them. I would like to recall the college incident again when I was serving as the Joint-Treasurer of the Cultural Society of the college. The Cultural Society had the responsibility of organising the Annual Cultural Festival of the college. We generally used to get a part of fund from the college authority. But due to some in disciplinary actions happened during our event previous year; the college authority had refused to provide the funds. Since the event was Annual Cultural Festival, we could not think of going ahead it without having...
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...LET 1 Task 3 Thomas Pepper 195297 Introduction: Corporation A was founded in 1989 and focuses on creating marketing programs for the real estate industry. The corporate mission of Corporation A is to help clients improve their real estate sales. The Corporation A team is comprised of professionals with varied backgrounds and experience levels. The company prides itself on fostering a team environment throughout the organization. Given: Employee 1 has worked in the marketing department at Corporation A for 12 years. In the marketing department, employees who earn a superior rating on their yearly performance evaluation receive a large bonus at the end of the year. Employee 1 often comes into the office on weekends or stays late to ensure the work is complete and accurate. The marketing manager encourages employees to work beyond the requisite 40 hours a week by reminding them of the yearly bonus for receiving a superior rating on their next evaluation. Employee 1 is planning to use the bonus for a well-deserved vacation that would be unaffordable without the bonus. Employee 2 is the only certified public accountant (CPA) in the accounting department at Corporation A. Employee 2 has negotiated with the accounting manager to work a four-day work week and is the only person in that department allowed to work a compressed work week. The accounting manager agreed to the shortened work week because Employee 2 is the only employee who can prepare the company’s financial...
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...To sum up: politically speaking, it is insufficient to say that power and violence are not the same. Power and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent. Violence appears where power is in jeopardy, but left to its own course it ends in power’s disappearance. This implies that it is not correct to think of the opposite of violence as nonviolence; to speak of nonviolent power is actually redundant. Violence can destroy power; it is utterly incapable of creating it (Arendt, 56). All too often a distinction between words such as power, strength, force, authority, and violence are not drawn. These words are rarely defined to their natural state and are commonly mistakenly used as synonyms for one another. Hannah Arendt a German political theorist finds this all too common misconception a major concern, and makes an effort to clearly distinguish between each in her work On Violence. “ Yet it is fair to presume that they refer to different properties, and their meaning should therefore be carefully assessed and examined… The correct use of these words is a question not only of logical grammar, but of historical perspective.” “To use them as synonyms not only indicates a certain deafness to linguistic meanings, which would be serious enough, but it also resulted in a kind of blindness to the realities they correspond to.”(42) The quotation at the top of the page is an excerpt from Arendt’s novel that explains the distinctions between violence and...
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...POWER AND INFLUENCEThe course examines the bases of power in organizations and the ways in which power can be built and used effectively. It also explores the positive and negative effects that power-oriented behavior can have on organizations. The ethics of power will be a recurrent concern throughout the course. Class sessions will be devoted to discussing “case” materials in light of theoretical arguments advanced in “readings.” Case materials include standard Harvard Business School cases, book chapters about individuals (Robert Moses and Henry Kissinger), corporations (e.g., Lehman Brothers and Time Warner), and industries (e.g., the auto industry), and in-class videos (e.g., a “Bill Moyer’s Journal” segment on David Rockefeller). COURSE REQUIREMENTS Final course grades will be based on student performance on three written assignments and on student participation in class discussions. Written Assignments. Each student will be expected to submit two individual case analyses that indicate what the student learned from reading and discussing the case in question. The case analyses should be one single spaced typewritten page long and should be submitted the week after the case that they address is discussed in class. Individual case analyses will be graded on a scale from 1-3 and together will comprise 10% of a student’s final grade. Each student should also form a group with three to four other students to complete a case study of a real organization. The...
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...Organization conflict resolution Lecture 6 Date: 2 December 2013 1 Learning Objectives 1. 2. 3. 4. Understand the nature and sources of organizational conflict Know the mechanisms to obtain power, influence decision making and resolve conflict Identify sources of organizational power and tactics for playing politics Evaluate the costs and benefits of organizational politics 2 What is Organizational Conflict? • • • • Stakeholders compete for the resources that an organization produces. Shareholders want dividends, employees want raises. An organization must manage both cooperation and competition among stakeholders to grow and survive. All stakeholders have a common goal of organizational survival, but not all goals are identical. 3 What is Organizational Conflict? • The clash that occurs when the goaldirected behavior of one group blocks or hinders the goals of another Some conflict can actually improve organizational effectiveness – Can overcome inertia and lead to learning and change • 4 Cooperation and Competition Among Stakeholders 5 What is Organizational Conflict? • Beyond a certain point, conflict becomes a cause for organizational decline – Conflict leads to inability to reach consensus and indecision – Too much time spent on bargaining rather than acting rapidly to resolve problems • On balance, organizations should be open to conflict and recognize its value 6 Relationship Between Conflict and Organizational Effectiveness ...
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...Definitional activity (covering Power, Authority, and Legitimacy) There is no universally accepted view of power. Some authors have defined power as domination over others (Hobbes, 1651) while others defined it as a passage to achieve goals (Parsons, 1963). Some look to where power lies to define power from where power lies in the hands of many, this can be seen as Pluralism (Dahl, 1957) to where power lies in the hands of a few, this can be seen as Elitism (Pareto, 1935) but essentially it is the ability to do something For example, in the UK system, there are many accounts of both Elitism and Pluralism but realistically, we live in an Elitist state. The definition of authority is based on the power or right to act in a particular way and to influence others. To excise authority, consent is needed. Some may argue that there are three types of authority: charismatic authority, traditional authority and rational-legal authority (Weber, 1958). It can be argued that authority is used to excise social control (McLaughlin, 2008) and even that we, as humans, need authority in order to live (Seligman, 2003). An example of authority in the UK system could be the Prime Minister, as he has the power to “give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience” (Collins English Dictionary, 2009). The definition of legitimacy has many forms and shapes but some may argue that it derives from something that is right and proper. “Legitimacy has both a normative and a sociological meaning” (Keohane...
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...Reflection Paper 1. What do you think of when you think of the words power and influence? What sorts of associations and attitudes do these terms evoke? When thinking about the word power, the first thing came into my mind is the ability to make thing happen and influence people by the capability or authority you have. For my understanding, the influence is ability to take advantage of the power you have to affect people’s thoughts and behaviors, and, ultimately, admit your ideas and follow your directions. The power and influence seems very strong, and controllable words, but actually, for my understanding, the power and influence need to be take advantage carefully and softly deal with the relationship with others. 2. How powerful and influential do you feel? Why? In the daily time, I am not quite powerful because I am always rather to play the roles of follower than a leader, and I am not aggressive enough to fight for power when there is an opportunity. However, to an extent, I can influence people well. I can communicate with people well and express my opinions in a proper way. People are easily accept my ideas and influenced by my personality. 3. What do you think are barriers (if anything) to your acquiring and exercising more power and influence? The interpersonal skill is one of the most barriers to my acquiring and exercising more power and influence. When acquiring power and exercising the influence, the interpersonal skill is a significant element...
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... Auflage, S. 36-58 Winter Semester 2010 Lv-Leiter: Matthias Falter About the Author: Hannah Arendt (October 14, 1906 – December 4, 1975) was an influential German Jewish political theorist. Arendt's work deals with the nature of power, and the subjects of politics, authority, and totalitarianism. Power and Violence: * Historically viewed, violence is not looked at as a single phenomenon. It was believed that force and power are synonymous (p. 36) * Force considered as the most blatant manifestation (form) of power. (p. 36) * In a constitutional state with parliamentary representation, the population controls the state, therefore has power. The power of the state declines as soon as it loses support of its nation. (p. 42) * Power depends on numbers and figures, whereas violence depends on numbers to only a certain extent because it depends more on the tools of violence. * Extreme case of power: All against one (p. 43) * Extreme case of violence: One against all (not possible without violent tools and instruments) (p. 43) * Reason why the keywords power, force, strength, authority and violence are used synonymous in political science is because the relevant question is “who rules whom?” (p. 45) * Power corresponds to the human ability not just to act but to act in concert. Power is never the property of an individual. (p. 45) * Strength, as opposed to power, is possessed by a single...
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...Article: The Effective Use of Managerial Power Author: Gary Yukl & Tom Taber Concept: In a company, the boss has the power to tell his subordinates what to do and delegate tasks to them. Problematic is, that bosses tend to delegates the task to the subordinates in way that implies, that the subordinates are not as important or good as the leader. The result could be that they start to question the manager’s power. In this case, the leader has to make clear, that it is within his role as a manager to give tasks to his subordinates and that they have to accept his formal authority. Experience: Back in my time in school I worked as a swim trainer for my swimming club. We had about 6-7 trainers for children at the age from four to ten years. What I noticed during the swimming course was that some trainers had some problems with handling the children. They simply were not able to control them and keep them calm. Actually this was really annoying for the other groups, because it was very loud in the swimming hall and from time to time a child eloped from the group and disturbed other groups. The trainers who had this problem obviously were not able to make their children clear, that they have to follow his/her instructions. Of course working with children differs form managing subordinates, but from my point of view, it is very important to make a statement right away, what means telling the children, that they have to listen to one, because otherwise they will not learn anything...
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...culture as “organisational culture that is based on inequality of access to resources”. Figure 2.1 of the organisational culture model indicates that a power-oriented culture organisation is characterised by high 18 centralisation and low formalisation modes of operation. Brown (1998, p 66) states that “a power culture has a single source of power from which rays of influence spread throughout the organisation”. This means that power is centralised and organisational members are connected to the centre by functional and specialist strings (Harrison, 1993). This type of organisational culture can also be regarded as being rule oriented in the sense that it focuses on respect of authority, rationality in procedures, division of work and normalisation (Hampden-Turner, 1990). The centre is formal authority and holds the power to control and influence activities within the organisation. In this type of organisational culture a dominant head sits in the centre surrounded by intimates and subordinates who are the dependants (Harrison, 1993). In this regard a personal, informal and power management style becomes valued. Normally the organisational structure is a web structure that is hierarchical in nature (Brown, 1998). The web structure implies that the whole structural system connects to the central power while being hierarchical in nature means power is shared from top to bottom. Power-oriented culture is found in both small and larger organisations. In small organisations run by...
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...granted upon the successful completion of his/her annual evaluation. To ensure his/her tasks are finished and that they are correct, Employee 1 oftentimes works over his/her scheduled 40 hour work week by working late and on weekends at the encouragement of the marketing manager. The marketing manager often reminds the Employee 1 and his/her peers of the yearly bonus. The employee complying with the wishes of the marketing manager for he/she to work late so he/she will receive a good performance evaluation, thus resulting in the receipt of the desired bonus is an example of Employee 1 being affected by reward power. The marketing manager uses the second base of power, which is legitimate power. Legitimate power is defined as “the formal authority to control and use organizational resources” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, pg. 472.) The marketing manager being the person responsible for the evaluation of the employees, thus affecting whether or not Employee 1 receives the bonus he/she really wants is a demonstration of this power. The distribution of a bonus to an employee is an example of the use of organizational resources as defined for legitimate power. Employee 2 uses the third base of power which is expert power. Expert power is defined as the “influence wielded as a result of expertise, special skill or knowledge” (Robbins & Judge, 2007, pg. 472.) Employee 2 has convinced his/her accounting manger to allow him/her and only him/her to work 4 days per week instead of 5...
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