I believe that the Principles of Management course provided me with invaluable information
which will help in furthering both my professional as well as personal life. I believe
that learning is a process by which an individual undergoes certain changes. Also, during
the learning process, many of the beliefs which a person holds are challenged. I
underwent various changes during this course. This paper will explain those changes.
Furthermore, I will detail the concepts, ideas and situations which had the greatest
impact on me.
Before taking this course, my definition of the concept of management would have been
strictly based on power relationships within an organization, how to use power to achieve
your goals and how to manipulate people. Although this definition might seem
totalitarian, my background in Political Science supported my initial misconceptions of
management. I am a political science major and the questions most often asked in
political science courses deal with power within a structure and how this power is used,
abused and expressed by those in control. Therefore, I came into the Principles of
Management course with the notion that I was going to be learning about power. This
notion was challenged as I learned that there are three different perspectives that are
used to analyze an organization.
There are three different perspectives used to view organizational behavior and
processes: Strategic-Design, Political and Cultural. Initially, I was looking at the
organization and the process of management from the political perspective. This
perspective deals with the use of power and influence throughout the organization.
However, I also had to learn about the strategic-design perspective, which dealt with the
differentiation, efficiency, strategy, coordination and integration of various tasks
within the organization. I also had to learn about the cultural perspective which
focused on the way in which people assigned meanings to their respective work
experiences. I was beginning to understand that management and the organization are not
just an arena for power relations. Instead, a variety of factors compose management.
Management deals with the tasks, structure, culture and decision-making processes within
an organization. In order to be an effective manager one has to study and analyze the
organization using all the perspectives.
This was the first phase of my learning: I was beginning to understand that the
perspective from which I had been viewing the organization was insufficient because I was
missing other important aspects of the organization. Therefore, I needed to use a
multi-perspective lens to analyze the organization.
I also learned about the roles that are present within an organization. These roles are:
director, producer, facilitator, mentor, coordinator, innovator and broker. Each of
these roles has a distinct function within the context of the organization. These roles
can complement and supplement each other.
After doing the in-class exercise, I discovered that I fell in Quinnis Rational Goal
quadrant and was oriented towards director and producer roles. A director is expected to
clarify expectations through processes, such as planning and goal setting. Directoris
define roles and tasks, generate rules and policies and give instructions. After
studying many of my everyday activities, I noticed that I was inclined to give orders and
that I was highly competitive and goal oriented. I was also oriented towards the
producer role. A producer is supposed to accept responsibly, complete assignments and
maintain high personal productivity.
By identifying the roles towards which I was inclined, it made it easier to track and
remedy my negative tendencies. For instance, the my most negative tendency emanating
from the director/producer role is that fact that I can be insensitive to an individualsi
needs in the face of accomplishing my goals. After a process of self-examination I
identified my problems and negative tendencies. At times, I possess an almost fanatical
desire to achieve my goals. This fanatical desire is so strong that it can override
friendships, destroy relationships and alienate people. I also began to notice that I
had the tendency to act quite insensitive, inconsiderate and not be approachable. Once I
had identified this problem, I realized that I needed to diversify myself by adding
elements from the other roles, such as mentor and facilitator. I believed that if I
complemented my director/producer roles with elements from the mentor or facilitator
roles, then this would enable me to foster a collective effort, be sensitive towards the
needs of individuals and still be able to achieve my goals.
This was the second phase of my learning: I had identified a personal deficiency and
needed to work towards complementing my director/producer roles with roles from the Human
Relations quadrant.
One of the key concepts of management and the key themes of the course was teamwork. We
were organized into teams and the team was the unit by which the Professor measured our
performance. By working in a team-environment, I was able to learn the value of multiple
perspectives and the need to use different roles depending on the situation. In
analyzing Synergy, Inc., I learned that we had fused the three perspectives to create a
unique identity and structure. For instance, in the strategic design perspective, tasks
were organized around a need-basis and assignments were shared. Politically, we had no
formal authority or decision making body. Instead, all the members of Synergy, Inc. were
carefully listened to and their opinions evaluated and discussed. Culturally, Synergy,
Inc. formulated its own distinct culture, which consisted of certain rituals and routines
before team meetings.
When problems began to occur and breakdown the team process, it was necessary to study
the different perspectives in order to determine the origin and possible solution to the
problem. In solving team problems, we needed to identify the symptoms and treat the
causes of these symptoms (not the symptoms themselves). Also, the problems which arose
forced us to evaluate our present processes and attempt to create new processes. We had
to learn to adapt to the new environment.
One problem which occurred and caused us to ire-inventi ourselves was the absenteeism of
team member Raquel. Due to various health reasons, Raquel was unable to attend team
meetings. We had just lost a valuable team member, whom we were counting on for
essential work on performance evaluations such as the book report, interactive cases and
the news report. What did we do to prevent the loss of one team member from destroying
our entire team process? We re-assigned tasks and began to coordinate other ways of
finishing the assignments. For instance, team members Will and Jeb were assigned
Raquelis interactive cases and team member Josh was assigned Raquelis presentation for
the news report. By creatively manipulating the Strategic Design perspective, we were
able to resolve a potential problem.
Another important aspect of the team was that each person had different roles. For
instance, I believe that Will was the team director and facilitator. Generally, Jeb and
Elizabeth and myself participated in the role of producer. Furthermore, I attempted to
take on a facilitator role in order to improve my Human Relations quadrant skills. I
attempted to accomplish this by building team cohesion and morale, also by trying to
obtain input from all participants in team meetings. I found myself uttering the
phrases, iWhat do you think about that . .i and iWhat are you opinions concerning the
subject . . .i more than I had ever before. I also attempted to diffuse potentially
volatile situations by using humor and other pressure-relieving tactics to show that all
issues have a lighter side.
Perhaps the class activity which I found most rewarding were the interactive cases.
These cases dealt with everyday issues which confront managers and challenge you to use
all of your skills and experiences in bringing about a successful resolution to the
situation. The cases provided me with an opportunity to put to practice many of the
concepts which I had learned in class. I found the motivation and ethics cases to be the
most interesting. The motivation case was interesting because it proved that everyone is
motivated by a different reason. There can be no "textbook" approach on how to motivate
people. Instead, a manager has to sit down and communicate with the person and find out
what is behind the motivational problem. In this particular case, all of the people that
had low sales figures had a unique reason and motive behind their problems. The ethics
case was interesting because there was no clear answer on what should be done to remedy
the situation. This case was difficult because one had to balance the interests of the
company with the ethical issues and consequences. It is very difficult to come to a
resolution when the needs of the company conflict with what is ethical.
I believe that the discussion of the future was an integral part of the Principles of
Management class. In the beginning we started discussing the past models of
organizational structure. We talked about Max Weber's Bureaucratic model. This model
was once an efficient and orderly way of structuring the organization since the
organization was in a stable environment. However, today it is obsolete. The current
and future models will stress flexibility, freedom from rigidity, networkability and
flatness. Organizations designed in this manner will be able to exploit the quickly
changing environment.
The future environments will be characterized by chaos, complexity and contradiction.
Increasingly, managers will have to deal with tumultuous work environments instead of the
stable environments of the past. A metaphor used to compare the past management
environment and the future business environment is: "The old environment was like
sailing. The new environment is like a kayak race." The calm, secure conditions of
sailing best reflect the old business and management environments. However, the new
environment is best represented by the chaos and instability of a kayak race. "At any
time your canoe can capsize and leave you to drown," said CEO Michael Cooper of METCECH
Incorporated. This is further emphasized by the increased competition present in the
marketplace. The high levels of competition are making it so that only the companies
which are most in tune with their customer's needs and are most efficient survive.
In conclusion, after identifying and integrating the first and second phases of learning,
I was able to work towards transforming myself. The transformation process does not end
when I hand this paper in or with the end of the course. Rather, the transformation
process is a constant struggle between myself and what I have learned. If I choose to
apply the lessons which I have learned, then I will win that struggle. However, if I
ignore the lessons then I lose the struggle.
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