MANAGEMENT THEORY AND PRACTICES

MANAGEMENT THEORY AND PRACTICES Answer to Question# 1 : As a newly appointed Manager, Mr. Ajay did the right thing to analyze the present ways of working of the company and to find out the areas of concern which needs to be worked upon. The observations made by him for the present ways of working in the company clearly shows that there is a lack of Administrative Management here. Administrative management requires the people in charge of it to employ their attention to the details and high analytical skills to oversee and run the operations on a daily basis. Henri Fayol's theories regarding business administration were based on what he viewed as the common elements of management: forecasting and planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling; all of which can be best utilized in resolving the issues in this company. Case link “one person reporting to three bosses” shows lack of “Unity of Command”. Each worker should have only one boss with no other conflicting lines of command. Fayol has stated “As soon as two superiors impose their authority over the same person or department, uneasiness makes itself felt. Dual command is a perpetual source of conflict.” An individual should get orders from a single superior so that he does not get confused and can discharge his duties effectively. So, as a manager, Mr. Ajay should restructure the hierarchy based on work, skill and experience of the employees to have unique point of reporting for every individual working in the organisation. Also, Work needs to be assigned to the workers based on their specialisation and experience. There needs to be proper Division of Work. Workers should be selected based upon the job requirements and their skills and knowledge for efficient and effective working. This will help further in minimisation of waste. As per Scalar chain concept, there needs to be a proper chain of hierarchy in an organization from the top to the lower level. An employee should feel free to contact his supervisor about anything through the scalar chain. But, on the contrary, there should not be delays in getting any approvals due to the long chain, as has been observed by Mr. Ajay in this company. There needs to be a bridge between the hierarchies for cross communication, where there are issues which can easily be sorted by the lower level members of the company. Mr. Ajay also pointed out that there is “no following of rules and regulations” in the organization. So, Ajay needs to work upon bringing “Discipline” in the organization. All the employees must follow the rules and regulations of the company – which, in turn, should be clearly stated and explained to all of them. Since, Mr. Ajay did also find that there is absence of Order for inventory, tools and equipments. He needs to get each and everything assigned a place and ensure that everything is placed at its place only. This will help in eliminating wasted time, wasted space and wasted inventory and hence increasing the productivity and improved safety of the employees. Lastly, Mr. Ajay also pointed out the missing team spirit in the company. As has been explained by Fayol in his principle as well, Team spirit among different teams within the organization is very much essential. Esprit De corps, in French means Team Spirit, is one of the 14 principles in Fayols’s administrative management theory. Team spirit brings a feeling of pride and mutual loyalty which is shared by each member working towards the common goals of the company. It keeps the morale of the employees elevated by maintaining a belief in each other, particularly in the face of hardships. Mr. Ajay must work to foster the morale of its employees. Management needs to harness the real talent of its employees through coordinated effort, encouraged keenness, use each person’s abilities, and reward each one’s merit without arousing possible jealousies and disturbing harmonious relations among the employees. So, with the help of Henri Fayol’s principles for Administrative management, Mr. Ajay can work to improve upon all the problems which he could see in the company. Answer to Question# 2 : As per the observations made by Mr. Ajay, the company lacks modern technologies in the departments. All the observations clearly shows that the processes being used in the company for record keeping and inventory management is outdated and manual. The company is in a mess as it has to deal with a lot of paperwork, communications are not easy, business comes to a pause every now and then due to task pendency. The company needs to shift to enterprise systems such as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system. ERP system with its different modules can help the company to go paperless through its centralised database management system Lets go one by one through the observations made by Mr. Ajay and try to find out solutions of each by using modern day technology options – 1. HR Management Module : The Workforce Management system in the HR management module provides space for the storage of data on employee work records as per legal requirements. This enables management to view the records of employees such as in-out data, leave status, absenteeism etc and make decisions about the employees. 2. Finance and accounting Module : it has designated place for recording all business transactions occurring across the organization.there are various sub modules within Finance and accounting module which shall further help in maintaining the books of account, such as – a. General Ledger accounting module b. Account payable and receivables c. Asset accounting d. Funds monitoring e. Governance and risk f. Overhead cost controlling g. Activity based costing h. Profitability analysis i. Business planning and budgeting j. Cash management k. Credit management. 3. Sales and Marketing Module : this module helps in managing sales force by keeping data on sales force distribution, sales calls, sales contacts, customer contacts and call information etc. It also helps in marketing management by planning campaigns, costs involved in the same and analyzing competitors’ data. Apart from this, distribution management is also taken care of by this module. 4. Manufacturing and operations module : This module maintains data on all production-related activities such as raw materials, sales forecast and plans. This also helps in material management by maintaining the inventories of consumable and non-consumable items. The module manages the inventory that includes purchasing, billing, storage in warehouse and bins, confirming invoices and material planning. 5. Supply Chain management System : This is a cloud-based management system. It provids efficient warehouse inventory solutions and the best logistics software .As the most trusted cloud-based this is known for implementing innovative solutions that effectively manage customer, competitive pressure, and new business models. Deploying all these Cloud based management techniques can prove to be a turning point for the business. By using all these tools, all internal workflows can be revamped to increase productivity, lower costs, and improve controls, and also gained the ability to generate revenue by helping different departments use technology as a key to enable business growth. Answer to Question# 3a : A motivated, engaged and responsive workforce is substantially more productive than an unmotivated, apathetic group of employees. When workers feel engaged, they are more likely to work harder for the good of the company. In addition to being more productive, these employees consistently generate higherquality results and, additional, they help in saving the time and money of the company. Employees who are satisfied with their work have a major impact on the growth and success of your company. By the same token, disengaged employees can have a negative impact on your organization’s ability to become or remain an industry leader. In this particular case, we are talking about Team Motivation. For this, the team leader needs to play the primary role. We can adopt the below Techniques for group motivation: 1 Leadership: Leadership is one of the key factors in employee motivation. Supportive leaders work closely with employees - trust and a sympathetic ear are powerful incentives for keeping veterans focused and developing new talent.We can be role models for the rest of the team, maintaining high standards of accountability which sets an example for rest. Accomplishment / Achievement : This is the need for success or the attainment of excellence. Individuals will satisfy their needs through different means, and are driven to succeed for varying reasons both internal and external. As per Mcclelland’s Theory of Needs – Need for achievement plays an important role in employee motivation. If employees are given challenging task – they fill motivate as they like to set difficult targets and solve complex problems. Challenges act as a great motivational power. Reward and Recognition : Employees want to get recognized in the society/ work place for their work. They will start working harder if they come to know that the best of the works will get recognized. So, in order to motivate people in the company, better performance need to be recognized and rewarded. Affiliation: This is also one of the needs highlighted by Maclelland in his theory. This can help motivate employees as they get social touch within the organization. Employees develop interpersonal relationships to get high affiliation. In such environment, employees perform better as they get personal support. This shall promote loyalty among the employees, reduce absenteeism, and increase involvement towards company goals – as now they have a good social circle within the organization. Positive Work environment : There needs to be positive work environment in the company, where people can feel pleasant and less stressful. Within a healthy work environment, employees can pay more attention on their job and its execution. Fair Compensation: Employees should get the fair pay depending upon the work they do. This keeps them motivated to work for the organization for a longer run. Skill improvement : skills determine the ability to execute plans effectively. Proper training needs to be provided to employees for their skill development.This will help employees in performing their jobs and duties effectively leading to increased motivation among the employees. A motivated workforce will help the organization to reach bigger milestones through higher employee satisfaction, higher retention and lower turnover, higher productivity, increased profitability, less absenteeism and increased loyalty. All these will act as added benefit to the company itself. Answer to Question# 3b : The present situation of M/s Paper white Corporation clearly shows that it lacks a good leader who      Can establish a clear vision for the company and its employees, Motivate and guide the employees towards this vision, Manage and control the organizational activities. Develop skills of the employees Bring in Team spirit among the employees. Accordingly. The most suitable style of Leadership for this company shall be Transformational leadership as there is a need to take the business to the next level. The company in present state -     lacks clear vision, lacks motivation among the employees, the ways of working needs to be changed, team spirit needs to be boosted. Change management needs to be brought in as there is a need of reviewing and modifying business process, functions and working methods. A transformational Leader draws on assorted capabilities and approaches to leadership, creating distinct advantages for the organization. A leader using this approach possesses integrity. The leader sets a good example and clearly communicates his goals to the followers. He has the charisma who can make subordinates feel passionate about the success of the company. The benefits of transformational leadership are seen in nearly every aspect of operations from training to corporate planning. A transformational leader can bring a change in the organization inspire, empower, and stimulate followers to exceed normal levels of performance. A transformational leader will lead to a better and successful organization with the help of below 4 components -     Idealized Influence (II) – the leader acts as the role model for the followers. He sets the example by doing what he expects team to be doing. A transformational leader reflects the qualities which he expects in his team. Inspirational Motivation (IM) – Transformational leaders have the ability to inspire and motivate followers through having a vision and presenting that vision. Combined, these first two I's are what constitute the transformational leader's charisma. A transformational leader manages to inspire the followers easily with clarity. The transformational leader convinces the followers with simple and easy-to-understand words as well as with their own image. Individualized Consideration (IC) – Transformational leaders demonstrate genuine concern for the needs and feelings of followers and help them self-actualize. This personal attention to each follower assists in developing trust among the organization's members and their authority figure(s). For example, the transformational leader can point out the problems of a member working in a group. From this perspective, the leader can work towards training and developing a follower who is having difficulties in a job. This is an important element because teams are able to rely on and work together so decisions can be made more quickly, the transformational leader increases their buy-in. Intellectual Stimulation (IS) – the leader challenges followers to be innovative and creative, they encourage their followers to challenge the status quo. A common misunderstanding is that transformational leaders are "soft," but the truth is that they constantly challenge followers to higher levels of performance.