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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
This book offers a comprehensive and up-to-date account of management ideas and practices, focusing on the human relations side of construction management. Easily accessible and suitable for use within the classroom or in distance learning situations, it discusses a range of themes and trends covering evidence based management practices in the construction industry. Each chapter contains annotated further reading, chapter summaries and outline summaries of relevant legislation within the construction industry.
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Seitenzahl: 391
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
About the Authors
Acknowledgement
1 Introduction
Structure of the book
2 History of Management
Introduction
Scientific management
Classical theory
Human relations theory
The Hawthorne studies and human relations theory
Theory X and Theory Y
Decision theory
Work activity theory
Competencies theory
Process theory
Is management a science or an art?
Conclusion
Chapter summary
Useful website
Further reading
References
3 The Nature of Management
Introduction
The role of a manager
Contemporary management functions
The organisation’s expectations
The person
Balancing different management roles
Conclusion
Chapter summary
Useful website
Further reading
References
4 Leadership
Introduction
Behavioural theories
Situational leadership
Contingency theories
Individual leadership skills
Leadership styles
Changing leadership styles
Chapter summary
Useful website
Further reading
References
5 Communications and Motivation
Introduction
Motivation
What is motivation?
The process of motivation
Expectations from work
Barriers to motivational behaviour
Theories of motivation
Chapter summary
Useful websites
Further reading
References
6 Conflict and Negotiation
Introduction
Negotiation game plan
Receiving notification of a potential conflict
Win–win conflict negotiation
Negotiating a compromise position
Withdrawing from the conflict
Smoothing the conflict through negotiation
Chapter summary
Useful website
Further reading
References
7 Creative Problem Solving
Introduction
Bounded and unbounded problems
Solving problems
Messy, soft or wicked problems
Creative problem solving – individuals
Creative problem solving – teams
Brainstorming techniques for teams
Case studies
Selecting appropriate problem solving techniques
Chapter summary
Useful websites
Further reading
References
8 Managing Organisational Change
Introduction
Brief history of organisational change
Managing change
Triggers for organisational change
Determinist and voluntarist models
Perceptions of organisational change
Communicating organisational change
Employee interpretations of organisational change
Individual resistance to change
Transitioning nature of sites and project teams
Group interpretations of organisational change
Group resistance to change
Planned organisational change
Organisational development and change
The situational approach to change management
John Kotter’s model
Political influences and change management
Chapter summary
Useful websites
Further reading
References
9 Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Introduction
Characteristics of successful entrepreneurs
Work style
Leadership style
The entrepreneur as a leader
Innovation
Organisational culture
Disruptive innovations
Change for the sake of change?
Small enterprises
Chapter summary
Useful websites
Further reading
References
10 Organisational Culture
Introduction
Culture has vs culture is
Integration vs differentiation/fragmentation
Culture managed vs culture tolerated
Symbolic leadership vs management control
The iceberg model
Theories of organisational culture
Globalisation and cultures
Organisational socialisation
National cultures
Chapter summary
Useful website
Further reading
References
11 Organisational Strategy
Introduction
Stakeholders
Competitive advantage
Porter’s five forces
Organisational capability
The strategic loop
Strategic approaches in small firms
Chapter summary
Useful websites
Further reading
References
12 Organisations and Structures
Introduction
Theoretical models of organisational structure
Organisational design
The shamrock organisation
Situational factors
Chapter summary
Useful websites
Further reading
References
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 02
Table 2.1 Fayol’s principles of management.
Table 2.2 Urwick’s principles of management.
Table 2.3 Mintzberg’s managerial roles.
Chapter 03
Table 3.1 Luthans’ activities of managers.
Table 3.2 Mintzberg’s ten roles of behaviours associated with a manager.
Chapter 04
Table 4.1 Leadership styles.
Table 4.2 Leadership styles used in different situations.
Chapter 06
Table 6.1 Impacts of conflict within organisations.
Table 6.2 Resolving conflict.
Table 6.3 Decision matrix for deciding on appropriate style.
Chapter 07
Table 7.1 Examples of wicked problems.
Table 7.2 Stages of creative problem solving.
Chapter 08
Table 8.1 Linear step approaches for planning and managing change.
Chapter 10
Table 10.1 Hofstede’s four dimensions.
Table 10.2 Four major clusters within Europe.
Table 10.3 Societies outside Europe.
Table 10.4 Trompenaars and Hampden‐Turner's cultural dimensions.
Chapter 11
Table 11.1 Alternative measures of success.
Chapter 12
Table 12.1 Limitations of the contingency model.
List of Illustrations
Chapter 03
Figure 3.1 Drucker’s five basic management functions.
Chapter 07
Figure 7.1 Examples of terms often used for ‘problem’.
Chapter 08
Figure 8.1 Example of PEST model and the construction industry.
Figure 8.2 Example of a construction firm using PEST to diversify.
Figure 8.3 Example of PESTLE in the construction sector.
Chapter 09
Figure 9.1 Behavioural characteristics of entrepreneurs.
Figure 9.2 Business competition chain.
Figure 9.3 Kolb’s experiential learning cycle.
Chapter 10
Figure 10.1 Sources of organisational ethics/beliefs.
Figure 10.2 Factors affecting national culture.
Chapter 11
Figure 11.1 Range of stakeholders.
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
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Construction Management and Organisational Behaviour
Maureen Rhoden
Senior Lecturer, Department of Built Environment, University of Greenwich, London, UK
with
Brian Cato
Senior Lecturer, Department of Built Environment, University of Greenwich, London, UK
This edition first published 2016
© 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author(s) have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication data applied for
ISBN: 9781118674819
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
About the Authors
Maureen Rhoden MA, PGCE, SEDA, FCIH, FHEA has worked in a number of large public organisations as a senior manager with approximately 10 years’ experience in housing management and for 20 years teaching organisations and management to students studying Built Environment courses in the higher education sector.
Brian Cato MSc, MRICS, FHEA is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and Project Manager with 30 years’ experience within the construction industry – 25 years in private practice and, more recently, 5 years in higher education.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank Laura Elson whose creative ideas and extensive knowledge in developing the case studies, together with her ability to identify inconsistencies helped us throughout the writing of this book.
1Introduction
The theories and concepts contained within this book are relevant for the work of managers and employees within the construction sector and similar organisations. Students and professionals with experience of the construction industry will benefit from the ability to apply these concepts to other organisations within other sectors. There are a wide range of organisations including universities or colleges to sports and other recreational clubs or groups that all rely on organisational behaviour in order to function. Some organisations will be able to function well and others will do so poorly.
The study of organisational behaviour may result in changing long held views that you may have held regarding how people and organisations work in the real world. In addition, you may also gain a better understanding of questions such as what motivates people to work, what is the most appropriate leadership style and how can the structure of a company affect the performance of employees.
Studying the many theories and examples that are provided within this book should enable you to identify problems within a company or organisation and to develop solutions or, even better, improve methods that you could use to avoid problems occurring in the first place. However, you will need to understand and apply the concepts to your own particular context which should make you a more effective manager.
Structure of the book
The remainder of this book is divided into the following chapters:
Chapter 2
considers the development of management theories and models and how they relate to the contemporary views of how organisations should work.
Chapter 3
explores some of the main schools of thought regarding the nature and scope of management.
Chapter 4
discusses contemporary views regarding leadership and we examine the qualities of successful leaders.
Chapter 5
begins with a discussion of the different types of communication that exist within organisations and their relative advantages and disadvantages. The chapter also explores the role of motivation in organisations and how managers can use motivation with their teams and individual members of staff.
Chapter 6
will address the problems associated with managing conflict within a team and the importance of being aware of the different types of conflict that exist is discussed. The chapter also considers the role of negotiation in particular situations and the techniques that may be used by managers and individuals.
Chapter 7
examines the different types of problems that managers may encounter within their company. While these problems can be addressed by using a variety of approaches, there are a number of advantages and disadvantages depending on the chosen solution.
Chapter 8
focuses upon organisational change and the different ways that the process can be managed. The effect of individual and group resistance to organisational change should not be underestimated. However, managers can anticipate the problems that may arise and manage the process efficiently and effectively.
Chapter 9
begins by focusing on the influence that entrepreneurs have in identifying opportunities and developing business ideas or innovations that are successfully brought to the market. We explore the different types of innovation and discuss the varied situations that can affect organisational creativity and innovation.
Chapter 10
discusses how social scientists have perceived organisational culture. The overt and covert aspects of organisational culture are examined along with the varied theories. We then explore the role of globalisation and national cultures and how companies are adapting to take into account the changing needs of their employees.
Chapter 11
recognises how important an organisational strategic approach has become and how it is used to provide a framework for the effective management of the activities within companies. The effect of the changing business environment upon the content of the strategy is considered along with the use of the market approach and the competitive advantage.
Chapter 12
begins with a discussion of the theoretical models of organisational structure. It discusses the way that we work and the impact that organisational design can have on the levels of production and motivation within a company.
2History of Management
Introduction
After the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the USA there grew a need for managers of the new organisations to find better ways to meet customer needs. This was a period of constant change with small workshops that had been run by skilled workers being replaced by large factories with large numbers of unskilled or semiskilled workers. The owners and managers of the new factories were unprepared for the management of their employees and the new way of working as many had come from a technical background. They therefore began to look for more effective means of managing their organisations’ resources together with the need to improve the efficiency of their employee–task mix.
The different types of management theories that exist include (Easterby‐Smith et al., 2015):
normative
– attempts to identify what or how managers should conduct their work such as classical (dominant in the1910s–1950s), human relations (dominant in the 1940s–1970s), competencies (dominant in the 1980s) and process theories (dominant in the 2000s)
descriptive
– attempts to explain what managers really do in practice such as work activity theory (dominant in the 1970s)
analytical
– where a particular theoretical stand is taken which focuses on some aspects of the work while ignoring others such as decision theory (dominant in the 1950s–1970s) and process theory (dominant in the 2000s)
This chapter will consider the varied management theories that exist and their impact on organisations.
Scientific management
Frederick Taylor defined the techniques of scientific management as (George and Jones, 2012, p. 58):
….the systematic study of relationships between people and tasks for the purpose of redesigning the work process to increase efficiency.
It was considered that the amount of time and effort that employees used to complete a finished good or service could be reduced through the use of specialisation and division of labour which would result in a more effective production process.
Taylor identified four key principles to increase efficiency in the production process:
Study the way employees perform their tasks, gather all the informal job knowledge that employees possess and experiment with ways of improving how tasks are performed.
Codify the new methods of performing tasks into written rules and standard operating procedures.
Carefully select employees so that they possess skills and abilities that match the needs of the task and train them to perform the task according to the established rules and procedures.
Establish a fair or acceptable level of performance for a task and then develop a pay system that provides a reward for performance above the acceptable level.
By using the scientific management approach employers were able to make significant savings while increasing levels of output. An example of this is provided by Wren (2009) based on the Ford Motor Company where the scientific management system was introduced and resulted in the output of cars increasing from 100 cars per month to 45 cars per day. However, while this new system of management became popular many employers preferred to be selective in how they interpreted scientific management in practice. For example, some employees found that as their output increased as a result of the improved ways of working they were expected to do more for the same level of pay. In addition, many employees found the division of labour into specialised areas of work resulted in monotonous and repetitive work. Employees soon discovered that any improvement in their levels of work could result in the need for less staff and so the threat of becoming unemployed increased (Fryer, 2004).
Classical theory
Henry Fayol, who had previously been employed as a managing director of a large mining company in France, was keen to establish how organisational effectiveness could be achieved (Fayol, 1949). Using his past experiences Fayol found that management was different from day to day organisational tasks and provided a list of five basic functions that an effective manager should follow:
Plan and forecast
– design strategies to enable the organisation to meet its future objectives
Organise
– to address Fayol’s 14 principles of management (see
Table 2.1
)
Coordinate
– resources, activities and productions are coordinated to achieve desired outcomes
Command
– to provide guidance to employees
Control
– ensure that actions are not in conflict with the organisation’s plan, that instructions are followed and that the 14 principles of management are adhered to
Fayol used these five functions to identify 14 principles of management effectiveness which still heavily influence the way in which many organisations manage today (see Table 2.1).
Table 2.1 Fayol’s principles of management.
Source: Adapted from Fayol (1949).
Basis of many organisational structures
Basis of management functions
Division of work Authority and responsibility Unity of command Unity of direction Centralisation Scalar chain Order
Discipline Subordination of individual interest to general interest Remuneration of personnel Equity Stability Initiative Esprit de corps
These principles have been criticised as some are not seen to fit with modern approaches to management. The unity of command where a member of staff is managed by one manager for example does not allow for the many matrix or project based organisations that now exist. In addition, the principles do not fit with modern developments in management such as flatter hierarchies, team working, professional organisations and flexible working.
Urwick (in the 1940s) used a combination of scientific management and classical theory to identify a list of general principles for effective management (see Table 2.2).
Table 2.2 Urwick’s principles of management.
The principles
Explanations
Objective
The organisation’s purpose
Specialisation
A team or activity
Coordination
Ensure everyone is working to achieve the same objectives
Authority
A clear line of authority
Responsibility
Managers are held accountable for the activities of their staff
Definition
Jobs, and working relationships should be well‐defined
Correspondence
All staff at all levels within the organisation should network with each other
Span of control
A manager should supervise no more than five to six members of staff
Balance
Various units within an organisation should be kept in balance
Continuity
Systems should be in place to support continuous reorganisation
Human relations theory
The classical view of management was criticised by human relations theorists who proposed that the actual behaviour of managers was different to what they were thought to be doing. It was felt that the human element of the organisation was missing from the scientific management approach. While Taylor had not considered the importance of staff involvement in the organisation of the daily tasks, Mary Parker Follett (1918) on the other hand believed that it was important that staff were involved in job analysis and the work development process as they knew their own jobs best.
Follett focused on the importance of the managers’ relations with their staff and considered that a more all‐inclusive approach should be used in management. She was a management consultant who viewed management as an art not a science and is quoted as saying that ‘management is the art of getting things done through other people’ (Follett, 1918). She therefore considered that the easiest way for managers to achieve this would be to encourage cooperation from their staff and to involve employees in the decision making process. It was believed that managers should be coaches and facilitators to their staff and not monitors and supervisors.
Reflection
Within the construction sector do you think that managers are mainly viewed as coaches and facilitators or monitors and supervisors? Give your reasons why with examples.
The importance of self‐managed teams and the empowering of employees was considered by Follett and she concluded that managers in different departments should communicate freely with each other in order to improve the decision making process. She referred to ‘cross‐functioning’ members of departments working in cross‐departmental teams to complete projects. Follett proposed that knowledge and expertise should be the drivers for determining the best leaders in the organisation and those leaders should not be based on formal authority derived from their position in the hierarchy. She felt that effective management should be based on a horizontal view of power and authority and not the typical vertical chain of command. Although these concepts are in common usage today they were considered to be far‐reaching at that time.
Rensis Likert (Likert, 1987) identified four systems of management as follows:
Exploitative authoritative type
Fears and threats are used by management.
Communication is from the top down to staff.
Psychologically managers and their staff are far apart.
Most decisions are made by managers.
Benevolent authoritative type
Motivation is based on the potential for punishment and partially on rewards.
Lower‐level employees are allowed to be involved in policy making but this is limited by the framework given to them from upper‐level management.
Major policy decisions are still left to those at the top.
Mainly downward communication from supervisors to employees with little upward communication.
The managers at the top feel more responsibility towards organisational goals than those employees at the bottom.
Subordinates can become hostile towards each other because of the competition that is created between them.
Satisfaction among workers is low to moderately‐low and productivity is measured as fair to good.
Consultative
There is some trust in staff and motivation is based on rewards in addition to limited involvement with team working and communication taking place vertically and horizontally within the company.
The responsibility for achieving the goals of the company is spread throughout the organisation.
Participative
Trust and confidence in employees is evident from managers.
Motivation is based on rewards for achievement of agreed goals.
Team work and communication levels are high.
Responsibility for achieving the goals of the organisation is spread widely throughout the hierarchy of the company (Mullins, 2013).
Likert believed that managers needed to constantly change and adapt their behaviour in order to manage their diverse staff members. He proposed that there is no right or wrong way; instead there are general principles which should take into account the expectations, values and skills of the staff. Being able to change to reflect these values and expectations is a key management skill and companies should develop the culture and environment which assists managers in dealing with their employees in a suitable manner.
The Hawthorne studies and human relations theory
A series of studies were completed from 1924 to 1932 at the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company to investigate how characteristics of the work setting could impact on the performance and fatigue levels of employees. The researchers would systematically measure the productivity of employees at various levels of illumination. The researchers found some unexpected results from their experiments as regardless of the level of illumination in the work place productivity levels increased. The only time that the levels of productivity fell was when the level of illumination was too low for the employees to be able to see to complete their tasks effectively.
Due to these confusing results, Elton Mayo was asked to join the researchers and he proposed that another series of studies should be put in place over a two year period known as the relay assembly test experiments. These experiments studied the impact of other aspects on job performance such as the number and length of rest periods and hours of work on fatigue levels and boredom.
It was found that the same result as before was achieved with increased productivity over the period of time regardless of whether the changes that were imposed were negative or positive. The researchers concluded that increased productivity was due to the increased attention that the employees received as participants in the studies and so they were attempting to produce the results that they believed the researchers wanted. Subsequently what became known as the Hawthorne effect appeared to suggest that the views that employees have towards their manager are likely to have either a negative or positive impact on their performance.
It was therefore considered that if managers could be trained to obtain positive performance from their staff, then their level of productivity would increase. The human relations approach was therefore based on managers being trained to manage their employees in order to obtain the best performance and so lead to increased productivity.
This was reinforced by further research in another series of studies called the bank wiring room experiments. In this study employees made telephone switching equipment, Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger, found that the employees had adopted a culture of restricting their output in order to ensure that their jobs would be secure and any employees that violated this unwritten rule were sanctioned by other members of staff. This research highlighted the importance of training managers to use their behaviour to elicit cooperation from their employees so that the managers and not the employees are in control of levels of performance.
The Hawthorne experiments identified that as well as knowing the technical aspects for completing tasks it is also important that managers are aware of the informal systems and behaviours that exists in groups when attempting to change or manage the behaviour of employees. It is important that this complex process is understood in order to increase performance.
Theory X and Theory Y
Douglas McGregor’s studies identified two theories which he thought reflected the assumptions that people in organisations adopted with regard to their work attitudes and behaviours. These contrasting assumptions were named Theory X and Theory Y and were developed after World War II.
Theory X assumed that people at work have the following characteristics:
are lazy
do not like work
will try to get away with doing the minimum amount of work.
avoid any responsibilities
have little ambition
As a result, in order to counteract these negative characteristics the managers would need to closely supervise and monitor the work of their staff. The ‘carrot and stick’ or rewards and punishment approach would be used to ensure that a high level of performance was achieved by the employees. The managers who accept the assumptions of Theory X believe that their staff must be made to perform at the level that will result in success for the company. These managers will attempt to control the behaviour and attitudes of their staff by developing rules with a well‐defined system of rewards and punishments. The managers’ focus will not be in trying to get staff involved in solving problems as they believe that the employees are not interested in participating in these activities.
On the other hand, Theory Y assumes that employees:
are not lazy
do not dislike work
will always seek to do what is best for the organisation
As a result, managers do not need to closely supervise and monitor the work of their staff as the employees will use self‐control and are committed to the organisation. It is the managers’ responsibility to ensure that the work is designed in order to encourage commitment to achieving the organisation's goals and that staff can be creative, self‐motivated and willing to use their own initiative.
Decision theory
This theory dominated during the 1960s particularly in the USA and France. The key skill required by managers to make successful decisions even in times of uncertainty was to have the ability to make rational decisions. The emphasis was on being able to identify external influences that could have an impact on the strategy of the organisation. In addition, it was also important that decisions should be made by managers even if the conditions were uncertain and the actual decisions were not ideal.
Work activity theory
Theorists argued that we should not try to get managers to work according to the theories in textbooks but instead they should be assisted in dealing with the reality of day to day management by managing their time effectively, and developing good leadership skills and negotiating skills with others.
Competencies theory
During the 1980s employers criticised the many theories that existed and suggested that they were of limited value and were in fact not helpful for many companies. They felt instead that managers should have a set of competencies that included possessing entrepreneurial skills, leadership skills, the ability to develop collective visions and to be able to shape the culture and values of the organisation.
Process theory
In recent years the focus of theories has developed to view management as a process which emphasises the learning process, the creation and management of organisational knowledge together with the importance of power and politics within the workplace which also underlies the knowledge legitimation.
Is management a science or an art?
Different views of the field of management have been explained by various theorists:
The manager was seen as a technician (management science) – as developed by Frederick Taylor and Thorstein Veblen during the 1920s.
The manager was seen as a practitioner of an art – due to the increasing awareness during the past 25 years of the phenomena of making decisions under circumstances of uncertainty, change, and the uniqueness of the problems often in situations of high stress and limited time where intuition may play an important part of the decision making process.
Henry Mintzberg (1997) studied the actual behaviour of senior managers and found that the reality of their day to day functions was very different to the theories. He discovered this by observing what managers actually did in practice. Mintzberg (1997) found that managers did not spend the majority of their time planning, organising, coordinating, commanding and controlling as suggested by Fayol. Instead he found that there were ten roles which managers conducted (see Table 2.3).
Table 2.3 Mintzberg’s managerial roles.
Managerial roles
Managerial activities
Interpersonal roles
Figurehead
Leader
Liaison
Creating relationships
Performs ceremonial duties
Motivates staff
Networking
Informational roles
Monitor
Disseminator
Spokesperson
Scans for information
Shares information with staff
Shares information with outsiders
Decisional roles
Entrepreneur
Disturbance handler
Resource allocator
Negotiator
The setting, implementing and monitoring of progress towards achieving objectives
Implementing new ideas
Responds quickly to pressures and crises
Allocates resources to others
Resolves disputes and reaches agreements
Mintzberg (1997) also suggested that managers often attempted but failed to follow a sequence of roles in a logical fashion in order to achieve their objectives:
Interpersonal – The managers build relationships with their staff and network with internal departments
Informational – The above activities assist the managers to gain quality information
Decisional – The above activities lead to decision making, objective setting and resource allocations.
Mintzberg’s research found that:
48% of a manager’s time was spent consulting with subordinates
44% of a manager’s time was spent consulting with peers and outsiders
8% of a manager’s time was spent consulting with superiors
A typical day for a manager consisted of frequent interruptions in order to join in brief conversations either by telephone, in person, by email or by other forms of e‐communication which assisted the manager in staying informed.
Kotter’s study (1982) reinforced Mintzberg’s findings as he found that managers tended to spend little time secluded in their offices while working on solitary tasks.
Management as an art
This approach to management has two meanings as it may mean management that is based on intuition, skills and judgement or it could also mean a manager’s ability to reflect on actions that may not have been compatible with their intuition. This is often based on the phenomena of organisational life where the learning is based on knowledge developed over a period of time and based on practices within the sector, the mission and identity of the company, methods of working and past experiences which all help to serve as templates for future actions.
Donald Schön (1984) studied the behaviours of professionals and considered what was significant in establishing styles to professional learning. His work uncovered what professionals actually did in their day to day work and how this differed from the official accounts. This related to the discrepancies between the formal, rational aspects of their work and the less formal and intuitive dimension.
Conclusion
Management has many meanings and means different things to different people depending on different circumstances and different times. As a result, there is no single definition of management. The mistake that practising managers can make is to think that there is a right way that should be followed in order to become an effective and competent manager.
Chapter summary
Scientific management
Classical theory
Human relations theory
The Hawthorne studies and human relations theory
Theory X and Theory Y
Decision theory
Work activity theory
Competencies theory
Process theory
Is Management a science or an art?
Management as an art
Useful website
Mary Parker Follett Foundation. www.follettfoundation.org/mpf.htm – this website relates to the views of Follett regarding management within organisations.
Further reading
Hamel, G. (2011) First, Let’s Fire All The Managers, Harvard Business Review. Available at
https://hbr.org/2011/12/first‐lets‐fire‐all‐the‐managers&cm_sp=Article‐_‐Links‐_‐Top%20of%20Page%20Recirculation
(accessed 7/7/2015).
Schön, D. (1984)
The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action
. Maurice Temple Smith, London.
References
Easterby‐Smith, M., Thorpe, R. and Jackson, P. (2015)
Management Research
, 4th edn. Sage, London.
Fayol, H. (1949)
General and Industrial Management
. Pitman, London.
Follett, M. (n.d.) Mary Parker Follett Foundation.
www.follettfoundation.org/mpf.htm
(accessed 11/9/2015)
Fryer, B. (2004)
The Practice of Construction Management
, 4th edn. Blackwell, Oxford.
George, J. and Jones, G. (2012)
Understanding and Managing Organisational Behaviour
, 6th edn. Pearson, Harlow.
Likert, R. (1987)
New Patterns of Management
. Garland, London.
Mintzberg, H. (1997)
The Nature of Managerial Work
. Harper and Row, London.
Mullins, L. (2013)
Management & Organisational Behaviour
, 10th edn. Pearson, Harlow.
Schön, D. (1984)
The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action
. Maurice Temple Smith, London.
Wren, D. (2009)
The Evolution of Management Thought
, 6th edn. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken.
3The Nature of Management
Introduction
It is difficult to explain exactly what it is that a manager does as it can vary based on the tasks and issues which arise during a particular year, month, week or day. It could be that what a manager does is led by various ‘events’ and so results in a job that is fragmented. Many theorists write about what managers should be doing but often they fail to address what they actually do in practice. This chapter will discuss the development of managerial roles and the impact that organisations can have on the roles that managers have.
The role of a manager
The role of a manager can be defined as:
The set of expectations held by the person concerned and by those he or she interacts with about the appropriate contribution he or she will make in a given situation.
Fayol (1999) worked for 25 years as a managing director of a large French mining company. His definition of management was based on what he thought managers should be doing taken from his own experiences. However, this was not based on a systematic objective observation of the reality of the job. Fayol’s definition of the management task was expressed in terms of five distinct functions:
Planning
–
based on the manager developing action plans and forecasting for the future.
Organising
– the manager puts in place the structure for the organisation including establishing lines of authority and responsibility together with the resources needed for the day to day management of the business such as capital and human resources.
Commanding
–
the manager implements the action plan and directs the staff to achieve it.
Coordinating
–
the manager ensures that staff activities and efforts are consistent and cohesive.
Controlling
–
involves the manager monitoring and making adjustments when necessary while ensuring that rules and instructions are followed by staff.
Fayol’s theory has been criticised for his use of language such as command and control as they appear to reflect an authoritarian management style which is not seen as relevant for modern times. However, it is important to note that this approach to management may have been appropriate at the time of his writing and may still be used in a number of sectors such as the construction industry (Fryer, 2004).
Reflection
Consider the different situations within the construction industry where command and control by managers may be required to get the job done.
Lydnall Urwick and Luther Gullick (1937) developed Fayol’s list of management roles by including:
staffing
directing
reporting
budgeting
These lists are useful for managers to gain some understanding of the key tasks they should be carrying out and the skills that they need to develop as these functions are still relevant today. Managers can use the lists to examine how much time is actually spent on each role and whether there are roles that need to be developed further.
Zahra (2003, p. 17) summarises the thinking of Drucker in his seminal book The Practice of Management regarding what he considered to be the responsibilities of management:
Management is a distinct and important function that determines the viability and success of the firm.
The managerial task, though amenable to scientific analysis, is practice‐oriented. Management education enhances and sharpens managerial skills.
The managerial task combines creative and adaptive components.
There are two entrepreneurial dimensions to management: marketing and innovation. Marketing focuses on identifying customers. Innovation centres on creating products, goods, systems, processes, and services. It also requires acquiring and honing the skills necessary to develop products, services, and so on.
Managers should follow a systematic decision making process that focuses on defining the problem, developing alternatives, examining the merits and shortcomings of these alternatives, selecting the approach to be followed, implementation, and using feedback.
Managers are responsible for building the organisation and integrating its different functions.
Managers are responsible for developing and leading knowledgeable workers.
Integrity is the hallmark of managerial character. Along with integrity comes a sense of accountability.
Drucker updated the list above and added a list of five basic management functions (see Figure 3.1). However, critics have questioned how relevant the description of these functions were at the time of the research although it is accepted that they reflect the current concerns and values in management. The extent to which Drucker’s theory is normative was also challenged.
Figure 3.1 Drucker’s five basic management functions.
Contemporary management functions
Rosemary Stewart (1984, p. 326) stated that with regard to what managers actually do:
The best documented finding from a variety of studies in different countries is about the pace of managerial work … The manager typically switches every few minutes from one subject or person to another, rarely completing one task before being involved in another. There are few opportunities for uninterrupted work for half an hour or longer. This hectic pattern is, in part, a demand of most managerial jobs because the manager must respond to a variety of people and problems. It can also be, in part, a choice, as observational studies have shown.
This observation by Stewart has developed into a fragmentation of the managers’ role which takes place within the context of constantly changing developments such as globalisation, performance measurement and e‐commerce. As a result, many managers are being driven out of their offices and instead are taking advantage of new technology to work at home in order to be able to do more concentrated work such as difficult analytical tasks. Many managers now use a combination of locations for working which include being based at home and/or hot‐desking in various sites/offices.
During the 1980s researchers such as Henry Mintzberg and Fred Luthans (1988) were able to provide contemporary information regarding the work that managers do. Luthans (together with Rosencrantz and Hennessey) used observation to identify the tasks of the manager from a wide range of organisations and across different levels within the structure of the organisations. The researchers were able to identify through their research 12 activity roles of a manager with four core areas (see Table 3.1). They also analysed how often certain types of behaviour resulted in success and effectiveness. Success was defined by the speed in which promotion was obtained although this definition could be questioned. The researchers defined effectiveness in terms of high satisfaction levels and commitment from staff along with high quantity and quality of standards of performance.
Table 3.1 Luthans’ activities of managers.
Descriptive activity categories
Main areas of real managers’ activities
Exchanging information
1. Communication
Paperwork
Planning
2. Traditional management
Decision making
Controlling
Interacting with others
3. Networking
Socialising/politicking
Motivating/reinforcing
4. Human resource management
Disciplining/punishing
Managing conflict
Staffing training/developing
A key finding from the research was that the managers that gained speedy promotion had little in common with effective managers. Networking was found to be the most important activity which led to success and the top third of managers did significantly more networking than the bottom third. They were also found to spend less time on traditional management and human resource management functions.
Effective managers were found to have good communication and human resource management skills. The research found that only 10% of managers were in the top third for both success and effectiveness.
Luthans’ study also found that for managers:
The identified categories closely reflected the range of activities that most managers were engaged with.
The definitions of successful/effectiveness identify that individuals will have different interpretations and so will have a significant impact on the activities of the organisation and the way that managers behave. Luthans suggests that the best approach would be for organisations to promote those people who were effective rather than those that are good at socialising/politicking.
The roles that the manager has in any organisation are formed from three different features: (1) the expectations of the organisation; (2) the person; and (3) balancing different management roles. While job descriptions can provide managers with a guide about the tasks that need to be completed they are unable to provide any guidance about how the manager should complete the tasks and often do not reflect what a manager actually does.
During the 1970s and 1980s Henry Mintzberg observed CEOs based in North America and found that the reality was very different from the expectations.
If you ask a manager what he does, he will most likely tell you that he plans, organises, coordinates and controls. Then watch what he does. Don’t be surprised if you can’t relate what you see to these four words.
(Mintzberg, 1975, p. 47)
Mintzberg thought that his observation of five American CEOs would reveal that they spent the majority of their time making rational decisions in an orderly fashion. However, he found that their days were disjointed and fast paced with numerous interruptions and varied activities. The CEOs were found to spend a large proportion of their time in meetings which were either scheduled or unscheduled and four‐fifths of their time was spent in verbal communication. It was from these observations that Mintzberg was able to identify the varied roles that managers were required to take on within organisations. Based on these new findings he was able to explain the ten roles of behaviours associated with managers (see Table 3.2)
