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MANAGEMENT TRAINING FOR WJI COMPANY CONCEPT OF AN ORGANIZATION An organization is an open social system that consists of the patterned activities of a group of people that tend to be goal directed. Effective organizations consist of smoothly functioning patterned activities that occur at predictable times and require minimal guidance or direction. Thinking of an organization as a system of patterned activities prepares us to improve organizational effectiveness and to identify organizational problems and opportunities. Organizations provide the essential goods and services that benefit society and they have the potential to greatly improve the quality of our lives. Healthy organizations produce healthy members by providing valuable opportunities for self-expression and fulfillment plus jobs that provide an income.
CORPORATE VALUES A matrix organization combines the advantages of functional and product organization design to increase the ability of managers and employees to process information. In a matrix organization, functional managers report to a matrix manager. The matrix managers job is to coordinate the activities of the functional and product managers. Instead of reporting to separate higher-level managers, they report to one general matrix manager who consolidates and integrates their activities. Advantages of a Matrix Design Permits the flexible sharing of employees across product lines Requires managers to demonstrate high levels of communication, teamwork and Self-management competencies Human resource managers work with managers and employees to help them learn how to make decisions organically rather than mechanistically.
That means, they need to base decisions on expertise and persuasion rather than rules, SOPs, formal roles and hierarchical position. Disagreements must be dealt with through confrontation and problem solving rather than getting passed upstairs. Coordination is achieved through extensive formal and informal meetings or in one-to-one conversations. Teams consisting of both product and functional managers and employees decide who will do what and when. Disadvantages of a Matrix Design Maintenance of two management hierarchical (functional and product) is expensive The employees involved typically have two bosses: a functional boss and a product boss. Trying to decide who to listen to often creates confusion and ambiguity for the employee.
When the product is delivered and there are no new products to work on, layoffs usually follow. Thus, employees sometimes tend to prolong their tasks so that they can keep their jobs. The expense of training employees to behave as coaches and facilitators and not bosses can be high. Many employees and managers simply cannot give up assumptions about clear lines of authority and accountability and thus are unable to function effectively in a matrix design.
THE COMPANY CULTURE Organizational theories in the training on corporate values and goals The Washington-Jones Inc adopts the Entrepreneurial Culture where we adopt high levels of risk taking, dynamism and creativity characterize an entrepreneurial culture. There is a commitment to experimentation, innovation, and being on the leading edge. This culture does not quickly react to changes in the environment; it creates change. Effectiveness means providing new and unique products and rapid growth. Individual initiative, flexibility and freedom foster growth and are encouraged and well rewarded. Continuum of Management Style Management style can vary along a continuum from one of total control to one that allows for subordinate autonomy within limits set by the manager.
Contingency Theories Our company uses the Contingency or Situational Theories. These theories all postulate that management style is contingent on three sets of variable factors: the manager, the group and the situation. Forces on the Manager These forces include the managers value system, confidence in subordinates, leadership tendencies and security about employees abilities and performance expectations, concerns about employee development. Leadership style will vary along a continuum from the need for total control to the ability to share tasks and duties with subordinates. Managers who can tolerate unpredictable behavior will be able to allow more divergence to employee behaviors. They will be more tolerant of differing ways to achieve similar outcomes.
Forces in the Subordinate These are all of the factors that shape an employees personality, i. e. all of the external and internal forces that come together to define an employees needs. In addition it also includes the employees expectations of how a manager should perform Forces in the Situation These forces are the organization, the effectiveness of the work group, the tasks to be performed, and the time available. Organizational factors include its fundamental principles, environment, technology, competitive strategy, size and age, history and ownership. These organizational factors may encourage or limit the managers choice of style.
The effectiveness of the work group would consider factors such as the experience, relevant education and training, willingness and ability to coordinate member efforts, past history of achievement, and motivation for future achievement. The more experienced and effective members of the work group are, the more effective they might be under a participative management style. Tasks may vary from routine to highly complex. The groups capability in relation to the tasks will influence the amount of direction and control required for effective performance. Time may limit the amount of participation possible. Decisions that need to be made quickly will allow less time for the involvement of others.
Each of these situational forces will play a part in determining the style of leadership that an individual manager will exhibit in a given situation. Organizational Structure An important quality needed to attain high performance is effort. Schermerhorn defines effort as the willingness to perform (Schermerhorn, 1987. 49 - 55). The managers job is to create the conditions that will increase the chances of employees choosing to work hard.
The first step to developing a management style, which WJI employs to motivate employees, is to recognize and accept the fact that people are not rational, consistent entities. They are full of ambiguities and paradoxes. Of greatest importance are the contradictions that are fundamental to human nature. Peters and Waterman (1982. 55 - 86) identified several areas of contradiction, which, when taken into account, will improve the managers ability to motivate employee performance. These are employed by WJI: While responding to positive reinforcement with a drive to do better, the response to negative feedback may be worse performance.
Does it feel right? is at least as important as Can I prove it? As information processors, we can hold only a few facts explicitly in mind, while our unconscious minds can hold and process vast amounts of information. While being sensitive to external rewards and punishments, we are also driven by our own needs. Evaluating skill level of the group At WJI Inc. training comes before effective teamwork.
This organization cannot afford to give work team members a year or two of training before the teams begin working on their tasks. To develop team cohesiveness, this organization shall use experientially based, adventure training. This will prepare them for working in self-managed work teams. The employees themselves after the training will also assess some of the planning and administration competencies.
Was the training effective? Employees will get to know each other. Overall, the training can help break down personal walls that people had built around themselves and helped them see the benefits of being a contributing member to the team. Experiential training is an effective way to develop cohesiveness, but used alone it is not likely to result in optimal work team effectiveness.
Work teams can also benefit from more formal training. For example, team members who are taught about the stages of team development are less likely to become easily frustrated during the forming and storming stages of team development. They will also realize the importance of norms to their performance and therefore strive to develop norms that aid rather than hinder it. TRAINING PROPOSAL Training refers to improving an employees skills to the point where he or she can do the current job more effectively.
Development programs sometimes are intended to help employees gain a broader perspective than that needed in the current or next job. As part of the training, this organization will encourage employees to attend to management development programs. WJI wants to broaden these managers perspectives and prepare them for managerial positions. Because employees from various organizations are involved in such programs, participants learn not only from the instructor but also from their peers. Training in these programs often is designed to help participants develop strategic action competency.
One month after entering the position, the employee will be having his benefits such as paid vacation, personal and sick days, holidays and health, dental, life and disability insurance. A year after entering this position, there will be more growth opportunities available. These can come in a variety of forms. Common opportunities include access to tuition reimbursement, continuing education, exposure to a variety of experienced staff and promotional opportunities such as a career ladder. For this employee hiring, the organization envisions not only a menial task of supervisory and monitoring of the needs of the people under him in the organization but also the important challenge in preparing the people to be expatriate employees working in a nation other than their home country. Without this preparation, such employee may not be able to take on and successfully complete an overseas assignment.
Particularly important is cross-cultural training including cultural awareness, language instruction, and practical assistance with matters of daily living. Such training improves employees global awareness competency by creating sensitivity to the host countrys culture and appreciation for it. Language training improves an expatriate employees communication competency. Practical assistance...
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Research essay sample on Management Training For Wji Part 1
