1. Organizational Behaviour (MG5595)
Approaches to Organisation & Management
Lecture 2
Professor Ashley Braganza

2. CareerFair+ Tue 31st Oct 2017 1-4pm Sports Centre
Autumn Placement, Careers & Part-time Work Fair
Tue 31st Oct 2017
1-4pm
Sports Centre
Overview

3. The Assessment Assignment
ALL students MUST answer Questions 1 and 2, which should each be 500 words in length (not including references). References should appear at the immediately after each question and not as a single list at the end.
Of the remaining 3 questions, students must choose ONE, and the length of this answer should be 1500 words (not including references).
 COMPULSORY QUESTIONS – 500 WORDS EACH 
Critically examine the relationship between leadership and management and the interplay between the two.
Corporate Social Responsibility is increasingly important in organisations; explain why you think this is.
 CHOOSE 1 FROM THE FOLLOWING THREE QUESTIONS – 1500 WORDS
Explain how managers can enhance diversity in their team. Discuss how this contributes to increased organisational effectiveness. Illustrate your key arguments with examples of organisations in the public domain or one you are familiar with.
Critically examine traditional hierarchical organisations structures and matrix organisations. Discuss the pros and cons of both.
As a manager you can choose to take a more people-centric or scientific-centric approach to managing colleagues. Critically discuss both approaches and justify which approach you prefer to take.

4. Learning Outcomes
By the end of the session, students should be able to:
Understand the relationship between management theory and practice
Identify the key trends in organization behaviour and management thinking
Contrast the main features of the different approaches to organisation and management
Evaluate the relevance of these approaches to contemporary management of organisations

5. The Development of Management Ideas
The Classical Era
How to organise the workforce
Division of labour (labour as a resource)
Work study (the process of work)
Productivity
Spans of control
Hierarchy
Bureaucracy
Key Writers: Taylor, Fayol, Weber, Follet, Barnard

6. The Development of Management Ideas
The Behavioural Era
Human Relations Theorists:
Mayo, Carnegie, Maslow, McGregor
Behavioural Science Theorists:
McLelland, Fiedler, Herzberg

7. Thinking About Organization
Systems Thinking
About decisions, analysis, provision of information and communication channels
PEOPLE + TASK + TECHNOLOGY
Even the most motivated people are restricted by the suitability of the organisation
BACKGROUND: Mathematics, Operations Research, Systems engineering, Post World War 2.
Key theorist: Joan Woodward

8. Thinking about Organization
The Contingency Perspective
Best viewed as an extension of the systems approach
Seeks to determine the most appropriate managerial style and structure for a given set of circumstances
Burns & Stalker, (1963) - introduction of terms ‘organic’ and ‘mechanistic’ to characterise/classify organisations
Joan Woodward, (1971) - Technological determinism
Lawrence and Lorsch, (1986) - Environmental determinism

9. Alternative ways of theorising: Critical Perspectives
Seek to depart from scientific view
Challenge basic assumptions of world view (ontology) and nature of truth (epistemology)
Contest nature of reality; individuals will see this differently (Alvesson & Deetz)
Contest individual determinism taking a contextual view (Wilmott)
Employees are not seen as passive takers of management strategies, but active sense makers
Challenge everything; even concept and nature of organisation
Ways of ‘doing’ knowledge considered as are language and reflexivity
‘Critical theorists have shifted the image of management and the theoretical agenda from saviour to problem’ (Parker)

10. Activity
Do managers always have the right answer to any problem or issues?
Do you always have the right answer to a problem or issue?
What makes any one person right or wrong?
How do you explain to someone that they are wrong and you are right?
Discuss these questions for 10 minutes with the person next to you and be prepared to share your discussion.

11. Postmodernism
Postmodernism also seeks to challenge science by rejecting rationality, order, clarity, truth and intellectual progress.
Main method this is achieved is through deconstruction:
Identifying the assumptions underpinning arguments about ‘reality’
Challenging those assumptions
Asking whose interests are served by representing the ‘truth’ in that way
Management’s interests are usually served by such views of ‘reality’, also ensures that the following are unchanged:
Ownership structure of capitalist enterprise
Hierarchical nature organisational relationships
Management/employee power relationships
Management/employee reward inequalities
Differentiation in physical working conditions
Inequalities in development and career opportunities
May be viewed as negative, but exposes alternative truths, and enables new agenda setting

12. Postmodernism
Postmodernists primarily concerned with the way in which language is used to construct ‘reality’
Postmodernists seek to question what is commonly perceived and to introduce uncertainty and fragmentation
Postmodernists reject ‘best’ practice, and the one best way of knowing; a diversity of perspectives is encouraged
Preparing for a postmodernist future; Hatch (1997):
Learn to take nothing for granted
Deconstruct all claims to truth by exploring the embedded assumptions
Keep asking whose point of view is benefited by this point of view
Focus on how language is used to construct reality and identity
Focus on what is not said, and what is hidden by conventional sayings
Avoid ‘one right answer’
Dispute the categories into which we place people
Forget the belief that we should all think the same way
Be reflexive, challenge your own assumptions

13. A Social Constructivist View
Social constructionism has its roots in both critical theory and postmodernism
Systems, structures and processes are ‘socially constructed’ by people rather than being their essential core
Language is important in constructing social and political realities
Social realities are validated or rejected through social relationships within a ‘community of meaning’
Organisational social constructions: ideas, structures, processes, roles, identities, power relations, knowledge

14. Organizational Challenges and Opportunities
In times of rapid change, understanding organizations has never been more valuable
Critical issues for managers:
The creation of a global village
Workforce diversity
Toward improving quality and productivity
Improving people skills
From management control to empowerment
From stability to flexibility
Improving ethical behaviour
Response will depend on the view of ‘organisation’ they take, and the interpretation of reality they adopt

15. Thank you and see you next week!