Deck 8: Organizing Work

Question 1

What is an organization? Define the management function of organizing. Define organization structure. What is an informal organization?

Answer 1

In today's world most of the works are done through different organizations. The organization's success depends on the groups they have formed. They groups formed can be formal or informal.
Organization can be defined as group of organized people working as a team by putting concerted effort to achieve particular objectives. In organization, the employees will implement strategies and will obtain the objectives which an individual person cannot be accomplished by working independently.
The management function of organizing include grouping of tasks which are important for accomplishing the objectives. In the organizing process, the tasks will be assigned to each manager who has the power to supervise those activities which are performed by the employees. In short, organizing is a process of allocating employees to ensure the achievement of organizational objectives. If the organizing process is proper, then it will result to an actual use of the human resources.
Organization structure can be defined as a system which outlines certain activities on how it should be directed to obtain the organization's objectives. It provides limitations for the organization's activities which are operated in the formal organization.
Informal work groups are shaped based on personal contacts and by the communication with the employees. The informal groups are not recognized formally by organization. Here, the employees voluntarily form clusters. The examples for informal work groups are the employees who meet during the lunch and other breaks regularly.

Question 2

Why can employees be reluctant to accept delegation?

Answer 2

Delegation is a process where specific works are assigned to individuals who are working within the organization. They will be given the power to perform the assigned task. Delegation is all about trusting a person in completing a part of manager's job.
The employees can be reluctant to accept delegation because of below mentioned reason:
1. The subordinates will not have much confidence in their skills and because of that they will not be ready to accept additional commitments given by the manager.
2. The employees will be having fear that they will be criticized or terminated for doing mistakes in the given job. It is the manager's duty to encourage the employees in making proper decisions.
3. There will be managers who will not motivate their employees to take extra responsibilities. This lack in motivational environment will discourage the subordinates to accept delegation.

Question 3

Promotion Possible: A Role Play
Your instructor will ask some class members to role play either the president or the current assistant sales manager in the following scenario.
The assistant sales manager of ABC Company has been in that job for six months. Due to poor sales over the past 18 months, the sales manager (his or her boss) has just been fired. The president of ABC then offers this job to the assistant sales manager subject to the following stipulations:
• You cannot increase the advertising budget.
• You must continue to let Metro-Media, Inc., handle the advertising.
• You cannot make any personnel changes.
• You will accept full responsibility for the sales for this fiscal year (which started two months ago).
The role play will simulate a meeting between the president and the assistant sales manager to discuss the offer. You can make any reasonable assumptions you think are necessary to play the role assigned to you.

Answer 3

Role playing is challenging because there is no script and participants are asked to improvise. Once they get used to it, most people enjoy it very much. Research shows that role playing is a powerful tool in clarifying and helping to change attitudes. After the role play has been completed, you might take a poll of the class asking who would accept the promotion and why or why not. Usually, most would not accept the promotion. Encourage the students on both sides to discuss why they would or would not take the promotion. Obviously, this situation presents a violation of the parity principle.

Question 4

What is the unity of command principle?

Question 5

Do you think division of labor has been overemphasized in today's highly mechanized and efficient society?

Question 6

What is the scalar principle?

Question 7

Discuss the reasons for organizing.

Question 8

A Good Manager?
Francis S. Russell is assistant general manager and sales manager for Webb Enterprises. At the moment, this self-styled perfectionist is sitting up in bed, checking his TTD sheet for tomorrow. The TTD (Things to Do) itemizes his daily activities, placing them on an exact time schedule. Never one to browbeat subordinates, Russell has his own special way of reminding people that time is money. Ever since the days when he was the best salesperson the company ever had, he had worked harder than the rest. It had paid off, too, because in only two years (when old Charlie retired), he was the heir apparent to the general managership. As this thought crossed Russell's mind, his immediate pride was replaced with a nagging problem. Where was he going to find the time to do all the things his position required? He certainly couldn't afford to just maintain the status quo. Then his mind forced him to plan tomorrow's activities and the problem was pushed into the background for future consideration.
(We see below a portion of Russell's well-planned day.)
TTD-October 16

Do you think Francis is a highly motivated employee trying to do a good job? Explain your answer.

Question 9

Minor Errors
Recently you have noticed that one of the staff members on the same level as your boss has been giving you a hard time concerning reports you submit to her. Having reviewed recent reports, you have discovered a few minor errors you should have caught; but in your opinion, they are not significant enough to warrant the kind of criticism you've been receiving. Your boss and this particular manager have a history of bad relations, which may be one reason for her attitude and actions.
As you think about how to best handle the situation, you consider these alternatives:
a. Talk to the manager in private and ask her why she is being so critical.
b. Do nothing. It is probably a temporary situation; to bring undue attention to it will only make matters worse.
c. Since your boss may get involved, discuss it with her and ask advice on what to do.
d. Work harder to upgrade the reports; make sure there will be nothing to criticize in the future.
e. Discuss it with your boss, but minimize or downplay the situation by letting her know that you believe constructive criticism of this type is usually healthy.
Other alternatives may be open to you, but assume these are the only ones you have considered.
1. Without discussion with anyone, decide which of these approaches you would take now. Be prepared to defend your choice.
2. What principle of organization most closely relates to this situation?
3. To what extent do you think this is an organizing problem as opposed to a personality problem?

Question 10

What is the difference between a highly centralized and a highly decentralized organization?

Question 11

Comment on the following statement, which is attributed to Robert Heinlein: "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze new problems, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

Question 12

The Vacation Request
Tom Blair has a week's vacation coming and really wants to take it the third week in May, which is the height of the bass fishing season. The only problem is that two of the other five members of his department have already requested and received approval from their boss, Luther Jones, to take off that same week. Afraid that Luther would not approve his request, Tom decided to forward his request directly to Harry Jensen, who is Luther's boss and who is rather friendly to Tom (Tom has taken Harry fishing on several occasions). Not realizing that Luther has not seen the request, Harry approves it. Several weeks pass before Luther finds out, by accident, that Tom has been approved to go on vacation the third week of May.
The thing that really bugs Luther is that this is only one of many instances in which his subordinates have gone directly to Harry and gotten permission to do something.
Just last week, in fact, he overheard a conversation in the washroom to the effect that, "If you want anything approved, don't waste time with Luther; go directly to Harry."
What should Harry have done?

Question 13

What is the difference between horizontal and vertical division of labor? What is the difference between job scope and job depth?

Question 14

Explain the concept of empowerment. What are self-managed work teams?

Question 15

Identify and discuss a job that has a relatively wide job scope and narrow job depth. Identify a job that has a relatively narrow job scope and a wide job depth.

Question 16

What is the span of management?

Question 17

Define power, authority, and responsibility.

Question 18

Define the following: flextime, telecommuting, and job sharing.

Question 19

As a manager, would you prefer a relatively large (more than seven subordinates) or small (seven or fewer subordinates) span of management? Why? What are the implications of your choice?

Question 20

A Good Manager?
Francis S. Russell is assistant general manager and sales manager for Webb Enterprises. At the moment, this self-styled perfectionist is sitting up in bed, checking his TTD sheet for tomorrow. The TTD (Things to Do) itemizes his daily activities, placing them on an exact time schedule. Never one to browbeat subordinates, Russell has his own special way of reminding people that time is money. Ever since the days when he was the best salesperson the company ever had, he had worked harder than the rest. It had paid off, too, because in only two years (when old Charlie retired), he was the heir apparent to the general managership. As this thought crossed Russell's mind, his immediate pride was replaced with a nagging problem. Where was he going to find the time to do all the things his position required? He certainly couldn't afford to just maintain the status quo. Then his mind forced him to plan tomorrow's activities and the problem was pushed into the background for future consideration.
(We see below a portion of Russell's well-planned day.)
TTD-October 16

What problems do you see concerning Francis' effectiveness as a manager?

Question 21

Discuss two approaches to viewing the sources of authority.

Question 22

The Vacation Request
Tom Blair has a week's vacation coming and really wants to take it the third week in May, which is the height of the bass fishing season. The only problem is that two of the other five members of his department have already requested and received approval from their boss, Luther Jones, to take off that same week. Afraid that Luther would not approve his request, Tom decided to forward his request directly to Harry Jensen, who is Luther's boss and who is rather friendly to Tom (Tom has taken Harry fishing on several occasions). Not realizing that Luther has not seen the request, Harry approves it. Several weeks pass before Luther finds out, by accident, that Tom has been approved to go on vacation the third week of May.
The thing that really bugs Luther is that this is only one of many instances in which his subordinates have gone directly to Harry and gotten permission to do something.
Just last week, in fact, he overheard a conversation in the washroom to the effect that, "If you want anything approved, don't waste time with Luther; go directly to Harry."
Who is at fault, Harry or Tom?

Question 23

Many people believe that the concept of empowerment receives a lot more talk than action. Why do you think this could be true?

Question 24

A Good Manager?
Francis S. Russell is assistant general manager and sales manager for Webb Enterprises. At the moment, this self-styled perfectionist is sitting up in bed, checking his TTD sheet for tomorrow. The TTD (Things to Do) itemizes his daily activities, placing them on an exact time schedule. Never one to browbeat subordinates, Russell has his own special way of reminding people that time is money. Ever since the days when he was the best salesperson the company ever had, he had worked harder than the rest. It had paid off, too, because in only two years (when old Charlie retired), he was the heir apparent to the general managership. As this thought crossed Russell's mind, his immediate pride was replaced with a nagging problem. Where was he going to find the time to do all the things his position required? He certainly couldn't afford to just maintain the status quo. Then his mind forced him to plan tomorrow's activities and the problem was pushed into the background for future consideration.
(We see below a portion of Russell's well-planned day.)
TTD-October 16

Assuming you were Charlie, the general manager, what solutions would you recommend?

Question 25

What is the parity principle? How does the parity principle relate to the exception principle?

Question 26

The Vacation Request
Tom Blair has a week's vacation coming and really wants to take it the third week in May, which is the height of the bass fishing season. The only problem is that two of the other five members of his department have already requested and received approval from their boss, Luther Jones, to take off that same week. Afraid that Luther would not approve his request, Tom decided to forward his request directly to Harry Jensen, who is Luther's boss and who is rather friendly to Tom (Tom has taken Harry fishing on several occasions). Not realizing that Luther has not seen the request, Harry approves it. Several weeks pass before Luther finds out, by accident, that Tom has been approved to go on vacation the third week of May.
The thing that really bugs Luther is that this is only one of many instances in which his subordinates have gone directly to Harry and gotten permission to do something.
Just last week, in fact, he overheard a conversation in the washroom to the effect that, "If you want anything approved, don't waste time with Luther; go directly to Harry."
What if Luther confronts Harry with the problem and he simply brushes it off by saying he is really only helping?

Question 27

Do you think you would like to telecommute or job share? Why or why not?

Question 28

A Good Manager?
Francis S. Russell is assistant general manager and sales manager for Webb Enterprises. At the moment, this self-styled perfectionist is sitting up in bed, checking his TTD sheet for tomorrow. The TTD (Things to Do) itemizes his daily activities, placing them on an exact time schedule. Never one to browbeat subordinates, Russell has his own special way of reminding people that time is money. Ever since the days when he was the best salesperson the company ever had, he had worked harder than the rest. It had paid off, too, because in only two years (when old Charlie retired), he was the heir apparent to the general managership. As this thought crossed Russell's mind, his immediate pride was replaced with a nagging problem. Where was he going to find the time to do all the things his position required? He certainly couldn't afford to just maintain the status quo. Then his mind forced him to plan tomorrow's activities and the problem was pushed into the background for future consideration.
(We see below a portion of Russell's well-planned day.)
TTD-October 16
Questions
1. Do you think Francis is a highly motivated employee trying to do a good job? Explain your answer.
2. What problems do you see concerning Francis' effectiveness as a manager?
3. Assuming you were Charlie, the general manager, what solutions would you recommend?

Question 29

Describe three components of the delegation process.

Question 30

The Vacation Request
Tom Blair has a week's vacation coming and really wants to take it the third week in May, which is the height of the bass fishing season. The only problem is that two of the other five members of his department have already requested and received approval from their boss, Luther Jones, to take off that same week. Afraid that Luther would not approve his request, Tom decided to forward his request directly to Harry Jensen, who is Luther's boss and who is rather friendly to Tom (Tom has taken Harry fishing on several occasions). Not realizing that Luther has not seen the request, Harry approves it. Several weeks pass before Luther finds out, by accident, that Tom has been approved to go on vacation the third week of May.
The thing that really bugs Luther is that this is only one of many instances in which his subordinates have gone directly to Harry and gotten permission to do something. Just last week, in fact, he overheard a conversation in the washroom to the effect that, "If you want anything approved, don't waste time with Luther; go directly to Harry."
Questions
1. What should Harry have done?
2. Who is at fault, Harry or Tom?
3. What if Luther confronts Harry with the problem and he simply brushes it off by saying he is really only helping?

Question 31

Why are many managers reluctant to delegate authority?