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What I have learned in Module 1 is the true meaning of management which is the process of planning, leading, organizing, and controlling people in the organization to effectively use resources to achieve goals. First of all, organizations set their goals. These goals must be planned beforehand, and it is up to a good management structure to come up with proposals and plans for how to achieve them. Check out this very useful information

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Workplaces depend on the strength of those in management positions. In addition to directing employees, managers must communicate with more senior professionals in their company to ensure the team meets goals and furthers the company's mission. Although the duties of managers differ based on their industry and workplace, most fulfill the same basic responsibilities. In this article, we discuss what management is, the operations of management and how you can become a good manager.

What is management?

Management is the coordination and administration of tasks to achieve a goal. Such administration activities include setting the organization's strategy and coordinating the efforts of staff to accomplish these objectives through the application of available resources. Management can also refer to the seniority structure of staff members within an organization.

To be an effective manager, you'll need to develop a set of skills, including planning, communication, organization and leadership. You will also need extensive knowledge of the company's goals and how to direct employees, sales and other operations to accomplish them.
Related: What Is a Manager?
Five basic operations of a manager

In general, there are five basic functions of a manager:

1. Setting objectives

Setting and achieving objectives is the primary way a manager accomplishes and maintains success. They must also be able to convey them to their staff or employees in a compelling manner. For instance, a restaurant manager could state they want to improve service times and remind employees that faster service increases revenue and tips.

2. Organizing

Managers evaluate the type of work, divide it into achievable tasks and effectively delegate it to staff. Organization consists of a series of relationships among individual staff as well as departments or entities inside the organization. It is the manager's responsibility to ensure that these individuals and entities work together in harmony, which includes motivating staff members and departments to stay on task. A good manager is skilled at building interpersonal relationships among their team members and can troubleshoot when members confuse their encounter challenges.

Organization also requires a manager to establish relationships of authority among their team members. Maximizing organizational arrangements can help businesses enhance the company's efficiency in the market, reduce the costs of business and improve productivity.

3. Motivating the team

In addition to the tasks of organization and delegation, motivation includes having the skills to handle different types of personalities in a team. An effective manager must know how to form and lead successful teams and know how to galvanize team members around a cause.

4. Devising systems of measurement

Managers need to set targets or key performance indicators that the team aims for and then generate ways to measure whether their team is on track to meet those goals. Because it can be challenging to come up with measurable ways of understanding performance, managers must often be creative and thoughtful. However, like the other functions of management, measurement is critical to improving business performance.

5. Developing people

In addition to leading their team toward a goal and measuring their progress along the way, good managers invest in their staff's development. Managers can, for example, work with their team to help them set goals to move up in their careers.

Managers must have leadership skills to use these five operations successfully. They are responsible for coaching their team members by helping them recognize their strengths and weaknesses and improve their performance. Different managers may have different styles of leadership. Regardless of their style, managers should develop their leadership skills to be an effective supervisor.
Read more: What Are the Responsibilities of a Manager?
Management concepts

A manager needs to understand a few simple ideas to employ the five basic operations. These concepts are essential to ensure their team comes together to reach the business' goals:

Staffing: Staffing is an underappreciated but crucial function of management. Managers need to ensure that they have the right people for the job, but they also need to pay attention to issues like organizing workplace policies. The company needs to retain the best talent by providing incentives such as benefits, paid time off and a thorough training program.
Related: How to Become a Manager
Management styles

Analysts who study management have identified several effective leadership styles. There is no one best style of management, and some people will feel more personally suited to one type or another. You can also select elements of different styles of management to create the best archetype for you and your company.

Here, we briefly review three positive management styles that can help make any manager a more effective leader.

Persuasive management style

A compelling leader spends a lot of time with their team members. Being engaged with employees allows the persuasive manager to lead by example, and to gain buy-in and compliance from the team by persuading rather than instructing or demanding. Influential managers are aware of the work that their team members are doing on a day-to-day basis and are involved in their work lives.

Democratic management style

A democratic manager invites the team to be directly involved in decision-making. Open lines of communication between democratic managers and employees allow these types of managers to understand the skills and advantages that each employee brings to the table. Open participation and exchange of ideas among different levels of employees allow everyone to contribute to the outcome of a decision or a project.

This style of management is more successful when managers develop organized and streamlined decision-making processes. Otherwise, accepting input from everyone can make the process sluggish and disorganized.

Laissez-faire management

The laissez-faire manager functions almost more like a mentor than a manager. They empower their employees to step up and make decisions. This allows the team to feel like they own a part of each project. The manager takes a backseat role, stepping in to offer advice or get things back on track when something goes wrong. Otherwise, they stand aside, allowing their employees to flourish creatively and exercise their own leadership.
Related: 10 Common Leadership Styles
Three layers of management

Large businesses and corporations often have three primary levels of management organized in a hierarchical structure. You may have heard terms that refer to these different layers of management, such as "middle management" or "senior management."

Low-level management

Low-level managers include roles like front-line team leaders, foremen, section leads and supervisors. This level of management, the lowest in the three layers, is responsible for overseeing the everyday work of individual employees or staff members and providing them with direction on their work.

Low-level management's responsibilities often include ensuring the quality of employees' work, guiding staff in everyday activities and routing employee problems through the appropriate channels. They also are responsible for the day-to-day supervision and career planning for their team, as well as providing feedback on their employees' performance.

Middle management

Middle managers, the next layer in the management hierarchy, are overseen by senior management. Middle management includes those working in the roles of a department manager, regional manager and branch manager. Middle management is responsible for communicating the strategic goals developed by senior management down the line to front-line managers.

In contrast with senior management, middle managers spend more of their time on directional and organizational functions. This includes defining and discussing important policies for lower management, providing guidance to lower-level management to achieve better performance and executing organizational plans at the direction of senior management.

Senior management

Senior management, including the chief executive officer, president, vice president and board members, is at the top layer of this management hierarchy. Senior management needs to set the overall goals and direction of an organization. Senior management develops strategic plans and company-wide policy and makes decisions about the direction of the organization at the highest level. They also usually play an essential role in mobilizing outside resources and are held accountable to the company's shareholders as well as the general public for the performance of the company.
Related: Manager vs. Senior Manager: What's the Difference?
Tips for being a good manager

There are several ways to advance your management skills, including:

Practice. Perhaps the best way to acquire new skills is to practice them in a real-life management setting. Gaining on-the-job experience in these skills will help you on the promotion ladder. Do your best for your team, serve as a leader and treat your team fairly.
Read more: How to Be a Good Manager

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What Is Management? Definitions and Functions

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Workplaces depend on the strength of those in management positions. In addition to directing employees, managers must communicate with more senior professionals in their company to ensure the team meets goals and furthers the company's mission. Although the duties of managers differ based on their industry and workplace, most fulfill the same basic responsibilities.

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Module 1: Type of managers and their roles.

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Module 1: Type of managers and their roles.

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In module 1, there are 3 management roles. First, it's the upper management which are the top bosses of an organization. They have the titles as CEO, COO, CFO etc. They are responsible for creating long term goals like products, marketing, and business organizing. Second, it's the middle management. they have titles like director, and chief supervisor.  They are the communicators of the company who link with the top level of management. Lastly, the lower management their titles are shift manager and assistant manager. Their duty is to implement plans for the company.

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In this module, Business ethic refers to modern organizational standards, principles, sets of values that govern the actions and behavior of an individual in the business. First, it can prevent external components from causing harm to an organization. Second, it benefits the organization by helping it internally to ensure its success.

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An organization's culture defines the proper way to behave within the organization. I learned that having a strong culture helps the company flourish towards success. Winning organizational cultures prioritize employees and their relationship to the company and its goals, which creates a positive employee experience. Great resources below

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The key to a successful organization is to have a culture based on a strongly held and widely shared set of beliefs that are supported by strategy and structure. When an organization has a strong culture, three things happen: Employees know how top management wants them to respond to any situation, employees believe that the expected response is the proper one, and employees know that they will be rewarded for demonstrating the organization's values.

HR has a vital role in perpetuating a strong culture, starting with recruiting and selecting applicants who will share the organization's beliefs and thrive in that culture. HR also develops orientation, training and performance management programs that outline and reinforce the organization's core values and ensures that appropriate rewards and recognition go to employees who truly embody the values.

This article covers the following topics:

The importance of having a strong organizational culture.

HR's role in fostering a high-performance culture.

Definitions of organizational culture.

Factors that shape an organization's culture.

Considerations in creating and managing organizational culture.

HR practices to ensure the continuity and success of an organization's culture.

Communications, metrics, legal, technology and global issues pertaining to organizational culture.

Background

An organization's culture defines the proper way to behave within the organization. This culture consists of shared beliefs and values established by leaders and then communicated and reinforced through various methods, ultimately shaping employee perceptions, behaviors and understanding. Organizational culture sets the context for everything an enterprise does. Because industries and situations vary significantly, there is not a one-size-fits-all culture template that meets the needs of all organizations.

A strong culture is a common denominator among the most successful companies. All have consensus at the top regarding cultural priorities, and those values focus not on individuals but on the organization and its goals. Leaders in successful companies live their cultures every day and go out of their way to communicate their cultural identities to employees as well as prospective new hires. They are clear about their values and how those values define their organizations and determine how the organizations run. See What does it mean to be a values-based organization?

Conversely, an ineffective culture can bring down the organization and its leadership. Disengaged employees, high turnover, poor customer relations and lower profits are examples of how the wrong culture can negatively impact the bottom line.

Mergers and acquisitions are fraught with culture issues. Even organizational cultures that have worked well may develop into a dysfunctional culture after a merger. Research has shown that two out of three mergers fail because of cultural problems. Blending and redefining the cultures, and reconciling the differences between them, build a common platform for the future. In recent years, the fast pace of mergers and acquisitions has changed the way businesses now meld. The focus in mergers has shifted away from blending cultures and has moved toward meeting specific business objectives. Some experts believe that if the right business plan and agenda are in place during a merger, a strong corporate culture will develop naturally. See Managing Organizational Change and Managing Human Resources in Mergers and Acquisitions.

Business Case

If an organization's culture is going to improve the organization's overall performance, the culture must provide a strategic competitive advantage, and beliefs and values must be widely shared and firmly upheld. A strong culture can bring benefits such as enhanced trust and cooperation, fewer disagreements and more-efficient decision-making. Culture also provides an informal control mechanism, a strong sense of identification with the organization and shared understanding among employees about what is important. Employees whose organizations have strongly defined cultures can also justify their behaviors at work because those behaviors fit the culture. See Toxic Workplace Cultures Hurt Workers and Company Profits.

Company leaders play an instrumental role in shaping and sustaining organizational culture. If the executives themselves do not fit into an organization's culture, they often fail in their jobs or quit due to poor fit. Consequently, when organizations hire C-suite executives, these individuals should have both the requisite skills and the ability to fit into the company culture. See HR Can't Change Company Culture by Itself.

Culture plays a vital role in an organization's success. Therefore, HR leaders and other members of the HR team should foster a high-performance organizational culture. See How to Practice HR on Purpose.

HR leaders are responsible for ensuring that culture management is a core focus of their organization's competitive efforts. For HR leaders to influence culture, they need to work with senior management to identify what the organizational culture should look like. Strategic thinking and planning must extend beyond merely meeting business goals and focus more intently on an organization's most valuable asset-its people.

HR has been described as the "caretaker" of organizational culture. In carrying out this essential role, all members of the HR team should help build and manage a strong culture by:

Being a role model for the organization's beliefs.

Reinforcing organizational values.

Ensuring that organizational ethics are defined, understood and practiced.

Enabling two-way communications and feedback channels.

Defining roles, responsibilities and accountabilities.

Providing continuous learning and training.

Sustaining reward and recognition systems.

Encouraging empowerment and teams.

Promoting a customer-supplier work environment.

Recognizing and solving individual and organizational problems and issues.

What Is Organizational Culture?

For HR professionals to have any impact on culture, they must first have a thorough understanding of what culture is in a general sense and what their organization's specific culture is. At the deepest level, an organization's culture is based on values derived from basic assumptions about the following:

Human nature. Are people inherently good or bad, mutable or immutable, proactive or reactive? These basic assumptions lead to beliefs about how employees, customers and suppliers should interact and how they should be managed.

The organization's relationship to its environment.How does the organization define its business and its constituencies?

Appropriate emotions. Which emotions should people be encouraged to express, and which ones should be suppressed?

Effectiveness. What metrics show whether the organization and its individual components are doing well? An organization will be effective only when the culture is supported by an appropriate business strategy and a structure that is appropriate for both the business and the desired culture.

Culture is a nebulous concept and is often an undefined aspect of an organization. Although extensive academic literature exists relating to the topic of organizational culture, there is no generally accepted definition of culture. Instead, the literature expresses many different views as to what organizational culture is.

Organizational culture can manifest itself in a variety of ways, including leadership behaviors, communication styles, internally distributed messages and corporate celebrations. Given that culture comprises so many elements, it is not surprising that terms for describing specific cultures vary widely. Some commonly used terms for describing cultures include aggressive, customer-focused, innovative, fun, ethical, research-driven, technology-driven, process-oriented, hierarchical, family-friendly and risk-taking.

Because culture is difficult to define, organizations may have trouble maintaining consistency in their messages about culture. Employees may also find it difficult to identify and communicate about perceived cultural inconsistencies. and See Defining Organizational Culture Culture Conversation Starters.

Factors That Shape an Organization's Culture

Organizational leaders often speak about the unusual natures of their company cultures, seeing their domains as special places to work. But organizations such as Disney and Nordstrom, which are well-known for their unique cultures, are rare. See Viewpoint: 3 Steps to Cultivating a Customized Culture.

Most company cultures are not that different from one another. Even organizations in disparate industries such as manufacturing and health care tend to share a common core of cultural values. For example, most private-sector companies want to grow and increase revenues. Most strive to be team-oriented and to demonstrate concern for others. Most are driven, rather than relaxed, because they are competing for dollars and market share. Some of the cultural characteristics that distinguish most organizations include the following.

Values

At the heart of organizations' cultures are commonly shared values. None is right or wrong, but organizations need to decide which values they will emphasize. These common values include:

Outcome orientation. Emphasizing achievements and results.

People orientation. Insisting on fairness, tolerance and respect for the individual.

Team orientation. Emphasizing and rewarding collaboration.

Attention to detail. Valuing precision and approaching situations and problems analytically.

Stability. Providing security and following a predictable course.

Innovation. Encouraging experimentation and risk-taking.

Aggressiveness. Stimulating a fiercely competitive spirit.

See Trust Engenders Trust: A Q&A with Paul J. Zak.

Degree of hierarchy

The degree of hierarchy is the extent to which the organization values traditional channels of authority. The three distinct levels of hierarchy are "high"-having a well-defined organizational structure and an expectation that people will work through official channels; "moderate"-having a defined structure but an acceptance that people often work outside formal channels; and "low" -having loosely defined job descriptions and accepting that people challenge authority.

An organization with a high level of hierarchy tends to be more formal and moves more slowly than an organization with a low level of hierarchy.

Degree of urgency

The degree of urgency defines how quickly the organization wants or needs to drive decision-making and innovation. Some organizations choose their degree of urgency, but others have it thrust on them by the marketplace.

A culture with high levels of urgency has a need to push projects through quickly and a high need to respond to a changing marketplace. A moderate level of urgency moves projects at a reasonable pace. A low level of urgency means people work slowly and consistently, valuing quality over efficiency. An organization with high urgency tends to be fast-paced and supports a decisive management style. An organization with low urgency tends to be more methodical and supports a more considered management style.

People orientation or task orientation

Organizations usually have a dominant way of valuing people and tasks. An organization with a strong people orientation tends to put people first when making decisions and believes that people drive the organization's performance and productivity. An organization with a strong task orientation tends to put tasks and processes first when making decisions and believes that efficiency and quality drive organization performance and productivity.

Some organizations may get to choose their people and task orientations. But others may have to fit their orientation to the nature of their industry, historical issues or operational processes.

Functional orientation

Every organization puts an emphasis on certain functional areas. Examples of functional orientations may include marketing, operations, research and development, engineering or service. For example, an innovative organization known for its research and development may have at its core a functional orientation toward R&D. A hospitality company may focus on operations or service, depending on its historical choices and its definition in the marketplace.

Employees from different functions in the company may think that their functional areas are the ones that drive the organization. Organizational leaders must understand what most employees perceive to be the company's functional orientation. See Building a Customer-Centric Culture: Five Lessons Learned.

Organizational subcultures

Any organization can have a mix of subcultures in addition to the dominant culture. Subcultures exist among groups or individuals who may have their own rituals and traditions that, although not shared by the rest of the organization, can deepen and underscore the organization's core values. Subcultures can also cause serious problems.

For example, regional cultures often differ from the overall culture that top leadership tries to instill. Perhaps aggressiveness that is common in one area may not mesh with a culture emphasizing team building. Or an organization with a culture built around equality may have trouble if the national culture emphasizes hierarchy and expects people to bow to authority. Managers and HR professionals must recognize those differences and address them directly.

Creating and Managing Organizational Culture

An organizational culture tends to emerge over time, shaped by the organization's leadership and by actions and values perceived to have contributed to earlier successes. A company culture can be managed through the cultural awareness of organizational leaders and HR professionals. Managing a culture takes focused efforts to sustain elements of the culture that support organizational effectiveness. See Addressing the Six Sources of Workplace Cultural Conflicts.

How culture develops

An organization's customs, traditions, rituals, behavioral norms, symbols and general way of doing things are the visible manifestation of its culture; they are what one sees when walking into the organization. The current organizational culture is usually due to factors that have worked well for the organization in the past. See How to Create a Culture of Civility.

Founders typically have a significant impact on an organization's early culture. Over time, behavioral norms develop that are consistent with the organization's values. For example, in some organizations, resolution of conflicts is hashed out openly and noisily to create widespread consensus, whereas in other places disputes are settled hierarchically and quietly behind closed doors.

Though culture emerges naturally in most organizations, strong cultures often begin with a process called "values blueprinting," which involves a candid conversation with leaders from across the organization. Once the culture is framed, an organization may establish a values committee that has a direct link to leadership. This group makes sure the desired culture is alive and well. For values blueprinting to work, organizations must first hire people who live the values and have the competency needed to perform the job.

Sustaining a culture

The management of organizational culture starts with identifying a company's organizational culture traits or "artifacts." Artifacts are the core business activities, processes and philosophies that characterize how an organization does business day-to-day.

Identifying these traits-and assessing their importance in light of current business objectives-is a way to start managing culture. Three broad concepts help identify the traits specific to a culture:

Social culture. This refers to group members' roles and responsibilities. It is the study of class distinctions and the distribution of power that exists in any group.

Material culture. This involves examining everything that people in a group make or achieve and the ways people work with and support one another in exchanging required goods and services.

Ideological culture. This is tied to a group's values, beliefs and ideals-the things people view as fundamental. It includes the emotional and intellectual guidelines that govern people's daily existence and interactions.

Leaders and HR professionals within an organization should approach culture management by initially gaining an understanding of the common traits found in all businesses. Then, they should take the following steps to manage their organization's culture:

Identify common artifacts or traits, including those from the standpoint of an organization's social, material and ideological culture.

Convene groups of employees-representatives from all levels, functions and locations of the organization-to assess the validity, significance and currency of key artifacts.

Subject those traits to a rigorous assessment of their underlying shared assumptions, values and beliefs.

Summarize findings and share them with all participants to solicit additional insights.

Create a culture management action plan. The plan should enhance traits that support corporate growth or organizational effectiveness and correct traits that might hinder a company's advancement.

Typically, shared assumptions and beliefs originate with an organization's founders and leaders. Because those beliefs proved successful (otherwise the company would not exist and the leaders would not be in their positions), often they go unchallenged; however, those assumptions and beliefs might be outdated and may hinder future success. See 6 Steps for Building an Inclusive Workplace.

HR Practices to Develop Culture

HR has a special role in ensuring that an organization's culture will continue and thrive. When an organization does a good job assessing its culture, it can then go on to establish HR policies, programs and strategies that support and strengthen its core purpose and values. In aligned organizations, the same core characteristics or beliefs motivate and unite everyone, cascading down from the C-suite to individual contributors.

HR professionals have many tools for developing and sustaining a high-performance organizational culture, including hiring practices, onboarding efforts, recognition programs and performance management programs. HR's biggest challenge is deciding how to use these tools and how to allocate resources appropriately. See Taming the Savage Culture: A Q&A with Tim Mulligan.

Hiring practices

The central role that HR plays in helping an organization capitalize on its culture is in hiring. HR has the opportunity to select people who fit the way the organization operates. Traditionally, hiring focuses primarily on an applicant's skills, but when a hire's personality also fits with the organization's culture, the employee will be more likely to deliver superior performance. See Finance Sector Needs New Focus on Culture to Attract Talent and Candidates Choose Jobs Because of Company Culture.

On the other hand, ill-fitting hires and subsequent rapid departures cost approximately 50 percent to 150 percent of the position's annual salary. Unfortunately, nearly one in three newly hired employees' leaves voluntarily or involuntarily within a year of hiring, and this number has been increasing steadily in recent years. See 5 Unique Interview Questions Every Recruiter Should Ask.

Some hiring practices to ensure cultural fit include these:

Looking at each piece of the organization's vision, mission and values statements. Interview questions should hone in on behaviors that complement these areas. For example, if the organization works with a lot of intensity, then job applicants should display that natural intensity to be considered for hire.

Conducting a cultural fit interview. Ask questions that elicit comments about organizational values such as honesty or integrity. If a candidate's description of the worst place he or she ever worked sounds just like the organization where he or she is interviewing, the candidate probably will not be successful.

Leaving discussion of company culture for later. Do not tell candidates about culture up front. First,listen to what they have to say about their experiences and beliefs. This tactic will reveal more candid responses to help determine whether they are a fit for the organization.

Making sure at least three people are involved in the hiring process. Different people will see and hear different things. These varied perspectives give a clearer understanding of the person being considered for hire.

Searching for employees who will fit in seamlessly can have drawbacks. The biggest mistake an organization can make is to paint an inaccurate picture of itself as it tries to attract candidates. If new hires discover they have been sold a bill of goods, they will not be happy; they will probably not stick around, and, while they are around, morale will decline.

Another possible drawback is that people are more reluctant to take negative actions against people like themselves. As a result, mediocre workers are more likely to stay employed if they share the cultural values. Similarly, although an organization's comfort level is palpable when the culture is aligned, experts say, too much comfort can result in groupthink and complacency.

Onboarding programs

HR plays a primary role in socializing new employees by designing and overseeing the onboarding process. Onboarding teaches newcomers the employer's value system, norms and desired organizational behaviors. HR professionals must help newcomers become part of social networks in the organization and make sure that they have early job experiences that reinforce the culture. See Managing the Employee Onboarding and Assimilation Process.

Reward and recognition programs

These programs are key mechanisms HR can use to motivate employees to act in accordance with the organization's culture and values. For example, if teamwork is a core value, bonuses should value teamwork and not be based on individual performance. HR should also put the spotlight on those who personify the company's values. See Who's at the CENTRE of your recognition program? and Employee Recognition Tech Must Align with Company Culture.

Performance management programs

Employees who share values and aspirations tend to outperform those in environments that lack cohesiveness and common purposes. Performance management programs can greatly affect corporate culture by clearly outlining what is expected from employees as well as by providing a feedback tool that informs employees about proper behavior. See Performance Management That Makes a Difference: An Evidence-Based Approach.

Communications

Conflicting messages regarding corporate culture may create distrust and cynicism, which can prompt, or help employees justify, actions as deleterious as embezzlement. Experts say that cultural inconsistencies may also cause workers to grow discouraged, to believe management is disingenuous, to doubt statements from higher-ups and to be less inclined to give their best effort.

Organizations may be investing significant time and money in creating a culture but may not be reaping the commensurate rewards-especially if executives, supervisors and rank-and-file employees have differing perceptions of the company's culture. HR professionals must therefore ensure that the organization clearly and consistently communicates its culture to all employees. See HR's Role in Creating a Culture of High Trust: Q&A with Richard Fagerlin.

Metrics

Assessing organizational culture is a crucial step in developing sound HR strategies that support enterprise objectives and goals. But how do you measure something as potentially tough to describe as culture? After identifying the key dimensions of culture such as values, degree of hierarchy, and people and task orientations, performing these next steps will help organizations assess culture:

Develop a cultural assessment instrument. This instrument should enable members of the organization to rate the organization on the key cultural dimensions, as well as on aspects of the organization not covered on the assessment.

Administer the assessment. Survey respondents should include individuals at all levels, functions, divisions and geographical units of the organization.

Analyze and communicate about assessment results. Leaders and HR executives should discuss areas of agreement and disagreement about the organization's culture.

Conduct employee focus groups. Just because top management leaders agree on organizational culture does not mean that all employees see things that way.

Discuss culture until consensus forms around key issues. Focus on "Who are we?" and "What makes us who we are?" Organizations that decide that where they are now is not where they want to be may need to look at moving the organization to embrace a different culture.

Cultural assessments, and other activities such as cultural audits and 360-degree feedback, may also help uncover cultural inconsistencies. Then leaders and HR professionals can eliminate the inconsistencies. For example, if customer service is a focus of the company's culture, evaluate how much time employees spend visiting customer sites, how much interaction they have with customers, what customer service training they receive and other indicators of a customer service focus. See The New Analytics of Workplace Culture

Legal Issues

Employers that emphasize cultural fit in their recruitment and selection process can be vulnerable to discrimination claims if they are not careful. HR professionals should ensure that hiring practices and selection decisions based on a cultural fit rationale do not result in discriminating against any applicants who may not be "just like" the selectors.

Employers should also be aware that certain types of organizational cultures (for example, cultures that are highly paternalistic or male-dominated) may tend to perpetuate disparities in promotions, compensation and other terms of employment. Those disparities may violate anti-discrimination laws. See In Focus: Latest Lawsuits Shine Light on Racist, Sexist Workplace Cultures and Address the Small Infractions to Create an Inclusive Culture.

Global Issues

Research suggests that national culture has a greater effect on employees than the culture of their organization. Organizational leaders and HR professionals should understand the national cultural values in the countries in which the organization operates to ensure that management and HR practices are appropriate and will be effective in operations in those countries. National cultural differences should be considered when implementing organizational culture management initiatives in global businesses.

Managers must be able to respond to nuances in communication styles, as well as deal with different expectations that employees have of their leaders across national cultures. Not meeting those expectations may doom the global organization's chance for success in particular countries.

These issues become even more complex in global business mergers. Success in international mergers depends on the merged organization's willingness to enable people with different cultural perspectives to engage in meaningful and valuable discussions about the new business.

See:
Helping Expatriate Employees Deal with Culture Shock 3 Steps in Aligning Culture Across the Globe

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The key to a successful organization is to have a culture based on a strongly held and widely shared set of beliefs that are supported by strategy and structure.

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In this module, I learned about the meaning of globalization which is the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence. Because of globalization, you can purchase cheaper goods, communicate with individuals from all over the world, and work in just about any country.

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Globalization - what is it? What is the definition of globalization? Benefits and negative effects? What are the top examples of globalization? What famous quotes have been said about globalization?
What is Globalization? All Definitions of Globalization

A Simple Globalization Definition

Globalization means the speedup of movements and exchanges (of human beings, goods, and services, capital, technologies or cultural practices) all over the planet. One of the effects of globalization is that it promotes and increases interactions between different regions and populations around the globe.

An Official Definition of Globalization by the World Health Organization (WHO)

According to WHO, globalization can be defined as " the increased interconnectedness and interdependence of peoples and countries. It is generally understood to include two inter-related elements: the opening of international borders to increasingly fast flows of goods, services, finance, people and ideas; and the changes in institutions and policies at national and international levels that facilitate or promote such flows."

What Is Globalization in the Economy?

According to the Committee for Development Policy (a subsidiary body of the United Nations), from an economic point of view, globalization can be defined as:
"(...) the increasing interdependence of world economies as a result of the growing scale of cross-border trade of commodities and services, the flow of international capital and the wide and rapid spread of technologies. It reflects the continuing expansion and mutual integration of market frontiers (...) and the rapid growing significance of information in all types of productive activities and marketization are the two major driving forces for economic globalization."

What Is Globalization in Geography?

In geography, globalization is defined as the set of processes (economic, social, cultural, technological, institutional) that contribute to the relationship between societies and individuals around the world. It is a progressive process by which exchanges and flows between different parts of the world are intensified.

Globalization and the G20: What is the G20?

The G20 is a global bloc composed by the governments and central bank governors from 19 countries and the European Union (EU). Established in 1999, the G20 gathers the most important industrialized and developing economies to discuss international economic and financial stability. Together, the nations of the G20 account for around 80% of global economic output, nearly 75 percent of all global trade, and about two-thirds of the world's population.

G20 leaders get together in an annual summit to discuss and coordinate pressing global issues of mutual interest. Though economics and trade are usually the centerpieces of each summit's agenda, issues like climate change, migration policies, terrorism, the future of work, or global wealth are recurring focuses too. Since the G20 leaders represent the " political backbone of the global financial architecture that secures open markets, orderly capital flows, and a safety net for countries in difficulty", it is often thanks to bilateral meetings during summits that major international agreements are achieved and that globalization is able to move forward.

The joint action of G20 leaders has unquestionably been useful to save the global financial system in the 2008/2009 crisis, thanks to trade barriers removal and the implementation of huge financial reforms. Nonetheless, the G20 was been struggling to be successful at coordinating monetary and fiscal policies and unable to root out tax evasion and corruption, among other downsides of globalization. As a result of this and other failures from the G20 in coordinating globalization, popular, nationalist movements across the world have been defending countries should pursue their interests alone or form fruitful coalitions.

How Do We Make Globalization More Just?

The ability of countries to rise above narrow self-interest has brought unprecedented economic wealth and plenty of applicable scientific progress. However, for different reasons, not everyone has been benefiting the same from globalization and technological change: wealth is unfairly distributed and economic growth came at huge environmental costs. How can countries rise above narrow self-interest and act together or designing fairer societies and a healthier planet? How do we make globalization more just?

According to Christine Lagarde, former President of the International Monetary Fund, " debates about trade and access to foreign goods are as old as society itself " and history tells us that closing borders or protectionism policies are not the way to go, as many countries doing it have failed.

Lagarde defends we should pursue globalization policies that extend the benefits of openness and integration while alleviating their side effects. How to make globalization more just is a very complex question that involves redesigning economic systems. But how? That's the question.

Globalization is deeply connected with economic systems and markets, which, on their turn, impact and are impacted by social issues, cultural factors that are hard to overcome, regional specificities, timings of action and collaborative networks. All of this requires, on one hand, global consensus and cooperation, and on the other, country-specific solutions, apart from a good definition of the adjective "just".

When Did Globalization Begin? The History of Globalization

For some people, this global phenomenon is inherent to human nature. Because of this, some say globalization begun about 60,000 years ago, at the beginning of human history. Throughout time, human societies' exchanging trade has been growing. Since the old times, different civilizations have developed commercial trade routes and experienced cultural exchanges. And as well, the migratory phenomenon has also been contributing to these populational exchanges. Especially nowadays, since traveling became quicker, more comfortable, and more affordable.

This phenomenon has continued throughout history, notably through military conquests and exploration expeditions. But it wasn't until technological advances in transportation and communication that globalization speeded up. It was particularly after the second half of the 20th century that world trades accelerated in such a dimension and speed that the term "globalization" started to be commonly used.

Examples of Globalization (Concept Map)

Because of trade developments and financial exchanges, we often think of globalization as an economic and financial phenomenon. Nonetheless, it includes a much wider field than just flowing of goods, services or capital. Often referred to as the globalization concept map, s ome examples of globalization are:

Economic globalization: is the development of trade systems within transnational actors such as corporations or NGOs;

Financial globalization: can be linked with the rise of a global financial system with international financial exchanges and monetary exchanges. Stock markets, for instance, are a great example of the financially connected global world since when one stock market has a decline, it affects other markets negatively as well as the economy as a whole.

Cultural globalization: refers to the interpenetration of cultures which, as a consequence, means nations adopt principles, beliefs, and costumes of other nations, losing their unique culture to a unique, globalized supra-culture;

Political globalization: the development and growing influence of international organizations such as the UN or WHO means governmental action takes place at an international level. There are other bodies operating a global level such as NGOs like Doctors without borders or

Sociological globalization: information moves almost in real-time, together with the interconnection and interdependence of events and their consequences. People move all the time too, mixing and integrating different societies;

Technological globalization: the phenomenon by which millions of people are interconnected thanks to the power of the digital world via platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Skype or Youtube.

Geographic globalization: is the new organization and hierarchy of different regions of the world that is constantly changing. Moreover, with transportation and flying made so easy and affordable, apart from a few countries with demanding visas, it is possible to travel the world without barely any restrictions;

Ecological globalization: accounts for the idea of considering planet Earth as a single global entity - a common good all societies should protect since the weather affects everyone and we are all protected by the same atmosphere. To this regard, it is often said that the poorest countries that have been polluting the least will suffer the most from climate change.

The Benefits of Globalization

Globalization has benefits that cover many different areas. It reciprocally developed economies all over the world and increased cultural exchanges. It also allowed financial exchanges between companies, changing the paradigm of work. Many people are nowadays citizens of the world. The origin of goods became secondary and geographic distance is no longer a barrier for many services to happen. Let's dig deeper.

The Engine of Globalization - An Economic Example

The most visible impacts of globalization are definitely the ones affecting the economic world. Globalization has led to a sharp increase in trade and economic exchanges, but also to a multiplication of financial exchanges.

In the 1970s world economies opened up and the development of free trade policies accelerated the globalization phenomenon. Between 1950 and 2010, world exports increased 33-fold. This significantly contributed to increasing the interactions between different regions of the world.

This acceleration of economic exchanges has led to strong global economic growth. It fostered as well a rapid global industrial development that allowed the rapid development of many of the technologies and commodities we have available nowadays.

Knowledge became easily shared and international cooperation among the brightest minds speeded things up. According to some analysts, globalization has also contributed to improving global economic conditions, creating much economic wealth (thas was, nevertheless, unequally distributed - more information ahead).

Globalization Benefits - A Financial Example

At the same time, finance also became globalized. From the 1980s, driven by neo-liberal policies, the world of finance gradually opened. Many states, particularly the US under Ronald Reagan and the UK under Margaret Thatcher introduced the famous "3D Policy": Disintermediation, Decommissioning, Deregulation.

The idea was to simplify finance regulations, eliminate mediators and break down the barriers between the world's financial centers. And the goal was to make it easier to exchange capital between the world's financial players. This financial globalization has contributed to the rise of a global financial market in which contracts and capital exchanges have multiplied.

Globalization - A Cultural Example

Together with economic and financial globalization, there has obviously also been cultural globalization. Indeed, the multiplication of economic and financial exchanges has been followed by an increase in human exchanges such as migration, expatriation or traveling. These human exchanges have contributed to the development of cultural exchanges. This means that different customs and habits shared among local communities have been shared among communities that (used to) have different procedures and even different beliefs.

Good examples of cultural globalization are, for instance, the trading of commodities such as coffee or avocados. Coffee is said to be originally from Ethiopia and consumed in the Arabid region. Nonetheless, due to commercial trades after the 11th century, it is nowadays known as a globally consumed commodity. Avocados, for instance, grown mostly under the tropical temperatures of Mexico, the Dominican Republic or Peru. They started by being produced in small quantities to supply the local populations but today guacamole or avocado toasts are common in meals all over the world.

At the same time, books, movies, and music are now instantaneously available all around the world thanks to the development of the digital world and the power of the internet. These are perhaps the greatest contributors to the speed at which cultural exchanges and globalization are happening. There are also other examples of globalization regarding traditions like Black Friday in the US, the Brazilian Carnival or the Indian Holi Festival. They all were originally created following their countries' local traditions and beliefs but as the world got to know them, they are now common traditions in other countries too.

Why Is Globalization Bad? The Negative Effects of Globalization

Globalization is a complex phenomenon. As such, it has a considerable influence on several areas of contemporary societies. Let's take a look at some of the main negative effects globalization has had so far.

The Negative Effects of Globalization on Cultural Loss

Apart from all the benefits globalization has had on allowing cultural exchanges it also homogenized the world's cultures. That's why specific cultural characteristics from some countries are disappearing. From languages to traditions or even specific industries. That's why according to UNESCO, the mix between the benefits of globalization and the protection of local culture's uniqueness requires a careful approach.

The Economic Negative Effects of Globalization

Despite its benefits, the economic growth driven by globalization has not been done without awakening criticism. The consequences of globalization are far from homogeneous: income inequalities, disproportional wealth and trades that benefit parties differently. In the end, one of the criticisms is that some actors (countries, companies, individuals) benefit more from the phenomena of globalization, while others are sometimes perceived as the "losers" of globalization. As a matter of fact, a recent report from Oxfam says that 82% of the world's generated wealth goes to 1% of the population.

The Negative Effects of Globalization on the Environment

Many critics have also pointed out that globalization has negative effects on the environment. Thus, the massive development of transport that has been the basis of globalization is also responsible for serious environmental problems such as greenhouse gas emissions, global warming or air pollution.

At the same time, global economic growth and industrial productivity are both the driving force and the major consequences of globalization. They also have big environmental consequences as they contribute to the depletion of natural resources, deforestation and the destruction of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity. The worldwide distribution of goods is also creating a big garbage problem, especially on what concerns plastic pollution.

Globalization, Sustainable Development, and CSR

Globalization affects all sectors of activity to a greater or lesser extent. By doing so, its gap with issues that have to do with sustainable development and corporate social responsibility is short.

By promoting large-scale industrial production and the globalized circulation of goods, globalization is sometimes opposed to concepts such as resource savings, energy savings or the limitation of greenhouse gases. As a result, critics of globalization often argue that it contributes to accelerating climate change and that it does not respect the principles of ecology. At the same time, big companies that don't give local jobs and choose instead to use the manpower of countries with low wages (to have lower costs) or pay taxes in countries with more favorable regulations is also opposed to the criteria of a CSR approach. Moreover, the ideologies of economic growth and the constant pursuit of productivity that come along with globalization, also make it difficult to design a sustainable economy based on resilience.

On the other hand, globalization is also needed for the transitioning to a more sustainable world, since only a global synergy would really be able to allow a real ecological transition. Issues such as global warming indeed require a coordinated response from all global players: fight against CO2 emissions, reduction of waste, a transition to renewable energies. The same goes for ocean or air pollution, or ocean acidification, problems that can't be solved without global action. The dissemination of green ideas also depends on the ability of committed actors to make them heard globally.

The Road From Globalization to Regionalization

From a globalization perspective, regionalization means a world that is less interconnected and has a stronger regional focus.

Regionalization can also be analyzed from a corporate perspective. For instance, businesses such as McDonald's or Starbucks don't sell exactly the same products everywhere. In some specific stores, they consider people's regional habits. That's why the McChicken isn't sold in India, whereas in Portugal there's a steak sandwich menu like the ones you can get in a typical Portuguese restaurant.

Politically speaking, when left-wing parties are in power they tend to focus on their country's people, goods and services. Exchanges with the outside world aren't seen as very valuable and importations are often left aside.

Globalization Quotes by World Influencers

Many world leaders, decision-makers and influential people have spoken about globalization. Some stand out its positive benefits and others focus deeper on its negative effects. Find below some of the most interesting quotes on this issue.

Politic Globalization Quotes

Globalization quote by the former U.S President Bill Clinton ??

No generation has had the opportunity, as we now have, to build a global economy that leaves no-one behind. It is a wonderful opportunity, but also a profound responsibility.

Globalization quote by Barack Obama, former U.S. president ??

Globalization is a fact, because of technology, because of an integrated global supply chain, because of changes in transportation. And we're not going to be able to build a wall around that.

Globalization quote by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former International Monetary Fund Managing Director ??

"We can't speak day after day about globalization without at the same time having in mind that...we need multilateral solutions."

Globalization quote by Stephen Harper, former Prime Minister of Canada ??

"We have to remember we're in a global economy. The purpose of fiscal stimulus is not simply to sustain activity in our national economies but to help the global economy as well, and that's why it's so critical that measures in those packages avoid anything that smacks of protectionism."

Globalization quote by Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia ??

"My guiding principle is that prosperity can be shared. We can create wealth together. The global economy is not a zero-sum game."

Other Globalization Quotes

Globalization quote by the spiritual leader Dalai Lama ??

"I find that because of modern technological evolution and our global economy, and as a result of the great increase in population, our world has greatly changed: it has become much smaller. However, our perceptions have not evolved at the same pace; we continue to cling to old national demarcations and the old feelings of 'us' and 'them'."

The famous German sociologist Ulrich Beck also spoke of globalization ??

"Globalization is not only something that will concern and threaten us in the future, but something that is taking place in the present and to which we must first open our eyes."

Globalization quote by Bill Gates, owner and former CEO of Microsoft ??

"The fact is that as living standards have risen around the world, world trade has been the mechanism allowing poor countries to increasingly take care of really basic needs, things like vaccination."

Globalization quote by John Lennon, member of the music band The Beatles ??

Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion, too. Imagine all the people. Living life in peace. You, you may say I'm a dreamer. But I'm not the only one. I hope someday you will join us. And the world will be as one

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What is Globalization? Examples, Definition, Benefits and Effects

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What is the definition of globalization in simple words? How can it be more just? Examples of globalization, together with its benefits and negative effects

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Module 3: Cultural differences and global business 

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Module 3: Cultural differences and global business 

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When companies decides to expand their business internationally, they have to be aware of cultural differences. Understanding cultural differences is important to managers because they must understand their employees to motivate and lead them correctly.

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Planning is part of the four management functions. Planning is usually the first step. It sets the foundation of everything else rest upon. I learned in the module is planning is very important in an organization. Its the process of setting initial goals and taking action into achieve a organizational goal.

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Definition: Planning is the fundamental management function, which involves deciding beforehand, what is to be done, when is it to be done, how it is to be done and who is going to do it. It is an intellectual process which lays down an organisation's objectives and develops various courses of action, by which the organisation can achieve those objectives. It chalks out exactly, how to attain a specific goal.

Planning is nothing but thinking before the action takes place. It helps us to take a peep into the future and decide in advance the way to deal with the situations, which we are going to encounter in future. It involves logical thinking and rational decision making.

Characteristics of Planning

1. Managerial function: Planning is a first and foremost managerial function provides the base for other functions of the management, i.e. organising, staffing, directing and controlling, as they are performed within the periphery of the plans made.

2. Goal oriented: It focuses on defining the goals of the organisation, identifying alternative courses of action and deciding the appropriate action plan, which is to be undertaken for reaching the goals.

3. Pervasive: It is pervasive in the sense that it is present in all the segments and is required at all the levels of the organisation. Although the scope of planning varies at different levels and departments.

4. Continuous Process: Plans are made for a specific term, say for a month, quarter, year and so on. Once that period is over, new plans are drawn, considering the organisation's present and future requirements and conditions. Therefore, it is an ongoing process, as the plans are framed, executed and followed by another plan.

5. Intellectual Process: It is a mental exercise at it involves the application of mind, to think, forecast, imagine intelligently and innovate etc.

6. Futuristic: In the process of planning we take a sneak peek of the future. It encompasses looking into the future, to analyse and predict it so that the organisation can face future challenges effectively.

7. Decision making: Decisions are made regarding the choice of alternative courses of action that can be undertaken to reach the goal. The alternative chosen should be best among all, with the least number of the negative and highest number of positive outcomes.

Planning is concerned with setting objectives, targets, and formulating plan to accomplish them. The activity helps managers analyse the present condition to identify the ways of attaining the desired position in future. It is both, the need of the organisation and the responsibility of managers.

Importance of Planning

It helps managers to improve future performance, by establishing objectives and selecting a course of action, for the benefit of the organisation.

It minimises risk and uncertainty, by looking ahead into the future.

It facilitates the coordination of activities. Thus, reduces overlapping among activities and eliminates unproductive work.

It states in advance, what should be done in future, so it provides direction for action.

It uncovers and identifies future opportunities and threats.

It sets out standards for controlling. It compares actual performance with the standard performance and efforts are made to correct the same.

Planning is present in all types of organisations, households, sectors, economies, etc. We need to plan because the future is highly uncertain and no one can predict the future with 100% accuracy, as the conditions can change anytime. Hence, planning is the basic requirement of any organization for the survival, growth and success.

Steps involved in Planning

By planning process, an organisation not only gets the insights of the future, but it also helps the organisation to shape its future. Effective planning involves simplicity of the plan, i.e. the plan should be clearly stated and easy to understand because if the plan is too much complicated it will create chaos among the members of the organisation. Further, the plan should fulfil all the requirements of the organisation.

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What is Planning? definition, characteristics, steps and importance - Business Jargons

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Definition: Planning is the fundamental management function, which involves deciding beforehand, what is to be done, when is it to be done, how it is to be done and who is going to do it. It is an intellectual process which lays down an organisation's objectives and develops various courses of action, by which the organisation can achieve those objectives.

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In this module, I learned about the functions of how HR operates in an organization. They manage employees in a company and it can involve hiring, firing, training and motivating employees. Also, they handle employees conflicts and legal issues.

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Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on the recruitment of, management of, and providing direction and guidance for the people who work in an organization. As you can imagine, all of the processes and programs that are touched by people are part of the HR kingdom. The workplace processes that interact with customers and potential employees are also components in the Human Resource (HR) world.

HR staff members are partially responsible for ensuring that the organization has an overall mission, vision, and values that are shared and provide an overarching reason for employees to want to work for their organization. These elements are inspirational and help employees feel as if they are part of something that is bigger than themselves.

Additional activities sponsored by HR management can include employee and community outreach. They are frequent mentors and members of employee teams that address philanthropic giving, employee engagement activities, and events that involve employee families.

HRM functions are also performed by line managers who are directly responsible for the engagement, contribution, and productivity of their reporting staff members. In a fully integrated talent management system, the managers play a significant role in and take ownership responsibility for the recruitment process. They are also responsible for the ongoing development of and retention of superior employees.

Organizations also perform HRM functions and tasks by outsourcing various components to outside suppliers and vendors. The tasks that are most frequently outsourced are those that take HR time and energy away from the HR activities that provide the most strategic value to the company.

This outsourcing most frequently involves payroll functions, but vendors and external consultants can help an organization with HRM in many ways. Specifically, many HR departments outsource background checking, benefits administration, training such as sexual harassment training, temporary staffing, and the production of employee handbooks, policy manuals, and affirmative action plans.

HRM is the organizational function that deals with or provides leadership and advice for dealing with all issues related to the people in an organization. HRM, as such, deals with compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training.

HRM is also a strategic and comprehensive approach to managing people and the workplace culture and environment. Effective HRM enables employees to contribute effectively and productively to the overall company direction and the accomplishment of the organization's goals and objectives.

HRM is moving away from traditional personnel, administration, and transactional roles, which are increasingly outsourced. The HRM function is now expected to add value to the strategic utilization of employees and to ensure that employee programs recommended and implemented impact the business in positive measurable ways.

Gone are the days when HR staff received direction from the executive team as to their priorities and needs. HR is now expected to sit at the executive table and recommend processes, approaches, and business solutions that improve the ability of the organization's people to effectively contribute.

It is difficult to underestimate the importance of an effective, modern HRM function within an organization. An employee who retired from HRM twenty years ago would not recognize the competence and capability of the best HRM organizations today. You can choose to move your HRM function out of the dark days and into the light. Organizations that do-are best served.

Here are additional resources offered on this HR site that will help you expand your knowledge and thinking about the use of HR within your organization.

These resources tell you more about how to explore a career in HR and how to find a job in HR. Interested? Keep reading.

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Beyond Hiring and Firing: What Is Human Resource Management?

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Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on the recruitment of, management of, and providing direction and guidance for the people who work in an organization. As you can imagine, all of the processes and programs that are touched by people are part of the HR kingdom.

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Module 4: Type of plans and common planning

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Module 4: Type of plans and common planning

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In this reading, There were 2 type of plans. First, It's a long-term plan which is crucial to the ultimate success of the organizations. In Module 1, Top level managements such as the CEO create long term goals for their organization by constructing and making plans that will expand up to 5 years or more. Lastly, it's short term plans generally allocate resources for a year or less.

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In this module, Motivation is defined as energizing, directing and sustaining employee effort.
Effective managers have the ability to motivate those they work with to behave in a specific, goal-directed way. If a company uses motivation it will help employment rates increase and it will make a huge impact on the employees and managers.

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Get staffers excited about their jobs.

Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images

Employee motivation and performance are key factors in moving a small business forward. Owners, managers and supervisors know positive motivation leads to better performance and higher productivity but may rely on the wrong tools. Microsoft Business states the conundrum as "using monetary and other rewards to improve motivation is a simple idea, but doing it fairly and effectively can be challenging."

Reinforcement

Essentially the two types of reinforcement are positive and negative. Positive reinforcement is using beneficial incentives to boost morale and productivity, such as performance based bonuses, sales commissions, achievement rewards, pay raises and promotions. Negative reinforcement is using unfavorable tools to achieve desired results, such as bad performance reviews, verbal and written warnings, suspension, pay reduction or dismissal warnings.

Benefits

Benefits as motivators can boost job performance. Pay raises, bonuses, stock options and profit sharing are examples of positive motivators. These motivators reward employees for not only doing their job, but doing it well and with enthusiasm. However, these motivators are to retain normal levels or morale but do not necessarily increase overall motivation levels. Management Help includes money as a myth of motivating small business employees as "things like money, a nice office and job security can help people from becoming less motivated, but they usually don't help people to become more motivated."

Goal Setting

An important part of improving employee motivation and performance is clear, attainable goals. Informing your employees of goals you have set for your small business improves focus and team cohesion. Business consultant Harvey Wigder states, "if people are communicated to and if they understand the ground rules, they know that if things don't work they're not going to get incentives."

Employee Input

Regularly engage your small business employees on issues that effect productivity and morale. Being engaged imparts parity and demonstrates your ability to be an effective leader as one in touch with employee concerns. NOLO suggests asking employees for ways to improve working conditions: "if the answer is better lighting, or a more efficient computer, or a chance to work at home one day a week, you can often reward the employee by following through on the request."

Considerations

According to Accel Team, research consistently shows that employees who are well motivated perform better and add value to a small business. However, "the inverse also holds true." Meaning unmotivated employees produce less and do not substantially contribute to businesses.

About the Author

Owen Richason grew up working in his family's small contracting business. He later became an outplacement consultant, then a retail business consultant. Richason is a former personal finance and business writer for "Tampa Bay Business and Financier." He now writes for various publications, websites and blogs.

Photo Credits

Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images

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Employee motivation and performance are key factors in moving a small business forward. Owners, managers and supervisors know positive motivation leads to better performance and higher productivity but may rely on the wrong tools. Microsoft Business states the conundrum as

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In this module, It gives useful information about the organizational structure. Edgar Schein, Identified four key elements of an organization structure: Common purpose, coordinated effort, division of labor and hierarchy of authority. Operations will be successful if a common goal is made when an organization create a coordinated effort of resources.

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Every organization has some kind of underlying structure. The purpose of choosing a specific organizational structure is to clarify relationships, lines of authority and ways of communicating in a way that best suits the particular organization or enterprise. There are guidelines that may be helpful, but there are no hard and fast rules that determine which particular structure will work best for any given company.

Every organization exists for a reason. What is its purpose? Organizations that have a strong sense of purpose tend to thrive; organizations without a clear sense of purpose struggle. One of the critical questions any organization must make concurrent with its creation is: Which organizational structure helps articulate and grow our sense of purpose?

Early on, Steve Jobs declared "Our whole company is founded on the principle that there is something very different that happens with one person, one computer ... What we're trying to do is remove the barrier of having to learn to use a computer." Jobs, by many reports, wasn't a particularly nice person, but he was a visionary and to realize his vision he imposed strictly hierarchical top-down organizational structure with Jobs' visibility leading from the top, but also dealing hands-on with the details of every product development. It could have been a disaster, but it worked for Apple because it allowed Jobs to infuse the entire company with his vision.

Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (BH) is another organization with a strong leader, Warren Buffett, at the top, but Buffett has organized BH to provide the maximum of organizational stability. BH's top executives have all been selected because they share Buffett's vision; Buffett has gracefully allowed the transition to these new leaders to begin during his lifetime, so that the organization can move forward with a minimum of disruption and instability when he leaves.

One of the problems for huge companies with far-flung divisions acting with relative independence is that employees within each division may feel little allegiance to upper management. Chevron Corporation has nearly 90,000 employees and five quite different business groups, with little little in common. What holds the company together is Chevron's concentration on providing an abundance of job benefits that keep employees happy. Among these benefits include high pay, employee fitness and medical centers, various kinds of coaching assistance and even a low-cost company pharmacy.

Some companies have high levels of efficiency with a minimum of middle-management, thus keeping the lines of communication open between senior management and task groups, resulting in internal communication with high-transmission rates. Other companies strengthen the position of middle management, which becomes the glue holding the company together; the well-understood role of middle managers in this kind of organizational structure can have the same high-efficiency result: rapid transmission of command information from C-suite to the labor force.

Company founders need to make early decisions about organizational structure to achieve consistent profitability and rapid growth. There is no one structure that will do this. Many different structures will work. Several internet and gaming companies, like GitHub and Valve hire employees that have a strong sense of independence, combined with an ability to take the initiative without visible leadership.

Valve is particularly "flat," and is basically an independent collection of working groups that have continuously changing memberships, as developers leave one group to join another group that's currently engaged in a project that best fits their interests and skills. Other technologically oriented companies, like Apple, achieve high profitability and growth with traditional hierarchical management structures.

If there's a lesson to be learned from looking at these successful companies with organizational structures that range from highly hierarchical through functional and distributed structures to structures that are almost entirely flat, it's that every successful company has, in one way or another, found an organizational structure that works for that particular company, which may be entirely different from the organizational structure of another, apparently similar company. The purpose of any organizational structure is to allow the organization to do its best. Finding that structure requires a variety of management skills that go beyond expertise into the realms of intuition and good fortune.

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Purpose of Organizational Structure. Organizational structure is about definition and clarity. Think of structure as the skeleton supporting the organization and giving it shape. Just as each bone in a skeleton has a function, so does each branch and level of the organizational chart. The various departments and job ...

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What I have learned in module 8 is managing control is crucial in making sure that a process or system is running effectively within an organization. It contains a strategic planning process as well as methods and devices that makes consistency with objectives.

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Management Control in an Organization
Management Control in an Organization
Management control in an organization is an approach that enables the organization to produce desired results (generally expressed in terms of performance) by taking actions to achieve those results and by dealing with the dangers brought in by external difficulties (particularly those related to the market, competitors and the economic or political environment) and the internal difficulties of the organization.

Management control in the organization consists of a systematic effort on the part of the organizational management. It is required to assure that all organizational resources are being used in the most effective and efficient manner possible in order to achieve the organizational objectives and goals. It constitutes (i) setting of performance standards with planning objectives, (ii) design of information feedback systems, (iii) comparison of actual performance with the predetermined standards, plans or objectives in order to determine whether there are any deviations and to measure their significance, and (iv) taking of any remedial action if needed.

Management control describes the means by which the actions of individuals or groups within the organization are constrained to perform certain actions while avoiding other actions in an effort to achieve organizational objectives and goals. It is not to be seen as an activity of exclusive competence of the administration area , but rather as a process which involves all the functions of the organization, at the appropriate levels of responsibilities.

Management control can be defined as the process whereby the organization sets itself performance objectives and strives to achieve them as best it can over time. It is a method for managing the performance of the organization. It is an approach that is pursued over time, both before the action in the planning phase, and after the action in the monitoring and analysis of results phase. The approach is therefore progressive, that is why it is a control process.

Management control is a dynamic process made up of two major phases namely (i) planning, and (ii) the analysis of results. As with all the processes, management control process also has different elements, connected to each other. These are (i) the structure (personnel charged of the duty of control), (ii) the tools (performance measurements, data collection, analysis and reporting, and feedbacks etc.), and the systems and procedures (coordination, operational discipline, and optimization etc.).

Management control acts through the following phases in sequence.

Planning - Planning is defined by the set of objectives with specific expected results. These objectives need to be understandable, agreed, measurable in extent and time, reachable, consistent with one another and achievable with the available resources taking into account the internal and external restraints with the organization.

Implementation of the plans - Implementation of the plans constitute allocation of required resources and monitoring to see that the resources are deployed in effective and efficient manner for the achievement of the planned objectives.

Result checking - Through result checking management measures whether the organization is achieving or not the assigned objectives. By shifting analysis, where the possible shifting between objectives and results is analyzed, corrective actions regarding implementation are taken, in order to optimize the organizational behaviour against the planned objectives.

Management can exercise controls before an activity commences, while the activity is going on, or after the activity has been completed. The three respective types of control based on timing are feed forward, concurrent, and feedback (Fig 1).
Fig 1 Types of management controls
Feed forward control focuses on the regulation of inputs (human, material, and financial resources that flow into the organization) to ensure that they meet the standards necessary for the transformation process. Feed forward controls are desirable because they allow management to prevent problems rather than having to cure them later. However these controls require timely and accurate information that is often difficult to obtain or develop.

Concurrent control takes place while an activity is in progress. It involves the regulation of ongoing activities that are part of transformation process to ensure that they conform to organizational standards. Concurrent control is designed to ensure that the work activities of the employees produce the correct results. Since concurrent control involves regulating ongoing tasks, it requires a thorough understanding of the specific tasks involved and their relationship to the desired end product. Concurrent control often involves checkpoints at which determinations are made about whether to continue progress, take corrective action, or stop work altogether on the tasks, products or services.

Feedback control focuses on the outputs of the organization after transformation is complete. It fulfills a number of important functions. It often is used when feed forward and concurrent controls are not feasible or are too costly. Sometimes, feedback is the only viable type of control available. Further feedback control has two advantages over feed forward and concurrent control. The first advantage is that it provides management with meaningful information on how effective its planning effort was. If feedback indicates little variance between standard and actual performance, this is evidence that planning was generally on target. If the deviation is great then management can use this information when formulating new plans to make them more effective. The second advantage of the feedback control is that it can enhance employees motivation. The major drawback of this type of control is that, the time the management has the information and if there is a significant delay, the damage is already done. But for many activities, feedback control fulfils a number of important functions.

Feed forward, concurrent, and feedback control methods are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they usually are combined into a multiple control system. Management normally design control systems to define standards of performance and acquire information feedback at strategic control points.

Management control also falls into two broad categories namely (i) regulative controls, and (ii) normative controls. Within these two categories there are several types. The regulative controls include bureaucratic controls, financial controls, and quality controls while the normative controls include team norms and organization cultural norms (Fig 2).
Fig 2 Categories of management norms
Regulative controls

Regulative controls stem from standing policies and standard operating procedures. Often the regulative controls are termed as outdated and counter-productive. As organizations have become more flexible in recent years by flattening organizational hierarchies, expanding organizational boundaries to include suppliers in inventory management and customers in new product development, forging cooperative alliances with competitors, and developing virtual organizations in which employees are geographically dispersed and may meet only a few time each year, some people are of the opinion that regulative controls may prevent rather promote goal attainment.

The key in terms of management control is matching regulative controls such as policies and procedures with organizational goals such as customer satisfaction. Each of the three types of regulative controls has the potential to align or misalign organizational goals with regulative controls. The challenge for the management is striking the right balance between too much control and too little.

Bureaucratic controls stem from lines of authority and this authority comes with one's position in the organizational hierarchy. The higher up the chain of command, the more an individual has the authority to dictate policies and procedures. Bureaucratic controls have gotten a bad name. The organization placing too much reliance on chain of command authority relationships inhibit flexibility to deal with unexpected events. Bureaucratic controls are sometimes considered synonymous with rigidity. Often an organization with the bureaucratic controls builds rigidity into many bureaucratic systems, but this need not be the case. It is entirely possible for creative management to develop flexible, quick-response bureaucratic systems. There are ways management can build flexibility into policies and procedures that make bureaucratic controls flexible and able to quickly respond to the problems.

Financial controls include key financial targets for which management is held accountable. These types of controls are common among organizations that are organized as multiple strategic business units (SBUs). SBUs are having managements who are responsible for the SBU's profits and losses. The managements of SBUs are held responsible to the organizational top management to achieve financial targets that contribute to the overall profitability of the organization. Individual department heads also have financial responsibilities as well and are typically responsible for keeping expenses within budgeted guidelines. These managers, however, tend to have less overall responsibility for financial profitability targets than SBU managers. In either case, financial controls place constraints on spending. The role of financial controls is to increase overall profitability as well as to keep costs under check. To determine which costs are reasonable, some organizations benchmark other organizations in the same industry. Such benchmarking, while not always an apple-to-apple comparison, provides at least some material evidence to determine whether costs are in line with industry averages.

Quality controls describe the extent of variation in processes or products that is considered acceptable. Quality controls influence the ultimate product or service outcome offered to the customers. By maintaining consistent quality, customers can rely on the organizational product or service attributes, but this also creates an interesting dilemma. An overemphasis on consistency where variation is kept to the lowest levels may also reduce response to unique customer needs. This type of controls is not a problem when the product or service is relatively standardized, but may pose a problem when customers have nonstandard situations for which a one-size-fits-all solution is inappropriate. Thus, there is to be room available within quality controls for both creativity and standardization.
Normative controls
Normative controls govern employee and managerial behaviour through generally accepted patterns of action rather than relying on written policies and procedures as in regulative controls. One way to think of normative controls is in terms how certain behaviours are appropriate and others are less appropriate. Two types of normative controls consist of team norms and organization cultural norms.

Team working is very common in many organizations. Team norms are the informal rules that make team members aware of their responsibilities to the team. Although the task of the team may be formally documented and communicated, the ways in which team members interact are typically developed over time as the team goes through phases of growth. Even team leadership be informally agreed upon; at times, an appointed leader may have less influence than an informal leader. If, for example, an informal leader has greater expertise than a formal team leader, team members may look to the informal leader for guidance requiring specific skills or knowledge. Team norms tend to develop gradually, but once formed, can have powerful influences over behaviour.

In addition to team norms, norms based on the culture of the organization are another type of normative control. Organizational culture involves the shared values, beliefs, and rituals of a particular organization. The organization need to have culture in which innovation is valued, beliefs are shared among employees that the work of the organization is important, and teamwork and collaboration are common. In contrast, some organizations give emphasis to individual working based on the nature of work in these organization. These organizations de-emphasize teamwork and collaboration in favour of personal effort and rewards. Both of these example are equally effective in matching norms with organizational goals. The key is thus in properly aligning norms and goals.

The broad categories of regulative and normative controls are present in nearly all organizations, but the relative emphasis of each type of control varies. Within the regulative category are bureaucratic, financial, and quality controls. Within the normative category are team norms and organization cultural norms. Both categories of norms can be effective and one is not inherently superior to the other. The managerial challenge is to encourage norms that align employee behaviour with organizational goals.

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Management Control in an Organization - IspatGuru

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Management Control in an Organization Management control in an organization is an approach that enables the organization to produce desired results (generally expressed in terms of performance) by taking actions to achieve those results and by dealing with the dangers brought in by external difficulties (particularly those related to the market, competitors and the economic or political environment) and the internal difficulties of the organization.

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Module 6: Employee orientation and training

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Module 6: Employee orientation and training

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Before employees can work on the job, he or she must go through a process of on boarding that includes: reviewing employee handbook and polices, completing legal and financial paper work, and finally receiving any necessary training for the position.

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Module 7: Two related but distinct ideas.

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Module 7: Two related but distinct ideas.

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In this module, they compared the differences between leadership and management. Management consists of controlling a group or to plan, organize, and coordinate to accomplish a goal. Leadership refers to an individual's ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward organizational success.

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Module 8: Controlling Performance and Operations

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Module 8: Controlling Performance and Operations

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In this last module, Organizational standards and objectives are important elements in any business plan because it makes decision-making very easy. The purpose of creating an attainable objective is to understand the organization's expectations, this tactic will allow management to create a business strategy.

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Module 5: Building an Organizational culture 

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Module 5: Building an Organizational culture 

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An organizational structure is a system that outlines how certain activities are directed in order to achieve the goals of an organization. These activities can include rules, roles, and responsibilities. The organizational structure also determines how information flows between levels within the company.