Core Management Concepts

Core Management and Organisation Concepts

• "Open (collaborative) innovation" perspective is the most recent management perspective, implemented since the early 2000s.
• McGregor's Theory X assumes employees dislike work and need to be controlled
• Theory Y assumes employees are self-motivated and seek responsibility
• "Working in silos" results from a lack of communication between departments or teams, hindering strategic goals.
• A team lacking commitment and accountability is "A dysfunctional team"
• Effective teams are creative, innovative, fast-responding, productive, and highly motivated

Functional and Dysfunctional Teams

• A dysfunctional team lacks trust and commitment, fears conflict, avoids accountability, and is inattentive to results
• A functional team has trust and commitment, healthy conflict, accountability, and is results-oriented

Centralization vs. Decentralization

• Centralization concentrates decision-making at the top
• Decentralization spreads decision-making across all levels
• Influencing factors include strategic fit, uncertainty (favors decentralization) and crisis (favors centralization)

Flat vs. Tall Hierarchies

• Flat hierarchies have fewer management levels, promoting faster communication, employee autonomy, and flexibility, but can cause role confusion
• Tall hierarchies have multiple management levels, providing clear authority, structured decision-making, and better supervision, but can create bureaucracy

Flat Hierarchy Organizations

• Fewer management levels, broader management span
• Managers handle more employees
• Faster decision-making
• More spirit of collaboration & equality

Tall Hierarchy Organizations

• Many management levels, narrow management span
• Managers supervise fewer employees
• Well-defined job descriptions
• Clear responsibility structure

Unwritten Rules

• Unwritten rules are "always there and always powerful" that impact processes, decisions, and goal-setting
• Scott-Morgan's model highlights motivators, enablers, and triggers for navigating unwritten rules

Informal Grapevines

• Informal grapevines are unofficial communication channels within an organization, where employees share work-related and non-work-related information
• Accuracy of information shared through grapevines varies between 10% and 60%, depending on factors like industry, company culture, and source credibility

Corporate Culture

• An "involvement culture" values cooperation and equality, minimizing status differences and encouraging teamwork
• These cultures expect work-related event participation

Stack Ranking

• A performance management system of ranked employees
• Stack ranking can "undermine the culture of innovativeness" by creating competition and reducing collaboration

Leadership, Power, and Authority

• Leadership involves influence to reach goals
• Leadership requires the "ability to influence people toward the attainment of goals" and uses power
• Power is the "potential ability to influence the behavior of others"

Power Types

• Legitimate Power: Power from job title
• Reward Power: Ability to give rewards
• Coercive Power: Enforce consequences
• Expert Power: Power from special knowledge or skills
• Referent Power: Based on charisma and personality

Tactics to Increase Power

• Rational Persuasion: Use logic and facts
• Helping People Like You: Build friendships
• Reciprocity: Give and take
• Developing Allies: Make friends in the right places
• Being Assertive: Stand your ground
• Making Use of Higher Authority: Use authority wisely

Authority

• Traditional authority is power based on customs and traditions
• Legal-rational authority is power based on laws and rules
• Charismatic authority is power based on personal charm and influence

"Romance" of Leadership

• The "romance" of leadership is the belief that a leader is the main reason for an organization's success or failure, overshadowing other factors.

Dark Side of Leadership

• Examples include the Machiavellian Leader, the Narcissistic Leader, and the Psychopathic Leader.

Leadership Styles

• Transactional leadership Uses rewards and consequences
• Transformational leadership Encourages growth and change
• Charismatic leadership Inspires confidence and loyalty

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• Lower-order needs (physiological, safety) must be satisfied before higher-order needs (social, esteem, self-actualization) become motivators

Physiological Needs

• Basic needs include salary, air, and safe environment

Safety Needs

• Job security, safe conditions, and benefits

Belongingness Needs

• Relationships with co-workers, teams, and clients

Esteem Needs

• Seek recognition, status, and career advancement.

Self-Actualization Needs

• Personal growth, learning, and creativity

Job Flexibility

• Job flexibility can boost motivation by improving work-life balance, reducing stress, and increasing job satisfaction.

Remote work

• Work from home options

Flexible hours

• Start and end times that fit personal needs

Compressed workweeks

• Fewer but longer workdays

Job sharing

• Two people share one role

Team Dynamics

• Team dynamics involves psychologic interactions affecting teamwork
• Smaller teams enable easier communication, faster decision-making, and stronger bonds

Group vs. Teams

• Groups work more independently, while teams prioritize collaboration and shared responsibility.

Effective Teams

• Effective teams are characterized by creativity & innovation, speed of response, higher productivity, and enhanced motivation
• These qualities help teams achieve goals efficiently and drive orginizational success

Team Dilemmas

• Groups vs. Teams: While teams offer collaboration, they come with challenges:

Innovation

• Innovation is introducing new ideas and methods and depends on persistence, originality, independence, and playfulness

Organizational Structure

• Tall hierarchies can slow innovation from bureacracy
• Flat hierarchies ensure more innovation from communication

Diversity and Innovation

• Google values diversity by encouraging employees from various backgrounds to contribute ideas, enhancing innovation and inclusivity.

Gender and Diversity in Leadership

• Overcome barriers like the Glass Ceiling
• Opt-Out Trend: Some women leave their careers mid-way

Managing Diversity

• Strategies include: hiring diverse talent, offering mentorship, and creating inclusive policies

Change Management

• Tuning: Small, incremental adjustments
• Adapting: Responding to external change
• Redirecting/Reorienting: Significant shift
• Overhauling/Recreating: Radical, transformational

Key Questions for Change

• What needs to change
• What is the alternative
• How will it be implemented

Changing People and Culture

• People training helps change behaviors
• Culture change shifts in value and working

Risk Management

• Risk Identification: identify potential risks and include data breaches, project failures, talent loss etc

Important Aspects of Risk

• Data breaches (loss of sensitive information)
• Project failures (delays, budget overruns)
• Talent loss (key employees leaving)

ISO 31000

• A global risk management standard that helps organizations identify, assess, and mitigate risks

Sustainability

• VUCA world makes it hard for businesses to plan, manage risks, and adapt to change
• Businesses should depend on social and environmental systems
• Sustainability should not be an afterthought but a core part of business strategy

Doughnut Economics

• A model that balances economic activity within social and environmental limits
• Social Foundation → Ensuring people's basic needs are met
• Ecological Ceiling → Avoiding environmental harm

Organisational Phases Model of Sustainability

• Describes companies evolving towards environmental and social responsibility, from ignoring sustainability to fully integrating it into their operations and culture

Shift towards Collaborative and Compassionate Leadership

• Modern leadership values people and relationships with dialogue and transparency

Ethical Leadership

• Moral rules that guide behavior in areas like production, marketing, and employee treatment

Ethical Dilemmas

• Situations where choosing the right thing is difficult because of conflicting moral choices; consider the laws, ethics and personal values

Types of Misconduct

• Unethical and illegal include lying, discrimination, and financial fraud.

Greenwashing

• When a company pretends to be eco-friendly Examples misleading labels calling product green.

Carroll's CSR Pyramid

• Carroll's CSR Pyramid outlines the four key responsibilities of companies: economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic.