11. An Important Distinction This is a more traditional representation of the way organizations work. As we will discuss later, in many organizations, structures are being flattened!
The other social sciences converge at management to become truly meaningful. Organizational society (Greenleaf/Drucker) – If you want to make a difference, do so through organizations. Care for organizations as they care for you.
From Bolman and Deal page 304: Prevailing mythology depicts managers as rational men and women who plan, organize, coordinate, and control the activities of subordinates. Periodicals, books, and business schools portray a certain image of modern managers: unruffled, well organized, with clean desks, power suits, and sophisticated information systems. Such “supermanagers” develop and implement farsighted strategies, producing predictable and effective results. It is a reassuring picture of clarity and order. Unfortunately, it’s wrong. Another picture emerges if you watch managers at work. It’s a hectic life, shifting rapidly from one situation to another, each with its own blend of challenges. In months of observing senior managers, Kotter rarely saw them making a decision. Decisions emerged from a fluid, swirling, vortex of conversations, meetings, and memos.
Serieyx said, “The information revolution, the globalization of economies, the proliferation of events that undermine all our certainties, the collapse of the grand ideologies, the arrival of the CNN society which transforms us into an immense, planetary village—all these shocks have overturned the rules of the game and suddenly turned yesterday’s organizations into antiques” (Reframing Organizations) According to Drucker (The Essential, page 79-80), knowledge workers have to be managed as volunteers—even if they’re paid. Why is this? Imagine for a moment the old days. A supervisor could force his will upon an employee. “Produce that faster or you’re fired.” But with the new information economy, where knowledge is king, and employees are the ones who possess the knowledge, the manager/supervisor now relies on workers. Companies once subscribed to military-style management, but, today, managers are encouraged to be more like conductors of symphonies. There is no more superior/subordinate (perhaps there is in practice but hardly is it logical) relationship. It’s now “we.” Managers need employees every bit as much as they need us. They have the knowledge. And knowledge is a source of power! “… the management of people is a ‘marketing job.’ And in marketing one does not begin with the question, What do we want? One begins with the questions, What does the other party want? What are its values?”
Consider an excerpt from the work of Fayol (1984), originally published in 1916: “ The world is changing at an increasingly rapid rate, the scope of concerns a manager must confront keeps multiplying in complexity, and the competition which must be met is so fierce that no individual can grow solely through experiences alone” (p. 96).
“ The changing nature of organizations and work has, in many organizations, blurred the clear lines of distinction between managers and non-managerial employees.”
First-Line Managers – The lowest level of management and manage the work of nonmanagerial employees who are directly or indirectly involved with the production or creation of the organization’s products. Often called supervisors. Middle Managers – All those in between top-level and supervisors. Used to be a much larger group than it is now. “Cutting the middle man.” Top Managers – Responsible for strategic management. Responsible for making organization-wide decisions that affect everybody. Teams – Move from one project to another. If an organization did its work entirely through teams, would there still be a need for management? Harry Levinson: “Since the young executive is simultaneously stimulated to compete and be a team member, he is frequently caught in the dilemma posed by the choice between demonstrating initiative or maintaining his protected role in the company…conformity is not success” (p. 100)
But why does it really matter? That is, why does mgt. really matter?
Motivation to manage is also necessary!
They’re not going to be structured alike.
Freakonomics
According to Business Week , Dunlap skipped the funerals of both his parents, failed to support (or even pay attention to) the child from his first marriage, and refused to help pay for his niece's cancer treatments
P. 133 of Images of Organization “ tough and uncompromising leadership” Intimidation Extraordinary memory
Insensitivity: Matthew 7:12… 12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Arrogance: Proverbs 16:18… 18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Dishonest: Ephesians 4:25… 25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. Ambition: Philippians 2:3… 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
Example: My boss at Puckett Machinery Company was always the last one to leave work.
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