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In this part of our guide to organizational management we cover decision making…

Decisions, big and small, need to be made every day, and for an organization to be effective, its managers need to be able to constantly solve problems and make decisions that are of benefit to it.

Before any decision is made to correct a problem, an analysis must be conducted to determine what the potential impact of that problem could be on the company. Those that could potentially result in a critical outcome should obviously be addressed first. Every issue, however, must be analyzed in a systematic way before a determination as to a solution is effected.

Because a first impression is just that, and does not necessarily reflect the entire situation, a manager must avoid jumping to conclusions. Collecting information from more than one source to avoid bias, and completely assessing all pertinent (and verifiable) information prior to rendering a decision is strongly recommended.

Brainstorming possible solutions with one or more individuals, after receiving all relevant information, can provide a few different perspectives, which can be beneficial to coming up with an elucidation that will work. Potential options can be wide-ranging in the beginning and narrowed down and tweaked until the best possible fix is determined.

Having identified a set of options and solutions, feedback and suggestions on them, along with alternatives, should be sought from consultations with others. For the most part, group decisions (particularly where the group contains people who the end decision will affect) are preferable to those made by individuals as a pool of knowledge, skills and experience can be drawn upon.

Available assistance in the decision-making process can come in the form of Pareto Analysis, Paired Comparison Analysis, Grid Analysis, PMI, Six Thinking Hats, Starbursting, and Decision Trees, to name but a few. These techniques should not be relied upon solely to make a decision, but should be used to guide the process and offer a more scientific-approach. This is of particular importance where the decision-maker is a little too close to the issue to see the bigger picture.

Once a few feasible solutions have been identified, the best one must be selected, and it will be the one that has the best possible impact with the least chance of negative effect. Almost no resolution will ever be without a downside, and the goal will be to select the action where the positive benefit outweighs the negative impact.

Tags: Business, decision making, management, organizational management
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Organizational communication are the topic for this part of our guide to organizational management…

The structure and pattern of communications within it has a significant influence on the accuracy of decisions, the speed with which they can be reached, and the satisfaction of the people involved. These are the standard patterns of communication: chain; wheel; star; all-channel.

Formal information flow will generally follow a chain, such as with the military, and represents a hierarchal pattern.  An example of the wheel type of communications would be an autocratic organization, where there is one person making the rules and limited, or no, input from anyone else.

Many organizations will employ a star type of communications where information is flowing in both directions, with a few people (but not all) providing input.  The free-flow of information where everyone in the group is providing input is the all-channel network style.

In organizations that lean toward the star or wheel type of communications, the company can develop quickly around the individuals in such centrally-located position. This can have a positive benefit, in that the entity can be much more stable, and can decrease errors in performance.  This can also, however, have a negative impact by causing delays in the decision-making process. Another factor that can have a negative outcome on such decisions is the overall morale of the group providing the input – where morale is lower, the communications will take on a negative tone.

Companies that spread communications out more evenly among staff will see a higher employee morale. These companies understand that availing themselves of the knowledge, skills and experience of a more diverse group results in enriched job satisfaction.

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding, as evidenced by the fact that most organizations employ the star pattern of communication which nets them the most favorable result. The pattern that will work best for a specific organization, however, will be dependent on factors such as the margin for error that it can safely absorb, the speed at which decisions must be made, and the overall accuracy of such decisions.

Tags: Business, management, organizational communications, organizational management
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Organizational planning is the topic for this part of our guide to organizational management…

Planning is essential for an organization to achieve its desired objectives, and must be undertaken at each and every step of its development. Its necessary to first plan on a broad organization-wide scale and then to drill down through the different levels of the organization so that everyone within it knows what is required of them.

The first step in this process is for company leadership to assess where the company is currently, where it needs to get to, and how long (realistically) it should take for that to happen. Factors that play into this assessment include the work, the programs, and the level of organizational growth it must attain to get to that point. Depending on the anticipated challenges, time-frames for accomplishment can be set anywhere from a couple of months to several years.

Each division within an organization (e.g. sales, finance, human resources, etc.) is then looked at separately and split into sub-divisions if appropriate (e.g. international sales, payroll, recruitment, etc.). Clear goals are set for each, based on past performance, natural growth, external trends, and comparisons with other, similar organizations. For example, Increase sales by 15%, Reduce 4th quarter costs, Improve employee retention, etc.

Once the goals and objectives have been determined, it is necessary to craft a list of the tasks specific to their completion. These need to be laid out in a very linear fashion (step 1, step 2, etc.), and evaluated to determine the length of time each should take. The task list is assigned to a department or individual who has the responsibility for seeing that they are completed, along with the expected time frames for completion, the performance management plan under which they will be assessed and relevant procedures necessary for achievement communicated.

Where this process is thoroughly addressed, it should result in every person within the organization having a clear goal, represented by a to-do list that includes each ones direct and indirect contributions to the overall objective of the company. It pays to remember, however, that there is a fine line between providing employees with challenging work that encourages them to perform at their best, but that does not overwhelm and demoralize them.  While there are no guarantees of success, proper planning can certainly decrease the odds of failure.

Tags: Business, management, organizational management, organizational planning
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In this part of our guide to organizational management we cover management structure…

To achieve an organization’s affirmed goals, management is key, and is defined as the process of leading and controlling the efforts of staff, as well as planning, arranging and using resources in a way that allows the achievement of company goals.

Typically, a company will be set up to include different types of managers, which can include managers with responsibility for a specific department or division of the entity, as well as regional managers who supervise activities in a particular geographic region. The types of management positions will vary in accordance with the size of the business.

The way regions, divisions, departments and people link together and interact is set out in a management structure (sometimes also referred to as an organizational structure). The two main types of such structures are flat and hierarchal.

A flat management structure is in place when there are few or no levels of intervening management between the head(s) of an organization and the members of it who perform its day to day functions. It promotes worker involvement through a decentralized decision making process.

By elevating the level of responsibility of baseline employees, and by eliminating layers of middle management, comments and feedback reach all personnel involved in decisions more quickly. Since the interaction between workers is more frequent, this management structure generally depends upon a much more personal relationship between workers and managers.

The hierarchal management structure has a set chain-of-command - that is each unit in the organization (except that at the very top) is subordinate to another unit or division. That means that each individual communicates directly with an immediate supervisor or subordinate and does not “jump over” layers of management to get to the top leader.

This is the dominant mode of organization among large organizations, with most corporations, governments, and organized religions using it. Structuring organizations in this way is useful partly because it can reduce the communication overhead by limiting information flow; this is also its major limitation.

Flat management structures will typically only work well in smaller companies, or within smaller defined units of a large organization. Once an entity reaches a certain size, this type of structure will not work as well and could end up having a negative impact on productivity. An organization’s complexity can be related to its size and how widely distributed it is geographically, and it is this complexity that governs which management structure is most beneficial to the company.

Tags: Business, management, management structure, organizational management
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Organizational performance management is the topic for this part of our guide to organizational management…

In order to ensure that all of an organization’s subsystems are working appropriately and meeting the company’s goals, it will employ performance management processes. These processes look at things such as employees, teams, departments, and processes, to name a few, and can be achieved through reviews of specific performance, cost, quality and quantity of product, and how quickly product can be delivered.  Performance management processes will also employ the use of general reviews.

Performance management reviews are generally conducted at regular intervals that have been pre-determined, but should also take place if it suddenly becomes apparent that a specific subsystem is not performing up to par. While most often a company will follow a standard procedure, the functional steps can vary a great deal based on the focus of the review and the preferences of the individual performing it.

A documented performance plan is the first step in the process and needs to lay out the standards the desired performance is based on, as well as the desired results and how those results will be measured. It should be structured to include first-level targets with more specific targets to support those, if necessary. It will be a fruitless exercise, however, if the results are not realistic and achievable, and if the expectations are not clearly communicated to key stakeholders.

Continuing feedback throughout the process is important, as is ongoing observation and the application of measurement tools used to determine the level of performance.

After the timeframe has elapsed a performance appraisal (sometimes called performance review) should take place to assess and the results and evaluate whether they’re below expectations, meet expectations or exceed expectations.

If performance meets the desired performance standard, then the performance should be rewarded in some way (the nature of this reward should ideally be stated at the start of the procedure). If performance doesn’t meet the desired performance standards, then the performance plan should be developed or updated accordingly and the procedure repeated until the performance is acceptable, the standards are changed, or the subsystem is changed.

Tags: Business, management, organizational management, performance management
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Leadership in organizations is the topic for this part of our guide to organizational management…

There are three generally-accepted leadership styles that organizational leaders will use to carry out their duties and responsibilities; autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire, or a combination of any of these styles.

Autocratic leadership is where a leader exerts high levels of power over his or her team. People within the team are given few opportunities for making suggestions, even if these would be in the organizations interest. Most people tend to resent being treated like this. Because of this, autocratic leadership usually leads to high levels of absenteeism and staff turnover. For some routine and unskilled jobs, however, this style can remain effective where the advantages of control outweigh the disadvantages.

Within a democratic leadership, although the leader will make the final decision, he or she invites other members of the team to contribute to the decision-making process. This not only increases job satisfaction by involving employees or team members in whats going on, but it also helps to develop peoples skills. As participation takes time, this style can lead to things happening more slowly than an autocratic approach, but often the end result is better.

Laissez-faire (a French phrase meaning leave it be) leadership is used to describe a leader who leaves his or her team to get on with their work. It can be effective if the leader monitors what is being achieved and communicates this back to his or her team regularly. Most often, laissez-faire leadership works for teams in which the individuals are very experienced and skilled self-starters. Unfortunately, it can also refer to situations where managers are not exerting sufficient control.

An organizations structure and environment will dictate the most effective style of leadership, and there really is no cookie-cutter answer for which type of leader works best. In fact, the leaders who consider all the factors (skill and experience level of workers, the type of work being performed, and the culture of the environment, whether stable or in flux, bold or conservative), will have the best impact on productivity.

Tags: Business, leadership, management, organizational management
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Change management is the topic for this part of our guide to organizational management…

For organizations to progress, they often must undergo significant change at various points in their development. Organizational change occurs, for example, when an organization changes its overall strategy for success, adds or removes a major section or practice, and/or wants to change the very nature by which it operates.

Effecting organizational change can sound more complicated than it really needs to be. A company should remember a few key principles for bringing about change in the best possible way, because avoiding changes can be a death knell to a business.

It must be realized that any organization is just the sum of its members and that it cant change unless its members do so. Too often the focus is only on changing methods or systems when it should be on changing the people. Having the best new method or system in the world available is of little use is the people who are meant to be using it are intent on doing things the way they always have.

The ivory tower approach by an organization to change is doomed to failure. People are not likely to embrace the idea of change unless they see it as having a positive benefit to them at some point. Human nature tends to cause people to focus on what they might be giving up, and that is particularly easy to do if the organization has not communicated the reasons for the change in a way that allows staff to see how they will derive a personal benefit from the change. The strategy can be the best one ever  on paper — but must be accepted by a companys employees before it can work.

Open and honest communication is a companys best plan when attempting to effect organizational change. Staff needs to have pertinent information and the ability to provide feedback on the proposed change. All the speeches, newsletters, corporate videos, values statements and such in the world cannot engage the employees of a company the way that allowing them a part to play in the process can.

Tags: Business, management, organizational change, organizational management
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