Management Assignment: Organisational Management in Global Context

Question

Task:

Question: Purpose:
This management assignment is designed to assess your level of knowledge of the key topics covered in this unit “Management and Organisations in a Global Environment”.

Details
Answer All SIX (6) of the following questions.

Question 1- What steps are today’s organisations taking to promote diversity and are these efforts effective? (support your arguments with key research findings on diversity management).

Question 2- How should the company’s supervisors behave differently to get their subordinates to experience less stress on the job, or at least, get them to react less negatively? Answer (support your claims/arguments with key research findings on managing stress in the workplace).

Question 3- Mark Martin has just been appointed manager of a production team operating the 11pm to 7am shift in a large manufacturing firm. Mark is concerned that the team members really like and get along well with one another but they also appear to be restricting their task outputs to the minimum acceptable levels. What could Mark do to improve things in this situation and why should he do them? (support your claims/arguments with key research findings on team performance factors).

Question 4- What are some emerging issues in leadership? Discuss some alternatives to leadership. (support your claims/arguments with key research findings on leadership in contemporary organisations)

Question 5- Describe when and where organisational politics occur and the forms of such behaviour takes. (support your claims/arguments with key research findings on organisational politics).

Question 6- Intranets can reflect and influence an organisational culture. Discuss the impact of technology on organisational culture in contemporary organisations and the challenges involved in building and maintaining culture with remote employees. (support your claims/arguments with key research findings on the impact of technology on organisational culture and virtual employees).

Answer

Answer 1 Week 3: Tutorial 2 (Question 2)
Globalisation has facilitated the organisations to enhance their efficiency in order to gain a competitive position over rival corporations. In this context of management assignment, it stands observed that contemporary organisations are looking forward to take various initiatives towards promoting diversity within the firm (Fujimoto and EJ Härtel, 2017). Some of the steps that are taken by the contemporary organisation are drafted below:

• Create diversity-friendly policies by reviewing the existing policies of the workplace with the lens of diversity.
• Reassessing the benefits that are provided by the employees
• Providing the training of diversity
• Establishing mentorship that is reciprocal as well as profoundly diverse

Such policies facilitate the top management of the organisation to support the initiatives in a successful manner. The reciprocal mentoring also assist the management to pair the diversified junior employees with the senior employees so that the individuals present in both the categories intend to learn new things in an effective manner. Therefore, it can be stated that diversity within the business does not objectify to eliminate the biases; however, it helps the management to acknowledge as well as control them (Gupta, 2019).

Answer 2 Week 4: Tutorial 3 (Question 2)
In the context of the work stress, it is observed the supervisors of contemporary organisations focuses on various initiatives so that they can enhance the wellbeing of the employees and at the same time can also increase their profound contribution towards work (Wilkie, 2020). Some of the work management strategies are being drafted below:

The institutional programs:
The institutional programs are referred to as the process, where the firm looks forward to establish the plan, and regulations according to the commonly acknowledged standards.

• The jobs are being designed in such a manner so that it appropriately fits the working schedules of the employees (Olawale et al., 2017).
• Supervision the entire work in order to maintain the continuation of functions and operations of the organisation
• Fostering work culture that is healthy for the employees as well as the organisation.

The collateral programs:
The collateral programs involve the sequencers in the organisations that are created specifically for the employees so that they can effectively deal with the stress (Mas-Machuca et al., 2016). Such collateral programs involve health promotion, career development, and management of stress as well as the fitness program of the employees.

On the other hand, along with the aforementioned-coping strategies that are undertaken by the organisation, it is observant that the supervisors also focus on maintaining an effective relationship with the employees so that a sense of togetherness is inculcated among the employees (Wilkie, 2020). In this context, the initiatives such as the balancing the linkage of work-life balance also help the supervisors to influence the employees to experience less stress in the job (Luqman et al., 2019). In addition, employees also react less negatively.

Answer 3 Week 6: Tutorial 5 (Question 2)
In the view of the given scenario, it stands observed that the employees within the large manufacturing firm are effective and looks forward to get along with each other. On the other hand, it is also evident that the employees use to restrict their outputs towards the accepted level. In this context, it is noteworthy that the employees are not effectively motivated towards increasing their contribution towards the organisation so that they can ensure organisational growth. Therefore, it is much necessary for Mark to effectively look forward to involve various factors of motivation so that the employees can focus on increasing the output levels in a profound manner.

Considering the Hierarchy of needs framework of Maslow’s it can be stated that the basic needs namely the Physiological, security as well as belongings is provided by the firm, which facilitates the employees to get along with each other. However, Mark should also look forward to provide esteem needs to the employees, which will help them to ensure growth within the organisation. Therefore, if Mark looks forward to provide esteem needs such as the training and career development programs, promotions, recognition of achievements, incentives and freedom of choosing work schedules will help the employees to increase the contribution towards the organisation. In addition, the below-stated procedures will also help mark to increase the output by the employees:

• Reduction in distractions
• Improving the conditions of the workplace
• Offer realistic goals
• Ensuring the satisfaction of employees

On the other hand, as per the ERG theory, Mark can also look forward to considering this so that the initiation of the above-stated factors can motivate the employees effectively. Such a process will act as a profound framework for the organisation so that they can increase the performance of the employees. Therefore, influencing the behaviour of the employees will ultimately help the firm to accomplish the goals and objectives of the organisation. In addition, the higher productivity of outputs will help Mark to increase the profitability of the company, and at the same time, it will increase the income of the employees working within the organisation.

Answer 4 Week 9: Tutorial 8 (Question 1)
Leadership challenges are constantly increasing in contemporary organisations. In this context, it stands noteworthy that the issues arise through the failure of the teams to communicate in an effective manner which arises a conflict of interest. In addition, the virtual teams also raise various challenges for the leaders. It is observed that the team members often feel isolated and the temporal or geographic separation leads the leaders to face the difficulty of motivating the employees in an effective manner (Baloyi, 2020). It is also evident that such raises the difficulty for the leaders to effectively perform the mentoring, development as well as integration functions. Some of the other alternatives to leadership effectively facilitate the organisation to produce profound success. The alternatives to leadership are drafted below:

Collegiality: The collegiality system influences the involved members to effectively get united by the common purpose (Alleman and Haviland, 2017). In addition, it also influences the members to collectively work towards the stated purpose.

Consensus: The system involves the individuals to effectively get into the general agreements so that serious treatment is given to every individual’s opinion within the group. It helps in reducing conflicts of interest among the group members.

Answer 5 Week 10: Tutorial 9 (Question 1)
Organisational politics is referred to as the influences of social aspects that attempt towards directing the individuals to protect the self-interests of the actor (De Clercq and Belausteguigoitia, 2017). It hugely affects the employees as well as the culture of the workplace. In this context, it is observed that organisational politics occur in uncertain and ambiguous environments. It is the self-serving behaviours. The causes of political behaviour are drafted below:

• Uncertainty and no clear rules and regulations within the organisation
• Scarcity of the valuable resources
• As political behaviour is self-service, it raises conflicts within the organisation and self-interest among the employees occurs (Khan et al., 2019).

Forms of such behaviour are drafted below:

• The reward power: The power of controlling over the rewards.
• Legitimate power: Power of holding the position.
• Coercive power: Power of controlling the punishments
• Expert Power: Power of controlling the knowledge, sills as well as expertise (Khanipour and Fathi, 2020).
• Referent power: Power of controlling the admire and respect of subordinated
• Persuasive power: The power of using facts and logic to persuade.
• Informational power: Power of controlling information

The aforementioned forms of behaviour effectively influence the organisational politics within the firm.

Answer 6 Week 11: Tutorial 12 (Question 1)
It stands evident that Intranets holds the scope of effectively enhancing the information hoarding as well as the secrecy within the organisation. In this aspect, it is noteworthy that the technologies facilitate the employees to obtain profound knowledge and understanding about various topics so that they can enhance their capability to learn and contribute effectively towards organisational success. Therefore, it stands observed that technology helps in sustaining the reinforcement of culture within the organisation. In addition, it also helps in engaging people so that they can improve the workplace environment (Spear and Roper, 2016). On the other hand, the openness of the employees to effectively control the flow of information and feedback helps the employees to gain job satisfaction. In addition, employees are also being valued.

The companies use to rely upon creating such environment where the soft skills such as innovation, collaboration as well as communication are being thrived. Therefore, changing the strategy is also a part of the implementation of technology within the organisation. For instance, the platform of social media management enhances the transparency of information within the firm. However, maintaining the culture of remote employees as much challenging (Matikiti et al., 2018). In this aspect, it stands evident that the virtual works use to spend less amount of time with their co-workers, which make them harder to get familiar with the culture of the organisation.

Reference List
Alleman, N.F. and Haviland, D. 2017, ""I expect to be engaged as an equal": collegiality expectations of full-time, non-tenure-track faculty members", Higher Education, vol. 74, no. 3, pp. 527-542.

Baloyi, G.T. 2020, "Toxicity of leadership and its impact on employees: Exploring the dynamics of leadership in an academic setting", Hervormde Teologiese Studies, vol. 76, no. 2.

De Clercq, D. and Belausteguigoitia, I. 2017, "Mitigating the negative effect of perceived organizational politics on organizational citizenship behavior: Moderating roles of contextual and personal resources", management assignment Journal of Management and Organization, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 689-708.

Fujimoto, Y. and EJ Härtel, ,Charmine 2017, "Organizational diversity learning framework: going beyond diversity training programs", Personnel Review, vol. 46, no. 6, pp. 1120-1141.

Gupta, A. 2019, "Women leaders and organizational diversity: their critical role in promoting diversity in organizations", Development and Learning in Organizations, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 8-11.

Khan, N.A., Khan, A.N. and Summan, G. 2019, "Relationship between perception of organizational politics and organizational citizenship behavior: testing a moderated mediation model", Asian Business and Management, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 122-141.

Khanipour, H. and Fathi, E. 2020, "Organizational Support, Participation in Organizational Decision-Making, Organizational Politics, and Perceived Social Status among Faculty Members: The Mediating Effects of Status Seeking Styles", Iranian Journal of Management Studies, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 623-644.

Luqman, O.O., Oke, A.E., Toyin, D.A. and Richard, A.J. 2019, "Influence of organizational commitment on work–life balance and organizational performance of female construction professionals", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 26, no. 10, pp. 2243-2263.

Mas-Machuca, M., Berbegal-Mirabent, J. and Alegre, I. 2016, "Work-life balance and its relationship with organizational pride and job satisfaction", Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 586-602.

Matikiti, R., Mpinganjira, M. and Roberts-Lombard, M. 2018, "Application of the Technology Acceptance Model and the Technology–Organisation–Environment Model to examine social media marketing use in the South African tourism industry", South African Journal of Information Management, vol. 20, no. 1.

Olawale, A.V.R., Fapohunda, T.M. and Ilesnmi, J.V.F. 2017, "Work-life Balance and Organisational Commitment: Perceptions of Working Postgraduate Students", BVIMSR’s Journal of Management Research, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 178-188.

Spear, S. and Roper, S. 2016, "Storytelling in organisations: supporting or subverting corporate strategy?", Corporate Communications, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 516-532.

Wilkie, D., 2020. What Managers Can Do to Ease Workplace Stress, SHRM. Available at: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/how-managers-can-help-stressed-workers-.aspx (Accessed: 4 October 2020).