big thank you ^-^

Salams,

Final exam is just around the corner. I hope you guys doing well in the exam.

I would like to thank you all for being in my class. This is my 1st experience as a tutor and I hope I can improve my skills in a future. So, good luck on your exam ya.... (^_~)

~~ ganbatte!! ~~ p(^0^)q

** FYI, for an essay question you can answered in English or Bahasa.

MORE NOTES ON CONTROLLING

What's the transformation process in a service business like a dry cleaners or a VCR-repair shop?

The transformation process in a service business is very similar to that of a manufacturing organization. That is, a service business takes in inputs, transforms them or processes them into the service being provided which, in effect, is the output. What makes it somewhat difficult to understand this transformation process in service businesses is the fact that you don't "see" the output of a service business. The transformation process and the output are inseparable since the service is produced and consumed simultaneously.

Is productivity an individual or an organizational measure?

Both! And it's also an industry or a national (country) measure! Very simply, productivity is a measure of output divided by the inputs needed to generate that output. It's an identical term to efficiency. The term "productivity" typically is used as a measure of organizational, industry, or country performance although you may hear references to how productive an individual is. Government agencies collect productivity information for various sectors of the economy and use these as measures of how well our economy is doing. Likewise, organizations will collect information about resource usage and level of outputs in order to determine organizational productivity. Some organizations even collect productivity information for their various divisions, departments, or units.

Why have operations issues become so important to organizations?

Operations issues have become important to organizations because every single organization "produces" something-even not-for-profit organizations. Doing this in a way that is efficient and effective and that leads to an organization's being globally competitive requires strict attention to operations issues. Those organizations that expect to successfully and profitably compete in the future are incorporating operations decisions into their strategic plans and are approaching the operations processes as carefully as the marketing, financial, and human resource management processes. Do you think that Southwest Airlines would be where it is today if it hadn't paid attention to its operations? Would it be able to have the quick gate turnarounds that it does if it didn't pay close attention to operations inputs and processes? After all, as Southwest's CEO Herb Kelleher says, "You don't make money sitting on the ground." Successful companies know that operations management issues are important ingredients in success.

Why have organizations recently become so enamored with building strong supplier relationships?

Organizations have begun to recognize the interdependent relationship they have with their suppliers. Since suppliers provide the "inputs," the organization is heavily dependent on them. Their fortunes are closely linked! In this supplier-organization relationship, two goals that tend to be quite important are controlling costs and increasing quality. By collaborating and partnering with suppliers, organizations are discovering that they can achieve better quality of inputs, fewer defects in finished products and services, and lower costs. Wal-Mart is an example of an organization that has a system of highly developed alliances with its suppliers. This hand-in-hand collaboration is good for Wal-Mart because it gives them greater control over costs and quality. And it's good for the suppliers because they have assurances that their products are being sold through the world's largest retailer!

How does value chain management provide value?

Well, first off, let's define what value is-the performance characteristics, features and attributes, and any other aspects of goods and services for which customers are willing to give up resources. Value is created through the transformation of raw materials and other resources into some product or service that customers need or desire when, where, and how they want it. Value means different things to different people. For instance, your next class starts in 30 minutes and you're hungry. You're willing to give up resources (money) for a product and service that's quick and filling. You see a Subway Sandwiches poster on a campus bulletin board and decide to go there because it's close by. You willingly hand over $3.99 for a sandwich at Subway. You received value because you got a product that met your specific needs at that time and place. How did Subway provide that "value?" It was created through the value chain-which simply is the entire series of organizational work activities that add value at each step. From the purchasing of the food supplies to the assembling of the sandwich to the advertising that you saw on the campus bulletin board, each work activity was designed to provide value to customers. Because every organization needs customers if it's going to survive and prosper, it's important to understand how value is created and delivered to those customers. By the way, that's the whole concept behind value chain management.

Why should an organization want to closely integrate its work activities with other outside organizations?

This does seem counter-productive, doesn't it? After all, wouldn't this type of close collaboration seem to give managers less control over important work activities? And since when can you trust others outside your organization? These cultural beliefs are among the hardest to change as an organization pursues a value chain management approach. Yet, we have to remember that the goal of value chain management is to create a value chain strategy that meets and exceeds customers' needs and desires and allows for full and seamless integration among all members of the value chain-inside and outside. For this value chain strategy to work, all value chain participants must collaborate. That's the only way to provide the value that customers want and are willing to pay for. The result of this collaboration-better customer solutions. And, when value is created for customers and their needs and desires are satisfied, everyone along the chain benefits.

How can an organization successfully manage its value chain?

The first thing to recognize is that it's not easy to manage the value chain because it can be difficult for managers to know and understand what the organization's value chain encompasses. However, successful value chain management is possible if six main requirements are met. These include (1) a close coordination and collaboration among value chain partners, (2) a significant investment in technology, (3) a critical evaluation of organizational processes to determine where value is being added and making changes, if necessary, (4) strong, supportive, competent leadership, (5) human resource requirements including flexible approaches to job design, an effective hiring process, and ongoing training, and (6) very important...a supportive organizational culture and attitudes.

A business model sounds a lot like a strategy. Is it?

You're very perceptive. Yes, a business model is simply a strategic design for how the company intends to profit from its strategies, processes, and activities. As today's managers face a dynamic competitive marketplace, they're having to experiment with new business models that will allow them to be more efficient and effective.

***Big thank you to Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter, Robbins Online Learning System (R.O.L.L.S), Pearson, Prentice Hall

NOTES FOR CONTROLLING

CONTROLLING

If things are going as planned, why is control necessary?

I think this question can be answered by saying how do you know things are going as planned unless you do control. Control is much more than just taking care of problems that have come up. It also involves monitoring activities, comparing performance to standards, and then taking action as needed.

How is controlling related to the other functions of management?

Controlling is the final link in the ongoing management process. It's the only way we know whether goals are being met and why they are or are not being accomplished as planned. Managing doesn't involve just one or two or even three of the functions. It takes a manager performing all four management functions-planning, organizing, leading, and controlling-to ensure that organizational members' work activities are completed effectively and efficiently.

What's the difference between immediate corrective action and basic corrective action? Which is more difficult to do? When should each be used?

These are all good questions! What options does a manager have when he or she discovers that actual performance isn't measuring up to standards? One option is immediate corrective action. This involves correcting problems immediately in order to get performance back on track. It's "putting out fires" as they arise. The other option for correcting performance is more general and comprehensive in nature. Basic corrective action involves digging deeper-determining why and how performance has deviated and then correcting the source of that deviation. Because it's more thorough, basic corrective action tends to be more difficult to do because it takes time and effort to look for reasons why performance is deviating and then taking action to correct these deviations. Immediate corrective action is real-time, right-now, get-it-solved. There's not the search for reasons behind the deviation. The focus is on getting the problem solved immediately. Each of these approaches does have its place, however. A manager should use immediate corrective action when a problem arises that must be addressed immediately. Let me share an example. One school night I was running late and stopped at a local fast food restaurant to pick up something quick for dinner. When I got home and set out the food for my family, we discovered that part of our order was missing. I got back in my car, drove back to the restaurant, and asked for the manager. When I explained what had happened-trying my best to remain calm-she gladly gave me the missing items and even threw in dessert for all of us. The manager took immediate corrective action to resolve the performance deviation. However, let's say that this problem keeps occurring. Customers aren't getting what they ordered. At this point, the manager needs to take basic corrective action. She needs to uncover where the problem lies. Do employees need better training in order taking and order filling? Is there too much noise in the kitchen and work area for people to properly hear what is being ordered? Is there a problem with the cash register? Knowing when immediate corrective action is appropriate and when basic corrective action needs to be taken is something that managers must learn.

Can managers delegate control?

Yes, managers can delegate, and have been delegating, control to subordinates. Many employees have been empowered to measure actual performance, compare that performance against standards, and then take any necessary action. This doesn't relieve the manager of the ultimate responsibility for work performance, however. The manager's job is to coordinate work efforts so that goals are being met efficiently and effectively. And this means keeping an eye on things even if control has been delegated.

Why is what we control probably more important than how we control?

What we control is more important than how we control because the criteria we choose to focus on determines what organizational members will attempt to excel at. What performance measures will be used to determine whether goals are being met? The choice of performance measures will influence employees' work behaviors.

Which is more serious: overvariance or undervariance?

Overvariance and undervariance refer to the range of variation between actual performance and the established standard. Determining which is more serious really depends on the performance being measured. For example, undervariance on a measure such as quality or profits can be serious. But undervariance on safety violations can be a positive thing. Likewise, overvariance on a measure such as product defects can be serious, but overvariance on number of sales calls completed can be good. Either way, when there is a variation outside the acceptable range, a manager needs to assess the situation to determine if action is needed.

Why would managers want to control for organizational performance?

Performance is the end result of an activity. It's "how you do" on a test after reading and studying your textbook and class notes. It's the score you receive on a term paper after researching, writing, editing, and rewriting the material. It's how a sales rep for Eli Lilly does in convincing physicians to prescribe one of the company's new drugs. It's how an organization is doing in its work. The performance that results lets us know how well we've done at what we said we were going to accomplish. And, of course, managers want to control for organizational performance since that's how they know the end results of all the work processes and activities that are taking place, whether the organization has 100, 1,000, or 10,000 employees.

Isn't MBWA a subjective and inferior way to control work activities?

Quite the contrary! MBWA (management by walking, or wandering, around) is a great way to find out "up close and personal" what your subordinates are dealing with and the types of issues they're facing. You may have the impression that just because MBWA doesn't generate quantitative measures that it's too subjective and thus is inferior to other methods of controlling. However, by getting out and personally observing employees at work, you're getting first-hand information that's not filtered or subject to someone else's interpretation.

***Big thank you to Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter, Robbins Online Learning System (R.O.L.L.S), Pearson, Prentice Hall

more NOTES!!

LEADING

Leadership is the process of influencing a group to achieve goals. The person or someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority is the leader. In leading, there are many motivation theories that can be applied. One of the theories is Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. We know human need physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization needs. Maslow’s theory is a motivation theory because it addresses unsatisfied needs. If a need is already substantially satisfied, it won’t motivate. Those needs that are unsatisfied and dominant are motivators.

McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y, is also one of the motivation theories. Theory X is the assumption that the workers are lazy, avoid responsibility and dislike work. While Theory Y is the assumption that the workers are creative, seek responsibility and can exercise self-direction. In reality, either set of assumptions may be appropriate. It depends on the situation – the type of job being done, the experience and skills of the worker, and so forth. If the manager followed the X theory, he/she can be effective, if they doing the job they like, and have experience about the job.

How can managers motivate high achievers? – the secret to motivating high achievers is designing jobs that score high on personal responsibility, feedback, and offer moderate risks. Interestingly, that probably makes working on teams less appealing. It doesn’t mean that high achievers won’t perform well on teams. But it does mean that you should probably make sure they have their own clear area of responsibility, let them know how they’re doing, make their tasks challenging but not too challenging, and provide individual as well as team rewards.

Isn’t it possible for goals to hinder motivation and performance? – Goals can hinder motivation and performance when they are set unrealistically high. Employees are likely to give up or only go through the motions if they realize their goals are reachable. Additionally, some people are likely to take offense if the goals are given to them without the being able to provide any input. This is particularly true among professionals. So assigned goals with such types could have negative results.

Do effective leaders have common traits (characteristics)? – Media seems to think that effective leader do have common traits. They always stated that in their articles. The research tells us that there are some common traits that regularly seem to differentiate leaders from others, which are ambition and energy, the desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self-confidence, intelligence, and job-related knowledge. But those traits provide no guarantee success because it depends on the cause and effect.

For example, are leaders self-confident, or does success as leader build self-confidence. But the fact is that an individual can show his/her traits and others will think that he/she is the leader, but not necessarily mean that the individual is successful at getting his/her team to achieve its goals.

Are leadership styles fixed? – Some people have a fixed style and some people are not. The reason for the person have fixed style because they are comfortable with it and regardless of the situation, they stay with it. Leadership success will require this leader (with fixed style) to select situation that match-up well with their style.

Do effective leaders treat all followers alike? – Leaders often act very differently toward different individual or groups. They put people they like into their “in-group” and people they dislike into their “out-group”. Those who are in the “in-group” normally have the same characteristics (age, gender, and attitudes) as the leaders have or have a higher-level of competence than out-group members. They are more trusted, get a disproportionate amount of the leader’s attention, and are likely to receive special privileges.

It seems like a lot of readers really can’t lead, but they do a good job of looking like a leader. Are such leaders still effective? – To answer this question, you must know how you define effectiveness. If you define effectiveness by looking at objective performance, then you are looking for leaders that can perform very well in achieving the organization’s goals. If the leaders perform poorly on objective measures, but you see him/her as smart, attractive, verbally adept, friendly, with good sense of humour; their consistent and unwavering in their decision making. People often mistakenly confuse these qualities with leadership, because they look at the person by perceptual measures. So, in reality, we need to be aware that in situations where hard and objectives measures of performance aren’t used, leaders are likely to be judge by their ability or inability to exhibit the appearance of leadership.

Is charisma a desirable characteristic for every leader? As a leader, how would you know when you needed to use charisma and when you didn’t need to use it? – Charismatic leader is someone with an enthusiastic, self-confident leader whose personality and action influence people to behave in certain ways. All situations don’t require a charismatic leader. Charisma is most appropriate when there is a strong ideological component. Charisma is something that most of us can turn off and on. Even if we could, I don’t think that’s such a good idea. People will see you as manipulative and inconsistent-neither characteristic which is desirable in a leader. On the other hand, if you can develop it, do so. It’s not going to hurt you.

new notes!!!

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE & DESIGN

Organizing defined as arranging and structuring work to accomplish the organization’s goals. While organizational structure is the formal arrangement of jobs within an organization. Every management level will have to organize the company/organization, even the lower level manager. As a lower-level manager, the kind of organizing he will be doing is to be concerned with the design of specific jobs. He/she has to find out; should a job be done by individuals or teams? What tasks need to be completed? What’s the best way of completing these tasks? Who in the given department is best qualified for doing the tasks?

Nowadays, lower-level managers always are asked to participate in decisions that affect the structure above them. For example, a department supervisor might be on a committee involved with reorganizing her/his division.

Normally if we’re the manager, we have authority. But it is not necessary we will have power over people. Authority is the rights inherent in a managerial position to tell people what to do and expect them to do it. Authority is actually a subset or power. Power is the large concept. All managerial positions come with a degree of authority. But you don’t have to be a manager to have power. You have power if you have something that others want and which you control. People will look up to you, admire your expertise and accomplishment, and willing to follow your directives. In today’s organizations, a lot of technical specialist has power not because they have managerial authority, but because they have an expertise that others need.

Organizational structure that can be applied with several ways, such as;

1. Work specialization – dividing work activities into separate job tasks. Work specialization can be done either in groups or by individuals. Sometimes people will ask either working in groups will undermine work specialization. As a fact, teams can do specialized, repetitive, and routine activities too. Hence, no matter how hard or simple the job is, it can be done in groups. So, teams are not going to undermine work specialization.

2. Span of control – the number of employees a manager effectively and efficiently manage. To make sure the span of control structure being applied effectively by identifying the type of job being done, the amount of training and experience the workers have, the degree of formalization, and the presence or absence of supportive colleagues.

e.g : consider two company, company A have employees that are doing routine tasks, they’ve all been doing them for years, there are specific rules and regulations to govern their jobs, and department members help each other out with problems. The supervisor in this department might be able to directly oversee 20 or 25 people. While company B made up of mostly new employees with little experience. The jobs are complicated; the company doesn’t have many formal rules and regulations. And there are no manuals to go to when employees have a problem. Moreover, workers tend to be not friendly with each other. In such situation, a supervisor might not be able to handle more than 4 or 5 employees.

The most effective span of control depends on a number of contingency factors. The fact that organizations is giving managers wider spans is largely made possible by hiring people with better skills and providing these employees with increased training.

3. Formalization – how standardized on organization’s jobs are and the extent to which employees behaviour is guided by rules and procedures. There are pros and cons for high formalization, the pros are:

a. Reduces the need for tight supervision or a strong culture – the rules and regulations provide employees with guidance in how they should behave.

b. Allows organizations to hire less qualified and less costly applicants.
And the cons is costly to create and can demoralize workers who desire autonomy and decision discretion.

Amongst all the organizational structure, high specialization tends to increase organizational politics because it creates separate groups that people try to protect. While high formalization tends to reduce politics because of the rules and regulations. Narrow spans of control probably discourage politics because managers have a closer contact with employees and so they are likely to have clearer and more accurate picture of employee performance. This makes it harder for people to act politically and to promote their self-interest.

Organizational Design Decision

There are two types of organizational design, i.e:

1. Organic structure – highly adaptive and flexible.
2. Mechanistic structure – rigid and tightly controlled.

Managers have choices which organizational structure to implement. They can choose between mechanistic and organic forms. Which one they select depends on four variables of contingency approach, which are size, technology, strategy and environment. Mechanistic structure is better matched to cost-minimization strategies, large size, routine technology and a stable environment. Organic structure work best with innovative strategies, small size, non-routine technologies and a dynamic environment.

Because of the increase in environmental uncertainty, for a better respond to global competition, for example, companies need greater flexibility which offered by organic structure.

Selamat Hari Raya

Salams,

Selamat hari raya , maaf zahir batin... It was a sunny, tiring yet exciting aidilfitri holiday. Will start tutorial class next week. This week is still the presentation week. Am hoping you guys (students) will get a good credit in this subject. So, good luck guys!!