- 08 Mar, 2021
- 0 Comments
- 5 Mins Read
Business Management
(what is interesting about this subject what have you experienced?)
(applied business management)
write 1 page on each of the following;
-job design The process by which managers decide how to divide tasks into specific jobs
-Behavior Control (explanation below)
-Motivation in an organization (explanations below)
-Behavior Control-Identify the main behavior controls, and discuss their advantages and disadvantages as a means of managing and motivating employees.
Organizational structure by itself does not provide any mechanism that motivates managers and nonmanagerial employees to behave in ways that make the structure work—or even improve how it works: hence the need for control. Put another way, managers can develop an organizational structure that has the right grouping of divisions and functions, and an effective chain of command, but it will work as designed only if managers also establish control systems that motivate and shape employee behavior in ways that match this structure.38 Output control is one method of motivating employees; behavior control is another method. This section examines three mechanisms of behavior control that managers can use to keep subordinates on track and make organizational structures work as they are designed to work: direct supervision, management by objectives, and rules and standard operating procedures
Direct Supervision
The most immediate and potent form of behavior control is direct supervision by managers who actively monitor and observe the behavior of their subordinates, teach subordinates the behaviors that are appropriate and inappropriate, and intervene to take corrective action as needed. Moreover, when managers personally supervise subordinates, they lead by example and in this way can help subordinates develop and increase their own skill levels. (Leadership is the subject of Chapter 10.)
Direct supervision allows managers at all levels to become personally involved with their subordinates and allows them to mentor subordinates and develop their management skills. Thus control through personal supervision can be an effective way of motivating employees and promoting behaviors that increase efficiency and effectiveness.39
Nevertheless, certain problems are associated with direct supervision. First, it is expensive because a manager can personally manage only a relatively small number of subordinates effectively. Therefore, if direct supervision is the main kind of control being used in an organization, a lot of managers will be needed and costs will increase. For this reason, output control is usually preferred to behavior control; indeed, output control tends to be the first type of control that managers at all levels use to evaluate performance. Second, direct supervision can demotivate subordinates. This occurs if employees feel they are under such close scrutiny that they are not free to make their own decisions or if they feel they are not being evaluated in an accurate and impartial way. Team members and other employees may start to pass the buck, avoid responsibility, and cease to cooperate with other team members if they feel their manager is not accurately evaluating their performance and is favoring some people over others.
Third, as noted previously, for many jobs personal control through direct supervision is simply not feasible. The more complex a job is, the more difficult it is for a manager to evaluate how well a subordinate is performing. The performance of divisional and functional managers, for example, can be evaluated only over relatively long periods (which is why an output control system is developed), so it makes little sense for top managers to continually monitor their performance. However, managers can still communicate the organization’s mission and goals to their subordinates and reinforce the values and norms in the organization’s culture through their own personal style.
MOTIVATION
Motivation may be defined as psychological forces that determine the direction of a person’s behavior in an organization, a person’s level of effort, and a person’s level of persistence in the face of obstacles.22 The direction of a person’s behavior refers to the many possible behaviors a person can engage in. For example, employees at Enterprise know that they should do whatever is required to provide high-quality customer service such as giving customers rides to pick up and drop off rental cars. Effort refers to how hard people work. Employees at Enterprise exert high levels of effort to provide superior customer service. Persistence refers to whether, when faced with roadblocks and obstacles, people keep trying or give up. Branch managers at Enterprise persistently seek to improve the profitability of their branches while maintaining very high levels of customer service.
motivation Psychological forces that determine the direction of a person’s behavior in an organization, a person’s level of effort, and a person’s level of persistence.
Motivation is central to management because it explains why people behave the way they do in organizations23 —why employees at Enterprise provide excellent customer service. Motivation also explains why a waiter is polite or rude and why a kindergarten teacher really tries to get children to enjoy learning or just goes through the motions. It explains why some managers truly put their organizations’ best interests first, whereas others are more concerned with maximizing their salaries and why—more generally—some workers put forth twice as much effort as others.
Motivation can come from either intrinsic or extrinsic sources. Intrinsically motivated behavior is behavior that is performed for its own sake; the source of motivation is actually performing the behavior, and motivation comes from doing the work itself. Many managers are intrinsically motivated; they derive a sense of accomplishment and achievement from helping the organization achieve its goals and gain competitive advantages. Jobs that are interesting and challenging are more likely to lead to intrinsic motivation than are jobs that are boring or do not use a person’s skills and abilities. An elementary school teacher who really enjoys teaching children, a computer programmer who loves solving programming problems, and a commercial photographer who relishes taking creative photographs are all intrinsically motivated. For these individuals, motivation comes from performing their jobs—teaching children, finding bugs in computer programs, and taking pictures.
intrinsically motivated behavior Behavior that is performed for its own sake.
Extrinsically motivated behavior is behavior that is performed to acquire material or social rewards or to avoid punishment; the source of motivation is the consequences of the behavior, not the behavior itself. A car salesperson who is motivated by receiving a commission on all cars sold, a lawyer who is motivated by the high salary and status that go along with the job, and a factory worker who is motivated by the opportunity to earn a secure income are all extrinsically motivated. Their motivation comes from the consequences they receive as a result of their work behaviors.
extrinsically motivated behavior Behavior that is performed to acquire material or social rewards or to avoid punishment.