Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 17

Case Study Example The other cause was the statement by the apprentices that they never felt that they were learning anything and were preparing to leave. The apprentices did not do any meaningful work apart from chopping and cutting things, sweeping and mopping the floor. The other reason is that Hank, the banquet chef failed to meet with her and discuss her work schedule as had been promised. The action proved the statements from the other apprentices. The leadership and the management of Shady Lane Inn played a big role in the negative perception of Marietta concerning the company in various ways. First, they did not follow the training schedule and did not review the apprentices journals. The management did not supervise the apprentices as seen when Hank left Marietta with the others and arrived very rate. The leaders are not trustworthy from the way they do not review their apprentices work as they promised, which make them stay there longer than anticipated. The management of the company also lacks honesty, a fact displayed when Hank forces Marietta to have a positive attitude towards the company for her to stay longer. The steps that were necessary for Marietta to have a positive attitude are good supervision for instance Hank should have given her work himself instead of leaving her in the hands of the other apprentices. The apprentices should have explained to Marietta on the method to slice the onions instead of waiting until she was half way. Hank should have made an effort to meet Marietta as promised to create a good relationship and a sense of commitment. Shady Lane Company should do a number of things to avoid creating a negative attitude to the future apprentices by employing responsible managers for supervisory work. The top leaders should always make a follow-up ensure that the other managers are doing their work perfectly. The company management should analyse the apprentices views and their feelings about the company and

Efficient managers and effective managers

Efficient managers and effective managers Difference between efficient managers and effective managers Effectiveness and efficiency are mutually exclusive things. For a manager, they are both fundamental preconditions. Being effective means that one is able to properly analyse the evolving environment and selecting the right things as the areas of strategic focus for the enterprise. On the other hand, being efficient requires a carefully carved cultural and operational framework which helps the manager to achieve a particular degree of success, given the level of resources applied to a particular objective. In any business, an efficient manager is one who uses limited resources available viz., time, material and men to get the job done in a more professional manner. This includes securing productive and profitable results in a short span, using funds allotted for a business more legibly yet smartly, and appraising employee performance etc., In other words, an efficient manager would keep the business running even in dire circumstances. An effective manager, on the other hand, is slightly different from the efficient one. The effective manager focuses on productivity rather than increased/balanced profitability. Effective management has various layers in its setup such as motivation, teamwork, communication and objectives. An effective manager is someone who leads, coordinates and filters various activities of the sub-ordinates and decides an appropriate mechanism to work upon. An effective manager usually works without any constraints such as funds, manpower etc. The focus always implies on better management practices and in turn, better output. Effectiveness is a precondition for the success of any manager; however that depends more upon the uncontrollable variables dictated to the manager by the operational environment and his ability to come up with the right choices that would suit his resources built over time. It may be appreciated that a firms resources in terms of manpower and technology as well as capital would have been built up over time and they have a great degree of rigidity. Once you become effective, efficiency can be an easier thing to bring into operation. The two things are in fact complimentary. Efficiency in fact depends upon the lower level managerial abilities and culture while effectiveness is almost always a top management variable. In management, operating in efficient and in effective ways is a key to good performance and to successfully reaching the goals set for the business. While efficiency and effectiveness are similarly desirable characteristics of business behavior, either one is often seen as attainable only at the expense of the other. Looking at the interplay of the two characteristics can give a clear insight into the ideal behavior for a manager when faced with tasks which must be completed quickly, but also completed in such a way that the key goals are attained. Luther Gulick advocates seven elements which make up common management in any organization. He calls it the POSDCORB. Planning a strategy to accomplish the objectives set for an enterprise. Organizing a formal structure of authority, arranged and defined for specific jobs. Staffing / Recruiting and training personnel. Directing/ Decision making and embodying rules, instructions etc., Co-ordinating various parts of work. Reporting through records, research and inspection. Budgeting in form of fiscal planning, accounting and control. These make up the common administrative tasks managers perform in an organization. The effectiveness of each element makes up both an efficient and effective management system. The following make up management behavior. Management of human resources is a social phenomenon. An effective communication channel is always imperative in any kind of an organization. James Pfiffner calls it the heart of management. Chester Barnard remarks it as the foundation of co-operative group activity. For an effective communication, the information passed on must be clear, consistent, adequate, timely, uniform, flexible and acceptable. A manager must make sure that a proper communication channel is present in an organization. This includes avoiding semantic and ideological barriers, two-valued thinking (Halo effect), stereotyping and dogmatism among the employees. Decision-making is a vital part of an efficient management system. Robert Tannenbaum says decision-making involves a conscious choice or selection of one behavior alternative from a group of two or more behavior alternative. A behavior alternative may simply be known as a decision. Decision-making, in more ways or the other, is a singular function of the manager. It is thus very important in an organization. Herbert Simon came up with the fact that every decision has two basic premises a factual premise and a value premise. A fact is a statement of reality while a value is an expression of preference. A manager would go by decisions based on these only. An effective manager goes in for the factual premise because it can be measured empirically, while the value premise, which may determine efficient factors such as profit, loss, employee satisfaction, cost-cutting etc., would be more preferred by efficient managers. Rensis Likert calls motivation as the core of management. Motivation is a psychological process which energizes and activates an individual to achieve formulated objectives. A manager thus plays a vital role as a driving force behind motivation. On this part, both effective and efficient managers must be good motivators, so as to bring about the best in the employees. Classical and modern management thinkers have listed money and a variety of socio-psychological factors as a source of motivation. Motivation also helps to build teams and perform better. Teamwork is another essential part of management. A manager is the undisputed leader of a team. He delegates work to his sub-ordinates, assigns tasks, creates plans and makes decisions. An autocratic manager would do all the above functions by himself. It is not desirable in an effective organizational system. On the other hand, an efficient manager would tend to be a little autocratic in his functions, because of the limited resources available and some other constraints. It is however better for an organization to be more democratic for proper functioning. Importance Managing effectively and efficiently is the way to go about in business. Efficient business tactics would help to know how to deal with finance and personnel in a more productive way. Most successful businesses in the world today are rather efficient than effective. Efficient management practices provide increased sustainability and stability in an organization. It involves novelty in management practices and output. An effective management system takes a long time to fully materialize. It has more to do with the long-term vision of an organization than its present objectives. Effective management also involves setting time benchmarks within the organization, so that a given objective gets completed within a set time. Traditional management practices are usually followed, and the manager sets up an instructional framework within which the sub-ordinates are expected to follow. An effective management system, summarily can be defined as, one which Raises productivity Increases work output from sub-ordinates Functions within a set of rules and regulations Works in a more democratic manner Builds teamwork and effective communication channels A good manager, therefore is one who works both efficiently and effectively simultaneously. It is imperative that he does work in a more systematic manner and adapts himself depending on the organizational situation and environment. What an organization / business would need is an effective mechanism and an efficient output.

The Career of Respiratory Therapist Essay -- essays research papers

Respiratory Therapist Respiratory care makes a difference. And there are reasons why a Respiratory Therapist would be a great job. A guest speaker came into our class to explain more about the job. He explained education requirements, the job description, and the job opportunities. Education requirements, is what a student needs to reach the goal of becoming a respiratory therapist. There are a total of 379 respiratory technician colleges/universities in the U.S. Such as, IUP, CCAC, and many more. For a Respiratory Therapist the most you need is a Bachelor?s Degree, which takes 4 years. For this major you, there is Technical School(1+year), Associate Degree(2 years), and Bachelor?s Degree(4 years). Then the degree you end up with is a Bachelor?s Degree. Then there?s further detail about the job itself. There are many responsibilities in being a Respiratory Therapist. Which include, performing diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Diagnostic procedures are the arterial blood gas analysis, pulmonary function studies, sleep studies, and more. Therapeutic procedures a...

Diabetes Mellitus (DM)

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a chronic disorder of impaired carbohydrate, protein, and lipid metabolism that is caused by a deficiency of insulin. A deficiency of insulin results in hyperglycemia. Type 1 DM is nearly absolute deficiency of insulin; if insulin is not given, fats are metabolized, resulting in ketoanemia. Type 2 DM is a relative lack of insulin or resistance to the action of insulin; usually insulin is insufficient to stabilize fat and protein metabolism but not deal with carbohydrate metabolism. (Silvestri, 2006, p. 638)There are a lot of people who are diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus. Contributing factors to the development of diabetes are hereditary, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, high fat low fiber diets, hypertension and aging. There is no cure for this disease but continuous studies and research have offered effective medical management therefore giving patients options as to which treatment are they willing and capable to maintain. Physicians may advise patients to follow changes in their diet. Incorporate diet into individual client needs, lifestyle, and cultural and socioeconomic patterns.Exercise will also be included in the dietary adjustments. Physicians may prescribe oral medications and insulin according to patients needs. Clients should always monitor their blood glucose levels before meals, and before, during, and after exercise. This will give client awareness as to how they will deal with their insulin requirements. Insulin therapy should be carefully followed up and referred to a Diabetician. Clients, who can religiously follow administration of medications, maintain proper diet and exercise may lessen the complications of the disease or the treatment itself.Health is a priority so it is important to set appointments for annual physical exam. In this way we are aware of our medical status and we can prevent illnesses, if there is, from being grave. If in case diagnosed with DM or any disease, regular checkups must be done. And most importantly, one should be well educated regarding the disease and its treatment to avoid any risks that would threaten life. Silvestri L. A. (2006). Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination. Philippines: Elsevier, Inc.

Case analysis of Barsetshire County Council (BCC) Essay

The case analysis of Barsetshire County Council (BCC) implies the need for the organizational and managerial change that it felt necessary and the aftermath of implementing the changes. As a public service organization the BCC felt that power should be devolved to the middle management and the change of organizational structure is necessary to meet the uprising demand of services by the locality and to effectively run the activities through out various departments. According to Weber’s analysis of bureaucracy, it is an omnipresent form of administration in modern society, where power and decision making authorities are held by the higher level of the organization. Development in the early twentieth century in scientific management associated with names such as Taylor, Urwick and Fayol, gave great support for bureaucratic systems of organization for their efficiency, stability and the elimination of waste. The larger the organization, the greater the degree of bureaucratization (Dawson). BCC, one of the larger county councils, formed as a bureaucratic structured public service organization, having a large number of employees over 28,000. The new CE of the BCC realized that power should be devolved to the middle management. He felt that the change in organization and management was necessary to ensure effective strategy implementation. According Nadler and Tushman(1990) the executive is a critical actor in the drama of organizational change. As being a bureaucratic organization, the BCC teamed up with new management view to turn it to a flexible, organic organization, which is more adaptable to new and unstable conditions (Burns, 1963). Now days it is obvious that, the very ability of an organization to survive will depend on its ability to master the process of change (Iverson 1996; kanter et al. 1992; Zimmerman 1991) .The situations that triggered this organizational change in BCC were referred as, though the organization was run by high professional philosophy, the business was not aimed at customer need and demands. But which is vital as a public service organization. Shortage of resources was also a norm in BCC and it was under tighter control of upper level management. And these all resulted from the narrow span of control, too many hierarchical steps of management and tightly prescribed role. It is necessary to explain here the term ‘Devolved management’. It means empowering the management team in an organization in decision making and taking initiatives as necessary and required for the operation of the organization. The situation is opposed to mechanistic systems; where decision making authority flows down from top to bottom manner, but more towards organismic system, which refers to more adaptive and lateral in environment (Burns, 1963). Thus the necessity of changes in the BCC was widely disseminated to the middle mangers and the key factors of the changes were widely emphasized. These key factors of organizational changes will be described shortly. Strategic management is the set of decisions and actions used to formulate and implement strategies that will provide a competitive superior fit between the organization and its environment as to achieve organizational goals (Prescot, 1986). Before initiating an organizational change, certain strategic planning must be done to ensure the proper functionality of the changed management. The essence of formulating strategy is choosing how the organization will be different (Porter, 1996). A well defined strategy helps the organization to achieve core competency, synergy and value creation. A devolved management, as in the case of BCC, means giving more power to the middle level management, who are in charge for implementing overall strategies and policies defined by top managers. So, top level management’s responsibility is to define a clear strategy and lead the mid level mangers toward it. As a public organization like BCC, customer orientation is a vital issue. So strategy of the changed organization should comply with this. Leadership is reciprocal, occurring among people (Kouzes and posner, 1990) leadership is people activity, distinct from administrative paper shuffling or problem-solving activity. It is dynamic and involves the use of power. The goal of senior executives in many corporations today is not simply to wield power bit also to give it away to people who can get jobs done (Stewart, 1989). A devolved management enables the managers to become more focused about the goals and being empowered to take initiative they can practice the leadership role in doing things like entrepreneurship, risk taking and proactive. Which enable the organization to be more effective and help the employees to be customer centered. The need for organizational change in BCC emphasized this by devolving power to the middle management. An effective work force is an asset of an organization. The employee in an organization, which is flatter and practices Human relations approach, performs better than others. Training and development of employees represent a planned effort by an organization to facilitate employees learning of job related behaviors (Keys and Wolfe, 1988). Also performance related rewards encourage employees to increase their effectiveness. BCC initiated performance related pay for white collar staff as the requirement of its organization change. As it is assumed that, they (white collar staffs) have a purely calculative involvement with the organization; so remunerative power is used to obtain their compliance (Etzioni, 1975). Also enriched jobs improve employee motivation and satisfaction and the company gets benefited from higher long-term productivity, reduced costs and happier employees (Dalton, 1998). An organization’s structure is defined by how tasks are formally divided, grouped, and coordinated change agents can alter one or more of the key elements in an organization’s design. For an instance, departmental responsibilities can be removed, and span of control widened to make the organization flatter and less bureaucratic. In decentralized organization, having less hierarchy levels, decision authority is pushed downward to lower organization levels. Employees have their right to make decisions and to take initiative, which is the vital part of a devolved management. The organizations are now a days turning to Horizontal organizations. The vertical approach such as traditional functional structure does not work nay more, as tend is toward breaking down barriers between departments, and many companies are moving toward horizontal structure based on work processes rather than departmental functions (Hurwitz, 1996) Organizational culture refers to system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes a organization from others (Becker, 1982). It can act as a barrier to change as well. But the actions of top management have a major impact on the organizational culture (Hambrick and mason, 1984). In a flat dynamic organization, employees have their own say in decision making, initiate change and realize their accountability in their jobs, which are rare in bureaucratic hierarchical organization. In BCC, the top management identified that a new culture replacing the old one was necessary to initiate new devolved management. Now it is needed to evaluate whether the BCC was successful in implementing the changes. In a devolved management decision making power of the middle managers is more emphasized. Delegation, which means transfer of authority and responsibility to positions below the hierarchy also arise (Leana, 1986) in devolved management. It frees middle manger from seeking authority from the top level management whenever any situation needs instant attention. It also increases creativity and perception. As a result of devolution of management in BCC, the management of the Social service Department (SSD), the line mangers were given more power and control over decision making. That raised more accountability among the managers which enable the subordinates to reporting and justifying task outcomes to those above them in the chain of command (O’loughlin, 1990). In devolved management, the need for self esteem (Maslow, 1943) arises in empowered mangers. At also makes them running toward goal. Intentions to work toward a goal are a major source of work motivation (Locke, 1968). The performance of the managers ultimately increases. But too much accountability hampers the smooth functionalities of the managers. It creates hesitation and more complexity. It just like ‘Goal Blocking’- occurs a when person’s motivation has been aroused but attainment of goal is thwarted in some way. To maintain service, the managers need resources. The empowered management can use the allotted resource successfully despite scarcity. The mangers have more control and accountability in providing services as a result. In BSS after devolution, management properly focused on the needs of the client instead of resource led services customer oriented business was emphasized. Technology- driven workplace in which ideas, information, and relationships are becoming important, is the most dramatic element of organizational change. In BCC the introduction of computerized financial management enabled the mangers to increase decision making responsibilities in budgeting. But problem arises when top level management still have control on resource allocation after giving away the power to the middle level management to decide in using the recourses. It limits functionality. If mangers are given limited resources but are expected to improve work performance, it is a dilemma for the managers as the middle mangers of BCC faced after devolution. Moreover, the newly devolved management system had a good affect on specialists support staff of finance, personnel, and information departments. They were widely dispersed having their head of profession at the center to ensure proximity with the service and business needs instead of being centralized. This was a key feature of organizational change in BCC, ‘being close to the customers’. But some felt it as a predicament that, the communication gap was large as the specialist staffs were controlled centrally in pre-devolution period. So, still there remained some structural barriers in specialists’ service. The managers didn’t understand the activities of the specialist support staffs. Actually, though devolution evolved in SSD, the department of specialists was not ‘devolved’ fully. The devolution of management in BCC, specially in SSD (Social Service Department) was introduced both with the emergence of positive and negative aspects of it as every thing has those two sides naturally. But the balance on the positive side was far heavier than that of negative side. All middle mangers were happy (except few) with the new devolved management system, which empowered them to take decisions regarding their fields and to take initiative with out asking permission of higher authority. The accountability and the clarity aroused with in the employees. The efficiency of mangers to use the scarce resources according to the need and demand of consumers also increased. That means the mangers were becoming more responsive and cautious about the customers. The overall situation was improved in BCC after the devolution of power. But as the ‘dark side of the moon’, the devolved management faced some negative waves of thoughts from some mangers of BCC. They felt that, though they had been given additional responsibilities and decision making power, they had not been given the full authority. Some occurrences were opposed to the initiatives as the CE announced those to be needed for the organizational change and devolution of power to the middle management. Finally, it can be said that; the initiative and implementation of devolved management and organizational change for effective implementation of strategic planning in Barsetshire County Council (BCC), were totally appropriate as being public service organization. But in reality, fully devolved management cannot be possible for some factors. If the middle mangers are biased, or they are not totally focused on the goal, the devolved power they practice does not make any good to the organization. On the other hand if upper level management holds potential control over some major areas such as resource allocation of organization after devolution, when middle managers are expected to make decisions, major conflicts may likely arise between management team. Thus this will lead to frustration and job dissatisfaction among middle mangers. In a public service organization like BCC, consumer orientation is vital. So, upper level management and the middle level management’s dedication will be concentrated on achieving customer’s contention by providing required service. Even there is hoax about empowering mangers. Many empowerment initiatives fail to deliver their expected advantages and that employees can end up less committed than before (Cunningham and Hyman, 1999). Also empowerment may turn to disillusionment- because managers tend to assume that more interesting work is sufficient rewarding, they find themselves working much harder for the same remuneration (Cunningham et al, 1996). The introduction of Organizational development is then necessary for effective organizational change, which is a collection of planned- change interventions built on humanistic- democratic values that seek to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well-being (Porras and Robertson, 1992). Now a days more and more organization are turning to devolved management, the top level managers believe , this would make the subordinates more goal oriented and the barriers and conflicts between management level would be removed, thus the organization could turn into a learning organization. Barsettshire county counsil was not an exception to this. References: * Micheal E. Portar (1996), â€Å"What is Strategy?† Harvard Business Review, 61-68. * Michel G. O’Loughlin (1990), â€Å"What is Bureaucratic Accountability and How can we measure it?† Administration and society 22, Vol(3), 275-302. * Carrie R. Leana (1986), â€Å"Predictors and Consequences of Delegation†, Academy of management journal, Vol(29), 754-774. * Alan Hurwitz (1996), â€Å"Organizational structure for the new world order†, Business horizons (may-June), 5-14. * Bernard Keys and joseph Wolfe (1988), â€Å"Management Education and Development: current issues and emerging trends,† Journal of management, Vol(14), 205-229. * James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. posner (1990), â€Å"The credibility factor: what followers expect from their leaders†, Management review, January, 29-33. * Thomas A. Stewart (1989), â€Å"New ways to exercise power†, Fortune, November 6, 52-64. * Glenn L. Dalton (1998), â€Å"The collective stretch†, Management review, December, 54-59. * D.C Hambrick and P.A. Mason (1984), â€Å"Upper Echelons: The organization as a reflection of its top managers,† Academy of Management Review, April, 193-206. * Cunningham et al (1996), â€Å"Empowerment: The power to do what?†, Industrial Relations journal, vol(27), 143-54. Cunningham and Hayman (1999), â€Å"The poverty of empowerment? A critical case study†, Personal review , Vol (28), 192-207 Bibliography * Rollinson D. and Broadfield A.. (2002), â€Å"Organizational Behaviour and Analysis â€Å", 2nd edition, Pearson education. * Robbins S.(2001), â€Å"Organizational Behaviour†, prentice Hall: New Jersey. * Daft R. (2003), â€Å"Management†, 6th edition, , Thomson. * Soffer C.(1978), â€Å"Organizations in theory and practice†, Heinnman : London. * Dawson S.(1996), â€Å"Analyzing organizations†, 3rd edition, Macmillan.