BB0031 - Management development

Feb drive 2011

Bachelor of Business Administration-BBA Semester 6

BB0031 - Management development (4 Credits )

Marks 60

Q.1 Explain the features of Management.

Ans : Features of management:

1. Multi-disciplinary approach:

Management has grown as a separate discipline drawing upon the knowledge and skills of various disciplines like economics, commerce, cooperation, finance, political science, sociology, statistics, demography, quantitative techniques, engineering, ecology, geography, biology, etc.

2. Dynamic and relative principles:

Management principles and systems are dynamic, open, progressive and flexible in nature-not rigid, closed or absolute. They can be adapted or modified to suit the requirements of different types of organizations and changed situations.

3. Organized activity:

Management is not an isolated activity but is essentially a team­work in formally organized groups.

4. Existence of objective:

Determination of organizational objectives and their accomplishment form the core of managerial activity.

5. Working with and through people:

Management is essentially leading, guiding, developing and motivating people to effective performance for attainment of common goals.

6. Integration of resources:

Management is integrating and balancing of all resources- both material and human-for their optimum utilization, so as to achieve effective results.

7. Management- Both a Science and an Art:

Management is a science because it consists of an organized knowledge and systematic body of principles. It is, however, a combination of social sciences and behavioral sciences, not an exact science like the physical or natural sciences.

8. Management a profession:

Management has now emerged as a profession as managers, to be effective, must acquire the basic professional knowledge and skill in managing, through formal management education or management training; develop the right managerial attitude, sense of professional responsibility and service motive follow the professional code of ethics; and associate themselves with professional management associations or institutions.

9. University of Management:

The basic process and the principles of management are applicable in all situations, in different organizations and countries, with such modifications as deemed necessary.

10. Management both a technical and a social process:

Management integrates, in all its decisions and actions, the technical and the social aspects, the economic and the human aspects of the organization.

11. Management includes administration:

Although different authors have expressed different views about the use of these two terms and many of them have mentioned several points of distinction or difference between them, for all practical purposes, management and administration are considered as the same - with regard to responsibilities, tasks and process.

12. Management a multi-purpose organ:

Management is a "multi-purpose organ" of a business enterprise (which is itself a specific organ of a industrial society") that "manages a business, manages managers, manages workers and work" to quote the inimitable words of Peter Drucker, "If one of them were omitted, we would not have management anymore and we also would not have a business enterprise or an intestinal society".

Q.2 Discuss the kinds of plans.

Ans : Types of plans:

Planning is a process and plan is its outcome. Plan is a sort of commitment to accomplish all the activities needed for the attainment of special results, from this point of view there are many plans. The following study will help in understanding different kinds of plans.

1.Objectives:

objectives are those end points for the attainment of which all the activities are Undertaken.

Following are the examples of objectives:

(I )To improve the communication system to hold regular staff meeting and publish a newsletter.

(2)To cross the 20,0 00 crore mark in turnover of soaps.

2. Strategies:

Strategies refer to those plans which are prepared in view of the move of the competitors and whose objective is to make possible the optimum utilization of resources.

3. Policies:

Policies are those general statements which are decided for the guidance of the employees while taking decision. Their purpose is laying down a limit within which a particular work can be done or decision taken. Objectives decide what is to be achieved and the policies tell us how it can be achieved.

4.Procedures :

Procedures are those plans which determine the sequence of any work performance. For example, the recovery of money from the debtors can be done in the following order:

(a)Writing letters, (b) connecting on telephone, (c) Meeting personally,(d0 taking legal action.

This is the procedure of collecting money from all the debtors. There is a difference between policies and procedures.

5. methods:

Methods is that plan which determines how different activities of the procedure are completed. Methods is not related to all steps but only to one step of the procedure . it is more detailed than procedure . there may be many methods to do a particular work. After extensive study, a method has to be selected from which a worker feels minimum fatique, increase in productivity and there is reduction in costs.

6 Rules:

Rules till us what is to be done and what is not to be done in particular situation. In the absence of rules there is no need to take any decision. Whatever is said in the rules has to be followed without any thinking. For example, the rule “ No smoking in the factory “is applicable to everybody and it must be observed. Provision for punishment in case of non-observing of the rule can also be made.

7.Budget:

Budgets describe the desired results in numerical terms. A budget is that planning which provides detailers about estimated money, material time and other resources for the achievement of pre determined objectives of various departments. For example, the sales department’s budget gives estimated figures about the type of material that will be purchased, its quantity, the time of purchase and the amount to be spent on it. Similarly, budget of other departments are also prepared. 

Q.3  Explain various objectives of coordination.

Ans : Co-ordination means to integrate (bring together) all the activities of an organisation. It is done for achieving the goals of the organisation. There must be proper co-ordination throughout the organisation.The synchronization and integration of activities, responsibilities, and command and control structures to ensure that the resources of an organization are used most efficiently in pursuit of the specified objectives. Along with organizing, monitoring, and controlling, coordinating is one of the key functions of management.

1. Coordination encourages team spirit:-

There exist many conflicts and rivalries between individuals, departments, between a line and staff, etc. Similarly, conflicts are also between individual objectives and organisational objectives. Coordination arranges the work and the objectives in such a way that there are minimum conflicts and rivalries. It encourages the employees to work as a team and achieve the common objectives of the organisation. This increases the team spirit of the employees.

2. Coordination gives proper direction:-

There are many departments in the organisation. Each department performs different activities. Coordination integrates (bring together) these activities for achieving the common goals or objectives of the organisation. Thus, coordination gives proper direction to all the departments of the organisation.

3. Coordination facilitates motivation:-

Coordination gives complete freedom to the employees. It encourages the employees to show initiative. It also gives them many financial and non-financial incentives. Therefore, the employees get job satisfaction, and they are motivated to perform better.

4. Coordination makes optimum utilisation of resources:-

Coordination helps to bring together the human and materials resources of the organisation. It helps to make optimum utilisation of resources. These resources are used to achieve the objectives of the organisation. Coordination also minimise the wastage of resources in the organisation.

5. Coordination helps to achieve objectives quickly:-

Coordination helps to minimise the conflicts, rivalries, wastages, delays and other organisational problems. It ensures smooth working of the organisation. Therefore, with the help of coordination an organisation can achieve its objectives easily and quickly.

6. Coordination improves relations in the organization:-

The Top Level Managers co-ordinates the activities of the Middle Level Managers and develops good relations with them. Similarly, the Middle Level Managers co-ordinates the activities of the Lower Level Managers and develops good relations with them. Also, the Lower Level Managers co-ordinates the activities of the workers and develops good relations with them. Thus, coordination overall improves the relations in the organisation.

7. Coordination leads to higher efficiency:-

Efficiency is the relationship between Returns and Cost. There will be higher efficiency when the returns are more and the cost is less. Since coordination leads to optimum utilisation of resources it results in more returns and low cost. Thus, coordination leads to higher efficiency.

8. Coordination improves goodwill of the organization:-

Coordination helps an organisation to sell high quality goods and services at lower prices. This improves the goodwill of the organisation and helps it earn a good name and image in the market and corporate world.

Q.4 Write a note on Human Relations School of Management.

Ans : The human relations approach can also be seen as a response to a highly charged and polarized social climate in which labor and management were viewed as fundamentally opposed to one another, and communism was seen as a very real and immediate danger to the social order -- the notion of class struggle propounded by Marxist theorists was taken very seriously. By focusing on the extent to which workers and managers shared economic interests in the success of the organization, the human relations approach can be seen as an attempt to move beyond the class struggle idea. Of course, the human relations approach (which really emerged in the late 1930s) was made possible by the fairly coercive suppression of the most radical organized labor movements. The sidebar describes one such movement, and is provided in order to indicate the social climate extant in the period immediately preceding the emergence of the human relations approach.

In essence, the human relations approach sees the organization as a cooperative enterprise wherein worker morale is a primary contributor to productivity, and so seeks to improve productivity by modifying the work environment to increase morale and develop a more skilled and capable worker.

The basic principles of the human relations approach are as follows:

(1) Decentralization :

The strict notion of hierarchy employed by classical management theorists is replaced with the idea that individual workers and functional areas (i.e., departments) should be given greater autonomy and decision-making power. This requires greater emphasis on lateral communication so that coordination of efforts and resources can occur. This communication occurs via informal communication channels rather than the formal, hierarchical ones.

(2) Participatory Decision-Making :

Decision-making is participatory in the sense that those making decisions on a day-to-day basis include line workers not normally considered to be "management." The greater autonomy afforded individual employees -- and the subsequent reduction in "height" and increase in span of control of the organizational structure -- requires that they have the knowledge and ability to make their own decisions and the communication skill to coordinate their efforts with others without a nearby supervisor.

(3) Concern for Developing Self-Motivated Employees :

The emphasis on a system of decentralized and autonomous decision-making by members of the organization requires that those members be highly "self-motivated" (that is, able to set their own task-related goals and monitor their own performance in achieving them). So one goal of managers in such an organization is to design and implement organizational structures that reward such self-motivation and autonomy. Another is to negotiate working relationships with subordinates that foster effective communication in both directions.

Thus, the human relations approach suggests changes in the structure of the organization itself, in the nature of work, and in the relationship between supervisor and subordinate. Each of these changes relies upon assumptions about the individual, the organization, and communication , just like any other theory of organizations.

Q.5  Discuss the various kinds of decisions.

Ans : There are many types of decisions which would be required to make as a manager. Three most widely recognised classifications are:

1. Personal and Organisational Decisions

2. Basic and Routine Decisions

3. Programmed and Non-programmed Decisions

1. Personal and Organisational Decisions :-

the basic difference between Personal and Organisational decisions is that "personal decisions cannot ordinarily be delegated to others, whereas organisational decisions can often if not always be delegated"  .Thus, the manager makes organisational decisions that attempt to achieve organisational goals and personal decisions that attempt to achieve personal goals. The personal decisions can affect the organisation, as in the case of a senior manager deciding to resign. However, if we analyse a decision, we may find that the distinctions between personal and organisational decisions are a matter of degree. We are, to some extent, personally involved in any organisational decision that we make and we need to resolve the conflicts that might arise between organisational and personal goals.

2. Basic and Routine Decisions :-

Another common way of classifying types of decisions is according to whether they are basic or routine. Basic decisions are those which are unique, one-time decisions involving long-range commitments of relative permanence or duration, or those involving large investments. Examples of basic decisions in a business firm include plant location, organisation structure, wage negotiations, product line, etc. In other words, most top management policy decisions can be considered as basic decisions. Routine decisions are at the opposite extreme from basic decisions. They are the everyday, highly repetitive, management decisions which by themselves have little impact on the overall organisation. However, taken together, routine decisions play a tremendously important role in the success of an organisation. Examples of, routine' decisions are an accountant's decision on a new entry, a production supervisor’s decision to appoint a new worker, and a salesperson's decision on what territory to cover. Obviously, a very large proportion of the decisions made in an organisation are of the routine variety. However, the exact proportion of basic to routine types depends on the level of the organisation  which the decisions are made.

3. Programmed and Non-programmed Decisions:-

The difference between Programmed (routine, repetitive) decisions and Non-programmed (unique, one-shot) decisions. While programmed decisions are typically handled through structured or bureaucratic techniques (standard operating procedures), non-programmed decisions must be made by managers using available information and their own judgement. As is often the case with managers, however, decisions are made under the pressure of time.

An important principle of organisation design that relates to managerial decision making is Gresham's Law of Planning. This law states that there is a general tendency for programmed activities to overshadow non-programmed activities. Hence, if we have a series of decisions to make, those that are more routine and repetitive will tend to be made before the ones that are unique and require considerable thought.

Q.6  Write a note on Internal and External sources of recruitment.

Ans : Definition of Recruitment:

“Recruitment Is The Process Of Finding And Attracting Capable Applicants For Employment. The Process Begins When New Recruits Are Sought And Ends When Their Applications Are Submitted. The Result Is A Pool Of Application From Which New Employees Are Selected.”

Meaning Of Recruitment:

Recruitment Is Understood As The Process Of Searching For And Obtaining Applicants For Jobs; From Among Them The Right People Can Be Selected. Though Theoretically Recruitment Process Is Said To End With The Receipt Of Applications, In Practice The Activity Extends To The Screening Of Applications So As To Eliminate Those Who Are Not Qualified For The Job.

Internal Sources of Recruitment

The internal sources of recruitment are:-

1.Promotions :

Promotion means to give a higher position, status, salary and responsibility to the employee. So, the vacancy can be filled by promoting a suitable candidate from the same organisation.

2.Transfers :

Transfer means a change in the place of employment without any change in the position, status, salary and responsibility of the employee. So, the vacancy can be filled by transferring a suitable candidate from the same organisation.

3.Internal Advertisements :

Here, the vacancy is advertised within the organisation. The existing employees are asked to apply for the vacancy. So, recruitment is done from within the organisation.

4.Retired Managers :

Sometimes, retired managers may be recalled for a short period. This is done when the organisation cannot find a suitable candidate.

5.Recall from Long Leave :

The organisation may recall a manager who has gone on a long leave. This is done when the organisation faces a problem which can only be solved by that particular manager. After he solves the problem, his leave is extended.

External Sources of Recruitment:

1.Management Consultants :

Management consultants are used for selecting higher-level staff. They act as a representative of the employer. They make all the necessary arrangements for recruitment and selection. In return for their services, they take a service charge or commission.

2.Public Advertisements :

The Personnel department of a company advertises the vacancy in newspapers, the internet, etc. This advertisement gives information about the company, the job and the required qualities of the candidate. It invites applications from suitable candidates. This source is the most popular source of recruitment. This is because it gives a very wide choice. However, it is very costly and time consuming.

3.Campus Recruitment :

The organisation conducts interviews in the campuses of Management institutes and Engineering Colleges. Final year students, who're soon to get graduate, are interviewed. Suitable candidates are selected by the organisation based on their academic record, communication skills, intelligence, etc. This source is used for recruiting qualified, trained but inexperienced candidates.

4.Recommendations :

The organisation may also recruit candidates based on the recommendations received from existing managers or from sister companies.

5.Deputation Personnel :

The organisation may also recruit candidates who are sent on deputation by the Government or Financial institutions or by holding or subsidiary companies.