Staff Relationships

• Line management describes the direct relationship between a manager and his/her subordinates.

• "Staff" relationships describes the indirect relationships between different functional departments where some interact in an advisory capacity with managers in other departments

Matrix Structure

Project Structures

• Similar as Matrix

• The emphasis is on multi-disciplinary teams involved in complex projects

• Few members drawn from lower and higher levels of specialists departments

• Disband when the project is completed

• Higher flexibility

Project Structures

• The structure of an organisation, then, is the formal pattern or framework of interactions and co-ordination designed by management to link the tasks of individuals and groups in the achievement of organisational goals.

• Mintzberg, identifies five key elements to an organisation'sstructure.

Elements

The virtual organization

• The possibility of international or global business for relatively small organisations

• Less need for office bound staff.

The virtual organization

CHANGE AND THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

What is change?

• Change = any situation where conditions differ from one time to another

• Development = planned change to accomplish objectives

• Change can be the result of many factors• The rate of change has never been greater

– internal and external environments are subject to constant change.

• To survive and prosper, every organisation must identify the changes that affect it and adjust its operations to maximise or minimise these effects as best as it can.

What are the Reasons why organizations need to change to

survive?• The external environment (PEST Analysis)

– What are the threats and opportunities from the external environment in the short and longer term?

– How can we minimise these threats?

– How can we take maximum advantage of the opportunities which may exist?

– What advantages do we have over our competitors and how do these changes help us?

– What are our limitations?

The PEST

• Political

– Organisations are influenced by politics, government policies, laws and other regulations

• Economic

– Firms operate in conditions of economic booms and lows (recession)

– Rates such as interest and tax change

– Investment levels go up and down.

The PEST …

• Social

– Organisational culture is affected by the culture of the society in which it operates.

– Changes in lifestyles affect the market not only employee.

– Social mobility, demography, family size, etc. have an effect on the human resources inputs and the market.

• Technological

How can the firm influence its external environment ?

• Plan ahead for foreseen threats and opportunities

• React quickly if changes happen suddenly?

• Use technology

• Corporate responsibility initiatives

• Marketing and other activities

How does the internal environment respond to change?

• Constantly monitor progress in achieving objectives– Changing the organisational structure, working procedures

and systems, and management methods

• Be aware of the areas in which change is most likely– Staffing levels

– Location of employment

– Working practices

• Change is best implemented incrementally– Small entrepreneurial vs big multi national

– Transformational change in bureaucratic organizations

Change and the context of the organization – Johnson and Scholes

MANAGING THE CHANGE PROCESS

Why does change often meet resistance?

• Fear of loosing power and authority

• Fear of loosing jobs, friends, status quo

• Uncertainty of the change results

Planning and Communication

• Resistant to change is a normal human behavior• A change manager must have skills to minimize

resistance by proper planning and communication– Involve other managers such as the HRM– Effectively communicate

• The reasons for change must be communicated effectively by focusing on the main points

• Communicate points in a manner that indicates their significance and

• acknowledges the challenges for all involved in the organization• Make communication two-way by involving all employees in

planning the change itself.

– Union representatives need to be involved as early as possible

• Communication channels for change

– Group meetings

– One-to-one sessions

– Online questionnaires

– Telephone and video conferencing

– Traditional written mechanisms such as memos, circulars and using notice boards

• Disadvantages of using written mechanisms

– They are impersonal and make the employee feel isolated from the change

– They can cause low esteem and alienation if their opinions and feelings seem not relevant.

• Therefore , where proposed changes are significant and particularly when they involve complex issues, the use of memos and notices should be minimised

Change Models

• Schein's "unfreeze-change-refreeze" model• Lewin’s "force field analysis" model

– Driving forces vs Restraining forces– There are two ways to deal with change:

• Strengthen driving forces– Encourage those who are associated with it– Educate those who are against it

• Weaken restraining forces– Win over opponents through change agents– Buy them off through the offering of concessions– Involve them in participation principles such as quality circles– Use management position and powers to convince opponents

into accepting change

• Never force change

• Eliminate or weaken restrainning forces first

• Increasing driving forces before reducing restraining forces often increases the restraining forces in reaction

The role of change agents

• New CEO and/or senior managers are recruited to effect change

• Ensure that the conditions are right for the change agent to have the desired effect

Change agent programmes

• Some companies develop change agent programmes where they bring together a group of people who are given specific training and tasks to assist the organisation in making the planned change

• Change agents are not limited by the traditional organisational structure

• They implement new processes, directly or indirectly, train employees on new procedures and act as role models to demonstrate new and better ways to work

Change agents programmerequirements

• Careful recruitment and development of personnel

• Close integration between the change agent team and the organisational areas targeted for transformation

• Highly detailed programme design

Stakeholders and change

• Managers

• Employees

• Customers

• Shareholders

• The community

STRATEGIC CHOICES

CHAP 3

THE LIFE CYCLE CONCEPT

THE NATURE OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

• Every organisation’s decisions are influenced by a number of factors:– Its purpose

– The external environment

– The internal environment

– The stage in its life cycle.

• Strategic management is concerned with deciding on the organisation’s long term goal and making choices about how to achieve that goal within the parameters in which it is working

The Strategic Planning Format