MUSINGS

theory x ('authoritarian management' style) The average person dislikes work and will avoid it he/she can. Therefore most people must be forced with the threat of punishment to work towards organisational objectives. The average person prefers to be directed; to avoid responsibility; is relatively unambitious, and wants security above all else. theory y ('participative management' style) Effort in work is as natural as work and play. People will apply self-control and self-direction in the pursuit of organisational objectives, without external control or the threat of punishment. Commitment to objectives is a function of rewards associated with their achievement. People usually accept and often seek responsibility. The capacity to use a high degree of imagination, ingenuity and creativity in solving organisational problems is widely, not narrowly, distributed in the population. In industry the intellectual potential of the average person is only partly u...

What do people want from their jobs? Do they just want a higher salary? Or do they want security, good relationships with co-workers, opportunities for growth and advancement – or something else altogether? The psychologist Fredrick Herzberg asked the same question in the 1950s and 60s as a means of understanding employee satisfaction. He set out to determine the effect of attitude on motivation, by asking people to describe situations where they felt really good, and really bad, about their jobs. What he found was that people who felt good about their jobs gave very different responses from the people who felt bad. These results form the basis of Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory (sometimes known as Herzberg's Two Factor Theory). Published in his famous article, "One More Time: How do You Motivate Employees," the conclusions he drew were extraordinarily influential, and still form the bedrock of good motivational practice nearly half a century later. Moti...

Hunger, thirst, security, friendship, respect and being all that you can be are just some of the things that motivate us to take action. This lesson helps us to further understand these needs and how they motivate behavior by showing where they fall in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Needs Theory of Motivation Effectively motivating employees has long been one of management's most important and challenging duties.  Motivation  refers to the psychological processes that stimulate excitement and persistence of voluntary actions aimed at some goal. Because motivation can be highly individualized, managers use a wide range of techniques to keep their employees motivated and happy. Therefore, it is essential for managers to understand the psychological processes involved in motivation so that they can effectively direct employees towards organizational goals. Needs theories  attempt to identify internal factors that motivate an individual's behavior and are based on the ...

Group Definition:  In the setting of an organisation, a group is the collection of people who are located, grouped or gathered together, either by classification or in a more general sense. People are often put in groups, such as a department, or groups are created by the same culture or objectives within an organisation. A group is a number of people who; interact with each other; are psychologically aware of each other; perceive themselves aware of each other; or perceive themselves to be a group. Types of Groups There are two types of groups an individual forms. They are formal groups and informal groups. Let us know about these two groups. Formal Groups These are the type of work groups created by the organization and have designated work assignments and rooted tasks. The behavior of such groups is directed toward achieving organizational goals. These can be further classified into two sub-groups − Command group  − It is a group consisting of indiv...

An organization can be  structured  in various ways that determine how it operates and performs. The network structure is a newer type of organizational structure often viewed as less hierarchical (i.e., more flat), more decentralized, and more flexible than other structures. In this structure, managers coordinate and control relations that are both internal and external to the firm. The concept underlying the network structure is the social network—a social structure of interactions. At the organizational level, social networks can include intra-organizational or inter-organizational ties representing either formal or  informal relationships. At the industry level, complex networks can include technological and  innovation  networks that may span several geographic areas and organizations. From a  management  perspective, the network structure is unique among other organizational structures that focus on the internal dynamics within the f...