AboutLeo Lingham Expertise In Managing a business, I can cover all aspects of running
a business--business planning, business development, business auditing, business communication, operation management, human
resources management , training, etc.
Experience 18 years of working management experience covering such areas
as business planning, business development, strategic planning,
marketing, management services, personnel administration.
PLUS
24 years of management consulting which includes business planning, strategic planning, marketing, product management, training, business coaching etc.
Please help me to solve the following questions. I am an employee and MBA student,as part of my MBA I am having a question as a part of Course. i know you are only the kind person who can help me to solve the following question.
thank you very much for your kind help
have a wonderful time
DAVID
1 – Define the term manager. How is it defined in this chapter? What would you add or delete if creating your own definition? (Taken from Chapter” THE MANAGER’S JOB”)
2 – Would you be satisfied as a telecommuter? Why or why not?
3 – How can you use the information in this chapter to help you achieve your career and personal goals? (Taken from Chapter” Essentials Planning”)
4 – Suppose a company CEO appears to be an ineffective performer because he or she bullies and sexually harasses employees. Who should deal with this problem, and what approach should be taken?
5 – Which of the motivation theories or methods described in this chapter do you think would have the most relevance for motivating executives? Explain you reasoning. ((Taken from Chapter” Motivation”)
6 – How much freedom ought to be given to employers in conducting monitoring and surveillance? How does surveillance of user activity complement and contrast with policy enforcement tools that block undesired activity?
Answer DAVID,
HERE IS SOME USEFUL MATERIAL.
REGARDS
LEO LINGHAM
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1 – Define the term manager. How is it defined in this chapter? What would you add or delete if creating your own definition? (Taken from Chapter” THE MANAGER’S JOB”)
MANAGER - IS AN INDIVIDUAL WHO IS RESPONSIBLE
FOR THE MAINTENANCE, ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT
OF THE RESOURCES [ human / material/ finance ] OF THE ORGANIZATION
and PRODUCES AN OUTCOME [ product or service ]
\
What are the managerial functions ?
MANAGERIAL FUNCTION is the process of getting activities completed efficiently and effectively with and through other people.
using the Management functions of :
-PLANNING
-ORGANIZING
-STAFFING
-DIRECTING
-COORDINATING
-CONTROLLING
-REPORTING
-BUDGETING
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CHECKLIST OF ROUTINE MANAGERIAL DUTIES
*Analyze, on a periodic basis, workload and personnel needs of an organizational unit.
*Recommend changes in the staff level of the work unit.
*Review documentation for new positions and positions that have been revised.
*Obtain approval to modify positions.
*Interview candidates for employment and make hiring decision or recommendations.
*Orient new subordinates concerning policy and procedures, work rules, and performance expectation
levels. Review position responsibilities.
*Plan, delegate, communicate and control work assignments and special projects concerning
subordinates.
*Establish and maintain specific work goals and objectives or quantitative and qualitative work standards
to be achieved by subordinates.
*Train, develop, and motivate subordinates to improve current performance and to prepare for higher‑ level
jobs.
*Determine significant changes in responsibilities and major duties of subordinates by reviewing their job
responsibilities on a regular basis.
*Evaluate the performance of subordinates. Document and discuss present and past
*performance with each direct report. Keep supervisor informed of results.
*Review salaries of subordinates and recommend changes according to policy and procedures.
*Recommend personnel actions such as promotions, performance awards, demotions, etc., according
to budget guidance and policy.
*Advise superiors and subordinates of developments that impact job duties. Ensure proper
communications.
*Maintain discipline, recommend and administer corrective action according to policy and procedures.
*Communicate and administer personnel programs in accordance with design and objectives.
*Maintain proper documentation on all subordinates.
*Direct the business activities of the company for the achievement of short and long term business/policy objectives, increased profit, production activity, or market share.
*Establish the business's objectives, policies and programmes within the context of the overall Corporate plan and, where appropriate, recommend standards and set targets (may include manufacturing, sales, marketing, distribution and administration).
*Prepare, or arrange for the preparation of the business's budgets, reports and forecasts, and ensure they are presented in a timely manner to the MANAGEMENT.
*Appraise the activities of the BUSINESS according to overall strategies and objectives, and monitor and evaluate branch and division performance, the efficiency of staff, procedures and production costs.
*Co‑ordinate subordinate staff to optimise the use of human and material resources to achieve goals. Consult with subordinate staff and review recommendations and reports.
*Oversee the development and implementation of all BUSINESS activities including production, distribution and sales, to protect the funds invested.
*Plan and review the BUSINESS operating costs particularly with regard to production, output, quality and quantity, cost, time available, labour requirements, planned production programmes and control activities, inventory levels, freight and advertising.
*Direct the preparation of marketing plans, key customer strategies and sales forecasts recommended by subordinate managers and ensure adequate support is provided in all branches/areas.
*Control use of production plant facilities by planning maintenance, designating operating hours and supply of parts and tools.
*Direct research into new and improved production methods and products, changes in selling policies, and other areas necessary to ensure the continued growth of the business.
*Select, or approve the selection and training of senior staff. Establish lines of control and delegate responsibilities to staff.
*Provide overall direction and management of the business, including personnel, technological resources and assets. Maintain necessary contact with major suppliers, customers, industry associations and government representatives to achieve the objectives of the business.
*Ensure all the business's activities comply with relevant Acts, legal demands and ethical standards.
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The three parts are:
achieving the task
managing the team or group
managing individuals
***Your responsibilities as a manager for achieving the TASK are:
identify aims and vision for the group, purpose, and direction - define the activity (the task)
identify resources, people, processes, systems and tools (inc. financials, communications, IT)
create the plan to achieve the task - deliverables, measures, timescales, strategy and tactics
establish responsibilities, objectives, accountabilities and measures, by agreement and delegation
set standards, quality, time and reporting parameters
control and maintain activities against parameters
monitor and maintain overall performance against plan
report on progress towards the group's aim
review, re-assess, adjust plan, methods and targets as necessary
***Your responsibilities as a manager for theGroup / team are:
establish, agree and communicate standards of performance and behaviour
establish style, culture, approach of the group - soft skill elements
monitor and maintain discipline, ethics, integrity and focus on objectives
anticipate and resolve group conflict, struggles or disagreements
assess and change as necessary the balance and composition of the group
develop team-working, cooperation, morale and team-spirit
develop the collective maturity and capability of the group - progressively increase group freedom and authority
encourage the team towards objectives and aims - motivate the group and provide a collective sense of purpose
identify, develop and agree team- and project-leadership roles within group
enable, facilitate and ensure effective internal and external group communications
identify and meet group training needs
give feedback to the group on overall progress; consult with, and seek feedback and input from the group
***Your responsibilities as a manager for each INDIVIDUAL are:
understand the team members as individuals - personality, skills, strengths, needs, aims and fears
assist and support individuals - plans, problems, challenges, highs and lows
identify and agree appropriate individual responsibilities and objectives
give recognition and praise to individuals - acknowledge effort and good work
where appropriate reward individuals with extra responsibility, advancement and status :
To meet the many demands of performing their functions, managers assume multiple roles. A role is an organized set of behaviors. There are ten roles common to the work of all managers. The ten roles are divided into three groups:
interpersonal, informational, and decisional.
1.The informational roles link all managerial work together.
2.The interpersonal roles ensure that information is provided.
3.The decisional roles make significant use of the information.
The performance of managerial roles and the requirements of these roles can be played at different times by the same manager and to different degrees depending on the level and function of management. The ten roles are described individually, but they form an integrated whole.
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2 – Would you be satisfied as a telecommuter? Why or why not?
I would be very satisfied with telecommuting,
as there are many advanatages.
1. Conserving Energy
Although energy utilization will continue to grow as we expand our industry and improve our standard of living, efficient use of energy will always be of prime importance. By telecommuting to work instead of using more conventional methods, there is a great potential to save energy. The three major areas where energy can be conserved are:
Vehicle-related materials and resources;
Highway-related materials and resources; and
Office-related materials and resources.
A tremendous amount of energy is required to produce transportation equipment such as automobiles, buses, trains and jet aircraft. If telecommuting is promoted, there will be less use of this equipment and less energy will be required for production, maintenance and repair of this equipment. Fuel resources needed to operate this equipment will be reduced, as well The building and repair of highways and maintenance requires a large consumption of energy, not only in the operation of the highway construction and repair equipment, but also in the manufacture and transportation of the required materials. An increase in the percentage of people telecommuting to work will decrease the need for expanded highways and associated road maintenance. The first two areas related to getting to work. Once a person arrives at work in a central office location, he or she represents another energy consumer, often times magnified many times over what would be required at home. The office building has heating, cooling and lighting needs, and the materials to build it and maintain it require energy in their production and transportation. Working from home requires only modest incremental demands on energy for heating, cooling and lighting needs, and makes effective use of existing building space and facilities.
2. Preserves Our Environment by reducing land use requirements for highway expansion and by reducing slow-moving automobile emissions. Highways and parking lots are continuing to consume large quantities of our land surface area. If a larger percentage of people telecommuted to work, existing highways could be reduced in size and parking lots could be converted to parks. One of the largest sources of pollution is the automobile. This is especially true of slow-moving automobiles that often exist in heavy, congested rush hour traffic. Of course, one solution to this problem is increasing the size and number of our roads, but an even better solution is to encourage those who can to telecommute, so we will not need additional highways, parking lots, and airports in the future. And, when we do choose to drive our cars, it will be in fresh air, on less crowded streets, when we are not in a hurry to get somewhere.
3. Promotes Safety by reducing highway use by people rushing to get to work. There are thousands of traffic-related deaths every year and thousands more people severely injured trying to get to work. In addition there is substantial property loss associated with traffic accidents that occur as people take chances in order to make the mad dash from home to the office. Often times people have made the trip so often that they are not really alert, often fall asleep and frequently become impatient by traffic jambs and slower travelers. More and more people are becoming frustrated by the insistence that they come into the office every day, when, in fact most, if not all of their work could be accomplished from their home or sites much closer to their home.
4. Improves Health by reducing stress related to compromises made between Family and Work. The stress associated with commuting back and forth to work away from the home is real, and telecommuting offers a renewed opportunity for workers to rediscover the joys of working from their homes. This is a rediscovery, because centuries ago it was commonplace for "cottage industries" to exist where work was produced in ones home, often times incorporating the talents of the entire family in producing a product. With advanced telecommunications technology a large segment of our workers can return to this mode of "work-at-home" productivity not compromising either their Family living or their Job productivity.
5. Allows closer proximity to and involvement with family. Working in the home offers people a greater opportunity to share quality time with family members, to promote family values and develop stronger family ties and unity. Also, time saved through telecommuting could be spent with family members constructively in ways that promote and foster resolution of family problems. The strength of a society derives from the strength of its individuals and the strength of its individuals often times derives from the strength of their families.
6. Allows proximity to extended family (location where employee has "roots"). There are a wide range of scenarios that constitute what is best for any given individual or any given family. However, often times people are forced to leave a community where they grew up and have a large extended family of parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles and all sorts of family relations. Many people long for the opportunity to return "home" where they can spend their lives with old friends and family. While this is not true for some people, there are a large number of people who stand to enhance the quality of life through the flexibility that telecommuting offers. Through telecommuting, a person can work for a company in one part of the world, while living in another.
7. Allows selection of a remote worksite that is mutually acceptable to all family members and allows spouse an opportunity to pursue his/her career. How many times have you seen the situation where a husband or wife has a job opportunity in another town and must choose between the new opportunity and no opportunity, because their spouse does not want to or cannot change employment? If either person could telecommute, the decision is much easier, allowing for a more congenial relationship and reducing the potential stress and possible breakup of a relationship.
8. Allows employee freedom to choose an environment that is more suitable from a social and economic standpoint and to live in an area with people of common interests. For couples as well as singles, people who can telecommute do not have to quit their jobs and move, when they determine they are not compatible with the town they are living in. This occurs often, following a divorce or when a single person discovers an incompatibility with the area surrounding his or her employers business. Telecommuting affords an employee the freedom to look for another place to live, where he or she can feel comfortable both from a social, as well as an economic standpoint and live near people that have common interests. All this, while remaining loyal and productive for their employer.
9. Improves Productivity: Time saved can be used to improve productivity. Much time is spent on unnecessary activities by people who commute back and forth to work in the conventional manner. Time is wasted from the minute one gets up to go to work until the minute one goes to bed after returning from work. With telecommuting, one no longer needs to be always preparing for the commute and for being "presentable". One can go to work simply by tossing on a robe and slippers, grabbing a cup of coffee and sitting down to the terminal. You no longer worry if the car will start, if your clothes are neat, or if you're perfectly groomed. That may still be important to you, but it no longer has to be. And you no longer are interrupted by all the idle chatter that inevitably takes place at the central work place - some of it useful for your work, but a lot of it just a waste of time and a perpetual interruption. (Now you can stay up on latest rumors at your convenience using electronic mail.) For persons with health problems or handicapped persons, working from home may offer some comforting and productive opportunities, as well.
10. Reduces number of people "job hopping"; decreasing training requirements. Many people job hop each year, and much of this "job hopping" is because people want to move to a new location. They enjoy their work, and they would keep working for their present employer, but they do not like their present location. If people could move without losing their jobs, because they could telecommute, the amount of retraining would be reduced substantially. This would increase overall employee productivity while keeping loyal and productive employees on board.
11.Organization and Staffing Flexibility — By offering telecommuting positions, companies can enhance their recruiting efforts because they are not limited to hiring employees in a specific geographic area. Instead, they can select top candidates from anywhere in the country. As the needs of the organization change, employers are free to restructure or reassemble the best teams to fit individual projects with minimal disruption to the company.
12.Employee Retention — Each year, many employees leave jobs that they otherwise enjoy due to relocation concerns. The option to telecommute eliminates the number of employees who resign because they want or need to move to a new location. For example, Merrill Lynch reported a 6 percent decrease in employee turnover as a result of its telecommuting program, along with a 15 percent increase in productivity. Telecommuters can move with minimal disruption to their work productivity and less employee turnover means bottom line savings for the company in recruiting and training costs (Wells, 2001).
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3 – How can you use the information in this chapter to help you achieve your career and personal goals? (Taken from Chapter” Essentials Planning”)
CAREER AND PERSONAL GOALS.
As a career builder you are probably more concerned about career goals. However, there are other areas of your life that you can set goals for yourself.
Goals shouldn’t be about career alone. Goals can be set in the area of attitude , career, education, family,financial , physical and personal/social. Each of these is interrelated. They are anchored on what you value and what are your priorities.
PERSONAL GOALS.
Your personal goal setting can be in these areas:
1.ATTITUDE.
What are the attitudes and habits that are holding you back from reaching greater heights? How is this attitude affecting you, your career and your relationship with your family? Make specific points to change this attitude that is affecting the way you behave. Your attitude determines how far you can go in life. Take time to confront your negative attitude and make a plan to change it. This area of personal goal setting is one of the most important.
2.FAMILY
How much time do you want to spend with your family? What are some of the things that you have neglected to do for them the past year? Something that you have always wanted to do for them – perhaps a holiday? Put these down in writing. It may seem simple but trust me this is one area where it is challenging for personal goal setting. Sometimes we misplace our priorities.
3.FINANCIAL
How much money do you want to save by when? What would be the big-ticket items that you would like to buy? A house? A car? How much do you plan to earn by when? Having a financial goal is crucial in enjoying the material side of things. Financial rewards are directly related to our careers. Therefore, they are important in your personal goal setting.
4.HEALTH
If you aren’t healthy physically and mentally, you won’t be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. What are the steps you are willing to take in order to achieve optimum physical and mental health? Do you plan to run X number of days in a week? Meditate an hour each day? What are the measurements you would use for the goals in this area?
5.PERSONAL/ SOCIAL
Allocate time for yourself too. Set a goal to achieve this for yourself. This is your time for the things you enjoy. Is it getting together with friends? Or it could be meeting new friends. Some people measure their success by the amount of free time they have for themselves to pursue their hobbies.
These are some of the areas you can consider when considering your personal goal setting. If you are ambitious enough – choose each of these areas and start writing some goals for these to be achieved for the year.
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Career Goals
Goal setting is a powerful tool to help you find a career that you will find interesting and fulfilling.
Before setting specific goals for your career, whether for finding a new job or advancing in your current company, you should spend some time to ensure that you are clear about what you really want in your career.
This article provides some simple ideas and practices you can use to get clear about the career you want. Then, you can use goal setting to help you get there.
Getting Clear on Your Career Goals
1.CAREER
In the course of interviewing hundreds of candidates, I am sometimes surprised at the number of candidates that do not have career goals. Where do you want to be in 3 years time? Where do you see yourself in 5 years time? How will you get there? What are the skills you need? What are the potential barriers? As a career builder newbie, you may not have all the answers. In that case, seek someone you can talk to or better yet – mentor you.
2.EDUCATION
Continuous education is important for success in life. Not just your career. And education should not be just for the sake of career promotions although people often do that. You may want to learn new things that can enrich your life. Learning is a process, a journey – not a destination. You should never stop learning in order to improve.
3.Discover your purpose
The first step to gain clarity about what you want your career to be is to think about your life purpose.
Why are you here? What do you want your life to be like?
Remember that you will be spending a good portion of your life at work.
One of the best ways to achieve fulfillment and satisfaction is to ensure that your career choices reflect your true purpose in life.
4.Consider your talents, interests, and passions
Start by making a list of all your talents, skills, and abilities. Include all the things that you are good at, or that come easily to you.
In addition, think about any specialized knowledge that you poses. Do you hold a degree in a certain are? Are you an expert on a particular topic or field?
5. Identify your driving values
Your driving values determine the aspects of a job or career that provide the most motivation and fulfillment.
Understanding your driving values can help you make the best career and work choices based on what is right for you.
Here are some of the common driving values:
Income - Making money
Power - Ability to take action (start something, make something happen)
Influence - Ability to influence or direct others
Variety - Work on a variety of different things, use different knowledge & skills
Lifestyle - Free time to pursue interests
Autonomy - Make own decisions, choices, direction
Intellectual Challenge - Solve problems, complexity, thinking
Altruism - Do something that will benefit others
Security - Financial responsibilities/taken care of
Recognition - Being recognized by others for your work
Affiliation - Working with others, networking, groups, social
Leadership - Ability to lead/guide others, mentorship
Achievement - Accomplishing something significant
Mastery - Becoming very good at something
Growth - Opportunity to develop talents, abilities, knowledge
Advancement - Opportunity to advance in career
Responsibility - Being responsible for an outcome
Environment - Having a pleasant & comfortable environment
Status - Personal status (title), prestige of firm, etc.
Contribution - Contributing to something bigger than yourself
Freedom - Freedom to do what you want, when you want
Fulfillment - Work that you find rewarding
Identify the top 10 values that you consider to be most important in choosing the best job or career. Then rank them from 1 to 10.
Use this list to help you make future decisions about your career so that they are based on what is most important for you.
6.Strategic Career Plan
A strategic career plan is a document that combines all the elements we've described here.
It includes:
Your purpose statement
Your vision for the next 3-5 years
Your values
Your guiding principles
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Goal Setting Tips
The following broad guidelines will help you to set effective goals:
State each goal as a positive statement: Express your goals positively – 'Execute this technique well' is a much better goal than 'Don't make this stupid mistake.'
Be precise: Set a precise goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that you can measure achievement. If you do this, you will know exactly when you have achieved the goal, and can take complete satisfaction from having achieved it.
Set priorities: When you have several goals, give each a priority. This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by too many goals, and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones.
Write goals down: This crystallizes them and gives them more force.
Keep operational goals small: Keep the low-level goals you are working towards small and achievable. If a goal is too large, then it can seem that you are not making progress towards it. Keeping goals small and incremental gives more opportunities for reward. Derive today's goals from larger ones.
Set performance goals, not outcome goals: You should take care to set goals over which you have as much control as possible. There is nothing more dispiriting than failing to achieve a personal goal for reasons beyond your control. In business, these could be bad business environments or unexpected effects of government policy. In sport, for example, these reasons could include poor judging, bad weather, injury, or just plain bad luck. If you base your goals on personal performance, then you can keep control over the achievement of your goals and draw satisfaction from them.
Set realistic goals: It is important to set goals that you can achieve. All sorts of people (employers, parents, media, society) can set unrealistic goals for you. They will often do this in ignorance of your own desires and ambitions. Alternatively you may set goals that are too high, because you may not appreciate either the obstacles in the way or understand quite how much skill you need to develop to achieve a particular level of performance.
Achieving Goals
When you have achieved a goal, take the time to enjoy the satisfaction of having done so. Absorb the implications of the goal achievement, and observe the progress you have made towards other goals. If the goal was a significant one, reward yourself appropriately. All of this helps you build the self-confidence you deserve!
With the experience of having achieved this goal, review the rest of your goal plans:
If you achieved the goal too easily, make your next goals harder.
If the goal took a dispiriting length of time to achieve, make the next goals a little easier.
If you learned something that would lead you to change other goals, do so.
If you noticed a deficit in your skills despite achieving the goal, decide whether to set goals to fix this.
Failure to meet goals does not matter much, as long as you learn from it. Feed lessons learned back into your goal setting program.
Remember too that your goals will change as time goes on. Adjust them regularly to reflect growth in your knowledge and experience, and if goals do not hold any attraction any longer, then let them go.
Key Points
Goal setting is an important method of:
Deciding what is important for you to achieve in your life.
Separating what is important from what is irrelevant, or a distraction.
Motivating yourself.
Building your self-confidence, based on successful achievement of goals.
If you don't already set goals, do so, starting now. As you make this technique part of your life, you'll find your career accelerating, and you'll wonder how you did without it!
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4 – Suppose a company CEO appears to be an ineffective performer because he or she bullies and sexually harasses employees. Who should deal with this problem, and what approach should be taken?
Hostile work conditions
Hostile Working Conditions include behaviors that are INAPPROPRIATE and UNACCEPTABLE in the workplace.
Inappropriate and Unacceptable Behavior is bad behavior that goes beyond incivility, yet does not meet the legal definition of Hostile Work Environment (HWE).
Simply because the behaviors cannot be addressed in the HWE legal arena, it does not mean that supervisors and managers have no responsibility to address such behavior.
Supervisors and managers have the responsibility to ensure that these types of behaviors don’t occur in their facility, and if they do show up, then supervisors and managers have the responsibility to deal with them swiftly and directly.
Examples of Inappropriate and Unacceptable Behavior that create Hostile Working Conditions:
· Demeaning, harassing, belittling others; name-calling
· Emotional tirades, tantrums, and displays of anger
· Humiliating, intimidating, threatening others
· Gossiping, spreading rumors about and damaging a co-worker’s reputation
· Refusing to follow authority without very good reasons
· “Flaming” someone on e-mail or in public
· Being argumentative with no good reason except for trying to start a fight
· Using humor that crosses the line, that hurts someone else, that’s offensive
· Swearing or using obscene language in very public places without regard to the reactions of others
· Writing graffiti in the bathrooms, locker room, break room, etc.
· Posting rude or obscene cartoons, jokes, or comments
· Defacing or destroying equipment, property, materials, etc. that do not belong to you.
Similar to workplace incivility, inappropriate and unacceptable Behavior that creates Hostile Working Conditions can happen at any level of the organization.
· Bosses humiliate and intimidate subordinates
· Employees sabotage or intimidate supervisors and managers.
· Co-workers harass and sabotage each other.
· An employee has a tantrum in the operations quarters, affecting several people.
· An employee threatens another with bodily harm.
· Someone posts an obscene cartoon in the break room, offending almost everyone in the facility.
Higher in the scale of destructive workplace conditions is the hostile workplace environment (HWE)
HWE Defined-
It is
— Is offensive behavior that is objectively intimidating, threatening, abusive, humiliating, etc.
— Is behavior that is either very severe or is repeated frequently and / or is pervasive
— significantly alters the working conditions and / or unreasonably interferes with work performance; affects a term or condition of employment and / or causes harm
— Was directed at the person’s gender, race, color, age, religion, national origin, or disability.
This HWE could have serious consequences on the workforce. The psychological contract that was existing is breached and destructive environments leads to large-scale turnover, organization has to face lawsuits, and worst of all is the loss of repute that is very difficult to mend.
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STEP ONE
-file the case with the HR DIRECTOR,
who should counsel the CEO.
STEP TWO
-if the step one fails.
-file the document with the CHAIRMAN of the board.
who should counsel the CEO.
STEP THREE,
-if the step two fails,
-file the document with the DISCRIMINATION BOARD,
AS A HOSTILE WORKING CONDITIONS.
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5 – Which of the motivation theories or methods described in this chapter do you think would have the most relevance for motivating executives? Explain you reasoning. ((Taken from Chapter” Motivation”)
Motivation has been defined as:
· The psychological process that gives behavior purpose and direction .
· A predisposition to behave in a purposive manner to achieve specific, unmet needs .
· An internal drive to satisfy an unsatisfied need .
“motivation is operationally defined as the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals”
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Motivator can be
1. intrinsic factors, such as achievement and recognition, produce job satisfaction.
2. extrinsic factors, such as pay and job security, produce job dissatisfaction
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Why do we need motivated PEOPLE?
The answer is survival of the organization/business.
· Motivated employees are needed in our rapidly changing workplaces.
· Motivated employees help organizations survive.
· Motivated employees are more productive.
· To be effective, managers need to understand what motivates employees within the context of the roles they perform.
· Of all the functions a manager performs, motivating employees is arguably the most complex.
· This is due, in part, to the fact that what motivates employees changes constantly . For example, research suggests that as employees' income increases, money becomes less of a motivator . Also, as employees get older, interesting work becomes more of a motivator.
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WHAT DO THE PEOPLE SEEK IN MOTIVATION ?
SOME EXAMPLES.
(a)job security,
(b) sympathetic help with personal problems,
(c) personal loyalty to employees,
(d) interesting work,
(e) good working conditions,
(f) tactful discipline,
(g) good wages
(h) promotions and growth in the organization,
(i) feeling of being in on things, and
(j) full appreciation of work done.
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Theories of Motivation
No single theory can account for all aspects of biological motivation, but each of the major approaches contributes something to our understanding of motivation, so we need to understand their strengths and weaknesses.
1.Need Achievement Theory @@@
David McClelland’s achievement motivation theory envisages that a person has need for three things but people differ in degree in which the various needs influence their behavior: Need for achievement, Need for power, and Need for affiliation
Interests Theory
Holland Codes are used in the assessment of interests as in Vocational Preference Inventory . One way to look at interests is that if a person has a very strong interest in one of the 6 Holland areas, then obtaining outcomes in that area will be very strongly reinforcing relative to obtaining outcomes in areas of weak interest.
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2.Abraham Maslow’s “Need Hierarchy Theory” : @@@
One of the most widely mentioned theories of motivation is the hierarchy of needs theory put forth by psychologist Abraham Maslow. Maslow saw human needs in the form of a hierarchy, ascending from the lowest to the highest, and he concluded that when one set of needs is satisfied, this kind of need ceases to be a motivator.
1.SELF- ACTUALIZATION NEEDS
2.SELF ESTEEM NEEDS
3.SOCIAL NEEDS
4.SAFETY NEEDS
5.PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS
As per his theory this needs are :
(i) Physiological needs :
These are important needs for sustaining the human life. Food, water, warmth, shelter, sleep, medicine and education are the basic physiological needs which fall in the primary list of need satisfaction. Maslow was of an opinion that until these needs were satisfied to a degree to maintain life, no other motivating factors can work.
(ii) Security or Safety needs :
These are the needs to be free of physical danger and of the fear of losing a job, property, food or shelter. It also includes protection against any emotional harm.
(iii) Social needs :
Since people are social beings, they need to belong and be accepted by others. People try to satisfy their need for affection, acceptance and friendship.
(iv) Esteem needs :
According to Maslow, once people begin to satisfy their need to belong, they tend to want to be held in esteem both by themselves and by others. This kind of need produces such satisfaction as power, prestige status and self-confidence. It includes both internal esteem factors like self-respect, autonomy and achievements and external esteem factors such as states, recognition and attention.
(v) Need for self-actualization :
Maslow regards this as the highest need in his hierarchy. It is the drive to become what one is capable of becoming, it includes growth, achieving one’s potential and self-fulfillment. It is to maximize one’s potential and to accomplish something.
As each of these needs are substantially satisfied, the next need becomes dominant. From the standpoint of motivation, the theory would say that although no need is ever fully gratified, a substantially satisfied need no longer motivates. So if you want to motivate someone, you need to understand what level of the hierarchy that person is on and focus on satisfying those needs or needs above that level.
Maslow’s need theory has received wide recognition, particularly among practicing managers. This can be attributed to the theory’s intuitive logic and ease of understanding. However, research does not validate these theory. Maslow provided no empirical evidence and other several studies that sought to validate the theory found no support for it.
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3.Frederick Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory @@@
Frederick has tried to modify Maslow’s need Hierarchy theory. His theory is also known as two-factor theory or Hygiene theory. He stated that there are certain satisfiers and dissatisfiers for employees at work. In- trinsic factors are related to job satisfaction, while extrinsic factors are associated with dissatisfaction. He devised his theory on the question : “What do people want from their jobs ?” He asked people to describe in detail, such situations when they felt exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. From the responses that he received, he concluded that opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction. Removing dissatisfying characteristics from a job does not necessarily make the job satisfying. He states that presence of certain factors in the organization is natural and the presence of the same does not lead to motivation. However, their nonpresence leads to demotivation. In similar manner there are certain factors, the absence of which causes no dissatisfaction, but their presence has motivational impact.
Examples of Hygiene factors are :
Security, status, relationship with subordinates, personal life, salary, work conditions, relationship with supervisor and company policy and administration.
Examples of Motivational factors are :
Growth prospectus job advancement, responsibility, challenges, recognition and achievements.
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4.Vroom’s Valence x Expectancy theory @@@
The most widely accepted explanations of motivation has been propounded by Victor Vroom. His theory is commonly known as expectancy theory. The theory argues that the strength of a tendency to act in a specific way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual to make this simple, expectancy theory says that an employee can be motivated to perform better when their is a belief that the better performance will lead to good performance appraisal and that this shall result into realization of personal goal in form of some reward. Therefore an employee is :
Motivation = Valence x Expectancy.
The theory focuses on three things :
· Efforts and performance relationship
· Performance and reward relationship
· Rewards and personal goal relationship
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No single theory can account for all aspects of biological motivation, but each of the major approaches contributes something to our understanding of motivation, so we need to understand their strengths and weaknesses.
WHAT THE EXECUTIVES SEEK IN MOTIVATION.
-need for achievement.
-need for power.
-esteem needs.
-need for self-actualization.
-responsibility, challenges,recognition and achievement.
-performance and reward relationship.
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6 – How much freedom ought to be given to employers in conducting monitoring and surveillance? How does surveillance of user activity complement and contrast with policy enforcement tools that block undesired activity?
One natural consequence of recent data security legislation is that everyone is now a potential threat to client information. That means individuals both inside and outside the organization. The Safeguards Rule of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) establishes standards for the administrative, technical and physical safety of customer records. The objectives of the standards are threefold:
Maintain the security and confidentiality of client records.
Protect against internal and external threats to the security or integrity of such records.
Protect against unauthorized access or use of client records or information that could result in substantial harm or inconvenience to the client.
Consequently, organizations are monitoring their networks in increasing numbers not only to comply with federal statutes, but also to reduce other employee risks.
Can no one be trusted?
Trust is not the issue—client information privacy and security are. Data security laws have effectively elevated the privacy and safety of client information above the privacy expectations of employees. Furthermore, legal experts advise that firms should remove all expectations of privacy in the workplace. They have to, or they risk being found noncompliant with security laws and exposed to other costly litigation. Legal compliance and liability are two of the top three reasons why managers are monitoring employees.1
Workplace monitoring and surveillance is a sensible means to comply with federal data security statutes. It also provides additional liability protection for the firm. Monitoring promotes the personal protection of employees by reducing or eliminating instances of workplace harassment. Balancing monitoring and employee privacy is achievable with minimal stress when organizations inform employees of the purpose of monitoring activities, set privacy expectations and create reasonable monitoring policies. Firms that use electronic monitoring and surveillance to comply with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act may find that the added benefits (i.e., protecting organizational assets, preventing misuse of company resources and protecting the firm from legal liability) are worth it.
Who Does It?
Workplace Monitoring and Surveillance Report indicates that 82 percent of responding managers use some type of electronic monitoring in the workplace. As many as one-third of all employees are under surveillance in the workplace Monitoring Internet connections remains the predominant surveillance activity (63 percent), followed by storage and review of e-mail (47 percent) or computer files (36 percent), video recording job performance (15 percent), and the storage and review of voice-mail messages (8 percent). The top three reasons for employee monitoring are legal liability (68 percent), security concerns (60 percent) and legal compliance (50 percent). Although electronic monitoring is also implemented for employee productivity and performance reviews, this is a less important motivation. Managers realize that the need to protect the organization from employee activities over firm networks outweighs employee claims for privacy in the workplace.
Types of Monitoring
Network Surveillance
Internet activity over corporate networks is the predominant surveillance activity occurring in organizations. Managers find that employer-owned computers and Internet services are being used by employees to facilitate online shopping and to access pornography or other questionable sites. The surveillance of corporate networks can moderate the temptations to use employer resources for personal use and encourage employees to adhere to company policies.
Network surveillance is accomplished by a variety of methods. Software is available that allows supervisors to randomly access employee computer screens or send an employee's monitor display to the supervisor for inspection. Surveillance software can also record every employee keystroke, including deletions and revisions. Other less intrusive aspects of network monitoring include blocking spam and viruses detrimental to employee productivity and client records.
E-mail Monitoring
A large number of managers indicate that they also consistently monitor e-mail communications. The dynamic qualities of e-mail that have propelled it to record use in business are also some of its vulnerabilities. For one, e-mail is less formal and may be more personal and impulsive. Employees may be sending confidential, sensitive or offensive information across a corporate network with the sincere belief that their communications are private. In reality, e-mail can be easily distributed, copied and read by numerous others without the sender's knowledge. E-mail distributed within a network is stored on the system even though receivers and senders may have deleted the messages. Stored e-mail provides records of communications that can be legally retrieved and printed for review. E-mail is also admissible in court.
Organizations are legally liable for all communications originating from their networks. This puts the firm at risk for lawsuits if employees engage in harassing, profane, discriminatory or illegal communications.
E-mail monitoring software scans employee communications and/or computer files for key words and phrases that may signal unacceptable or illegal messages.
Is Monitoring Legal?
As yet, no legislation specifically addresses e-mail privacy and electronic monitoring activities. The Constitution's Amendment's guarantees of privacy focus on search and seizure issues that do not specifically relate to computer technology. According to recent actions, courts have not found a reasonable expectation of privacy on the part of employees, but have favored employer rights to protect their interests. Among the reasons given
(1) The work is done at the employer's place of business; (2) The employer owns the equipment; (3) The employer has an interest in monitoring employee activity to ensure the quality of work; and (4) The employer has the right to protect property from theft and fraud.In determining the extent of electronic monitoring to undertake, organizations must rely on existing federal and state provisions.
The ECPA governs electronic communications and extends the federal wiretap statutes to include other electronic communications. Because the ECPA focus is on conversations, exclusions from the law exist. For example, stored e-mail messages are not considered contemporaneous electronic communications under the Act, as they are not simultaneously sent and intercepted. Organizations with an acceptable business reason may intercept and review employee e-mail transmitted on the firm's networks. The "ordinary course of business exception" makes it easier for employers to prove legitimate business reasons for computer monitoring, especially in light of recent legislation to increase client information security.
Prior court rulings suggest that reasonableness is a standard applying to surveillance and monitoring activities. Electronic monitoring is reasonable when there is a business purpose, policies exist to set the privacy expectations of employees, and employees are informed of organizational rules regarding network activities and understand the means used to monitor the workplace. It is advised that organizations obtain consent from employees regarding monitoring or surveillance activities. Legal advisors suggest that it is essential for employers to demonstrate that monitoring is a routine and known activity in the firm.
Balancing Surveillance and Privacy
Balancing the legitimate need of employers to monitor the workplace with respect for individual privacy is not difficult. The best course of action is to have a monitoring policy and follow it. Legal experts state that "apathy toward e-mail and Internet policies is the biggest mistake an employer can make." It is recommended that firms have a written policy clearly stating that any right to privacy is waived for documents and messages created, stored, sent or received on the firm's computer systems or over its networks.
Achieving balance may require a reasonable monitoring policy that also sets individual privacy expectations. Legal analysts advise that setting policies with clearly stated monitoring intentions is the most important action employers can take to minimize invasion of privacy claims. Clear-cut policies set boundaries, establish employees' expectations of privacy, and help set a workplace tone that conveys organizational responsibility and respect for others. At the minimum, comprehensive monitoring policies should:
State the specific business purposes for monitoring
Clearly state the ownership of company computers, networks, files and e-mail
Clearly outline the forms of communication considered illegal, prohibited and unacceptable
Clearly outline the web sites considered illegal, prohibited and unacceptable
Define the acceptable use of company networks and e-mail
Set clear boundaries for the personal use of company networks
Inform employees of the specific types of monitoring activities that will be used
Explain how monitoring activities are advantageous to employees, clients and the company
Determine the consequences for policy violations
The protection of organizational interests compels effective supervision of the workplace as firms face an increasing risk of litigation from employee misuse of computers and networks. Recent legislation also increases the responsibility of firms to guard customers and clients from internal threats. Reasonable monitoring and surveillance activities protect the rights of employees, create a safe work environment, protect sensitive corporate information and assets, and demonstrate compliance with federal laws. Because technology allows employers to reach far beyond reasonable privacy expectations, balancing employee privacy and organizational needs is essential. Establishing clearly written, uniformly enforced and reasonable monitoring policies may be the best protection for firms and employees in a time of ambiguous case law and uncertain court rulings.
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