Managing Resources Revision

1. Kolb's Learning Cycle

1. The organisation conversion process, converting inputs to outputs
2. The Simple Structure

   Nota:

   • Main Features: - Centralised - Organised around owner/manager - Small companies/companies in early stages of development Positives: - Owner/manager has broad knowledge of processes - Owner/manager knows employees, customers and suppliers Negatives: - Limits span of control - Over-reliance on one person - Owner/manager lacks specialist knowledge - Appropriate up to certain sizes only
   1. 'The Web'/Power Culture

      Nota:

      • - Small entrepreneurial firms or divisionals of larger firms - Depends on central power source - Rays of influence spread from centre
3. The Functional Structure

   Nota:

   • Main Features: - Centralised - Small companies producing limited range of products - Organised around the tasks to be carried out Positives: - Simple lines of control - Efficient lines of communication and information flow - Specialised managers, improved decision-making Negatives: - Functional Managers overburdened with operational issues, leads to neglect of long term planning - Stretched by growth and product diversification - Difficult to coordinate and manage - Lack of co-operation between departments
   1. 'The Classical Structure'/Role Culture

      Nota:

      • - Usually found in large organisations - Built around defined jobs, rules and procedures - Strength of organisation is in the pillars (departments) - Designed for stability/continuity - Not adaptable to change - Leads to blinkered approach
4. The multi-skilled team structure

   Nota:

   • Main Features: - Usually found in sophisticated service companies or sophisticated bespoke product companies - Combines the customer orientation of project teams - Divisional structure = market focus Positives: - Decentralised - Local and quality decision making - Team work - Flexible Negatives: - Poor co-ordination, communication and control - Conflicting loyalties - Slow to adapt - Too many committees
   1. 'The Matrix'/Task Culture

      Nota:

      • - Usually found in problem-solving companies - For a project people and resources work together in a temporary team - Problem-solving teams use resources extravagantly

1. Macro and micro environments

   Nota:

   • Micro-environment: The forces within or close to a company that affect its ability to serve its customers. These factors are controllable and include; the products or service, and the organisation or systems e.g. structure, performance, information and planning. Macro-environment: The larger societal forces that affect the whole micro-environment: demographic, geographic, economic, political, legal, natural, technological and cultural. These forces are uncontrollable. 
2. Strategic Fit

   Nota:

   • "The formulation of strategy is concerned with matching capabilities of an organisation with its environment." (K. Scholes) "The company which best fits its strategy to its environment will gain competitive advantage." (M. Porter)
3. Change

   Nota:

   • "Change is constant" (Disraeli, 1867) Organisations must continually adapt to maintain a good fit between their capabilities and the changing environment. "Adapt or die" (Kotler, 1990) In a changing macro-environment, companies must MONITOR, PREDICT and ADAPT.
4. Environmental Analysis

   Nota:

   • Audit of environmental influences -> Assessment of nature of environment -> Identification of key environmental forces -> Identification of competitive position -> Identification of principal opportunities and threats -> Strategic Position
   1. LoNGPEST

1. Porter's Five Forces 1985

   Nota:

   • Threat of potential entrants, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, competitive rivalry
2. Porter's Generic Strategies 1985

1. Hetzberg's Two Factor Theory

   Nota:

   • MOTIVATION AND JOB SATISFACTION The Dissatisfiers: Hygiene or Maintenance Factors e.g. salary, job security, working conditions, level and quality of supervision, company policy and administration interpersonal relations. The Satisfiers: Motivators or Growth Factors e.g. sense of achievement, recognition, responsibility, nature of the work, personal growth and advancement.
2. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs 1954

   Nota:

   • Highest to lowest: self-actualisation, esteem, love, safety, physiological

1. 4 Stages of Recruitment

   Nota:

   • - Assessment of the job (job analysis and job description) - Assessment of the type of employee required (personal specification and key results) - Attracting applicants (placement of advertisement, the advertisement) - Assessing applicants (assessment of applications and assessment of applicants)
2. Rodger's 7 Point Plan

   Nota:

   • 1. Physical make-up (required to do the job). 2. Attainment (necessary to do the job). 3. General intelligence. 4. Special aptitudes. 5. Interests. 6. Disposition. 7. Circumstances. (All include essentials and desirables)

Nota:

• Culture is "the collective mental programming of individuals in an environment" (G. Hofstede)

1. The Cultural Web

   Nota:

   •  The Cultural Web is a checklist "of the taken for granted assumptions, or paradigm, of an organisation and the physical manifestations of organisational culture" (Johnson and Scholes)

1. Power and Interest Matrix
2. Managing Change

   Nota:

   • Demand for change can arise from both the EXTERNAL and the INTERNAL environments Triggers for change: - PEST issues - Competition - Changing stakeholder, employee or customer expectations - Changing internal environment  Resistance to change: - Common phenomenon - Can take many forms - Difficulty to pinpoint - May be at either individual or organisational level Process of Change: Change can be managed either reactively or proactively (advanced planning)
   1. Planning Change (French, Kast and Rosenweig)

      Nota:

      • 1. Initial problem identification 2. Obtaining data 3. Problem diagnosis 4. Action planning 5. Implementation 6. Follow-up and stabilisation 7. Assessment of consequences 8. Learning from the process
   2. Lewin's 3 Phase Process of Change
   3. Making cultural change successful: Deal and Kennedy's 7 Element

      Nota:

      • Deal and Kennedy's 7 Elements: - Position a hero in charge of the process - Recognise a real threat from outside - Make transition rituals in the pivots of change - Provide transition training in new values - Bring in outside inspirational people - Build tangible symbols of the new direction - Insist on the importance of security during transition