OBJECTIVES
At the end of this chapter, you'll be able to:
- see the proximity of computers and management;
- view your first day in office in a positive way;
- broadly classify organizations based on their functions;
- understand who does what in an organization
INTRODUCTION
Management and Technology are the two big forces that drive business today. While the knowledge of management principles helps Managers/Executives do the right things, skills in the usage of modern day computers helps them in doing things right. In other words, management principles broadly seek to make them effective at work, while computers enable them to be efficient at work.
While these two fields, Management and Technology, have developed into two independent realms of study, the fact of the matter is that in today's world they need to be applied together in any business situation, and not independently. For instance a Manager may, with his knowledge of Management, come up with a number of alternative methods of solving a business problem say, developing an aggressive sales plan for the next year. There are many variables that he has to take into account, each of them complex in itself. Also, along the line, he has to make a number of assumptions. Even though he can develop a mathematical model and solve it in his mind, he needs a powerful device with the latest software tools to be able to arrive at the best possible solution in the given set of conditions. While application of management principles to business situations will be ineffective without a computer today, the computer itself is meaningless without an application.
Therefore, it is natural that Technology and Management should meet at some point. The study of either of them, management or technology is not complete without the other. And the study of these two subjects in isolation is inappropriate in today's context.
Thus the concept of Information Technology enabled Management (ITeM) was born.
What is Information Technology enabled Management?
Information Technology enabled Management involves learning of technology as applied to business at the end-user level; and it involves the learning of management in its contemporary form; and it involves the study of technology as applied to management. Therefore, there must be a learning cycle of management where you need to learn management and a learning cycle of technology where you learn technology and a process by which the two learnings are integrated. This is Information Technology enabled Management.
Lack of Literature on Executive Skills
There are hundreds of Management Institutions and thousands of Engineering Colleges across the country, but there is hardly any Institute to train raw graduates to be competent entry level executives. This void is becoming more apparent every passing day because more and more jobs are getting converted into intelligent, creative, dynamic executive jobs with the advent of competition and the resulting empowerment of people in Indian business and industry.
There is, today, no scientific data available on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that an executive requires. There are no books on this subject. Organizations are left with no option but to recruit either raw Management graduates or raw graduates from arts, science, commerce and engineering streams and somehow make them learn to function as executives on their jobs.
Due to lack of any literature on the subject, most organizations do not have clarity about the inputs needed to develop these raw graduates into competent executives in their various functional areas. Organizations do not have sufficient resources either, in terms of well developed Training Centers and full-time Trainers, to train these executives. As a result, these raw graduates end up spending a lot of their time and energy learning their work on the job. Not only is it frustrating for the entry level executive, but it is also equally frustrating for the employer, since he is unable to get the best out of the fresh candidate.
Moreover, the entry level executive who relies upon the trial-and-error way to learn his ropes does not learn either adequately or the right way. This is an important reason for the low level of motivation among fresh executives, leading to low levels of productivity.
ELEMENTS OF MANAGEMENT
How will this module on Elements of Management help you?
India has remained an underdeveloped country for long. It lagged behind in absorbing the industrial revolution. Today the society around us is transforming from an industrial society to an information society. The key resources in the information society are going to be information and knowledge on the one hand and people on the other. We find that most of the work is transforming, hard manual labor in factories and clerical work in offices to knowledge work in both shop floor and office. Very soon most of the employees will be knowledge workers, making use of their knowledge and available information. India cannot afford to miss the bus again. Therefore it is, imperative for us to be a major player in the shaping up of the information era.
With the opening up of the economy and its integration into the global market, phenomenal job opportunities are springing up. These opportunities will go to those who are best equipped for the world of today and tomorrow i.e., to be a knowledge worker. The knowledge worker will be expected to have management knowledge and information technology skills.
Elements of Management will give you a knowledge very necessary to become a competent Executive or Manager. In this specific module, you will get a broad overview of an organization and its functional areas. The functions described in the module are applicable to almost all types of organizations/industries. For example, the way production is planned in a chemical plant or the way production is planned in a moped manufacturing company or the way the dispatch of mails to various destinations is planned in a courier company, have certain principles of operations management in common. You will learn these general principles in this module.
There are specific differences from industry to industry and from organization to organization. If these differences would matter tio you, in view of the functional area that you would specialize in, you would also, in a later module, come across appropriate topics which would bring out these differences.
Once you have completed this module, you would have an overall knowledge of an organization. This will help you in understanding your role in your very first job and in subsequent jobs.
YOUR FIRST DAY IN OFFICE
Let us start off on a good, positive note. Let us. imagine you have got your first job already. You are thrilled beyond words, aren't you?
It is one of the most exciting days in your life.
"We have pleasure in appointing you as a Management Trainee …" your appointment letter says. You probably know the lines by heart since, by now, you have read the letter a number of times. "Please report to Mr. .............................. at 9.30 a.m. with your original certificates and two copies of passport size photographs", it concludes.
You are excited! Nervous! Eager! In short, a bundle of emotions. How will your first day be? Will there be someone to welcome you with a smile? Will you feel at home? Where are you headed towards?
The Preparation
Naturally you want to put your best foot forward on the very first day and make a good impression. Smartly dressed in a formal shirt, nicely pressed trousers, black and brown shoes - clean and polished, matching socks, a sober tie, hair brushed neatly, you leave early to reach the office well in advance.
Before leaving home you have checked to ensure that you have everything you need; appointment letter, original certificates, copies of photographs, etc. - everything the appointment letter had asked you to produce.
The Reception
Well done! You manage to reach the office ahead of time. You decide to wait patiently till 9.30, the appointed time.
The office looks imposing; and probably scary. You are a bit overawed by the new atmosphere. The security guard directs you to the reception. A smart, attractive receptionist takes you to your department. There she introduces you to the secretary of the department. The secretary smiles and then takes you to the Manager's cabin.
The Department
The Manager is busy. Between phone calls and paper work he says a cursory "Hello" to you. After 15 minutes (or was it a couple of hours?) of uneasy watch, he asks his secretary to take you to your place of work to meet the Senior Executive to whom you will be reporting, - your immediate boss, in short. You are slightly disappointed at what seems like a curt dispatch.
The secretary introduces you to your boss. He is also a busy man, surrounded by visitors, constantly answering phone calls. He will attend to you in a while, he tells you in the midst of phone calls.
Finally, your boss finds the time to shake your hands and greet you. But the phone rings again and off he goes, busily talking into the instrument. After a while, still busy, he asks you to occupy the desk meant for you, promising to attend to you later.
No one else seems to be interested in talking to you either. But they are stealing a few quick glances at you in the midst of their work. You become impatient. "Perhaps this is not the right place for me to work in" you wonder. What an unlively atmosphere!
Is the very thought of such a scene scary? Relax! It is necessary for you to know that you are not the first newcomer to experience a situation like this; nor will this be the last one. This happens quite often, not only in this organization, but in many others as well!
Let us look at it from the point view of the organization. They recruited you because they are short of people. The existing manpower is grossly inadequate. Perhaps, they are still looking out for some more bright people.
Where will they find the time to train a person like you, with absolutely no understanding of an organization, from scratch? It is a catch-22 situation for them. They recruited you to ease the manpower problem, but you need a lot of the time and attention of the existing people to train you before you could get started. In the meantime, what happens to the work of these people who have to train you? Mind you, training a person for a job in an organization is not an easy task. It takes a lot of time, patience and effort. Who has these?
Learning on-the-job
If your first day has been spent on tenterhooks, you have already started feeling uncomfortable. Sure, this coldness will not continue for long, for the company has not hired you for keeping you idle. If you are totally dependent on the organization to groom you into a fine executive, you may be in for a surprise. You will have to take the initiative. Here lies your opportunity. Most new recruits want to be spoon-fed; and they are slow in learning. Organizations are already fed up at such a predicament; however, they have had no choice. If things are going to be different with you, won't you be noticed by everybody? A fresh recruit going about confidently in his/her job is such a rare scene, they will all like you. Won't you like this to happen?
Once you have completed this module, you would have gained a reasonable understanding of organizations and what you, as an executive, will be expected to transact in your role. This understanding will act as a good substitute for learning which can come from work experience, the positive difference being that your understanding would have been more structured, even if less experiential.
If you take the first step to talk to a few people in the organization, particularly those in your assigned department, you would get to know a lot about the organization and your job fairly easily. This learning will help you interact with people with confidence, since you can already speak their language, the language of business and industry; and this confidence, coupled with your being productive early, will take you places in your life.
OVERVIEW OF ORGANIZATIONS
Classification of Organizations
Now, let us get on with what we set out to do - learning about Organizations.
Organizations can be broadly classified as - Manufacturing and Service Organizations. Manufacturing Organizations are those that are involved in producing items, whose main benefit to the customer is the value that is derived from the physical product itself. Some examples of manufacturing organizations are those that produce textiles, engineering/electrical goods, chemicals, consumer durables like the television and capital goods like the computers.
Service Organizations deliver products and services where the main benefit to the customer is in the service that is offered, rather than any physical product (even though a physical product may well be a part of the service). Banks, insurance companies, airlines, advertising agencies, hotels, road transport companies and courier companies are examples of Service Organizations.
Traditionally, agriculture used to produce the maximum revenues of to the economy. Slowly, during the industrial era, the contribution of manufacturing industries started increasing and the contribution of agriculture as a percentage of the Gross National Product (GNP), started coming down. In the 1990s service sector has gained ascendancy and was slowly moving towards becoming the major contributor to the national economy. It was expected that, by the tun of the century, the service sector could contribute about 60% of the Gross National Product.
Areas of Manpower Needs
While the blue-collar workers (i.e., factory workers) are the majority employees in factories, white-collar employees(i.e., knowledge workers) are required predominantly in the services sector and also in support functions like operations, administration, industrial relations, etc., in factories.
With the growth in services sector, particularly because of the high employment potential, the need for knowledge workers is on the increase by leaps and bounds. Most of the youth of today would be working as knowledge workers when they come up for employment.
Functional Areas in Organizations
There are various functions in organizations performed by different departments. The manner in which these departments are related to one another and to the customer and supplier in terms of flow of work can be presented in the form of work flow diagrams as given below:
i.
ii. Operations, in Service Organizations, is normally an integration of several functions such as Purchase, Stores, Production, Quality Control, Shipping, Administration, etc.
Who does What in the Organization?
Customer: The individual or organization to satisfy whose needs or wants, your organization was set up in the first place. He is your paymaster. Without a customer, there is no reason for an organization to exist.
As a customer, we have always wanted, or even demanded, the best of products and services. We often complain how bad the product or service is. However, the moment we become part of an organization that provides these very products or services, we become rather casual in approach to the customer.
With increasing competition, organizations are realizing the need for customer satisfaction for organizational success. We, as employees, of an organization, have major roles to play in attracting a customer. satisfying the customer and retaining the customer.
Marketing/Sales: Marketing is the department that identifies the needs of the customer and communicates to the rest of the organization. It also communicates to the customer, in many ways, how the organization is geared to deliver what the customer needs. Functions such as Market Research, Advertising, Sales Promotion and Corporate Communications are part of this department. Sales is the department that sells the company's products and services to the customer and realizes the cash (and thereby generates profits).
Design: Design makes the design, drawings and detailed specifications necessary to manufacture the company's products/services. It acts on the advice of the Marketing department on what should be designed.
Research and Development (R & D): R & D comes up with new products and services unknown to the market and helps expand the product base. They are usually commissioned by the Design department to do specific projects.
Materials: Purchase and Stores constitute the Materials function. Purchase department buys all items required by the organization, be it capital items or raw materials or consumables, from reliable suppliers. The items, once delivered, are received and stored by the Stores department.
Suppliers: The capital equipment, raw materials and consumables that your company requires have to be purchased from the market. Those who supply such items to your specifications at prices negotiated and accepted mutually, are the suppliers.
Production: Production department manufactures the products based on the designer's specifications and drawings, using the raw materials and consumables purchased by the Purchase department and stored in the Stores department.
Maintenance: Maintenance department repairs and services the plant and machinery to ensure that the Production department can produce its products/services without any hindrance on account of breakdown of plant and machinery.
Quality Control: The products/services produced by the organization will have to be certified as meeting the customer's specification. Quality Control department does the testing and certification. The items rejected by them will either be reworked on and again forwarded for quality check or discarded as scrap/ waste.
Stores: Apart from the storage of inward items like capital equipments, raw materials and consumables, the finished products are also stored in Stores. There can be different Stores to stock these different categories of items, or just a single one.
Shipping: This department does the job of packing and dispatching the products to the various Customers.
Finance and Accounts: Finance manages the finances of the organization, like raising capital, loans, etc., collecting money received from customers and paying money due to supplier. Accounts function records all financial transactions and maintains proper accounts of income, expenses, etc.
Human Resources Development (HRD): This department concerns itself with the task of ensuring that the people working for the organization are always physically and mentally fit and competent. It has the responsibility to ensure that the interests of both the organization and the people working for it are met. In terms of specific tasks, it develops/evolves policies and systems & procedures and communicates such policies to people, and takes care of Recruitment, Training, Salary and Benefits Planning, Motivation of Staff, etc., and ensures implementation of the policies.
Administration: This department takes care of administrative (supervisory) functions like salary/wage preparation, maintenance of attendance, security, upkeep of office/factory premises and general secretarial functions in the organization.
And you you will be able to understand information technology, not in isolation, but in relation to their application in organizational settings, in executing and managing the various functions.
CONCLUSION
Now that you have a broad view of an organization set-up, you will find it relatively easy to understand your role when you get into any organization and any role. Wishing you happiness and prosperity in your life and in career.
RECAPITULATION
- It is important to dress in a neat, sober manner for better impression.
- Never be late for work for it is considered a blackmark.
- Care should be taken to collect and produce everything that the appointment order requires.
- Impatience, Assumptions and Anxieties are to be avoided in the new environment. Be relaxed and friendly.
- Initiative should be taken to approach and talk to people voluntarily.
- Questions could be asked about the job, organization and work to show you are interested.
- Nature and scope of work should be clearly understood for efficient functioning.
- Organizations are broadly classified as Manufacturing Organizations and Service Organizations.
- Manufacturing Organizations are involved in producing items whose main benefit to the customer is the value that is derived from the physical product itself.
- Service Organizations deliver products and services where the main benefit to the customer is in the service that is offered, other than any physical product.
- While the blue-collar workers are the majority employees in factories, white-collar workers are predominantly in services sector and also in support functions in factories.
- An organization consists of various departments like, Materials, Sales/Marketing, Design, Production, Quality Control, Stores, Accounts, etc.
