samenvatting introduction to managing and organising - UA

Introduction to managing and
Organising
Inhoudsopgave
Lecture 1:Managing people in organizations....................................................2

Lesson 2........................................................................................................ 9
2.1.Digital organizations................................................................................................. 9
2.2.Global Shifts............................................................................................................ 13

Lesson 3...................................................................................................... 18
3.1.The underlying aspects of organizational politics...................................................18
3.2.EMPOWERMENT, EXPERIMENTS, EMANCIPATION, ETHICS.......................................30

Lesson 4: Power Politics and NATO, Dr. Reza Hasmath...................................34
Part I: Levels of Conflict................................................................................................35
Part II: The NATO Case Study........................................................................................39
Part III: Shifting Views and Theories of Conflict.............................................................42
Part IV: Practical Lessons.............................................................................................. 44

Lesson 5...................................................................................................... 48
5.1.Early modern approaches of management.............................................................48
5.1.Contemporary approaches......................................................................................55
5.3.Modern Designs...................................................................................................... 61

Lesson 6:Management in a Globalized World.................................................67

Lesson 7:Political Skills................................................................................84
7.1.Comprehend the concept of political skills..............................................................84
7.2. Recognize that political skills influence organizations and individuals ; Critically
engage in a reflection on political skills and the role of management..........................90
7.3.Reflect upon the importance of gaining knowledge of political skills (and
understand if it’s possible to gain these skills).............................................................92
7.4Link it to-The underlying aspects of organizational politics (lesson 3).....................97

Lesson 8 : Managing Individuals....................................................................99
8.1. Personality and Abilities......................................................................................... 99
8.2.Motivation and Job Performance...........................................................................107

Lesson 9:Managing Teams and Groups........................................................112
9.1.Group Dynamics and Decision Making..................................................................112

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, 9.2.Team Conflict and Negotiation..............................................................................118

Lesson 10:Managing Diversity.....................................................................123
Part I: Organizational Culture and Leadership.............................................................123
Part II: Managing Diversity in the Organization...........................................................132

Compulsory Reading on Political Skills (Ferris et al., 2000)...........................138



Lecture 1:Managing people in organizations
MANAGING & MANAGERIALISM

Making sense of managing as a coherent set of assumptions, concepts, values,
and practices that constitute a way of viewing reality

Managing: entails/is about sensemaking and framing => it involves assumptions,
values, and practices that shape how reality is understood

Managerialism: extends management techniques beyond organizations, applying them
universally in work, society, and capitalism, justified by claims of expertise and superior
ideology

 Managerialism justifies the application of its one-dimensional managerial
techniques to all areas of work, society, and capitalism on the grounds of superior
ideology, expert training, and the exclusiveness of managerial knowledge
necessary to run public institutions and society as corporations.

MAKING SENSE OF MANAGING

Differentiating managing  management can be seen as:

 A practice, what managers do daily
 Organizations as goal-oriented collectives, entities in which we are organized
(where management occurs)


 Management is the process of communicating, coordinating and accomplishing
action to achieve organizational objectives
 It also means managing collaborative and considerate relationships: with
stakeholders, technologies (within and between organizations) + employees,
suppliers, customers and communities
o You need the people skills & take other things into consideration
 Way of engaging with different situations and stakeholders in
different ways

Key point: Management is not a neutral activity!

 cannot simply be considered in terms of its capacity to deliver objective gains in
productivity/efficiency
 It is not only about efficiency and productivity
 It is also a socio-political activity, requiring attention to societal, political, and
ethical responsibilities



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,SENSEMAKING IN ORGANIZATIONS
For the past 40 years, the predominant sense of what an organization should be has been
modelled on lean and efficient, private sector organizations that are profit-oriented. In
such organizations, top management teams seek/strive to set a common frame so that
organizational members, customers, suppliers and investors can develop a common
understanding of the organization’s identity and purpose. (making sense of the
organization, what it is and what it does)

This process is known as sensemaking: the process through which individuals and
groups give meaning to something/construct meaning, especially to explain novel,
unexpected or confusing events

 Sensemaking is the ongoing retrospective and prospective development
of plausible images that rationalize what people are doing and not doing

 In other words: we are trying to understand and explain what is
happening around us – we make sense of our surroundings

SENSEMAKING IN A CAPITALIST SYSTEM

=> often revolves around profit orientation; questioning whether it truly makes sense to
you.

 Employees may find meaning by identifying with prestigious or “hip”
companies (Apple, Google) -> the art of making sense of your work
 Dare to challenge the narrative of selling company
o Companies may project an appealing image that does not match reality
 Dare to challenge the narrative of your manager
o Ask critical questions

Sensemaking is continuous: we constantly reinterpret and revise earlier
understandings as new knowledge, events, and information become available

 we are constantly making sense, revising past rationalizations in the light of
new information, knowledge and events not previously available

Sensemaking labels events & information by breaking its experience into blocks of
‘sense’ that can be categorized and described with language (categorize information and
find words for it so that you can describe the events)

Meaning is constructed in an ongoing process, in which past experiences shape present
interpretations

 Everyone’s reality is different

SENSEMAKING – BE CRITICAL

Stuff happens: George W. Bush & Donald Rumsfeld and the Iraq War

We know where they are [Iraq's weapons of mass destruction]. They're in the area
around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat (Donald Rumsfeld,
2011)

The president is good at framing a message: they started a war and framed a message to
say they bring safety


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, Bush and his team were driven by fear of Iraq attacking the US, but even though he
wasn’t convinced himself, he still framed the message pretty good

SENSEMAKING – BE CRITICAL: THE IRAQ WAR CASE

After 9/11, U.S. leaders reinterpreted threats and constructed new narratives.

 Shift in risk perception: Saddam Hussein was reframed as a major threat, even
without evidence of direct ties to 9/11
 Narratives constructed:
o Axis of Evil speech framed Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as existential
dangers
o Emphasis on preemption: acting before threats materialize
o Cheney (2002): “There is no doubt Saddam has WMDs.”
 Constructivist insight:
o War was not inevitable from material facts alone
o It became plausible through shared narratives of danger, identity (“war on
terror”), and moral duty

Outcome: U.S. leaders created a compelling story in which invading Iraq appeared as a
logical and necessary response.

MANAGING IN A COMPLEX WORLD

 “One size fits all” management approaches do not work.

 Contemporary managers can no longer rely on hierarchy and nominal roles to
manage people.

 Managing has become an increasingly difficult, political and challenging
endeavour.

 People work in complex organizations that are embedded in contexts inscribed by
complex networks

 Managers should have an understanding of (human) complexity

SENSEMAKING AND FRAMING IN MANAGEMENT

Managers influence organizational reality (manage) through three processes:

1. Sensemaking: interpreting and understanding events
2. Sensegiving: shaping how others perceive and understand those events
- Frame others’ perceptions to accord with the sense you are making
3. Sensebreaking: challenging or dismantling existing interpretations
- Disrupt existing flows of sensemaking & sensegiving

A key part of the managers’ role is:
 To ‘frame’ the sense that others have of the roles that they play in
the organization
 As social realities of business & organizations change, the different sense &
framing is required
 Much of managing is discursive: issuing orders, making suggestions, framing
actions in order to accomplish objectives

MANAGING AND FRAMING

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