Summary introduction to business administration
Contents:
Theme 1: Chapter 1 Introduction
Theme 2: Chapter 4 The rationality of management
Theme 3: Chapter 2 Employees’ view of work
Theme 4: Article van Rossenberg et al. (2018)
Theme 5: Chapter 3 Managerial views of work
Theme 6: Chapter 6 Motivation
Theme 7: Chapter 8 Perceptions
Theme 8: Chapter 13 Structure
Theme 9: Chapter 11 Culture
Theme 10: Literature Creativity and Innovation I
Theme 11: Literature Creativity and Innovation I
Theme 12: Chapter 5 Sexuality, sex typing, and gender
Theme 13: Article Thomas et al., 2000
Theme 14: Chapter 18 Health, wellbeing, emotion and stress
Theme 15: Chapter 7 Leadership + literature on Leadership
,Chapter 1, theme 1
Globalization à the gradual (growing/increasing) connection between different societies à
global circulation of good, services and capital (information, ideas and people)
The good side:
- Access to larger markets
- Upscaling of organizations
- Access to capital flows, technology and human capital
- Cheaper imports and lager export markets
Downsides globalization:
- Shift in power à international corporates have more to say in the world
- Same-ness of production
- Loss of cultural heritage
- Loss of traditional ways of working
- Pollution
- Urbanization
- Markets can swap between countries à low waging countries, the country where
the company was originally located loses jobs
Supply chain à the network of all the individuals, organizations, resources, activities and
technology à globalization creates a long and invisible supply chain à this results in that
the consumer is far removed from what happens in the supply chain à resulting in: abuse,
mistreatment, slavery
Social mobility à change of people from different social backgrounds moving into a giving
social class
If you can’t afford to participate in a study that gives you the ability to earn money later in
life, you get stuck in this lower income. à low social mobility
If you get the opportunity to study and get out of this lower social class à higher social
mobility
Behaviour in organizations is dependent on:
- The worker à age, class, status, power, gender, race
- The conditions
- The wider context
Academic research shows you theories, they are formed by
Induction à new theory developed by research
Deduction à theory is challenged and practiced
Multiple theories and perspectives in business studies, they are all true, but they have all
limitations and disadvantages, but they are all from value
,Chapter 4, theme 2
Rationality = behavior that is… (a long time ago people wanted to make managing a science)
- Intentional (steered towards a specific aim)
- Rational (in accordance with reason or logic)
- Fitting for the particular aim (functional)
The management rationale: (only company aim is important, works as a machine, people
cannot be trusted, people had to be controlled)
The management rationale:
1. Managers who hire the best employees
2. Deploy these employees in the way they can deliver the best performance
3. In order to fulfil the aims of the organization
-> Organization as a machine
-> Assumption: workers cannot be trusted control human resources
Functionalism: the worker is selected, educated and developed in order to fulfil the aims of
the organization
Early thinkers:
- Taylor à wanted to make management a science (Cleary defined laws, rules and
principles)
Assumptions of Taylor:
- Workers have a reason to keep production low: to make sure they have jobs
- Managers have little knowledge on how production can be minimalized
Result: Research (objective / rational) is needed about how can be executed as fast and
efficient as possible
Division of labor:
1. Large processes should be divided into the smallest possible part (maximum
decomposition)
2. Efficiency by changing the process into short repetitive tasks
3. White collar: thinking employees and blue-collar work: manual
4. Minimalization of skills and knowledge necessary
Tayloristic principles:
1. Work becomes separated from the skills from the workers
2. Thinking isn’t necessary for the work
3. The management is the only one who have knowledge about work, this knowledge
increases power that is used in control over execution of work.
4. Most productive employee: no intelligence, trustworthy and loyal (someone who
doesn’t understand work without the orders of management)
, The heritage of Taylorism nowadays:
- Hire a higher educated worker for a complex task = expensive, high risk
- It is still attractive for managers to divide in smaller tasks and hire an employer who
is easier to replace
Result:
- Reduce costs
- Increase profit (output is more efficient)
- Products are uniform (stable in quality)
- Management can determine how much, how long and for how much pay
- More control and power with the management
- No collaboration between employees is necessary
- Workers are more easily replaced
Routinization à making work really boring (every time same routine) à results in deskilling,
skills are reduced to the bare minimum
Scientific management = degrading work to jobs that are specialized and routinized à this
results in a loss of power for workers à resulting in less job satisfaction, intention to leave
the job
Conflict of interest:
Labor – capital
Worker – manager
Seeks fulfillment – seeks maximization
Human needs – profit
Taylor is interested in behavior
Hawthorne is interested in attitudes (how do you feel about)
Human relations movement:
Attention of the researchers improved ethics and because of that improved productivity
Attention for health, strengthing of the group cohesion result in a higher productivity as a
group/team
Human relations movements: (different from Taylorism)
- Workers have social needs
- Working in groups is important
- Recognizing the ‘informal organization’ (friendship, emotional aspects etc.)
Taylor says there are two different persons:
- Thinkers (managers)
- Do-ers (workers)
Contents:
Theme 1: Chapter 1 Introduction
Theme 2: Chapter 4 The rationality of management
Theme 3: Chapter 2 Employees’ view of work
Theme 4: Article van Rossenberg et al. (2018)
Theme 5: Chapter 3 Managerial views of work
Theme 6: Chapter 6 Motivation
Theme 7: Chapter 8 Perceptions
Theme 8: Chapter 13 Structure
Theme 9: Chapter 11 Culture
Theme 10: Literature Creativity and Innovation I
Theme 11: Literature Creativity and Innovation I
Theme 12: Chapter 5 Sexuality, sex typing, and gender
Theme 13: Article Thomas et al., 2000
Theme 14: Chapter 18 Health, wellbeing, emotion and stress
Theme 15: Chapter 7 Leadership + literature on Leadership
,Chapter 1, theme 1
Globalization à the gradual (growing/increasing) connection between different societies à
global circulation of good, services and capital (information, ideas and people)
The good side:
- Access to larger markets
- Upscaling of organizations
- Access to capital flows, technology and human capital
- Cheaper imports and lager export markets
Downsides globalization:
- Shift in power à international corporates have more to say in the world
- Same-ness of production
- Loss of cultural heritage
- Loss of traditional ways of working
- Pollution
- Urbanization
- Markets can swap between countries à low waging countries, the country where
the company was originally located loses jobs
Supply chain à the network of all the individuals, organizations, resources, activities and
technology à globalization creates a long and invisible supply chain à this results in that
the consumer is far removed from what happens in the supply chain à resulting in: abuse,
mistreatment, slavery
Social mobility à change of people from different social backgrounds moving into a giving
social class
If you can’t afford to participate in a study that gives you the ability to earn money later in
life, you get stuck in this lower income. à low social mobility
If you get the opportunity to study and get out of this lower social class à higher social
mobility
Behaviour in organizations is dependent on:
- The worker à age, class, status, power, gender, race
- The conditions
- The wider context
Academic research shows you theories, they are formed by
Induction à new theory developed by research
Deduction à theory is challenged and practiced
Multiple theories and perspectives in business studies, they are all true, but they have all
limitations and disadvantages, but they are all from value
,Chapter 4, theme 2
Rationality = behavior that is… (a long time ago people wanted to make managing a science)
- Intentional (steered towards a specific aim)
- Rational (in accordance with reason or logic)
- Fitting for the particular aim (functional)
The management rationale: (only company aim is important, works as a machine, people
cannot be trusted, people had to be controlled)
The management rationale:
1. Managers who hire the best employees
2. Deploy these employees in the way they can deliver the best performance
3. In order to fulfil the aims of the organization
-> Organization as a machine
-> Assumption: workers cannot be trusted control human resources
Functionalism: the worker is selected, educated and developed in order to fulfil the aims of
the organization
Early thinkers:
- Taylor à wanted to make management a science (Cleary defined laws, rules and
principles)
Assumptions of Taylor:
- Workers have a reason to keep production low: to make sure they have jobs
- Managers have little knowledge on how production can be minimalized
Result: Research (objective / rational) is needed about how can be executed as fast and
efficient as possible
Division of labor:
1. Large processes should be divided into the smallest possible part (maximum
decomposition)
2. Efficiency by changing the process into short repetitive tasks
3. White collar: thinking employees and blue-collar work: manual
4. Minimalization of skills and knowledge necessary
Tayloristic principles:
1. Work becomes separated from the skills from the workers
2. Thinking isn’t necessary for the work
3. The management is the only one who have knowledge about work, this knowledge
increases power that is used in control over execution of work.
4. Most productive employee: no intelligence, trustworthy and loyal (someone who
doesn’t understand work without the orders of management)
, The heritage of Taylorism nowadays:
- Hire a higher educated worker for a complex task = expensive, high risk
- It is still attractive for managers to divide in smaller tasks and hire an employer who
is easier to replace
Result:
- Reduce costs
- Increase profit (output is more efficient)
- Products are uniform (stable in quality)
- Management can determine how much, how long and for how much pay
- More control and power with the management
- No collaboration between employees is necessary
- Workers are more easily replaced
Routinization à making work really boring (every time same routine) à results in deskilling,
skills are reduced to the bare minimum
Scientific management = degrading work to jobs that are specialized and routinized à this
results in a loss of power for workers à resulting in less job satisfaction, intention to leave
the job
Conflict of interest:
Labor – capital
Worker – manager
Seeks fulfillment – seeks maximization
Human needs – profit
Taylor is interested in behavior
Hawthorne is interested in attitudes (how do you feel about)
Human relations movement:
Attention of the researchers improved ethics and because of that improved productivity
Attention for health, strengthing of the group cohesion result in a higher productivity as a
group/team
Human relations movements: (different from Taylorism)
- Workers have social needs
- Working in groups is important
- Recognizing the ‘informal organization’ (friendship, emotional aspects etc.)
Taylor says there are two different persons:
- Thinkers (managers)
- Do-ers (workers)
