INTRODUCTION TO MANAGING AND
ORGANIZING
LECTURE 1: MANAGING PEOPLE IN ORGANIZATIONS
MANAGING AND MANAGERIALISM
Making sense of managing is not just 1 perspective, it is a coherent set of assumptions,
concepts, values, and practices that constitute (= influence) a way of viewing reality
Management means that we frame and make sense of something
o Key elements of managing are sensemaking and framing
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.
o Managerialism is the belief that if you are a good manager you can manage every
possible situation
o Example: Trump applies managerialism to everything à he says that because he
has managed some good things that he is the best in everything
MAKING SENSE OF MANAGING
Managing is a practice, something that we do, from organizations as goal-oriented
collectives, entities in which we are organized à oriented towards a goal à leads to
organization BUT it does not lead to every kind of organization
Management is a process of communication, coordinating and accomplishing action in
the pursuit of organizational objectives you try to bring something into action with a
particular goal (= organizational goals)
As a manager you are communicating and you have to manage collaborative
relationships with all kinds of different people and artefacts (ex: technologies) à these
can come from inside (ex: employees) the organization but also from outside (ex:
stakeholders) à as a manager you have to find a good balance on how to integrate ALL
these people in the organization
Management is not a neutral activity ! à means that management decisions and
actions are influenced by different kinds of values, interest and power dynamics
Ex: you don’t just decide on an investment for the whole company without discussing it
with you team
You need to make sense of what is going on in and outside of the company
Management goes beyond productivity
o Not Just About Efficiency: Management isn’t only about improving productivity
or efficiency. While these are important goals, they can’t be the only focus of a
company
o Regulatory Compliance: Managers must consider various regulations, such as
environmental laws, labor laws, and safety standards. Ignoring these can lead to
legal issues and harm to the environment or society.
Socio-Political Dimensions of Management
1
, o Societal Responsibilities: Managers need to think about the broader impact of
their decisions on society. This includes ensuring fair labor practices, contributing
to community welfare, and promoting sustainability
o Political Responsibilities: Businesses often interact with government policies
and political environments. Managers must navigate these relationships
responsibly, advocating for fair regulations and ethical practices
o Ethical Considerations: Ethical management involves making decisions that are
not only legal but also morally sound. This includes transparency, honesty, and
fairness in all business dealings
Management is a complex activity that goes beyond just achieving efficiency. It involves
navigating a web of societal, political, and ethical responsibilities to ensure that the
organization operates in a way that is sustainable and beneficial for all stakeholders.
Management cannot simply be a capacity, it is not a skill to just deliver objective gains in
productivity/efficiency à you cannot just be productive at the cost of the environment
because there are lots of regulations you need to think of
SENSEMAKING
For the past 40 years, organizations prioritized being lean and efficient à organizations
focused heavily on profit while keeping the costs low
o Being lean: minimizing waste
o Efficient: maximizing productivity
In such organizations, top management teams strive to set a common frame
o Common frame means establishing a shared understanding of the organizations
goals and operations à the goal was mostly “how do we make profit/money”
o Because of this common frame members, customers, suppliers, investors, … can
make sense of what the organization is and what it does
Sensemaking is the process by which people give meaning to something (their
collective experiences) à it involves creating a shared understanding of the organizations
goals and operations à you give labels to information you receive
Sensemaking in a capitalist system
Making sense is only making sense to make profit? à NO, it can go beyond making
profit
The art of sense-making is making sense of your work
Ex: Starbucks is making sense to its customer that it is the best coffee in the world
à because Starbucks “sells” their coffee like it is the best in the world it
automatically makes sense to the customers why their coffee is more expensive
(because it Is the best coffee in the world) à dark side: negative reviews can
“destroy” the sense-making of a company
Dare to challenge the narrative of selling company! (Projection of an image that
may not be reality)
We are constantly making sense, revising past rationalizations in the light of new
information, knowledge and events not previously available
The way you make sense is by trying to collect information that you already have à
meaning is constructed by past experiences à means that you are constructing your own
reality
2
,MANAGING IN A COMPLEX WORLD
To manage in a complex setting there is no one management approach that fits all à the
skill you need is to understand the situation and to make sense to it
It has become very difficult to be a manager is a situation where you have a lot of
pressure going on à contemporary managers can no longer rely on hierarchy and nominal
roles to manage people à they need critical reflection of people you work with à
managers need an understanding
People nowadays work in complex organizations that are embedded in a complex
contexts à in order to be a good manager you need to be able to understand complexity
of situations but you also need to understand the complexity of humans
SENSEMAKING AND FRAMING (NOT IN THE REVIEW)
Managers manage through processes of:
o Sense making à EXAMEN
o Sense giving
o Sense breaking
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 and organizations change, the different sense and framing
is required
Much of managing is discursive: issuing orders, making suggestions, framing actions in
order to accomplish objectives
Sensemaking is what sends thought in to action
MANAGING AND FRAMING
When you make sense of something, it’s always your personal interpretation, but it’s
influenced by many factors. These factors include:
Language and concepts: The words and ideas you use to shape your
understanding.
Experience: Your past experiences guide how you interpret new information.
Other people’s input: What others say and think can influence your perspective.
Familiar stories: Stories or patterns you know can help you make sense of new
situations.
Because everyone has different experiences, uses language differently, and is influenced
by different stories and people, individuals can interpret the same situation in very
different ways. This means that even with the same set of cues, people can come to very
different conclusions.
FRAMING
Framing is a term that comes from film making: a director frames a shot by including
some detail and omitting other elements
Framing means that you put the spotlight on something and leave other information out
à you define what is important/relevant à important in managing
3
, There is a fine line between being transparent as a manager and being honest and
putting something in the spotlight à you as a manager define what you frame (= what
you think is important, what should be in the spotlight)
Framing gives meaning to a situation by using artefacts à it entails the use of metaphors,
repetition of stories, traditions, slogans, … à u use all of this to highlight or contrast a
particular organizational issue
Sense-breaking and sense-giving
o Framing is what leaders do, especially when they are seeking to reframe in the
case of organizational change (Fairhurst and Sarr, 1996)
o Framing mobilizes followers through the judicious use of images, symbols, and
language.
o Framing occurs not only “through sensemaking but also through sense-breaking
and sense giving.
MANAGERIALISM VERSUS MANAGERIAL RATIONALITY !!!!
MANAGERIALISM
Managerialism, portrays management as a universal solution to all problems
Managerialism is an ideology that promotes the belief that professional management is
the key to solving all organizational and societal problems. It suggests that management
techniques and principles, typically used in business, should be applied universally across
all types of organizations, including public institutions and society at large
MANAGERIAL RATIONALITY
Some managers argue that they can make decisions based on management on their
managerial competence this is managerialism but is this possible???
o NO because within an organization management goes beyond managing financial
capital
Managerial rationality is managerialism as an ideology, It means that we use economic
rational decision making and their metaphors to make decisions on a rational basis
o We have rational managers that pretend they have the perfect knowledge on a
certain situation and this is why they can make decisions
o Rationality is always contextually and cognitively limited bounded rationality
because managers cannot have perfect knowledge of all variables and outcomes
o Managing and organizations are constantly changing (it is inevitable)
o The belief of pure rationality can be seen as a myth because real-world decision
making is influenced by various factors beyond logical analysis, including
emotions, politics, and social dynamics
MANAGERIAL RATIONALITY VERSUS MANAGERIALISM !!!!
Managerial Rationality (rational Managerialism (framing)
approach)
o About making logical and efficient o An ideology that management is
decisions within a specific context, the answer to all organizational
4
ORGANIZING
LECTURE 1: MANAGING PEOPLE IN ORGANIZATIONS
MANAGING AND MANAGERIALISM
Making sense of managing is not just 1 perspective, it is a coherent set of assumptions,
concepts, values, and practices that constitute (= influence) a way of viewing reality
Management means that we frame and make sense of something
o Key elements of managing are sensemaking and framing
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.
o Managerialism is the belief that if you are a good manager you can manage every
possible situation
o Example: Trump applies managerialism to everything à he says that because he
has managed some good things that he is the best in everything
MAKING SENSE OF MANAGING
Managing is a practice, something that we do, from organizations as goal-oriented
collectives, entities in which we are organized à oriented towards a goal à leads to
organization BUT it does not lead to every kind of organization
Management is a process of communication, coordinating and accomplishing action in
the pursuit of organizational objectives you try to bring something into action with a
particular goal (= organizational goals)
As a manager you are communicating and you have to manage collaborative
relationships with all kinds of different people and artefacts (ex: technologies) à these
can come from inside (ex: employees) the organization but also from outside (ex:
stakeholders) à as a manager you have to find a good balance on how to integrate ALL
these people in the organization
Management is not a neutral activity ! à means that management decisions and
actions are influenced by different kinds of values, interest and power dynamics
Ex: you don’t just decide on an investment for the whole company without discussing it
with you team
You need to make sense of what is going on in and outside of the company
Management goes beyond productivity
o Not Just About Efficiency: Management isn’t only about improving productivity
or efficiency. While these are important goals, they can’t be the only focus of a
company
o Regulatory Compliance: Managers must consider various regulations, such as
environmental laws, labor laws, and safety standards. Ignoring these can lead to
legal issues and harm to the environment or society.
Socio-Political Dimensions of Management
1
, o Societal Responsibilities: Managers need to think about the broader impact of
their decisions on society. This includes ensuring fair labor practices, contributing
to community welfare, and promoting sustainability
o Political Responsibilities: Businesses often interact with government policies
and political environments. Managers must navigate these relationships
responsibly, advocating for fair regulations and ethical practices
o Ethical Considerations: Ethical management involves making decisions that are
not only legal but also morally sound. This includes transparency, honesty, and
fairness in all business dealings
Management is a complex activity that goes beyond just achieving efficiency. It involves
navigating a web of societal, political, and ethical responsibilities to ensure that the
organization operates in a way that is sustainable and beneficial for all stakeholders.
Management cannot simply be a capacity, it is not a skill to just deliver objective gains in
productivity/efficiency à you cannot just be productive at the cost of the environment
because there are lots of regulations you need to think of
SENSEMAKING
For the past 40 years, organizations prioritized being lean and efficient à organizations
focused heavily on profit while keeping the costs low
o Being lean: minimizing waste
o Efficient: maximizing productivity
In such organizations, top management teams strive to set a common frame
o Common frame means establishing a shared understanding of the organizations
goals and operations à the goal was mostly “how do we make profit/money”
o Because of this common frame members, customers, suppliers, investors, … can
make sense of what the organization is and what it does
Sensemaking is the process by which people give meaning to something (their
collective experiences) à it involves creating a shared understanding of the organizations
goals and operations à you give labels to information you receive
Sensemaking in a capitalist system
Making sense is only making sense to make profit? à NO, it can go beyond making
profit
The art of sense-making is making sense of your work
Ex: Starbucks is making sense to its customer that it is the best coffee in the world
à because Starbucks “sells” their coffee like it is the best in the world it
automatically makes sense to the customers why their coffee is more expensive
(because it Is the best coffee in the world) à dark side: negative reviews can
“destroy” the sense-making of a company
Dare to challenge the narrative of selling company! (Projection of an image that
may not be reality)
We are constantly making sense, revising past rationalizations in the light of new
information, knowledge and events not previously available
The way you make sense is by trying to collect information that you already have à
meaning is constructed by past experiences à means that you are constructing your own
reality
2
,MANAGING IN A COMPLEX WORLD
To manage in a complex setting there is no one management approach that fits all à the
skill you need is to understand the situation and to make sense to it
It has become very difficult to be a manager is a situation where you have a lot of
pressure going on à contemporary managers can no longer rely on hierarchy and nominal
roles to manage people à they need critical reflection of people you work with à
managers need an understanding
People nowadays work in complex organizations that are embedded in a complex
contexts à in order to be a good manager you need to be able to understand complexity
of situations but you also need to understand the complexity of humans
SENSEMAKING AND FRAMING (NOT IN THE REVIEW)
Managers manage through processes of:
o Sense making à EXAMEN
o Sense giving
o Sense breaking
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 and organizations change, the different sense and framing
is required
Much of managing is discursive: issuing orders, making suggestions, framing actions in
order to accomplish objectives
Sensemaking is what sends thought in to action
MANAGING AND FRAMING
When you make sense of something, it’s always your personal interpretation, but it’s
influenced by many factors. These factors include:
Language and concepts: The words and ideas you use to shape your
understanding.
Experience: Your past experiences guide how you interpret new information.
Other people’s input: What others say and think can influence your perspective.
Familiar stories: Stories or patterns you know can help you make sense of new
situations.
Because everyone has different experiences, uses language differently, and is influenced
by different stories and people, individuals can interpret the same situation in very
different ways. This means that even with the same set of cues, people can come to very
different conclusions.
FRAMING
Framing is a term that comes from film making: a director frames a shot by including
some detail and omitting other elements
Framing means that you put the spotlight on something and leave other information out
à you define what is important/relevant à important in managing
3
, There is a fine line between being transparent as a manager and being honest and
putting something in the spotlight à you as a manager define what you frame (= what
you think is important, what should be in the spotlight)
Framing gives meaning to a situation by using artefacts à it entails the use of metaphors,
repetition of stories, traditions, slogans, … à u use all of this to highlight or contrast a
particular organizational issue
Sense-breaking and sense-giving
o Framing is what leaders do, especially when they are seeking to reframe in the
case of organizational change (Fairhurst and Sarr, 1996)
o Framing mobilizes followers through the judicious use of images, symbols, and
language.
o Framing occurs not only “through sensemaking but also through sense-breaking
and sense giving.
MANAGERIALISM VERSUS MANAGERIAL RATIONALITY !!!!
MANAGERIALISM
Managerialism, portrays management as a universal solution to all problems
Managerialism is an ideology that promotes the belief that professional management is
the key to solving all organizational and societal problems. It suggests that management
techniques and principles, typically used in business, should be applied universally across
all types of organizations, including public institutions and society at large
MANAGERIAL RATIONALITY
Some managers argue that they can make decisions based on management on their
managerial competence this is managerialism but is this possible???
o NO because within an organization management goes beyond managing financial
capital
Managerial rationality is managerialism as an ideology, It means that we use economic
rational decision making and their metaphors to make decisions on a rational basis
o We have rational managers that pretend they have the perfect knowledge on a
certain situation and this is why they can make decisions
o Rationality is always contextually and cognitively limited bounded rationality
because managers cannot have perfect knowledge of all variables and outcomes
o Managing and organizations are constantly changing (it is inevitable)
o The belief of pure rationality can be seen as a myth because real-world decision
making is influenced by various factors beyond logical analysis, including
emotions, politics, and social dynamics
MANAGERIAL RATIONALITY VERSUS MANAGERIALISM !!!!
Managerial Rationality (rational Managerialism (framing)
approach)
o About making logical and efficient o An ideology that management is
decisions within a specific context, the answer to all organizational
4
