Reflect how power is exercised in organisation in relation to moral values

Abstract:

The purpose of this essay is to reflect how power is exercised in organisation in relation to moral values. Also to discuss in detail in term of culture, motivation and strategy.

Introduction

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Management has become very difficult in the organisation as the organisation tries its best to fit in the competitive market and defend its position. Good appearance, reputation and the work of the organisation depend on its management performing different function. The main function of management in an organisation is planning, organizing, leading and controlling describe by Annon(2009)

Planning is important in an organisation as it provide the design of desired future position and the means of bringing about future position in order to accomplish its organization objectives. For example thinking before doing the task in order to solve problems.

Organizing is important in an organization as it help to organize all resources before in hand to put in practise. Leading is another important function of management this involve manager to control and supervise the actions of the staff. This help manger to support the staff in achieving their organisation goals and also completing their own goals can be powered by motivation, communication and department leadership. Controlling is the follow up process of examining performance and taking corrective action as required.

Management focus on the organisation goals of short and long term. Management is the managerial process of forming strategic vision, objective, setting strategy goal and then implementing and executing the strategy.

The next part of this essay section will discuss Strategy, what are strategy and how it is delivered and why.Motivation, what is motivation and element of motivation. Culture, what is culture and what culture exist in organisation and market. And finally the essay will reflect how power is exercised in organisation in relation to moral values.

Scholes and Johnson (2008:10) describe ‘Strategy is the direction and scope of the organisation over the long term, which achieves advantage in a changing environment, through its configuration of its resources and competences, with the aim of fulfilling stakeholder expectations’. This indicate strategy about where is the business heading in long term direction. Which business is compete so the market can compete. And how can the business perform better in the markets. Which resources are needed to compete For example, resources are skills, finance and assets etc. Three levels of strategy exist in the organisation and they are called Corporate Strategy, Business unit Strategy and Operational Strategy. Corporate strategy is when its purpose and scope of the business meet stakeholder expectations. This is important because it’s influenced by investor in the business. Business Unit strategy is how a business can be successful in particular market. This involves is making decision, about the product, needs of customers and create new opportunity. Finally Operational strategy is how each level of business is organised in order to deliver the corporate and business unit level strategic direction.

Strategies are managed by taking strategic decision. Strategic management process involves three main components they are called Strategic Analysis, Strategic Choice and Strategic implementation (see appendix 5).

The first one components strategic analysis is analysing the strength of the businesses’ position and considering the external factors which may influence the position. The process of strategic analysis is assessed by a number of tools, there are Pest Analysis which is a techniques use for understanding the environment in how a business operate. Scenario planning is a technique which builds plausible view of future business. Five Forces analysis is a techniques in identifying the five forces which has been affected the level of competition in the market.Market segmentation is a technique which used to identify differences and similarities between users or customers. Direction policy matrix is another technique which used to summarise the competitive strength in business.

Competitor Analysis is analyzing the business overall competitive position. Critical success factor analysis is used to identify the areas of which business need to outperform the competition, to be successful. Swot analysis is used to summarising the key issues in business in internal position and external position.

The second components strategic management is strategic choice this involve understanding the nature of stakeholder opportunity, by identify the strategic option.

The third component is strategy implementation this is used when a strategy is analysed and selected the task and then used into organisation action.

Motivation processes in a work place set the tone of the organisation goals. In the organisation it plays an important role towards on its individual person and job performance, job satisfaction, productivity and leadership. In general in the work place it is not solely responsible for the motivation of the individual but the leadership within the organisation face the challenges of understanding the motivation processes. The challenge is not just the understanding of the different motivation process or theories, however in order to improve the motivation process of each individual in the organization.

The important part is to understand how motivation works on its person itself. For example in order for manger to communicate with their employee, they need to identify with their needs on an individual basis (Gawel 1997) (see appendix 1). This is statement is very alike to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (see appendix 2), which states five basic needs that must be met in order to achieve full motivation. These needs, in ascending order, are as follows: physiological, security, love and belongingness, esteem and self-respect, and self-actualization (Gawel, 1997).Each of these needs details a very important issue in motivation inside the home environment and outside.

Maslow’s first need of physiological sufficiency is very basic. This issue simply asks if the person is comfortable in their environment. That is, are they hungry, too cold, too hotIf a person’s physical environment does not match appropriately with the person’s need, he or she will not be motivated to learn or to achieve any specific goals. Similarly, if the person does not feel safe (via the second need, security), they will not focus on working or do anything that they want. If a person feels threatened by another member of staff or family person, he or she will not be able to progress as well as the person want to. In order to avoid feeling of danger, a manager or a family person should show protection and love which is the third hierarchal need, as Maslow mentioned. For example a person in the workplace must feel safe and invited in the organisation for the person to achieve organisational goals.

In Maslow’s fourth need, esteem, for example a manger must be careful not to criticism too much and not to praise a lot. The person need to feels as they deserve praise in order for them to assimilate hard work with praise, and criticism, even when applied correctly, can damage person’ feelings. For example, In order to avoid this, the manager must use appropriate criticism and praise with suitable language. To achieve any of the previous four needs may not be motivated to continue in the home environment or in the organisation environment setting because of the connotations of frustration and distrust.

Culture is describe by Kunda (1992:8) as ‘’ within an organisational setting culture is generally viewed as the shared rule governing cognitive and effective aspects of membership in an organisation and the means whereby they are shared and expressed’’. The two schools of thought of organisational culture are managerial and social science perspective. For example the managerial believe that culture is promoted and influenced by management team or leader in order to produce one performance to improve culture. The social science perspective, that believe culture as an ambiguous product of the shared experience between the individual, mainly developed in an ad hoc fashion resulting in fragmented micro culture elements within the organisation.

The managerial views is that Edgar Schein, who describe organisational culture as “both a dynamic phenomenon that surrounds us at all times, being constantly enacted and created by our interactions with others and shaped by leadership behaviour, and a set of structures, routines, rules, and norms that guide and constrain behaviour”. (Schein, 2004:1).

“In the managerial literature there is often the implication that having a culture is necessary for effective performance, and that the stronger the culture, the more effective the organization’ (Schein, 2004:7). Therefore understanding of organisational cultures the higher the potential for the organizational achievement. If agreeing on the managerial perspective, then organisational culture is used as a tool for supporting the values of the employees with objective and values of the company. This help to increase motivation, productivity and excellence. Many companies see culture as a strategy for unique themselves from other company. For example when separating when recruiting to win business other organization believe the culture provide ‘the shared rules governing cognitive and affective aspects of membership in an organisation, and the means whereby they are shaped and expressed (Kunda, 1992: 8). For example culture provide a way for individual to derive meaning from their environment which has affect on behaviour. Culture is important as ‘the glue holding the organisation together’ (Avlesson 2002: 7).

Organisation culture consist three part which are called Artefacts, values and basic Assumption which are describe by Schiens (1985) (see appendix 4). Artefacts take on the symbolic meaning of organisation values. Values form another part of organisation culture. When a company faces a disaster, the leader of the organisational must formulate a plan to avoid all danger faced. As the company become successful obtaining the plan it then become a shared values of the company. As the disaster happen again in future, the company will reuse this plan or achievement to avoid failure. Once success the values become an underlying assumption of the company or organisation. These assumptions form the basic core of all organisation culture. These are difficult to understand because they are rarely articulated. To determine the assumption of organisation one must be immersed in the culture and its organisation. Underlying assumption marked through the views, emotions and behaviour of the member of the company. For example if an idea is in position and is not obey the rule to the underlying assumptions of an organisation then the whole idea has failed or rejected.

There are different types of organizational culture that exist and they are called Power culture, Role culture, Achievement Culture and Support Culture describe by Martin (2006).Power culture is power in a charismatic leader. The person leader act positively and creativities, and its best intention for the organisation. A lot of demands from the organisation staffs. Motivation is a not a problem because the expectation are reliability is recognised and rewarded. Power culture can produce inefficient organisation, for example a task to be done need to be approval by everyone. Role culture is where clear objective, goals and procedure exist. The organisation staff is assess on how the person meet these objective and goals. An achievement culture is when the employee work hard in order to achieve goals. This generally consists of highly motivated people and do not need any supervise. Support culture is small number of employee who support and trust each other. This way everyone will co operates and make sure that everyone is working together on the idea or task and ensure there is no conflict.

Power is defined by Alvesson and Deetz, (2000:125:26) “…à quåst³on of who gåts thå³r wày, how oftån thåy gåt thå³r wày ànd ovår whàt ³ssuås thåy gåt thå³r wày”. Therefore power can only be worked through use of power resources. Power resources described by Jackson and Carter (2000:625) are those things which bestow the means through which the behaviour of others may be influenced and modified. Scott (1997:121:36) points, that these resources can be available through either personal possession or through an organisational position allowing access to them, and thus the way in which power can be utilized can also be either personal or professional.

The relationship between power and authority in an organisation, is important that power can be seen to to bå åxårc³såd ³n whàt àrå rågàrdåd às låg³t³màtå wàys, but thå wàys ³n wh³ch th³s låg³t³màcy càn bå màx³m³zåd ³s the subjåct of somå dåbàtå. As M³ntzbårg, Ahlstrànd and Làmpål ( 1998:123:33) discussed, the relationship between the power and authority “ While power càn bå dåf³nåd às thå àb³l³ty to ³nfluåncå thå båhàv³or of othårs, àuthor³ty càn bå undårstood às thå r³ght to do so”. Weber (1978), a German sociologist and political economist, fàmously outl³nåd thråå k³nds of àdm³n³stràt³on: customàry àuthor³ty, chàr³smàt³c àdm³n³stràt³on, ànd ràt³onàl-lågàl àuthor³ty. Tràd³t³onàl àuthor³ty ³s bàsåd upon råspåct for long åstàbl³shåd customs ànd tràd³t³ons, ànd doås not àpply, to nowaday orgàn³zàt³ons. Såcondly, chàr³smàt³c àuthor³ty dåpånds upon thå powår of àn ³nd³v³duàl’s chàràctår ànd h³s or hår chàr³smàt³c or låàdårsh³p quàl³t³ås. Th³rdly, làwful råàsonàblå àdm³n³stràt³on opåràtås through pråscr³båd ànd clåàrly dåf³nåd rulås, ànd hàs às ³ts bàs³s à åstååm for à rulå of làw. Th³s indicate thàt thoså who workout powår do so w³th³n à structurå of off³cå thàt hàs clearly strict rulås. In åàch of thåså s³tuàt³ons, Max Wåbår plàcås forwàrd thå v³åw thàt àdm³n³stràt³on ³s låg³t³màtå, ³f ³t ³s rågàrdåd by thoså subjåct to ³t, às bå³ng so. (Jàckson and Càrtår, (2000: 598:625)).

Another study on power is discussed by Beetham (1991) who has attempted to develop this alternative concept of legitimacy around the exercise of power. Beetham (1991) define legitimacy, as Weber stated, as nothing more than a belief in legitimacy is to ignore some key issues. Beetham (1991:19), proposed that simply because people believe in legitimacy of power does not mean that this power was acquired or exercised in a legitimate fashion. Therefore he stated that “those power to be fully legitimate, then three conditions are required, its conformity to express consent of the subordinate to the specific relations of power …” ( Beetham (1991:19)). This indicated that the workout of legitimate authority force powerfully on the developement of trust in the organsiations. Seond condition is which authority is excerised in a transparent and legitimate manner, this mean the development of trust by agreed to rule. Thrid condition is adjusting the rule by references to shared belief, this indicated that shared belief need to focus on development of trust , organisation in order to improve working relationship of the employee.

The relations between trust in the organisation, is to understand the relationship between beliefs and the creation of information able to undertake. Knowledge management practitioners have recognised the development of trust in the organisational environment as being “key” to the success of development of a knowledge sharing culture. The word beliefs is regarded as an essential condition in the organisation of the work practices and the effective use of resources. As Scott (1997:121:36) argued that the cornerstome for any effective collaborative work practices is the development of high trust relationships between related parties and only in this way can the exchange of knowledge be really effective. This indicates creating trust in the organisational environment is a key aspect of effective knowledge management practice. In future if authority in an organisation is exercised in a legitimate fashion, then trust is more likely to follow. If trust exists then power resources will be used for future goals than individual goals, and as knowledge is a power resource, exercise knowledge flows will therefore be greatly improved and benefit to the organisation.

The relationship between the exercise of legitimate authority and the development of trust in the organisational environment, is about creating trust and also creating trustworthiness. Hardin (2002:30), proposes that: Cråàt³ng ³nst³tut³ons thàt hålp såcurå, trustworth³nåss thus helps to support or induce trust. This indicated that creating organisations, trust and trustworthiness is as important as if none of is used then there is no point creating organisation. Beetham (1991) outline three points of development of trust that is creating organisations in which authority is exercised in a transparent and legitimate manner. This indicated to relate the development of trust by agreeing to established rules, secondly adjusting the rules by reference to shared beliefs, this indicated that shared beliefs should be focus on development of trust, in working relationship in an organisation. Lastly consent of the subordinate to the particular relations of power. This suggest that when an employee agreed to work for the company in return for a pay and benefits package.

One of the important issues is reputation of the organisation which is another resource. Every organisation struggles for having an excellent reputation and be second to none in the market. For example an organisation having a good reputation as a reliable partner and manufacture of quality product will likely to have more customers and the company, than having low reputation even if its production is as qualitative. Therefore evaluating the performance criteria of the company and speaking about the work its management, overall show that the reputation of the organisation is a very significant way.

The purpose of this essay is to reflect how power is exercised in organisation in relation to moral values. Also to discuss in detail in term of culture, motivation and strategy.

Reference

Books

Alvesson M. and Deetz S. (2000) Doing Critical Management Research. London: Sage.

Beetham D, (1991) The legitimation of power. London: Macmillan Education.

Hardin, R. (2002), Trust and Trustworthiness, New York,Russell Sage Foundation.

Kunda, G. (1992) Engineering Culture: Control and Commitment in a High-Tech Corporation, Temple University Press

Jackson N. and Carter P. (2000) Rethinking Organizational Behaviour. London: Prentice Hall.

Martin, J. (2006) That’s the Way We Do Things Around Here”. An Overview of Organizational Culture. Available on www.southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/content/v07n01/martin_m01.htm. [Accessed on 13 April 2011]

Mintzberg H., Ahlstrand B. and Lampel J. (1998) Strategy Safari. London: Prentice Hall.

Schein, E. (2004) Organizational Culture and Leadership, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Scott J. (1997) Corporate Business and Capitalist Classes. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

Weber, M. (1978), in Roth G, Wittich C, (Eds),Economy and Society, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, Vol. 1/2.

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