Machine Organizational Structure and Culture

¶ … Machine

Organizational Structure and Culture -- Individual Performance at Work

Individual performance within a company can be affected by various factors. These could include intrinsic factors such as ability, effort, and motivation (The Space Within). Effort and motivation, however, are also be affected by external factors such as equity and expectation. Employees generally expect to be treated equally within the company and in relation to others in similar positions and companies. Furthermore, a certain reward is expected for a certain effort, while promotions are expected under circumstances such as extra training. All these factors affect the effort level and motivation of employees.

Other external factors include the task or role perception and environmental factors. The job, for example, could be perceived as important in terms of itself, its function in the organization, and in relation to other employees in the organization. The environment within which the employee words is also conducive to performance. Environmental factors, for example, could include stress levels and time constraints, as well as the physical conditions within which employees function.

A performance appraisal can have various purposes. It can be of benefit to both the employer and employee. Typically, such an appraisal functions to review the performance of employees over a certain period of time (Appraisals). These are meant to reveal the gap between actual and desired performance so that training requirements can be determined. They also reveal employees who are deserving of promotions or salary raises. By obtaining such information, the manager becomes able to better exercise organizational control by helping employees optimize their performance level. Those who do not, for example, perform at an optimal level can be encouraged or enabled to do so by further training.

Performance appraisals also help employees by making them aware of their own needs to improve their performance levels, as well as how they can help the company improve its overall performance. From the employee perspective, performance appraisals also help to clarify the expectations and responsibilities of employees, while their grievances are also reduced in this way. Perhaps most importantly, they also help to improve the effectiveness of communication among employees and management.

There are two basic systems of performance appraisals, which correlate to create a thorough assessment of employee performance. These include the evaluation and feedback systems. The evaluation system, as mentioned above, exists to determine performance gaps, while the feedback system functions to inform the employee of his or her performance quality. This system also serves as a mouthpiece for employees, who could provide feedback on the performance of the management team.

II. Approaches to Management

According to Vyas et al., the systems approach to management assumes that there is a collection of interrelated parts that act together to achieve a common goal. It can also be defined as a set of objects with a certain relationship among them and with the environment. This approach is therefore based upon the assumption that all employees function as parts of a larger system, where the health of the system -- the organization -- depends upon the quality of work as well-being of each employee. Being concerned with this, managers are to work to ensure that all employees function together in an optimal way while also ensuring that the environment is conducive to the optimal operation of the systems involved.

Scientific Management is a system that was developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor in 1911. According to Taylor, the application of the scientific method to worker management could greatly enhance performance (NetMBA). There are four basic principles according to which this method operates:

The first is that work methods should be replaced to methods that are based upon the scientific study of the tasks involved. Secondly, each worker should be selected, trained, and developed according to scientific principles. Third, managers should cooperate with workers to ensure an adherence to scientifically developed methods, and the fourth principle is that work should be divided as equally as possible among managers and workers. In this way, managers are to apply scientific principles in their relationships with employees and the environment within which they function, to perform optimally.

While productivity was indeed improved, one major drawback of this system was the fact that monotony increased, while other important elements such as a feedback, autonomy, and worker satisfaction were decreased.

According to Baena et al., there is a correlation between management style and job performance. Even where effects such as the nature of the work and motivational needs are considered, evidence shows that employees under certain management styles perform better than those under others. Managers who follow a style that takes into account the needs of workers, for example, tend to obtain better performance results than those who do not.

In 1916, Henry Fayol determined five principles of management, which included planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling (Proven Models). Later, reporting and budgeting were added. All these functions focus on optimizing the function of the business by means of human, financial, and physical resources.

The best management style in terms of business effectiveness is probably the systems approach, since this takes into account not only the physical and financial elements involved in creating a suitable environment for the business, but also the necessity to manage human beings in a way that optimizes motivation and performance. The systems approach, for example, takes into account the interrelationships between internal and external factors to contribute to the overall effectiveness and longevity of the company in question.

III. Motivational Theories

Dr. Abraham Maslow created his famous hierarchy of needs in 1943. Along with this, he wrote an article entitled "A Theory of Human Motivation." This theory included a framework for human motivation that was based on his hierarchy of needs. At its basis, the theory was integrated with the hierarchy of needs in terms of its assumption that human beings are most motivated by unsatisfied needs. Part of this theory was that the lower needs would need to be satisfied before the higher needs could be satisfied. In the workplace, then, Maslow held that lower-order needs such as safety and physiological needs would need to be satisfied before higher-level motivators such as self-fulfilment could be used as motivators in the workplace.

Herzberg's two-factor theory, on the other hand, holds that management should approach needs from two perspectives; factors that create dissatisfaction and factors that create satisfaction, where one group of factors is not necessarily the direct opposite of the other. According to Herzberg, intrinsic motivation should enjoy continual management support, and is promoted by job enrichment. There are three ways in which this could be ensured:

The full ability of the employee must be utilized;

Increased levels of ability should be rewarded with increased responsibility;

In case of the employer's inability to satisfy the intrinsic motivation needs of the employee, the employee should be replaced by another or the job should be automated.

According to the management literature and research, there is a correlation between job satisfaction and job performance. It might be assumed that the employee who is satisfied in the work that he or she performs will perform better than an employee who is not as such satisfied.