Contemporary management functions Essay Example for Free

Contemporary management functions Essay Contemporary management functions reflect considerations of past management theories and aim to improve and strengthen employer-employee relationships as well as providing suitable working conditions for employees. Management functions are functions which managers perform to â€Å"effectively and efficiently coordinate the work of others. (Robbins, 2012). The functions consist of planning, organising, leading and controlling. The theories discussed in the article (1981) Hawthorne, the Myth of the Docile Worker, and Class Bias in Psychology, American Psychologist, 36(8) pp. 867-878. By Bramel, D, an article written about the Hawthorne Research conducted between 1924-1933, which looked to identify the relation between various working conditions and productivity and output, highlight the need for contemporary management functions. The article addresses how integral a continuous strong and communicative relationship is between the employer and employees of a business and the necessity of a strong and ethical organizational culture. Poor executions of the leading management function can reduce trust between employers and employees and create job dissatisfaction. In regards to the rapid decrease in output in period 12, Bramel writes that Roethlisberger and Dickson (1939) stated that the â€Å"workers were afraid that should their previous performance be maintained or improved in this period, rest pauses might never again be reinstated. † (Bramel, D. 1981). This is an example of a lack of communication between employer and employee, resulting in resistance from employees. Communication is a vital part of the organising management function; communication is the transfer of understanding and meaning (Robbins, 2012). In the case study, understanding was clearly not transferred between managers and employees as despite employees being reassured this was only temporary prior to the exercise, the workers still believed that management was â€Å"really interested in how to squeeze the most out of them, rather than in making their working conditions better for them. †(Bramel, D. 1981). The lack of understanding and meaning communicated between each party led to the reduced trust ultimately resulting in lowered total output. This is well summarised by Bramel â€Å"If the workers had in fact ad the kind of trust in management’s good intentions that Mayo claims, would they have found it necessary to resist the experimenters so actively in this period? The picture we get, instead, is of a group of rather wary workers engaged in a continuing skirmish with management and determined not to be taken advantage of. Rather than become a part of the company â€Å"team,† they became a team of their own, rather coolly looking out for their own economic interests in an adversary relationship with management. â€Å" (Bramel, D. 981). Bramel highlights the trust lacking in an â€Å"adversary relationship† with the worker’s management, who work as a team outside of the organisation’s best interests. (Bramel, D. 1981). The leading management function recognises that managers must be able to explain, predict and influence employee’s behaviour for success. Managers must be able to explain why employees engage in some behaviour, predict how employees will respond to various actions of the manager, and to influence how employees behave (Robbins, 2012). Job satisfaction is an employee attitude, which refers to an employee’s general attitude towards their job; employees with high levels of job satisfaction have positive attitudes towards their jobs. People’s behaviours, attitudes and actions are closely related. In the case of the Hawthorne Study, managers were unsuccessful in predicting how employees would respond to their actions and did not positively influence employee’s behaviour through their actions. Dissatisfied employees can result in workplace misbehaviour (Robbins, 2012). s witness in the case study where employees intentionally slowed down production to spite the managers. Poor job satisfaction as a result of indisposed working conditions and a poor leading management function contributed to the fall in productivity. Weak management of employees reduces motivation and employee contentment. During period 12 of the experiment, productivity dropped significantly as a result to the removal of resting periods for the workers. Bramel writes that evidence revealed four of the five workers actually slowed down, and it was apparent that it was intentional. The workers were quite consciously adopting a strategy in-tended to induce the experimenters to return quickly to the preferred conditions† (Bramel, D. 1981). The evidence is clear that there was a direct correlation between the decrease in output and fall in motivation for the workers and the removal of rest pauses, as the output increased significantly for all five workers with the return of the rest pauses (Bramel, D. 1981). Motivation is a key part of the leading management function. It is the process by which a person’s efforts are energised, directed and sustained towards attaining a goal. (Robbins, 2012). The manager must be supportive, they must, have mutual confidence and trust, help to maintain a good income, understanding of work problems and help in doing the job, genuine interest in personal problems. (Mullins, 2005). Managers must look to continually motivate and increase performance of employees through different processes such as; rewards for performance, recognition and appraisal, showing care and concern, and using attainable goals. (Robbins, 2012). A strong organisational culture can harness and set the foundation for the four key management functions; planning, organising, leading and controlling. A strong organisational culture provides shared values that ensure that everyone in the organisation is on the same track (Robbins, 1996). Organisational culture offers a shared system of meaning, which forms the basis of communication and mutual understanding (Funrham and Gunter, 1993). Strong organisational cultures are strong in the leading management function, as employees are motivated through values they share with their colleagues. Organisational culture complements rational managerial tools by playing an indirect role in influencing behaviour (Martins and Terblanche, 2003). Hence it being important for a strong culture to plan, organise, lead and control processes with the agreement, cooperation and enthusiasm of employees, in order to avoid resistance and hostility. It can be seen through the study of several articles that contemporary management functions are integral for successful management. Via the study of the Hawthorne Study, the theories proposed have illuminated how imperative the proper conduction of the management functions are for firms. A strong organisation culture provides the framework for managers to conduct the management functions by creating and sharing the values, which the functions will encompass through the firm. Contemporary management functions must be organising and leading via successful communication, understanding and motivation to be successful.

Justice Explored in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter Essay

Justice Explored in The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne created themes in The Scarlet Letter just as significant as the obvious ideas pertaining to sin and Puritan society. Roger Chillingworth is a character through which one of these themes resonates, and a character that is often underplayed in analysis. His weakness and path of destruction of himself and others are summed up in one of Chillingworth's last sentences in the novel, to Arthur Dimmesdale: "Hadst thou sought the whole earth over... there were no place so secret, no high place nor lowly place, where thou couldst have escaped me, save on this very scaffold!" (171). This powerful line from Chillingworth holds three meanings. First, Dimmesdale can save himself only through confession in public. Secondly, it shows the true sin and suffering in Chillingworth himself. In this regard, the line is just as important in reiterating the sickness in Chillingworth as it is in showing the torment in Dimmesdale. Finally, this statement creates a parallel between Chillingworth's idea of justice and the Puritans'. The theme Hawthorne builds up in Chillingworth is not simply his pain and torment. It is a more important representation of the weakness in the values of the people in Puritan times, and how their perseverance for "justice" skewed their views on life and forgiveness. Because of his mindset, Chillingworth torments himself with his goal to destroy Dimmesdale just as much as Dimmesdale tortures himself for their seven years together. Chillingworth is ruining his own life and does not realize it, because he no longer sees the value in life as he tries to ruin one. The first foreshadowing we see of Chillingworth's obsession begins... ...h life because of that. Dimmesdale, on the other hand, faced Puritan torture under Chillingworth for the seven years without benefit of the release of guilt Hester had found by being in the public eye. Dimmesdale's only release from guilt was not the scaffold, but death itself. Hawthorne's statement through Chillingworth offers insight into Dimmesdale and Chillingworth along with a representation of Hawthorne's disapproval of the Puritan values. This disapproval is the driving force of the novel, and it underlies the relationship between Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and the prevailing greater justice of God. The contrast of the Puritans' justice and God's makes the message of the story greater than a love story or a story of a sin. With this theme, The Scarlet Letter becomes a comparison of the flawed justice of humans and the divine justice of God.

Prison Inmates Should Be Allowed To Take College Courses Essay

Prison Inmates Should Be Allowed To Take College Courses Prison inmates should be allowed to take college course because having an education helps reform the inmate into a useful member of society. Education is useful in helping the inmate acquire the life skills necessary to make a life change for the better. Studies have shown that inmates who participate in educational programs were less likely to recidivate once released back into to society than those who did ot participate. Allowing prisoners to take college courses restructures the way inmates think and benefits society as a whole by helping inmates adapt once released, providing Job skills necessary to find work, and aiding in inmate rehabilitation. Providing an education for inmates helps them acquire the necessary life skills to make better choices once released and makes it easier to adapt to life outside the prison walls. An educated person is better able to choose etween right and wrong and also make wiser decisions. By restructuring the way an inmate thinks, the inmate makes better choices and finds better role models to emulate. An inmate who has the ability to read and write is better able to find information for himself and is more likely to use that information to make informed decisions. It is therefore easy to deduce, an inmate who has received a prison education can think more clearly and will act more positively preventing most inmates from recidivism. Using the education gained in prison will facilitate an inmate’s adaption to society and provides the necessary Jobs skills to find work once released. Education for inmates helps build a foundation for future success and provides the Job skills necessary to help inmates find work once they are released. Teaching basic educational skills to inmates such as reading, writing, and math skills increases their chances of passing employment tests and greatly improves their..

Psychoanalytic Criticism Originated In The Work Of Austrian

Psychoanalytic criticism originated in the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Freud discovered that most of our actions are motivated by psychological forces over which we have very limited control. One of Freud’s most important contributions to the study of the psyche is his theory of repression: the unconscious mind is a repository of repressed desires, feelings, memories, wishes and instinctual drives. A principal element in Freud’s theory is his assignment of the mental processes to three psychic zones: the id, the ego and the superego. Freud’s theories have launched what is now known as the psychoanalytic approach to literature. Looking at Heart of Darkness from this approach, Heart of Darkness explores something more†¦show more content†¦In the novel, Conrad draws an image of Africa as the â€Å"other world,† the antithesis of a civilized Europe, a site where man’s accumulated years of education and sophistication are confr onted by a striking savagery. The story opens on the River Thames, calm and peaceful. It then moves to the very opposite of the Thames, and takes place on the River Congo. However, It’s not the flagrant difference between the two that perplexes Conrad but the underlying allusion of intimate relationship, of â€Å"common ancestry,† since the Thames was itself a dark place, but one that has managed to civilize, to enlighten itself and the world, and is now living in the light. The peaceful Thames, however, runs the terrible risk of being stirred by its encounter with its â€Å"primordial relative, the Congo;† it would witness the reflection of its own forsaken darkness and would hear the sounds that echo its remote gloomy history. The Thames would fall victim to the ghastly reminiscences of the irrational frenzy of the primitive times (Achebe 262-3). Marlow, a man of discipline and justice, was expecting such values to exist elsewhere. They became a kind of psychological expectations. Marlow discovers that not all men share his belief in an orderly, fundamentally good society. His journey is full of elements of absurdism, elements that hint at a world that is suddenly irrational and out of focus. Marlow is fascinated by theShow MoreRelatedHeart of Darkness in the Light of Psychoanalytic Theories.4599 Words   |  19 PagesPsychoanalytic Criticism Psychoanalytic criticism originated in the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who pioneered the technique of psychoanalysis. Freud developed a language that described, a model that explained, and a theory that encompassed human psychology. His theories are directly and indirectly concerned with the nature of the unconscious mind. Through his multiple case studies, Freud managed to find convincing evidence that most of our actions are motivated by psychologicalRead MoreEssay about Heart of Darkness: Psychoanalytic Criticism4502 Words   |  19 PagesHeart of Darkness: Psychoanalytic Criticism Psychoanalytic criticism originated in the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who pioneered the technique of psychoanalysis. Freud developed a language that described, a model that explained, and a theory that encompassed human psychology. His theories are directly and indirectly concerned with the nature of the unconscious mind. Through his multiple case studies, Freud managed to find convincing evidence that most of our actions are motivatedRead MoreWith Time, All Things Change1800 Words   |  8 Pagesunrealistic infatuation with Daisy Buchanan and idealization of his American Dream. Literary criticism is a broad term used to define the different theories in which a reader can critique literary works. It began with formalism in the 1920 s and has evolved into many different theories that cover gender studies, historicism, deconstruction, etc. Psychoanalytic theory originated from the Austrian psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, who pioneered the technique of psychoanalysis (Rivkin Ryan, p.389)Read MoreFreudian Psychology: Main Ideas3015 Words   |  13 PagesFreudian Psychology: The Main Ideas Psychoanalysis is Sigmund Freud’s work, thought to be created between 1900 and 1939, which still is a very vibrant thread in history and psychology today. According to Sigmund Freud the unconscious mind is a reservoir of repressed impulses and desires in your mind, while you may be completely awake you are still unaware of the mental processes that are taking place. Though the repressed impulses control the way we think, act, and above all feel. Freud also