Solutions to organizational problems today (sometimes lurid) that invoke structure alone - or strategy and structure - are rarely adequate. The inadequacy is due in part to the lack of skill of that established model since to explain why organizations are so slow to adapt to changes, it is not uncommon for the reasons to fall on variables such as:
- In systems that incorporate outdated assumptions, the administrative style that is contrary to the established strategy The lack of higher goals that link the organization from a common purpose The refusal to deal in a concrete way "human problems" and opportunities. (Mintzberg & Quinn, 1993)
The scheme of the 7 circles
In theory, all administrators and consultants know that an organizational process involves much more than a graph with its squares, dotted lines, job descriptions and other things that could illustrate it; however, we often behave as if we don't know; if we want a change we modify the structure; even when this is important, since we have the conviction that a productive change in an organization goes beyond the structure. It is not as simple as the interaction between strategy and structure, since strategy is too critical. Our central idea is that the effectiveness of an organization depends on the interaction of several and different factors, and is established in Figure 1.
- The multiplicity of factors that influence the ability of an organization to change its own way of changing The diagram presented, aims to convey the notion of interconnectivity of variables, the idea is that if significant progress is made in an area, without advance the rest. Fortune magazine, in an article on strategy, comments that the proportion of strategies that once carefully planned will not work may rise by as much as 90%. What would cause a lack of attention in the other circles. The figure does not have a starting point, but it does have a point of convergence, so it cannot be determined which is the driving factor towards change in an organization.
The central problem in structuring is not the one where most organizational designers waste their time - that is, how to divide tasks. Better to point out, which is a matter of emphasis and coordination - how to get everything to work well. The challenge lies in developing the ability to focus on those areas that are preponderant for the evolution of the organization and thereby refocus them towards the appropriate change. (Waterman Jr, Peters, & Phillips, 1980).
Strategy
We understand by strategy, all those actions that are planned by a company in response to, or in anticipation, to changes in its external environment, its consumers, its competitors. The strategy represents the way in which a company seeks to improve its position against the competition, perhaps through low production or distribution costs, perhaps by providing greater value to the consumer, or by achieving dominance over sales and services. In other words: "This is how we will generate an original value."
" Structure follows strategy " is the foundation of organizational wisdom.
The systems
By system we understand all the formal and informal procedures that make the organization work from year to year: budgeting, capital investment, training, accounting procedures for costs, budgeting, production, human resources, etc. This variable should be the dominant one, since if you want to understand how an organization achieves its objectives, its Systems should be observed.
For many managers the word "system" leads to an understanding of a hustle concept; however, it is surprising to see how changes in systems can so strongly reinforce organizational effectiveness.
The style
Personalities do not change, or at least that is what popular wisdom holds, one of the elements of an administrator's style is how he chooses to distribute his time, there are an infinite number of things that administrators must devote their attention to, No top executive meets all the demands on his time; According to Henry Mintzberg, seniors do not meet all the demands on their time and the median time spent on any aspect is only 9 minutes.
What can an executive do in 9 minutes? Comment on what you have in mind, reinforce a message, direct people's thinking in a certain direction; This ability is a very transcendent agent of change. It is also due to the fact that personality influences the executive's "symbolic" behavior or style.
the staff
The dimension of the personnel will be channeled not only towards something more enjoyable and worthy of being controlled in practical terms by a human resources administrator, the personnel should be considered as a source of resources that must be nurtured, developed, protected and properly located; it is not uncommon to hear things like "get a good structure and people will adapt automatically" or "do not expose the organization to people" or lean the other way such as "the right people make any organization work well"; in no case are these positions correct; people count, but staff is only one of 7 variables.
The abilities
It allows us to capture the particular attributes of a company. The extraordinary attributes or capabilities of each organization is what is known as ability. We constantly observe that organizations facing large discontinuities in business conditions require more than a simple shift in strategic focus, they often need to incorporate a new skill, this need for extraordinary capabilities is usually lost when strategy changes or changes. of structure; it is important to have dismantled the skills to be replaced to add a new one.
Higher goals
The word "higher" literally means "something of the highest order." By higher goals we will understand concepts that serve as a guide, a set of aspirations, not always written, that go beyond the conventional statement of corporate objectives. Higher goals are the fundamental ideas around which a business develops, they are its core values, they are the general notions of the future direction that the management team wishes to infuse throughout the organization.
They convey meaning to people, and conveying meaning is one of the main functions of leadership.
Management planning and control systems
Huge progress has been made for 20 years in terms of knowledge that underpins organizational planning. Modern research on corporate structures has started with Chandler's Strategy and Structure; however subsequent research focused beyond just structure, on the expansion of organizational attributes. Every organization consists of: Objectives, based on strategies and established by stages of development; Structure, Processes, Systems and Personnel.
Normally this work is carried out in close collaboration and coordination with the senior executives of the organization. And the main objective is that the client can manage a Planning and Administration of their business to achieve their higher goals, which could be: achieve projected cash flows, profitability or return on investment, etc.
A deep analysis of the scheme of the 7 circles that will serve as a foundation or basis for the planning process should be made, the reasons for this constitute the starting point for the development of a new planning process, which leads to having accessibility to company managers, their strengths and weaknesses. To name a few:
- Coordinate the planning of activities separately in the optimal plan for the total activity Planning approach over a multi-year horizon Provide top management with alternatives for their timely decision Coordinate capital expenditure planning and capital expenditure planning operations; Provide a baseline measurement of business performance that will be used to identify areas that require special management attention on an ongoing basis; Encourage managers to plan for a reasonable range of future conditions; Empower senior management to set planning goals for subordinates.
The essence of this work is to identify the company's systems management controls, either for:
- the total of the company or corporate, one of its companies or departments, or one of its major development projects. To do this, generally:
- Analyze the degree to which the company is complying with its control systems.
The data obtained by these judgments will allow us to analyze them and therefore, we can formulate specific conclusions and recommendations that will include improvements in the previously evaluated management systems. (Anderson & Schwab Inc.)
The structure of organizational systems
Since the turn of the century, our thinking about organizational structure has been dominated by the "one better way" approach. There is always a correct and incorrect way to design a system, an organization, so the approach should be "everything depends on…", where organizational structures must reflect the real and current situation of the company. Control, types of formalization and decentralization, planning systems, as well as structures in general should be logically configured into consistent groups and not independently.
The basic parts of the organization as a system
- Core of Operations: Base of any organization, operators and basic production and service jobs Strategic apex: Full-time administrators, where the system is monitored Middle line: A hierarchy of authority between the core of operations and the strategic apex (managing directors) Techno-structure: Analysts who perform administrative tasks; also called staff. Administrative support: Units of various types to provide internal services (legal advice, public relations, etc.) Ideology: Traditions and beliefs of an organization (that is, a well-supported or firm “culture”). Figure 2.
Basic coordination mechanisms
Mutual adaptation
Achieve work coordination through the simple process of informal communication. People do work with each other to coordinate. It occurs in the Core of Operations, it is a mutual adaptation and it is the simplest of organizations. It is the only reliable vehicle when you are in extremely difficult conditions.
Direct supervision
One person coordinates by giving orders to others, it arises when a certain number of people have to work together. From the strategic apex to the core of operations, the manager becomes a leader.
Standardization of the work process
Procedures to follow, the analysts schedule the work of the different people to coordinate it rigorously. It occurs from the Techno structure to the Operations Core. It is also a synonym for specification or programming.
Standardization of results
Measure the results. It occurs from the Structural Techno section to a specific area or section of the Operations Core, and measures part of the process always focused on results.
Skills standardization
A standardization of the worker is sought; It is the acquisition of knowledge and skills to be applied at work. It occurs outside the organization and causes those inputs from the Operations Core to apply to performance and it can be determined what to expect from them.
Standards standardization
Workers share a series of common beliefs and therefore manage to coordinate based on them. It occurs in the Core of the Organization.
As organizational work becomes difficult and complex, the favored means of coordination seem to change, from mutual adaptation to direct supervision, then to standardization, preferably of work processes or norms, results or results. skills, to eventually return to mutual adaptation.
Management and control systems
A control system is necessary in any organization since the activities of the different divisions, departments, sections, etc. they must be coordinated and controlled. Most control systems have moved from orientation to action and are therefore inefficient or not. For example, there is little an employee can do today to correct the results of actions taken two weeks ago.
The Management (main strategic apex), on the contrary, has adjustments oriented towards the future and allows the necessary adjustments to regulate the control of the analysts and thus establish a more motivating climate for the employee.
Furthermore, although many standards or controls are simple estimates of what should happen if certain assumptions are correct, they acquire a precision in today's control systems that leave little or no room for error. Managers would be better off setting a range instead of an exact number and changing the rules as time goes on and testing wrong hypotheses. This would be more fair and positive in motivating employees. There are three fundamental beliefs that underlie most successful control systems.
- First, planning and control are the two most closely related to management functions Second, the human side of the control process should be highlighted as much as, if not more so, than the scope of tasks Finally, evaluation, training, and reward are more effective in the long run than measuring, comparing, and pressuring or punishing.
Few managers realize that a business plan must provide the framework for the company's control system. If the missions, goals, strategies, objectives and plans change, therefore, the controls must change. Unfortunately this rarely happens. Despite this error that occurs at the top (strategic apex), the repercussions are felt at all levels.
Often, too, the standards of control systems are derived from prior years' budgets and not from current company goals, the result is that lower-level employees are simply "pawns" based on factors who have little knowledge and over which they have practically no influence (direct supervision is not fulfilled).
The above is based on the relationship between Planning and control, figure 3.
Planning and Organization of two management / administration functions have been the most popular areas of research in recent years. Control, the third management function, has received surprisingly little attention. But as noted above, managers must carefully consider the behavioral aspects of the process when designing a control system if employees are to be motivated to accomplish assigned tasks. (ACCEL Team Development, 2010)
conclusion
Management is the process of efficiently organizing the use of scarce resources to achieve predetermined goals. While Mintzberg lists the management functions and grouped them into planning, organizing, staffing, leadership, and control, all of these tasks are interrelated. But fundamentally, planning has a significant impact on all of them.
Planning and control are practically inseparable. Planning without control is useless and without control planning is pointless. That is what can be said to be "Siamese twins" from the management. Plans make sense if people intend to achieve them and make real efforts to achieve them. The only way to know if these efforts are leading to the desired direction, if the plans are being carried out, is through monitoring. Planning and control are inseparable and some people treat them as one. Despite the fact that the two processes are analyzed and evaluated separately, it is important to be aware that this indissoluble relationship exists. (National Open University of Nigeria, 2008).
Cited works
- ACCEL Team Development. (2010). Team building training and development. Retrieved February 9, 2011, from Management Planning and Control Systems: http://www.accel-team.com/control_systems/index.html Anderson & Schwab Inc. (nd). Anderson & Schwab - Business Consultants. Retrieved February 8, 2011, fromMintzberg, H., & Quinn, JB (1993). The Strategic Process. Concepts, contexts and cases. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, National Open University of Nigeria. (2008). National Open University of Nigeria's Online Course Library. Retrieved February 9, 2011, from www.nou.edu.ngWaterman Jr, RH, Peters, TJ, & Phillips, JR (1980, June). Structure is Not Organization. Business Horizons. Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
