610 Discussion 1 Responses

.docx

School

Liberty University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

610

Subject

Management

Date

Apr 30, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by nblakely2017

I enjoyed reading your perspective for this week’s resources. Our discussions began with the concept of information sharing and its importance in an organization. We learned about efficient performance organizations and learning organizations and how they each utilize information sharing. I agree with you that shared information is essential for a learning organization. Daft (2022) supports that theory as well explaining that “the widespread sharing of information enables all employees to have complete information about the company so they can act quickly” (p. 31). This is not as important in an efficient performance organization as operations are much more structured with information flowing down as necessary. Nonprofit organizations can be similar to for-profit business. The glaring difference is money and overall mission of the company. To add to your response regarding nonprofit organization stakeholders, we must consider donors who provide financial assistance. Their expectation is that the company is thriving at creating that social impact promised within their mission statement. Any misappropriation of funds could lead to loss of donations and ultimately the trust of the community. Although their main goal is not profit, the social impact is just as important. You mentioned how employee development benefits the company by creating a culture of creativity and problem-solving. I can agree with your take. Daft (2021) lectures that innovation and change goals are increasingly important and that employee development goals are critical for helping maintain a motivated, committed workforce (p. 60). I will add that a highly motivated workforce is key to driving the vision of the company. Without that motivated workforce innovation will stall, causing the company to lose competitive advantage. I offer a differing view to your point that too much investment into employee development causes a strain on the company budget. Businesses should project any training and development necessary in its annual budget We must view employees as resources that support the goals and mission of the company, contributing to its ultimate success. Ye at al., (2022) echoes this saying, “leaders must regard employees’ development as the organization’s development and work as hard as possible to realize their value (p. 10). Outsourcing has great benefits for business. As you stated, companies are receiving specialized skills when choosing to outsource. Your IT services answer is a perfect example of that. IT is such a specialized skill and the resources required to train a department in that area can be overwhelming. Outsourcing this allows the company to focus on the critical areas of concern, like research and product design. It also allows opportunities for others to create their success path and this is inline with how God instructs us to be a blessing for others. Hebrew 13:16 says, “and do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (ESV). Chapter 1: Why is shared information so important in a learning organization in comparison to an efficient performance organization? Discuss how an organization’s

approach to sharing information may be related to other elements of organization design such as: structure, tasks, strategy, and culture. Shared information is important in a learning (organic) organization in comparison to an efficient (mechanistic) performance organization because it is viewed as a catalyst in the organization. In a learning organization the atmosphere is looser, free-flowing, and adaptive. According to Daft (2021), the rules are loosely applied and are not written down. Employees are expected to show initiative and navigate through the system on their own volition. The hierarchy of authority within the organization is not clearly defined and decision making is decentralized (meaning it’s bottom up). Management’s role is to provide employees with a clear sense of direction, purpose, and to empower employees across the firm to be creative by thinking outside of the box. The main message from management is learning and adaptation. In this information power exchange, knowledge is shared to encourage employees to push past status quo but this electric environment does not come without various contingency factors. These factors (structure, tasks, formalization, communication, and hierarchy) have great influence as to whether an organization is more effective being an organic or mechanistic design (Daft, R. L. 2021). Another way to look at it is from the perspective of organizational effectiveness. According to Zheng & McLean (2010), Organizational effectiveness is “the degree to which an organization realizes its goals.” An organization’s approach to sharing information may be related to other elements of organization design such as: structure, tasks, strategy, and culture. Understanding how to assess the contingency factors and how they affect the organization is critical. For example, the structure can be centralized. Daft (2021) adds, that decision authority is located near the top along with knowledge and control of activities. Both are held by upper management and employees are expected to do as they are told. If the structure is decentralized, the decision- making authority is pushed down to lower levels. Knowledge and control of activities reside with the employees rather than supervisors and management. The employees are encouraged to solve problems by collaborating with each other and with customers, using their discretion to make decisions (Daft, R. L. 2021). Another factor is the tasks, or the work assigned to the employees. Tasks can be specialized (seen in a mechanistic design) or empowered (where a person can use his judgment and ability to achieve an outcome or goal). The systems used in the design can be formal (mechanistic design) or informal (organic design). The communication can be vertical (top down in a mechanistic design) or horizontal (from employee to employee with open dialogue to customers, suppliers, and even competitors). The last factor is hierarchy of authority versus collaborative teamwork. This refers to the way in which the workflows are managed. In a mechanistic design there is vertical hierarchy as well as a chain of command. It is quite different from organic design which emphasizes collaborative teamwork. Employees across teams develop and promote new ideas that respond to the needs of customers (Daft, R. L. 2021). Chapter 1: What are some differences that one might anticipate among the expectations of stakeholder for a nonprofit organization versus a for-profit business? Do you believe nonprofit managers have to pay more attention to stakeholders than business managers? There are several differences between the expectations of stakeholders for a for-profit business versus a non-profit organization. According to Dart (2023), for profit business direct their activities towards earning money for the company and its owners as compared to non- profits direct their efforts towards making some kind of social impact. Another difference is in

businesses, managers focus on improving products and services to yield greater sales revenues. This is not the case in non-profits organizations where services are usually provided to nonpaying clients with limited resources resulting in an unsteady stream of income to remain operational (Daft, R. L. 2020). This need for funding comes with many obstacles and strings not to mention the added pressure of “social accountability” which is the efforts of non-profits to maintain accountability to all direct and indirect stakeholders (Bryan, T. K. et al 2021). In my opinion, non-profit managers must pay more attention to stakeholders than business managers because there is more scrutiny placed on non-profit organizations. Due to the constrained budgetary aspects of government at all levels, non-profits are expected to address individual and societal needs by delivering a variety of social programs (Greiling, D. et al 2016). This increased pressure to provide services has caused a need for the non-profits to demonstrate that resources are being used efficiently and effectively (Greiling, D. et al 2016). Chapter 2: How might a company’s goals for employee development be related to its goals for innovation and change? How might a company's goals for employee development be related to its goals for productivity? Explain the ways that these types of goals may conflict in an organization? A company can link its goals for employee development to the company’s goal for innovation and change by investing monies for either free tuition or tuition reimbursement for employees who seek degrees in a discipline that relates to the work processes of the company. This will bring more innovative skillsets to the company workforce. According to Daft (2020), Bank of America Merrill Lynch has taken a different approach to the development of its employees by making certain junior bankers work on a wider variety of different assignments and ensure that the development of core skills be a factor in making staff assignments. This relates to the company goal for productivity by looking at the resource cost per employee (Daft, R. L. 2020). In pursuing company goals there will be some unavoidable conflicts. The conflicts could be that employee development goals could conflict with productivity goals. Another is that the innovation goal could hurt profitability. Daft (2020) explains that Facebook had a goal of “bringing people together by making the world more open and connected” realized it conflicted with their goal of protecting user privacy and personal data. I enjoyed reading your perspective and contributions to the discussion. Your response on employee development stood out and I would like to add to that. Daft (2021) lectured that strong employee development goals are a characteristic of companies that regularly show up on Fortune magazine’s list of “100 Best Companies to Work For” (p. 89). These goals are also important to retaining a workforce committed to company missions. This is how those innovation and change goals relate, when your workforce is committed through development, they will increase innovative behavior. Ye at al., (2022) explains that “employees’ innovative and proactive behaviors have obvious characteristics based typically on a positive and optimistic work attitude” (p. 4). One thing I will add to your response when relating productivity goals and employee development is the training of employees, which goes hand in hand with learning goals. Daft (2021) says “employee learning goals have been found to be related to higher levels of department performance” (p. 59). We could agree that companies interested in increased productivity should prioritize employee development. For example, multinational firms should have managers that possess the ability to relate and interact with many different walks of life as they encounter cultures from different countries through their business. Employee development in this case supports overall profit and success because mangers are able to navigate and avoid

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version