Social Dimensions In Management Essay, Research Paper

Table of Contents:

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Managers?? responsibility in the office and in society.

3.0 Employees?? responsibility in the office and in society.

4.0 Changing for the future.

5.0 Who is affected and to what degree.

6.0 Conclusion and Summary

7.0 Bibliography.

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1.0 Introduction

Management is the process of planning, organizing and staffing, directing and controlling

activities in an organization in a systematic way in order to achieve a specific goal. From time in

memorial, society has undergone the management process. For example, in the African context, the chiefs led the clan and either the Prince or a Chief Warrior led the warriors. Comparing this scenario to the Western world, take for example Britain and Spain was and is led by the Queen and King respectively while the United States was and is led by a President. From the above it is a clear indication that they were appointed and had responsibilities and duties (as clear as any organization would refer to its leaders).

Social dimensions in management refer to both the societal changes as well as managerial changes that affect the working environment. This paper is written to tackle these changes from all angles.

2.0 Manager??s responsibility in the office and in society.

A manager??s responsibility both in the office and out there is to uphold his duties both as an employee of an organization and as a member of society. Society is fundamentally based upon performance and profit, it is not unusual to find that it is necessary to impart a sense of corporate responsibility with regard to contemporary commerce. The ethical approaches of purpose, principle and consequence are integral components of business social performance; itemizing these contributions finds one incorporating the interests of ethics and morality within the corporate structure, essential concepts that are often absent from a managerial viewpoint. However, corporate social responsibility should rightly exist within every company??s infrastructure. Social integrity is not something that is often at the forefront of modern day business dealings. Ethics, business and society must work together as they go hand in hand and without all of them, then there cannot be existence for either. ??Ethical concerns ran rampant among various entities, posing questions along the way as to whether a particular practice is deemed morally acceptable. It gets in the way of resolving questions like: What is ethical concern? Am I being true to myself? Why is this bothering me? Is it my problem? (RUIN, 1997, p. PG)?? According to the book??s article on this matter, establishing proper ethical guidelines ?V and therefore appropriate corporate social responsibility ?V must come from management perspective, which is where policies are derived. The moral argument that helps managers to choose among competing duties based upon the best consequences must inevitably oblige managers ??to do that which is best??

3.0 Employees?? responsibility in the office and in society.

In most cases, the employee is the one who is mainly affected by the changes occurring in the economic world. Whatever he does is affected by the economic situation of any one given country of location. It is in this regard, therefore, that an employee must look into ways of effectively carrying out his duties. Gone are the days when one employee could keep his job for a very long period of time even though his level of performance is not to the desired degree. Due to high competition in the market, the employee has been forced to enhance his capabilities in both the society and the working environment.

When employees set out an advertisement in order to acquire people who can then be interviewed for a post, the ones who usually succeed in passing the interview and acquiring the jobs are the people who are competent in their field of study, have working experience, who are extroverts by nature, who have good decision making skills, who can work with others, have the ability to lead, not to mention, who are involved in projects that are there to help the society at large. These are the major responsibilities that are required from any individual both in the working environment and in the social environment.

4.0 Changing for the future.

During the past few decades we have seen a shift from Industrial Work to Information Technology work. Today, a worker??s real competitive position in the world economy depends on what kind of job they have.

Education is the key to creating the worker??s demands for business today. Employers are not looking for highly skilled workers but are looking for people who are flexible, work well with others and have good problems solving skills. Colleges and Universities must implement new teaching approaches and offer specialized degrees to prepare students for the needs of employers in the information technology age. Employees must be able to move from one job to another, and learn new tasks easily. The more education they have the easier it is to adapt to these changes.

Flexibility also ties with the skill of working well with other people. To listen and interact with others in your profession, you must be flexible or open minded to their opinions, ideas and insights. This enforces cooperative skills, which can benefit the company as a whole. Workers must now posses a management mentality so that they can co-exist and work beneficially

together. Having the ability to work through problems to come up with a positive end result can be a long and hard task and those who have these capabilities should arrange for seminars within the office to enable all the employees to be able to learn how to carry out this task.

From the above, the three main qualities of flexibility, working with others and problem solving skills are very closely linked. Missing just one of these qualities dampens the ability of a worker to be a productive employee.

This change is imperative not only to success of workers but to the entire economy. Workers without these skills are at a serious disadvantage in getting and keeping their jobs.

5.0 Who is affected and to what degree.

Almost every human being is afraid of change to a certain degree. Change possesses the risk of a person having to do things differently without necessarily knowing what the outcome of this change will be. With the recent changes taking place in the business world, organizations have had to make various dynamic changed to incorporate these vast effects.

In many private businesses and especially family owned ones, the owner is usually the one who has spent the better part of his life as an entrepreneur. A time comes when the need to professionalize it in order to keep up with the market trends. This touches both management and it??s operations. However, some of the entrepreneurs resist the new people due to self-interest as they have interests that they want to benefit from. When the outsider comes in and is promised

free hand working conditions, full authority and total support he expects that the promises would be fulfilled but this does not materialize.

Some owners resist the new employee because of uncertainty. With change uncertainty comes change. The employer tends to worry about how the changes will affect his business. One may feel that the employee may not bring out the expected results since they themselves lack expertise in that particular field. The employer may fail to understand the exact impact of professionalism in their business. This lack of understanding can create a sense of mistrust. The employee may feel that he is not fully trusted and this may lead to a hostile working environment.

Humans being unique creatures, differ in opinion and line of thought. This may cause the employer and the employee, who may have differences in opinion, to be at loggerheads. Thus, his professional expertise in decision-making may not be put into practice.

To resolve these problems, employers should incorporate both the responsibilities and the authority that goes with the title of the job. The employer should recognize the importance of having a professional in the business. He should recognize that communication is a major and important factor in having a successful organization. Everyone in the organization should be aware of the changes that are there in the market and should be sensitive to the effects the changes bring forth. Employees should be motivated in order to perform their tasks effectively.

6.0 Conclusion and Summary

In conclusion then, the first consideration for senior managers is to do that which is morally right in the business policy. It is important to note the changes that are going on in the industry in order to achieve all predetermined goals. A rigid company will not be able to succeed in what its hopes and ambitions are as all the process involved are dynamic and one needs to move with the times.

Most of the ways to deal with change is to cultivate a culture of easy learning and acceptance in issues that cannot be changed. Accepting the current economy the way it is does not solve the problem, it should be a communal effort to try and change the issues affecting the economy and be informed on what changes are likely to affect our day to day lives both in the working environment and in the social sector.

As cited earlier in this paper, change is imperative not only to success of the workers but the entire economy. Workers without these skills are at a serious disadvantage in getting and keeping his job.

Bibliography

Anthony N.R, Management Control Systems: Mc Grawhill Companies, USA, 1998

Thomas R, Managing People: Melbourne, 1995.

Rosentat R, Organizational Stress: New York, John Wileys and Sons 1964.

Daily Nation, Tuesday August 8,2000.

Carnoy M. The Changing World of Work in the Information Age: Boston, New Political Economy, 1998.

Carr A. Reforming Organizational Culture for Quality: Some Psycho-social Dimensions, NY, Vol. 24, p248, 1996.