Towards More Effective Enterprise Essay Example

Towards More Effective Enterprise

Towards More Effective Enterprise

An entrepreneurial minded person like company presidents, ministers, professors, middle managers, production workers and salesmen, can openly make the claim that in the United States only a few people show any real concern in their occupations beyond the paycheck. Most people lack enthusiasm, creativity as well as contributive participation in their work. There is a need to raise motivation, satisfaction, and productivity among the executives and the workers in organizations. This enables all people to find real meaning and significance in their occupations, and this translates to finding real purpose in their lives. In contrast, it seems workers give Russians more effort as compared to our society. This paper demonstrates that such an attitude is founded on unrealistic and inadequate assumptions about the modern-day human behavior within organizations. It also demonstrates how such attitudes unwittingly lead to procedures and evaluations that block people from realizing the real meaning of work (Katz, 2009).

There are conventional beliefs that form the foundation on which almost all organizations’ structures, procedures as well as methods of evaluation are founded on. The common concepts of these conventional beliefs include profit, profit determinants, policy planning, duties of subordinates, program formation, a delegation of responsibilities and duties of superiors. The above seven concepts are considered elementary and universal ideas of how enterprises should be organized and operated. It is the pervasiveness of the above assumptions leads to a collaborative relationship within society. However, cooperative relationships can only be attained when all the people involved in an enterprise have some common beliefs about how such relationships should be like. Most of the above concepts provide the different groups and people within an enterprise with a minimal certainty concerning appropriate tasks, goals, functions, division of labor as well as expected behavior essential in establishing collaborative relationships (Katz, 2009).

Nevertheless, underlying these common beliefs are some disgustingly unrealistic assumptions concerning human behavior. Some people do recognize them consciously; however these assumptions determine the characteristic of a multitude of organizational procedures as well as expectations within most enterprises (Katz, 2009).

It is evident that these assumptions are inadequate in that individuals are motivated by the desire to maintain personally and improve their logical self-interest including prestige, income, and security. Employees being unique identities are not dealt with as different identities but as groups. Also, leaders and planners fail to administer appropriate rewards and punishments as a tool for ensuring his directives are followed effectively. Similarly, the common assumption is that the predominant unilateral vertical power association between the managers and employees is adequate. The mangers are expected to plan, direct, organize, coordinate, motivate and measure the employees’ performance. In contrast, the employees are only expected to follow merely the instructions given by the mangers without reciprocating the behavior of the managers a belief that can be considered as mechanistic (Katz, 2009).

There is also the belief related to authority by the office. In this belief, power is considered as a quantifiable substance that originates from the top of an organization and is successively disseminated in successively diminishing portions downwards in a hierarchy of placements. Such a belief sacrifices the initiative, creativity and contribution of the subordinate staffs within an organization. Lastly, there is the concept of an inadequate system that hinders a behavior that would better satisfy the needs of a group as an entity, of an individual or the organization as a whole. For instant, employees are likely to resist changes initiated by managers and organization’s external environment such as economic conditions, competition and shifts in markets, are likely to be responded to in a slow manner and only when pressure to respond has intensified. This is because due to this belief, the organization receives minimal creativity and minimal effort from its employees (Katz, 2009).

Other than the aforementioned seven conventional beliefs that guide organizational functioning, there are more effective alternatives that should replace these beliefs. Instead of assuming that the ultimate purpose of an enterprise realizes profits, an assumption that the purpose is to perform task would be more effective. Such an assumption would enable an enterprise
to meet genuinely societal needs and offer opportunities for satisfying personal needs wholly (physiological, self-fulfillment, safety, belonging, self-esteem and recognition). This assumption does not undermine the aspect of making profits in an organization. Secondly, other than evaluating operations, relationships and events within an organization primarily on the basis of how each contribute to realization of profits; it is also prudent to consider the degree to which they contribute to the satisfaction of workers’ needs. Planning should be flexible where instead of embracing a complete and predetermined plan as a means of meeting the needs of likely situations in future, an assumption that there will always be an unforeseen element in any situation. An assumption that all employees have the need to contribute, and this makes them (feel like important part of the effort, gain competence recognition, enhance self-esteem and find meaning in their work) should be adopted (Katz, 2009).

Conclusion

Implicit assumptions adopted by various organizations may not lead to a more effective enterprise. Alternative assumptions should be embraced as a means of enabling managers to experience freedom from over restricted understanding of their responsibility that is imposed by mechanistic beliefs. When all the employees are involved actively in running an organization, then more effective enterprise can be achieved.

References

Katz, R. L. (2009). Toward a More Effective Enterprise. Harvard Business Review.