Business organisation and systems.

Theory ‘Y’

With theory ‘Y’ employees are interested in their work and want to be asked for their opinions on how to improve things. They want to be given more responsibility and will naturally work hard without having to be told what to do all the time They are also prepared to accept change because they understand it is in everyone’s best interests to move with the times.

A theory Y manager can be very positive about his or her employee. The manager can leave them to do their jobs virtually unsupervised (which saves a lot of money) and they can rest assured that the work will all be done. Again this saves money because quality inspections will not be needed very much. It will be easy to find people who are willing to work over their normal hours, and often for no extra money. They will also be happy to take on more responsibilities because they hope it will improve their long term career prospects. Because absence and lateness will be unusual costly supervision is not needed.

• The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest.
• People are committed to objectives in proportion to the rewards association with achieving the objectives. These rewards could be satisfaction of ego and self-actualization needs.
• The average person learns under proper conditions not only to accept but also to seek responsibility.
• The capacity to exercise a relatively high degree of imagination, ingenuity and creativity in the solution of organizational problem is widely, not narrowly, distributed in the population.

McGregor says: “these are not framed in the terms of the factory hand, but in term of a resource which has substantial potentialities.

There are many advantages to the organization when introducing a theory ‘Y’ approach. Arthur wants his employees to contribute more in the daily running of the business and is willing to take up ideas from them. Arthur would benefit from the new ideas from his employees, as they do the work on the work on a daily basis. Also his employees could be more enthusiastic and committed to achieving the company goals and objectives because they will feel valued by their employer. An employer with a good reputation and who values his employees could attract more qualified employees and could reduce staff turnover.

Employees could also put more effort into their work and the work could be done a lot faster because they have come up with the ideas on how the should be done. This could also motivate staff and they could be willing to come into work and take less time off.

The success of management in motivating employees to meet the business objectives they have set is largely based on the management style they adopt.

The management approach described by Flexi is democratic style management. The democratic manager like Felix allows the employees to take part in decision making. The employees are consulted and made to feel part of the final decision-making process. This helps to motivate the workforce and also ensures that they are well aware of the objectives of the business and will work hard to achieve them. This style of management means that managers have to be good communicators. The democratic style of management obviously suits a flatter business structure which is geared up to team working rather than a hierarchical structure which has many layers through which communications have to pass.

The advantage of this is that the employees feel part of the company and will show more interest in the daily running of the business and will harder to achieve the goals and targets. However there are set backs, in order for the democratic management to work successfully they will need to keep all employees up to date at all times.

The structures and cultures used by both business is the task culture. A task culture is job or project orientated and emphasis is placed on completing a specific task. It is a team culture. The task determines the way in which the work is organised, rather than individuals or the rules of the organisation. Bringing together a work-team for a particular project provides the basis for a task culture. The success of the team depends on the group to complete a specific task.

In task cultures employees may have considerable freedom and this flexibility can make such organizations rewarding environments to work in. However, lack of formal authority and the considerable number of ‘strands’ can make management and control of a task culture difficult.

The task culture is more relating to the matrix structure. In a matrix structure any member of the organization may belong to two or more groups. Matrix management is likely to work best in a business with a relatively wide span of control and relatively few layers of management hierarchy. The structure aims to bring people and resources together and let them get on with particular tasks. Individual capability rather than age or formal status determines people’s standing in the task culture. Rules, procedure and precedent are less important. Authority flows more from competence on the task rather than place in the hierarchy.

The advantages of the task culture and matrix structure are:

Advantages:

• Task culture is appropriate where flexibility, creativity and teamwork are important qualities.
• Being job or project oriented, the task culture is based on the expertise of a well-trained professional staff
• Different teams across the functions can be combined as appropriate to meet the needs of different projects. This adds interest and variety to working life and can therefore act as a motivator.

Disadvantages:

• Much of the power and influence in a matrix system lies at quite low levels in the management hierarchy. This gives rise to power groups at lower levels with specialised knowledge and expertise. Senior managers no longer know everything.
• Control may be difficult in the task culture. Dilution of power and control are the price paid by senior managers for fast response and more teamwork.

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