The Chief executive, chairman and deputy chairman are at the highest level in the hierarchy and the rest like the managing director, manager, supervisor and the other members of staff come under them level by level depending on the job. My place in the organisational structure was at the bottom which was an assistant in the company.
Management style is an overall technique implemented by a leader or an organisation in directing individuals or members of organisation. The style of management in UAC food ltd is an autocratic and democratic style of management. An autocratic style is situation whereby the leader makes all final and unilateral decisions for the group, while a democratic style is a situation whereby the leader allows subordinates to make decisions for themselves, share ideas and opinions. In UAC food ltd the supervisor has a style of management, which sets out objectives allocates task and expects the work to be done exactly as required but tries to consult its staff about decisions needed to be made and how to solve major problems. In order to make the customers happy the staff should be happy. If there is a family atmosphere then it will make the staff enjoy what they are doing and customers would benefit. And there are times where control should be put in place that is why both styles of management are demonstrated by the supervisor. Things are set out the way it’s meant to be done, ways at which things are meant to be put in place and arranged at the workplace. The autocratic style does not normally make for a happy or motivated workforce. It does however, work well in a hierarchical organisation in which, discipline is important and a need for a strong mechanism of control.
Mechanism of control is an operating mechanism in an organisation which is designed to indicate to individuals in greater detail what is expected of them. Delegating authority and monitoring, providing a control system for objective setting, monitoring and motivating. In UAC food ltd the Mechanism of control was that all members of staff must clock in and out daily, failure to do this would delay in payment of salary or not paid at all.
Control mechanisms are important to every organization. Without them, it would be difficult to determine whether or not the planning, organizing and leading functions of management are effective and productive for the company.
Bureaucracy is a from of organisation design defined by a number of characteristics, including a rational career structure as asset of formal relations among positions, arranged in hierarchy of ascending authority, with rights, responsibilities and entitlement attached according to the places of the position in the hierarchy.
Bureaucracy as devised by the Max Weber, is an evitable part of the organisation‘s design because a bureaucratic organisation is based on six principles; job specialization, authority hierarchy, employment and career, recording, rules and procedures and impersonality, and there is no organisation that can work effectively without this characteristics and principles.
According to Weber it is these characteristics that define whether an organization operates in an efficient manner. One of the most fundamental features of a bureaucracy is the division of labour based on functional specialization. This is attained by a precise and detailed definition of the duties and responsibilities of each position or office. When the tasks and authority associated with various positions in the organization are clearly outlined, managers and workers know what is expected of them. All organisations use these principles and characteristics as part of their organisational design. In bureaucracy there is a hierarchy of authority. Authority gives managers the right to direct and control their subordinates' behaviour to achieve the desired goals. An organisation that does have authority can, work efficiently so bureaucracy is an evitable part of an organisation
In a bureaucratic control, obedience is owed to a manager, not because of any personal qualities that they may possess, but because the manager holds a position that is associated with a certain level of authority and responsibility. This clarifies who is in command so the running of the company can operate smoothly.
In bureaucratic control people occupy positions because of their performance, and not because of their social standing or personal contacts, employees are selected and promoted on their qualifications, enabling the most suitable person to be employed for the job. This means that each job within the organization is being done as efficiently as possible. All administrative actions and decisions are recorded in writing which in effect creates a history of the organization, which does not rely on individual’s memories. Another essential part of bureaucratic control is that managers must create a distinct system of rules and standard operating procedures that employees aware of so that they can effectively control behaviour within an organization. These provide guidelines for expected behaviour that increase the performance of a bureaucratic organization as they specify the best ways to accomplish each of the tasks. All procedures and rules are impersonal in a bureaucratic control and therefore apply to all employees in the same way. In this way the rules are applied to everyone in the same way, which creates consistency and avoids partiality. A bureaucratic control provides scope for economies of scale and specialization at the expense of flexibility and innovation. Their predictability provides a safe and secure environment for all employees and a clear line of job progression. It is most useful when organizational activities are routine and well understood and when employees are making automatic decisions such as in mass-production settings or in routine service environments, such as restaurants.
Overall a bureaucratic control has adapted and survived since Weber first put forward his theory. The evidence that it is still in use today must mean it has been evitable to a certain extent. It obviously provides more benefits to certain organizations, but since most firms employ certain characteristics of Weber's bureaucratic style it must be an evitable form of organization
After analysing how UAC food ltd operates and looking at the Organisational structure it is clear that UAC food ltd has a bureaucracy form of organisation. The
organisation has a strong organisational pillar. The work and interaction between, the pillars are controlled by procedures and rules, and co-ordinated by managers.
References
Andrzej, H. and David, B. (2001&1991) Organizational Behaviour an Introductory Text pg 447, pg 500, pg 372
Stewart. C, Martin. K, Tyrone. P. (2005) Managing and Organisations an Introduction to Theory and Practice pg 92, pg91-97
Richard, P. (1996) introduction to organisational behaviour pg 256
Bibliography
Andrzej, H. and David, B. (2001-4th edition 1991-2nd edition) Organizational Behaviour an Introductory Text fourth Edition Prentice Hall International
Richard, P. (1996-2nd edition) introduction to organisational behaviour first edition Macmillan press ltd
Thompson, P. and McHugh, D. (2002- 3rd Edition) Work Organisations (1995-2nd Edition) Basingstoke: Macmillan
Wilson, F. (2004) Organisational Behaviour and Work A Critical Introduction. Oxford University Press
John C (1984-2nd edition) Organisation a guide to problems and practice
Stewart. C, Martin. K, Tyrone. P. (2005) Managing and Organisations an Introduction to Theory and Practice Sage publications
Unwinhyman Dictionary of Business
A Huczynski and D Buchanan 2001 pg 447
Unwinhyman Dictionary of Business (definition of Hierarchical structure )
Introduction to organisational behaviour pg 256
A Huczynski and D Buchanan 2nd edition pg 500
Huczynski and D Buchanan 2nd edition pg 372
Managing and organisation an introduction to theory and practice pg 92
Managing and organisation an introduction to theory and practice pg91-97
