human aspects of organizing

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Lecture 8

October 16, 2011

Some Human Aspects of

Organizing


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Staffing Technical Organizations

Identify the Skill Base Estimate the Number of Personnel

Plan Recruiting Policies

Select the Best Applicants Orient and Train Applicants

Evaluate Performance

Provide Compensation


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New Hires

Establish the need for new hires

Determine sources for new hires

New college graduates Experienced professionals

Technician support

Other sources


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Human Resource Planning

Selection

Usually involves several steps in a filtering

process

Applications/Resumes reviewed

Interviews accomplished

References checked

Candidates passing initial screens

formally interviewed


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Resume

The first impression an engineer makes is

usually through the resume

1. Name and Address, and telephone number

2. Current job position status (eg. Graduating)3. Current and long-term employment objectives

4. Summary of education qualification

5. Employment experiences

6. Publications, significant presentation, honors awards

7. Professional affiliations

8. References


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Employment Application

Cover Letter

Resume - If the resume creates a

favorable impression the job candidate

will be asked to fill out an application

Interview - May be redundant with theresume but will usually lead to an

interview


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Campus Interview

Graduating engineer typically makes contactwith potential employers on campus

Successful campus interviews

Applicant learns about employmentopportunities and other advantages withfirm

Interviewer learns enough about theapplicant


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Site (Plant) Visit

Means company has a substantial interest Normally means three or four staff

interviews

Would include a tour of the area in whichthe candidate will work

Normally includes a briefing on companybenefit programs and general companypolicies


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The Job Offer

Is a formal letter offering specific positionand identifies

Salary

Reporting date

Position and title

The supervisor the candidate reports to

Provisions regarding moving expenses(if applicable)


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Orientation and Training

Helps newcomer become aware oforganization and values

Some corporations

Hold orientation classes

Rotate newcomers through shortassignments in various key departments

Includes total socialization of newcomer tothe environment and culture of theorganization


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Appraising Performance

Provide feedback to the employee Provide guidance on how to improve

performance

Provide a performance basis forrewards/promotions

Provide objective documentation foractions against non-performers


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Authority and Power

In organizations, legitimate power based onposition, to direct subordinates work.

In corporate, individuals invest their assets

in corporate stock and delegate the rightto manage them to board of directors.

Acceptance theory of authority: because

subordinates choose to accept thedirectives of superiors.


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Sources of Power

Legitimate/position

Reward

Coercive/punishment

Expert

Referent

System 1

System 2

System 1 works with traditional bureaucratic orgs.

System 2 works with high-tech people.


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Additional sources of power

Thro access to important individuals

Thro praise

Manipulative

Thro persistence/assertiveness

Forming coalitions


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Status and Culture

Functional status: from type of profession,

like status to doctor in hospital or prof. in

non-academic setting. Eg. Scientist and lab-

coat.

Scalar status: due to level in org. Usually

avoided to lessen social distance b/w levelsof org. Called corporate culture.


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Delegation

Assignment: mgrs use authority to assign duties tosubordinates, making them responsible. Flow is downwards.

assignpresident

assignVice

president

Chief

project

engineer

Delegation of auth: give auth to subordinate to order

resources etc. subordinate must have enough auth. to carry

out assignments.

Accountability: mgr must extract accountability from

subordinate making him responsible to mgr. But mgr is

responsible for higher authorities. Flow is upwards.

accntblepresident Vice

president

Chief

project

engineer

accntble


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Delegation

Reasons for delegation

Relieves mgr. of that work

Allows subordinates to develop skills

Delegation concentrates decision-making

closer to activity

Barriers to delegation for engineers

Do it right yourself v/s allow subordinates

to do their work


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5 degrees of initiative

Initiative on part of subordinates1. Wait until told

2. Ask what to do

3. Recommend, then take resulting action4. Act, but advise at once

5. Act on own, then report routinely

Should progress from 4&5 ASAP.


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CommitteesReasons for using committees:

Policy making/administration: operatingdecisions are made by a subset of this group

called `executive committee.

Representation: a) reps from each org unitaffected by a particular class of problems. b)

committee members are supposed to reflect

the opinions and needs of the unit that sent

them to group deliberation.

Shared knowledge and expertise: no one

person has all the expertise needed to solve a

complex problem.


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CommitteesReasons for using committees:

Securing co-operation in execution: mustsecure co-op from committee members for

smooth operation.

Pooling of authority: a committee of peopleneed authority to accomplish a job, then

solve the problem by joint decision.

Training of participants: a) excellenteducation to potential managers and they

get to b) consider viewpoints that they

dont see every day.


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Committees

Disadvantages of committees:

Tend to produce compromise solutions

and `get back to work, this produces

inferior solutions compared to that ofmost competent member.

Usually holds one person responsible.

Committees usually cause delay in solvingthe problem.


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Effective Committees

Purpose and chair: careful defn. of purpose

the committee is to serve, its authority and

expected life span.

Size and membership: 5 members is logical,but for complex problems, groups also ok.

Members should be chosen well, they

should contribute but not dominate. Preparation: chairman is responsible for this.

Publish meeting date in advance, agenda to

be prepared and distributed to members.


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Effective Committees

Conduct of meeting: task functions: to get

the job done ANDgroup relations function:

to maintain constructive relations among

members to facilitate attaining groupobjectives.

Meeting follow-up: chairman should

provide concise, clear and readableminutes of meeting to members. Should

identify action items, who is responsible

for what, deadlines etc.


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human aspects of organizing

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