Power and Balance in Corporate Governance Power has the ability to disorient a person’s behavior and attitude. When properly used it leads to height of efficiency, when misused it calls for calamity and disorientation in the entire business firm. It is nothing but the authority that comes with your job which has to be utilized for constructive purpose and at the same time to ascertain that things are “going in the right direction.” Precise use of power leads to a congenial atmosphere in your business arena”. Otherwise in course of time you might have to tackle warfare with your subordinates and the “undercurrent of animosity” might ruin your business success. How it affects Inter-Personal Relationship: When we talk about POWER it usually fits well into the top level management cadre, as managers and senior managers are assigned with huge powers in order to lead the firm in times of crisis as well as maintain the consistency of the nature of the firm. So when there is abuse of power consciously or unconsciously, people create a space between themselves and that particular person who misuses the power. So the result would be a lack of interpersonal relationship between the manager and the employees. Managers generally acquire and use influence that has its impact not only on the behavior of the individuals, but also on the organizational effectiveness as a whole which in turn affects productivity. Use Power as a Constructive Tool: In fact, authoritative behavior is often misunderstood by most of the managers in the business setup; there is a need for the managers to skillfully use their power in order to extract work from their teams as well as to maintain a balance between the extent to which authority must be used and the tolerance level of the employees’ (mind set). So it is more of a psychology which involves much critical analysis on the part of the manager to understand the constructive aspects of his authority and how employees at a lower level will always look up to him for support and guidance and not indifference. Power covers and affects the following important aspects, Discretion Crisis management Dependence of employees Responsibility Leadership Governance Interpersonal relationship Change management Environmental influences Reward systems Collaborative management Success of the firm and so on. In order to maintain his own integrity as well as the organisations’ the manager must be able to appreciate the relevance of power in management just by not looking into the literature but act in accordance with the situation. A detailed analysis of power dynamics makes the manager more effective in dealing with behavior inconsistencies in the organization. Try to be more open in your communication and make your employees feel that “You are always there” to support and guide them. This in turn will make your “Boss to have a second look at you” for a promotional pay. This discussion is from the manager’s perspective and there is more to be discussed and considered from an employee’s...

Organizational Assessment – Motive and Means Organizational assessment involves creating a picture of “what it is”. The snapshot should provide a clear view of the present position of the company and it should indicate whether there is a need to go for a change process. The data provides a baseline which can be used as a reference point to measure change in the future. Employee opinion surveys and climate surveys form a critical part of this measurement process. The key to an effective assessment is being clear about the goal of the process and being specific about the questions the intended exercise must answer. Cultural assessment: This provides information about core dimensions of organizational culture which includes satisfaction with the work itself, satisfaction with pay and benefits, opportunities for advancement, satisfaction with leadership and supervision, motivation, common values and performance commitment. If the leader proves to be aggressive, committed, value driven, so will be the employees who obviously take after their leader to fulfill his vision. The purpose behind analyzing the culture of an organization is to determine its efficiency level and to generate recommendations for continuous improvement. This exercise should not be a one-time affair as periodical inputs and feedback are excellent ways to align culture with the vision. In this way, management is better able to anticipate and prevent any potential problem, and to assess employee attitudes regularly. Survey administration: Surveys are administered to large groups of employees at one time and it is emphasized to be anonymous to erase any apprehensions in their minds. Open-ended questions allow employees to express their opinions about areas that need improvement and also the problem areas or bottlenecks that hinder their development. Report generation: The statistics collected is summarized and presented for each and every dimension covered in the survey. The report compares the organization’s current culture with previous administrations of the survey. Such open ended discussions bring out the problem areas which the management had not been previously aware of. Feedback to management and employees: The managers discuss the outcome of the survey in order to gain a better understanding of the various issues facing the organization, and decide on a plan to give feedback to their employees. This is a kind of human resource strategy which helps the management to bridge the gap between various levels of the organization and its members. Recommendations to the management: A final report submission by managers of the respective departments along with their recommendations for management’s perusal is the final step in organizational diagnosis and with the approval of “the big boss” action plans are executed that aid in improving the organizational effectiveness. The notion of this entire exercise is to provide insight into the current skill levels of the work force and to design an effective plan for performance improvement based on the assessment of total development needs....

Smart Objectives for Success An objective describes something which has to be accomplished and defines what organizations, functions, departments, teams and individuals are expected to achieve. Objectives may be operational or developmental. When the contribution is oriented towards the accomplishment of corporate objectives, in the light of the organization’s mission, core values and strategic plans, it is termed as operational; personal or learning objectives that involve the improvement of knowledge, skills and performance of individuals is termed as developmental.     Objectives must be SMART: S-scientific M-motivating A-achievable R-realistic T-time bound   Objectives that are mostly confined to the near future may be termed-short term objectives, which are accomplished in the stipulated time duration. Say, for example, 1000 units of pet bottles have to be produced in a week’s time. If the firm is focused on the overall production plan for the forthcoming year, then it is termed as long term objective. In a production environment, a firm has to initially go for an aggregate plan, where the production capacity of the plant is determined to make the project feasible. The firm has to make doubly sure, whether it is resourceful in terms of physical, financial and human aspects. The work centers are allotted with jobs in a mock trial to check man versus machine co-ordination and compatibility.     Pic Courtesy: Digital Information World Proper Planning: Objectives are achieved only when there is proper planning. The top management must take the pains to clearly explain the objectives to all the employees across different levels of organization to facilitate smooth functioning. When the employees understand what is expected of them, the performance gets oriented towards accomplishing the objectives; the employees get proper direction and focus. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose Think of this, what will happen to the sales volume, if the marketing manager does not properly educate his team about the targets to be achieved for that quarter? Definitely there will be a dip in the sales owing to the lethargic and irresponsible attitude of the manager. Ultimately, the organization stands to suffer a loss in terms of time and cost of recruiting a new person to head the marketing department. Right Person for the Right Job: Organizations have to be meticulous while choosing people for the post of managers. The chosen persons must be able to identify themselves with the organization and its objectives, so that they could be a source of inspiration for people down the line. Right people for the right job, at the right place and right time is the success mantra. Objectives have to be periodically revised in the light of changing economic, political and technological developments. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living If not the objectives might become obsolete and in due course you will get stranded amidst the roaring competition.  The process of business management aims at managing people and other resources to make a modest profit. How to achieve success in an open market? By clearly setting objectives that serve as tools of motivation and persuasion, a firm can evolve and contribute strategic inputs that make the objectives realistic and...

Transformational Leadership What is Transformational Leadership: a leadership approach that causes change in individuals and social systems. Humans generally prefer to have a serene life without much hitches or hurdles in the way. Even if they are to witness a problem situation, they tend to pull themselves away from the scene of action to avoid consequences that may lead to complications at a later date. Very few are bestowed with qualities that make them appear exceptional to the eyes of ordinary men and women. Such people bring wonderful transformations in the lives of people, who willingly follow the leader and support the cause. Need for Transformational Leaders: In business environment, there has always been this debate, whether transformational leaders show success! But it has to be kept in mind that each component of transformational leadership has relevance for improving the decision-making process. In comparison, individually considerate leaders make sure that all parties to the problem are heard. Intellectually stimulating leaders reformulate with followers, colleagues, or superiors into more familiar and concrete terms, what may have begun as fuzzy. Inspirational leaders increase confidence and raise aspiration levels, that the problem can be solved once its causes have been determined. Decision-Making Styles: Leaders with idealized influence show their concern about the problem and the need for its solution. The common thread that emerges from the discussion on decision-making is that decision making styles may be primarily viewed as being based on logic or feeling and instincts. The rational and intuitive decision-making styles are generally considered in conjunction since they represent two ends of a continuum as observed through most studies. While making decisions, transformational leaders are more likely to Be proactive to incipient problems, anticipating the emergence of problems more frequently and farther in advance. Incremental, taking small steps toward problem solving without waiting for a guarantee of complete success. Willing to look at a problem in a larger context and longer time frame. Encouraging of search and choice that take into account the wider context of the larger organization and outside environment rather than limiting the search to the immediate neighborhood of the problem. Quick to react to emergent problems. Seeking information informally for making their decisions rather than prescribed by organizational rules. Practicing walk-around management to promote the upward flow of communication and information. Making decisions involving higher payoffs at higher risks rather than decisions that favor exploitation and achieve lower payoffs at lower risks. Willing to take failure in their stride. Rationale in Making Decisions: The rational style of making decisions is deliberate, analytical, and logical assessing the long-term effects of decisions and having a strong fact-based orientation. The intuitive style is feeling-oriented and based on internal ordering of information. Such decisions are made quickly. The dependent style is characterized by use of support from others while delay and denial characterize the avoidance style. The spontaneous style displays a strong sense of immediacy and an interest in getting through the decision-making process as quickly as possible. A transformational leader would more likely to make decisions rationally after considering carefully all the facts and information and spending a considerable time over the decision-making process. Transformational leadership will be positively related to rational, spontaneous and dependent decision-making styles, and will be negatively related to intuitive and avoidance decision making. The interaction effect of rational and dependent decision making styles on transformational leadership will be...

Employee Training – Train Your #Employees to Tone up their Spirit What is Training & Development: process to obtain or transfer #knowledge, #skills and abilities needed to carry out a specific activity or task. Human Resource training is not at all a complex process; with the right kind of supervisors, who impart training and their subordinates being enthusiastic about learning, it seems to be quite an easy job. But, some firms fail to achieve the desired productivity, in spite of good training programmes and availability of efficient workers. The biggest problem being, the failure to impart relevant training, by identifying and analyzing the training needs which too often is not the case. To be successful, firms have to adopt a systematic approach to training process. Training fills the gap between what someone can do and what he should be able to do. The first aim of training is to ensure that, as quickly as possible people can reach an acceptance level in their jobs. Training then builds on this foundation by enhancing skills and knowledge as required to improve performance in the present job or to develop potential for the future. Steps involved in systematic approach of training: 1) Identifying and analyzing training needs: Training should always fall in line with the #objectives of the organization to be achieved and it should be relevant to the context. Running training programmes just for the sake of running it, without defining the purpose, or sending the trainees for a workshop that has nothing to do with what the trainees really need to learn -all these are inappropriate methods of training and it makes the trainees lose their focus and direction. Another problem you will meet in the off-the job training is that, transferring the knowledge to action in the work place. If the objectives are not specified and appraised properly to the trainees, they will not be able to satisfy your expectations. So, a thorough analysis of what people need to know as trainees at different functional levels proves useful in saving much time and labor of the firm. 2) Job analysis-a basis for identification of training needs: The basis for training starts from job analysis, where the organization has to be quite prudent about its specifications and expectations well defined. The indicated specifications may be about, Knowledge -what the worker needs to know in terms of professional, technical, technological, commercial aspects. Skills-Manual, intellectual, perceptual, analytical or social which depends on the nature of the job. A top level employee needs to possess more analytical skills backed up by rational thinking, whereas a lower level employee is only expected to deliver his technical skills properly. Attitudes: The disposition to behave or to perform in accordance with the requirement of the work. This is one of the most important aspects that is neglected by most of the organizations by sheer oversight. If a customer is not properly received in a boutique shop or a restaurant, think what will be the response and reaction of the customer? If a worker does not pay due respect to his superior or boss, what are the chances of his career advancement? Whether it is a production environment or a market environment, firms must teach the trainees to conform to the guidelines regarding #attitude. 3) Prepare your training plans based on the objectives: Decide on the content of the course, as established by job and task analysis and information from performance appraisals. Decide on the training techniques, which may be, Job instruction On-the -job training Coaching Lecturing Computer based training Action learning Interactive video etc., which are a combination of on- the job and off-the job training...