Line and Staff Authority LINE AUTHORITY: It is that authority which a superior exercises over his subordinates to accomplish primary objectives of the organization. The superior issues orders and instructions to his sub ordinates to complete the tasks. This authority is delegated to those positions or elements of the organization which have direct responsibility for accomplishing the primary enterprise objectives. The flow of authority is always in the downward direction from the superior to the subordinate and such relationship is called LINE RELATIONSHIP that exists in all departments of an organization. ROLES OF THE LINE RELATIONSHIP: 1. As a Chain of Command: Line officials are in the chain of command from the highest position to the lowest position in the organization. Each successive manager exercises command over his subordinates. 2. As a career of accountability: Each executive in the line is accountable for the proper performance of the tasks assigned to him and every subordinate is answerable to his superior. 3. As a Channel of communication: Since the line relationship involves issue of instructions from the authorities and reporting from subordinates, it facilitates and serves as an effective channel of communication. Line relationship helps the organization to work properly by Providing the decisions required for functioning Furnishing reference points for the approval of proposals Serving as a means of control by setting the limits of authority Establishing authentic communication channels to make leadership process effective STAFF AUTHORITY: Literally staff implies a stick carried in the hand for support. In the context of management, it implies to those elements that help the line authorities to function effectively in accomplishing the primary objectives of the enterprise. Staff provides advice assistance and information to line managers and they are distinguished into three categories namely, personal, specialized and general staff. They reduce the burden of line authorities and they too have the right to command and extract work from their subordinates. According to Henri Fayol “staff is an adjunct, reinforcement and a sort of extension of line manager’s personality.” LINE AND STAFF CONFLICTS: As always, functional and decisional conflicts arise between line and staff members. The causes may be attributed to the following reasons. 1. Line managers grudge against the staff personnel: a) The staff authorities try to encroach upon the line managers and tell them how to do their work b) Lack of well balanced advice from the staff managers c) Staff managers are not directly accountable and sport a jealous attitude towards line authorities d) Staff managers fail to see the big picture objectively and their interests are confined to specified situations e) Staff often tend to impose their superiority on line managers 2. Staff personnel complaints against the line managers a) Line managers don’t want to listen to the suggestions of the staff and make it a point to resist new ideas. b) Lack of authority on the part of staff managers to implement their innovative ideas and hence the dependence on line authorities. c) Line managers do not utilize the services of staff personnel properly and effectively. 3. The workers’ attitude a) The authority relationships between line and staff specialists are not clearly defined most of the time b) The basic difference in attitude and perception of the line and staff managers create difficulties for the work force in carrying out orders and...

Motivation is one area where periodical updates are necessary for an organisation to gauge the morale and mood of their employees. Companies sometimes act very smart in that they break their hands by patting their own back. If you wish to propel your organisation forward, you need to satisfy your work force first. The million dollar question is a big “HOW?” Well, a problem properly diagnosed is half done. And this motivation thingy is not a problem at all. Keen observation and understanding is what is needed on a manager’s part to steer things in the right direction, that is good for the company. Man, even your kid will turn his back if you want to take control by unleashing your power. The right thing to do is to find out exactly how motivated they are. There are several things that come into the purview of motivation.Let us do this in a questionnaire format so that things might fall in place. Question No 1: What is that, that motivates an employee, to be more precise your employee? (This turns out to be the hot dissertation topic for many young MBA’s) Is it any one of the following? Financial rewards Clear Goals Connecting with others Rank Appreciation and Recognition Throat neck competition Job security Fear Results Excitement Variation or Diversity Principle of Motivation: Well, the principle of motivation is pretty much the  same for all individuals. I 100 % go with Maslow’s hierarchial needs theory which travels right from physical needs at the base of the pyramid upto self realisation at the top. If this is the case,how come there is a disparity when everybody is subjected to the same kind of influence at the work place? For some it stops somewhere in the middle who are very much satisfied with the pay check figure and the perks that go with it. For some there is an inner drive that makes them unstoppable until they reach the pinnacle. This is the very thing that differentiates a manager from a subordinate. This is the very thing that distinguishes a CEO from a manager. This is the same thing that generates top business guns and management gurus who fall a genre apart form the rest of the crowd. Well, there are other factors such as the family background and the environmental influence that shaped up your personality all through. Motivation Surveys: Motivation surveys are not only important in getting to know your employees but also it showers a immaculate image on the company. It feels good for your workforce when they are involved and consulted with, on issues related to themselves. A recent Harvard review has stated that most of the managers feel that they really get motivated when there is : “Recognition for Good Work.” But folks, you will be surprised to know that the same review reveals another side of the coin, the top motivation for workers is when they make “Progress.” Again, call it the inner drive, impulse, motive, ambition, fire in belly, vigor, vitality…Getting to know your work force makes you “BOND WITH THEM” and it aids you in plugging the holes at the right place and at the right time. See, there is no bench mark for motivation, you respect your work force, treat them with dignity, communicate well and give them what they want and that’s it, you are defintely a winner. If you are a person capable of motivating your work force, you automatically become a source of inspiration. My humble suggestions to managers goes thus: 1. Make your employees understand what motivates them.( Kindly find what flares your temper before venturing into this exercise.!) 2....

Profile of a successful leader Adaptive Capabilities:  Leaders need to radically change their mindset so as to stand the test of time; but the core leadership attributes like vision or creativity, intelligence, commitment, and a healthy dose of luck still continue to define the pre-requisites of success. Integrity of  Character is most important when talking about successful leadership. The philosophical undercurrent is that “Be Good, Do Good” and you will be good. The motive must be devoid of mistakes though there is room for mistakes in judgment. Leaders must have a clear vision and be able to communicate this vision to others so that it becomes a shared vision and everybody willingly contributes in fulfilling the vision. Six ‘C’s or six criteria that determine a leader’s credibility  Conviction Character Care Courage Composure Competence Cross-Functional Expertise – Acquisition of knowledge should make a leader humble and flexible and gaining knowledge must be seen as a life long experience rather than collection of voluminous data or skills. A leader will try to apply his broad functional knowledge and expertise in the right places and the results will be definitely magnificent. A leader must look into the possible options rather than to plan, the possible rather than the perfect, involvement instead of obedience. Change is the only entity that remains unchanged and it is inevitable for the leaders to consider change as the core element of growth. With accelerated pace of change in the economic, political and socio-cultural environment, leaders not only need to acquire new knowledge and skills but they also need to unlearn many of the things that have out-grown their purposes. Leaders should follow the CODE OF PRIDE to motivate the workforce. P– PROVIDE FOR A POSITIVE WORKING ENVIRONMENT R– RECOGNISE EVERYONE’S EFFORTS I– INVOLVE EVERYONE D– DEVELOP SKILLS AND POTENTIAL E– EVALUATE AND MEASURE CONTINUOUSLY In large corporate organizations, the leader must be willing to share power and control so that leadership is encouraged at various levels. Successful leaders are those who are self-motivated by setting their own standards and compete with themselves. Innovation is the need of the hour What do you mean by innovation? Creating something new or modifying the old one. Here the term innovation implies the change in the “THOUGHT PROCESS” of leaders who are able to turn a crisis into an opportunity. Also called as “THINKING OUT OF THE BOX” where a leader finds new application for old ideas which cannot be discarded or dis-regarded. “You must learn from your past mistakes but not Lea(r)n on your past successes”. High achievers take moderate risks calculating the circumstances and they rely on their own abilities unlike low achievers who invariably like to minimize risks or take wild and irrational risks. Running a corporate business has become more like an experiment since we cannot control or predict the future. It is highly unstable and unpredictable. So leaders have to cope up with this non-linear force acting in the external environment building up pressure. Leaving things as they are can be just as predictable as changing everything, you lose or win both ways. Now let us look at some of the definitions of Leadership 1. “Leadership is generally defined as influencing people so that they will strive willingly towards the achievement of group goals.”- Koontz and O’Donnell 2.  “Leadership is the lifting of man’s visions to higher heights, the raising of man’s performance to higher standards, the building of man’s personality beyond its normal limitations.”- Peter F.Drucker 3. “Leadership is the ability to secure desirable actions from a group of followers voluntarily without the use of correction.”- Alford and Beatty 4. “Leadership refers to the quality of the behavior of individuals where by they guide people on their activities in organized efforts.”- Chester I.Bernard  Behavioral Commitments of a Leader: Challenging the process Challenging the status quo and act as radical change agents Inspiring others by being pioneers, instigators, navigators and learners Showing risk-taking ability,...

Recruitment Process Recruitment refers to that process carried on by the company to attract suitable candidates possessing the appropriate characteristics to help the organization reach its objectives. According to Byars and Rue, “recruitment involves a pool of people from which qualified candidates for job vacancies can be chosen.” The basic purpose is to develop a group of potentially qualified people. Recruitment Policy: The policies of recruitment are derived from the personnel policies of the organization where the company has to give due importance to government reservations, quotas, policies regarding sons of the soil, personnel policies of other organizations regarding merit, internal sources, social responsibility in absorbing minority sections, women etc. Sources of Recruitment: INTERNAL SOURCES: This include 1.       Present permanent employees 2.       Present temporary/ casual employees 3.       Retrenched or retired employees 4.       Dependents of deceased, disabled, retired and present employees. Why internal source is considered to be a better choice? To motivate the present employees To improve the morale aspect “Known devils are better than unknown angels”-The credibility of the present employees are well known and they can                be judged easily  Loyalty and sense of belongingness is there on the part of current employees  The employees become highly committed when they are given a chance as they tend to shoulder more responsibility  Employees’ psychological needs, economic needs for promotion and higher income can be satisfied  Cost of selection can be minimized  Similarly cost of training, induction, orientation, period of adaptability to the organization gets reduced  Trade unions are happy  Social responsibility towards the employees are discharged  Good understanding and co-operation extended by co-workers  Stability of employment is assured EXTERNAL SOURCES: 1.       Educational and training institutes 2.       Private employment agencies/exchanges 3.       Public employment exchanges 4.       Professional associations 5.       Data banks 6.       Casual applicants 7.       Similar organizations 8.       Trade Unions 9.       Social media networking sites like Facebook and Linked in offer a huge platform for both recruiters and job seekers to find the best possible match.  Why external source is considered to be a better choice? · The suitable candidates with skill set, knowledge and talent are generally available · Latest knowledge, skill, innovations or creative talent can be infused into the organization · Candidates can be selected without any pre- conceived notions or reservations · The cost shelled out for these external sources are minimum since they are placed in minimum pay scale · Expertise, excellence and experience in other organizations can be easily brought into the organization · Human resources mix can be balanced with different background, experience, skill etc. · Existing personnel will also broaden their personality · Quality of human resource will improve in the long run by development of unique culture RECRUITMENT TECHNIQUES: The management has to contact the prospective employees through various means and stimulate them for applying to the post prescribed. A. Promotions: This is a good technique to stimulate internal employees as they will be willing to shoulder more responsibilities if they are assured of promotions B. Transfer: If employees are transferred to the places of their choice, it will stimulate them C. Recommendations of the present employees: Management can contact, persuade the outsiders to apply for job in the organization through the recommendations to the candidates by the present employees, trade unions etc. D. Scouting: This is another way of recruiting where the representatives of a particular organization are sent to various sources of recruitment to motivate the prospective candidates to apply for the jobs. The representatives provide the necessary information about the company and clarify doubts of the candidates. E. Advertising: Though the popular and widely accepted way of recruitment, still it proves to be one-way communication. Newspapers, Magazines of all types, television and internet are the possible sources of advertising channels and internet marketing leads the rest. The technique of advertising should...

Fundamental Aspect of a Project Planning is the fundamental aspect of any management system as it sets the direction or pathway, which the firm has to follow in order to accomplish the goals and objectives of an organization. In a project management or a process management, planning is the key function followed by preparation of a proposal or a report that analyses and defines the resources necessary to carry on the project. This project report can then be sent for evaluation by an expert consultant to determine the feasibility and viability of the project. Organising to Get the Desired Result A project undertaken has to be meticulously planned and organized to achieve the desired result in the given time frame. One has to understand that a project differs from a process in that, it involves fixed time fame and cost frame. Say,for instance, your firm is rewarded with a project to design ERP solutions for a big corporate company. What will be step one? You will try to gather all the details regarding organization structure and hierarchy, people involved and their designations, availability of physical resources, whether the corporate firm is technically equipped, product portfolio, strategic business units and their viability, distribution channels and so on., As one is aware, enterprise resource solution software integrates production, marketing and human resource departments to facilitate even flow of information and quick execution of orders without any time delay. Picture Courtesy: Project Management and Leadership Champions   Data Collection Data collection is inevitable and has to be precise to attain your set goals. The next logical step will be deciding the time frame and allocating resources (human and other physical resources) to carry on the project. If you feel that the delivery deadline cannot be met with, you have to immediately inform your sponsors about the time delay and extend your time frame for the project to materialize. On -Time Delivery Projects that involve production and delivery of goods depend on the manufacturing cycle time and delivery lead time. Implementation becomes a cake walk if your business plan has incorporated, 1) well laid down step by step procedures, 2) leverage for uncertainty in the external environment and 3) focus on proper communication. Communicating the entire project plan as per the intentions to the people concerned is very vital for the success of a project, because people should understand, what needs to be done, what is one’s role, and the strategies evolved by the management. PERT and CPM Program evaluation and review techniques (PERT) and critical pathway method are some of the tools that help in ascertaining the progress rate of projects. These tools help in identifying specific milestones and activities that are to be carried out in a sequential manner and also to estimate the time required for each activity, with a help of a network diagram. A very interesting and simple video explaining how to determine project duration using critical path…. Success of a project management is determined by Decision making ability Communication skills Negotiation techniques and Time management skills, of the project manager and also depends on how well it protects the interests of the stakeholders involved. A project is a comprehensive team effort with the budget and time well within the scope of the...