3 - Hierarchal Management

Question 1

what are different phrases that can be used for hierarchal management?

Answer 1

• bureaucracy
• classical management
• scientific management (Taylor)
• machine organisation (treats people as if they are a machine, directed and controlled)

Question 2

what is hierarchal management?

Answer 2

most recognisable form
a way of structuring an organisation using different levels of authority, higher levels of authority control the hierarchy

= rational and clearly defined arrangement of activities which are directed towards fulfilling the purposes of the organisation

Question 3

what did Coarse state about hierarchy and firms?

Answer 3

a firm is based on a ‘master and servant’ relationship

someone has to be in charge

Question 4

who are the main classical management theorists?

Answer 4

• fayol
• taylor
• weber
• guillick
• urwick

Question 5

what are the three key ideas at the heart of hierarchal management?

Answer 5

• rational legal authority (weber)
• unity of command (urwick/guilick)
• neutral administration of rules and processes (weber)

Question 6

who makes points about rational legal authority?

Answer 6

weber

Question 7

what did taylor say about rational legal authority?

Answer 7

that the authority in an organisation should come from rationality

Question 8

what does hierarchal management depend on?

Answer 8

the notion of rationality, theorists through they could uncover a science of management

authority should come from rationality

Question 9

what are the three types of authority in (rational)?

Answer 9

traditional, charismatic and legal

only interested in legal

Question 10

what is traditional rationality of authority?

Answer 10

people who have authority due to tradition such as familym if you have a family firm you may get control as next of kin (royal family)

Question 11

what is charismatic authority (rational(?

Answer 11

when a person has respect or entilitmenet through their personality and charisma in which they hold, how attractive they are as a person, more about performance rather than skill such as Boris Johnson

Question 12

what is the main type of authority rationality looks at?

Answer 12

legal

Question 13

what is legal authority ?

Answer 13

rational legal authority
the power that someone gets form a particular position, trained and judged on experience, given power in condition for skill, if you perform bad the rational response would be to sack you (compared to traditional - may be your business now)
everything has to happen for a good logical reason
metriocracy

Question 14

what did Guillick say you should be trained in to be a manager?

Answer 14

Planning 
oorganising 
Staffing 
Directings 
Co-ordinatiing 
Reporting 
Budgeting 
(disciplines of management/seceintific elements)

Question 15

what is the second key idea for hierarchal management?

Answer 15

unity of command

Question 16

what is unity of command?

Answer 16

the idea that there is one source of authority/power, single source of command, the person at the top is ultimately in charge of everything

Question 17

what quote did Guilick use in regards to unity of command?

Answer 17

‘a workman subject to orders from eval superiors will be confused, inefficient and irresponsible, a workman subject to orders from but one superior may be methodical’

Question 18

what does Urwick state about unity of command?

Answer 18

unity of command can limit the span of control, as you make the organisation bigger it becomes more diificult to manage people as complex relationships are built, managing larger amounts of people becomes impossible to a certain point due to span of control

Question 19

how can you avoid losing span of control?

Answer 19

by having different layers of authority, e.g. different schools, vice chancellor

Question 20

what is the third key idea in hierarchal management?

Answer 20

neutral administration of rules and processes

Question 21

what is neutral administration of rules and processes

Answer 21

= System based on people following rules

Question 22

who is a good example of rules idea?

Answer 22

Henry Ford
Model T production, the assembly line, everyone had a different job to do, rules on what times, if the rules weren’t follow the whole line would fall apart, no room for incostsicney

Question 23

what do a lot of organisations have?

Answer 23

written rules in which employees should follow, applied consistently and impersonally (like a machine)

Question 24

why might organisation that have strict impersonal rules pay higher?

Answer 24

due to monotonous routine which t hen gives them incentives o stay, Ford rose his pay when he introduced new assembly line

Question 25

what did Weber say about bureaucracy overall?

Answer 25

had the ability to be the most efficient form of organisation but it is now associated with inefficiency, dysfunction and expensive

Question 26

what is the problems with rationality?

Answer 26

• formal rationality is impossible
• not enough time and resources
• bounded rationality, restricted, maybe based on situation
• satisfying rather than maximising, does not maximise organisations just makes sure that they make satisfactory decisions

Question 27

what are the problems with unity of comman ?

Answer 27

Simon HErbet

• unavoidable discretion, everyone still has a little bit of room to decide what they want to do, judgement
• organisational localities, may have more loyalty to people on same level as you, so the top people slowly lose control
• training, people may not be trained solely from inside organisation,, trained at different places
• efficiency criteria,
• boring

Question 28

what are the problems with rules?

Answer 28

Bozeman white vs red tape- white tape is good rule which every organisation tries to cretics but its often white turn to red - unneccaary rules) (out of date like women)

• individual cases don’t always fit rules, treat people in a standardised way
• rules can conflict, uni teacher cardiff give work back after 20 days but also rule about work life balance

Question 29

despite the weaknesses of hierarchy why is it still important?

Answer 29

have to be careful not to completely dismiss the hierarchal system, in that we still depend upon this as it is hard to find an organisation that does not use this form in some way, so widely used it remains a crucial importance