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People and Organizations

Professor
Yiannis Gabriel
University of Bath

Week 1
Introduction on learning
about management and
organizations

The aim of this session is to:


Develop the insights of Semester 1 by focusing more on
People
Sensitise you to the many different types of learning that
exist;
Make you appreciate of different learning strategies
required by different subjects and courses;
Alert you to some obstacles to learning and help you
deal with them;
Focus on organizing and examine what it means to
organize and how we learn to organize
Consider how organization is related to organizing, what
it means to manage and how we may learn to manage

The degree a learning adventure

An individual adventure
A group adventure why?

Learning different things

Driving a car

French

Tennis

Accounting

Organizational Theory

About the University of


Bath

to be a manager

Different types of learning learning what and


learning how
Active and passive learning

Jugs mugs

Carrot stick

The use of metaphors in learning


The hidden curriculum
Individual learning -- what is the opposite to learned
behaviour? (instinct, drive, wish)

The importance of feedback


Learning and doing
Learning from failure
The importance of mistakes
Right and wrong lessons

Obstacles to learning
poor teaching

lack of motivation

lack of relevance

wrong learning style

habit

fear of failure

old learning

relentless action

Kolbs learning cycle


Concrete
experience

Testing

Reflecting
Abstract
conceptualizations

Theory and practice


"There is nothing so practical as a good theory" (Kurt Lewin)
How true is this statement?
Theory and other forms of knowledge.
Rule of thumb
narrative
story
proverb
recipe

Organizing and Organization


what does it mean to organize?
Organizing my books
Organizing a family holiday
Organizing others (individual and
social aspects of organizing)

Why do we organize?
What is so important about
organizing?

Organizers
Disorganizers

Organization and chaos


(the emotions of organizing)
What is the opposite of organizing
How much disorganization can you stand? Why?
Some aspects of organizing planning,
communicating (sense-making), resourcing,
controlling

Three dimensions of organizing


1. Organizing as entropy-fighting
2. Organizing as meaning-creating process
3. Organizing a social process

The dangers of too much organization

Question for thinking and


homework:
What organizing did you have to
undertake before joining your
course at University of Bath?

Organizations as historical phenomena

Organizations in historical perspective the


emergence of organizations as one of the defining
features of modernity.

What is modernity?

Industrialization
Move from countryside to the cities
Widespread literacy and education
Belief in progress
The power of Science
The rise of organizations
The rise of management

Some older organizations


Catholic church
Armies
The State

Some key features of organizations


Impersonality and formality
Long-term and continuity
Goals?
No-nonsense approach
Division of labour
Co-operation and coercion

Management
Rarely in human history has any
institution emerged as fast as
management or had as great an impact
as quickly. In less that 150 years,
management has transformed the social
and economic fabric of the worlds
developed countries. It has created a
global economy and a new set of rules
for countries that would participate in
that economy as equals. And it has itself
been transformed (Drucker, 1988, p. 65).

Some uses of the word


management
The management of the economy
The management of the planet
The management of the African
elephant
The management of antibiotic-resistant
bacteria
The management of information
systems
The management of family relations
The management of anger

Management etymology and


meanings
Maneggiare
Mange
Mnage

To control
To treat with
consideration and
respect
To develop potential

So, what to managers to when they


manage?
Early theories
They plan
They co-ordinate
They communicate
They control
They motivate

but Mintzberg (1973) found that:

Managers work in fits and starts


Much of their work is interrupted
They do a lot of fire-fighting
A great deal of their work is talk
Managers are over-worked
hence, they prefer current, specific,
well-defined, non-routine activities

So, is management and art or a science?


Science theoretical knowledge,
application, etc.
Art a range of skills that are highly
context specific

Mintzbergs three types of skills


1. Informational (monitor, disseminator,
spokesman)
2. Interpersonal (figurehead, leader, liaison)
3. Decisional (entrepreneur, disturbance
handler, resource allocator, negotiator)

So, what is management?


Do we need a definition?
Practical wisdom
bricolage

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And what is the role of theories?


Theories as resources rather than routines

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