"
On the subject of personal development, which company E. should encourage, McGill and Beaty (2001, pp. 85-86) write that in addressing personal development issues, an employer could devise a forum for workers to bring their issues forward. The one rule would be that the issue "is of significance" to the employee; the issues that could be discussed in the personal development session include: "personal motivation towards work"; relationships between managers and colleagues; priorities for one's self and the staff overall; the work direction of the near future.
Beyond personal development, another important concept is management development, which Burgoyne and Reynolds describe (p. 21) which is less "theoretical" and more "practical" than management learning, though both would be important to company E. In setting the stage for a better business future. "Management development tends to develop personal knowledge, repertoires and skills (e.g., time management, stress management, assertiveness, team work, presentations, influencing, negotiating, selling, personal development, counselling, interpersonal skills)."
And management education tends to develop "analytical and critical skills in the academic disciplines relevant to management." Those skills include operations management, economics, finance, organization theory, accounting, research, among others.
While many of the concepts mentioned thus far provide tools and keys to company E's ability to bounce back from its doldrums, without an understanding of how the organizational culture of a company influences its effectiveness or lack of effectiveness, company E. will remain in the dark. The culture of an organization includes "beliefs about the way work should be organized, the way authority should be exercised, people rewarded, people controlled" (Guirdham 2002, p. 46). It has been stated, Guirdham continues on page 47, that "structure, strategy or politics" are not prime movers of an organization, but rather the "organizational culture" is the prime mover.
Conclusion
References
Burgoyne, John, & Reynolds, Michael (1997), Management Learning: Integrating Perspectives in Theory and Practice, Sage, Thousand Oaks, California, pp. 21, 151, 119.
Guirdham, Maureen (2002). Interactive Behaviour at Work, Prentice Hall, New York, pp. 46, 53, 348-49, 539.
Handy, Charles (1993), Understanding Organizations, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 116, 225-227.
Heathfield, Susan (2004), "Change, Change, Change: Change Management Lessons from the Field," Your Guide to Human Resources, About.com, www.about.com.
Knoop, Robert (1994), "World Values and Job Satisfaction," the Journal of Psychology, vol. 128, no. 6, pp. 683-691.
McGill, Ian, & Beaty, Liz (2001), Action Learning: a Guide for Professional, Management & Educational Development, Kogan Page, London, pp. 84-86.
Thinkers (1999), "Abraham Maslow: the Hierarchy of Needs," Copyright 1999 Chartered Management Institute.
Value-Based Management.net (2004), "Force Field Analysis and Diagram - Kurt Lewin: FFA - Analyzing change Factors" Driving Forces and Restraining Forces," Available:
http://www.baludbasedmanagement.net/methods_lewin_force_field_analysis.html.
Watson, Tony J. (1994), in Search of Management: Culture, Chaos and Control in Managerial Work, Routledge, London, p. 98.
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