Management

Management (definition)

Planning, leading, organising and controlling (PLOC) the organisation's resources to meet its goals.

PLOC: the 4 functions of management

Planning (choose goals and how to reach them)

Leading (influence people)

Organising (arrange people, assets, IT and data)

Controlling (keep things on track, handle day-to-day issues).

Leadership (definition)

The ability to influence people towards the attainment of organisational goals. Practical version: 'getting things done through influencing people'.

Motivation (definition)

The forces, within or external to a person, that arouse enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a course of action.

Self-awareness (definition)

Being aware of the internal aspects of your own nature: personality, beliefs, emotions, attitudes and perceptions.

Attitude (definition)

A positive or negative evaluation that predisposes a person to act in a certain way.

Perception (definition)

The cognitive process people use to make sense of their environment by selecting, organising and interpreting information.

Emotion (definition)

A mental state that arises from interactions with people or the environment; can be positive or negative.

Resilience (definition)

The capacity to keep going despite adversity, conflict or failure.

Team (definition)

Two or more people who interact and coordinate their work to accomplish a specific shared goal, and who take collective responsibility for the outcome.

Communication (definition)

The process by which information is exchanged and understood by two or more people, usually with the intent to motivate or influence behaviour.

Diversity (definition)

All the ways in which people differ, across primary dimensions (gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, physical ability) and secondary dimensions (education, religion, marital status, work style, etc.).

Inclusion (definition)

A climate in which everyone is valued and respected.

Entrepreneurship (definition)

The process of initiating a business venture, organising the resources, and assuming the associated risks and rewards.

Innovation (definition)

Implementing a new or significantly improved product, service, process, organisational or marketing method, or business model, to create value for stakeholders.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) (definition)

Management's obligation to make decisions and take actions that enhance the welfare and interests of society as well as the organisation.

Managerial ethics (definition)

The code of moral principles and values that governs managerial behaviour and decisions about what is right or wrong.

Organisation structure (definition)

The framework defining how tasks are divided, how departments are coordinated, and how authority is distributed.

Organisational culture (definition)

The customary or traditional ways of thinking and doing things, shared to a greater or lesser degree: 'how we do things around here'.

External environment (definition)

Everything outside the organisation's boundaries that affects it and must be taken into account.

Goal (definition)

A desired future state.

Plan (definition)

The blueprint for reaching a goal: resources, schedules and actions ('who does what, by when').

Planning (definition)

The process of identifying goals and deciding the tasks and resources needed to reach them.

Strategic management (definition)

The set of decisions and actions used to formulate and implement strategies that achieve competitive advantage.

Competitive advantage (definition)

What sets the organisation apart and lets it win in the marketplace; it should be distinctive and sustainable.

Decision-making (definition)

Making a choice between alternative, competing options.

Strategic decision (what makes one)

Long time horizon, high stakes, and hard or expensive to reverse (e.g., Victoria's rail tunnel project).

Quality (definition)

Fitness for purpose and conformance to customer requirements; getting it right the first time. Quality is not luxury (luxury is a market segment).

Exploitation

Producing and selling existing products and services more efficiently, plus incremental innovation. Drives current profitability.

Exploration

Generating new ideas and radical innovation. Drives the firm's future value.

Ambidexterity

Being able to effectively link or switch between exploration and exploitation strategically

Groupthink

When a dominant person or group pressure makes others go quiet or conform, leading to a poorer decision. Fixes: awareness, a devil's advocate, outside reviewers.

Stereotyping

Assigning a person to a broad category and assuming they have that group's traits.

Ethnocentrism

The belief that your own culture is inherently superior to others.

Intrinsic vs extrinsic rewards

Intrinsic: satisfaction from doing the task itself (achievement). Extrinsic: rewards given by someone else (pay, bonus, promotion, praise).

Discretionary effort

Extra effort employees choose to give beyond the minimum. Unlocked by satisfaction, fairness, connection and respect.

Bounded rationality

Real managers have limited time, information and attention, so they use heuristics and 'muddle through' rather than make perfectly rational decisions.

Heuristics

Intuitive mental shortcuts learned from experience.

Confirmation bias

Seeing information as confirming your existing pet theory; combined with overconfidence, it leads to repeated mistakes.

Loss aversion

People feel losses more strongly than equal gains, so they avoid gambles even when the expected value is positive (the coin-toss demo).

Intrapreneur

Someone who does entrepreneurial work inside an existing corporation.

Social entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship whose primary aim is social value, with profit secondary.

Agility

An organisation's capability to change or adapt rapidly in response to (or ahead of) changes in the environment.

Open innovation (Chesbrough)

The use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation and expand markets for external use of innovation. Example: Defence Science and Technology Group learning from computer gaming.

Creative destruction (Schumpeter)

New, more efficient production units or business models destroy old ones. Examples: Toyota vs GM; Uber vs taxis; Kodak.

VUCA

Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity: today's environment, and why planning horizons have shortened from 5 years to about 3.

Tone at the top

Leaders set the ethical and cultural standard because everyone watches the boss.

Mintzberg's managerial roles

10 roles in 3 groups. Interpersonal (figurehead, leader, liaison); Informational (monitor, disseminator, spokesperson); Decisional (entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, negotiator).

Katz's three managerial skills

Conceptual (seeing the whole organisation; most important for senior managers); Human (working with people; all levels); Technical (product and process know-how; most important for junior staff).

Scientific management (Taylor, Ford)

'One best way', specialisation and the assembly line. Cut costs about 3x but de-skilled and dehumanised work ('park your brain at the door').

Hawthorne studies

Productivity rose simply because workers were observed and paid attention to; started the human relations movement.

McGregor's Theory X vs Theory Y

X: people are lazy and work only for pay (Ford), which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Y: people want to contribute ideas (Toyota's respect for people).

ABC model of attitudes

Affective (heart: how I feel); Behavioural (feet: intention to act); Cognitive (head: what I think/believe about the job).

Attributions: internal vs external

Judging the cause of someone's behaviour as internal (their character) or external (the situation).

Big Five personality traits (OCEAN)

Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Emotional stability (vs neuroticism). Use: fit people to roles and teams.

Authoritarianism

Belief that power and status differences should exist; an overly authoritarian boss stifles creativity.

Emotional intelligence (4 components)

Self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship management.

Emotional contagion

A mood spreading through the workforce; if negative it can harden into the culture.

Stress-performance curve (inverted U)

Too little stress = complacency; too much = burnout; moderate stress = peak performance.

Type A vs Type B

Type A: competitive, impatient, aggressive, devoted to work. Type B: balanced and relaxed.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Physiological > Safety > Belongingness > Esteem > Self-actualisation. A lower need must be satisfied before the next motivates; a satisfied need no longer motivates. At work: base pay, safe job/security, teams, recognition/status, training and growth.

Alderfer's ERG theory

Existence, Relatedness, Growth. A simpler, more flexible version of Maslow: several needs can be active at once.

Herzberg's two-factor theory

Hygiene factors (pay, conditions, policy, supervision) only prevent dissatisfaction; motivators (achievement, recognition, responsibility, the work itself, growth) create motivation. Explains why a pay rise alone doesn't motivate.

McClelland's acquired needs theory

Needs for Achievement, Affiliation and Power are learned through life; people differ in which dominates. Use for matching people to roles.

Adams' equity theory

People compare their outputs/inputs ratio with others'. Perceived unfairness demotivates, leading people to cut effort, ask for more, distort perceptions, or leave.

Hackman & Oldham job characteristics model

Core job dimensions > critical psychological states > personal and work outcomes. Used to design motivating jobs.

Toyota's 'two jobs'

Job 1: do the work. Job 2: improve it through team improvement projects (85% of staff take part). Makes repetitive work engaging.

Trait theory of leadership

Leaders are born with traits (intelligence, integrity, confidence, energy). Weak alone because traits don't predict success in every context.

Behavioural theories of leadership (Ohio State, Michigan)

Leaders are made: leadership is learnable behaviour. Ohio State: consideration (people) vs initiating structure (task). Michigan: employee-centred vs job-centred.

Leadership grid (Blake & Mouton)

Concern for people vs concern for production, scored 1-9. Styles: impoverished, authority-compliance, country club, middle-of-the-road, team management (9,9 = ideal).

Situational/contingency leadership (Hersey-Blanchard)

No single best style: match the style to the situation and followers' readiness (e.g., directive in a crisis, consultative normally).

Transactional leadership

Leads day-to-day transactions through contingent rewards and management by exception. Suits exploitation and stable operations.

Transformational leadership (4 I's)

Idealised influence, Inspirational motivation, Intellectual stimulation, Individualised consideration. Suits exploration and change. Examples: Steve Jobs; John Mars remembering staff details.

Servant leadership

The leader serves staff by providing resources, culture and support ('inverted org chart'); humble, listens, high EQ.

Charismatic leadership: ethical vs unethical

Ethical: serves others, two-way communication, develops followers. Unethical: personal gain, censors critics, one-way communication, demands obedience (e.g., Alan Bond). Charisma alone isn't enough.

Characteristics of outstanding leaders (lecturer's list)

Vision and strategy, inspiring communicator, integrity (the foundation), performance-oriented, humble, servant leader/high EQ, knowledge-focused, energy, smart, open-minded, customer-oriented, courageous, delegate-trust-verify, team builder, people-oriented, tech literate, committed long term.

Management vs leadership

Managers plan, organise and control, maintain stability, use position power (exploitation). Leaders drive change, inspire people, use personal power (exploration).

Types of teams

Project (temporary), cross-functional (mixed disciplines), self-managed (no formal leader), global, virtual.

Contributions of teams

Creativity, quality, speed, productivity/lower cost, employee satisfaction, leading to higher organisational performance.

Team effectiveness model

Context > team design (type, size ~5, diversity, roles, skills) > team processes (norms, cohesion, stages, conflict) > outputs (performance, satisfaction, capability).

Tuckman's stages of team development

Forming (get to know each other, set goals) > Storming (views clash) > Norming (agreement on how to work) > Performing (achieve the goal). Sometimes Adjourning.

Task specialist vs socio-emotional role

Task specialist brings expertise to get the job done; socio-emotional role supports people and team dynamics.

Thomas-Kilmann conflict-handling styles

Two dimensions: assertiveness and cooperativeness. Styles: competing, avoiding, accommodating, compromising, collaborating (high on both = ideal).

Lencioni's five dysfunctions of a team

Absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, inattention to results.

When not to use teams

Simple tasks with low interdependence or no shared purpose, or when teams don't fit the culture, strategy or rewards (e.g., hotel room cleaners).

Reasons people resist change

Self-interest ('what happens to me?'), lack of understanding and trust, uncertainty, different assessments of goals, loss of culture and identity.

Lewin's unfreeze-change-refreeze

Unfreeze (create readiness for change) > Change (implement) > Refreeze (embed the new way).

Lewin's force-field analysis

List driving forces (performance gap, competitors, top support) and restraining forces (lack of resources or skills, red tape, culture). Strengthen drivers, reduce restraints.

Kotter's 8 steps of change

Create urgency

Build a guiding coalition

Form a vision

Communicate the vision

Empower action/remove obstacles

Create short-term wins

Don't let up/consolidate

Make it stick in the culture.

Business case for diversity

Legal (anti-discrimination), equity/fairness, demographic (reflect society and customers), marketing (understand diverse customers), competitive (more creativity, better decisions, prevents groupthink, 1.12x discretionary effort).

Diversity initiatives

Diversity officer/council, gap analysis and scorecard, diversity training, bias-free recruitment, mentoring, quotas, anti-harassment policies.

Communication process model

Sender encodes > channel > receiver decodes > feedback, with noise interfering throughout. Fidelity drops at each step (about 10% remembered and acted on).

Barriers to communication

Source withholds or filters info, jargon/encoding problems, poor channel, selective perception, information overload, emotions, noise, culture, gender and generational differences.

High-context vs low-context cultures

High-context (Japan, China): implicit, nonverbal, relationship-focused. Low-context (USA): explicit, direct, task-focused.

Channel (media) richness

Richest to leanest: face-to-face > phone/video > email/text > letters > formal reports. Rich for complex or emotional messages; lean for routine messages needing a record.

Improving communication (sender)

Seek feedback, build credibility, stress common ground (WIIFM), see the receiver's view, connect emotionally, use multiple media, communicate with candour.

Active listening (receiver)

Find areas of interest, resist distractions, judge content not delivery, hold off judgement, listen for ideas.

Directions of organisational communication

Downward (goals, instructions, feedback), upward (problems, suggestions, reports), horizontal (coordination across departments).

Formal vs informal communication

Formal: org chart, newsletters, meetings, town halls. Informal: grapevine and rumour mill; fast but prone to distortion. Example: TAC CEO coffees replaced the grapevine.

Management by walking around (MBWA)

Managers regularly talk informally with staff around the workplace.