Page 53 - Managing Change in Organizations

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Chapter 2 ■ Organization structures: choice and leadership
which they can obtain resources and information and be held accountable for
what they do.
The above identification and analysis of managerial roles cannot describe the
whole, but nor can a manager function who does not fulfil these roles to some
degree. This is the real difficulty in team management which requires very care-
ful reintegration and effective communication. Different managers spend differ-
ent amounts of time on different roles.
To be effective a manager requires the following:
■ Self-knowledge and insight.
■ Understanding of the managerial job.
■ Timely and controlled responses to the pressures and dilemmas which apply.
Managers must also find ways of dealing with the daily dilemmas and pressures of
their working lives. Understanding organizations, then, involves understanding
both what managers actually do and how it can be/should be structured.
In the next chapter I will develop the concept of a value-added organization tak-
ing forward the thinking established in Chapter 2 and building on the ideas set out
above. I will seek to set out some of the tools and techniques which have been devel-
oped as managers have sought to devise and manage new forms of organization. We
shall see that not least of the principles emerging in the value-added organization is
the increased application of market mechanisms to induce change. We are in the
midst of a shift in the mind-set. We need new means of managing changes, moving
away from a reliance on planned changes towards an increased use of a mix of
planned and market-induced change.

EXERCISES

1 How does your organization deal with the dilemmas we have identified?
2 To what extent is the commitment model one which encourages innovation and
creativity? Can you think of any experience (in a company, at college, in a sports

club) which represents a good example?
3 What management structure does your company (or department) have? Why?
Is it likely to change? What are the main reasons for change?

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