Deciding to Have an Assistant to President - A study by Artur Victoria

There is a definite, positive future for the assistant-to position, especially for training purposes or the accomplishment of special projects. Using the assistant-to position as an operational, permanent, or limbo function has less merit. In the process of data gathering several years ago, especially during visits to various organizations, there were strong indications of a more generally favorable feeling toward the assistant position as a training post. Key executives often like to have a permanent assistant-to, as differentiated from a permanent assistant-to position, so that they may rely on a particular individual. But to enjoy this luxury may invite some negative consequences regarding authority, real power, and lines of communication, responsibility centers, circumvention of chains of command, and the like. leia todo o artigo

Corporate Culture - Integrating Yourself - A study by Artur Victoria

The identification of job-definition problems and attempts to redefine positions so that they meet the needs of the organization (top manager) and of the individual is a key part of organization planning, and it is by no means simple. An analysis of a position usually leads to a redefinition. Even the most efficient and effective organizations need to improve job definitions. Before addressing specific techniques for job design, it might be of value to consider some of the underlying philosophies of those techniques. leia todo o artigo

Coordination and Standard Practices - A study by Artur Victoria

After standard practice procedures have been put into operation, better ways may be developed for doing the work. When these improvements are to be put into effect, a change is made in the standard practice instructions covering the performance of the activity involved, and a notice of the change is sent to all persons concerned.

Standard practice instructions are of great value to both the management and the workers. To the worker, the detailed directions serve to minimize the chance of error, to relieve him of the task of planning his method of work (a task for which he is not always well fitted), and to save him from much unnecessary effort by eliminating wasted motion. When he follows standard instructions he knows he has done his work correctly, and he has the satisfaction which comes from work well done. leia todo o artigo

Compensation - Salary Better Than Wages? - A study by Artur Victoria

A good plan must recognize the relative value of each individual contribution as demonstrated through sustained performance. It must first emphasize actual work accomplishment as measured by objective performance appraisal. This will insure full recognition of exceptional performance while avoiding an over payment for performance below established standards. Many companies treat exempt employees as equals in performance and give flat percentage increases across the board to all exempt employees except perhaps a rare few who have surpassed all standards. This practice drives good people out of the company because tangible recognition of accomplishment is lacking. And, because excellent, mediocre, and poor performance are rewarded alike, compensation Euros are wasted. leia todo o artigo

Company Taxes and Insurance - A study by Artur Victoria

Taxation has shown a tremendous increase in the last 20 years. Some people refer to this as "alarming." Dependent upon one's philosophy, it mayor it may not be alarming, but it has become a tremendous burden on both industry and individuals.

The tax structure is so complicated that it has become a field for experts. Books kept in one way would relieve a corporation of taxes to a much greater extent than books kept another way. This is considered altogether too technical a subject for treatment in a text like this, but the general caution is given, once again, that this is a part of accounting for which expert advice should be secured. leia todo o artigo

Company Security With a New Employee - A study by Artur Victoria

The term security originated during World War II and referred to the necessity of selecting employees on the basis of proven loyalty, abstinence from membership (present and/or past) in subversive organizations, and citizenship. Due to the "cold war" and the political philosophy that peace can be maintained by only armament and the resulting continuous development and construction of new weapons, a large segment of industry is engaged in work connected with "defense." The nature of nuclear fission and the belief that secrecy should be and can be maintained has resulted in the continuance of securing proper "clearance" for prospective employees by a loyalty check in sensitive positions, plants, and industries. leia todo o artigo

Company Capital - A study by Artur Victoria

Long-term capital is secured by the sale of obligations such as bonds. Another portion of long-term capital is secured by the contribution of the owners when they buy stock. But in addition, there is the current working capital required to meet the non-coincidence of income and outgoing.

- Short-term borrowing. A banker is thought by many people to be a rather cold-blooded individual who is interested in nothing but the safety of his loan. In part, this is true, for it is his duty to safeguard the funds entrusted to him by others. A banker will also look, except in the case of an extremely large corporation, at the personnel and their personalities. He is interested in their characters, as to whether or not they are honest. He is interested, obviously, in health, for if people are not expected to live very much longer, they may not be particularly good risks. For this same reason he is interested in age. He is interested in training and natural talent of the applicants, which is an indication of their ability to run the business successfully. He is interested in their application; how hard do they work at their job? leia todo o artigo

Communicating Effectively At Work - A study by Artur Victoria

The two basic communications systems are oral and written. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Most managers are normally exposed to a heavy dose of written communication from their bosses and peers; and as a consequence, they tend to view written communication as the way of communicating. Additionally, writing serves as a record of what has been said and done-a factor more liable to be a concern in a larger organization. leia todo o artigo

Characteristics of an Executive - A study by Artur Victoria

There are no rules that can be given to ensure success as an executive. There are, however, certain traits and manners of conduct which are essential to executive success. A few fundamental characteristics must be inborn, but others may be developed. Inherent ability does not ensure success. Natural powers and capacity must be organized and developed.

Some persons never can become executives. Some few individuals appear destined to be leaders from their youth because of the wealth of executive qualities with which they are endowed. Between these two groups is a great middle group composed of persons who have the desired qualities but in varying degree. It depends upon themselves whether they become executives or remain among the ranks of routine workers. If they make the most of their abilities and bend every effort to compensate their shortcomings, they may in the end surpass those who from youth appeared destined to leadership. It is a compensation of nature that those with the greatest natural gifts sometimes rest too heavily upon them and thus permit those less fortunately endowed to stride past them. leia todo o artigo

Can You Be Cool And Be the Boss? - A study by Artur Victoria

Business, as written about in popular fiction, usually depends upon pure genius, moral courage, divination, or the love of a beautiful maiden. In the opinion of some businessmen success depends upon hunch. To others, business is a game or a gamble. Success is reputed also to depend upon who your parents were, whom you marry, and whom you know. Unquestionably, some influence is exerted by all these factors. When one factor seems to predominate, or when there is a tremendous success, attention is often focused upon that factor or factors and little attention is paid to the more basic reasons for success. leia todo o artigo

Business Organizational Adjustment - A study by Artur Victoria

Organizational performance may decline for reasons other than top management neglect of either the leading or lagging aspects of the administrative role. A change in overall economic conditions or any other force not entirely controllable by management may require adjustments to be made by the organization. And since the demands for adjustment which stem from sources both external and internal to the organization-are numerous, complex, and vary in predictability, management must necessarily choose to focus on some demands more than others. leia todo o artigo

Building a Smoothly Functioning Team in an Organizational Environment - A study by Artur Victoria

The development of an organization structure which can create, adapt to, and prosper with change represents a major challenge to the human resources executive and the chief executive officer. The problem is not one of developing appropriate objectives; most companies do this reasonably well, and a number of examples have been presented. The problem seems to revolve around the development of an organization design to meet these objectives. More is involved here than merely shuffling titles from block to block on paper or following the principles described in the preceding chapter. This is not to minimize their importance, because they are necessary. But the manager is dealing with human resources and with variations in individual availability, competence, personality, and goals. He must organize these into a logical structure that most effectively utilizes each key individual knowledge, talents, and energy. Thus building the organization structure is fundamental to building a smoothly functioning team in an organizational environment that stimulates and motivates rather than stifles or depresses. leia todo o artigo

Broadening Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

A frequent and related complaint of line people is that the staff man, with his strong sense of mission, makes a proposal that has a sound theoretical basis, but is totally inappropriate to his urgency and priorities. Here is a case in point.

Too often, the internal consultant sees only the aspects of a particular situation that relate to his special interests. Thus, when he constructs a solution to the problem, he takes into account only a small portion of the factors in a particular situation. One organization succeeded in broadening its human resources executive viewpoint by giving him responsibility for business planning and the integration of appropriate corporate staff knowledge, skills, and abilities. When he went out to visit with a division manager and his staff, his focus was not limited to executive manpower planning; he would arrange to have corporate staff representatives meet with their line management counterparts when the time came to put together an intermediate-range plan. In the process, a total corporate planning system evolved which was endorsed and supported by both line and staff personnel. This put an end to fragmented, partial solutions to problems, and it brought order to the visitation schedule and minimized disruptions in the workday of busy line managers. leia todo o artigo

Borrowing Money From a Bank - A study by Artur Victoria

Methods of short-term borrowing are many and include the following:

- Unsecured bank loans; - Sale of promissory notes in the open market; - Discounting trade and banker's acceptances; - Loans secured by stock market collateral; - Commodity loans; - Assignment of receivables; - Installment financing; - Factoring; - Miscellaneous. leia todo o artigo

Benefits of Efficiency - A study by Artur Victoria

Efficiency benefits the following people in the following ways:

- Investors, through greater profits; - Workers, through higher wages and salaries; - Consumers, through cheaper, better, and more abundant products through successful competition with cheaper labor from abroad - The world, through teaching better methods and making available more products for all the world leia todo o artigo

Behavioral Motivation to Work - A study by Artur Victoria

The need-drive-goal cycle represents a type of process approach to motivation. Cognitive dimensions are present in the goal in the motivation cycle. Cognitive elements have played a central role in certain theories of motivation. The cognitive approach emphasizes our ability to make conscious, rational decisions and have perceptions concerning things like input/ output ratios and the value and probability of attaining future outcomes. Cognitive process theories recognize the complex nature of organizational behavior. Two of the most recently popular process theories with a cognitive perspective are the equity and expectancy theories of motivation. leia todo o artigo

Behavioral Approach to Management - A study by Artur Victoria

In recent years human problems and concerns have taken precedence over other societal pressures. For many years technology had dominated. Now it is generally acknowledged that the pendulum of technology has swung too far out of balance with more basic human concerns. In the so-called future-shock type of environment that exists today, society is no longer asking what technology can do but instead what it should be allowed to do. leia todo o artigo

Becoming a Great Manager - Qualities To Develop - A study by Artur Victoria

Development is closely linked with manpower planning and business planning. Clear organization purpose and direction that determine what talents and skills will be needed to meet new demands of technology, marketplace, labor, government, products, growth, and management information also determine what talents and skills are needed to fill projected openings from within. There are nine minimum criteria for a successful management development effort. leia todo o artigo

Avoiding Misunderstandings at Work With the Personal Assistant to the President - A study by Artur Victoria

One way to avoid this situation is for the boss and assistant-to to agree that within the boundaries of the assistant-to job there is a call for personal services but that there is a great deal more to it than that. There can be an optimal mix between general staff work and personal operations. One assistant-to who was interviewed had about the best learning experience there is. His boss gave him some highly important staff work to do, yet he also included the assistant-to in most of the social functions in which he, the boss, was involved. The assistant-to learned how to function effectively as a staff man and also acquired some great lessons in social interaction and decorum. Other executives saw this assistant-to at parties helping the boss to entertain, but they also saw the assistant-to as a working staff officer in the office. Thus he was not categorized as a glorified bartender, nor as simply a junior staff member. The assistant-to said that this combined social-staff experience and exposure was the major force which assisted in his career development. leia todo o artigo

Advantages of Using Charts and Manuals in The Management of the Organization - A study by Artur Victoria

The management of the individual concern should decide why it wants to chart and write the organization and by whom the work should be done. If it wants the work done merely to have records for history, any capable person with sufficient time at his disposal can be selected. If, however, the management wishes to get all the possible advantages to be derived from charts and write it should enlist the cooperation of the various members of the organization and have them work in close collaboration with the person or staff agency in charge of the project. The person in charge should be someone who is thoroughly cooperative and competent, who is familiar with the organization structure, and who knows the projected plan and its aims. Each department head should be asked to prepare a chart of his department and to write a description of the work covered. In turn he should ask the same of each of his division heads. These descriptions will show the work of the company as it actually is. Such facts are a sound basis for further study and improvement. leia todo o artigo

Advantages of Contracting an Assistant to the President - A study by Artur Victoria

Today large, complex organizations, visibility is important for both aspiring young executives and seasoned executives who are being evaluated for top spots. A capable person serving as assistant-to, unless he is relegated to the completion of a special project requiring virtual isolation and minimal top-level interaction, is always visible. The visibility aspect is a two-edged sword; it can be a negative as well as a positive feature. An assistant-to who misuses whatever power he acquires or one who just cannot cut it actually suffers from visibility-especially in future considerations for top line or staff positions. The benefits to the assistant-to, then, may be great, other things being equal. leia todo o artigo

Administrator Corporational Behavior - A study by Artur Victoria

The administrator role is primarily that of a controller. Integration of the technical and human subsystems is viewed as a tradeoff, with the needs of the technical subsystem being foremost. Human characteristics must be molded to fit technical requirements, and where they do not, administrators must take corrective action in order to bring people, not structure, into conformity. If the organization's environment is relatively predictable, if goals and tasks are stable, and if individuals are trained to mesh with predetermined processes and programs, predicts that people will produce up to minimal standards but will not be motivated to perform beyond this level or take corrective actions themselves. leia todo o artigo

Administration Policies - A study by Artur Victoria

Four major sets of policies concerning product, production, sales, and finance have been discussed. Minor policies deal with the following:

1. Purchasing 2. Personnel 3. Research and development leia todo o artigo

Accent on Value Rule - A study by Artur Victoria

One of the human resources executive most effective tools for cementing line and staff efforts into a coordinated, cooperative undertaking is the business effectiveness task force.

Often, in the course of time, a business is in need of renewal. People and processes get sluggish; the old zip is replaced by complacency; it becomes more difficult to make a fair profit because of rising costs, poor quality, low productivity, and a general lack of concern. To provide the needed renewal in such a situation the human resources executive can work with top management to spearhead a competition designed to get as many employees as possible-line and staff, salaried and hour-paid personally involved at all levels. People want to help and will respond if the venture has appeal and personal reward and if it is well executed. leia todo o artigo

A Good Manager Must Also Be a Good Leader - A study by Artur Victoria

The top manager of an organization can be fairly certain that power problems do exist when there is a great deal of inter-departmental conflict, when the managers of various departments are at war with each other, when there are character assassinations, or when one or more managers consistently overstep their authority or do not exercise it at all.

There are several techniques for analyzing power problems within an organization. Each focuses on decisions making and results. By analyzing the decisions that should be made, the manager can designate levels of authority, areas in which managers can make decisions on their own, and situations in which they must consult with or receive the approval of others. There two methods of making such designations: • Critical decision analysis • Staff-line analysis. leia todo o artigo

A Business Plan For Your Construction Company - A study by Artur Victoria

Business objectives that are most useful to the top manager are those that state the conditions that will exist three to five years in the future. They are not limited to financial results but encompass all facets of the company concern and responsibility.

The identification of obstacles that may have an effect on the successful accomplishment of key objectives, whether internal or external, presently existing or anticipated, should be included in the analysis of an organization if the risks associated with goals are high or the consequences of failure are serious. Some companies have the resources to conduct sophisticated studies to determine the probability of events occurring; others must rely on the experience and know-how built up over several years. Still others rely on gut feel. leia todo o artigo

Training of supervisors - A study by Artur Victoria

The keystone of any employee training program is the training of supervisors. A supervisor needs to have a thorough knowledge of all the jobs performed in the shop or section over which he has control. Under normal conditions most foremen have this technical ability, for it has been the basis upon which they have been selected. When foremen fail it is because they lack appreciation of their responsibilities or lack skill in planning and laying out the work to be done, in instructing the workers, in leadership, or a combination of two or more of these qualities. leia todo o artigo

Tests for Job Applicants - A study by Artur Victoria

It is quite possible that the applicant, besides being interviewed, will be asked to take a variety of tests. This is particularly important when hiring inexperienced people to become part of a training program. The employment office is then more interested in his aptitudes than in what the worker experience has been.

Tests may be divided into three classes: (1) Intelligence, (2) Trade, (3) Aptitude. leia todo o artigo

Performance of Clerical Employees - A study by Artur Victoria

While clerical employees should participate in the goal setting, the degree to which they should be permitted to set their own performance standards is necessarily limited. Yet management must depend on this group to keep the business going, to help realize profit goals, to reduce costs, and to move up into positions of responsibility in lower and middle management. Discussion of individual performance results is equally important. The manager will have to pick up and carry the ball more frequently, but should encourage the individual to participate in the discussion and freely express his viewpoint. leia todo o artigo

Workers - Vacations With Pay, Profit-Sharing and Thrift Fund - A study by Artur Victoria

The practice of granting vacations with pay has grown in recent years, both as to eligibility and length of the vacation period. Paid vacations for office workers are standard practice, and in time it will be a privilege extended to all wage earners. Ordinarily, the employee is permitted to select his time of vacation. When there is conflict, caused by too many workers selecting the same time, seniority often determines the preference. leia todo o artigo

Worker Rest Periods - A study by Artur Victoria

A certain amount of fatigue on the part of the worker is inevitable even though a company introduces ways and means of eliminating unnecessary and wasteful physical effort. This is particularly true in precision work, in monotonous repetitive jobs, and in those jobs in which there is the element of danger. Brief rest periods in which to smoke and perhaps eat or relax tend to refresh the workers, increase over-all production, and reduce un-authorized rest pauses. The idea of rest periods is good, but their introduction depends upon plant conditions. In some concerns it might be impractical to break the continuity of work; in others the employees, particularly if on an incentive plan, may resent the break in their production. leia todo o artigo

Why Do Firms Downsize? - A study by Artur Victoria

Some of the downsizing craze may be pure herd behavior; if everyone else seems to be doing it, you should also. Some of this herd behavior may be induced by the financial markets In other cases, downsizing is a managerial response to inane incentives - for example, a division chief is told that her performance will be assessed based on per capita sales or earnings, where the denominator in the per capita calculation is full-time equivalent regular employees. Thus, the manager is given an incentive to cut regular employees and replace them with outsourced labor, even if the outsourced labor is (not too much) more expensive. leia todo o artigo

Wages In Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

Economists usually sneer at attempts to tie appropriate wages to positions based on an artificial scale of value. Wages, according to economics, should reflect conditions of demand and supply. The sort of scale constructed in schemes such as: 1) Might capture something of what is important in the demand for labor services, but it misses the supply side. 2) Potentially come closer to impounding both demand and supply factors, but they still miss the impact of factors omitted from the job analyses. leia todo o artigo

Variable Labor Demands on Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

Labor demand by an employer usually varies through time. Ideally, the employer will want to retain some flexibility in the amount of labor that is purchased. There are many techniques for retaining some flexibility while offering long-term employment to (at least) a core of employees but even given these techniques, long-term employment relationships can reduce the ability of the employer to match levels of employment with demand. 1. The Dark Side of Loyalty

Loyalty can be beneficial, but it can have deleterious effects as well. To provide appropriate incentives to employees, employers must sometimes take actions that hurt employees. And employee loyalty to co-workers can be detrimental to the employer, if employees protect each other or, especially when comparative evaluation systems are used, adopt a group norm against providing consummate effort. leia todo o artigo

The Traditional Model of Human Behavior at Organizations - A study by Artur Victoria

The Traditional model owes its existence to three major streams of thought relevant to administration. First, an important component of the Traditional approach is drawn from the writings of nineteenth-century philosophers and classical economists. The philosophical doctrine prevalent at that time, Social Darwinism, argued that the fittest survive (and should survive), and that it was their duty to guide those of lesser ability. Combine this belief with the classical economist's notion that leisure was man's preferred state and work his required state, and one has the makings of a theory that organizations were populated with a multitude of basically inept individuals who had to be forced to work through monetary incentives. leia todo o artigo

The Objectives And Policy Of A Company - A study by Artur Victoria

A company, like any other society, must exist for the achievement of some objective or objectives. Some people have suggested that a company has only one objective that is to make a profit. It is true that no company could survive permanently without making a profit but this is hardly the reason why it exists; it is a condition which must be satisfied if existence is to continue permanently. We cannot live without eating but we do not live in order to eat. Companies exist in order to satisfy consumers wants; and perhaps even to create wants before satisfying them, since in many cases these wants did not exist before they were suggested to consumers by advertising or other selling methods. It would, for example, hardly have occurred to people to want television sets before manufacturers had put the possibility of television before them. A company determines its objectives, therefore, by deciding what kind of consumer demands it proposes to attempt to satisfy, and if necessary, create. leia todo o artigo

The Manager Responsibility of Delegation - A study by Artur Victoria

Managers who are conscious of this nevertheless sometimes resort to another device which may be almost as destructive of their subordinate's authority. They may give unsolicited advice. This is usually justified by the argument that the subordinate benefits from the superior experience and that since no order is given the advice does not limit the subordinate authority. In practice, such advice frequently has almost as much force as an order. Subordinates frequently find it very difficult to ignore their superior's advice. To do so requires great confidence and strength of will, since the penalty for failure is increased. A wrong decision, if not too frequent, is all in the way of business. A wrong decision, made in spite of a superior's advice, is something no subordinate likes to contemplate. Advice from a superior is therefore closer to an order than many superiors appreciate. If so, it is an order for which the subordinate has to carry some responsibility, since the decision is still technically his. It would appear better, therefore, for the superior to decide whether the thing must be done his way, and if so to give an order. In this way he makes it clear that he accepts the responsibility. If he is not prepared to do this he should restrain himself from giving advice unless it is sought. leia todo o artigo

The Manager Accounting Performance - A study by Artur Victoria

The value of stock that can be carried, and the control of buying or manufacturing, has a foremost place in counsels of the management. If the working capital of a business remains at more or less the same figure, then, obviously, production (or, with a merchant, buying) must be regulated by sales. For the cash to pay for purchases, or production, comes from sales receipts. A balance between income from sales, and production expenditure (or, with a merchant, purchases), must be, therefore, maintained. The annual balance sheet will reveal the difference in amount between liquid assets (and assets that can be readily realized) and liabilities. But one cannot safely wait for the results of an annual balance sheet, and guesswork should be eliminated in every sphere of business. leia todo o artigo

The Manager - Leadership and Training - A study by Artur Victoria

Training is an important part of leadership. It is one thing to issue an instruction, but another to have the instruction carried out intelligently, with an appreciation of its consequences. One of the selection tests for army officers during the war was to require the candidate to have a tent erected by two assistants by giving them instructions. The assistants never disobeyed an instruction, but would always carry it out in the least helpful manner. It is not recorded that any candidate succeeded in passing this test completely. The example is not quite a fair one as the purpose of the assistants was to obstruct, but it illustrates the point that successful work requires not only obedience to instructions, but intelligent and active co-operation by people who understand what the supervisor is trying to achieve. This involves training at various stages. leia todo o artigo

The Manager - Leadership - A study by Artur Victoria

Few principal or general managers of progressive businesses have much time to devote to matters of daily routine, beyond receiving reports from heads of departments, and necessary consultations. When the various departmental divisions and staff arrangements are settled with proper division of responsibility and an intelligent routine established, and in addition a general system of control instituted, the principal or manager is free to devote himself to his proper function to frame policies, to lead, and to explore new avenues of progress. leia todo o artigo

The Manager - Financial Performance - A study by Artur Victoria

The capital employed in a large company, and the manner in which it is raised, belong to the area of the principal, or to the directors. There are aspects of this subject, however, which intimately concern managers. In large measure it is they who determine how the capital is employed, and employed to the best advantage. If a company is over-capitalized, that is, if the issued capital is more than the business can earn in profits to pay reasonable dividends, the fault does not lie with the management.

The working capital of a limited liability company may fall far short of its total issued capital, thereby proving a serious handicap to its dividend-earning powers. Insufficiency of working capital is the rock on which many a business comes to grief. That part of a company capital which represents money paid, or shares issued to vendors, or promoters, or used in providing buildings, plant and equipment may be out of all proportion to what is left in liquid form as working capital. leia todo o artigo

The Importance of Human Resource Management - A study by Artur Victoria

Human resource management involves a good leader, a healthy work environment, and a good job to produce a motivated employee. A results-oriented approach to employee relations requires management skills in identifying problems, setting priorities, and developing and evaluating alternatives as well as the ability to communicate, initiate action, implement it, measure it, control it, and change its course as necessary. The roots of most management problems lie in the organization's misuse of its human resources. In most cases this is not deliberate, but is a problem of inattention resulting from a lack of knowledge of how to identify the real causes of those problems. leia todo o artigo

The Importance of Human Resource Development - A study by Artur Victoria

In a highly competitive business, even a strong market position cannot be held or improved with mediocre people. It takes the best people, continually giving their best, to attain challenging but achievable goals. It takes people with superior education, training, and experience who are interested in maintaining the initiative in the face of carefully calculated business risks to stay on top of the competitive heap.

It takes people with pride in workmanship who carefully apply their skills and disciplines to produce a marketable product of fine competitive quality on time and within carefully controlled costs. It takes first-line supervisors who are very much aware of the influence they have over their people and who by their example influence them to do their jobs more effectively. leia todo o artigo

The Human Resources Executive - A study by Artur Victoria

The human resources executive emerges as an internal consultant, a business effectiveness agent for purposeful and progressive change. His background of training and development point to a generalist orientation as contrasted with the more narrowly focused point of view of a specialist.

Modern management at top organizational levels is beginning to recognize the need for high-level staff help in the solution of corporate problems-a great many of which can be traced to deficiencies in human resource management. Thus, though the staff role of the human resources executive used to be restricted to policy formulation and routine, traditional personnel activities, general management now looks to him to take an active role in stimulating change. His role as passive onlooker is a thing of the past. leia todo o artigo

The Functions of a Manager - A study by Artur Victoria

Assuming that a product is a feasible market proposition, plans must be laid in the following areas:

A - Design. In an engineering works this will be in the form of drawings and specifications. Before these reach their final form, several prototypes may be made and tested and the drawings revised a number of times. The designer will collaborate with the production engineer in order to ensure that the design can be manufactured satisfactorily and economically. However, whatever activities take place at the design stage they will end with a description, in the form of drawings and specifications, of the final product. This is a plan, and the subsequent production activity will be arranged to secure its fulfillment. leia todo o artigo

The Employee Being Evaluated - A study by Artur Victoria

An evaluation system will tend to be viewed as more distributive just if its procedures are perceived to be fair, and the procedures used are more likely to be viewed as equitable by those who view the outcomes it produced (ratings or rewards based on those ratings) as fair. When it comes to perceptions of procedural justice, important ingredients include the following:

- Individuals being evaluated should have some impact on the process. Individuals value: a) participation in setting the standards by which they will be judged (management by objectives scores very well here); b) the opportunity to present their own case, especially when evaluations are subjective; and c) rights of appeal, when they disagree with either the process or outcome. leia todo o artigo

The Effects Of Downsizing Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

A process issue that deserves careful thought in contemplating a downsizing concerns the choice between dramatic, swift cuts versus a more gradual, less wrenching approach. The advantages of a gradual approach are apparent: The firm may be unsure how deeply to cut and a onetime massacre runs the risk of cutting too much. Of course, the psychological costs may be attenuated by a gradual approach. Local labor markets may be better able to absorb the discharged workers if they are discharged gradually, which in turn may ameliorate the adverse impact on the local economy and community. On balance, however, those who have suffered through downsizing tend to believe that a "get it over with in one fell swoop" approach is superior (at least, for the firm) to a process that drags on. leia todo o artigo

The Effectiveness of Human Resource - A study by Artur Victoria

One good management tool for measuring the effectiveness of human resource utilization is the attitude survey, sometimes called the employee opinion or morale survey. It is in the form of a questionnaire designed to tell management about employee opinions and feelings on a variety of subjects dealing with human asset management. It also provides a measurement of the effectiveness of management communication. Because it represents opinions, some of the findings may not appear to be entirely logical or justified from management viewpoint. Nevertheless, a properly conducted survey does reveal what employees believe to be true. It reveals the facts as employees see them. leia todo o artigo

The Conduct for a Successful Business - A study by Artur Victoria

To generalize is easy; to reduce principles to their practical application is the needful thing, both for the business man who is not without some experience and for the young man on the threshold of a business career.

What is needed are practical illustrations of how modern successful businesses are run, and it is the aim of this work to supply finger-posts that will guide the progressive men, young or middle-aged, with some experience or none, to new ideas, improved methods and an intelligent conception of what can be done, and how it can be accomplished. leia todo o artigo

Status of the Organization in Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

There are some cases - especially in star roles, such as sales, professional athletics, and surgery - in which it is viewed as legitimate to pay a nominal subordinate more than his or her nominal supervisor. No one quibbles with paying a top athlete more than his coach or a star surgeon more than the director of her hospital. This legitimacy is often market-based or, at least, market-excused; the extraordinary compensation is legitimate because this is what it takes to retain the individual. But with these exceptions noted, superiors are generally paid more than their subordinates. This promotes status consistency and generally confers legitimacy both to status distinctions and to the compensation system. But it raises some substantial problems when we discuss promotion. leia todo o artigo

Status Inconsistency In Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

When individuals attend to their relative standing or status within a particular group or organization, the relevant dimension of status might be pay in one organization, authority level in a second, and technical expertise in a third. The factors that produce status obviously vary among groups of employees and across occupations, organizational contexts, and countries. Yet although money (or authority, or expertise) may be the dominant dimension in a given situation, other dimensions cannot be completely ignored, particularly because studies have shown that people are also attentive to the degree of consistency in their statuses across multiple dimensions and across multiple social contexts.

Sometimes an individual occupies high status along one dimension and low status along another. Examples include: the highly compensated salesperson with only a seventh-grade education; the senior executive who is much younger than her subordinates; the task-force leader from Marketing in an Engineering-dominated organization; or the non-physician hospital administrator. This sort of status inconsistency can create an incongruity that has been shown to promote various undesirable outcomes. People who occupy wildly different status positions on different social hierarchies face confusion over how they should act and how they should expect to be treated by others. This confusion creates ambiguity and strain, sometimes producing nontrivial psychological (and even medical) maladies. leia todo o artigo

Social Relations In Business - A study by Artur Victoria

The importance of clear and lucid methods of statement is not appreciated by many young people who are anxious to get on in the world. They take too long in coming to the point. Often this is because they fail to realize exactly what they want to say. They try to make up their minds while talking or writing, instead of doing so beforehand. Some people can only think while they are expressing themselves. This is a bad habit.

Revision and re-writing are useful methods of self-education. Nothing is more irritating to a busy man than a long-winded garrulous letter or visitor, particularly when the writer or caller wants a favor. It is a common error to imagine that one's object can be achieved by a tortuous approach instead of by a plain, direct statement. The result is irritation and an unnecessary waste of time in preliminaries. It does not mean, of course, that the visitor should dash hurriedly into the room and blurt out the object of his visit. Consistently with good manners, he should state his business as quickly and briefly as he can. But he should be careful to state it. Many people occupy so much time in preliminaries and non-essentials that they omit matters of importance. leia todo o artigo

Social Effects Of Downsizing Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

A set of thorny process issues concerns the impact of downsizing on the local community. Downsizing, especially focused layoffs by large corporations (that lead, say, to the closure of an entire facility), can have devastating impacts on a local community. As extreme examples, there are cases of rural community's simply disappearing after a local lumber mill or mine is closed.

These considerations obviously have to be weighed in management's decisions about where and how to cut. And this is more than a matter of ethical behavior. A firm that devastates one community may "get away with it" in terms of that community's ability to strike back. But the firm can substantially harm its reputation, particularly insofar as the firm has explicitly emphasized positive community relations as a matter of corporate policy. leia todo o artigo

Setting Up an Employee Retention Plan - A study by Artur Victoria

In an overhaul the exempt salaried compensation program attitude surveys and exit interviews strongly indicate that two out of three voluntary resignations of exempt, salaried employees are due in large measure to feelings of dissatisfaction associated with compensation. Specifically, employees note that there has been no upgrading of the exempt salaried pay structure for the past five years; individual pay increases have failed to keep pace with increases in the cost of living; pay increases are granted every 16 months on the average, and there seems to be a tendency to give uniform pay increases, thus failing to recognize superior performance while overpaying mediocre and poor performers. A significant contributing factor here is the absence of position descriptions, performance standards, and performance appraisals. Also contributing to the problem is an absence of control on the number of people hired by certain functions, and formal organization planning is nonexistent. Ten action steps are indicated for this: leia todo o artigo

Salaries In Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

If compensation is not tied directly to performance, what might and should it be tied to? To answer these questions, consider how wages and salaries are set in many organizations. Perhaps the most common approach involves something like the following. The firm looks at compensation rates in the local labor market for similar jobs or for jobs with similar skill requirements. Some adjustment will take place according to the firm's experience. If positions are hard to fill, the firm might raise compensation; if there is a long queue of applicants, firms might lower pay rates (or, at least, not move them up with inflation). Sometimes a firm will adjust the rates upward in an attempt to broaden the applicant pool or reduce turnover that is, the firm will pay efficiency wages. Of course, all this is subject to negotiation with a union if the job in question is covered by collective bargaining. Equally of course, it is clear that such a procedure leads to a rough-and-ready approximation to wages set by the economic slogan supply equals demand. leia todo o artigo

Roles For Human Resources Specialists - A study by Artur Victoria

The formulation of human resources strategy and policies specialists should act as advisors to and educators of top management. It is important that all of general management, and most especially top management, are human resources literate. But being a general manager usually means being literate about a lot of stuff and an expert on rather little, and unless the CEO or the division (or business unit or regional) chief has a human resources background, she is unlikely to be a working force expert. Some of human resources management is pretty straightforward common sense. Take, for instance, the design and redesign of performance appraisal systems. Given the number of different goals that performance appraisal serves, it is common sense how to achieve an appropriate balance. It's even harder to anticipate all the feedback effects that a change in performance appraisal practices will bring. leia todo o artigo

Reputation Construction in Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

The demands of a job vary over time and with the circumstances of the moment. When the employer insists that an "eager beaver" employee move to the night shift, is this an attempt at exploitation of the employee's relative eagerness, or is it a legitimate response by the employer to some changed circumstance? When an employee is sent out on the road for the fourth time in a month (when the implicit understanding has been two trips on average per month), is this exploitation or a temporary increase reflecting scheduling irregularities?

If employees can't tell the difference, they don't know whether to carry out threats against the employer or how to reassess her reputation. Doing nothing invites exploitation; perhaps the employer is pushing the envelope, to see if the employees will respond. But overreacting is bad for both: Threatening to quit, or actually quitting, costs both sides. Withdrawing cooperation only shrinks the pie the two sides have to split. Insisting on written guarantees in place of implicit agreements reduces flexibility and pads the pockets of the lawyers. Employers and employees both benefit when balance-of-power and reputation-based guarantees can be monitored easily and without too many mistakes being made. leia todo o artigo

Reciprocity In Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

Closely related to the idea of equity is sociologist's notion of a ubiquitous norm of reciprocity, whereby individuals feel strongly that: 1. People should help those who have helped them and 2. People should not injure those who have helped them.

Such obligations of repayment are contingent upon the imputed value of the benefit received. The value of the benefit and hence the debt is in proportion to and varies with-among other things-the intensity of the recipient's need at the time the benefit was bestowed ("a friend in need..."), the resources of the donor ("he gave although he could ill afford it"), the motives imputed to the donor ("without thought of gain"), and the nature of the constraints which are perceived to exist or to be absent ("he gave of his own free will"). Thus, the obligations imposed by the norm of reciprocity may vary with the status of the participants within a society. leia todo o artigo

Piece Rate Compensation In Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

In practice, the piece rate for a particular completed task in an industrial setting is usually set by industrial engineers, who attempt through time-and-motion studies to determine how many pieces N a standard employee, working at a standard pace, can produce in one hour. A standard hourly wage rate W for the employee will have been set, taking into account the wages paid in the local labor market as well as firm-specific factors, such as a policy of paying efficiency wages, a policy of wage compression, and so on. Then the piece rate for the task will be set at WIN, so that a standard employee, working at a standard pace, will make a standard wage. leia todo o artigo

Performance of Clerical Employees - A study by Artur Victoria

While clerical employees should participate in the goal setting, the degree to which they should be permitted to set their own performance standards is necessarily limited. Yet management must depend on this group to keep the business going, to help realize profit goals, to reduce costs, and to move up into positions of responsibility in lower and middle management. Discussion of individual performance results is equally important. The manager will have to pick up and carry the ball more frequently, but should encourage the individual to participate in the discussion and freely express his viewpoint. The format for appraisal of a non-exempt salaried employee performance is necessarily less complex than the one used for exempt salaried employees. leia todo o artigo

Performance Evaluation In Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

The primary reason why performance evaluation is so difficult and why almost every appraisal system is flawed is that performance appraisal serves many different purposes, which are rarely well-served by the same methods of performance evaluation. The purposes for conducting performance evaluation include: 1. Evaluation to improve job matching. Employees must be given tasks and assigned to jobs based on their skills and abilities. Performance evaluation of workers gives their superiors a sense of what they can do and how well they do it.

2. Communication of organizational values and objectives. The individual employee sometimes has a poor sense of what the organization wants done. An employee may wish to satisfy the desires of the organization but cannot do so without some guidance. Performance evaluation can be a very powerful tool for showing employees what is valued and what is incidental. At the same time, performance evaluation can be a powerful means of communicating organizational culture and norms of behavior, with regard to both outcome (what is sought) and process (acceptable methods). leia todo o artigo

Pay For Performance In Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

Agency theory, the principal - agent model, and the economic theory of incentives are three names for the same thing: a collection of models created by economists to answer this question. We discuss the basic model in this subsection and elaborations following that.

The basic model begins with the supposition that the connection between time and effort exerted by the worker and the fruits of his labor services is not entirely under his control. The employee can influence the amount of work accomplished, by exerting himself, but he can't control output entirely. Supposing he is on the job for a set length of time, we let e denote the effort he chooses to exert over that period of time, and we suppose that the amount of work done x has a probability distribution that is affected by; think for now of the case where e is one-dimensional, and larger values of x are more likely the larger is. leia todo o artigo

Patterns Of Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

When "what to do" is reduced to a standard operating procedure, task ambiguity is low. But some jobs score quite high on task ambiguity and requisite discretion, such as physicians, self-directed research scientists, and high-level general managers. In these jobs, it can be just as important (if not more so) to exercise good judgment in selecting what tasks to carry out as it is to execute those tasks well. A physician who selects the wrong procedure but performs it masterfully is of little use to the patient! In extreme cases, creativity-finding entirely new tasks to perform or, at least, new ways to perform old tasks-is the most important factor in good performance. leia todo o artigo

Organizing Human Resources In A New Company - A study by Artur Victoria

Imagine that you are considering starting your own firm. You've been contacted by a college acquaintance - a brilliant biology student-who tells you that while in graduate school she developed a procedure in the lab that she believes has considerable commercial potential. This classmate makes it clear that she has little interest in or expertise at managing people, and she wants you to join her in founding a company in which you will handle the management chores and she will be responsible for developing the technology and product applications. You've always wanted to get in on the ground floor of such an entrepreneurial venture, and you are convinced this acquaintance has the sort of brilliance that could lead to tremendous success. So you decide to think hard about her offer. leia todo o artigo

Organizational Structure of the Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

If we consider the analogy to the distinctions between marketing and customer service or between the corporate finance function on the one hand and the accounting/comptroller function on the other. We generally see fairly clear organizational distinctions drawn between those who are responsible for helping an organization formulate its strategies for reaching markets and creating brand equity on the one hand, versus those who manage routine transactions with customers on the other hand. Similarly, most organizations have fairly clear distinctions (in organizational subunits, career paths, etc.) between those who formulate financial strategy and steward the company's fiscal resources versus those who process routine accounting transactions. leia todo o artigo

Objective Versus Subjective Measures In Human Resources Evaluation - A study by Artur Victoria

The desirability of objective/formulaic evaluation measures versus subjective/impressionistic measures hinges largely on considerations of strategy, technology, and culture. But either of these alternatives involves a number of complex considerations when it comes time to devise and implement a particular scheme.

Foremost among these complex considerations are perceptions of justice: An evaluation system that is purely subjective the evaluator simply announces whether she thinks the employee's performance is excellent, good, fair, or poor - is apt to score low on procedural justice, being too susceptible to caprice and bias by the evaluator. Some basis for the evaluation should be offered. But highly formulaic systems, applied in a non formulaic environment different individuals face different challenges, have access to different resources, and so on - are equally apt to be seen as unjust, because they miss all the distinctive factors applying to the individual being evaluated. A compromise scheme that uses objective measures, but tailors the "formula" to the individual situation, invites corruption or at least politicking in the formula - setting process, and as a result can lead to perceptions of procedural injustice. leia todo o artigo

Morale Building at Work - The Employee Services - A study by Artur Victoria

The health of employees is the business of the employer, for a healthy worker is likely to be a happy worker and to produce more and better work. Illness and poor health are the direct cause of many lost man-hours.

In many concerns, at the time of employment a physical examination is given to an applicant after the interviewer and the prospective supervisor of the applicant have considered him otherwise qualified. This serves a number of purposes. First, it ascertains if the applicant is physically fitted to do the work of the job for which he is applying. Weeding out those who are not physically fitted for their work reduces the work and expenses incident to employment and employee training and those often unappreciated production costs which are bound to rise when a man is physically unfitted for the task he is doing. In addition, the physical examination protects the fellow workers from contagious and infectious diseases and the company from unjustifiable claims for compensation in cases in which physical conditions existed prior to employment. leia todo o artigo

Morale Building at Work - A study by Artur Victoria

Many employees have good ideas for increasing production or for improving plant conditions, but from self-consciousness, indifference, or lack of incentive, they do not volunteer them. They may feel "what's the use, I won't get anything for it," or else they are afraid that if they tell their ideas to their supervisor he will get the credit for it when he reports it instead of the worker receiving credit. As a means of awakening interest and to secure valuable ideas from the workers, suggestion systems are adopted.

As in all personnel work, the first step is to sell the idea to the workers. The employees should be made to feel that the company values and wants their ideas and that they will be rewarded for all suggestions accepted. The point should be emphasized that the employee whom the company values most is the thinking employee and that the company can know about the employee's ideas only when he brings them to the company notice. leia todo o artigo

Misalignment of Incentives In Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

Misalignment of incentives usually comes down to a problem of workers choosing to do the "wrong" thing. The variations on the basic model of agency illustrate many of these problems:

1 - When workers have several tasks to perform, incentive systems have a hard time getting the balance right. Attention and effort will be given to those activities on which the employee perceives that he or she can have the biggest impact in terms of compensation. The perception of a large impact, in turn, depends on two considerations: Does the reward system take significant account of this or that measure of performance? And how much control does the individual have over the performance measures - how noisy is the relationship between efforts and performance measures? leia todo o artigo

Managing Wage Incentives - A study by Artur Victoria

Many companies attempt to motivate people by paying them by results, and it is usually thought that the most efficient schemes are those which link an individual earnings to his own output. Many supervisors like such incentive schemes, saying that they increase motivation, make people look for work instead of waiting until they are given it, and so make the supervisor job easier. There is no doubt that many wage incentive schemes have increased the pace of work, but it is unsatisfactory to rely on them alone for motivation, as this is to accept that people are interested in the pay and not the job. There is of course nothing wrong in being interested in being well paid; even supervisors work for pay, as does the managing director. But if the system associates pay and work too closely, it can adversely affect performance in one or more of the following ways: leia todo o artigo

Managing The Workers' Motivation - A study by Artur Victoria

One motivating factor is of course interest in the job itself. Where people have this interest they are prepared to put in a great deal of effort and produce first-class results. It is not uncommon for a man whose work is indifferent, and who is regarded as being lazy, to have a hobby at which he shows himself to be energetic and to have high standards. There is nothing wrong with the man himself; he just happens not to find his work very interesting. It is usually found that where work is varied and makes demands on a man skill there is little problem of motivation; in these circumstances people express themselves through their work, and poor performance would diminish them as people.

It may be objected that not everyone has or can have an interesting job, and that we have to consider effective means of motivation for them also. This is true, but it is possible to overstate the argument. A skilled engineer may look round a factory where light assembly work is being done, where iced fruits are put on chocolates by people who do nothing else, and reflect that he personally would not like to do any of those jobs, whatever the rate of pay offered. But the people who do such jobs often find satisfaction in them. They do their work with minimal attention and think of more interesting things. Industrial music, congenial company, and pleasantly decorated surroundings all add to the interest of the work. leia todo o artigo

Managing the Supervision - A study by Artur Victoria

Supervisory authority, according to a study, can be exercised at three different levels. These are:

- The second line supervisor. This description is applied to a senior foreman or works superintendent, who directs the supervisory system and links it with higher management. As second line supervisors deal with other supervisors rather than directly with the labor force, it is open to question whether on the definition given they are supervisors at all. - The first line supervisor. This is the man who has charge of the department, who gives instructions to the operatives, and is regarded by them as their boss. - The semi-supervisor, who is the leading hand, working charge hand or machine setter. Such people may have little or no formal authority, but less experienced operatives may come to them for assistance because of their knowledge and experience, while taking their formal instructions from the first line supervisor. leia todo o artigo

Managing The Resistance To Change - A study by Artur Victoria

Change is frequently resisted, even when it would be beneficial to those who resist it. Managements are frequently puzzled by this opposition, and because they do not understand the reason for it conclude that it is the result of obstruction. Yet there are usually good reasons why people dislike change, and it is possible if these are understood to introduce change in such a way that it is readily accepted and given the best chance of success. Change is sometimes disliked merely because people have got comfortably settled into a routine, and dislikes the effort of having to learn a new procedure or new methods of work. This reason in itself is rarely an important one; indeed, if the old system involves delay and frustration, change may be welcomed even if it calls for effort to learn new ways. A more serious cause of resistance to change is fear of adverse consequences. These may be one or more of the following: leia todo o artigo

Managing The Problem of Fairness - A study by Artur Victoria

When supervisors are asked what qualities they would rank highest in a good supervisor, fairness invariably comes high in the list. They say that their men expect them to be fair, and they themselves expect senior management to be fair in its dealings with them. Yet the problem of fairness is a difficult one, and it is not easy always to make decisions which are clearly fair to everyone. Some examples of questions requiring a fair decision are: How should holiday times be scheduled? Who should do a disagreeable job? How should overtime be allocated? Who should be allocated a new piece of equipment which everyone Would like but only one can have?

Fair treatment is not the same as equal treatment, for situations and people differ. Moreover, in many instances there is no single solution which is the obvious fair one; there are frequently several solutions for which some kind of case can be made out. It is possible therefore for a supervisor decision, made in good faith, to be questioned perfectly reasonably by someone who feels that he has not been treated fairly. leia todo o artigo

Managing The Personnel - A study by Artur Victoria

The responsible heads of departments, from the managing director downwards, find that amongst their duties one of the most vital is the selection and handling of the personnel of the staff, particularly those of the staff who can promote, or retard, the progress of the business. The head of a department must exercise fairness; he must possess considerable will power and the power of decision, a courteous firmness of manner and an optimistic outlook. Estimating Character

The ability to read a character is a great asset where an appointment has to be done depends on forming a true estimate of the character and mental qualities of the applicant. One attribute is usually fairly easy to detect; that is, the quality of ambition. The young man who is of a naturally ambitious turn of mind is at least "a starter"in the race to the top. He must not be taken at his own valuation, for no doubt he has some flaw that he has not detected himself. However, ambition is an essential trait in the character of an assistant, because the man whose mind is continually set on climbing the ladder will certainly get as high as his capacity permits. leia todo o artigo

Managing The Discipline - A study by Artur Victoria

Questions asked of foremen attending courses and seminars over several years reveal that most of them have relatively few disciplinary problems. It does not follow that morale in their departments is always good, but on the whole they appear to have little difficulty in running their departments without serious friction. There have been few, however, who have had no disciplinary problems at all to report. Most of these problems were minor ones concerned with an isolated difficult individual, but there was the occasional more serious problem which had to be passed up the line to senior management. The following general principles are suggested in dealing with disputes and disciplinary problems: leia todo o artigo

Managing The Business Control - A study by Artur Victoria

In the management of a business control of overhead charges is very important. We need not stop to consider in what way, exactly, accountants define "over-head charges" or "working expenses." They will probably say they are charges connected with non-productive work, but what one person considers being non-productive work, another person may think otherwise. He may take a different view. The practical point at issue is, when overhead charges seem to be in excess of what they should be in relation to turnover, what is the best direction in which to turn to effect a reduction? In the absence of complete information, it is quite possible, with decreasing sales, for a manager to think he is still making a sufficient margin of profit, while in reality he is not. His final accounts at the end of the year may give him a rude shock. leia todo o artigo

Managing Responsibilities - A study by Artur Victoria

In higher positions, where mental qualities are so important, the thing to be considered is the technical knowledge and experience. The all-round man is not as desirable as the specialist; first, because the specialist knows his particular subject thoroughly, and, secondly, the fact that he has applied his mind to mastering one thing is some proof of his capacity to master another. The specialist even in a humble sphere can always handle his department or his work in the most efficient way. He has acquired expert knowledge; he knows the quickest, surest and most profitable methods. There is nothing haphazard about him. He has developed a capacity for action, a knack of getting things done. It is the lack of that capacity which is at the root of so much disappointment.

The subordinate positions should be looked upon as the training ground for higher posts. For that reason youths of the right caliber should be selected. It is among the youths of average ability, outstanding ability being so rare, that one looks for the coming men. A few of them are certain to be of the kind that makes the most of their opportunities, and they will be in a few years something more than men of average abilities. They will have outstripped the others. leia todo o artigo

Managing Employee Training - A study by Artur Victoria

A new employee, especially if he is young or new to factory life, has an inevitable feeling of strangeness among new surroundings and new people. He needs to be welcomed and helped to feel at home. Even if he is accustomed to factory work, the kind of welcome he receives in his first few days can have an effect on his attitude to his job. It is worthwhile therefore giving some attention to a new employee, and setting aside the necessary time on his first morning to give him undivided attention. It is usually convenient to have a list of the things new employees should have explained to them. This list obviously needs to be made especially for the factory concerned, but might include some of the following points: the kind of work done in the department systems (e.g. production control) in use in the factory safety practices and rules company rules and procedures payment of wages and bonuses canteen and welfare facilities works clubs and recreational facilities. Some large companies have induction courses for new employees, but such courses are a supplement to the induction given by the supervisor and are not a substitute for it. In a small company with no induction course, the whole of the responsibility is on the supervisor. A new employee should be introduced to his colleagues, and should know at least some members of senior management and be able to recognize them. leia todo o artigo

Manager Planning and Control - A study by Artur Victoria

Although planning and control are logically distinct, it will be seen that for most practical purposes they are aspects of the same thing. It is impossible to control anything except by reference to a plan since the plan contains the standards by which performance is assessed, and from the other point of view it is useless to have a plan without a control system to ensure that it is carried out. The same document is frequently used both for planning and for control; on a progress chart for example, actual performance is set against planned performance, and on a budgetary control statement actual expenditure is set out against budgeted expenditure. The production control department in many factories is concerned not only with control procedures but with what is described above as production planning. We may therefore regard planning and control as aspects of the same management function, and shall refer to it as the control function. leia todo o artigo

Manager Decisions - A study by Artur Victoria

It is of first importance to ascertain reliable facts both about men and selling schemes before employing either. Once a manager has facts before him he can draw sound conclusions and use his judgment, but not before. Then he can formulate his sales organization with some degree of confidence. The easiest way to solve any problem is to collect and array the facts; and often to put them down on paper is to clarify the mind in forming a judgment on them. Changing Conditions Conditions change, in some businesses very quickly, in others more slowly, and here a watchful eye is necessary. The decline of many an important business has been traceable to a lack of foresight in this direction.

A year or two back a large wholesale company paid dividends for the year amounting to Euro: 100.000,00. It dealt in a finished article, which was also the raw material of another industry, and was sold both to manufacturers and to the public through the trade. The company employed thirty travelers, and had a number of large customers. About that time it lost one of its best customers, and had to build up new business in a period of special difficulty. During the next two years the profits were insufficient to pay the preference dividend. There were several directors, each of whom had spent a lifetime in the business. leia todo o artigo

Management Delegation - A study by Artur Victoria

Delegation is always of authority, never of responsibility. When a manager delegates authority he remains responsible for the results achieved by his subordinate. If things go wrong he can never shift the blame to his subordinates, for he should have made sure before delegating authority that the result of this delegation would be the achievement of the objective he wished to achieve. Many managers find this principle difficult to accept and are therefore inclined to blame subordinates for failure. While, however, they can call their subordinates to account to them for their failure, they can never justify failure to their own superiors by blaming subordinates. They remain responsible for what is done by people under their control. The term 'delegation of responsibility' is sometimes used, but it is arguable that those who use it are. even if subconsciously, attempting to evade the fact that they are inevitably responsible for all that is done under their authority. leia todo o artigo

Management Business Policy - A study by Artur Victoria

"Education" is not the index of a man's mental powers; while we do not say it in any combative sense, the brain power and mental activity of the "uneducated " successful man of business, speaking generally, are equal to those shown by men occupied in academic pursuits or in the professions. From the very nature of his work he has been led to cultivate close intercourse with his fellow-men, to practice keen observation, to develop imagination, to draw conclusions, and all his mental activities are personal to himself. If he does not dream the dreams of philosophers, of poets and artists, he may have come as near to fundamental cosmic realities as any one of them.

Whatever our mental equipment, it should be supplemented by a good training in the principal business requirements, even if it be only theoretical. It is seldom that anyone person has the opportunity of getting a practical training in every department of a large business house, and no one who aspires to fill a responsible position can hope to be thoroughly qualified if he does not have more than a nodding acquaintance with most of the subjects dealt. leia todo o artigo

Management Authority - A study by Artur Victoria

The formal lines of management authority give a misleading picture of how good management works. There must be an organization structure, but the formally defined relationships of which it is composed are no more the reality of management than the rules of football are the game itself. Organization charts are necessarily based on the definition of responsibilities, and taken by themselves give the impression that management consists of instructions handed down by superiors to subordinates. In practice good management does not work like this, it works through co-operation among members of teams. The manager is not so much an order giver as a co-coordinator of the skills of the members of his team.

He has the formal authority to overrule members of the team because in the last resort he is responsible for what is done, but if his normal approach is authoritarian he cannot be using his subordinates abilities to full advantage. There is a distinction between employee-centered and job-centered supervision. Job-centered supervision proceeds by breaking the total operation into simple components, selecting people to do them, training these people, supervising them to see that they do the work properly, and wherever possible providing a monetary incentive scheme to get the required motivation. In this system the initiative and decisions rest with management and operatives are merely required to carry out instructions. leia todo o artigo

Layoff Of Senior Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

To the extent that senior workers are, by virtue of their seniority, more highly paid, the firm gets more economic bang by terminating more senior employees. In settings where the knowledge base and technology change rapidly, recent hires may be more in tune with important new developments, giving another reason to discharge more senior workers. But potential claims of age discrimination (in locations where there are laws against age discrimination) must be attended to. Consequently, when a firm decides it would prefer to prune selectively from its more senior workers, early retirement programs, carefully crafted to avoid any adverse selection and appearance of age discrimination, may be more desirable. Layoffs targeted at older workers are also unlikely to appear distributive just. Organizations with a culture that emphasizes loyalty will obviously have an especially difficult time with targeting senior workers, as will organizations that depend on slowly developed firm-specific human capital. leia todo o artigo

Intrinsic Motivation In Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

Admittedly, some jobs provide few opportunities for intrinsic motivation. Someone cleaning toilets in a hospital may be able to derive some pride from making a contribution (however indirect) to health care, but it's harder to imagine such lofty motivations operating for the person who cleans toilets in a bowling alley. Yet intrinsic motivation is perhaps more generic, more important, and more valuable to organizations than is often recognized.

It may not be necessary for the organization to expend as much on incentives and elaborate control technologies if employees are intrinsically motivated to do a good job. Moreover, in many jobs, workers can survive by doing a merely satisfactory job, but the organization seeks outcomes that are better than satisfactory. Intrinsic motivation is often the most powerful way of getting a worker to take the extra steps to move from "satisfactory" to "more than satisfactory." This is particularly true if trying to move to "more than satisfactory" is risky-for instance, in jobs involving innovation, risk taking, and the like. It is often extremely difficult to induce the optimal mix of risk taking and risk avoidance through explicit incentives, whereas an employee who is motivated by innate curiosity, a drive to excel, or personal growth may naturally be more willing to take more risks of the type the firm would like. leia todo o artigo

Incentive Schemes In Human Resources - A study by Artur Victoria

Incentive schemes are sometimes constructed in which rewards to the individual depend on achieving certain hurdle levels of performance. That is, compensation depends discontinuous on the achievement of some numerical goal. For example, a salesman bonus may depend on whether he surpasses some level of sales, and/or his average commission percentage may jump discontinuous as certain sales figures are exceeded. When effort is spread over time, such schemes can fail to achieve the desired ends. For example, a worker whose performance near the end of the evaluation period is far from the next hurdle will have little incentive to work hard. In contrast, employees who are close to a hurdle will have strong reasons to want to kill themselves (or others!) trying to make it, even at the cost of hurting performance in the future or undertaking dysfunctional actions, such as bilking a valued customer in order to make a quick sale. The salesperson far from the next hurdle may "bank" sales for the next period, while the salesperson close to the next hurdle may try to accelerate sales.

This can be particularly true of comparative schemes, where a prize is given, say, to the best cumulative performer over some period out of a set of employees. In such cases, if one employee builds up a substantial lead over the others, then all may decrease their efforts; those who are behind slow down because there is little chance that they can catch up, and the leader slacks off because those behind have slowed down. In general, the worker's ability to shift the level and nature of effort as time passes makes schemes that evaluate performance over a period of time somewhat tricky. leia todo o artigo

Human Resources Simple Hierarchy - A study by Artur Victoria

Employees cannot be compelled to work more than eight hours a day, five days a week. However, except for that and for some other basic rights (such as, employees cannot be compelled to do anything illegal or immoral), the custom in this firm is that employees work at whatever assignments they are given by the boss. If she tells them to dig ditches, they dig ditches. If she tells them to file papers, they file papers. If she insists that they work a night shift, from 10 P.M. to 6 A.M., they must do that. Or, rather, they must do these things or else be fired or quit-they always retain that right-or convince the boss to give them a different assignment.

Why do the employees agree to such a terrible scheme of employment? That's a loaded question, and we should be clear in the ways it is loaded. First, whether terrible or not, it is certainly a contractual arrangement that a priori is open-ended in precisely the sense we described in our outline of the framework: What employees will be doing a day or a month or a year hence is initially unspecified, to be determined only as necessary. Second, there is nothing terrible about the scheme if the employees can quit and find other employment without cost. If, say, the work involved is carpentry, if the employees are all skilled carpenters, and if skilled carpenters can find work easily in the local economy, then the boss is disciplined by the market; she can't ask for labor more onerous than the market-determined conditions without paying better-than-market wages, or her employees will exercise their right to quit. leia todo o artigo

Human Resources Professionals - A study by Artur Victoria

General managers should be involved up to their eyeballs in setting human resources strategy and policies, adapting the strategy and policies on a divisional or regional basis (and then on a plant or facility basis), and implementing the policies by adapting them suitably to particular employees and groups. In fact, general managers should take the lead on these tasks. Why? Given the interdependencies with other aspects of the organization, it takes general management perspective or, if you prefer, general management gut feel to integrate a strategy with other aspects of strategy. And, moving onto the line, because of her day-to-day contact with her subordinates, it is the line manager who is best situated to provide evaluation, meaningful feedback, and useful advice up the line about what a specific employee requires. Moreover, we are keen in most cases on maintaining a "personal touch" when it comes to work force administration, because employees tend to appreciate it. Who better to give this personal touch than one's immediate supervisor? leia todo o artigo

Human Resources Policies - A study by Artur Victoria

Social forces impinging on Human Resources Management begin with the local society's norms about work and employment in general. What in the society lends status to individuals? What sorts of behavior are frowned upon and what sorts are condoned? What are viewed as the social responsibilities of the firm? What types of organizational control are (not) acceptable and legitimate?

Concerning the political environment, how do political pressures work on the organization in terms of Human Resources policies and practices? What do local governments expect? What support can be obtained from the political system? What impediments are imposed by the political system? Are aspects of employment relations subject to centralized bargaining and negotiation? Are employees and employers politically organized and mobilized?

Moving a small step to the legal environment, what are the statutory responsibilities of the organization? What rights do workers have, both individually and collectively? What sorts of employment practices are sanctioned? What legally enforced distinctions must be made among workers (e.g., exempt versus non-exempt in Europe)? What distinctions are impermissible? As for the economic environment, what conditions exist in the local labor market? How great is labor mobility? What economic pressures does the organization face in other product and factor markets? leia todo o artigo

Human Resources Outcomes - A study by Artur Victoria

In some jobs, such as a basic researcher, one or two home runs in a lifetime make for a successful career, and the firm is willing to try out a lot of players to find the one home-run hitter in the crowd. In selling big-ticket items, it may take more than one or two home runs to make a career, but a single high-margin sale is worth a lot, and it may be worth losing a lot of potential sales to hold out for the big win. In other jobs, it is the failures that loom large. Aircraft pilots want to get their planes down nice and smooth, and they want to stick to the schedule when possible. But a failure (that is, a crash) is a lot worse for an airline than sticking to a schedule is good. In still other jobs, variations in individual performance don't matter too much; organizational success depends on the aggregated performance of large numbers of individuals, none of whose individual performance is decisive. The observed distribution of outcomes reflects two sets of forces: a. Each worker faces (uncontrollable) environmental uncertainty that makes the outcome of his efforts somewhat random; and b. Different workers in the same job, acting in the same circumstances, may get different outcomes because of variations in skill level, ability, determination, and the like. The issue here is the distribution or range of possible outcomes of a worker's efforts on both these grounds, measured in terms that are meaningful for the firm. leia todo o artigo

Human Resources Key Factors - A study by Artur Victoria

How old is the workforce? How educated? How homogeneous or heterogeneous socially? Social homogeneity refers to uniformity with respect to social characteristics - sex, race, age, income group, education - and to norms of behavior derived from the society that workers come from. Another important form of workforce homogeneity is partly social, partly technical - namely, the occupational mix required in the organization.

The demographic distribution of the workforce can powerfully constrain employment strategy. For example, firms with a bulge of middle-level managers hired in anticipation of growth that fizzled out may be unable to sustain lifetime employment policies. Organizations with workers, who are, on average, less educated, will find total quality initiatives more difficult to implement successfully. The amount of workforce heterogeneity (e.g., in age, gender, education, occupation) also has implications for the degree of diversity an organization should display in its personnel practices (recruitment, performance evaluation, compensation, benefits, etc.). And heterogeneity can fundamentally affect basic motivational techniques. For instance, peer pressure as a motivational tool or control device works best in general when the workforce exhibits a fairly high degree of social homogeneity. Especially in Europe, firms are exhorted by political forces to diversify their workforces, there can be substantial potential benefits from doing so. But when we come to this discussion, we will be especially concerned with challenges that arise generally in dealing with demographic heterogeneity. leia todo o artigo

Human Resources Individual Evaluation - A study by Artur Victoria

The appraisal of individual employees is almost inevitably dysfunctional. Organizational performance is improved through refinements to the overall system or process of production, which must be the focus of attention. According to this line of thought, individual performance appraisals typically divert attention from more important tasks; they focus people's attention on alleviating symptoms of poor performance rather than identifying root causes, and they serve only to demoralize workers who find the evaluations unfair or inequitable. Deming argues that performance can usefully be appraised at the system level only, because it is system improvements that must be stressed.

One can legitimately ask why summary evaluations are necessary. If the point of performance appraisal is to help the individual to comprehend what the organization desires or to aid in self-improvement, then a vague, multi-criterion evaluation -"You did well in sales level, but you need to pay more attention to established customers, at least as measured by repeat sales"-is often adequate and even superior to a single precise summary statistic, such as "Overall, you are a 3 on a scale of 1 to 6." leia todo o artigo