Effective Way of Business Management

Organization Culture

Organizational culture is basically the personality that an organization has or a collection of norms and values that are common among groups and people in an organization which control how they relate with one another and with citizens outside the organization. The culture of an organization is difficult to express clearly, but everyone knows it as soon as they sense it. Organization culture generates organizational values, which are the ideas and beliefs concerning the goals that an organization should pursue and the most suitable standards or kind of behavior the members should employ to achieve these goals.

When managing a business for example high technology business, the management should ensure that there is a strong culture which exists where staff react to stimulus because of their commitment to organizational values. Where an organization has strong cultures it is able to operate efficiently like a well-oiled machine against the massive execution and perhaps minor tweaking of its procedures. In case the business has a weak culture it means that there is little alignment between the workers and the organizations values and hence control must be done through extensive bureaucracy and procedures. A strong culture is advantageous as employees act independently and hence they believe that the things they do are the right things to do.

For an organization to change its culture it goes through tough times as its employees need time to get familiar to the new way of doing things. High technology companies that have a very specific and strong culture find it very hard to accommodate change. However cultural change can be done through:

1. Designing a clear strategic vision. This provides the direction and intention for the culture changes.

2. Top-management should display commitment. Any change must be managed from the top as management willingness to change is a vital indicator to the.

3. Restructure the organization to so that it can support organizational change.

4. Socialize and select newcomers and terminate deviants

5. Develop ethical and legal sensitivity

For a business to be efficiently and effectively managed there must be a decision maker. Decision can be made by individuals in the organization or by management. When decisions in the organization are made, the decision maker find themselves in a difficult position since there is:

These factors may challenge our decisions but as part of the management we should maintain a clear mind which will enable us to make good decisions that will lead to high-quality, consistent results that can improve the quality of our business.

When making a decision the following steps are critical for the outcome of the decision. The first step is to create a constructive environment. A constructive environment entails the right people, opinions should be freely expressed and ask the right questions. The management should generate good alternatives since the more good options one has, the more wide-ranging the final decision will be. Finally the management should choose the best alternative from among the other alternative. As discussed above, for our business to be successful in the competitive field of technology good decision making is a must have.

Attention to ethics in the new technology business would be of most importance. Organization ethics is deeply interlinked with the firm's culture, however ethics focus more on corporate ethics and governance. Ethics in the firm can be approached from two different perspectives: "Individualistic perspective" and "communal perspective". Each perspective has a distinct view of ethical responsibility as well as moral principal. The individualistic perspective shows that each individual is responsible for his own behavior. The communal perspective focuses on need for employees to be responsible for the actions of their colleagues. Instead of using Egoism as an ethical system in the new firm, I would pursue a utilitarianism system since it considers the overall impact of a decision on employees. While starting the new firm I would emphasize on implementing corporate ethics in all management and supervisory levels. Ethical practice and integrity will enable the organization to be viewed with respect by the community, employees and within the industry. The positive ethical attitude of the firm will enable the firm to have a strong financial base due to increased sales along with customer loyalty and the ability to attract talented and skilled personnel. Therefore by having strong ethics the firm will indirectly be investing in human capital which will result to a low level of employee turnover and a higher output level.

The implementation of ethical guidelines would be implemented through four key elements. These elements are: 1. a code of standards and ethics. 2. Undertaking ethics training to employees, executives as well as managers. 3. Implementing systems for confidential and private reporting. 4. Setting up ethics department. These four areas of the organization would create an ethical climate and would enable quick solving of ethical issues within the organization. Since the firm is a technological company, I would ensure that data mining ethics, metadata, privacy intrusion and workplace monitoring ethics are followed.

Organization Structure And Agility

The organization should be structured using the functional structure since it's most appropriate for a technological firm. For example the engineering division would be catering only to software engineers. Such a structure would lead to increased efficiency in operation within the firm as well as increase the flow of communication, within functional groups. Further efficiency can be made by integrating the firm's activities vertically to reduce cost of distributing products.

The organization's agility can be enhanced by strategic planning since it will enable easy translation of objectives into reality. It will enable the organization to tackle high level goals and initiatives. Since strategic planning caters to long term goals, the future survival direction of the organization is well calculated. One key element of strategic planning is the goal based planning. This would be essential in the new business since it would enable employees to work towards the company's strategies, missions, goals, as well as in determining who will carry out a specific activity. Issue based strategic management is also appropriate for the new company because it will enable the organization to address emerging challenges such as actions of competitors.

Environmental analysis would also enhance the firm's ability to study the factors that influence and affect the firm's operations. The environmental analysis includes the study of impact of legislative and political changes that can affect the business for example the impact of tax policies. Industry and market assessment is also vital since it will enable the firm to focus on its important product lines as well as its market dominance.