LE02

In this lecture we learnt about Theory X(authoritarian management  style) and Theory Y(participative management style).

The Theory X managers think that their employees are not inclined towards work. They have to be forced with the threat of punishment to work.

On the other hand Theory Y managers think that employees will put in their best to achieve the organizations goals.

Four cases arise in such a scenario:

1.        When the worker  is lazy and the manager assumes that the worker is lazy then that  manager may be a Theory X manager

2.        When the worker  is lazy and  the manager assumes that the worker is not lazy then that manager may be a Theory Y manager

3.       When the worker is not lazy and the Manager assumes that the worker is lazy then the manager may be a Theory X manager

4.        When the worker likes the work and the manager assumes that the worker is not lazy then the manager may be a Theory Y manager

Let me give some examples from my work life experiences for the same. The examples would be with reference to a colleague, who is a very close friend of mine. Let us call him X. We both joined the organization at the same time. We will see the cases mentioned above in the order in which they occurred.

1.       Case 3: X was not lazy, but the project leader would never be satisfied with his work. He would criticize him, rather I would say embarrass him in front of everyone, and assume that X is just passing time.

2.       Case 1: As mentioned in case 3 X was not lazy, but the treatment meted out to him made him lazy. Despite several one to one conversations the same continued and X got demoralized and lost all dedication towards work.

3.       Case 4: X has a new project team, and now he directly reports to the project manager. He is keen to prove himself and his manager motivates him all the way.

4.       Case 2: X to prepare for higher studies starts putting in lesser time into work. But the manager still pushes him positively to give it his best.

LE01

In the first class of Principles of Organization & Management by Professor Dr. T. Prasad, he brought the concept of earning while studying. He made us realize the opportunity cost of doing an MBA and it made me realize that I should make the most out of the two years at NITIE.

 GOAL SETTING

I learnt about Goal Setting and Management techniques. It is easy to remember the details by just recollecting the word SMARTER. Some of the important things to remember are:

S: Specific

M: Measurable

A: Attainable

R: Realistic

T: Timely

E: Evaluate

R: Re-evaluate

I saw the implementation of goal setting with the help of a block building exercise conducted in the classroom. The activity seemed simple in a sense that one just had to put blocks on top of one another to make a tall building. The person arranging the blocks had to use his ODD hand. A student built 17 blocks, and when he was asked to do the same thing blindfolded almost everyone predicted that he would be able to do lesser this time. This made us think back on the way we should set our goals.  Goals should not be so low that they diminish productivity and are not compliant with the employee's ability and skill and on the other hand, they should not be so high that they appear to be demotivating.

Excellence = Efficiency * Effectiveness

I also learnt that Excellence = Efficiency * Effectiveness.

Excellence is all about being outstanding, in whichever field we are and the components which can lead us in achieving excellenece are effectiveness and efficiency.

Effectiveness is all about being able to bring the required, for instance in a business to be effective you need to achieve the targets which might have been set even a little above our potential whereas efficiency is all about making the process of becoming effective as much streamlined and quick as possible and in deciding those efficient processes we need to be effective, so, both complement each other.