Turning the organizational pyramid upside down
Need 2 responses to any of the 3 that I listed. I put in her instructions at the beginning of the word document for those 2 responses and at the end of all the postings is mine, the one that I had written for me thru here.
Chapter 7: Turning the Organizational Pyramid Upside Down
Answer all of the following questions.
- In Chapter 7, the case study provided information about how the participative management style produced improved responsiveness to customers’ needs, increased accountability, and more innovative resolutions to business situations than the hierarchical “command and control” structure. Do you agree or disagree? Explain. Use examples outside of the textbook.
- Discuss the events leading to UGG/AU becoming leaders in implementing in ERM.
- Discuss a specific organization or process that responds better to hierarchical “command and control” structure. Explain the reasons for your example. (Do not use GM or the case study to answer this question.)
Required:
- Provide an initial posting of 400 to 600 words by Thursday. Then provide two responses of at least 100 words each that extend or provide alternate views for the initial posts of at least two students by Sunday. Repetition of the questions and the reference list are not included in the word count.
- Do not access the threads until you are ready to post your entire answer. If you make a mistake, do not edit the response; reply to your own answer with the revision.
- Use formal writing. Errors will reduce your grade.
- Respond to the initial posts of at least two students, extending the discussion by adding new insights, different examples from your experience, or from other sources. Add value to responses to classmates and provide support in the form of a reference and citation in at least one of the responses. Videos, articles and information from other credible sources are useful to accomplish this part.
- Apply critical thinking. Probing questions or challenging assumptions are strongly encouraged for maximum points. Agreement, quoting other learners, or repeating the case content will count as zero words and zero points. It’s great to ask questions in your responses to classmates, but also provide substance and do not ask questions after 8pm on Sunday, as you cannot expect responses to them that late on the last day of class for the week.
- The textbook is not considered common knowledge. If you use information from the book in your answer, citation to the book is required.
- Click HERE or check the START HERE tab in the Table of Contents for a list of sources that cannot be used for support of assignments. Note: The list of banned sources applies to all assignments in this course.
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Penny Howard posted May 16, 2022 6:07 PM
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Participative Management
I agree with the case study that the participative management style cultivates improved customer fulfillment, accountability, and innovative business resolutions. In contrast to the hierarchical structure, it promotes an open-minded culture where everyone’s input is considered rather than having work dictated by superiors. It is reasonable to think that this management style would promote happier employees that take ownership of their jobs and in turn provide better customer service. This idea is supported by a healthcare study that indicated that participative management improved the customer satisfaction of patients by 14 percent (Angermeier et al., 2009). It seems that more innovative ideas would be generated through the collaboration of several people at all levels of an organization rather than just a few at the top.
This concept is not new according to management expert, Philip Webb. Around since Roman times, Webb reports that participative management facilitates a democratic culture where everyone’s ideas matter. In contrast to traditional hierarchical structures, participative management styles foster collaboration amongst everyone in planning, goal setting, decision-making, problem-solving, and change. This open-minded culture welcomes new and innovative ideas. Employees also have more autonomy and control which makes their jobs more meaningful. This accountability also leads to increased commitment and willingness to accept more challenges. The ultimate effects are improved company performance, productivity, and profits. However, strong management support and employee participation are needed for this method to succeed (Webb, 2018).
United Grain Growers/Agricore United (UGG/AU)
The events that led UGG/AU to become enterprise risk management (ERM) leaders included various factors. To start with, their business was already risky due to unpredictable circumstances related to the weather, exchange rates, commodity prices, government regulations, the political climate, and the nature of supply and demand. To compound things, increased credit requirements and capital expenditures arose from new railroad infrastructure requirements, heightened demand for crop-related products, and subsequent risk management regulations for publicly traded companies (Fraser et al., 2015).
Moving on, UGG’s collaborative leadership style and organizational culture were receptive to innovative ideas and risk-taking based on their earlier transition to a public company. Additionally, their strategically focused CEO fostered long-term goals for financial performance, risk-taking, and customer and shareholder satisfaction. Furthermore, their pre-established comprehensive risk finance program increased their financial transparency thereby mitigating the effects of financial volatility on their organization. Consequently, they were able to assume an increased risk appetite for more profitable ventures like partnering with Scotiabank and merging with a rival business (Fraser et al., 2015). Based on this history, it makes perfect sense that they would expand their program enterprise-wide and become strategic ERM pioneers.
Hierarchical Structure
The U.S. military is organized into a hierarchical structure. According to the U.S. Veterans Affairs, the military needs an authoritative structure in order to take charge during the life-threatening circumstances of war. Military officers need to think quickly and communicate directly to ensure their orders are followed during dangerous situations. Consequently, Veterans and military personnel prefer strong leadership and straightforwardness (Veterans Affairs, 2012).
Similarly, The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine (JUCM) indicates that process-driven businesses and urgent care centers benefit from hierarchical structures to clearly define roles, standardize communication, maximize performance, and increase time management. Otherwise, communication breakdowns can confuse staff. Therefore, these types of businesses must have clear communication standards with limited authority to increase productivity and efficiency. Otherwise, staff communication and trust may deteriorate from receiving instructions from multiple leaders. Furthermore, if the chain of command is skipped, such as bypassing a report from a nursing supervisor, medical errors could occur (Ayers, 2018). Overall, hierarchical structures may benefit these types of organizations.
References
Angermeier, I. F., Dunford, B. B., Boss, A. D., Boss, R. W., & Miller, J. A. (2009). The impact of participative management perceptions on customer service, medical errors, burnout, and turnover intentions/practitioner application. Journal of Healthcare Management. Chicago, Illinois, United States: Health Administration Press. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/docview/67194155?accountid=36653&pq-origsite=primo
Ayers, A. A. (2018, September 9). Follow the chain of command. The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Retrieved from https://www.jucm.com/follow-chain-command/
Fraser, J. R. S., Simkins, B. J., & Narvaez, K. (Eds). (2015). Implementing enterprise risk management: Case studies and best practices. Wiley & Son, Inc.
Veterans Affairs. (2012, April 6). Chain of command & authority. Retrieved from va.gov: https://www.va.gov/vetsinworkplace/docs/em_authority.html
Webb, P. (2018, August). The executive’s guide to participative planning & participative management. Retrieved from www.teamactionmanagement.com: https://www.teamactionmanagement.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/execguide.pdf
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Kristina Sainz posted May 17, 2022 3:04 PM
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Kristina Sainz
Professor Bogue
MAN 3503
May 12, 2022
Discussion 1
In the case of UGG, the implementation of the participative management style, as opposed to the hierarchical “command and control” structure, seemed to wield almost immediate holistic benefits. Initially, the umbrella of UGG covered many business units that reported straight to headquarters, and in this way, everything was functioning subpar including responsiveness to customers. With the switch of management philosophies, the board of directors formed an effective partnership with management and a culture was created where innovative ideas were welcomed, benefiting customers and stakeholders (Fraser, Simkins & Narvaez, 2015). In fact, with participative management style, not only do customers and stakeholders benefit, but it is also associated with a high level of job satisfaction. When employees feel involved in the decision-making and problem-solving of the company, and they are granted autonomy and support for their own initiative, productivity is higher (Farkasova & Rolkova, 2015). I especially agree in the case of UGG because the industry of farming is so reliant upon the farmers themselves, as well as the UGG employees in closer contact with them. Without the implementation of participative management, they would not have seen the need to demutualize, go public, employ ERM, hedge their grain volume risk, create UGG Financial, merge with Agricore Cooperative and overall see a great deal of success (Fraser, Simkins & Narvaez, 2015). In fact, the company was in such dire financial straits before flipping the pyramid that it probably would have collapsed.
Being that UGG was a 100-year-old conservative company, serving an industry with widely advancing infrastructure and need for capital, it only makes sense that they would at some realize they may need to shake things up, lest the geriatric patient that had become of the company might very well perish. One giant step forward was shifting management philosophies and to demutualize and go public in 1993. Innovation then spilled forth (Fraser, Simkins & Narvaez, 2015). First, a huge area of risk being the volatile grain volume, was proving to have been a huge expense. The restructuring of UGG’s insurance policy with Swiss Re to include the costly risk of grain volume with the entirety of UGG’s property, freight, casualty, liability etc., alleviated this costly risk. Next, UGG joined Scotiabank by creating UGG Financial in order to enable its customers to provide financing to drive sales (Fraser, Simkins & Narvaez, 2015). This freed up 200 million in capital and sequentially led to the merger with Agricore Cooperative, forming AU in 2001. Finally, the fluctuations in hog prices posed an opportunity for UGG/AU to provide hog price risk management to customers who contracted with them for feed. UGG/AU would simply support shortfalls based on preestablished minimums, and in doing so, retain customers by advantage. These many successful steps and advancements in tackling risks, for not only themselves but also for their customers, all contribute to UGG/AU becoming leaders in implementing ERM (Fraser, Simkins & Narvaez, 2015).
All this said, not all organizations respond best to participative management. In fact, some truly rely upon the “command and control” structure. In industries, or times, when chaos is rampant and mistakes can pose to be too costly, it is a moral imperative to employ someone to take the reins (Grunfield, 2020). In these cases, a unequal distribution of power proves more functional than the risk, in the moment, of fighting for control. As examples, in healthcare and in the military, there are often crises where security is sought from leaders. These leaders the responsibility, and the aforementioned risk, of providing the necessary direction and support for those under their wing (Grunfield, 2020).
References
Farkasova, V. & Rolkova, M. (2015, July 12). The Features of Participative Management Style.
Procedia Economics and Finance, Vol. 23. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/pii/S2212567115003913
Fraser, J.R.S.,Simkins, B.J., & Narvaez, K.(Eds.). (2015). Implementing enterprise risk management:
Case studies and best practices. Wiley & Son, Inc.
Grunfield, Deborah. (2020, May 6). The Case for Command-And-Control Leadership. Management
Today. Retrieved from https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/case-command-and-control-
leadership/food-for-thought/article/1681681
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Braxton Theodore posted May 17, 2022 8:51 PM
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- The company is using a participative management style, which requires cooperation of all coworkers, and aims to build commitment between teams and individuals. I personally agree with participative management because of the many pros that it may bring to a company. This includes but is not limited to the promotion of collaboration, everyone has a voice, and isn’t turned down, and everyone feels of value in the end. Participative management also brings light to more creative solutions, as there are more people to put their input into discussions about ideas and solutions to the company. Using this type of management style makes everyone involved feel like a leader in certain ways, they aren’t just sitting back and letting the box control every decision made for the company. I also feel like it might be easier to hire individuals to a company of the same sort because most people working for companies would love to be more involved, but some people would rather just sit back and let the companies’ higher ups make the decision, which is also understandable. I also feel as employees will want to work both smarter and harder because they feel more involved in this style of management, and this will work out in the end for the whole entire company.
- I feel as the biggest event that caused the United Grain Growers to become leaders of the Enterprise Risk Management is that they publicly traded their company in such a small period of time and were successful throughout the whole entire process while they were transitioning to publicly trade their company. It was a risk they were willing to take, and the company came through successful in the end. After merging with Agricore Cooperative, and forming AU, the company was said to have been making over 10 million dollars in net profits annually, which is huge!
- According to my research, command and control is the exercise of authority and direction by a selected individual who recognizes what needs to be done and enforces rules and makes sure they’re done without any precautions. An example of a workforce that makes sure their workers are always doing the right thing, and enforces strict rules is the Army. The soldiers are put through intense boot camp, where they’re told the many rules and regulations of participating in the Army. If you make a mistake, you could easily be kicked out, no ifs ands or buts. This organization focuses on making no mistakes, unlike the participative management style.
Works Cited
Chapter 1 The Nature of Command and Control. Intelligence Resource Program. (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://irp.fas.org/doddir/usmc/mcdp6/ch1.htm
Staff, H. R. D. Q. (2020, October 7). Participative Management Style Advantages & Disadvantages. HRDQ. Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://hrdqstore.com/blogs/hrdq-blog/participative-management-style-advantages-disadvantages
Turning the Organizational Pyramid Upside Down
Kristine Gardner posted May 18, 2022 6:32 AM
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Participative Management Style
The participative management style entails all members of the organization working together to make decisions. The participative management style has been an effective leadership style for managers interested in the contribution of the whole team, especially in decision making (Swearingen, 2017). In this form of management, the leader shares all the vital information and allows the members to share ideas about how they can solve their problems. The leaders make the best decision based on the ideas and information presented. The participative management style has been successful in organizations that require little oversight and management. The leaders employ a democratic approach to the engagement of the workforce. I agree with the information about how the participative management style produces improved responsiveness to clients’ needs, more innovative resolutions, and increased accountability than the hierarchical command and control structure.
Ideally, the command-and-control structure does not encourage the team to share ideas and collaborate through the vertical lines of the management structure. It limits the flexibility of employees, thus preventing sharing of ideas which results in limited innovativeness and responsiveness. Innovation and creativity are two significant benefits of participative management. By allowing the employee teams to have input into decisions, the organizations benefit from the value brought about by the wide choice of options. When all the executives and employees are given a chance to participate in decision-making, there is a high chance that a unique and valid idea will be suggested. British Airways has been good in participative management style. For instance, during the economic downsizing, employees offered suggestions on cutting annual operation costs. The cooperation of personnel within the organization has played a major role in decision-making and innovative ideas that boost development and success.
Events leading to UGG/AU becoming leaders in implementing ERM
Enterprise risk management entails recognizing and strategically addressing the potential events that lead risks to the achievement of strategic objectives and opportunities to build a competitive advantage. With the high capital demands of grain handling infrastructure, the levels of working capital and associated risk in the credit program increased. After the concept of the ERM process was developed, UGG started by assessing and identifying its principal risks (Niehaus, 2017). UGG focused on a quantitative understanding of the potential range of cash flow and earnings derived from ERM, which enabled the company to model a complete range of possible financial outcomes. This offered an analytical tool where the company could identify its requirements for contingent capital with more accuracy.
The company gained a better tool for judging their performance against their plan through assessing the variable conditions such as the improved capacity to respond to changing conditions and an infinitely flexible budget that might have great financial implications. ERM enabled UGG to bring a more disciplined and consistent treatment of risk exposures across the organization (Niehaus, 2017). They were in a better position of resource allocation to ensure that the risks within varying activities and divisions of the company were not undermanaged or over-managed relative to the corporation’s level of risk tolerance.
Team-Based Organizational Structure
The team-based organizational structure would respond better to hierarchical command and control structure. The team-based organizational structure comprises teams that work towards a common goal. They are the more flexible and less hierarchical structure that reinforces decision-making, problem-solving, and teamwork. Ideally, in team-based structures, the employees are put into groups tasked with a project (Wheelan, Åkerlund, and Jacobsson, 2020). The team members support one another and make their decisions based on their expertise to change policies, processes, and procedures. This structure requires less management and minimal overhead since the team members share the leadership and are more fluid than the hierarchical command and control structure.
References
Niehaus, G. (2017). Enterprise risk management and the risk management process. The Palgrave Handbook of Unconventional Risk Transfer (pp. 109-142). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Swearingen, M. H. (2017). Participative management: An analysis of its effect on productivity. Routledge.
Wheelan, S. A., Åkerlund, M., & Jacobsson, C. (2020). Creating effective teams: A guide for members and leaders. Sage Publications.
ANSWER
Turning the Organizational Pyramid upside down
Response 1
Hello Sainz, participative management is an effective way of managing organizations as all the members of the organization have the chance to make decisions in their work which brings the employees together and enables them to work together as a team. Participative management ensures that all the members of the organization feel heard and valued and that nobody feels like their ideas are not good enough, which increases morale (Swearingen, 2017). The case study shows that participative management wielded better results than hierarchical command and control. Participative management works better because employees are heard, and their ideas are utilized within the company. This makes the environment conducive for them, and it opens the line of communication. Communication is an essential factor in ensuring the organization remains successful.
Response 2
Hello Braxton, I agree with you that participative management has more benefits compared to hierarchical command and control management. No matter how small, people want to feel heard in any group, and they want their ideas to be considered (Swearingen, 2017). Even in a group discussion with a few members, the group collaborates better if everybody is heard. This says a lot about participative management. If an organization chooses to use hierarchical management where the decisions are made by top management, there is a possibility that the employees will be demotivated as they could have ideas that will work better with them. Participative management gives them the opportunity to voice their concerns, and it lets them make the decisions that are best for them to be productive in the organization.
References
Swearingen, M. H. (2017). Participative management: An analysis of its effect on productivity. Routledge.
