Week 1 - Learning and Organizing

1

People and Organizations

Professor

Yiannis Gabriel

University of Bath

Week 1

Introduction on learning

about management and

organizations

The aim of this session is to:

Develop the insights of Semester 1 by focusing more on People

Sensitise you to the many different types of learning that exist;

Make you appreciate of different learning strategies required by different subjects and courses;

Alert you to some obstacles to learning and help you deal with them;

Focus on organizing and examine what it means to organize and how we learn to organize

Consider how organization is related to organizing, what it means to manage and how we may learn to manage

2

The degree a learning adventure

An individual adventure

A group adventure why?

Learning different things

Driving a car

French

Tennis

Accounting

Organizational Theory

About the University of

Bath

to be a manager

Different types of learning learning what and

learning how

Active and passive learning

Jugs mugs

Carrot stick

The use of metaphors in learning

The hidden curriculum

Individual learning -- what is the opposite to learned

behaviour? (instinct, drive, wish)

3

The importance of feedback

Learning and doing

Learning from failure

The importance of mistakes

Right and wrong lessons

Obstacles to learning

poor teaching

lack of motivation

lack of relevance

wrong learning style

habit

fear of failure

old learning

relentless action

Kolbs learning cycle

Concrete

experience

Reflecting

Abstract

conceptualizations

Testing

4

"There is nothing so practical as a good theory" (Kurt Lewin)

How true is this statement?

Theory and other forms of knowledge.

Rule of thumb

narrative

story

proverb

recipe

Theory and practice

Organizing and Organization

what does it mean to organize?

Organizing my books

Organizing a family holiday

Organizing others (individual and

social aspects of organizing)

Why do we organize?

What is so important about

organizing?

5

Organizers

Disorganizers

Organization and chaos

(the emotions of organizing)

What is the opposite of organizing

How much disorganization can you stand? Why?

Some aspects of organizing planning,

communicating (sense-making), resourcing,

controlling

Three dimensions of organizing

1. Organizing as entropy-fighting

2. Organizing as meaning-creating process

3. Organizing a social process

The dangers of too much organization

6

Question for thinking and

homework:

What organizing did you have to undertake before joining your course at University of Bath?

Organizations in historical perspective the

emergence of organizations as one of the defining

features of modernity.

Organizations as historical phenomena

What is modernity?

Industrialization

Move from countryside to the cities

Widespread literacy and education

Belief in progress

The power of Science

The rise of organizations

The rise of management

7

Catholic church

Armies

The State

Some older organizations

Impersonality and formality

Long-term and continuity

Goals?

No-nonsense approach

Division of labour

Co-operation and coercion

Some key features of organizations

8

Management

Rarely in human history has any institution emerged as fast as management or had as great an impact as quickly. In less that 150 years, management has transformed the social and economic fabric of the worlds developed countries. It has created a global economy and a new set of rules for countries that would participate in that economy as equals. And it has itself been transformed (Drucker, 1988, p. 65).

Some uses of the word

management The management of the economy

The management of the planet

The management of the African elephant

The management of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

The management of information systems

The management of family relations

The management of anger

9

Management etymology and

meanings

Maneggiare

Mange

Mnage

To control

To treat with

consideration and

respect

To develop potential

So, what to managers to when they

manage?

Early theories

They plan

They co-ordinate

They communicate

They control

They motivate

but Mintzberg (1973) found that:

Managers work in fits and starts

Much of their work is interrupted

They do a lot of fire-fighting

A great deal of their work is talk

Managers are over-worked

hence, they prefer current, specific,

well-defined, non-routine activities

10

So, is management and art or a science?

Science theoretical knowledge,

application, etc.

Art a range of skills that are highly

context specific

Mintzbergs three types of skills

1. Informational (monitor, disseminator,

spokesman)

2. Interpersonal (figurehead, leader, liaison)

3. Decisional (entrepreneur, disturbance

handler, resource allocator, negotiator)

So, what is management?

Do we need a definition?

Practical wisdom

bricolage

11

And what is the role of theories?

Theories as resources rather than routines