People in Organisations Essay Example for Free

People in Organisations Essay Introduction The purpose of this paper is to define the concept of Organisational Behaviour and identify the most important areas of the topic which considerably impact on organisational efficiency and effectiveness. Nowadays, due to the rapidly changing business environment, perceiving organisational behaviour is recognised as one of the most significant aspects of all business operations (Robbins and Judge, 2010). According to Financial Times Mastering Management (1997) â€Å"Organisational behaviour is one of the most complex and perhaps least understood academic elements of modern general management, but since it concerns the behaviour of people within organisations it is also the most central its concern with individual and group patterns of behaviour makes it an essential element in dealing with the complex behavioural issues thrown up in the modern business world. † This paper focuses on two areas of organisational behaviour that are considered crucial in achieving organisational effectiveness and efficiency, these are: organisational structure and management. Organisational structure and management play a crucial and direct role in organisational behaviour. The study of organisations, their structure and identification of key trends in management and organisational behaviour are crucial in achieving organisational goals and objectives (Mullins, 2010). Definition of Organisational Behaviour According to Robbins and Judge (2010), â€Å"Organisational behaviour is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour within organisations, for the purposes of applying such knowledge towards improving organisation’s effectiveness.† Griffin (2011) defined Organisational Behaviour as â€Å"the study of organisational behaviour in organisational setting, the interface between human behaviour and the organisational context and the organisational itself†. In other words, Organisational Behaviour is â€Å"the study and application of knowledge about how people, as individuals and groups act within an organisation. It strives to identify ways in which people can act more effectively† (Ahmad et al,  2008). The concept of Organisational Behaviour has been defined by many authors in various literature, Mullins (2008) summarised that â€Å"common definitions of organisational behaviour are generally along the lines of the study and understanding of individual and group behaviour, and patterns of structure in order to help improve organisational performance and effectiveness†. Cole (1995) suggested that â€Å"The structures developed for work organisation, their nature, and the reasons why they are, or should be, adopted to increase their effectiveness have a considerable bearing on the subject of organisational behaviour†. The key elements of an organisational structure are work specialisation, departmentalisation, chain of command, span of control, centralisation and formalisation (Mullins, 2002). The significance of organisational structure is primarily critical for communication within an organisation and allows the distribution of authority. According to Robbins and Coulter (2007), â€Å"organisational structure is a formal framework by which job tasks are divided, grouped and coordinated†. The concept is contributed to organisational culture, management style, leadership approach and it is strongly influenced by environment, therefore provides a fundamental framework to organisational efficiency and effectiveness (Daft and Armstrong, 20 09). Mullins (2005) states that â€Å"Structure is the pattern of relationships among positions in the organisation and among members of the organisation. Structure makes possible the application of the process of management and creates the framework of order and command through which the activities of the organisation can be planned, organised, directed and controlled†. On the other hand, according to Drucker (1989), design of organisation structure is strongly contributed to organisational performance and poor organisation structure makes effective performance difficult to achieve. According to Rosenfeld and Wilson (1999), organisational effectiveness and efficiency will strongly depend on right identification of key elements of structure. This involves the process of delegation of authority in decision making which primarily refers to the centralisation or decentralisation (Cloke and Goldsmith, 2002). Mullins (2005) identified the chain of command  concept which relates to the importance of a clear line of authority and responsibility within an organisation. The framework is contributed to identification of subordinate relationships in a line down from the top of the organisation, therefore is crucial for effective operation of organisation. The combination of span of control and chain of command establish whether the organisational structure is flat or tall. Graicunas (1937) argue that due to the need for improved efficiency and competitiveness, organisations move towards flat organisation structures. The author claims that flatter structures contribute to organisational cost savings on managerial level, improved communications and resulted in a fewer levels between top management and the bottom of hierarchy. Organisational behaviour is concerned with people in organisations, and management relates to achieve organisational objectives, and since the success of organisation relies on human input, organisational behaviour is a fundamental segment of management (Mullins, 2002). According to Koontz and Weihrich (1990) â€Å"Management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims†. In general, ‘Management is the process of achieving organisational goals through people. The principal part of the study of organisation and management is development of management thinking and evaluate management theory (Ivancevich et al, 1994). Effectiveness and efficiency of organisation is strongly contributed to management, therefore understanding of fundamental concepts of management models and principles is necessary (Lawrence and Lorsch, 1967). Major trends in the development of organisational behaviour and management theory, based on four core approaches: classical (scientific management and bureaucracy), human relations, systems and contingency (Cole, 1995). According to Berrien (1968) â€Å"An organization is an integrated system of interdependent structures and functions†. Peter Senge (1990) introduced systems approach to management which was to challenge the scientific theory. Although the scientific theory based on the hypothesis that an organisation was a closed system, systems concept is viewed as an open system which  emphasise the total environment of the organisation (Lutans, 2011). In contrast, contingency model suggests that none of the classical management theories is the most effective in all situations (Burns and Stalker,1961).

Changes in Nursing :: Nursing, Medicine, Article Review

The article I chose discusses the continual change in the roles of nurses. The article also poses a concept that nursing now is not based on caring, but medicine. â€Å"By accepting continual changes to the role of the nurse, the core function of nursing has become obscured and, despite assuming medical tasks, the occupation continues to be seen in terms of a role that is subordinate to and dependent on medicine.† (Iley 2004) Nurses are taking a more professional role, and more tasks are being delegated to assertive personnel. Therefore, with all these changes occurring, the role of the enrolled nurse is unclear. â€Å"Previously, having two levels of qualified nurse in the United Kingdom had been seen as problematic for health service managers and nurses themselves, and the ending of enrolled nurse programs in 1992 helped to solve this problem.† (2004) The study in this article gathered the characteristics of enrolled nurses and differentiated the groups converting to registered nurses, groups in the process of conversion, and groups interested or not interested in conversion. This study reveals the situation of enrolled nurses in context of continuing towards the professionalization of nursing. â€Å"The data from this study support the possibility that the role of nurses as direct caregivers is seen as a positive dimension of the work they undertake.† (2004) The findings imply that nurses need to get back to being caregivers, instead of concentrating on obtaining professional status in medicine.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The significance of this article is that nursing is continually changing. The role of the nurse will always be based on direct care giving, however, nursing as an occupation is professional.

Creationism vs. Evolution

Since high school, I have been on something of an intellectual and spiritual journey from what I was told to believe to what I believe for myself. It wasn't until recently that I have finally started to become comfortable with what I do and do not accept as the truth regarding the origins of our existence here on this planet. I grew up in a diverse Christian home: my mother's side are devout Roman Catholics and my Father's Lutheran. I was raised Catholic and we went to mass religiously (no pun intended) every Sunday and my mom said my Hail Mary's with me every night before bed. The existence of God and His role in our lives was not even a question. From there, I went to a Christian pre-school, a Catholic kindergarten and grade school, and then a privet Catholic all-girls academy. In High School, evolution was barely talked about unless you were taking a class specifically related to it (or maybe it was but I tended to fall into a coma during science related lectures) and in primary school, it wasn't talked about at all. My father is what my mother likes to call a â€Å"holy roller†: he is a starch Fundamentalist Christian and a Young-Earth Creationist who believes that the bible is fact and not to be interpreted in any way other than literally. I can remember him talking about the evils of evolution and how it was impossible for monkeys to still exist if we evolved from them. He said that the evolutionary theory was just that: a theory and not fact like the bible. My father is an extremely intelligent man who reads and researches his beliefs but he is blindly religious. My high school was an extremely intellectually nurturing environment. When I started religion classes there, while there was some bias, I got to hear other peoples points of view and beliefs which helped me to start figuring out what it was that I truly believed. It was through these classes that I met some girls who happened to be atheists. I had no idea that the general consensus among those girls was that all religious people were un-intellectual and unintelligent because of Young-Earth Creationist. It was during this time that I started read about the subject and I read a lot. I read a book by a Christian astronomer named Hugh Ross, an Old-Earth Creationist who believes that the first few chapters of the Book of Genesis are not a literal portrayal of actual events but rather, God's revelation of the creation of events to the writer of Genesis. I thoroughly enjoyed the book but I promised my father I would at least give some Young-Earth Creationist views a chance. My dad gave me two books: one by Henry Morris and one by Ken Ham (the author of the assigned article. ) I was unimpressed by Henry Morris's book as I found it extremely tangental and rambling. I then moved on the Ken Ham's book, called The Answeres Book: The 20 Most-Asked Questions about Creation, Evolution, and the Book of Genesis Answered! I was actually appalled because essentially, he said that a person who does not believe in Young-Earth Creationism is not a Christian because they don't believe the Bible. This was extremely disturbing to me because most of his comments throughout the book and on his website Answers In Genesis/ mission were extremely intolerant and even at times abusive towards scientific community as a whole. How could it be possible that the same PhDs and other teachers from whom I was learning all be deceptive liars? I think that's why I had such a problem reading and accepting this article to be anything other than bullshit. True, he is not spouting any of his â€Å"holier than thou† spew in this particular piece but because I know and have read his other works I know he is trying to sell something: his own small-minded one-sided view of the world. The truth of the matter is that evolution is not anti-Biblical. I know that the Earth and the universe are both old. I know that life itself is old, we have scientific proof of it, but the question for me remained how exactly did life begin and develop. The Biblical creation story is clear: God created everything from the very beginning. How it progressed from there is not specifically spelled out. I have come to believe through reading, research, and soul-searching that evolution is the best and most plausible explanation for the progression of life on this planet. When my father was learning about evolution, it was discussed in terms of long-term gradual changes facilitated by natural selection. It had now been found that the process can be sped up by natural selection and other genetic processes. Over time, evolution has become better supported through tireless research. I think Evolution is easy enough to digest for people like my mother until it gets to the issue of monkeys. Whenever that subject is brought up it gets uncomfortable because she doesn't want to believe that we, God's handmade â€Å"mini-me's†, originated from, to quote the immortal line from the movie Planet of the Apes, â€Å"damn dirty apes†. The idea that God hand-made each and every one of us from scratch is an easier pill to swallow for most Christians. I feel that biological evolution is a beautiful and reasonable explanation for the physical progression from apes to humans but it lacks a spiritual explanation. My Grandmom always said to me that she never fully believed in God until she was in the room when someone died. You can see all the life: the intelligence, the love, everything they were in life completely drain from them and all thats left is an empty vessel. I never thought I'd have an experience like that until my Grandmom passed away in her sleep last March. I saw everything she described happen right before my eyes and it was then that I realized that there had to be something, some supernatural aspect to humans that no other animal possesses. When I saw her lying in the casket, it was no longer my Grandmom but the shell of the beautiful and complex person she once was. Whether you want to call it a soul, God's breath of life, or his image and likeness we are different and not just in our linguistic skills. It is clear to me that God chose us to be His children and to love Him forever but how or why he chose to differentiate us from the rest of the primates is still unclear to me. I have come to find that my thoughts and beliefs align with what is called Theistic Evolutionism or Evolutionary Creationism. Theistic Evolution is the concept that classical religious teachings are compatible with modern scientific understanding about biological evolution. Because I found this concept that fully aligned with my beliefs, I have never been more firm in my faith or more sure of my belief in God and Jesus Christ. I believe that God sent Jesus to cleanse me of my sin and I believe that He loves me. I believe that He hears my prayers and answers them and I believe that God did create the universe and everything in it but he chose to do it in a ways that we, his children, can study scientifically so we can better understand Him and His plan for us.

The Mexican Gray Wolf - 1543 Words

The Mexican gray wolf is a large prey that, in the past, preyed on livestock which contributed to their near extinction by humans. However, the decline in the Mexican wolf lead to an overabundance in plant life which had a direct effect on other wildlife. There are many challenges involved with re-introducing wolves to other stakeholders such as to academics, mangers, ranchers, or landowners. It is not as simple as taking the Mexican wolf from where they are now and placing them in different areas in Arizona, New Mexico, the US, and across the border in Sonora, Mexico. This is a very large area of land that policies would have to cover. The best ways to illustrate that this concept is not as easy as it may seem are best described by nature culture dichotomy, social-ecological systems involving ecosystems with people, and the Anthropocene comprised with the idea of humans as agents of change. Nature culture dichotomy is a Western world view so it is appropriate to use this analytical approach when discussing the issues associated with the re-introduction of the Mexican wolf to other stakeholders because of the areas where they would be re-introduced. The area is important because the people in these areas will have many of the same thoughts on how they view the re-introduction of the wolves and would possibly react to the re-introduction in similar ways. To elaborate, humans have changed every aspect of nature, mostly for the worse and for our own consumption. People are notShow MoreRelatedThe Mexican Gray Wolf1528 Words   |  7 PagesThe Mexican gray wolf is a large predator that, in the past, preyed on livestock, which led to their near extinction by humans because they were tired of the wolves eating their livestock, they were a danger to people, and there were land use conflicts. 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When American soldiers shoot his father−in−law, Mangas, Cochise rides to Mexico and forces a Mexican surgeon to save Mangass life. Cochise is able to secure a reservation that encompasses part of the Apaches land. Crazy Horse Crazy Horse is a Sioux chief who refuses to live on a reservation. As a young man, Crazy Horse distinguishes himselfRead MoreSummary of Bury My Heart and Wounded Knee4423 Words   |  18 Pagesan Apache chief who fights many battles with the American military, escapes capture on several occasions, and helps lead raids against white settlers. When American soldiers shoot his fatherà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢inà ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢law, Mangas, Cochise rides to Mexico and forces a Mexican surgeon to save Mangass life. Cochise is able to secure a reservation that encompasses part of the Apaches land. Crazy Horse Crazy Horse is a Sioux chief who refuses to live on a reservation. 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