TH1 – Chapter 1 Introduction
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): context-specific organizational actions and policies that take into
account stakeholders’ expectations and the triple bottom line of economic, societal and environmental
performance.
Globalization = gradual connection between different societies > global circulation of goods, services and
capital, information, ideas and people.
Good side to globalization:
o Access to larger markets
o Upscaling organizations
o Access to capital flows, technology, human capital
o Cheaper imports & larger export markets
Down side to globalization:
o Loss of cultural heritage
o Loss of traditional ways of working
o Pollution
o Urbanization
o Power at large
o Same-ness of production (products look the same)
o Long and invisible supply chain (not visible to see who is working in the process > slavery)
Human trafficking: the supply of human beings for prostitution, street begging, domestic work, agricultural
work and other forms of exploitative labor of services.
Social mobility = changes of people from different social backgrounds moving intro given social class Main
reason for lack of social mobility: expenses of higher education.
Low social mobility: hard for people in lower classes to move to upper classes
High social mobility: easier for people in lower classes to move to upper classes (by, for instance,
going to school > better use of human resources)
Behavior in organization is dependent on:
- The worker: age, class, status, power, gender, race, religion etc.
- The conditions: type of job, type of contract, part-time, home working
- The wider context: unemployment, aging, social mobility, industry, culture etc.
Job segregation = one reasons for inequality > jobs tend to be seen as either ‘male’ or ‘female’ jobs
Job sharing = way of sharing heavy management responsibilities > splitting full-time job between two people
TH2 – Chapter 4 The rationality of management
Rationality = behavior that..
- Intentional (fulfill aims of organization)
- Rational (in accordance with reason/logic)
- Functional (fitting for particular aim)
Management rationale
- Managers who hire the best employees
- Deploy these employees in the way they can deliver the best performance (!)
- In order to fulfil the aims of the organization
Organization as a machine
Assumption: workers cannot be trusted, control human resources
Functionalism = the worker is selected, educated and developed in order to fulfil the aims of the organization
,Taylorism
Scientific management (management as a true science): clearly defined laws, rules and principles >
treat the human as a machine.
1. Workers have a reason to keep production low > low production means more jobs. No reason for
them to work faster or be more productive.
2. Managers have little knowledge on how production can be minimalized.
Result: research is needed about how work can be executed as fast and efficient as possible.
Scientific management = degrading work to jobs that are specialized (only small part of process) and
routinized
Results in loss of power for workers
Resulting in less job satisfaction, absenteeism, intention to leave the job
Four duties for managers in developing the science:
- Develop a science for each element of work, which replaces the old rule of thumb
(based on experience or practice, not measurement and calculation)
- Scientifically select, then train, the worker
- Cooporate to ensure that all of the work is being done in accordance with the principles laid down
- Almost equal division cooperate to ensure that all of the work is being done in accordance with the
principle laid down of work and responsibility between manager and worker
Principle of division of labor
1. Large processes should be divided into the smallest possible part (maximum decomposition)
2. Efficiency by changing the process into short repetitive tasks
3. Division between direct vs. indirect work, mental vs. manual (goes into white/blue collar, and societal
division based on status and class)
4. Minimalization of skills and knowledge necessary > leading to minimum job-learning time
Taylor: there is an innate difference between “thinkers” (managers) vs. “do-ers” (workers)
Three Tayloristic principles
1. Work becomes separated from skills of the workers
2. Thinking about work becomes separated from executing the work
3. Manager knows the process, knowledge increases power used in control over execution of work
Taylor believes > a suitable worker is someone who does not understand work without the orders from
management (thus, is dependent). Aim is to select the most productive employee, not intelligent, trustworthy
or loyal.
Two concepts of Taylorism used today (optimizing efficiency and productivity):
SMART > specific, measurable, agreed, relevant and time-bound (quality, safety, reputation cannot be made
SMART)
Key performance indicators: indicators that are fixed and measurable to measure productivity.
Henry Ford > applied principles of Taylorism to management of his car factory
- Every process is divided into smallest part possible
- Strict control and supervision by management
- Phase of work is dictated by the machine
- Fast repetition and continuous work
- Authoritarian management
Result: work becomes monotonous (alienating)
Ford’s opinion: if someone does not like a job in my factory they have a choice to leave
Why did the workers not protest?
- The factory was a mini society
- Strict discipline inside but also outside factory
, - No gambling, alcohol, smoking etc
- Not many alternative jobs > large step outside Ford society
Heritage of Fordism nowadays
Hire higher educated worker for a complex task = expensive high risk, investment and knowledge is
controlled by 1 person
Still it is attractive for managers to divide in smaller tasks and hire employer who is easier to replace
Results:
- Reduce costs
- Increase profit
- Uniform products
- Management determines how much, how long and how much pay
- More control and power with the management
- No collaboration between employees is necessary
- Workers are more easily replaced
Routinization = making work a routine > repetition, automation, work without thinking
Routinization of work means: deskilling = reducing skills required for job
Routinized jobs lack variety, job satisfaction and meaning
Human relations movement
- Workers have social needs
- Working in groups is important/positive
- Recognizing the informal organization, friendship, groups, interaction, emotional and sentimental
aspects of work, trust, loyalty (stand in contrast to rational organization)
Attention of the researches > ethics increase > productivity increase > attention for healthy, strengthening of
the group cohesion > higher productivity as a group/team
Job redesign = theoretical framework and stream of research resulting from the human relations movement
How can we make jobs more meaningful and challenging?
Central issue: how can we recognize that managers make choices about how jobs are arranged and
which technology is used?
Eugenics: the ‘science’ regarding race, assuming all individual differences are innate
Genetic inheritance
To optimize society: design society in in such a way that the race with the highest chances to be
successful should be facilitated in its development
Hiring on basis of ‘last name’, good family background
IQ tests: there is no stake holding evidence that intelligence is determined by genetics, IQ is not stable over
time > IQ tests are assumed to be completely reliable and groups in society are judged to be ‘inferior’ on the
basis of these tests. They do not test creativity or social intelligence (self-awareness, social behavior).
TH3 – Chapter 2 Employees’ view of work
Taylor: theorist, practitioner.
He sees management as a true science. Time and motion studies:
o Division of labor
o Repeating movements quickly
o Routinization
o Alienation
Weber: sociology & politics.
Organizations should be organized on the basis of the principles of the bureaucracy (!)
