inf387c managing information organizations
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Module 3. Unit 1. Managing Human Resources
| There are three elements in managing worker and work: the worker as a resource - human resource; productivity; the worker's willingness to change. (Drucker 1954) |
Module Objectives
Through readings, discussion, and in-class and online exercises students will:
- Explore strategies for motivating and managing workers.
- Develop understanding of staffing systems.
- Identify strategies for managing change.
| Module 3 has four units: Unit 1: Human Resource Management; Unit 2: Conflict Management; and Unit 3: Managing Change: Motivation, Risktaking, and Innovation |
After over 20 years of managing experience I can make a fairly accurate observation that 60-70% of my time as a manager is spent working with employees. The activities may involve planning, problem solving, conflict resolution, motivation, or just listening. When managing human resources the phrase "managing is as much an art as it is a science" rings true. The way an organization responds to, motivates, and rewards its employees correlates directly to the success of that particular organization. The challenges to these seemingly utopian responses are many and varied: poor financial resources, poor facilities, lack of strategic planning, unclear mission, and lack of leadership to name a few.
Drucker reminds us that while on one hand we look at the worker as a resource, we must never forget that the worker is human (a moral and social creature.) No matter what systems that an organization puts in place for motivation, quality control, reward, etc., the worker ultimately has control over how well he or she works and how much he or she works.
As discussed in Module 2 organizations are usually organized around functions of work. The staffing system of the organization includes positions, position descriptions, and compensation. Normally, organizations are staffed either according to a worker's skills and expertise. Nonetheless, most of us have probably worked in organizations where the need for a certain task or operation to be completed often has priority over the alignment of a worker with a task merely to get the task completed and not so much by the skill or expertise of a particular worker. Prentice (2005) comments that "individuals in the organization are defined in a number of ways: by their educational level, their tasks, and their levels of responsibility."
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