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Business and Management

EDUCATION AND TRAINING


Though education and training are parts of the learning process, yet education is wider in its scope than the training and the training is concerned with increasing knowledge and skills in doing a particular job, and the major burden of training fall upon the employer. But education is a broader field of subject and has a lot of connections in its roots and has a lot of scopes and its purpose is to develop individuals in each of their respective fields and it is very concerned with increasing the general knowledge and understanding of the total environment. Education also teaches us to solve any analytical, statistical concepts in a better manner with an in-depth understanding of all the complexity in them.

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THE DIFFERENCE

By, education, we generally mean formal instruction in a school or a college or in a research facility or in a corporate environment, whereas the training is a vocationally oriented before you work on a complex or sophisticated machine or environment and is generally imparted at the work-place. Educational is theoretical, while training is practical and education is the process of developing and understanding of some organized body of knowledge and it is usually formal and aims at the total growth of an individual and it develops mental skills that enable one to use the knowledge acquired effectively in problem-solving situations. Training increases the aptitude, skills, and abilities of employees to perform specific jobs and it leads to the developmental of manual skills for a particular job, whereas education aims at enhancing the general knowledge of a person so that he may accomplish a job in an economical way or can start his own venture or a company to develop his knowledge that gives way for the evidence of his general intellect. As Flippo said in training “Training is the act of increasing the knowledge and skills of an employee for doing a particular job”.

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Actually, the distinction between training and education is not precise because in many cases both training and education occur at the same time in the form of some formal vocational school programmes are job-oriented only, whereas some employee development programmes in the industry are quite wider in scope and they may be viewed as education. The scope of training is narrow as it restricted to a specific job that requires a lot of practical knowledge to complete the given work or the job, whereas the scope of education is wide as it gives information about a specific area instead of a specific job. The objective of the training is to learn the method of accomplishing a specific job successfully whereas education aims at enhancing the general knowledge of a person to enable him/her to accomplish a job in an economical way giving evidence of his general intellect and training is imparted by a business organization, on-job or by setting up a separate training centre whereas the main source of education in schools, colleges and university. The burden of expenses for imparting training is the responsibility of the business organization, hence it alone bears are borne by the employee himself.

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Business and Management

SELECTION

Selection is the process of choosing the most suitable candidates from applicants for the various jobs and it follows the recruitment and much information has to be obtained, from the prospective candidates to facilitate the selection process and it is then analyzed and evaluated and the information relates to the qualifications, work experience, age, levels of skills and other accomplishments, family background, aptitudes and interests, physical and mental fitness and so on. The enterprise has to choose the best and the most promising persons from among the applicants and in this sense, it may be said that while recruitment is a positive function, in that it seeks to induce as many persons as possible to apply for a job in the enterprise, the selection is a negative function because it aims at eliminating or weeding out those applicants who are not found suitable in one respect or the other. Thus, the selection is the process of securing relevant information about an applicant to evaluate his qualifications, experience, and other qualities to match these with the requirements of a job, and it essentially a process of picking out the man or men best suited for the organization’s requirements. According to Dale Yoder “Selection is the process in which candidates for employment, are divided into two classes-those who are to be offered employment and those who are not”.

SIGNIFICANCE OF SELECTION

Hiring of employees is an important function of the personnel department and this function must be performed careful because errors committed at the time of selection may prove to very costly and of selection process is faulty, absenteeism will be too high and the rate of labour turnover will also be higher and whenever unsuitable candidates are hired, the efficiency of the organization will go down and such persons will shrink work and will be absent themselves from the work more often and in many cases unsuitable employees have to leave their jobs and this will lead to waste of time, energy and money in hiring such employees and the training cost incurred on them will also go waste and proper selection and placement of personnel go a long way towards building up a suitable workforce and it will keep the rates of absenteeism and labour turnover low and will increase the morale of the employees and if the employees are quite suitable according to the requirements of the jobs, they will show higher efficiency and will enable the organization to achieve its objectives effectively. Recruitment and selection are two separate functions that usually go together and recruitment aims at stimulating and attracting job applications for positions in the organization, while selection consists of choosing among the applicants, to choose those, most suited to the job requirements, keeping in view the job analysis information. Recruitment is simple and candidates are not required to cross several hurdles whereas the selection process is complex and consists of many hurdles created by the management internally and Recruitment initiates the procurement aspect of personnel management whereas the selection completes the procurement aspect of personnel management.

Business and Management

INFORMAL ORGANIZATION


Informal organization refers to relationships between individuals in the organization based on interest, personal attitudes, emotions, prejudices, likes, dislikes, physical location, the similarity of work et. The informal organization comes into existence because of the limitations of the formal structure and it represents a natural grouping of people in working situations and the birth of small groups in an organization is a natural phenomenon. The informal group may overlap because an individual may be a member of more than one informal group. Informal groups come into being to support and supplement the formal organization. The formal and informal organization are inextricably interlinked. As Joseph L. Massie said, “Informal organization has been defined as any human interactions that occur spontaneously and naturally over long periods of time”.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMAL ORGANIZATION

The main characteristics of informal organization are:

  1. It has no place in the formal chart.
  2. It is definite and has no structure.
  3. It is a network of personal and social relations.
  4. It has its own rules and traditions.
  5. It provides for social satisfaction to its members.
  6. An informal organization arises spontaneously.
  7. It is an integral part of a total organization and management cannot eliminate it.
  8. It is based on personal attitudes, emotions likes and dislikes etc.

  ADVANTAGES OF INFORMAL ORGANIZATION

The informal organization is a psycho-social system and the main advantages of an informal organization are:

  1. Informal organization evolve short cuts and eliminate various individuals and departments.
  2. Informal organizations help in solving work problems of members.
  3. Informal groups recognise talented workers as their leaders.
  4. A manager can build better relations with his subordinates through informal contacts.
  5. Informal groups do not allow managers to cross the limits of authority.
  6. Informal groups often fill up the communication gaps which might arise in the organization.
  7. The informal organization may fill in gaps, if any, in the abilities of managers.
  8. Informal groups develop certain norms of behaviour which differentiate between good and bad conduct and between legitimate and illegitimate activities.
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LIMITATIONS OF INFORMAL ORGANIZATION

Informal groups have negative aspects too. They may create problems for the organization as mentioned below:

  1. Informal groups generally tend to resist change and change requires new skills but informal groups want to maintain the status quo and this creates obstructions in implementing new ideas and thus organization’s growth.
  2. An informal leader may turn out to be a troublemaker for the organisation and to increase his influence, he may work against the policies of management, and try to manipulate the behaviour of his followers.
  3. Every member of an informal group is also a member of the formal organization and sometimes role conflict may arise because the ideas, expectations and requirements of both the organizations may be opposite to each other.
  4. An informal group exerts strong pressure on its members for conformity and the members may become so loyal to their group that following the group norms may become a part of their life.
  5. Informal communications may give rise to rumours which may create conflict and misunderstanding among the people and rumours may prove dangerous for the organization. 
Business and Management

FORMAL ORGANIZATION


A formal organization is a planned structure which represents the officially established pattern of relationships among individuals, groups, sections, units, departments and divisions to accomplish the goals of the enterprise. A formal organization provides a broad framework and delineates certain prescribed functions and the relationships between them, a formal organization may be defined as a system of consciously coordinated activity of two or more persons towards a given objective. A formal organization may also be defined as:

  1. A pattern of formal relationships and duties, the organization charts, job description and position guides.
  2. Formal rules, policies, work procedures and similar devices adopted by management to guide employee behaviour in certain ways within the structure of formal relationships.

   As Louis A. Allen said, “The formal organization is a system of well-defined jobs, each bearing a definite measure of authority, responsibility and accountability, the whole consciously designed to enable people of the enterprise to work more effectively together in accomplishing their objectives”.  A formal organization facilitates the determination of objectives and policies. Communication, the delegation of authority, and coordination take place according to a prescribed pattern and in fact, formal structure restricts and circumstances the area of operation of individuals working within an organization.

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FEATURES OF FORMAL ORGANIZATION

The main characteristics of a formal organization are:

  1. It is based on the division of Labour.
  2. This organization is formed by voluntary thinking.
  3. It is represented by organizational charts and manuals.
  4. In this organization, the rights, duties and liabilities of different persons are clarified on different levels of management.
  5. In a formal organization, unity of command is followed.
  6. It is prepared only for the accomplishment of od predetermined goals.
  7. Here the relationships among members are fully impersonal.
  8. Here delegation of authority flows from top to bottom.
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 ADVANTAGES OF FORMAL ORGANIZATION

The main advantages of Formal Organization include:

  1. The best use of resources.
  2. Feeling of cooperation in a formal organization.
  3. No duplication of work.
  4. End of biased opinions from everyone related to any work.
  5. Proper standardisation of work becomes easy to implement.
  6. Helpful in achieving objectives.
  7. Well defined authority and responsibility and accountability avoid any chance of friction and enmity.
  8. Merits of specialisation can be achieved due to the principle of division of labour.
  9. The efficiency of employees can easily be measured due to the predetermination of the rights and duties of each individual.
  10. This type of organization restricts conflicts among executives.
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LIMITATIONS OF FORMAL ORGANIZATION

The main limitations of Formal organization include:

  1. Rules are considered more important than the person.
  2. This organization ends the spirit of initiative.
  3. Excessive and undue use of authority takes place in this type of organization.
  4. In this type of organization procedures, programmes, rules etc., are followed strictly and that is why frequent changes are not possible.
  5. A formal organization is impersonal; that is why human feelings have no place here.
  6. There is a lack of coordination among the activities of different persons in different departments.
  7. No consideration is given to the social and human elements.
  8. This organization takes into consideration only the formal communication and creates obstacles in the application of informal communication.
Business and Management

ORGANISING

The organisation provides a framework where duties are identified, define tasks are allotted to suitable persons, and interrelationships of personal are made certain and the joint efforts made by different persons become more productive, effective and economical if a well-knit organization is provided by the management and the purpose of establishing an organization, this is to enable its personnel to work more effectively as a unit and no wonder organisation serves as the backbone of management and it is very foundation of most of the steps of operating management.

Organising can be defined as “Organisation is a harmonious adjustment of specialised parts or the accomplishment of common purpose or purposes” by Haney. The organisation is the process of identifying and grouping the work performed, defining and delegating responsibility and authority and establishing a relationship to enable people to work together in accomplishing common objectives.

NATURE OF ORGANISING

1. Division of work

The setting of an organisation involves division of the total work into various activities and functions and assigning the tasks to different persons according to their skill, ability and experience.

2. Chain of command

The superior-subordinate relationship established in an organisation is based on the authority which flows from the higher levels of management to the immediately lower of management and thereby forming a hierarchical chain and is known as the chain of command.

3. Plurality of Persons

The organisation is a group of many persons who assemble to fulfil a common purpose and a single individual cannot create an organisation.

4. Common Objectives

There are various parts of an organisation with different functions to perform but all move in the direction of achieving a general objective.

5. Group of people

An organisation comes into existence when a group of people combine their efforts for some common purpose and willingly contribute towards their common endeavour.

6. Common Purpose

Every organisation comes into existence based on goals of the enterprise which are separate from the personal goals of the people employed and it is the common purpose of the organisation which provides the basis of cooperation among its members.

7. Vertical and Horizontal Relationships

An Organisation creates cooperative relationships between different departments and divisions as well as between superiors and subordinates. The duties and responsibility of superiors and subordinates in each department or division are also unified to serve the purpose of their joint efforts.

8. Organising is a universal process

Organising is needed both in business and also in non-business organisations and nor only this, an organisation will be needed where two or more than two people work jointly. Therefore, an organisation has the quality of universality.

9. Dynamics of organisation

Besides the structural relationships among people which are based on their activities and functions, there exists an organising interaction based on sentiments, attitudes and behaviour of individuals and groups and they are subject to change from time to time.

According to Chester Bernard, Communication, Cooperation and Spirit of service and common objectives are the main elements of the organisation.

Business and Management

FUNCTION OF MANAGEMENT


According to George R. Terry, “Functions are the main entities around which a manager builds an effective organization structure”. The study of functions of management is an important topic in the field of management, the basic characteristics of efficient management are common whether the unit to be managed is as small as a family or large enough as a business, social, political or religious organization.

The main functions of management are:

  1. Planning
  2. Organizing
  3. Staffing
  4. Directing
  5. Controlling
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1. Planning

 Planning is decided in advance and it is an important and vital function of management. Planning is done to chalk out the future course of action and according to M.E. Hurle, “Planning is deciding in advance, what is done and it involves the objectives, policies, procedures programming for attaining enterprise goals”. Planning is a critical evaluation of relative merits and demerits of alternate policies and actions and in choosing the best program for achieving the predetermined objectives and targets.

2. Organizing

To organize means to put into working order and arrange on a system and organizing can be defined as arranging several complex tasks to manageable units and defining the formal relationship among the people who are assigned the various units of tasks and the process of organizing is very essential for accomplishing the objectives of the organization set by the administration and planned by management.

3. Staffing

The staffing of an organization is as important as the structure itself since successful performance by individuals determines whether the structure can produce its results successfully or not and staffing is a process of matching the jobs with the individuals. Staffing requires and involves the recruitment, selection, training, placement, compensating, promotion and demotion, and finally, the retirement of an employee and the sole aim of staffing is to take the right man for the right job and it needs man power-planning, job analysis, and such other staff functions. Psychology and sociology have added a considerable and important of knowledge and practice in this area of the managerial function.

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4. Directing

Directing means telling people what to do and seeing that they do it to the best of their ability. As a process of management, directing is concerned with getting work done through, and with people, they require continuous and encouragement to work effectively. According to Terry, “Directing means moving to action and supplying stimulating power to a group of persons”. Good planning and the best organization may fail to deliver goods if the direction is faulty and is not up to the mark. The direction is concerned with the execution of plans and it initiates organized action and breathes life into the organization and speaking, the direction is Management in action and it includes:

  1. Supervision
  2. Communication
  3. Leadership
  4. Motivation

5.Controlling

Control is an important function of management and it is an essential feature of scientific management and control ensure the qualitative and quantitative performance of work in the organization for the achievement of objectives and completion of plans and it is the binding force that orderly links all components of an enterprise. Controlling includes an evaluation to determine whether planned objectives or results have been achieved.