Management Models: Autocratic, centralized vs decentralized, informal vs formal
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You have been the manager of human resources for a firm headquartered in the United States for many years. The firm has divisions all over the United States, as well as overseas. A new chief executive officer (CEO) has just come onboard after receiving his master's degree in business from an ivy-league institution. He has great academic credentials but little work experience. The management model that the former CEO preferred was more formal and autocratic, with most decision making being centralized to a great degree. Some of the firm's challenges include the following:
- The firm expects to be in a much more competitive environment in the future.
- To add to this, there has been talk about the possibility of employees forming a union because of the way they were treated under the former CEO.
- The overseas divisions, where a much higher growth potential is expected, have repeatedly complained about the time it takes to have decisions made by the staff that is headquartered in the United States. On the other hand, there have been times where the international divisions have made decisions that are at odds with the company's overall strategy.
The new CEO has asked you to give him guidance on possibly changing the existing culture to better meet these challenges.
Individual Portion
Management models to discuss are as follows:
- The use of an autocratic versus a participative management style toward decision making
- Having a more centralized versus a more decentralized decision making
- Adopting a more informal versus a more formal management style
Search for articles that deal with actual examples of each of the 3 management models regarding the management of the employees in this firm. Write a paper explaining why that particular model of management was chosen by the senior management in the article that you researched. In your opinion, was this approach toward management a success? Why or why not?
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Solution Summary
Autocratic, centralized versus decentralized and informal versus formal are examined for management models.
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Participative Management Model
Schaeffer is the CEO of WellPoint Health Networks. It is one of the largest health insurance organizations in the US.
Previously, Schaeffer was using an autocratic leadership style (top-down approach) to manage the business. In order to motivate people to act in comparison of managing directly, he has changed the management style and selected the participative management style. This model was chosen by senior management, so that the company can attain a leading position in the market (Schaeffer 2002). Senior management identified that bottom line managers and employees are closer to the customers and they can contribute to build better decision making regarding to product development. It is the reason that participative management style was chosen by the senior management.
This approach towards management was a success because the managers can motivate and satisfy employees to get the job done. With the help of it, managers can enhance quality decision making in the organization. In order to get success in those companies that are geographically dispersed, it is important that senior management will believe that the managers at regional level know customers and employees in an effective manner (Ogbeide and Harrington ...
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