BBA Principles management Problems matrix Structure Study Material notes
Table of Contents
BBA Principles management Problems matrix Structure Study Material notes: Team-based Organisation Concept of Team Teamwork Importance of Teams Difference BettTypes of Teams Costs of Teams Effective Teams Characteristics of an Effective Tams Team Creation Planning for Team Creation Implementation of Team Creation Programme Committee Froup Behavirouin committee Measures for making committee effective ( Most Important Notes for BBA I Semester Students )
MCom I Semester Human Resource Policies Practices Study Material
Problems in Matrix Structure
Matrix structure has many problems in practice because of its too much flexibility. The major problems of matrix structure are as follows and managers should take adequate precautions to overcome these problems:
1 There is always power struggle in matrix structure. The essence of matrix structure 15 dual command, and to survive such a form, there needs to be balance of power. However, this power balance shifts constantly as people try to maximise their benefits. This results in power struggle among people which may become dysfunctional if top management does not play active role in balancing the power.
2. Matrix structure can develop anarchy if not managed properly. People have to work under multiple command. Besides, there may be informal relations among people. Thus, whole concept of flexibility may result in problem because people may not be clear about what they should do, what they are expected to contribute.
3. This structure may not work very well when there is economic crunch. In the case of economic crunch, the organisation may not be in the same position as there may be many changes in market position, pressure on profit margin, and financial problems. In order to overcome these problems, the organisation may be required to change its strategy which may not correspond to matrix structure. For example. decision process has to be centralised in order to arrive at quick decisions to face adversaries.
4. If matrix organisation is not followed properly. there is delay in decision making. The decision-making process is such that many persons are involved in the decision; each person may hold veto power or may not give consent because of power struggle and conflict. In this situation, top management may remain busy in solving internal problems of the organisation and find less time for external affairs.
5. At the initial level, matrix structure becomes quite costly because of top heavy management. It does seem to double up management because of dual chain of command. However, this is only initial problem, and in the long run, this can be offset by the benefits accrued from matrix structure. A perusal of the various problems suggests that many of these problems come because of faulty implementation of matrix structure. If it is implemented with proper perspective, many problems will disappear. As it has been pointed out in the beginning, the matrix is not merely a structure but it includes systems, culture, and behaviour which must be in accordance with matrix philosophy. Thus, if systematic approach is adopted, matrix structure will result in maximum benefits in the areas where it is applicable.
Problems matrix Structure
Team-based Organisation
Throughout the world, there is emphasis on creating newer organisational designs to take care of fast-changing environment. In Chapter 4, we have seen that there is a challenge before the contemporary managers to create organisational desings according to the changing job profile, changing workforce profile, and changing environment. Such designs may be in the form of team-based organisation and free-from organisation that includes a variety of organisational forms. Team-based organisation is discussed in this section while free-form organisation will be discussed in the next section. A team-based organisation has a number of self-managing teams and coordinating mechanism among these teams. Before going through the process of creating a team-based organisation, let us develop the understanding about a team and its functioning.
Problems matrix Structure
CONCEPT OF TEAM
A team is a small group of individuals with unique features. Katzenbach and Smith have defined a team as follows:
1 Small Number of People. A team consists of small number of people because the interaction and influence processes needed for the team to function can only occur when the number of team members is small. When large number of people are involved, they have difficulty in interacting and influencing each other, utilising their complementary skills, meeting goals, and holding themselves accountable for results.
2. Complementary Skills. A team consists of people with complementary skills to get the things done. Three types of skills are usually required in a team. First, the team needs to have members with the technical or functional skills to do the job. Second, some members need to have problem-solving and decision-making skills to help the team to identify problems, determine priorities, evaluate alternatives, and make decisions about the direction of the team. Third, members need interpersonal skills to manage communication flow, manage conflicts, direct questions and discussion, provide support, and recognise the interests of all team members. These complementary skills are required in the team so that it can function well without receiving support from outside.
3. Common Purpose and Performance Goals. A team has common purpose and performance goals which set the tone and direction of the team. A team comes together to pursue a set of goals which becomes the focus of the team; all decisions and actions are directed to pursue these goals. Team members pull together, find resources within themselves, and develop and use skills to achieve team goals.
4. Common Approach. A team evolves a common approach which is followed by team members in true spirit. Team’s approach usually covers how work will be done, social norms regarding dress, attendance at meetings, norms of fairness and ethical behaviour. and what will or will not be included in team activities.
5. Mutual Accountability. A team holds itself mutually accountable for results, rather than merely meeting a manager’s demands for results. Mutual accountability is essentially a promise that team members make to each other to do everything possible to achieve their goals, and it requires the commitment and trust of all members.
Problems matrix Structure
Difference between Group and Team
Before proceeding further, it is essential to make distinction between a group and a team as, sometimes, both the terms are used interchangeably. According to dictionary, a group usually refers to an assemblage of people or objects gathered together whereas team usually refers to people or animals to work together. Thus, a team places more concerted action than a group. In the organisational context, group and team are quite distinct. We have seen in the previous chapter that a group is essentially an assemblage of two are more persons who are interacting with one another in such a manner that each person influences and is influenced by each other. The collection of people who happen to report the same superior in an organisation can be called a work group. Group members may not be committed to a common goal. From this point of view, we can say that a team is a group with a common goal. But a team differs from a group in other ways. Orsburn et al have differentiated group and team on three dimensions: job categories, authority, and compensation system as shown in Table 13.1.
Teamwork
Teamwork is a kind of spirit that exists in a team when it is in operation. It is the spirit of self-suppression for cooperation and pulling together the efforts for the success of the whole rather than the personal exploits. Teamwork is essentially a mind set which requires a complete mental revolution-from individual orientation to collective orientation: from individual contribution to collective contribution; from individual rewards to collective rewards. A feeling is generated among team members that no one is authorised to direct others and no one is in the team to be directed by others. There is a possibility that a team has high performers and low performers but a high performer does not say to a low performer “do as I say”: instead he says “do as I do”. While role clarity, skill complementarity, team reward, and other ingredients of an effective team are important as they help in work performance, spirit of teamwork is a glue that holds the team members together and determines how team members approach their work rather than merely doing the work. In such a situation, if team performs well, credit goes to all members equally. If it performs worse, all members share responsibility for that.
Problems matrix Structure
Importance of Teams
In recent years, more and more organisations have put emphasis on creating teams for better organisational performance. The question is: why is this increased emphasis on creation of teams? The simple answer is: teams are more viable options for better organisational performance. The importance of teams can be seen in terms of enhanced performance, employee benefits, reduced costs, and organisational enhancements. Following discussion shows how all these are achieved by using teams:
1 Enhanced Performance. Enhanced performance can come in many forms, including improved productivity, product quality, and customer service. Teams enable members to avoid wasted effort, reduced errors, and react to customers’ needs in a better way. This happens because teams set their own goals and each team member is committed for those goals. Further, in a teamwork, synergy (2+2 = 5 effect) is generated because of complementary skills of team members. It has been found that organisational performance has increased to the tune of 20 per cent after team implementation.
2. Employee Benefits. Employees tend to derive benefits as much as organisations in a team environment. Over the years, employees’ expectations from their jobs have increased. Now-adays, employees want to work under least possible hierarchical control; they believe in selfcontrol rather imposed control; they want quick feedback of their performance; they believe in human dignity rather master-servant relationship: and they want autonomy and freedom in job performance. In a team environment, all these expectations of employees are fulfilled. As a result, employees have a better work life and experience lesser work stress.
3. Reduced Costs. Organisations based on teams tend to reduce their costs of operations. Team members feel that they have a stake in the outcomes, want to make contributions because they are valued, and are committed to their team and do not want to let it down. This tendency results in direct cost reduction as there will be fewer scraps and fewer errors. There is another form of cost reduction. When team members are satisfied, they show reduced absenteeism and turnover. Because of lower absenteeism, there is higher degree of utilisation of existing facilities. Similarly, when employee turnover is low, costs involved in hiring substitute employees are also reduced.
4. Organisational Enhancements. In the changing environment, every organisation has to adapt itself with changing environmental needs. This adaptation requires replacing old way of working with new way of working which comes through creativity and innovation. Team-based organisational working is characterised by increased creativity, innovation, and flexibility. Since team members focus on the team effort outcomes, they keep on finding new ways to make these outcomes positive.
Problems matrix Structure
Costs of Teams
While teams are important for organisations, they should not be treated as panacea for all organisational ills as they have their own costs. Such costs may be expressed in terms of switching over from traditional system to team system and faulty team development. Both these issues require further elaboration.
When traditional system characterised by hierarchical relationships, performance evaluation based on employee behaviour, rewards based on seniority, and so on to team system, it creates stress and anxiety in the minds of both management and employees. It can be mentioned here that any type of major change creates stress and anxiety as people are not sure about the outcomes of the change. Change from traditional system to team system is a major change which may generate anxiety in the minds of both managers and employees.
may express frustration and confusion about their new roles as coaches and facilitators instead of being bosses in the hierarchical system. Employees during the change process. Some traditional stan groups such as technical advisory staffs. may feel that their jobs are in jeopardy as teams will do more and more of technical work formerly done by technicians. There may be anxiety over issues like reward system and relative importance of positions that employees are holding in the traditional system Another type of cost associated with teams is lauity team development. Though there is standardised form of team development, this form cannot work in the case of organisations owing to their peculiar characteristics. If team development process is not adopted properly, it may result in confusion instead of clarity. Because of this reason, many organisations abandon team development prematurely which is the most dangerous cost.
If costs of teams are analysed, it can be inferred that faults are not with teams but how they are developed and used. If developed and used effectively, they are asset to an organisation, otherwise, they will turn to be liability.
Problems matrix Structure
Types of Teams
In an organisation, there may be different types of teams. Typology of teams may be based on their constitution (whether team members are drawn from a single functional area or from a number of interrelated functional areas). purpose (whether teams are created to perform functions of recurring nature or these are created to solve specific or set of specific problems that an organisation may face at a particular point of time), and power entrusted (whether the teams will have all types of power needed for performing its functions like selfmanaging teams or only limited power will be given to teams that is needed for performing day-to-day functions). Based on these criteria, Stewart et al have proposed four types of teams-problem-solving team, cross-functional team, self-managing team, and virtual team. Out of these, team members interact among themselves face to face in first three types of teams-problem-solving team, cross-functional team, and self-managing team. In virtual team, members do not interact among themselves face to face buy they interact among themselves only through the use of communication technology. A description of these teams will show how they function and what results they achieve.
Problem-solving Team. The concept of problem-solving team emerged during 1980s with the introduction of quality circles, particularly in Japan.11 Now-a-days, besides quality circles, problem-solving teams exist from other functions too. A problem-solving team, also known as corrective action team, is constituted to solve specific problems which an organisation may be facing Team members for such a team are drawn from those areas where the problems requiring solution exist. They may be from a single department or more than one department depending on the situation. Such a team is constituted on following lines to make it effective:
1 Selecting the specific problems which cannot be solved by an individual alone.
2. Selecting the personnel who have intimate knowledge of the problem.
3. Communicating the nature of the problem and need for its solution.
4. Giving the team a high profile within the organisation.
5. Implementing the solution suggested by the team.
6. Recognising the contributions made by the team.
The problem-solving team applies the problem-solving methodologies and techniques to get deep into the problems, draws different alternative solutions to the problem, evaluates the likely outcomes of each alternative, and finally suggests a particular solution and its implications.
Problems matrix Structure
Cross-functional Team. A cross-functional team draws its members from different functional areas, particularly from those functions which have high interdependence. For example, a task force is essentially a temporary cross-functional team; committees composed of members from different functional areas are other examples of cross-functional teams. While task forces and committees have been in use since long, the popularity of crossfunctional teams exploded in the late 1980s in automobile industry of the USA to coordinate complex projects. The basic objective of a cross-functional team is to make decisions and solve problems in those areas which cannot be done by a particular functional department. Because of interdependence of various functions in an organisation, cross-functional teams are created at different levels. Cross-functional teams are effective means for allowing people from diverse areas within an organisation to exchange information, develop new ideas and solve problems, and coordinate complex projects. Self-managing Team. In Today’s context, more emphasis is given on self-managing team, also knwon as empowered or self-directed teams. Self-managing teams have the following characteristics:
1 They are empowered to share various management and leadership functions.
2. They plan control, and improve their own work processes.
3. They set their own goals and inspect their own work.
4. They often create their own schedules and review their performance as a group.
5. They prepare their own budgets and coordinate their work with other departments.
6. They usually order materials, keep inventories, and deal with suppliers.
7. They are frequently responsible for acquiring any new training they might need.
8. They may hire their own replacement or assume responsibility for disciplining their own members.
9. They, and no others outside the team, take responsibility for the quality of their products or services. Virtual Team.
Various teams, as discussed earlier, do their work by interacting members face to face. Virutal teams use computer technology to tie together physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal. In a virutal team, members interact among themselves online-using communication links like wide area networks, video conferencing. electronic mails–whether they are located in the same building, same city, or continents apart. Virtual teams can do all the things that other teams can do-share information, make decisions, and complete tasks. Members of a virutal team may come either from the same organisation or there may be members drawn from different organisations like customers, supplies, joint ventures, etc. There are three primary factors that differentiate virtual teams from face-to-face teams: (1) the absence of paraverbal and nonverbal cues, (2) limited social context, and (3) the ability to overcome time and space constraints. All these factors affect the operation of virtual teams. This effect is as follows:
1 In face-to-face interaction, people use paraverbal (tone of voice, voice volume, and inflection) and nonverbal (facial expression, eye movement, hand gesture, and other body language) cues along with verbal expression. Paraverbal and nonverbal cues help clarify communication by increased meaning. These are not available to members of virtual teams. Therefore, there is a possibility of miscommunication.
2. Virtual team members often suffer from low degree of social contacts. Therefore. they are not able to duplicate normal give and take of face-to-face discussion. This is the reason why virtual teams tend to be more task-oriented and exchange less social and emotional information. With the result, virtual team members experience less satisfaction in group interaction.
3. Virtual teams enable members to work together even though they are located at geographically dispersed places. This feature of virtual teams provides opportunity to draw resourceful members from different places who may not otherwise be able to work together.
Problems matrix Structure
EFFECTIVE TEAMS
Since teams are important to an organisation, it should create teams that are effective. An effective team is one which contributes to the achievement of organisational objectives by performing the task assigned to it and providing satisfaction to its members. A group’s effectiveness depends on a variety of variables, both within the group and outside it. Same is the case with a team as it shares some common features with a group. Therefore, understanding of these variables is important before creating teams. Figure 13.8 presents these variables.
Problems matrix Structure
Thus, it can be seen that apart from team composition and process, team effectiveness depends on work design (the work which a team is expected to do, discussed in Chapter 24) and the context in which a team works. These are mostly organizational variables (discussed at various places).
Problems matrix Structure
Characteristics of an Effective Team
Based on the variables that determine team effectiveness-composition, process, work design, and context, it can be said that an effective team has the following characteristics:
1 Skills and Role Clarity. For an effective team, two things are required from its members: skills which are complementary to the team requirement and understanding of one’s own role as well as roles of other members. While skills are relevant for job performance, understanding of roles helps members to meet the requirement of one another thereby solving the problems which the team faces. Thus, team members may tend to contribute positively to the teamwork. Even if one member lacks behind, he may tend to affect others because of chain reaction just like a rotten apple injurs its companions.
2. Supportive Environment. A team loaded with skilled members cannot perform well if the organisational culture is not supportive for that. If the organisational culture is not in tune with high achievement team members may not show high degree of enthusiasm and they will use only a part of their skills in performing the jobs. Therefore, managers at higher levels particularly at the top level should set organisational culture which enthuses team members to put their best.
3. Superordinate Goals. Superordinate goals are those which are above the goals of a single team or a single individual. Organisational goals have hierarchy and a lower-level goal is derived out of a higher-level goal. An individual works better if he is able to link how his goal attainment leads to the attainment of a higher-level goal. These superordinate goals, then, serve to focus attention, unify efforts, and stimulate more cohesive team efforts.
4. Team Rewards. Team performance depends on how rewards are linked to team performance and how members perceive this linkage. If team members perceive that rewards are contingent on team performance, they will put their maximum. Rewards of both types-financial and non-financial-should be taken into consideration. Further. organisations need to achieve a careful balance between encouraging and rewarding individual initiative and growth and stimulating full contributions to team success. Innovative non-financial team rewards for responsible behaviour may include the authority to select new members of the group, make recommendations regarding a new supervisor, or propose discipline for team members. 11
TEAM CREATION
Team creation is a long-drawn process. Since there are many variables which affect team effectiveness besides team composition and team process, lot of preparation has to be made before implementing team creation programme. Therefore, team creation process should be broken into two parts: planning for team creation and implementation of team creation.
Problems matrix Structure
Planning for Team Creation
Creating team organisation-wide is long-drawn process. It is a drastic departure from the traditional hierarchy and authority and control orientation. Therefore, it requires lot of analysis before making a decision to have teams organisation-wide. Further, lot of exercises have to be done before going through the implementation of programme for creating teams. Thus, planning for team creation may be divided into two parts: making decision for team creation and preparation for implementation of team creation.
1 Decision for Team Creation. Before creating teams, an organisation must evaluate whether it has supporting conditions for creating teams. After all, teams have their own costs and benefits. Therefore, it is essential to assess whether benefits of teams will be more than their costs in a given situation. This situational context is very important to evaluate as many organisations have attempted at creating teams but they abandoned the idea in between because organisational situation did not support effective functioning of teams. Usually organisations constitute a steering committee to assess whether they are in a position to create teams meaningfully. Sometimes, external consultants are also invited to participate in this committee. The steering committee collects information on different aspects of organisation relevant to team creation and prepares a feasibility report. This report is discussed at the top level along with steering committee members. If organisational conditions are found to be suitable, decision for team creation is made. If the conditions are not favourable, team creation programme is postponed to a later date. Meanwhile, efforts are made to create suitable conditions by changing organisation structure, organizational policies and even personnel through training. When the conditions turn to be favourable the decision for team creation is made.
2. Preparation for Implementation. Once the decision is made to change to a team-based organisation, pre-implementation preparation is undertaken. Preparation involves five steps: preparation of mission statement, selection of the site for the first team, selection of design team, plan for the transfer of authority, and drafting the preliminary plan for implementation. For undertaking all these activities, a person from top management is required to act as a change agent. He is responsible to ensure that all activities related to team creation are carried out properly. Such a person needs to (1) have a strong belief that employees want to a coherent vision of the team environment, and (4) have the creativity and authority to overcome obstacles as they surface during team creation process. 12 Under the guidance of the change agent, various preparatory activities are carried out as follows:
3. Mission statement is prepared to express how the organisation will be benefitted by creation of teams. The mission must be consistent with overall organisational mission and strategy
4. Once the mission is formulated, the steering committee needs to decide where teams will be created first. Selection of first site is crucial because it sets the tone for the success of the total programme. The initial site should be one which conforms the maximum number of conditions suitable for team creation. This site may be a department, division, or plant of the organisation.
5. After selecting the initial site, a design team is constituted. This team is a select group of individuals who are aware of team working in general as well as conditions of initial site including personnel. The design team is responsible for working out operational details to make teams perform well. The initial team members are selected by the design team. The design team also works out the details of transition from the current state of affairs to the team environment.
6. At this stage, a plan is prepared when and how authority from management to teams will be transferred. The process of transferring authority to teams is a gradual process at the initial stage. This is the reason that teams created initially have much lower authority than what they might have at maturity stage.
7. The last stage of planning for implementation is to write the tentative plan for the initial teams. This plan is, generally, prepared through the combined efforts of steering committee and design teams. The draft plan (a) recommends a process for selecting the people who will be in first team : (b) prescribes roles and responsibilities for all the people who will be affected by team creation (team members, team leaders. facilitators, support teams, managers, and even top management); (C) recommends what training different groups associated with teams will need (d) identifies specifically what work processes will be involved; (e) describes what other organisational systems will be affected; and lays out a preliminary master schedule for the two to three years.
Problems matrix Structure
Implementation of Team Creation Programme
Once the pre-implementation activities are completed, stage is set for undertaking programme of team creation. Team creation as a start-up and leading to self-managing of effective teams goes through five stages and during each of these stages, team performance varies considerably as shown in Figure 13.9.13
Problems matrix Structure
Thus, the five stages of implementation of team creation programme are start-up, reality and unrest, leader-centred teams, tightly-formed teams, and self-managing teams. Let us see how these phases are completed.
1 Startup Phase Startup phase consists of wowoad activities selection of team members and initial training members and initial training. Selection of Team Members. Team members are selected according to the guidelines provided by the draft plan prepared before the team implementation. Though criteria for selecting team members may differ from team to team, depending on the nature of teams, their duration, nature of task, size, etc. usually, the considerations that are taken into account in selecting team members are team members’ skills (technical, problem-solving and decision-making, and interpersonal), members’ personality characteristics (extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability), members’ flexibility, and members’ preferences.
Initial Training. Team members need training on continuous basis. Training at the initial stage is informational or awareness training that sends the message that top management is firmly committed to teams and that teams are not experimental. Training covers the rationale for moving to a team-based organisation, how teams were selected, how they work, roles and responsibilities of teams, compensation, and job security. In general, training covers the technical skills necessary to do the work of the team, aministrative skills necessary for the team function within the organisation, and interpersonal skills necessary to work with others in the team and throughout the organisation. Since additional attention is paid to the team members through training and other cues, their enthusiasm runs high, consequently higher team productivity.
2. Reality and Unrest. Sometimes after the initial enthusiasm, team members and those associated team working start realising reality of the situation and their initial enthusiasm starts turning into frustration. For team members, unfamiliar tasks, more responsibility, and worry about job security replace hope for the opportunities presented by the team approach. Other personnel associated with the team working start feeling ambiguity about their roles in the new environment. Managers make the mistake of staying away completely from the newly formed teams, thinking that the whole idea is to let teams manage themselves. In reality, managers need to be very visible to provide encouragement, to monitor team nerformance, to act as intermediaries between teams, to help teams acquire needed resources, and to foster right type of communication. Because of ambiguity prevailing in teamwork, team performance goes down which frustrates managers.
3. Leader-centred Teams. In order to overcome frustration developed at the second phase. managers start taking active part in the working of teams. They even give direction about how team functioning is to proceed smoothly. This situation seems to be like reverting back to manager-centred organisation structure. However, team members keep on learning about self-direction and leadership from the team and start to focus on a single leader in the team. In addition, the team begins to think of itself as a unit as members learn to manage themselves. At this stage, managers begin to get a sense of positive possibilities of organising in teams and start withdrawing slowly from the daily operations of the teams. They begin focusing on standards, regulations, systems, and resources of the teams.14 The streering and design committees must take steps to ensure two things during this phase. 15 First, there should be rise of strong internal team leaders. Either the team leaders may be appointed by the organisation, or team members may select their own leaders for a long-term period, or team leaders may be rotated periodically, may be on monthly or quarterly basis. Second, each team should develop its own sense of identity. Some of the methods that can be applied for this purpose are visits of matured teams by newly developed teams, continued training in problem solving, and flexibility to teams to develop social activities and distinct identity in the form of choosing their own names, logos, etc.
4. Tightly-formed Teams. In this phase, teams start working as tightly-formed teams and their focus is on internal working. They remain busy in solving their problems, managing their schedules and resources, and resolving internal conflicts. For a team, the prime concern becomes its own productivity and communication among different teams starts diminishing. With the result, inter-team rivalry gets heightened leading to unhealthy competition among different teams. This becomes detrimental to the teams as well as the organisation. At this stage, managers can take certain steps to ensure that each team continues to do the things that have resulted in high productivity and there is mutual cooperation among different teams. First, managers need to keep open the communication channels among different teams through rotating team representatives who meet regularly to discuss what works and what does not and rewarding teams who communicate and cooperate with other teams. Second, managers need to provide performance feedback to teams as early as possible. This feedback should contain how individual teams are performing in their own area of operation and how they are cooperating with other teams. Third, teams are given authority to manage themselves according to the plan envisaged. Managers have to ensure that all team members have followed the plan to get training in all the skills necessary to do the work of the team. By the end of this phase, teams should be ready to take responsibility for managing themselves.
5. Self-managing Teams. This phase is the end result of planning and implementation of team creation. By this time, teams are able to meet or even exceed their performance goals. Team members have taken responsibility for team-related leadership functions and managers, at this stage, might have withdrawn from daily operations of the teams and have confined themselves to provide counselling to teams. Though teams are mature and functioning well, several things have to be done to keep them on track. First, individuals and teams need to continue training in job skills as well as team and interpersonal skills. Second, support systems need to be constantly improved to facilitate team productivity. Third, teams always need to improve their internal supplier and customer realtionships within the organisation as a team is dependent on other teams for getting inputs from other teams and supplying outputs to some other teams.
Problems matrix Structure
COMMITTEE
Committees are found in every large organisation. These committees are constituted at various levels of the organisation to perform functions assigned to them. Literally, the word ‘committee’ means those to whom some matter or charge is committed. Thus, a committee may be defined as a group of persons in an organisation for making or recommending certain decisions. On the basis of this definition, following broad characteristics of a committee may be spelled out:
1 A committee is a group of persons; there should be at least two persons. There is no limitation on the maximum number of persons. However, if number of persons rises above seven, communication tends to become centralised because committee members do not have adequate opportunity to communicate directly with one another.
2. A committee is charged with dealing with specific problems and it cannot go in for actions in all spheres of activities. There are strictly defined jurisdictions within which a committee is expected to justify its existence. Beyond these limited spheres, a committee is doomed to fail as an organ of action.
3. Members of the committee have authority to go into details of the problems. This authority usually is expressed in terms of one vote for each member.
4. A committee may have the authority either to make a final decision or it may merely deliberate on problems without authority to decide.
5. A committee may be constitued at any level of organisation. Moreover, the members ofa committee may be drawn from various levels. Thus, there can be several types of functional committees in an organisation such as finance committee, budget committee, purchase committee, grievance committee, welfare committee, and so on.
Group Behaviour in Committee
A committee is created to solve the problems which are normally not to be solved by individuals. The committee decides the matter through meetings. The term ‘meeting’ refers to group deliberation through which members are able to communicate face-to-face with each other. Thus, committee meeting is a type of group behaviour. Since committee is a formal group, its process must conform to organisational prescriptions. However, all aspects of committee meeting cannot be prescribed. Moreover, many deliberations may not take place according to prescriptions. Overall group behaviour in a committee meeting can be analysed as follows:
1 Chairman-members Relationship. A committee may have its own structure with responsibility and authority entrusted to every member. This is done to facilitate the working of the committee. However, all members enjoy equal authority based on one-man one-vote. The chairman (chairperson in the case of female) of the committee may be given more authority in the form of a casting vote to break deadlock and to arrive at some decision. It is the responsibility of chairman to integrate the ideas of committee members. Deliberations and discussions are held under his guidance and control. Sometimes, a committee may be leaderless and agenda, and deliberations can be integrated by members themselves on self-integration basis. However, in organisational situations, this does not normally happen. A committee without a chairman is not expected to work effectively.
2. Participation. Group behaviour in committee tends to enforce participation from every member. Since a person is appointed in a committee because he has to contribute something, he does this through his participation in committee meetings. Participation of members is important for arriving at some decision on a matter. When members participate in deliberations, they are likely to change some of their stands held as independent social element to relatively involved social element. This often brings mutually agreed upon decisions.
3. Group Pressure. Often there is considerable group pressure in committee meetings and individual members exert pressure on the ideas, suggestions, comments, and judgements of others. The group pressure is exerted because of two reasons. First, it is generally felt that very act of integrating and pooling of ideas and views within the group results in a product that is greater than the sum of individual contributions. Members are brought to conform to group thinking so that some decisions are arrived at. Even if a member has high ideas than what the group can assimilate and raises the group discussion much above, he tends to fall within the line. If he is left alone for making decisions, these can be influenced by his own prejudices and committee members may not like it. Since decisions are arrived at through one man-one vote basis, such a person has no alternative except to accept the majority thinking. Second, the more loyalty one member feels towards other members of the committee, the more he tends to conform to group pressure. Therefore, the need of a member to be liked and respected makes him to work according to the general thinking of the group.
4. Decision Process. Decision making in committee is through the process of committee deliberations. Normally, group decision making passes through three stages. First, at the initial stage, the group tries to acquire the largest pool of common information about the facts of the situation. Second, the group tries to make inference and evaluation of information and to form common opinions in a general way. Third, it gets around more specific suggestions and solutions to the problem. After agreement is achieved on the essential facets of the situation, every member is given opportunities to express his views. At this level, there may be emotional tension in deliberations and the chairman should direct the group back to the facts and begin anew from there. This returning back to the facts of the problem works as cooling effect on the members and agreement may be arrived at because members may look at the problem in a sounder way.
A question arises: Is unanimous agreement a necessary prerequisite to effective committee decision? Though some sort of unanimity is necessary, too much agreement may be as bad as too little agreement. Without agreement, a committee member can be held responsible for carrying out a decision he did not support, or which he even opposed. Divided votes may also set up cleavages which disintegrate the group. On the other hand, too much unanimity may create unhealthy practice because unanimity becomes goal of the committee meeting causing a person to suppress his ideas which may be useful to the committee. This may be frustrating to committee members. Therefore, instead of unanimity, the efforts should be to reach at agreed decisions. Unless the decision is of utmost importance to the dissenter, agreement of most of the members should be sufficient. The idea should be not to involve in too long deliberations in order to arrive at unanimity for the sake of unanimity.
Problems matrix Structure
Reasons for Use of Committee
A committee is created to carry out responsibilities that would otherwise be given to a single individual. However, there are many situations and reasons that one individual may not have the responsibilities too heavy to carry on and instead a committee may be appointed. Therefore, a committee scores over individuals because people in group interact differently than individuals. Group dynamics gives the committee certain potential advantages over individuals acting alone. Therefore, the use of committees is widespread in most of the organisations, even in most autocratic organisations. The major reasons of the use of committees are as follows:
1 Pooling of Knowledge and Experience. The most important advantage in using committees is that knowledge and experience can be pooled together and decisions can be arrived at through group deliberation and judgement. A committee works on the theme that ‘two heads are better than one’. A group of people can bring to bear a greater variety of opinion, a more thorough probing of the problem and its facts, and a more diverse training in specialised aspects. Therefore, committees can be used specially for solving those problems which do not fall within the jurisdiction of a single function or division. Normally. very few organisational problems fall entirely into a single area; normally, they require the use of expertise of individuals with different backgrounds.
2. Facility for Coordination. Committees are very useful for coordinating activities among various organisational units. When it is necessary to integrate and unify various viewpoints which cannot conveniently and effectively be coordinated by individuals, the committee may be useful in bringing all those concerned together. A committee is specially useful for coordinating, planning, and execution of programmes. In modern large organisations, it is too difficult to coordinate every activity, every subordinate plan, and every expenditure. A committee can bring all these together. It permits the individuals not only to obtain first hand a picture of overall plans and of their place in them but also to contribute suggestions on the spot for improvement of plans. Thus, the committee provides the opportunity for reaching agreement on the steps of coordination.
3. Representation of Interest Groups. Committees are often used to give representation to various interest groups. Such types of committees are quite popular in government, educational and other institutions where people from diversified groups should have their say in the functioning of the organisation. Even in business organisations, such committees may be set up, for example, board of directors, grievance committee, welfare committee, and so on. The representation of various groups may ensure that these groups will feel a sense of loyalty and commitment to the decisions reached.
4. Fear of too much Authority in a Single Person. Sometimes, committees are constituted to avoid the concentration of too much authority in a single individual. This problem is more prominent in government and educational organisations and less in business organisations. In order to provide safeguards and checks against the misuse of too much authority, the line authority for certain actions can be delegated to a committee rather than to an individual. Board of directors is appointed to check the excessive use of authority by the chief executive. Similarly, in the case of internal operations, such a committee may be appointed where misuse of authority may be prominent. For example, bonus committees often result from such a reason, and major financial and capital investment policies are developed by committees, partly because of unwillingness to trust a single individual with complete authority to make such important decisions.
5. Consolidation of Authority. A committee can be used to consolidate splintered authority. A manager of a department or of a section may have only limited amount of authority necessary to accomplish a programme. Therefore, the manager cannot solve a problem without simultaneous exercise of authority by other managers related to the problem. In se either the problem may be referred upward for a decision or it may be assigned to a committee with membership of all managers related with the problem and the problem an be solved without referring it upward. The solution of problem through committee is cause it has been able to consolidate the splintered authority. However, frequent consolidation of authority through committees is not a good sign for sound organisational structure.
6. Transmission and Sharing of Information. Committees are useful for transmission and sharing of Information. All parties and persons interested in a problem have simultaneous face-to-face communication through the proceedings of committee meetings. Doubts and ambiguities may be removed at the spot. This saves lot of time in communication. The spoken word, with the possibilities for overtones and emphasis and the opportunities for clarification, may carry its point better than even carefully written communication. Moreover, some objectives and policies of the organisation may not precisely be stated in writing and these can be communicated effectively through committee meetings.
Problems matrix Structure
7. Motivation through Participation. People do better when they participate in decisions affecting their working because when they participate in decision making, they accept and live with that decision; they feel committed to the decision. This feeling of involvement and commitment motivates them for better performance. Committees permit wider participation of persons related to a particular problem. However, the use of committees to motivate people to get decisions or programmes accepted requires skillful handling of committee meetings otherwise they may bring worse results.
8. A Tool of Management Development. A committee can be used as a tool of management development like many other tools. A manager can be developed through learning from experience. While experience of a manager on his job may restrict him to know about his job only, committees may widen his knowledge and he can learn how his job is related with others; in what ways it affects others and is affected by others. Such types of learning enable him to take an integrated view of solving various problems faced by him.
9. Avoidance of Action. A committee can be used to avoid action on a problem being faced by the manager. He may not like to take action but he may not be in a position to avoid action also. Therefore, he can find out the best solution to refer the matter to committee. Thus, a committee can be used to cool off agitation and temper on the part of affected people. It can be used as means to overcome resistance, pressure, or opposition from parties involved in an issue. Such committees are more prominent in government and other organisations run through democratic process. Even in business organisations too, such a committee can be appointed to avoid actions, for example, solving problems faced by workers.
Problems matrix Structure
Problems in Committee
No doubt, committees have various contributions to make in the organisation, but excessive use of committees or lack of proper utilisation of committees may be dysfunctional because they have various drawbacks and limitations too. There are various remarks which reflect the uselessness of committees in the organisation such as “a committee is made up of the unfits selected by the unwilling to do the unnecessary”, or “a committee is a place where the loneliness of thought is replaced by the togetherness of nothingness.” Though these may be excessive criticisms of committee system, these may prove to be correct if committees are not handled properly. In general, following are the problems with committees:
1 High Cost. Constitution of a committee may be costly both in terms of time and money. Committee meetings may take time of various managers which can be spent otherwise to the organisation. If the decisions are arrived at very quickly, it shows mere formality of holding meeting without any contributions from the members. On the other hand, if unanimity or near unanimity is expected to arrive at decisions, much time is spent in lengthy deliberations many times, which may be useless. Similarly, committee meetings also involve costs, both direct and indirect. Direct cost may be in the form of travelling and other expenses incurred on members if they come from far off places. Indirect cost may be in the form of regular salary and other financial benefits paid to the members for their jobs but they have to spend time in attending the meetings. This cost in time and money becomes all the more disadvantageous when the committee is assigned a problem that could be solved by a single individual or by an individual with the help of a smaller and lesser paid staff. Thus, the advantages of the committee must be seen against the costs involved.
2. Slow Decisions. Committee decisions are essentially slow because of the basic nature of decision-making process in a committee. In a group decision making, all members to consider a problem must be informed about it. This may require staff work to prepare a report giving members the basic facts. It may take time. Similarly, in the meeting, deliberations take lot of time. Each member is expected to be heard, and only one person can talk at a time. The net result is that it takes longer time to get a decision from a committee than from an individual. Therefore, the matter which requires urgent action or which does not involve many functions should not be entrusted to the committee.
3. Indecision. Many times, committee meetings result in indecision. The meetings may be adjourned because of lack of time for thorough deliberations so that agreement can be arrived at. Thus, there can be deadlock on the matter and no action can be taken. Further. agreement is reached on the basis of compromise. Most often this is not as strong and positive a course of action as that undertaken by an individual who has only to consider the facts as he sees them and reach a conclusion. Thus, there is levelling effect in committee deliberations in which high premium is placed on conformity and compromise. This tendency of bringing individual thinking in line with the average quality of the group thinking is called the levelling effect. Its impact is that a committee decision is not the best decision but merely an agreed decision which may not be better than individual decision.
4. Minority Tyranny. Sometimes, in committee meeting, the minority may put undue pressure on majority specially when the practice is to arrive at a decision through unanimity and not through agreement. Minority members are in a strong position in such a situation. By insistence upon acceptance of their position, they can exercise an unwarranted tyranny over the majority. Had there not been a practice of unanimity, perhaps the same members cannot put that kind of pressure because they do not have the veto power. As against this, majority can also put pressure on minority to force it to arrive at the decision if it is through agreement. As minority needs to be heard and respected, so does the majority.
5. Splitting of Responsibility. People work more efficiently when they have clear authority and responsibility. In making a group decision, an individual member of the group feels a lower degree of responsibility than if the decision had to be made by himself. A major drawback in committee decision is that it splits the responsibility and no member really feels responsible for group action. Committee decisions provide opportunity to individuals to shirk their responsibility. They hardly feel the same kind of responsibility that they would feel if they were charged personally with the same task. It is very true for the committee action that “actions which are several bodies’ responsibility are nobody’s responsibility.”
1 Misuse of Committees. There are possibilities of committees being misused. This may happen in several ways:
(0 Some people may develop too much interest in group working and they virtually worship group. In such cases, too many committees are constituted even for small purposes. Such committees do not serve any purpose but waste organisation’s resources and time. (1) As discussed earlier, committees may be appointed to avoid action and aggrieved persons remain aggrieved for a very long time. In such cases, persons cannot claim that no action has been taken over the matter of their grievances.
