anas alam faizli, master of proj mgmt: assignment organizational business and management, bmom5203

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Center of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

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JANUARY SEMESTER 2009 ORGANIZATIONAL AND BUSINESS MANAGEMENT – BMOM5203

ASSIGNMENT (45%)

LECTURER

YBHG DATO’ DR ABDUL KUDDUS AHMAD

STUDENT ANAS BIN ALAM FAIZLI


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Question 1: Managerial Functions & Roles

03 Question 2: Management Theories

08 Question 3: Human Resource Management

N/A Question 4: Leadership

17 Question 5: Motivation

26 Question 6: Control 32 Question 7: Strategic Planning N/A


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Question 1: Managerial Functions & Roles

Is your university lecturer a manager? Discuss in terms of managerial functions,

managerial roles, and skills.

[TOTAL: 100 MARKS] According to Theodore Levitt, management consist of the rational assessment of a

situation and know what is to be done, strategies to achieve the goal, marshalling of

resources, control of the activities and finally motivating the resources to do the work.

According to Certo & Certo (2006), management is the process of reaching

organizational objectives by working with people and other resources. Majority of

the academics agrees that management has the following three main characteristics.

1. It is a process or series of continuing and related activities (management

functions).

2. It involves and concentrates on reaching organizational goals (goal attainment).

3. It reaches these goals by working with and through people and other

organizational resources. (organizational resources)

A discussion and explanations of the above three characteristic follows.

The process of management is easily identified in the four management functions

which are planning, organizing, influencing and controlling.

Planning is the process of outlining what is needed to be done, its duration, when to

start and end. This involves short term and long term. The purpose is to ensure that

the activities chosen to be executed will bring the organization closer to its objectives.

A famous proverb put this better than anybody else quoting that “Failing to plan is

planning to fail”. Planning involves detailing the steps required to achieve the

objectives and executing it. There are also a good set of tools and proven theories

to assist in better planning.

Planning for lecturer involves preparation, teaching, assessment, implement quality,

and manage resources as appropriate. Lecturer need to prepare and outline their

activity for the whole semester. They need to plan on how many classes that is

going to be conducted, and how the subjects are going to be taught. Dato’ Dr Abdul Kuddus (2009) in preparing for his class discover that the majority of his

class student is above thirty and by knowing that he knows that most of the students

have left school but however have abundant knowledge and experience in


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management. Having had prepared this information will assist him in conducting his

classes.

Organizing is the process of assigning the activities to its resources and is a

mechanism to put the plan to act. Everybody will be assigned to a task and is

required to ensure that it is executed and will contribute to the organizational goals.

Good organizing skills will come with better understanding of responsibility, authority

and delegation roles. This is also compounded with the need to understand how to

manage organization changes, stress and in some cases also human resources.

Lecturer will need to discharge his duties and the objective is to ensure that his

students understand and passes the subject. This is done via three methods.

All reading materials are available online and all the students can easily access and

have the ability to study on their own using the course guide that is prepared by the

lecturer. An online forum is also created where the lecturer and students can

communicate every day. Questions are asked from the books and the students are

required to answer it in the forum. This will also contribute to the final total marks. In

order to answer these questions the student will need to read the book, request

guidance from the lecturers and also attend the classes and seminars. Classes are

also held every fortnight where the lecturer will spend at least three hours covering

three to four chapters of study.

Influencing is another management functions. This involves motivating, leading and

directing. This is critical as a better influencer will get a higher productivity level.

There are many characteristics that influence the success of influencing such as

leadership, motivation, group, teams and corporate culture, the requirement to

understand people and attitudes and also the ability to encourage and be innovative

in influencing the students. Lecturers are responsible for influencing the students

and are required to guide the students in the appropriate direction. Direct

involvement in classes creates a human oriented work between the lecturer and the

students. Incentives such as early bird bonus can also appeal to the student and will

increase their productivity level and motivates the students. The way the classes are

conducted will have positive effects and lecturers will use this opportunity to show,

guide and lead the students for their academic objectives.

Controlling is the continuing process of control and monitoring of the activities that

has commenced. Control is the activity of managing or exerting control over

something. According to Roberto Mockler, controlling is a systematic effort by


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managers to compare performance to standards or plan and determine the variation

and take remedial action required to ensure it will achieve organizational objectives.

In order for control to be successful, lecturers is required to measure the

performance of the student. This can be done during each class and also during

middle of the semester where the students submit their assignment. By this time the

lecturer will be able to assess the student’s performance and would be able to

compare the performance with the current average performance of the university. If

the current performance is under average, the lecturer need to provide solutions

such as extra class, or modifying the syllabus and even explaining to the students on

where they go wrong. Lecturer or the university can also provide guidance for

students on tutor basis. This is an ongoing process which commence right before

the first class and after the end of each semester.

The four basic management functions are all inter-related and cannot be separated.

The lecturer will need to execute all four management functions in order to be

successful.

Organizational resources can be categorized in four basic types – human,

monetary, raw materials and capital. According to Certo & Certo (2006)

management is defined as course of actions taken in order to accomplish

organizational goals by working with and these four basic types of resources.

Lecturer need to utilize these resources in order to achieve organizational’s

objectives. We have dicussed how lecturers and managers are alike in their main

characteristics in discharging their duties, but how do lecturers manager effectively

or efficiently?

Effective is defined as producing an intended result or having a striking effect. In

managerial terms, effective means how manager use their resources in meeting

organizational goals. The continuum ranges from effective to ineffective.

Lecturer needs to minimize the resources but at the same time getting the same

effect. That is how online academic materials is very helpful. The same amount of

students can have access to the library and will be able to download the same

materials over and over again. If it is hardcopy, only one student can borrow the

book at one time. Online teaching is effective where everybody will have the

flexibility to access the materials when they have the time. Time does not required

to be synchronized in order to get everyone to share the same materials.


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Effeciency is defined as being effective without wasting resources. In managerial

terms, efficiency is measured by the level of resources wasted or unused during the

production process. The lower this is the more efficient the manager is. Lecturer

also needs to have good succession plan for academic succession. Senior lecturers

should assist in the academic development of junior lecturers. Improving the

teaching quality and the academic level of the lecturer also will increase the level of

efficiency in teaching the subject matters. With good grooming university will be able

to produce more subject matter experts in the field. Most local university now even

made it compulsory for lecturers to outline their 10 years plan and must include

completing of their doctor of philosophy degree or Ph.D

Lecturers have full understanding of what their organization objectives are and will

assist in achieving these objectives. Understanding of planning, organizing,

influencing and controlling will assist in carrying it out appropriately. As lecturers

perform these inter-related functions as managers they will achieve their

organizational objectives.

How do we define lecturer’s management skill? There are two views which are

applicable to this, a class view and a contemporary view.

A classic view explains that manager without skills cannot perform while managers

with skill will perform well. These three skills are required for successful manager to

perform and are broken down as Technical, Human and Conceptual skills. Technical skills are skills involving the ability to apply specialized knowledge and

expertise to work related. Lecturer need to have a good strong knowledge of the

subject matter, only then will the lecturer be able to give good guidance, support and

teaching of the subject. Without good technical skill the lecturer will have difficulties

when presented with something out of the book or an extension of the subject. A

good lecturer must have a good know how of the subject matter indefinitely.

Human skills are skills that are used for working with people. Lecturer is required to

have these skills as they interact highly with students and colleagues. It is all about

human skills. If the lecturer does not possess these skills it will definitely bring a

communication gap between the lecturer and the students.

Conceptual skills are the understanding of seeing the organization as a whole.

Lecturers need to be able to understand how everything falls into place and

understand the various functions of each department. This will also assist heavily

when the lecturer is required to assist to market their university or in getting research


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or study grant from the government. By having an in-depth understanding of the

organizational’s requirement, the lecturer will be more effective in working in-line with

the organizational’s needs.

A contemporary view of management skills refers that there are three basic types of

major activities that modern manager performs which are task-related activities,

people-related activities and change-related activities.

These are all functions that lecturer and managers are required to perform.

Task-related activities are critical management related duties in organization which

includes short-term planning, building organizational objectives and performance

monitoring. As explained previously, lecturers are required to prepare coursework,

organize the teaching methods and monitor the performance of the students.

People-related activities are efforts in managing people in organizations. This

includes support and encouraging. Lecturers are required to give support and

encouragement to students from time to time. Most university had also created a

special department in charge to assist students. These usually offer guidance and

consultation to the students.

Change-related activities are about modifying organizational components such as

new strategies and visions and everything about changes to the existing

establishments. Lecturers are always required to give input to help the university in

improving their existing syllabus, research grants, infrastructures and also upholding

the quality in the university. From time to time, changes are required to adapt to the

changes in the academic world. There is also competition from other university

which calls for changes to be made.

Having outlined all the managerial function, roles and skills it is evident that my

university lecturer is a manager.


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Question 2: Management Theories

Read Case Study “Family Feeling Faces Challenges at Smucker’s” in Certo, Modern

Management, 10e, pg. 46-47, and answer all questions at end of case.

a. Does the human relations movement offer any insights for the co-CEOs as they

move ahead with their expansion plans?

[35 marks]

Human relations movement refers to a group of people who do study and research

on the behavior of people at the workplace in groups. This study is a part of their

research in organizational development. It started with the Hawthorne study which

was conducted between 1924 and 1930 (Certo & Certo, 2006).

According to Elton Mayo (1933), human relations movement is defined as informal

organization, social norms, acceptance and sentiments of a group that will determine

the individual work behavior in achieving organizational success.

Smucker’s history is a success story. It started in 1897 with a small horse-drawn

wagon of selling apple butter, continued by his sons and grandsons into a major

multinational corporation with more than $2 billion USD in annual sales in 2006.

The tradition of Smucker’s is all about family and people, just as the CEO and the

co-CEOs are all from family members, they also foster family feeling among its

workers where feeling of belonging is fostered. Having this as their key tenet, it is

unquestionable how the Smucker’s feeling for human relations is very deep. When

Smucker’s co-CEOs Tim and Richard, the founder’s great-grandsons is going for the

expansion plan, human relations movement was key. Tim Smucker was quoted

saying “Our growth basic beliefs are not just about growing the company. It’s about individual growth and respect for the individual ideas”. This lead to

Smucker’s listed at the top of Fortune magazine’s list of 100 best companies to work

for in 2004. For five years from 1999 to 2004, Smucker had a total return of 100%

over and never had layoffs. Thanks to a gimmick-free management with the co-

CEOs, Tim and Richard Smucker who took the reins in 2001. According to the co-

CEOs this is simply because they adhered to a simple code of conduct established

by their father and former CEO, Paul Smucker. "The play-well-with-others approach,

as precious as it comes across to an outsider, has clearly won over employees,"

says FORTUNE writer Julia Boorstin.


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Plant supervisors have been known to have barbecues when celebrating new

records and success, managers always have congratulation lunches and gifts.

Every year Smucker will have big celebration for Chrimas and New Year which

invites this family feel. Director of operations Brian Kinsey, who spent ten years at

P&G, one of the companies that is acquisitied by Smucker commented that. "At first I

was skeptical, but this family feel in Smucker is for real."

This however doesn’t come without obstacles. In 1994, Smucker’s bought frozen pie

business from Kellog in order to expand their product beside its mainstream jams

and jellies. Smucker is strongly knitted by its family value which is deep and have

been cultivated over the years. CEO after CEO in Smucker has been continuously

building in its human relations movement. When the acquisition materialized, the

family feeling does not build over night. Decision making is no longer a consensus

between workers and managers and the message does not spread across as it used

to be. The company is becoming bigger very fast. Compounded by this, the timing

was also not right and in two years, they had to sell back the newly acquired

business.

Smucker did not stop at this but still continuously looking for new ventures and

acquisition as Tim believes that there will be limitations if you are only in one

category of business. From time to time they had to lay off managers and

employees as new acquisition is finalized. This was not easy for Smucker as they

are deeply rooted with the family bonding in the company.

An acquisition with The Multifoods for USD 840 million alone has brought in

additional 2,300 employees alone in 2004. With this big expansion, the co-CEO

knows they have an uphill task to execute. By expanding their product line and

business, Smucker will need to optimize their workforce and manpower. This is such

a difficult decision for the Smucker. Being a company that is so deep in people’s

relation all lay off was done fair and they do follow-up to all laid off employees.

They even released a public statement when they lay off employees in California

reassuring that they will do their level best to assist and offer aid to all effected

employees. Smucker have been talking to the government to ensure that all laid off

employees will get benefit in some form that will aid their grievances. Smucker also

assisted in helping these employees by giving good recommendations and

testimonials which will assist the employees when looking for another job. They

also helped looked for new job for the employees.


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Quoting the co-CEOs Richard and Tim Smucker “A shared set of values keeps the family-owned business running smoothly.” The co-CEOs concept where two

CEO shares power is an arrangement that is doom to fail implemented elsewhere.

But for the Smuckers this has been for five generation already and might continue.

Most Smuckers are already rising in the management ranks and looking ahead the

co-CEOs might out-perform their late father Paul Smucker, previous CEO of

Smucker. In human relations movement study, perhaps the Smuckers knows the

best.


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b. From the perspective of the system approach to management, what potential

problems might Smucker’s encounter as a result of having only family members

serve as CEOs?

[30 marks]

System is derived from the Greek word “synistanai” which means to bring together

or combine. Formal recognition of the system approach to management is

introduced by Whitehead in 1925. Four major concepts are pivotal in system

approach, specialization, grouping, coordination and emergent properties.

Specialization is when the system is divided into various smaller parts to allow more

focus and detailing of each component. This allows more details to be imparted in

the subject matter by going into details of each component.

Grouping is identifying each component into a group to avoid complexity and easier

identification. A component that has a typical or uniform common notion can be

grouped together and bear the same identification. This will make faster and easier

identification when components are grouped together.

Coordination and interfacing is required as the components and subcomponents of

the system are grouped together under one identity.

Emergent properties are dividing a system into subsystem allowing for a bigger and

complex structure.

Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1968) explains that a system is a number of

interdependent parts functioning as a whole for some purpose (Certo & Certo,

2006). Ludwig further divided the system into open and closed where open

systems interact with its environment continuously while closed system does not

interact with their environments and usually is isolated.

Markus Schwaninger (1996) defined that system approach to management will

assist individuals integrating different perspectives and enabling for sustainable

human activity. The main bodies of the management system comprises of inputs, transformation process, output and obtaining feedback after completing the cycle.

By having only family members served as CEO will mean the same concept, ideas,

and tradition. The CEO will lack perspective as everything has been done the same

way over and over again from day one. Majority of the top management comes from

Smucker family. This is to an extent that five out of seven top executives in

Smuckers are either cousins or siblings.


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Despite this setback however, the Smucker is on the list of one of the best

companies around in treating its employees year after year. This is evident as it

makes it name into the top of Fortune top 100 companies. Perhaps having the

CEOs with the same mindset throughout the generations brought something unique

to the way Smucker treat its employees.

The organization is so appealing and attractive that even its location is far and

remote in Orrkvile, Ohio many young talented and educated executives came to

Ohio in search of an employment with Smucker and once they are there, seldom

leaves the place and the company.

When Smucker tries to improve their organization by using scientific method and

mathematical techniques, there is however limitation to its achievement because

all the CEOs and the top board which is from the same family line is looking things at

the same angle and are so accustomed on how things was done and will continue to

be executed.

When the succeeding CEO look at the management approach using scientific

method while trying to observe the system which the behavior must be explained to

solve the problem, there is not much initiatives or reform that they can bring. The

scope and eyes are still the same. They depended much from Smucker long

experience and legacy.

This is totally opposite to Inaba and Toyoda when they bring changes and transform

Toyota method of doing and running the automobile business. Smucker are deeply

molded with how things were done. When they try to go further with management

problem studies using large number of variables, they can only comprehend a set of

existing variables that has been instilled in a long tradition of Smucker.

What they can do is to solidify the management level. After all the acquisitions

Smucker has various discipline and multi branding in the company. They started

with peanut butter but now they have jelly, cooking oils and many household brands.

Grooming of able managers from the lower rank by doing training and job rotation

could bring more ideas and new perspectives. This will definitely help bring new

approach and will definitely give better input to its scientific method and

mathematical techniques in order to bring new management approach. It will also

add flavor and strengthened Smucker already world class way of management,

managing by using all attributes from the human relations movement.


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By fostering deep family values and considering each employee as important family

members, Smucker today is now run by the fifth generation since Jerome W

Smucker, the founder of Smucker. They have also gone public listed. Each family

member will have the opportunity to have share in the company, work for the

company or sell the shares. This will definitely prevent any problems with the family

being broken apart fighting for pieces of the company.

However, looking at the future, there might be a non-family members that will take

the helm in the future like what happened to Toyota when Fujio Cho was appointed

President. Richard Smucker is quoted as saying that “it is not preconceived that the

company is going to be run by a family member, although that would be nice. If it is

not, we’ve got good employees who can take over”. In addition to that also Smucker

has now practice having an independent board where a different perspective or

angle from non family members can be heard and shared.

This should be welcomed by Smucker as their management ranks are all Smuckers

and had little exposure to external business environment. With the never ending

fast expansion, Smucker need to welcome external business review to assist in the

re-organizational exercises. Smucker tried from time to time to introduce this but still

fail to apply the management science techniques to study the incoming problems

which are inherent as the acquisitions and mergers realized. The co-CEOs must be

open, responsive and alert to the company’s external environment such as its

suppliers, consumers, customers and competitors are ever dynamic. Failing to do so

they will never be able to understand and have an overall risk assessment or review

of how the company is growing in face of the open competitive market and

customers. The adaptation that Smucker could bring is more suited to its existing

brand name.


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Can Smucker’s top executives learn from the classical approach to management in

the context of the company’s five basic values? Explain in detail.

[35 marks]

[TOTAL: 100 MARKS] According to Certo & Certo (2006), the classical approach to management can be

viewed from two perspectives which are the lower-level management analysis and

comprehensive analysis.

The lower level management analysis is a study on the ideal way of executing an

activity using scientific method by arranging new work methodology to improve

efficiency and maximize production.

Comprehensive analysis defines comprehensive principles of management which

is based on planning, organizing, commanding, coordination and control. R. Kannan

noted that classical approach to management is a traditional process of learning

through observation and experiment. Nature or environment is considered uniform

and by observing it we will get the same result and can conclude the relationship

between the two.

Smucker has been using five basic values in guiding its company strategies and

activities: quality, growth, ethics, independence and people.

Henri Fayol noted that quality must cover seven aspects which are health,

cleverness, moral qualities, general knowledge, management capacity, activities and

having the strongest skills in the function managed. Quality has always been the

number one priority in Smucker. Smucker has always strived to be a number one in

the brand that they have. When they started with apple butter they uplifted it as

number one brand in America. Following the acquisitions that they have, they

assimilated the new brand and capture the same market. They re-introduced it with

higher quality, re-model it and along with Smucker legacy push the brand to the top.

An example is when they purchased over Crisco, Jif and Pilsbury. It is an iconic

brand but is undeveloped. Smucker bought it, transformed it and made name for the

brand. Smucker also have all seven qualities that Fayol has prescribed in their

management implementation.

Smucker has always believed in growth. This is proven with their never ending

acquisition and one of the most successful was when they completed the acquisition

of Multifoods. This acquisition alone increased Smucker’s personnel by 2,300 new


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employees and added few brands into its fold. Smucker sale in 2006 rose to USD 2

billion dollars. One of Fayol’s proposed management functions is organizing.

Smucker did a good job in organizing all the newly acquisited companies and

integrated it seamlessly within its organization.

Ethics has always been the bonding sense of family feeling in Smucker. As an

example when they lay off employees in a California plant, Smucker issued a public

statement stressing that they will ensure fairness and will assist as much possible to

the affected employees. This is understandable when you have a board of

executives lead mostly by family members.

Independence is also a set of values highly held in Smucker. Taylor proposed that

it is the manager’s work to assign jobs to the employees that is befitting to the

employee. If the job is suitable, then the employees will have better performance

and will be independence when executing the job. Another example is the

acquisition which went wrong in 1994 was an idea led by Richard. His father, then

the CEO gave the freedom and independence for Richard to lead the way. Despite

the failure, it was a very high learning curve for Richard and Tim, now co-CEOs of

Smucker. As quoted rightly by Adam Osborne “The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake, you can’t learn anything from being perfect.” The then failure was the starting point for Smucker which lead to other numerous

acquisitions. From 1897 to date, Smucker has always placed people as their

number one priority. This is also proven with dedication and commitment from

Smucker in following human relations movement theories. With deep family value,

all employees are treated with a sense of belonging to the company.

Taylor made three key assumptions about human behaviour at work which man is

rationally economic and is concerned with maximizing money, people responds as a

group and people can be treated like machines in a standardized fashion. One of

Smucker’s five basic values which is People can be seen where Smucker uphold its

employees with deep family bonding feeling over the generations.

These five basic values have been guiding Smucker for more than a century and

are proven successful in fostering family bond which is a key tenet in Smucker

organization. A study has shown that only three percent of family-run businesses

will make it to the fourth generation, but Smucker beats the odds and by today it has

five of Smucker’s generation in the CEO lineage. In an interview with BusinessWeek

(2004), Richard and Tim explained how Smucker survived against the odds. There


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are three things that keep Smucker successful. First is that Smucker have a strong

independent board of directors, second is that they have strong religious faith and

third is that they have a strong matriarch in the family. These three reasons have

been inside individual Smuckers for five generations.


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Question 4: Leadership Read Case Study “Toyota’s Drive for Global Leadership” in Certo, pg. 377-378, and

answer all questions at end of case.

a. How would you describe Akio Toyoda’s leadership style? Explain.

[35 marks]

Akio Toyoda’s leadership style can best be described as a combination of a

transformational and entrepreneurial leadership. Transformational leadership is a

leadership that inspires the entire organization and affects the employee’s belief by

gathering their wills and encouraging employees to perform to their leader’s vision.

(Certo & Certo, 2006, pp 370) Transformational leaders motivate employees by

synchronizing the leader’s vision with their employees, pulling to the idea rather than

pushing it. Transformational leadership can also be related to showing of

charisma, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration with the

ability to bring changes in an organization. Transformational leader are often

required to turn around companies or to transform the entire organization for new

concept or strategy.

Toyoda has a high standard of moral and ethical conduct and is held by Toyota’s

employees in high regard exemplifying his charisma. He also has a strong vision for

the future and is always challenging Toyota’s norm by intellectual stimulation. This is

shown when he is set to abandon “kakushin” or “revolutionary change which is the

prior President's approach to redesigning plants and operations. He believes that

Toyota is over concentrating on high technology, superior but costly processes and

too excited in expanding the market and making decision with very few top

executives.

Toyoda is set to change this and to set Toyota for building reliable, practical,

affordable vehicles for the mainstream consumer. Toyoda believe that this is what

the consumer wanted and what he is determined to give. Toyoda has been known

to push Toyota’s global standing among other automobile competitors, taking Toyota

further than its Japanese roots and has been emphasizing styling and performance

in Toyota’s automobiles. This shows that Toyoda is willing to bring changes and is

willing to change the entire concept of the organization. Toyoda ensured that his

employees understand why the need of the changes exemplified his vision and

brings the corporation for change. Toyota employees embrace this and set for this

new vision of transforming Toyota.


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Entrepreneurial leadership is a leadership style that the leader acts as if he is self

employed. This leadership calls for strong leaders who act as if they are playing a

critical role in the organization. Entrepreneurial leadership has a strong urgency to

achieve and perform. Best described by (Oliver Cromwell, 1599 -1658), who once

remarked, “He who stops being better, stops being good.” Entrepreneurial leader

takes their own initiatives and makes their presence felt by the employees,

demonstrate creativity and consistently pursue new opportunities. Entrepreneurial

leader take risk and is always open for new ideas and provide direction to their

subordinate. Even if they fail, it will be used as a lesson learnt for future endeavors.

Toyoda is a strong believer of “genchi genbutsu” or “see it for yourself” which is a

Toyota’s key tenet meaning to get out of your desk and see the source of the

problem yourself. That’s exactly what Toyoda did when he visited a Toyota

dealership in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He wanted to personally investigate a pickup

truck recall. Toyoda made the trip so secret that even Toyota’s public relations staff

didn’t know he was there. While at the dealership, he reportedly got down on his

hands and knees to examine the undercarriage of a truck and getting dirty at it

(Micheline Maynard, 2009 New York Times). As John C Maxwell rightly put “A leader

is the one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” This fits

seamlessly into collaborative culture and methods.

He is also challenging old Japanese executive method where top Japanese

executives are rarely seen but he can be seen everywhere from office, at site, at

dealership shops and also even plants and loading docks. In his recent appointment

as President of Toyota in January this year, he announced that he would pop up

everywhere as he did in Ann Arbor. Toyoda also said that “I want to be president closest to the site,'' and “I'll try to make changes without being tied down by the past.”

Toyoda behave as if he is self employed. He could have easily used his power to

ask his subordinates to visit the sites but he prefers to see it himself. Toyoda

reflected how the role he is playing in the organization as very critical. This reflects

on his entrepreneurial leadership.

This shows how Toyoda is determined to bring changes to Toyota. One of his early

initiative and reform plans is also to revamp the entire senior management of Toyota.

He plans to change his four executive vice presidents and many of his 19 senior

managing directors. In bringing changes he will need followers that will assist him in


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influencing the grassroots and empower the employees to understand Toyoda’s

vision. The new appointed vice presidents and managing directors will aspire and

share the same vision like Toyoda and will be a great asset in helping him achieve

this vision of transforming Toyota again. Having committed to this new vision then

only his employees will be able to understand and aspire to achieve Toyoda’s vision.

This also fits into Toyoda’s transformational characteristics. Transformational

Leaders are always visible and will stand up rather than hide behind their troops.

They show by their attitudes and actions how everyone else should behave. They

also make continued efforts to motivate and rally their followers, constantly doing the

rounds, listening, soothing and enthusing. (Bass, B. M.,1985).

Taking the helm when Toyota announces first global sales drop in 10 years,

Toyoda is perfect for the job. Watanabe, his predecessor describes Toyoda as the

best person to lead as he can bring a new point of view (entrepreneurial) and has

the ability to act (transformational). Toyoda during his senior management tenure

in China played a vital role in completing the merger. The prior joint venture that he

had is troubled by a financial problem partner. Toyoda pushed for another partner

and by influencing the top management and government officials he completed the

merger. Toyoda behaved as if he is taking the risk that he will lose the whole

venture but will receive huge returns if one is made. Toyoda took the risk, played a critical role. Toyoda have a strong urgency to achieve and perform and he couldn’t

sit idle and watch the venture to collapse. Instead of waiting he took the risk and

made the profit. Managers with entrepreneurial leadership have a strong screen of

opportunity and have a high need for excellence (McClelland, 1983).

He also revamped the entire concept of how department heads can now report

directly to executive president and has successfully eliminated the long bureaucratic

process. The moves that Toyoda made really impacted on how things were done in

China. This proves how he positions himself in order to materialize Toyota’s

organization’s objectives which are a trait of a transformational and entrepreneurial leader.


20

b. Where on the continuum of leadership behaviour (Fig. 15-2) would you place

Yoshi Inaba, and why?

[30 marks]

In 1938, Lewin and Lippitt proposed classifications of leaders based on how much

involvement leaders placed into task and relationship needs. This range of

leadership behaviors was expressed along a continuum by Tannenbaum & Schmidt in 1973, ranging from boss-centered to subordinate-centered. The

furthest on one side is boss centered or dictatorial while the furthest on the other end

is subordinate centred or democractic. According to Certo & Certo (2006, pp 357),

this continuum ranges from full authority and decision making by the boss to full

freedom to subordinates. Generally, the continuum moves from dictatorial to

autocratic to a democratic leadership. In order to choose the most appropriate style

the leader must consider four factors which are forces in the manager, forces in the

subordinate, situation and time pressure.

Forces in the manager are about the belief the leader have in his employee’s

capabilities. The higher the confident level of the manager in his subordinates, the

higher the forces is.

Forces in the subordinate are about the level of subordinate’s capability and ability.

If the subordinate is capable, independent and is ready to make decision, then the

forces is higher.

Situation is about the environment that the organization, the leader and the

subordinate is in. Environment can play pivotal role to affect how the three

components interface and interact with each other.

Time factor is about the time limit the leader has to make the decision. If there is a

pressure for immediate decision it might mitigates against a more consensus

participation as this will take time and the leader usually will opt for singular decision.

The continuum gives advantage to the manager for a range of choice of

involvement with subordinates. It also allows the manager to have higher focus for

relevant criteria such as the forces and time. The manager can also emphasize

more effort for employee development and empowerment. However the continuum

theory is also limited that it only involves the initial step of assigning the task and not

the following processes which is usually the determining factor of its effectiveness. It

also does not count any social bonds or politics in office and the continuum is

simpler in theory rather than the complex reality.


21

Yoshi Inaba’s leadership behavior fits into subordinate-centered leadership based on

the Tannenbaum and Schmidt Leadership Continuum. Inaba is defined as a leader

that “Manager defines limits, ask the group to make a decision”. This was

shown when he first came to Toyota US Division and proclaims that he is very

concerned on instilling a bottom-line orientation where subordinates are highly

involved in decision making process. He took the unprecedented step and released

all profit and expense data to all U.S. sales personnel. This is not something that

other Japanese executive would ever do. He simply goes against the tradition and

proves that he has in him the ability to go against the current and make changes.

Sharing the data was done to instill the understanding to all the personnel on how

their actions will affect the financial performance of Toyota as a whole. Inaba hoped

that when the personnel understand and have a better conceptual view of the

organization, they will be more productive and will produce in the way that the

organization wanted and aspire (Certo & Certo 2006). The limit has already been

defines by Inaba as each executive is aware of their roles as sales executives but

however he inspired each sales executive by giving them the information of all profit

and expense data. By doing this, Inaba is defining the problem and is asking the group to make a decision on their day to day operations. The employees will have a

better room to give ideas to Inaba and will have a group decision making. However,

there is a danger that the subordinate might took that the manager intention is not genuine and the subordinate would just follow the manager ideas. In proving that

Inaba is genuinely asking his subordinate to get involved, that is why Inaba disclosed

all the expense and profit data to his employees and invites his employees to have a

more feeling of belonging with Toyota.

Inaba is a subordinate centered leader as he have complete faith in his

subordinate and expects them to contribute in the decision making process. This is

pivotal that majority of his decision come under Group Consult. He often gave

information to his employees and will ask for their feedback. This did not backfired

but instead gave Inaba more input from the grassroot level which is pivotal for his

managerial decisions. Under Inaba's leadership, Toyota U.S. profit increased

drastically and doubled which is a significant contribution to Toyota as a whole. This

accounted for up to 80 per cent of the company's global profits in recent years.

Employees under Inaba had well perceived that Inaba is a manager that is a

subordinate centred. Inaba has instilled a feeling of come forward to his employees.


22

There is also an instance where Inaba received feedback from his officials in U.S.

division to give discount to rental car companies that buy in volume. The employees

are willing to give feedback to Inaba as they are aware that Inaba will make decision

partnership with his employees. Inaba get the group together and go through all the

details. Data and information are brought in. Inaba is commited that sales are not

about volume but about return and profits and define that this is the limit. Having

understands these, the group engaged in a serious discussion within the boundary

that sales are about return and profits. Apparently the decisions to give discount to

rental car will only increases volume but not return and profits. After some further

investigation however, the group decided not to give away for discount. This decision

was only implemented after Inaba and his employees agree and arrive at the

decision. This inevitably shows that Inaba defines the limit and ask the group to

make a decision and fit into a subordinate centered continuum behavior where the

manager defines the limits and ask the group to make a decision.


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c. Do you think Fiedler’s position power, task structure, or leader-member

relations was the most important aspect of Gary Convis’s leadership at the

Georgetown plant?

[35 marks]

[TOTAL: 100 MARKS] The first comprehensive contingency model for leadership was developed by Fred Fiedler which is an expansion of the leadership flexibility theory. The Fiedler

contingency model proposes that effective group performance depends on the

proper match between the leader’s style (characteristic) and his position of power

and the demand of the situation. Fiedler considers situational control the extent to

which a leader can determine what his or her group is going to do to be the primary

contingency factor in determining the effectiveness of leader behavior (Fiedler and

Garcia 1987; Fiedler et al. 1994).

Fiedler divided into three primary factors which is to be considered when moving

leaders into situations appropriate for their leadership style which are leader-member

relations, task structure and position power. (Certo & Certo, 2006).

Looking at Fiedler’s contingency theory Convis fits into Octant number one where his

leader-member relations are strong, he manages in a structured task structure

and he has a strong position power. Leader member-relation is most fitting and most important to Gary Convis. Convis

has a high degree of confident that he is well accepted by his employees.

His management style is to lead by example and not to ask others to do what he will

not do himself which is an extension of the “genchi genbutsu” or “see it for yourself”

which is a key tenet at Toyota. Convis is very determined to catch up with Tsutsumi

factory in Japan which is currently the most effective and efficient manufacturing

plant of Toyota. Convis fits squarely in the manufacturing plant, he is well accepted

and everyone loves him.

His employees also love Convis as he is very easy to connect to. Employees can

knock his door anytime and despite his busy schedule he will always make time for

his employees. He also does not shy away from the manufacturing floor. He will

visit it whenever he can and that is why he connects well with workers. (Peggy

Ferris, 2000).

He was also quoted as saying this, “As you become global, you need to simplify

things as much as possible, because you're getting spread out, literally, from a core


24

where you have really dedicated knowledge among a small number of people. In

almost every facet of our manufacturing process, this kind of revolutionary thinking is

going on. We will draw from the expertise and experience of our Kentucky members

which I’m confident will deliver it to me.”

Nobody can blame Convis for having his level of confident; he is very well accepted

by his employees, and his dedication for people is overwhelming. Convis hopes to

help develop people who can practice the Toyota way in America and work to

support Toyota’s globalization and employee’s empowerment.

Convis also do coaching whenever he tries to give out instruction and orders. He is

always involved in all the daily activity and project at the Georgetown plant.

Furthermore, Convis is always accessible to the employees where he adopted the

open door policy. One of the employment security policy that Convis brought also

reinforces a new set of human relationships in which managers learn to respect their

employees. Convis said that this is a last horizon for managers to overcome.

Convis put it in his stride that his key concept is respect for the worker, for the team

member. He work with people, listen to them for their ideas and to work with them to

support theirs.

Almost eighty percent of NUUMI employees were taken from General Motors (GM)

laid-off employees but upon a survey which was conducted, 93 percent of the

workers said they will not go back to GM. This is contributed highly because of the

leader-membership and the different cultural style in Toyota.

All this outlines leader-membership relation for Convis is strong and is most important aspect of Convis’ leadership as he himself put it that his number one

priority is building trust over his people. Task structure is the degree to which the activity to be conducted is outlined,

briefed and explained clearly. In a typical manufacturing plant, all activities have a

high level of task structure. This is necessary as all job designs have been crafted

specifically for each employee. This is critical to ensure no redundancy and the

level of efficiency in the manufacturing plant is maintained. Convis is a strong

advocate of Toyota Production System (TPS) where it is comprised of two pillars

which is Just in Time and Jidoka. Jidoka outline to ensure a separation of between

human’s and machine’s scope of work. TPS is a very highly structured process and

its main objectives are to design overburden, inconsistency and wastage elimination.


25

TPS abhors that the right process will produce the right result. The MIT researchers

found that TPS is so effective that it coined it with the term “Lean Production” to

indicate the radically different approach and highly structured production. John

Davine, CEO of Dana is quoted as saying that “Gary is the leading experts in lean

manufacturing and management system and also including the TPS”.

Position power is determined by on how the leader has the power to reward or

punishes his employees. However, Convis do not believe in punishing his

employees but only believes in rewarding his employees; if an employee fails to

deliver, it is the processes which are wrongly setup and not the employee. He was quoted as saying “You listen to them, you work together. You don’t blame them. Maybe the process was not set up well, so it was easy to make mistake.” This put convis position of power as strong where he has the power

and control to punish or reward his employees. This is evident when he is appointed

as the President and no one of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky and have the

highest authority in the manufacturing plant. Choosing not to give punishment

does not indicate that he does not have the power to do so but instead shows that he

have the power to do so.

Convis contribution in Toyota at the Georgetown plant was well rewarded when he

become president of the manufacturing plant. He is the first American to serve in

the top spot at any of Toyota’s plant. When he got his promotion, his supervisor, Mr

Kan Higashi told him to manage as if he has no power. This was the very foundation

of his leadership.


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Question 5: Motivation

Ms Zee, MBA graduate from OUM, came home to manage her family business upon

the death of her father. She found the morale and productivity of the employees low

due much to the autocratic leadership of her father, who built the company from

scratch, and his long illness. Discuss how she could motivate the staff and get the

company going again. (Identify the type of business of the company, and cite

theories)

[TOTAL: 100 MARKS] According to Certo & Certo (2006, pp. 382), Motivation is the inner state that causes

an individual to perform and ensure the accomplishment of some objectives.

Motivation cannot be seen but it is inside everybody and it triggers the level of

performance / work output in achieving their objectives. The higher the motivation

levels the higher the result of the employee’s work output. Because the result of the

employee that counts, Motivating employees is of the number one priorities to

achieving organization’s objectives. Plainly put, understanding an employee’s need

is a key in order to nurture an individual’s motivation level and a good manager

needs to focus on this. Being able to understand one’s need and know how to

satisfy the need proves essential for a manager to motivate its employees.

Ms Zee’s family business is involved in the furniture business, manufacturing and

distributing to furniture companies around Johor and Selangor. The base of her

business is in Teluk Ramunia, Johor which is located approximately 130km from

Johor Bahru and 60km from Kota Tinggi the nearest town. Her father named the

business Lenthall. Lenthall has developed from a small two storey building company

to a big organization with a factory spanning 2 acres of land and employing more

than 70 workers.

Ms Zee’s father has no qualification and has risen from ground to become one of the

leading entrepreneurs in the furniture business in Johor. Her father’s autocratic leadership which depends on his authority and power as business owner limits his

effectiveness as a leader. Lenthall has stop flourishing for the past 5 years of its life

where the customer based is shrinking and the furniture design has not changed.

Ms Zee is convinced that with her MBA degree that she have, she can turn around

the company to embrace the new millennium with innovative and creative design.


27

She will combine both autocratic and democratic leadership as she does not want to

limit her effectiveness as a leader and a motivator using the Tannenbaum & Schmidt continuum. She is also confident that the employees that she has are

capable to help her achieve this by practicing the motivational and Influential skills

she learnt during her study.

The only stumbling block would be her father’s previous autocratic leadership which

has nullifies and blocked the innovative and self development of its employees.

Autocratic leadership is least desirable when building human relationship as one

person has control over all of the workers and no one is permitted to make any

suggestions or offer any opinion despite the fact that it may benefit the group. The

communication line is also one way where the leader tells you what to do and only

highlights the employee’s mistake.

Graham (1995) suggested that specific leadership styles motivate employees

differently and encourage specific sets of responses. Time is changing and she

needs to embrace and catch up with the new market demands for new furniture

design and concepts. Her father tends to ignore his employee’s input and ideas and

assume all his employees as mere followers and is unable to contribute ideas and

believe in Douglas McGregor’s Theory X where all assumptions are “bad”.

Ms Zee furniture business is divided into 5 divisions which is Administrative (Human

Resource & Finance), Procurement, Logistic & Distribution, Warehouse & Production

and Design & Engineering. Under her is 5 managers reporting directly to her and is

in charge of their own division.

Needs-Goal theory explains that motivation begins with an individual feeling a need.

This need will be the motivator in achieving the goal. This will continue until the

need is significantly reduced. (Certo & Certo, 2006)

Layman Porter and Edward Lawler developed a complex model called The Porter-

Lawler Theory of motivation which an extension from Equity and Expectancy theory.

The model suggested that there are five components that affect motivation: efforts,

perception, performance, reward and satisfaction. The employee will have an

expected value of a reward, and this will be followed by performance which will be

admitted by rewards, both intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic is rewards that is directly

from doing the task while extrinsic is reward which are extraneous to the task.


28

The need in Lenthall varies from different department and different layer of working

levels. Understanding of the Needs-Goal and Porter-Lawler thoery is vital for Ms

Zee in crafting the motivational requirement for each of her department.

She started with her Admin division as this department is in charge of providing

salary and basic needs to all her employees. She discussed with her admin

managerial team and using the Maslow theory she is trying to improve what Lenthall

can offer to its employees. Maslow explains that by satisfying the human

physiological needs, security and social needs in order of hierarchy will motivate an

employee. The higher the needs are satisfied the more motivated the employee

would be. The current benefit package seems to concentrate on extra monies if an

employee performs an overtime work. Ms Zee quickly realizes that this is only

beneficial to the direct labour which works in the warehouse. Her father satisfy

himself by seeing all his workers work until late of the night. Ms Zee disagree, she

prefers productivity over quantity of worked hours. Thus, the overtime pay rate is

reduced significantly while the basic rate is increased significantly for the direct

labours. Her finance presented her with the calculation and it is only 2% increase of

the total expenditure and Ms Zee quickly agrees. She is confident that this will prove

motivating and will provide her with a good result. The workers will inherently be

happy as they will be able to work less hours but will be receiving better pay. Ms

Zee also proposed for reward scheme to increase the productivity level of her

workers.

Ms Zee then discussed on relieving some of her authorities to her direct managers in

charge of the divisional department in order to provide self esteem and self-

actualization to its employees. Prior to this, all decisions are solely by her father.

This will provoke a long term motivator in her direct managers as suggested by

Maslow. The managers, having more authority at hand will definitely be getting the

job satisfaction and the feeling of appreciated and belonging to the company. The

managers need for power will definitely be satisfied as suggested by McClelland Acquired Needs Theory. She also introduces flextime for her employees where an outgoing permit concept is

implemented. All employees that have to go out during working hours will get an

outgoing permit and signature from their direct supervisor will be allowed a release of

2 hours. This will definitely be a bonus to the employees as they normally have to

take leave of one day to do some chores which only takes less than an hour to do


29

but have to be done on weekdays. The direct supervisor however will be

responsible to ensure that this is not abused. Douglas Fleuter concluded that

flextime will contribute to greater job satisfaction and productivity. Other research

also concluded that this will increase productivity.

Ms Zee then visited her procurement department. Previously all Lenthall sourcing is

done by direct negotiation with a supplier from Sarawak. She realizes that this is

financially a constraint and the prices are usually higher from the market value.

Furthermore, her design & engineering department usually have to compromise on

their requirement to accept whatever the sole supplier have to offer. This happened

as her father’s previous tie with the supplier is close bonding. Ms Zee decided to put

an end to this and introduce a competitive bidding strategy. She relieves her

authority and encourages her employees to be proactive in sourcing for suppliers

which could provide technically sound requirements as per design & engineering

request. By having this, Job enrichment is given to her Procurement department.

Besides doing the same thing over and over again their new Job Design will give

Lenthall’s procurement department more interesting work with options to visit

Lenthall’s future supplier. Job Enrichment as suggested by Herzberg is a process

of incorporating motivators into a job situation. Texas Instruments, Volvo, IBM,

MMTC and many others reported success in motivating organization members

through job enrichment program. Ms Zee also allows for job rotation for young

executives looking for promotion in her organization by completing rotation.

Ms Zee found out that Lenthall’s logistic & distribution division constitute mostly

workers with the age of 35 and above and are mostly with a family to support.

Lenthall have 8 lorry drivers and are working long hours every day. She decided to

employ an additional 3 employees to assist the existing task force. Despite the fact

that Lenthall is only supplying to Selangor and Johor will change as Ms Zee is

planning to expand Lenthall’s business cover the whole of Peninsular. She also

decided to increases the incentive if a destination requires more than 6 hours of

driving. This reward will surely have a positive reinforcement on her workers as their

need for cash and incentive is higher in order to provide for their family.

Ms Zee also decided to revamp her warehouse and production line. Previously one

worker will do the entire cycle of chain from cutting, fitting, assembling, polishing and

fittings the furniture. She decided to makes jobs simpler and specialized to

increase the productivity and turns the existing setup into a furniture assembly line.


30

However, a worker after a timeframe could be rotated to another position to evade

job boredom. Ms Zee understands wells that Job Design is one of the strategies

that a manager can use to motivate organization members.

One of the most important changes required in Lenthall is at Ms Zee’s design &

engineering department. Ms Zee introduced a new setup where custom made

furniture’s is constructed upon request from customers. She also encourages her

employees to be more creative by providing monetary incentives. If a design sells

well, the employee would be given incentive of one ringgit for furniture sold

(monetary incentives). Her father use to control all the design and this decreases the creativity level of her

employees and she decided to go away with it. All new design will be with limited

production and if proven to be a success she will increase the production line. With

this, new designs can be tested on the market and open the room for her employees

to be more creative.

Ms Zee knows that to motivate her employees, she will keep five specific principles

of human motivation:

1. Felt needs motivates the behavior in satisfying the needs

2. Degree of motivation is determined by individual perceived value and

probability of the result of the behavior

3. Perceived value of a reward is determined by both intrinsic and extrinsic

rewards that result in need satisfied and is a motivational factor

4. Individuals can only accomplish a task if they understand what the task

requires and have the ability to perform the task and will feel motivated

5. The perceived fairness of a reward influences the degree of satisfaction

generated when the reward is received

(Certo & Certo, 2006)

On an overall basis, Ms Zee has given a new breath of air for Lenthall. Her

employees are all capable and have been working in Teluk Ramunia for years.

Citing Argyri’s maturity-immaturity continuum Ms Zee need to utilize the fact that

her subordinate is well ready and is aspired to occupy better position with more room

for power and self decision. Argyri’s maturity-immaturity concluded that as

individual mature they will have increasing needs, behave in different ways, have

deeper and lasting interest and is more willing to take control over their own destiny

like from an infant growing to be a full adult.


31

In her inauguration speech, she made it clear to all the employees that she is

dedicated and committed to bring change to the company and to embrace the future.

She proclaims that the time has come for a change and will need the full

commitment from each employee.

Quoting Victor Hugo dictum that “Greater than the tread of mighty armies is an idea

whose time has come", Ms Zee is set to transform her company and motivate its

employees. Within a year, Ms Zee successfully doubled her company’s income,

minimizes expenses and expanded throughout Peninsular of Malaysia and also

Sabah & Sarawak.


32

Question 6: Control The examination performance of your private secondary school has been declining

for the past few years. Discuss the controlling process to make it a high quality

institution.

[TOTAL: 100 MARKS] Private secondary schools is defined as independent schools which is not

administered by the government, state or federal level and have the right to select

their own student. It is funded by charging their students with tuition fees. The fees

are usually high but however because of its performance, parents with better income

choose to send their children to private schools rather than government schools. In

this case we will visit Al-Amin a private secondary school established in 1991. For

the past few years the numbers of students who scored above 5 As for Penilaian

Menengah Rendah (PMR) and 5 As for Sijil Peperiksaan Malaysia (SPM) has

declined and the average grades for all subject has also dropped.

Control is one of the four basic managements functions namely planning,

organizing, control and influencing. Control is defined as making something happen

the way it was planned to happen (Certo & Certo, 2006). Planning and control is

said to be the Siamese twins of management. This is because without planning

control ability and process is impaired. Planning and control is inseparable because

planning set the organizational objectives and controls exerts measures and ensure

that the organizational objectives are achieved as per plan. Murphy Law states that

anything wrong will go wrong. A well operated system does not mean it does not

have any flaws. This put high alarm on managers to ensure that measurement of

performance and corrective action is done continuously to ensure its continuous

performance.

Controlling is defined as the process which is required to be executed in order for

control to be effective. The control process involves carefully collecting information

about a system, process, person, or group of people in order to make necessary

decisions. According to EFL Breach, Control is checking current performance

against pre-determined standards contained in the plans, with a view to ensure

adequate progress and satisfactory performance.


33

Managers set up control systems that consist of four key steps. Further explanation

follows:

Establish standards to measure performance. Managers are required to define

specific goal to be achieved. Performing above the standards will be excellent and

below standard will be poor. Achieving the standard will be categorized as good.

The examination performance of Al-Amin has been declining for the past few years.

A private secondary school performance is measured by its examination result. The

number of ‘A’s achieved by its student during the critical examination of PMR and

SPM reflects highly on the school’s academic achievement. Its average grade

attained by its student is also a form of measurement. A standard of continuous

improvement is required to facilitate continuous improvement and to overtake other

competitors. The target set for the first year is to improve a minimum of 10% from

the previous year’s performance.

Measure actual performance. Many organizations have formal reports, monthly,

quarterly and annual reports to indicate the current performance measurement that

management will review regularly. These measurements should be inter-related with

the standard set as target. Al-Amin will measure its standard by the examination

performance of its students measuring a number of ‘A’s achieved and the average

grades acquired. A key performance indicator (KPI) will also need to be setup to

measure these performances. For the year, Al-Amin performance for PMR is 20%

above 5 ‘A’s and for SPM is 16% above 5 ‘A’s and the average grade is B- and at 64

points.

Compare performance with the standards. This step involves comparing the

actual performance to the standards that has already been setup. With statistical

figure and a quantifiable measurement this can be easily compared. The current

performance requires and additional 10% of improvement for Al-Amin to achieve the

standard for the year. This will be carried forward for the next year as Al-Amin policy

for continuous improvement in academic excellence.

Take corrective actions. When performance has a variation from the standard,

management must decide what changes need to be implemented. In education

system that is examination centric, the score and grades will be the determining

factors of the student’s and the school’s performance. In order for Al-Amin to

improve, there are corrective actions need to be taken which Al-Amin seems to be


34

lacking at which is discipline, teacher’s qualification, the class size, structure of the

homework and the selection of student in every year’s intake.

Discipline is a critical set of value in a person which is important for a student. If a

student is discipline, he will follow a set of conduct outlines by the school or the

regulation in his surrounding. Al-Amin needs to step up on disciplining the students

as part of their education philosophy. Al-Amin should introduce a set of punishment

for minor infringement such as withdrawal of priviliges, community service or

detention in school. Students are also encouraged to speak up in classes but in a

polite manner and relationship between students and teachers will need to be

nurtured to improve the environment of education in Al-Amin.

Teacher’s qualification and quality plays a pivotal role in the performance of the

teacher. Previously Al-Amin even hires SPM leavers with teaching experience.

These teachers however could not cope and provide to the quality requirement. For

a private secondary school teachers should have a minimum degree in education or

degree in technical or science matters depending on the subject taught. Continuous

training and teacher’s improvement will also now be one of Al-Amin organizational

objectives. Teacher are encouraged to further study and includes attending Ministry

of Education sanctioned Degree or Master’s courses. Having the correct qualified

teacher is important as noted by Henry Brooks Adams “A teacher affects eternity; he

can never tell where his influence stops.” Teacher quality can be improved with

experience and self development program initiated by Al-Amin. A journal by Jennifer

Buckingham, 2004 on Class Size and Teacher Quality explained that the teacher’s

quality plays a significant pivotal role in academic excellence of the students and

even the interaction level of the students and plays a major role of the students

growth academically and even personal life development.

Class size plays a role in the relationship, focus and the quality of teaching

environment. If a class is too big, this will be more difficult to achieve. Al-Amin need

minimize its class size from the previous 35 students to a maximum of 25 students.

This will ensure more focus from the teacher to the students is obtained. Teacher

will have difficulties in teaching big classes and students will get less focus if the

class size is too big. Positive outcomes were found for small classes where the

small classes have superior academic outcomes (Center of School Assessment,

1986; Chase, Mueller & Walden)


35

Homework is previously in the hands of the teachers and there is no set of rules to

follow. Homework that is given to the students need to be in a structured manner

and is related to the course and syllabus and also encourages the students to have a

self learning. If the homework is given in an interactive and attractive manner, the

likelihood of the student doing the homework without the feeling of exerted pressure

in meeting the deadline will be less and the result will increase dramatically. A

homework that is issued without added value will prove only as burdensome to the

students and the students might choose to ignore it.

Selection of students is pivotal in a private secondary school. The number of

applicants for Al-Amin for first year intake is more than 500 every year as opposed to

the existing seats of 140. A good selection of students by having an aptitude test

and selecting Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) performers will be a good

indication that the student will continue to excel. Previously Al-Amin do not have any

aptitude test but only depends on the UPSR result which at sometimes might not

reflect the actual capability of the student at the point of intake.

This proposed corrective measure is among the steps Al-Amin can take to ensure a

continuous improvement in Al-Amin examination performance and improving the

quality of its students.

An organization such Al-Amin which needs to improve on its quality standards need

to have three types of management control which is pre-control, concurrent control

and feedback control.

Pre-control as its name is a control before the work is being performed. This is also

known as feed-forward control and steering control. Plainly put, a pre-control is a set

of rules placed and aim at eliminating predicted problems. As explained before Al-

Amin needs to have a more stringent set of rules in selecting its first batch of

students. An aptitude test will be very helpful in order for the teachers to be able to

select the most potential from the big pool of applicants. Al-Amin also needs to

employ qualified and experience teachers which can assist Al-Amin to produce

better examination results.

Concurrent control takes place as the work is being performed. This involves

regulating the ongoing activities and ensures that they conform to organizational

standards. This control is designed to ensure that employee work activities that

produce results. Al-Amin has various methods of measuring the student performance

from first year intake until their final SPM examination. Homework and assignments


36

are given for every subject following the course guide. There are monthly examination, middle of the year and final examination. Each of this assignment

and examination will serve as a benchmark where the teacher could assess the

student’s performance. There is a syllabus for each course, which states the goals

for the course. In addition, there are grading criteria for each course too and which

the teachers will use as target and benchmark for the student’s development.

Remedial classes will be held for weak students and under performers and also for

the teachers. Among other controls which Al-Amin will exert to improve the quality is

by having personal guidance by counselors setup by Al-Amin to assist problematic

students. This will improve the psychological being of the students and assist

student to study better. Regular assignments will also be hand out with proper

explanation and follow up by the teachers. By doing the assignment the students will

refer to the syllabus and the course guide and will unconsciously trigger the students

to study. A learning environment that is conducive are also important in order for the

teachers to ensure that the best of quality teaching is given to the students. This

also includes upgrades of infrastructures at the labs and the school library. More

books coverage to be increased by the schools to cater more extra readings for the

students. As Sir Richard Steele correctly quote “Reading is to the mind what

exercise is to the body.” Parents program are also setup to get feedback from the

parents and the students will also be encouraged to give feedback to the school with

regards to anything from the teacher’s teaching skills to the infrastructure issues

such as a non working toilet. Extra curricular activities will also be improved to

attract students feel at home effort and nurture the student cohesiveness and self

development.

Feedback control or post control is a control that reflects on past performance of

the organization. In order to exercise this control management needs to look at the

history of the organization over a period of time. There are times however that post

control is the only viable control. Al-Amin using the KPI will have a good benchmark to monitor the student’s performance. As the students move from first

year to second year and so on, a graphical and statistical formal report of the

students can be generated. With this the student weak points can be identified and

using remedial classes, counselors and also motivational programs this will

improve the post control.


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Having outlined all of the controlling process and the types of control how do Al-Amin

ensure that the controlling will be successful? Al-Amin needs to ensure that the correct organizational activities are being focused on. The standard set is in achieving better examination result, thus good structured

assignment, homeworks and exam should be the focus and also the improving of

teaching and quality of education in Al-Amin to be priority number one. The

corrective actions that have been outlined must be done in a timely correct manner. If the corrective action is not promptly the action which is to be corrected

might have aggravated into a bigger problem or the remedial actions cease to be

valid. Communication is equally important to ensure the success of controls. In

short, for control to be successful all participants, teachers, students, parents and the

management must have the understanding and working knowledge of how the

control process operates.

After the implementation of the controlling process for a year, Al-Amin performance

has risen for PMR to 32% above 5 ‘A’s and for SPM is 28% above 5 ‘A’s and the

average grade is B and at 69 points.


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REFERENCE

1. Certo, S & Certo T (2006) Modern Management 10e, Pearson Prentice Hall. 2. Henry S. Dennison, Elton Mayo (2006) Management & Organizational

History 3. Emil Paun and Anca Nedelcu , Management Of Adult Education Institutions,

University of Bucharest (2003) 4. Entrialgo, Montserrat, Fermandez, Estaban & Vazquez, Camilo (2000).

Characteristics of Managers as Determinants of Entrepreneurial Orientation, Enterprise & Innovation Management Studies

5. Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectation. New York: Free Press.

6. Brown Cartwright S., and Cooper, C. (1992). Mergers and Acquisitions: The

Human Factor. Oxford, England: Butterworth Heinemann.

anas alam faizli, master of proj mgmt: assignment organizational business and management, bmom5203

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