Lecture 1 - Introduction & Management, Theory, Analysis Definitions
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
12:51 PM
Introduction to the course
Toivo Lepp - for support with signing up - toivo.lepp@sbs.su.se
Before the seminar:
1. Read required literature + example (not needed to put it in writing) - all info in the Study Guide
2. Structure:
a. Discussion - about the examples
b. Team work - with case studies (on Athena)
c. Team presentations
After the seminar:
1. 1000 word essay as team assignment (details in the Seminar instructions) - Deadline: 72 hours after the seminar
a. Each is 10%
b. Analytical, applying theory to case study, describing the solution
c. 1 person per group uploads it
d. Title page with all names, what each of us has contributed to the essay - shortly
2. Individual essay - 2000 words - at the end of the course - Deadline: 28th of September 23.59
a. 70%
Main part
Management
- Hard to define - dealing with chaos, including a lot of things (communication, organization, leadership, etc.), many definitions
- Deserves more scrutiny
- Many definitions:
○ first used for leading a horse
○ modern manager - is not hands-on, shift in status
○ As coping with things
○ As an occupational group - getting things done through people
○ As the coordination and control of large-scale corporations - as a structure => applies strict DIVISION OF LABOUR
○ As a body of knowledge - practical and theoretical, as academic discipline in 1908
- 1850s birth of modern management - due to communication and transportation innovations - whole corporation with self-acting entities
Theory
- Theory as prediction - what could happen in the future, hypothesis-testing, but does not say WHY
- Theory as interpretation - why is something happening now
Analysis
- The task of reflection,
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Lecture 2 - Knowledge and Paradigms
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
10:59 AM
Scientific Paradigms
- Conventional understanding of science: linear, unified, cumulative over time - more and more truth, objective (incontestable) - Thomas Kuhn does not agree
- Scientific Paradigm
○ better way of thinking about science, accepted model of science in a given historical period
○ Shared assumption about object, method, and aim of research
○ Paradigm shift - paradigm is a set of principles that change over time (so not accumulating) - radical transformations, scientists radically rethinking everything they thought they know
▪ e.g. Geocentric and Heliocentric Theory
Sociological paradigms
- Every research in one of 4 paradigms:
a. Functionalism
b. Interpretivism
c. Radical Humanism
d. Radical Structuralism
Mutual exclusivity between the 4 paradigms - self-sustaining view of the social world
- 2 philosophies of science
○ Objective (quantitative data, hardcore facts, rules defining the world around us, incontrovertible, measure, compare, quantify data that is already out there to FIND it)
○ Subjective - interviews, observations, softer side
- 2 theories of society (sociologies) ○ Regulation - how org remain entities, how do they remain stable over time, solving practical problems in order for them to work well, be effective and satisfied with their tasks
○ Radical change - conflict, chaos everywhere, contradiction - free us from oppressive structures, to liberate us from exploitation, they DO NOT want to help managers, want to shake
things up, they are on the side of the works and want to challenge managerial power
Most theories in the objective, regulation square (functionalism is the dominant paradigm)
- Hassad's Research of 4 paradigms in the fire department
○ Start: Functionalist
○ Interpretivist - human relationships and feelings in the center
○ Radical Humanism - (subjective) - brainwashing the free minds to make them slaves of the organization - reinforces authority structure, something oppressive going on
Morgan citations:
Indeed, the bulk of it is located within the context of a relatively narrow range of theoretical possibilities which define that one paradigm. it is no exaggeration, therefore, to suggest that the socialscientific enterprise in general is built upon an extremely narrow set of metatheoretical assumptions. This concentration of effort in a relatively narrow area defines what is usually regarded as the
domimmt orthodoxy within a subject. Because this orthodoxy is so dominant and strong, its adherents often take it for granted as right and self-evident.
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Examples - Seminar 1
Sunday, September 4, 2022
8:55 PM
Example Radical Humanism: HUSTLE CULTURE
Individual consciousness dominated by the powerful players in a society - preferred values of the dominant class, subordinate positions => overthrowing these beliefs, emancipation, free us by freeing
the mind
--> How does hustle culture influence our mental health and does it lead to unhelpful ways of thinking and can it be a reason for burnout?
Example Radical Structuralism: AGILE WORKING - SCRUM
Unequal power arrangement by the objective realities, structure that makes unequal power arrangements, change policies, laws, etc.
Change the ways companies are structured => participation orientation, where the value of participants is more equal and everyone's opinion matters
Ontology
Nominalism - revolves around the assumption that the social world external to individual cognition is made up off nothing more than names, concepts and labels which are used to structure reality.
The nominalist does not admit to there being any 'real' structure to the world which these concepts are used to describe.
Realism - the social world external to individual cognition is a real world made up of hard, tangible and relatively immutable structures.
Epistemology
Anti-positivism - For the anti-positivist. the social world is essentially relativistic and can only be understood ffmm the point of view of the individuals who IlIre directly ill1lvolved in the activities which
are to be studied.
Positivism - Searching for regularities and causal relationships between its constituent dements
Human Nature
Voluntarism - man is completely autonomous and free-willed.
Determinism - regards man and his activities as being completely determined by the situation or 'environment' in which he is located.
Methodology
Ideographic - analysis of the subjective accounts which one generates by 'getting inside' situations and involving oneself in the everyday flow of life
Nomothetic - basing research upon systematic protocol and technique. It is epitomised in the approach and methods employed in the natural sciences, which focus upon the process of testing
hypotheses in accordance with the canons ofscientific rigour
Nature of Society
The Order-Conflict Debate - distinguish between those approaches to sociology which concentrated upon e)(plaining the nature of social order and equilibrium on the one hand, and those which were
more concerned with problems of change, conflict and coercion in social structures on the other
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Seminar 1
Monday, September 5, 2022
10:01 AM
Team exercise
Funding body - external to McDonalds
Group: Functionalism
Focus: EMPLOYEES
Possible object: job satisfaction, career prospects, pay, health of employees
1. Theoretical assumptions: pragmatic, focus on problem-solving in a stable, regulized world, how to regulate companies in a way that they function better and are more efficient
Reality exists out there, not in our consciousness, needs to be discovered using quantitative methods, statisics, hypothesis-testing
2. Research Question - What is the rate of work-related physical injuries of employees in McDonald's franchises?
3. Object of inquiry - Physical injuries - burn wounds, wounds from confrontation with customers, injuries from the use of equipment, confrontation with colleagues
4. Methods - questionnaire - have you got injuries at work, how have you gotten these injuries, how many times, what were the injuries
5. Likely outcome - Maybe McDonalds will turn out to be not an entirely safe place to work due to higher rate of injuries caused by understaffing, lack of training, too much workload and lack of
security from problematic customers (like protected shields, panic buttons etc.
6. Limitations - cannot be sure if the injuries are not caused by an accident and McDonalds is not at fault, expected high turnover - new workers => new participants; only one year
7. Value - improve the work environment and the job safety of employees, with concrete suggestions for improvement, insights that may be valuable for other chains in the same industry => maybe
possibility of increased job satisfaction, lower turnover rate
Add:
Concrete examples for improvement - e.g. policies - Mariyana
How the company benefits? - Chen
Why is the functionalism the best way? -
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Lecture 3 - Management Practices
Thursday, September 8, 2022
3:01 PM
Frederick Taylor
1. Father of modern management
2. Scientific observation => best way to do a simple, no-managerial specific tasks, hire appropriate people and train them for this one thing
3. What was radical and revolutionary? - (See traditional division below)
a. Ordinary Management (the traditional way of management in his time)
i. Supervisor who lets the workers do the work the way they see fit
ii. Traditional knowledge handed down from man to man by WOM, generation to generation
iii. According to Taylor this is not the most efficient, productive way possible
iv. Lack of knowledge is the biggest weakness of the management
b. Scientific Management (what he wants to do)
i. Gathering all traditional knowledge, takes it from the workers and classifies it to rules, laws and formulas that can be applied
ii. Management plans every task and assigns them to the workers, everything is planned out
iii. Tasks systematization and standardize everything
iv. Reducing costs by hiring cheaper workers that are less qualified
v. Prescribes a future where everyone is better off, managers and workers will both be happy - more productivity, more money for everyone
Way of convincing - promising more money and threating them to lose their job
The example he gives is low skilled work (pig-iron handling) due to the simplicity it would be easier to show the main principles of his scientific management, basically e ven the simplest of tasks
can be improved with his ideas
Taylorism deeply embedded into our working lives that it is perceived as an universal technique, can be applied according to him in all social activities (farms, churches, universities, homes,
government, etc.)
Traditional division of labor - skilled craft workers - persistence of skilled craft work until late 19th century
- Each worker complete control over his own production process, control the body of expertise, access to the whole body of kno wledge
- Each worker completes the whole production process himself - all distinct operations
- Each worker does not have managerial supervision, managing their own schedule
Capital division of labor => unskilled factory workers (Draft of the Taylorism)
- One worker for each distinct operation => way higher production
- At cost for the worker - no longer power of the knowledge and schedule, single activity daily;
- Persistence of skilled craft work until late 19th century - needed for innovation of products
- Owners did not understand the process, so managers had no control over the process, salaries, and the work itself (According to Tylor this was a problem, since everything was in the
hands of the skilled workers)
Elton Mayo - human relations
Hawthorne effect - if you are being monitored you change your behavior (and perform better)
1. The father of humanistic management
2. Deemphasizes financial incentives, emphasis on feeling of belonging, community, social relations as more important than wages , behavioral complexities of people with diverse needs
3. Hawthorne experiments
a. Western Electric Company
b. Hypothesis - more illumination => higher productivity
c. Little or no correlation => further research needed
d. Next step - isolate 6 workers in separate lab with controlled conditions => everything led to more productivity (incl. going back to the old conditions)
e. Mayo's interpretation => correlation due to environmental change, the six girls felt recognized, special, they created a bond, felt a belonging to this social group, were recognized
by their supervisors => KEY TO PRODUCTIVITY - TEMWORK AND COOPERATION, NOT MONEY
Mayo's times - Taylor has died, brutal forms of work created by him => work rebellion, strikes, sabotages, Bolshevik revolution in Russia
According to Mayo - industrial unrest not caused by dissatisfaction with wages and conditions, but due to mental uncontrol - feeling of meaninglessness because of the repetitive, simple tasks,
not seeing their contribution, the bigger picture, do not see what they are contributing to the world economy, problematic ch ildhood of agitators
How to fix this according to Mayo?
1. Pathologize the worker
2. Develop administrative elite - democracy exaggerates the irrational in man, antidemocrat (not everyone should have a voice because this leads to chaos)
Harry Braverman
1. Marxist theorist of work (radical structuralism)
2. Critique of Taylor and Mayo (way to further adapt the worker to these awful work conditions)
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Examples - Seminar 2
Sunday, September 11, 2022
6:17 PM
Examples Taylorism:
Henry Ford (the assembly line)
Amazon (digital Taylorism)
"culture of metrics"
Examples Mayo:
Team building events, in SCRUM - the beginning of each retro with Ice Breaker games
Emphasis in school on teamwork
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Lecture 4 - Bureaucracy and its discontents
Thursday, September 15, 2022
1:02 PM
Early concerns (Taylor and Mayo) - how to prevent the work force from disobeying
Focus on management as the coordination and control of large scale corporations
Usually bureaucracy associated with negative words - slow, inconvenient, unpleasant, etc.
Max Weber - theorist of bureaucracy
1. He was not a management thinker, left-wing politics, interested in describing society and the way it is organized
2. Three types of legitimate authorities:
a. Traditional authority (kings, queens) - passed by family
b. Charismatic authority (prophets, spiritual leaders) - magic, spell, inspiration
c. Rational-legal authority (middle management, state bureaucrats) - based on means end calculus, depends on who you know, how well you perform, etc., hierarchy, decisions based on data,
objective, technical, quantitative values => DOMINANT => Bureaucracy is the best expression of this authority
1 and 2 are based on beliefs and feelings, substantive values
3 is based on formal rationality - simply more effective than the others
Bureaucratic org. - technical superiority to any other form of organization - optimum point
Bureaucracy performs best when it is dehumanized to escape irrationality
Zygmunt Bauman - Modernity and the Holocaust
Modernity = large scale bureaucracies, vertical divisions of labor, scientific efficiency and rationality - puts a question mark on all of them
1. Holocaust as a failure of modern civilization - social theory of malfunction
2. Holocaust as a product of modern civilization - social theory of normality
Holocaust falls in the social theory of normality since it is in line with the organizational forms of modern civilization
Something specific in bureaucracy allowed the Holocaust to happen => ethical indifference, "moral sleeping pills"
○ Hierarchical and functional division of labor - not aware of the outcome of our activities, told what to do and simply perform without thinking about consequences, the person does not
know what is happening with the product at the end (the signed piece of paper for example)
○ Substitution of technical for moral responsibility - any more judgement is absent from the equation, judge solely according to the technical side of our task, to be a disciplined, good work
is prioritized, no questions of ethics and morality, since the ability to be efficient is what you are evaluated on
○ Dehumanization of bureaucratic objects - everyone is equalized under the same objective calculus
!Formal rationality supersedes substantive rationality - replacement of shared rage with obedience to authority - racism is not even needed in order for the murders to happen and people to take
part in it
!Bureaucracy can achieve unthinkable cruelty without relying on the fears, violence and aggressive impulses of the people involved
Milgram experiments as a good example of these moral sleeping pills
"Each individual has conscience which restrains us from destructive impulses to others , but when in a societal organization, a new creature replaces the autonomous person, unhindered by
limitations of individual morality, mindful only of the sanctions of authority."
Bauman's ethics of proximity - The closer we are to someone we are causing pain to, the less likely it that we will follow orders to do something to this person
Du Gays's criticism - allowing personal moral enthusiasms to override their professional obligations is not moral
Paul Du Gay - in praise of bureaucracy
1. Most detailed criticism of Bauman
2. Bauman only focuses on the bad sides of bureaucracy, does not mention the set of principles
3. Bureaucracy as a moral achievement - put aside personal biases and prejudices - everyone should be treated equally and fairly no matter what the personal opinion is - everyone should be
serviced, blind to differences in wealth, status, etc.
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Lecture 5 - The end of management?
Friday, September 16, 2022
1:03 PM
- Modern Times (1936) - tight supervision, intensity, time managed, surveillance, has no idea what the end product is maybe
- The Circle (2017) - social activities, qualities of the worker valued, you can be yourself here, can pursue hobbies and activities, know what thecompany does, what is its vision and strategy, May
knows very well what the product will do, biggest fear - unfulfilled potential
Three epochs of management:
1. Scientific management - Taylor
2. Human relations - Mayo
3. Enterprise culture - Tom Peters
a. direct management is in the background
b. more responsibility and freedom for each individual
c. Culture, passion, authenticity are valued and should be used in the work
d. Management wants happy, vibrant, passionate workers
e. Suggests there is a shift in the role of management - primary task is not control and supervision, rather empower and inspire them, activate the inner life of employees
Tom Peters
1. The most prominent management thinker in the last 40 years
2. Started as a McKinsey consultant
3. The enterprise culture - Skepticism towards bureaucracy - "develop passionate and public hatred of bureaucracy" - it is oppressive, controlling, inefficient, inflexible rule-bound organizations do
not get the job done, suppress innovation and creativity, do not allow employees to flourish
4. The enterprising self - employees should not think of themselves like their formal job titles rather everyone is a CEO of themselves - act selfish, promote yourself, grow yourself, to get the market
to reward you, freedom is unleashed in the work place; trade-off since now the responsibility is in the employee's hands - it is not the management task to think about them and promoting them
etc., it is now on their own shoulders, the CV is like a marketing brochure (free agency lesson), synergy since what is good for you is good for the company, the organization will not take care of
you, you have to
5. From employee to 'entreployee'
a. Exercise control over the labor process
b. Market your special abilities
c. Orientate your life towards work
Check the freedom website - productivity app
Gary Becker
1. Neoliberal economics and the theory of human capital - our lives are a commercial project to increase our human capital, think of ourselves in terms of capital
2. Wages as the return on investment in human capital - not as labor (because behind labor there is a human being with their own motivations, fully active economic subjects, have the ability to
make rationally informed judgements about investing their own capital, by investing in human capital we can increase it)
3. Each worker is an enterprise of themselves
Margaret Thatcher
1. Enterprise culture and politics - this is what makes her such a divisive figure
2. She wanted to change the fabric of British society, aimed to transform UK into an enterprise culture, to emphasize the valuesof individual responsibility, boldness, risk-taking, to cultivate an
entrepreneurial spirit, transform individuals themselves, to make them think of themselves as many mini business enterprises on micro and macro level (state)
3. Exercise free choice in order to reshape the whole way of management around entrepreneurial principles
4. Imagery of a free market, most important is the freedom of choice
5. Neoliberalism and the free market - traditionally you get benefits when you are unemployed (it was not your fault), but in neoliberalism - you can turn yourself into an active job seeker transformed into an enterprise activity;
6. If you are sick or do not have education - this is the consequence of a rational decision (everyone has the same opportunity), it is your responsibility, not the state's
Criticism - human beings cannot do everything rationally and take the right decisions all the time, and determine right where to invest t heir resources, we are too lazy to evaluate all the information
available…
=>
Thaler & Sunstein
1. Behavioral economics - taking into account all the psychological quirks of human beings, problem of neoliberal economics - not the aim, but the lack of realistic picture of human behavior
a. System 1 thinking (fast, intuitive)
b. System 2 thinking (slow, rational) - cannot be here all the time
2. People are imperfect economic agents, sometimes we make extremely fast irrational decisions, we rely on trusted brands, convenient choices without taking into account all information available
3. Still, there is hope to deploy nudges, a way to make us more rational, more perfect economic agents by modifying our behavior, while still keeping our freedom to choose
4. Nudging is a way of altering behavior without changing economic incentives and without prohibiting any options, we need to be gently encouraged to make the right decisions
5. Examples - packaging of cigarettes (warning symbols)
6. People who shape the nudges - choice architects
7. Management nudging (Elbert and Freibichler) - to influence the unconscious behavior of employees in line with the objectives of the organization, to optimize fast thinking;
a. Example: make all meetings 30min, meetings will again overrun, but they seem short so people are encouraged to be more productive
b. Example: Google providing healthy food options in the canteen
c. Example: Lower speed limits - people will still drive faster but not as fast if the limit was higher
8. Behavioral ethics (Gino) - design the workplace to minimize the risk of employees' misconduct, without setting guidelines and rules, only by subtly discouraging, without removing the freedom to
commit unethical behavior
a. Example: Give an ethical form to sign when reporting work travel expenses
b. Example: pilots using less fuel in Virgin Atlantic due to behavioral science by giving them a report of how much fuel they needed during their flights
c. Criticism: How effective is nudging? Wh ere are its limits?
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Lecture 6 - Essay Instructions
Thursday, September 22, 2022
1:01 PM
Learning Outcomes: They are three (see slides) and the emphasis in the essay should be on them
Essay via Plans -> Individual written assignment
More details in the Study guide
Traditional Structure:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Introduction
Literature section
Analysis and discussion
Conclusion
Reference list
See Harvard's advice on writing an essay
!Course evaluation reminder!
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