Tracy Hanzal
Dr. Thomas Hall
ED 730
Organizational Theory in Action
There are many theories that explain the structure of an organization. In this paper, I will discuss classical organizational theory and human relations organizational theory.
Classical organizational theory applies basic ideas from administrative management and scientific management. In classical organizational theory, there is “one best way” to perform a task. Smith (2004) created a division of labor to improve production which provided economic rationale for the factory system. He used the example of a pin factory, where one worker could make one pin a day, but dividing the work into a number of trades, would be able to increase the number of pins made in a day. In my work environment, the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch
(DBGR), this theory could probably apply to the fact that there are several departments working on different programs for the same clients. My workplace utilizes the division of labor aspect, not so much with making a product, but instead working with people. Taylor (1987) introduced the idea of scientific management. Scientific management focuses on the management of work and workers. He replaced the traditional methods of work accomplishments with scientific methods of measuring and managing individual work elements. Taylor used four principles to describe the duties management is responsible; time and motion study, development, incentive, and redevising of the work. I think this theory applies to DBGR because we have many departments, and each of those departments are required to manage common duties, such as

employee schedules, budget, documentation of residents, and others. It is up to the management of the whole organization to make sure these departments have employees trained to properly do these duties as well as trained for department specific duties. Fayol (2011) applied general principles of management for organizations to become sound and have good working order.
This will depend on a certain number of conditions and circumstances in the organization. The principles of management Fayol applied include division or work, authority, discipline, unity of command, subordination, scalar chain (supervisors), and order. This management style created a line of authority beginning with the highest level member of an organization stepping down to the lowest level member of the organization. This theory is very common in any organization, especially DBGR. We have a President at the top of our management tree, we then break down to three Vice Presidents, each oversee several large departments. Under the Vice Presidents, there are program (department) managers, then one level under the program managers are the coordinators. Each coordinator is then responsible for the scheduling, hiring, and supervising daily duties with the residents. To put it into educational perspective, the Director of Education at DBGR is considered a program manager. The principals are then considered a coordinator who supervises the teachers. Weber (2011) also contributed to management. Weber wrote about the characteristics of bureaucracy. Bureaucracy is a structured method of organization that distributes duties in a stable way to ensure highly qualified decisions made with a fixed amount of resources.
Human relations organizational theory concentrates on the abilities of what a leader can do and not as much the duties of the leader or management position. Follett (1987) discussed in managed industries, the duties of leadership seems to be more important than what kind of person the leader in the position is. Follett urges the idea that leadership can be learned. In some

situations, a person that is the leader in a group of friends, actually may have no leadership skills and never creates an opportunity in their jobs to move up into a leadership position. I agree entirely with Follett on some of the requisites required for successful leadership, which are; a leader must have thorough knowledge of the job, ability to grasp the total situation, and have a spirit of adventure. Also, skills that will help create successful relationships with people include how and when to praise, point out mistakes and what attitude to take toward failures. Since all of these things are skills, they can be learned. McGregor (2004) discussed how we need to utilize social sciences and human energy to make organizations effective. He stated that a person at their job will try to do as little work as possible. Most people lack ambition, does not like responsibility and do not enjoy working at their job. McGregor indicated that poor management comes down to motivation. I agree because I have difficulty getting something done at work if I am not motivated. Managers or leaders need to find ways to motivate employees so they become more productive and effective. Ouchi (2004) wrote by providing a close interchange between work and social life, organizations will be able to retain employees longer and create an enthusiastic working environment. He refers to organizations as “clans” instead of markets or bureaucracies. Creating close relationships within the employees will help them enjoy what they are doing. When management tells employees to do what we tell you because we pay you, it makes employees feel alone and distant from the other employees, because the employees feel they are not worth anything. Allow employees to mold together as a clan, this will create strong relationships and trust. I feel this somewhat resembles what DBGR is all about. The employees are very close and have strong relationships. One difficulty that Ouchi mentioned is that the clan may develop a fear of outsiders. I might have to disagree on this idea because in my experiences at DBGR, we have been very welcoming to outsiders or new employees.

I feel that DBGR uses both classical and human relation theories. The aspects in each theory are very important to the success of DBGR. In classical theory, the division of labor is important because of the extensive number of programs we offer to our clients. We need many people doing many different programs, such as the direct care programs including therapy, counseling, education, residential services, as well as the business side including accounting, fund raising, and politics. On the other hand, I believe DBGR utilizes the human relations theory more than the classical theory. When we look at the type of facility we are, our first priority is the safety and welfare of our residents. We provide daily structure and guidance to actual human beings. We have to have good human relations so we can handle the residents. I believe that the care we give to the residents is reflected in how we treat each other in the workplace. A major part of our facility is to create successful relationships not only with the residents, but with each other as employees. Our leaders do an excellent job praising the employees in the work they are doing and express the importance of how much we affect the lives of our residents.
Next, I would like to look at a “Framework for Leadership” proposed by Fullan (2001). I believe the figure can be implemented directly into what we do at DBGR. In the leaders diagram, enthusiasm, hope, and energy are excellent motivating factors when we are working with the employees. The interesting idea here is that this same figure can also be utilized by employees directly to the residents. On the inner part of the circle, each of those pieces are practiced by our leaders and employees, as well as introduced to the residents. I think we have an advantage as an organization because the employees themselves have the opportunity to use the leadership framework as well. As a leader in education at DBGR, I feel each component represents positive change, and that is what our mission is. First, moral purpose is acting with the intention to make a positive difference. We exist to help residents and I believe that is what a

positive difference is, not only with the residents, but with employees as well. If this positive difference is taking place with everyone at our facility, we are making a positive difference in society as well. Next, understanding change is vital to moving forward because we need to understand what our moral purpose is to make a positive difference. I believe relationship building is vital in any organization, if the relationships with people improve; things within the organization get better. Leaders are responsible for making that happen, especially at DBGR because the workplace can get rather stressful working with at-risk teenagers and strong relationships will help get through those difficult times. Knowledge creation and sharing is also vital to making our facility run smooth. We need to know what types of disabilities our residents have and gain the knowledge of how to handle those with the disabilities. There are many different disabilities we have to work with and sharing what we know with the each other, even if it is to remind each other what to do, will help the organization succeed. Lastly, coherence making will help the leader provide consistency in the workplace. There are a lot of parts that need to be working correctly to get to this consistency and sometimes it might be difficult to get to, creating some confusion or chaos along the way. But, once the employees recognize patterns and buy into the program, the coherence making will be able to exist.
The result of successful leadership leads to the members committing to the program. I can relate this to getting the teachers to buy into the rules and mission of the DBGR school. The commitment by the teachers in my situation will result in our school to be a positive learning environment for our students, which I think qualifies as a good thing happening.
As an educational leader, there are many theories and ideas out there in the world that can be used to help understand what to do as a leader and to improve leadership skills. I feel the
Myers-Briggs test and other measuring tools that assist in determining the type of leader we are

is very helpful in many ways. I was able to learn specifically what my strengths and weaknesses are once I found the results of the Myers-Briggs. Even though, I had an idea of what my qualities and skills are, the results helped me determine specifically what skills I and how to improve and expand on those skills as well as work on getting rid of the weaknesses I have. I plan on giving the Myers-Briggs to my teachers so it gives them an idea what kind of personality they and what strengths and weaknesses they have. This information will help promote being a leader, because I feel leadership can be learned by employees who have the desire to be a leader.
One piece of writing that I will take with me and use in my school is Fullan’s
“Framework for Leadership.” As I have expressed already, I think that the diagram is an excellent guide to effective leadership and it is written in a way that is easy to understand. I can relate to each component and will now be able to concentrate more energy on what to do and in a specific order. Before this class, I thought I knew how to motivate people and be an effective leader. But I’m not getting the results I would like and honestly had difficulty knowing what to do to get the results I was seeking. I have been doing some of the framework but I wasn’t as specific and was doing the component in the wrong order. The “Framework for Leadership” now gives me direction on what to do first and I’ll be able to present the idea to my teachers. I am excited and have confidence that my team of teachers and staff will buy into the idea. We are a small group of seven and I believe we have excellent communication with each other. This is an advantage I have to utilize because I think it is easier to bring a small group of people together than it is a large group of people, especially in the environment we work in.
Lastly, Goleman (2000) wrote about the six leadership styles that I took particular interest. It was also helpful to have the opportunity to discuss this topic with my classmates. I really found it interesting and helpful how Goleman was able to determine the six leadership

styles and if they positively or negatively affected the overall climate of the work environment. I feel I would be effective using two of the leadership styles, democratic and coaching. In using the democratic style, especially having the small number of teachers that I have, I find myself doing a lot of listening and making team decisions. This gets everyone on board and we can defend the decision we made together. However, I do understand and have experienced the drawbacks of the democratic style. It does take a lot of time and several meetings to come to a decision. In the coaching style, we currently have a vision at DBGR to expand our facilities educational program and right now we are trying to come together and prepare for our future. If we are going to make this expansion successful, we need to develop our skills together and use the strategies that work for us. As the leader, it is my job to help the employee continue to improve their teaching style and motivate them to develop skills that will benefit our students and create positive learning environment.
I did not realize there are so many different theories and ideas that we need to study to continue to become effective leaders. I learned how to identify strengths and weaknesses and was able to determine what theories I relate to and can utilize in my leadership. Also, I have an excellent “Framework for Leadership” to follow and pass on to my teachers and have identified what leadership styles work best for me to be an effective leader.

References
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