UGBA 105
Sections 102, 104, 106
Week 2: The Manager’s Job
Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Where we’ve been/where we’re
going
“Manager of the Year”
What managers do
The congruence model & org
analysis
Review & Next Week
1. Where we’ve been
The week in review
 What is OB anyway – and why you
should care
 Course overview (requirements,
outline)
 Section expectations/guidelines
 Preparing a case
 Any questions?
1. Where we’re going
Goals for today
 Define the role of the manager
 Understand the congruence model of
organizational analysis
2. Manager of the Year

Who would you
nominate for manager
of the year?
– Give at least 2 reasons


Discuss these
individuals in groups of
2-3
Be ready to justify your
nomination
3. What managers do
Management is
Janus-faced:
Manager as engineer:
Trained technician who uses
a professional body of
knowledge to create formal
systems that plot strategy,
make decisions, provide
incentives to people, and
coordinate units in maximally
efficient ways
Janus: The Roman
God of doorways
Manager as leader:
Individual who leverages highly
personal resources (energy,
stamina, charisma, vision, warmth,
charm, gregariousness, toughness,
daring, know-how) to inspire,
empower, and channel the actions
of others
The historical thrust of
management science and
education has been to:
Develop formal
systems and
tools that relieve
managers of the
personal work of
leading
Which is it?
Engineer
Leader
What would Kotter say?
A third model: congruence
Both the formal and the informal/people
sides of organization are essential for long
run success. It is the manager’s job to align
them with the tasks and strategy of the
organization and the demands of the
environment.
4. The congruence
model & org analysis
Problem-solving &
organizational analysis
Four stages/components
1 Problem/situation assessment
2 Analysis
3 Possible courses of action; pros & cons of
each alternative
4 Final recommendation/implementation
plan
Identifying the problem

What is wrong here? What’s the problem? What
type of performance gap is the organization
experiencing?
or (less frequently)

What is right here? What strengths can be
leveraged? Is the success sustainable?
A Problem…
is a gap between goals and outcomes
Goal
Desired:
- market position
- technology
- profitability/share price
-skills
-productivity
-teamwork
Outcome
Actual:
- market position
- technology
- profitability/share price
-skills
-productivity
-teamwork
The Congruence Model
All problems involve one or more disconnects, or incongruencies,
between 4 major components of organizations:
Input
Environment
(Competition,
change)
Strategy
Informal Org
(culture, politics
leadership,
networks)
Tasks
(diversification
(technologies,
(munificence) innovation)
work flows)
History (age,
conditions at
founding)
Resources
Formal Org
(job titles,
depts, reporting
hierarchy, IT &
HR systems)
Output
Systems
Unit
Individual
People
(ability, skills,
motivation,
biases)
In turn, solutions involve the analytic - and creative - achievement of congruence.
Principal OB Levers
Managers can solve problems by
changing the organization in the
following ways:
– Tasks or work
– Formal organization
– Informal organization
– People
But not in isolation


Must pay attention to core tasks, goals,
strategy and environment
Thus, the congruence or “fit”
hypothesis:
The degree to which the strategy, work,
people, structure, and culture are smoothly
aligned will determine the organization’s
ability to compete and succeed.
Getting Past Symptoms:
Discerning Root Causes
What are the fundamental causes
of the performance gap?
Gap
Why?
We’re not
getting new
product out
Why?
Inter-unit
conflict
Why?
Conflicting
reward
schemes
Lack of
coordination
devices
Solutions
Definition: a solution to a problem (a
performance gap) is a change to the
organization that removes one or more
causes of the problem without creating
new and larger/more serious problems.
Solutions
STRATEGIC
GOAL
PEOPLE
CAUSES
we have the
wrong people
to do the work?
SOLUTIONS
Get or train
new people.
WORK
FORMAL
ORGANIZATION
STRATEGIC
OUTCOMES
INFORMAL
ORGANIZATION
CAUSES
Do we have the
wrong organizational
structure to do the work?
CAUSES
Do we have the wrong corporate
culture to do the work?
Are effective communication
networks missing?
Bad office politics?
SOLUTIONS
Change the structure:
new groupings, linkages.
SOLUTIONS
Change the culture;
reduce conflict & politics.
Which Is It?
Engineer
Leader
5. By way of review …



What is the manager’s job?
How do the observed activities of
general managers square with
received theories of management?
How should managers balance their
different roles?
5. Wrap-up/Next week



Did everyone sign in?
Class rep
Prep the Allentown case (I really mean
it this time!)