Employee Satisfaction

Employee Satisfaction Levels in HRM and in CPM

To adapt to new demands and ensure business success, organizations have initiated profound processes of transformation, aiming to add value to its shareholders (stakeholders), customers, employees, suppliers, ultimately the entire value chain. The central point of this value chain lays with peoples especially employees of the organization. If technology demands change in core business processes, it also expects to change in the traditional methods of dealing organizational human resources (Dunn, 2010, pp. 02).

A contemporary vision of people management, assumes that the world is changing, people are changing and hence the organizations are in the process of change. Just as people today have more and better access to information, knowledge, new technologies, companies are also changing their old concepts or paradigms in constant learning process. The learning organizations understand the importance of their employees and for them it is often necessary to unlearn in order to learn.In the management of people, the need for change is constant and urgent. The old paradigms of the industrial era and the military model for management of people has completely transformed and the contemporary era of knowledge, cooperation, sustainability and the new information technologies has taken place in modern business organization (Pučėtaitė et al., 2008, pp. 325).

Traditional human resources practices revolve around employee motivation and satisfaction and his performance. But with the rapid changes in business environment and phenomenal growth of technological advancement, such methods become incapable to produce the results. Contemporary People Management (CPM) has provided the solution. CPM has gone ahead of merely satisfying employees to making them satisfied. An organization with contemporary vision of Personnel Management, has strategic clarity inmaking the mission, vision, values and objectives and is assimilated and practiced by all employees consciously and unconsciously creating an alignment and cooperation among the employees (Pinnington et al., 2007, pp. 267).

Employee Satisfaction Discussion

In postmodern business environment, moral values and ethical standards have become increasingly complicated. This has affected the practices of HR, where a decision by HR manager can significantly produce drastic impacts on people’s job and their future employment opportunities.

The practice and theoretical framework of Human resource management is facing several challenges and most important of them are globalization challenge, HR innovation challenge, the sustainability challenge and the challenge of attracting and retaining people. These four challenges can be transformed into a competitive strength of the organization through CPM (Bartram, 2010, pp. 26). The challenge of HR innovation itself is a course to achieve Contemporary people management. Now business organizations are moving towards knowledge management, which include the transformation of techniques, processes, structures and systems, which can lead to the creation and sharing of knowledge throughout the organization. Resultantly, Global knowledge economy starts to develop which helps to increase the knowledge about different cultures, globalization process and intensify the knowledge about production processes. Australian federal government has since 1970 supported and implemented several such schemes and proposals which help to internationalize Australian business.

Changing business practices and innovation in HR practices and policies has created different ethical dilemmas. HR does not take place in isolation. It affects the life of employees and the ethical consideration of organization as well as of HR manager hassignificant impact of the performance of the employees.As the process of internationalization has started to increase its pace, we can see the dominance of neo liberal moral and ethical standards, which are regulated by a balance between alternative ends and scarce resources. It is simply based on utilitarian approach in order to select best method for the maximum number of people. When interests of people are satisfied with the help of common good, it will produce environment of return of favour.State of common good that can be achieved through utilitarian approach, not only benefits employee but it also produce good results for organization (Klikauer, 2012, pp. 74).

Several ethical theories have elaborated the impact of ethical principles on business practices. Utilitarianism approach is rooted in consequentialism and according to it; the rightness or wrongness of our action is described best by the consequence of that action. An action is said to be morally right if it has produced satisfaction to the majority of the people. In consequentialism, there is no universal moral standard unlike virtue ethics. But it depends on the situational awareness and the will of the majority of the people. Some critics believe that it has some demerits and in extreme cases, the will of the people can be unjust and illegitimate.Despites its flaws business manager apply utilitarian approach in their organization because this propagates the goodness of the people at large (Greenwood, 2013, pp. 357).

The concept of utilitarianism has subjective matter and it is very difficult to determine accurately the level of maximum utility.It involves situational assessment and awareness and considers only available information. In this situation, it is difficult to evaluate the impact of decision based on utilitarian in long terms aspect. Similarly, it is very difficult to accurately determine the majority of people. So like other ethical and moral standards, utilitarianism has some weaknesses (Audi, 2007, pp. 596).

The objective of the management is to produce a satisfied employee so that he/she can perform better and an organization can produce profit. Well-being of the employee in this case is a mean to an end but it is not an end itself. However it does not simply mean that an organization is interested in the wellbeing of employee, but it is more interested in a productive employee. Utilitarianism approach does not simply mean that producing greatest good for the large number of people, but it motivates management to produce satisfaction among the employees. If 10 per cent annual increase in the salary fails to bring any kind of satisfaction within the organization, it simply would be rendered as increase in the cost of organization.In the context of utilitarianism, bringing satisfaction is not the total objective of the management, but satisfaction principle in ethical model is to prevent employees from any damage or problems. Power can only be exercised on employees in the situation so that harm to the majority of the people can be avoided.In this way, management creates a civilized community within the organization (Klikauer, 2010, pp. 51).

We have seen the paradigm shift in the practices and policies of traditional human resource management. In classical human resource management, employees were considered as a liability where as in contemporary people management, employees are regarded as an asset.As the organizations are moving towards learning organization and are based on knowledge, highly educated and independent employees demands cooperative attitude and no longer they are considered for granted. This trend demands in operational procedures of HR. classical HR practices cannot boost the performance of such employees and the sharp edges of traditional HR practices, in result are have been removed (Van Marrewijk et al., 2003, pp. 175).

Contemporary practices of HR has taken strategic position among the organization and is regarded the change agent and facilitator for transformation and restructuring processes. It has manifested itself as a strategic partner between the employee and organization. Modern practices of HR are based on knowledge and constant learning process. It pays individual attention on human asset management, human culture management and human potential management. Cultural diversity is no longer regarded as a problem. Contemporary human resource practice transformed cultural diversity into a strength through strong communication skill and motivating their employees to seek knowledge from different cultures (Worland &Manning, 2005, pp. 07). Traditionally, HRM works closely with the bosses and managers but contemporary people management works closely with employees. The role of HR practices has changed. Now making employee satisfied is not sufficient and efficient for business managers. Employees need to feel the real satisfaction and they all should be prevented from harm and injustice. Utilitarianism approach of satisfaction for all has become the central point of contemporary people management.

Conclusion

We can safely conclude that HR has occupied the strategic position in the organizational structure and conventional methods of HR are no longer effective to accommodate the needs of employees as well as organizational objectives.It should not be implied that the classical HR framework and practices have completely become useless and obsolete, but it has provided a basic structure for contemporary people management. Because organization itself is nothing without employees and he/she is an active agent of transferring raw material into a finished good, he/she must be satisfied and happy, so that his performance bring satisfaction to organization and its customers.

Postmodern economy is based on knowledge and learning. Organization that understand the importance of knowledge, keep on changing their HR policies.The classical concept of employee’s high performance with lowest cost of employees has failed to fulfil the business objectives. Employees are no longer regarded as liabilities. They are considered the asset and the value of the asset increase with the time. satisfaction of employees has preceded employee satisfaction. This demands changes in the ethical values of organization. It is through Utilitarianism approach that the goodness of majority of the people can be achieved.It becomes the duty of the manager to increase the total volume of satisfaction of employees. Similarly, utilitarianism approach encourages all those actions which can produce wellbeing for the majority of the people.

References

Academic Books

Bartram, T., Kramar, R., & De Cieri, H. (2010). Human resource management: strategy, people, performance. North Ryde, N.S.W., McGraw-Hill Education.

Klikauer, T. (2010). Critical management ethics.Houndmills, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Klikauer, T. (2012). Seven management moralities.Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan.

Pinnington, A. H., Macklin, R., & Campbell, T. (2007). Human resource management: Ethics and employment. Human Resource Management: Ethics and Employment, xii.

Redman, T., & Wilkinson, A. (Eds.). (2009). Contemporary human resource management: text and cases. Pearson Education.

Academic Journals

Audi, R. (2007). Can utilitarianism be distributive? Maximization and distribution as criteria in managerial decisions. Business Ethics Quarterly, 17(4), 593-611.

Dunn, B. H. (2010). Human Resource Management: The Importance of Getting It Right Employee Satisfaction. Rangelands, 32(4), 2-3.

Greenwood, M. (2013). Ethical analyses of HRM: A review and research agenda. Journal of business ethics, 114(2), 355-366.

Greenwood, M., & Freeman, R. E. (2011).Ethics and HRM. Business and Professional Ethics Journal, 30(3/4), 269-292.

Pučėtaitė, R., &Lämsä, A. M. (2008).Developing organizational trust through advancement of employees’ work ethic in a post-socialist context Employee Satisfaction. Journal of Business Ethics, 82(2), 325-337.

Simmons, J. (2008). Ethics and morality in human resource management. Employee Satisfaction Social responsibility journal, 4(1/2), 8-23.

Van Marrewijk, M., &Timmers, J. (2003). Human capital management: New possibilities in people management. Journal of Business Ethics, 44(2-3), 171-184.

Worland, D., & Manning, K. (2005). Employee Satisfaction, Strategic human resource management and performance.

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Negative Interest Rates

Discuss the macroeconomic effects of negative official interest rates. What relevance, if any, do the macroeconomic models have in explaining this phenomenon and predicting its likely consequences?

The negative interest rate is a recent phenomenon emerged from the global financial crisis in 2008. The negative official interest rate has become worldwide phenomenon and a part of policy initiatives by central banks around the world (Collignon, 2012) to deal with the problems of low rate of economic growth, massive unemployment and disinflation by injecting some easy money in search of some viable solution for economic recovery.

The interest rate is most crucial variable for financial industry as it has widespread effects on share prices, exchange rate and income distribution between exporting firms and consumers. IMF (2012) has mentioned the negative effects on insurance and savings in form of pension funds and financial stability is threatened in case of persistent negative interest rates. This policy can have negative consequences for growth and independence of central banks in the hands of irresponsible government decisions (White, 2012).

Money market suffers as important intermediaries like money market funds could be compelled out of business because of lost profitability that shift the interest of investors to more profitable market oriented business.

The consumers also suffer from negative interest rate in form of high global commodity prices. The reason behind this phenomenon is the changing interest and speculative behaviour of investors into high yielding assets like oil and food. The increased inflation rate results in lower purchasing power of consumers that hindered the economic recovery (Belke et al., 2010).

The negative interest rate dampen saving as it encourage people to spend more rather to save, this has long term negative effects for the people who are dependent on interest income. On the other hand the savings are not properly used for investment because of deteriorating investment efficiency.

The benefit of low interest rate includes the increasing capacity of banks to lend as a major problem the banks faced during the financial crisis was undercapitalization that restricted their capacity to make loans for recovery.

The negative interest rate can increase the wealth of households in form of higher asset prices and lower the capital cost for making investments but at the same time it gives rise to additional borrowing that increases the debt levels.

Negative interest rates can be explained in terms of Keynes theory of interest rate and theory of speculative demand for money. According to Keynes the equilibrium interest rate is the rate that equates money supply and money demand. Keynes began by asking “why an individual would hold any money above the needed for transaction and precautionary motives when bonds pay interest and money does not.” Keynes believed that such an additional demand for money exists because of uncertainty about future interest rates and the relationship between changes in the interest rate and the price of bonds. As there is an inverse relation between bond price and interest rate, Keynes speculative demand for money is the money held in anticipation of a fall in bond prices and a rise in interest rates (Froyen, 2005).

Here we observe a phenomenon of liquidity trap. It is the situation at a very low interest rate where the speculative demand for money schedule becomes nearly horizontal as shown in figure.

One implication of negative interest rates could be the liquidity trap which can lead to deep recession with deflation. It can be explained with the help of an example. In the 1990s, the interest rate in Japan was the lowest in the world and in 1998 the interest rate on Japanese six month treasury bills turned slightly negative. In such a situation Japan experienced prolonged recession accompanied by deflation which is the negative inflation rate (Mishkin, 2007). Usually it is believed that the low interest rates are a good thing because they make borrowing cheaper. But the case of Japan shows that low and negative interest rates were a sign that Japanese economy was in real trouble with falling prices and contracting economy.

Secondly, it is not attractive for the lenders to lend below 0%, as that will guarantee a loss, and a bank offering a negative deposit rate will find few takers, as savers will instead hold cash.

Countries like Denmark and Sweden introduced negative interest rates in recent years on temporary basis. In Denmark the purpose of adopting negative interest rate was to limit an unwanted rise in its currency. For this they moved to negative deposit rates. It did not cause any financial meltdown nor did it cause any noticeable change in the interest rate charged by banks for bank loans. Recently, European Central Bank has adopted the negative interest rates of -0.1% on Eurozone banks to encourage them to lend to small firms rather than to hoard cash. It is meant to boost the economy by increasing the lending to consumers and businesses.

Consequences of adopting Negative Interest Rates

This development can have unpredictable consequences. Those consequences may include the possibility that banks will pass on to customers the costs for depositing money with the ECB.
Also the negative return on keeping funds with the central bank might encourage banks to invest in riskier assets to secure a return.
As an alternative investment, banks may increase their purchases of government bonds and it would have potentially serious consequences if banks are holding bonds to such an extent that government borrowing costs are artificially low. If a financial shock occurs, the banks and governments could find themselves so intertwined and interdependent that they drag each other and the economy down.

References

Belke, A., Bordon, I. G., & Hendricks, T. W. (2010) ‘Global Liquidity and Commodity Prices–a Co-integrated VAR Approach for OECD Countries’. Applied Financial Economics, 20(3), 227-242.

Collignon, S. (2012) ‘Fiscal policy Rules and the Sustainability of Public Debt in Europe’. International Economic Review, 53(2), 539-567.

Froyen, R.T. (2005) Macroeconomics: Theories and Policies (8th ed.). Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River.

International Monetary Fund Staff (2011) ‘Global Financial Stability Report: Durable Financial Stability: Getting There from Here’. International Monetary Fund.

Mishkin, F. S. (2007) The Economics of Money, Banking, and Financial Market. (sixth ed.). Pearson Education.

White, W.R. (2012) ‘Ultra Easy Monetary Policy and the Law of Unintended Consequences; Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’. Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute.

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Organization Development HRM Projects

A Comprehensive Definition of Organization Development

The theory of Organization Development relates to an organization’s process and efforts to change the organization for the better. The process includes several steps that must be performed as a continuous cycle to keep the organization at its most efficient in order to achieve the goal of ongoing success.

Organization Development is an organization’s ongoing exercise in planning processes that span the organization, in order to execute effective change in the organization. This process includes a diagnosis of how the organization and its employees function harmoniously or not. This is followed by identification of the specifics of successes and failures within the organization through data analysis. Armed with this information, planning for necessary changes within the organization may begin. Once a plan is in place, it must be executed. Finally, after this implementation, the organization must again make assessments to determine if the desired change was realized. Organization Development is not a one-size fits all solution for an organization, nor is it a singular process; but one that is ongoing and continually adapting to achieve organizational success.

Organization Development Opportunity

Often Organization Development begins in an organization when an opportunity for improvement is acknowledged by management and a positive change is sought. The function of Organization Development is to focus attention on improving the abilities of the organization and its employees to allow the organization to make positive changes from within to achieve its ultimate goal of success. Whether an organization utilizes the contracted services of an OD practitioner from outside or an OD practitioner that is already on its team, the functions and processes along the way will be similar. The first step taken is known in the Organization Development world as entering and contracting.

Entering and contracting is very much as it sounds. It starts with making clear the organization’s issue that needs improvement, deciding who will represent the organization in the process, and choosing an OD professional that is equipped with the appropriate experience and know-how to guide the process within the organization. Following these decisions, comes the contracting phase, in which, the parties involved establish how the Organization Development process will move forward. Roles are determined, expectations are stated, timetables are determined, and rules are outlined. This phase can be as formal or informal, depending on the desires of the organization, but most organization find that the more detailed the contracting phase the more likely the process is to stay on track and be successful.

After the entering and contracting phase is formulated, the second action to be performed is known in OD as diagnosing. This process is the examination and determination of how the organization is functioning in the present – right now. The OD practitioner and the organization’s team collect the relevant data via interviews, surveys, observations, and reports. Once the data is collected, it is analyzed through the lens of the appropriate diagnostic models which help to recognize and identify trustworthy data. There are several diagnostic models that are commonly used; diagnostic models including the Open System, organizational-level, group-level, and individual level. The OD professional must make the selection of diagnostic model that is most significant and will yield the most advantageous information for the organization. Ideally the model will be selected prior to the data collection so that the data can be collected more accurately, but the data collection can be done and then paired with the most effective diagnostic model. With this fresh data and subsequent analysis the OD practitioner and the organization team can determine what is working well and where improvements are needed. From this diagnosis, the necessary intervention can be developed.

Organization Development Planning

The Organization Development intervention is the development of the plan to be used to generate change that will allow the organization to improve both the organization and its employees and develop more positive interaction between the two in order to drive success. In order for the Organization Development to be successful, the intervention must suit the needs of the organization, founded on fundamental knowledge of the desired results, and be assured that the change-agent can convey the vision to all of the members of the organization. Intervention, execution, and change management must go hand in hand. The fitting intervention must be found for the unique organization from among the four major types of Organization Development intervention: Human Process, Techno-structural, Human Resource Management, and Strategic. After the suitable intervention is chosen, the OD profession must be alert to the organizations readiness and ability to make the changes, the cultural environment’s potential influence, and the expertise of the change agent. Once the execution of the intervention has begun, the process of transition requires close attention and must be carefully managed so that the change momentum can be maintained and resistance to the process can be overcome. As these guidelines are followed, Organization Development can be the coordinated transition by which an organization accomplishes effective and lasting change.

The final stage of Organization Development is the evaluation of the implemented changes and their potential incorporation (known as institutionalizing) into the organization. At this point feedback is gathered and evaluated to determine if the desired outcome for the organization’s improvement has been successfully achieved. If the desired outcome has not been achieved, the OD practitioner and the organization team must return to the previous steps and go through the process again until anticipated result is accomplished. If on the other hand, it is found that the change is effective, the changes will then be made a permanent function of the organization. These changes must become a part of the shared culture of the organization bringing the organization and its employees together. As employees are included in these positive changes, they become more dedicated, more loyal, and ultimately more flexible as change is implemented. With the leadership of the organization and the organization’s employees on board with the institutionalization of the changes; the ultimate goal of organizational success is achieved more efficiently and more rapidly.

The Organization Development process typically begins when someone, management or employee, uncover a need for improvement within the organization. The anticipated results of the OD process are to accomplish positive change for the organization and the employees; as well as any stakeholders related to the organization. For the process to accomplish a best case scenario outcome, everyone within the organization needs to back the process. The OD process begins with the entry of an OD professional, either internal or external, and outlining of the contract between the organization and the OD practitioner. The diagnosis phase follows with information gathering and analysis in order to formulate an intervention. With a plan in hand, the OD professional and the organization team implement the recommended changes within the organization. After the changes have been implemented, they are analyzed again for effectiveness and the determination of their success or failure. If successful, the OD intervention changes become a component of the function of the organization. It is evident that the Organization Development process is unique to each organization, customized just for it, and a process that must be ongoing and adapting constantly to keep the organization moving forward successfully.

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Socio-Technical System

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Conceptualising the Organisation as a Socio-Technical System

What Is A Socio-Technical System?

Before discussing advantages and disadvantages of applying socio-technical approach in companies, it is necessary to define it in a few words. Socio-technical system is a system which has both a material technology and a social organization (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2010). The former consist of the equipment and methods of operations used to transform raw materials into products or services; the latter includes the work structure that relates people to the technology and to each other. (Cummings, 1978) These definitions are pretty scarce and do not give us much information about the concept itself, but they are something to begin with. All other, more specific, aspects of socio-technical systems will be presented further in this essay.

Historical Background of the Idea of the Socio-Technical Systems

This concept was developed by Eric Trist and Kenneth Bamforth in mid-twentieth century. Why not earlier? Because at the beginning of the twentieth century there was no need for that kind of approach to organizational design. Ford’s assembly line and Taylor’s scientific management triggered off a chain of changes, some of which are still present in today’s business world.

Unfortunately, they did not bring only new formula for gaining much bigger profit, but also a lot of problems and undesirable side effects. Meaningless simple tasks were not much of an inspiration for workers. Strict rules, clearly defined roles and relationships inside organization killed every spur of joy and enthusiasm in employees. On the other side, technology developed at a great speed and it was not possible any more to operate in relaxed, cosy atmosphere where everyone worked as a big happy family.

Companies expanded, they needed more complex organization, but bureaucracy just did not seem as the right answer to every problem. Socio-technical design offered new solutions. This concept was not developed only to assure that employees earn their living in a more pleasant environment, but also because researchers, such as Elton Mayo, discovered human factor and became aware of its importance in the race for profit. (Ropohl, 1999) Has the socio-technical system managed to fulfil both its purposes or failed to do it?

The Advantages of Socio-Technical Systems

This brief historical introduction implies that just the inventing of the socio-technical system was a radical and constructive move. The social aspect of this system brought many positive changes. Work is now based on collaboration of employees, not on fulfilling segmented assignments.

The feeling of joint effort in achieving goals creates more pleasant working environment. Employees find themselves doing meaningful work in an interaction with their colleagues. As the impact of formalization and standardization has been reduced, it is expected from workers to show greater knowledge and deeper understanding of what they are doing.

This leads to greater number of opportunities for enhancing skills and professional improvement. Of course, it is not something that each employee sees as an advantage. Trist himself (1981) wrote about his observations that there are individual differences in motivation pattern.

Some people need strict orders and defined place in company’s hierarchy or otherwise they will feel insecure and frustrated. The socio-technical design managed to overcome this problem, as members of each group occupy certain positions and have tasks to complete, but have greater freedom to do so and also have better insight in their own contribution.

Not just that there is an increase in the degree of satisfaction among employees, but also in the amount of productivity. These groups mentioned above are one of the most famous ‘products’ of socio-technical theory. They are called autonomous groups. They have not be widely accepted and applied, but they have proved to be efficient. One of the most famous cases – The Mannley Innovation is an explicit example that socio-technical systems functions well in reality, not just in theory.

Another plus for the socio-technical system is that the number of managers who occupy higher positions in hierarchy can be reduced, as focus of the control is partially in the groups themselves. This means that less money is needed for highly-educated managers whose skills must be well paid.

Also, leaders of the groups are in better position to detect problems during production process, as they have the technical knowledge that most external controllers do not have. This means that less money and time will be spent on dealing with the unexpected situations.

In my opinion, the greatest value of this system lies in the fact that it is concerned both with those who gain profit and those who create it. It is designed to meet the social and psychological needs of employees in order to increase the profitability of the work and make it all compatible with the technology in use.

Ideas of socio-technical design are not applicable only in the mining industry, oil refineries, but also in completely different segments of industry, such as textile (Trist, 1981) and even in hospitals. This can be considered as a great advantage, as this approach is broad enough to offer a suitable framework for organizing a whole range of different types of organizations.

The Disadvantages of Socio-Technical Systems

The broad framework of socio-technical system can also have a negative side. Some authors, such as Dillon (2000), claim that this system is not good enough for implementation in companies whose area of work is technology and that applying it can even cause a communication breakdown!

This sounds as a paradox, but Dillon gives a quite reasonable explanation: technology companies are changing fast, becoming more and more customer-oriented and need a usable system, so in order to achieve that they need defined sequence of steps in solving specific problems they face.

Socio-technical system cannot offer something like that. In its strongest spot lies its greatest weakness – the freedom of choice and responsibility. Not all the organizations can rely on the sound mind and decisions of their employees, sometimes the consequences are too serious and no risk is allowed.

Apart from not being applicable to all kinds of organization, there are some other negative sides of socio-technical system. One of them is the fact that it is far from being easy to create autonomous groups which will fulfil their purpose. Some of their characteristics previously mentioned as advantages can be perceived in a different way.

Task differentiation lies in the core of the autonomous groups. It refers to the extent to which the group’s task is itself autonomous forming a self-completing whole. The more autonomous the group’s task, the more differentiated its task boundary from other organizational units (Cummings, 1978). It is easy to define, but hard to accomplish. For some managers it is a great source of trouble to form groups which characteristics distinguish them from others, but not too much, as they are still part of a wider context.

If there is no balanced differentiation, socio-technical system can be not just ineffective, but also damaging for the organization. The problem lies in the fact that there are no strict rules how to form autonomous groups, because it is up to members to build their structure and up to managers to find them place in the organization. If there are no clear boundaries and connections with others groups, its members will not experience the benefit of meaningful work, as they will not be able to perceive the whole picture of the process, which is the purpose of this system.

Another problem also stems from the concept of autonomous group: task control, as defined by Cummings (1981), refers to the extent to which employees can regulate their behaviour to convert raw materials into finished products. Simply, this means that group members choose on their own work methods and sequence of work activities.

If the groups consist of specialists, this is an excellent method for dealing with the unexpected and stressful situations, because there is no need for permission for changing the working routine when the time is of great importance. But on the other hand, too much freedom cannot be given to all groups and reasons can be different. Managers may believe that the staff is qualified enough to take that responsibility, but then in the in the end it can turn out that they were wrong.

Socio-Technical System Differentiation

Same as with the task differentiation – it is quite challenging to find the balance between too much and too little freedom. Both ends of that continuum lead to inefficiency. Also, managers who control these groups have to be aware of the fact that too much interference is not desirable. They have to keep the distance and be more of guides than controllers in a usual sense. If the manager’s impact is too strong on the group then we can no more talk about the group’s autonomy.

The last, but not least important disadvantage of this system that will be mentioned here is the lack of individuality. Almost every individual strives to develop to their fullest potentials and there is less possibility for something like that when one operates as a team member. On the one hand, teamwork contributes to the high spirit of employees, but on the other it can cause a decrease in motivation of individual members.

Some of them can even feel frustrated because they cannot show their potentials. This could be a problem especially with above-average talented people who would be more helpful if they acted on their own. Also, when socio-technical system is implemented, the hierarchy is flatter, which implies that there are fewer opportunities for climbing the career ladder and it is widely known that this serves as the motivation for many of us.

Conclusion

Before giving the final thought on this subject I would like to present the summarized table from Trist’s work that shows what socio-technical system brought with it:

Old Paradigm	New Paradigm
Man as the extension of the machine	Man as complementary to the machine
Tall organization chart, autocratic style	Flat organization chart, participative style
Competition, gamesmanship	Collaboration, collegiality
Organization’s purposes only	Members’ and society’s purposes also
Alienation	Commitment
Low risk-taking	Innovation

(Trist, 1981, Table 2-3)

This table shows that socio-technical system is more human-oriented than others. As I advocate the humanistic approach to management and organizing, I believe that it is much better than bureaucratic or scientific approach. People are not machines and although they are able to adapt to new situations, their power to do so has a limit. Once that limit is reached, consequences can be catastrophic.

Even from the profit-makers’ point of view it is not desirable to have demotivated employees who would have ran as far as they could from their work place just if they could. Socio-technical system balances needs and strivings of both. It is true that it takes a lot of effort to build this system successfully.

It largely depends on effective communication channels, qualified staff and appropriate use of technology in each sector. But before completely rejecting this organizational design one should take into consideration the fact that the socio-technical system frees the organization from restraints of bureaucracy to the content of both employees and managers. Whatever approach you decide to pursue, there will be difficulties.

Socio-technical system has changed since it was developed. Of course, it is still far from perfect, but its adaptability allows managers to customize it for their company’s needs and take the best from it. As Charles Caleb Colton said: Where we cannot invent, we might at least improve.

References

Buchanan, D. A., & Huczynski, A. (2010). Organizational Behaviour, Harlow. Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Ropohl, G. (1999). Philosophy of socio-technical systems. Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology, 4(3), 186-194.

Trist, E. (1981). The evolution of socio-technical systems. Occasional paper, 2, 1981.

Dillon, A. (2000). Group dynamics meet cognition: combining socio-technical concepts and usability engineering in the design of information systems. In The New SocioTech (pp. 119-125). Springer London.

Cummings, T. G. (1978). Self-regulating work groups: A socio-technical synthesis. Academy of management Review, 3(3), 625-634.

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Paparazzi Essay

Paparazzi What Limitations Should Apply to Them?

Paparazzi, is the term refers to the annoying and persistent photographers who take embarrassing pictures of celebrities to earn some money. These people, not only target these celebrities, but also their other family members including their minor children who are often harassed as well. This madness should come to be considered a criminal activity as well and regulations should be enacted to place limits on their activities. The purpose of writing this research paper is to analyse the term Paparazzi, why they should be their behaviour should be considered wrong, and what should be done to limit their improper activities.

The term paparazzi was introduced into the public lexicon by the globally admired film ‘La Dolce Vita,’ which was directed by Federico Fellini, it concentrates on the life of a washed-up journalist, Marcello and his colleague who is a photographer, whose name is Paparazzo (Celant, 1994). As described by Fellini in his interview with Time magazine Paparazzo is an Italian word that refers to the irritating noise made by a buzzing insect, darting, stinging, and hovering. This character in the film is given a human-like bone structure, and somehow looks like a “vampirish insectile” (Celant, 1994). This image of the paparazzi in the film looks like a parasite, a mosquito as depicted from the following picture. By the end of 60s, the term paparazzi had entered into the public usage as a generic term in English language that simply meant an intrusive or interfering photographer (Wilton, 2007) and the individual being photographed is known as being ‘papped’.

According to Sonenshine (1997), Paparazzi refer probably to an independent contractor and are typically not affiliated with mainstream media companies. They take advantage of opportunities by taking pictures of the high-profile famous people they are observing constantly, whenever they get any sightings of them (Sonenshine, 1997). According to Wilton (2007), a paparazzo is a local clam, which is used as an implied comparison to the paparazzo that opens and closes the lens of camera (Wilton, 2007). Many of the experts consider the behaviour of these paparazzi to be similar to stalking (CNN, 2006), which is an act of obsessive or unwanted pursuit given by one person towards another.

Why Paparazzi is Considered Wrong?

Certain celebrities and high-profile public figures have expressed their concerns regarding their privacy and personal space and the extent to which these paparazzi try to interfere in their personal space (Dakss, 2005). According to Carnahan (2014), these insistent photographers (paparazzi) continuously stalk high-profile people and celebrities and bother them while they are eating, or shopping, etc. (Carnahan, 2014).

Some publicists believe that the paparazzi are just going out of control with their outlandish job of collecting most embarrassing pictures; they are making it difficult for their high-profile targets to live in their own personal space and have a normal life. Not just in films, but they live with the constant threat that they will have a camera always in their face (Papasmear, 2013). Sometimes, the extreme behaviour of these insane photographers has led to serious accidents faced by celebrities. As an instance, Lindsay Lohan’s famous accident in the year 2005 in which the actress was almost killed because the paparazzo intentionally drove into her car (Dakss, 2005). This shows that the extreme behaviour of the paparazzi has rapidly transformed into criminal activities.

Instead of this, they do not only target these celebrities, but also their family members that also include their minor children. Some celebrities complained about paparazzi harassing them by focusing on their minor children Furthermore, there must be some level of privacy given to them, particularly when it is the case of their family and most importantly, their minor children and their family (Papasmear, 2013). A survey by fanpop.com, also illustrates that 58% of the total population are against these annoying activities by the paparazzi (Fanpop). They can do practically anything to get a picture since they earn a lot of money for these photos. Just for the sake of earning some money (Nastec International, 2011), these people are stealing the right of privacy and freedom from these high-profile people and celebrities.

Carnahan (2014) further stated that celebrities and other high-profile people are also human beings and they deserve respect; and therefore, it is necessary to apply certain limitations to the paparazzi.

What Limitations Should Apply to Paparazzi?

The majority of people are against the paparazzi and since they are citizens who deserve the right to privacy and freedom just like everyone else, some countries are applying legal regulations, like anti-stalking bills to resolve the harassment issues faced by the high-profile people and celebrities. Some countries also restrict their activities by imposing curfews on them. For instance, California has approved a law in 2014, which will help in preventing these extreme people from misusing the privacy and from taking embarrassing photographs of the celebrities (Business Insider, 2014). Even after all such laws have been enacted, Nastec International (2011), noted that even after hard pressing the paparazzi with privacy laws for years, their activities are still on the rampage.

In order to limit these Paparazzi according to Nastec International (2001), a videotape or surveillance must be used to undercover such activity and these surveillance videotapes can later be provided as a proof in court against these annoying intrusive individuals.

These people can also be prevented to some extent by restricting them only to staged events. Although, it is not possible always to restrict them, because they can enter secretly as they are able to creep into the private places, like the homes of celebrities, but privacy can be maintained by only providing admission rights to celebrities and their families or the extremely important people and restricting rest of the people including, journalists, photographers, etc. One remedy to this can be that during the events special cards can be issued only for those are extremely important for the celebrities and to whom they personally want to invite to the event.

Moreover, celebrities can also limit improper activities of the Paparazzi through campaigning. If all celebrities would unite and do social media campaigning against the paparazzi, they can also do public campaigning programs to prevent these intrusive photographers and to get back their right of freedom and privacy.

References

Business Insider. (2014, September 30) California bans paparazzi drones.

Carnahan, S. (2014, April 3) Should Limitations Be Applied to the Paparazzi?

Celant, G. (1994) The Italian Metamorphosis, 1943-1968. New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications.

CNN. (2006, May 14) Why paparazzi are wrong.

Dakss, B. (2005, June 10) Paparazzi Going Too Far?

Nastec International. (2011) FIGHTING THE PAPARAZZI.

Papasmear. (2013, May 15) Top Reasons Why the Paparazzi Are Wrong!

Sonenshine, T. (1997, October) Is Everyone a Journalist?

Time (1961) The Press: Paparazzi on the Prowl.

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