Metaphorical Perspectives of Organizations

The understanding of organizations has created huge scopes for enabling the effective management procedures and how it has progressed from the beginning of 20^th century in respect of theories and practices. The business organizations do not work as a single entity and thus making sense means gaining an understanding of the various theories and practices required to manage smooth business functioning and at the same time, facilitate the improvement of organizational condition along with its functioning properly within the business environment. The organizations are considered as socially constructed phenomena that are based on the theories and concepts and are associated with the views and opinions of the theorists who are accustomed with the study of business management theories and practices (Barter and Russell 2013). The essay is prepared to demonstrate about the own experience, skills and how the organizations work as a community of people and have fulfilled its purpose and business goals and objectives. It will be done for understanding how the sense making has been influenced and the management theories and concepts for successful business functioning have transformed in the present years. The management of organization means organizing, planning, leading and at the same time, controlling the various resources, both financial and human resources altogether within an entity and achieve the overall business goals and objectives. The organizational management of the needs and requirements of business are associated with the process of decision making and can even resolve the issues that may be associated with the business functioning. The management of organizations include various aspects such as the management of stakeholders, analyzing the macro and micro environment, development of marketing concepts and theories and implementing useful corporate strategies to sustain in the competitive business environment.

Organizational metaphors

According to Barter and Russell (2013), organizational metaphors means the management of various theories, concepts and ideas required to gain an understanding and make sense for the management theories and concepts required to achieve the organizational goals and objectives efficiently. The organizational management also includes the application of right strategies and procedures to ensure that the business goals and objectives are met with ease and effectiveness. The management of organizations involves the consideration of metaphors hat can influence the customers and allow them to make purchases and at the same time, understand the situation to implement something new that can be vital for the success of the organization (Küpers 2013). These metaphors include consideration of business strategies and management theories, concepts that are vital for creating new scopes ad opportunities for people while working as a social unit as well. Küpers (2013) stated that the organizational change management is another effective management practice that determines the changes needed to be done and how it can be beneficial for making the organization experience growth and generate higher revenue in business as well. The organizational interpretation is based on the theories and concepts related to the management that has enhanced the capabilities of the organization to ensure successful business functioning (Stowell 2014). The organizations are complex and thus flexible management structures are important to create possibilities for handling the business operations and manage the contingencies properly too

As stated by Stowell (2014), the major organizational perspectives include providing a machine view with modern management thinking while the organismic view has focused on the organizational growth, change, adaptation of new management structures and managing good environmental relations too. The organizations act as processors of information that can promote organizational learning while the organizations as cultures are based on values, norms, beliefs and business ethics management. The organizations tend to adapt to certain changes and improve their business functioning through the change management approaches and strategies too.

One of the most popular organizational metaphors is the consideration of organization as machines (Morgan-Jones 2018). It has introduced the Taylorism concept and thus a geometrically structuralism approach has been managed to manage centralization, decentralization, top down and bottom up approaches. Foropon and McLachlin (2013) argued that the organizations as machines, considered as an important metaphor prioritizes of meeting the needs of people who own the organization. The organizations, nowadays, have adopted newer technologies to control the machineries and equipments, furthermore manage specialization of tasks, systematic training, utilization of standardized equipments and ensure production of routine administration, just like the machines (Foropon and McLachlin 2013). The machine managers are responsible for the planning and control of the organization based on the various departments along with the sharing and exchange of information through commands transferred from top to bottom. The classical management theory further enables optimization of the business performance and enhancing the business operational outcomes as well.

Organizational Management and Woolworths

Considering the statements made by Morgan-Jones (2018), the more effective metaphor is the consideration of organizations as organisms and it includes the entire life cycle, from the birth, maturity till the decline or death. The organizations function as living organisms, where the human resources, i.e., the employees possess complex needs and requirements that are needed to be satisfied (McCarthy 2013). Being the organization’s ability to remain open to the environment, different tasks and environments are being fitted with for adapting to the changes, furthermore ensure organizational survival in the competitive business environment. One of the most effective aspects of organizational functioning and management efficiency is the designing and thus the organismic organizations have better options for designing, which facilitates the innovation procedure along with management of relations between employees to deal with the social phenomena (North and Jansen 2013).

Historical perspective

Woolworths, being a retail company in Australia has been hugely benefited and its position has gained stronghold with the proper management of human resources. The satisfaction of customers is paramount to the overall success of the organization and thus the company has focused on managing the human resources properly to ensure service excellence and keeping the customers satisfied as a whole (Lai, Lam and Lam 2013). Considering the human resource management practices, to strengthen the HRM effectiveness, proper recruitment and selection processes are needed to be enabled for improving the business efficiency. Woolworths is one of the largest retail companies in Australia that has established itself in a great position within the supermarket chains and by partnership working with Coles, it accounts of 80 percent of the market share in Australia (Woolworths.com.au 2018).

The company is specialized in selling grocery items along with fresh quality fruits, vegetables, household items, beauty products, etc. to fulfill the needs and requirements of the customers and the company at present operates more than 100 stores all over Australia (Bourne 2016). The online website managed by the company has further assisted in increasing the sales and allowed the organization to gain high level of profit in business as well. The processes of recruitment and selection are important domains of human resource management that has moved much beyond just the technological advancements and has enhanced the ability of the organization too. According to Armstrong and Taylor (2013), with the proper human resource management practices, Woolworths has gained expertise and improved knowledge about dealing with the strategic as well as societal issues (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). The strategic management perspective considering the recruitment and selection processes have helped in improving the effectiveness of marketing and economics along with better communication procedure and implementation of information technologies too. Woolworths, being a major established company does possess a good performance and talent management system that has been helpful for analyzing the skills and potential of the employees, furthermore improve the career aspirations (Hayes 2018).

Sociological perspective

According to McCarthy (2013), the sociological perspective deals with the change management and also the various risks that might be faced within the organization. Often it has been seen that the organizations face conflicts between the employees due to gender discrimination and also due to inaccurate labor laws, due to which workers are paid less than the wages expected. Often changes in the structure of the organization and due to international business activities, companies fail to change and unable to implement the right employment strategies required to employ reliable and skilled employees. Woolworths has provided scopes for employment to many and even managed proper health and safety standards at the workplace (Truss et al. 2013). The company provided additional benefits for the better performances of employees, which further made them perform to their potential as well. Bailey  et al. (2018) considered that the change management is associated with it, because with the formation of a good culture, the organizations will be able to enable innovation and manage the ethical values and beliefs to contribute to the handling of critical situations and deal with uncertainties with the management in practice (Brattonand Gold 2017). For example, Woolworths is committed to the present development of strategic and enterprise wide management approach to risk management that has been strengthened by a culture aware of the risks associated with the management approaches. The risk management is considered as an integral component of management approach from the beginning of the 20^th century in terms of management theories and concepts (Bolden 2016).

Conclusion

The Divisional Leadership teams and managers have applied the principles of risk management ad driven the risk aware culture by remaining transparent and pen throughout the business functioning. North and Jansen (2013) stated that the risk management procedures at the organization could help in making informed choices and at the same time, understand and make acceptance of the consequences that may be experienced in the future (Huxham and Vangen 2013).   The stakeholders are involved during the risk management procedures for ensuring that the risks are mitigated properly and proper training is provided to improve the skills and knowledge of the workers. Monitoring and period reviews of the human resources’ effectiveness are managed to enhance the process of communication, furthermore manage the risks embedded within the business activities to accomplish the goals and objectives (Woolworths.com.au 2018).

Symbolic perspective

The symbolic perspective has enabled the company to manage the strategies in such a way that the organization is viewed as a community and can benefit the customers by providing them with values and benefits.  The strategic management of Woolworths lies on the fact that it aims to accomplish the objectives of maintaining a good track record and develop business while at the same time, act in the portfolio for the maximization of value for the shareholders by aligning with the strategic goals and principles (Watson 2013). The values are considered by the organization properly to analyze the behaviors and make informed choices to manage the strategies and at the same time, facilitate the improvement of quality of products and services delivered to the customers. The strategic management has been possible with the focus on clear vision and mission statement of the organization, which has allowed the company to make operational decisions that are noteworthy and effective. This has also helped the employees of the organization to contribute to the organization by providing their views and shared opinions, furthermore take part in the process of decision making (Berry, Broadbent and Otley 2016). According to Truss et al. (2013), the mission statement has also helped the organization to prioritize the customers and consider them as the central point as the revenue generation will increase and is dependent upon the level of satisfaction that they have achieved. The efficiency of developing a good vision statement has benefited the company by developing useful strategies that can help in strategic planning for the coming years and add essential constituents in the values provided to the customers through products and services delivered (Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes 2015). The potential for improving the strategic management planning of Woolworths, Australia is that the mission statement has aimed at the satisfaction of clients and to fulfill the needs and requirements of theirs, rather than just shedding light on the products supplied by the company in the different market segments (Bailey et al. 2018).

Bolden (2016) stated that the strategic management not only describes the management of strategies but also ensures right promotional and pricing strategies required to meet the organizational requirements. The pricing strategies are implemented through lowering the prices of products and enabling a wide range of products available in the market for competing with the competitors. The pricing strategy has allowed the company to keep the customers inclined towards the company and stay ahead of the killer competition in the marketplace (Woolworths.com.au 2018). The promotional strategies are implemented to ensure that the right market segments are targeted and their needs are being taken care of with ease and effectiveness. This will not only allow the organization to create a wider reach to the customers, but also create more clients and generate higher revenue in business too (Bos?Nehles et al. 2013).

Cultural perspective

Organizations as cultures depict management of values, beliefs and maintenance of rules for the creation of an occupational structure considering Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. According to Wiengarten et al. (2015), the management of a positive culture could help in managing values and beliefs, furthermore shape the organization and implement an effective organizational structure for responding to changes with ease and effectiveness. The Management Board is responsible for managing periodic reviews of the risks faced by Woolworths, furthermore develop a risk aware culture and report the activities and risks to the Audit, Compliance and Risk Management Committee (Alfes et al. 2013).

A proper culture has been maintained at the organization and the human resource manager has made sure to fill the missing gaps in management to ensure that the employees are engaged during the process of decision making. This will not only enhance the level of employee participation, but can even allow them to share their useful ideas, opinions and responses required to improve the process of decision making, furthermore ensure satisfaction of employees with their job roles and responsibilities. Truss et al. (2013) stated that the talent management system is utilized by the organization to arrange proper training and developmental sessions for the employees to enhance their skills, knowledge and expertise, furthermore develop employees and ensure that they perform to their potential. This would give rise to high performance staffs and at the same time, facilitate the improvement of health and safety of the employees to make sure that the organization can derive positive outcomes all throughout (Wiengarten et al. 2015).

Being worked as an assistant manager in the field of marketing and strategic management at a popular retail sector previously, I have understood the significance of management perspectives and how it has progressed nowadays,. With the proper management of business functioning, it has become much more convenient and easy to manage successful business and at the same time create more clients and generate higher revenue in business too (Babnik et al. 2014). I have discussed about the various management theories and relevant concepts considering the business organization and how the management concepts have helped in accomplishing the business goals and objectives with much ease and efficiency (Woolworths.com.au 2018). This has not only promoted innovation, but also has enhanced the capabilities of the organization remain competitive as well as gained growth and higher profitability in business too (Truss et al. 2013).

Conclusion

The essay was prepared to discuss about the various management aspects of the organizations and with the consideration of Woolworths as the case study, the topic further provided explanation about how it had benefited from. The topic also illustrated about the organisational metaphors that helped in building operations management theory. From the essay, it could be understood that the management had progressed since the beginning of 20^th century and with time, it had evolved extensively, whether it included human resource management, financial resources management or strategic management. It had improved the skills and capabilities of the organization and had allowed the company to manage its business functions and processes with accuracy. The clients have been satisfied with excellent customers’ services along with great quality products available at a good price. The company maintained a good culture and structure and ensured that it should be free from discrimination based on race, religion, color or creed. The workers should be paid well so that they could remain motivated to perform to their potential, as represented according to the psychological and sociological perspectives. The maintenance of a positive work culture and good working environment further contributed to the successful business functioning along with the effectiveness of management aspects and success of business within the competitive business environment

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Woolworths.com.au. (2018). {{metaController.metaData.title}}. [online] Available at: https://www.woolworths.com.au/ [Accessed 12 Sep. 2018]