Description of Module

Subject Name Food Technology

Paper Name Food Business Management

Paper No. 14

Module

Name/Title

Organizing and Communicating

Module Id FT/FBM/08

Objectives To know the about traditional and modern theory of organization,

organizing and effective organizing, formal and informal organization,

departmentation, purpose of communicating, about communication

process and its types and barriers to communication.

Keywords Organization, Departmentation, Communication,

Organizing and Communicating

Organizing is a dynamic process of identifying and grouping the work to be performed, defining

and delegating authority, and establishing relationships to enable people to work together to

achieve the organization’s objectives.

Effective Organizing has numerous benefits/functions which include:

Envisioning the goal a member is required to accomplish.

Establishing accountability and line of authority.

It creates channels of communication which supports decision making.

It helps sequential flow of activities within an organization for easy accomplishment of tasks.

It causes judicial use of the available resources and helps build harmonious relationships

among members involved.

I. Organizing: A Traditional View

Many management theorists like Taylor, Fayol considered organizing to be an integral part of

management. Their outlook gave rise to four principles in association with organizing and these

were:

1 Well-defined

hierarchy of authority

This principle was intended to ensure the coordinated pursuit of

organizational goals by contributing individuals.

2 Utility of command It was believed that the possibility of conflicting orders, a serious

threat to the smooth flow of authority, could be avoided by making

sure that each individual answered to only one superior.

3 Authority equal to

responsibility

Authority was defined as the right to get subordinates to

accomplish something. Responsibility was defined as the obligation

to accomplish something. The traditionalist cautioned against

holding individuals ultimately accountable for getting something

done unless they were given formal authority to get it done.

4 Downward

delegation of

authority but not of

responsibility

The superior authority and responsible can pass along with the right

to get something accomplish to subordinates, the obligation for

getting it done remains with the superior. This arrangement was

intended to eliminate the practices of "passing the buck"

Another theorist, Max Weber projected bureaucracy as the epitome of efficiency. He put

forward:

Division of labor

Hierarchy of authority

Framework of rules

Impersonal management

However, organizations that adopted his approach were found to be inefficient, slow and

insensitive to individual needs. There were certain limitations to the traditional methods and this

was attributed to the following concepts:

Bottom-up authority: unlike the traditional approach this concept gives rise to the “acceptance

theory of authority” whereby the authority that the superior has over his subordinates is

determined by the subordinates willingness to comply with itonly when the message:

Is understood

Is consistent with the organization’s purpose

Serves the subordinate’s interests

Provides a situation where the subordinate is able to comply

This laid the foundation of upward communication and informal (friendship based relations)

organization.

Environmental Complexity and Uncertainty: These 2 things are capable of playing havoc with

even the best laid plans. Therefore, allowances must be made for some deviation at the time of

implementation of the plan.

Due to the shortcomings of the traditional concept, organizing then became divided into two

theories: the classical closed system concept (where there is no interaction between the system

and the external environment in which they exist) and the open system concept (where an

organization can interact with its environment and evolve its organizational structure gradually

over time).

The following table compares the traditional and modern approach:

Table: Contrasting theory of Organization

Traditional view Modern view

General perspective Closed –system thinking Open system thinking

Primary goal of

organization

Economy efficiency Survival in an environment of

uncertainty and surprise

Assumption about

surrounding

environment

Predictable Generally uncertain

Assumption about

environment

All casual, goal-directed variables

are known and controllable

Uncertainty can be eliminated

through planning and controlling.

The organizational system has

more variables than can be

comprehended at one time

.Variables often are subject to

influences that cannot be

controlled or predicted.

II. Open system View of Organizations

This concept is made on the assumption that no system can be totally predicted because of the

uncertainties in the external environment. The characteristics include:

Cycle of events: Process by which an open system receives input and generates output. Eg.

Sunfeast ITC uses human resources (man powere) and physical resources(equipments etc) to

produce biscuits, cookies, fruit cakes.

Negative entropy: is the ability of the system to repair itself and grow by importing resources

from its surroundings and then produce outputs utilising them. Eg. When companies undergo

expansion/ take over.

Feedback mechanisms: to identify deviations from the objectives. Eg. addressing consumer

complaints is one of the tasks of the MNC’s and is accomplished by providing a phone

number, email-id at the cover of the product pack where the consumer’s can register their

feedback.

Dynamic homeostasis: maintenance of equilibrium over a period of time. For eg: a company

might declare its shares in one area and increase in the other to maintain constant profits.

Differentiation: Structural differentiation whereby there is development of specialized

functions among its various components. Eg. any food company has different divisions like

the HR department, the production section, Packaging section etc to cater to the needs of the

industry to achieve the objective.

Equifinality: where there are several courses of action to achieve the objectives. Eg. AMUL,

a profit making dairy in Gujarat, adopted the principle to become one of the best managed

cooperative organization in India.

The following is a pictorial representation of the open system

Developing an Open System Model:

A system can be considered as comprising a set of interactive subsystems

Technical (production function) subsystems define the organization’s transformation process.

Boundary-spanning subsystems provide the organization’s interface with the external

environment.

Managerial subsystems bridge (control and direct) the technical and boundary-spanning

subsystems.

III. Formal and Informal Organization

Formal Structures: The structure of the organization in its official state (as shown in the

figure).An organization chart is a diagram describing reporting relationships and the formal

arrangement of work positions within an organization.

An organization chart identifies the following aspects of formal structure:

The division of work.

Supervisory relationships.

Communication channels.

Major subunits.

Levels of management

Informal Structures:A “shadow” organization made up of the unofficial, but often critical,

working relationships between organization members.

Potential advantages of informal structures:

Helping people accomplish their work.

Overcoming limits of formal structure.

Gaining access to interpersonal networks.

Informal learning.

Potential disadvantages of informal structures:

It may work against best interests of entire organization.

There is a high susceptibility to rumor.

It may carry inaccurate information.

It may breed resistance to change.

There might be diversion of work efforts from important objectives.

Feeling of alienation by outsiders.

IV. Departmentation

Departmentation of the Organization is an integral part of organizing andcan be done on the

basis of

Numbers: a certain number of people who have to perform same duties are kept under the same

department under the supervision of one person.

Time: it is done in organizations that work all through the day.

Advantages of departmentation by time:

Efficient utilization of manpower and other resources.

The service of the organization can be available to the customers all around the day.

Continuous operation of the organization is possible.

Disadvantages of the departmentation by time:

There may be lack of supervision in the night shifts.

Several shift system, may cause problem in communication and coordination between the

members.

The members may concentrate on their shifts and not on the “total system”.

Production

Day Shift Evening Shift Night Shift

Process or Equipment:This type of departmentation brings together people in an organization to

carry out a particular operation.

Advantages:

It causes optimum utilization of the resources and the equipment

It is beneficial in cases where special skill is required to operate the machinery.

Disadvantages:

It hinders coordination due to the limitations that arise from specialization.

This type may result in conflicts between departmental managers.

V. Communicating

Communication is the exchange of facts, ideas or emotions between two or more people. Good

Communication is the essence of any organization and helps it to reach the pinnacle of success.

Organizing by itself does no good to the company as long as the plan is not circulated well

enough throughout the members of the organization irrespective of the degree of their

contribution to the achievement of the goal.

Purpose of Communication: It bridges the gap between managers and the external

environment of the organization and helps the organization attain its goal.

Planning

Organizing

Staffing

Leading

Controlling

Customers

Suppliers

Government

Community

Others

COMMUNICATION

MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS STAKEHOLDERS

VI. The Communication Process

The process of Communication is illustrated as follows:

The Key elements include:

1. Sender: is the initiator of the message who encodes the message in a way that is easy to

comprehend by the receiver.

2. Channel: the information that the sender encodes is transmitted over a channel to the receiver.

Eg: a computer, a telephone, telegram, television.

3. Noise: it is the disturbance that hinders communication. Eg: a poor telephone connection, Faulty

decoding, inattentive receiver.

4. Receiver: the person to whom the message is transmitted and the one who decodes the message.

5. Feedback : is the message generated by the receiver in response to the sender’s original message.

VII. Types of Communication flows

There are types of communication flows within an organization namely, downward, upward and

crosswise which are depicted in the following diagram.

Downward Communication:Messages sent from top management down to subordinates.

Most familiar and obvious flow of formal communication.

Major problem is drop off.

Another concern, distortion of the message as it percolates down.

Upward Communication:Messages that flow from the lower to the higher levels in the

organizations.

Upward communications mechanisms:

1. Suggestion boxes.

2. Employee surveys.

3. Face to face conversations.

Cross-wise Communication: it consists of horizontal flow and diagonal flow where horizontal

flow refers to the flow of information among people at the same level whereas diagonal flow

refers to the flow of information among people at different levels who have no direct reporting

relationships.

VIII. Barriers to Communication

Some of the factors that impede effective communication within an organization are listed as

under:

Lack of Planning

Badly expressed messages

Faulty decoding of the message

Unclarified assumption on the part of both the sender and the receiver may result in loss of

goodwill.

Semantic Distortion: may be deliberate or accidental wherein some words or actions may have

ambiguous meaning and may generate different responses in different people.

Loss by Transmission and Poor retention: if a message is transmitted from one person to another

in a series, the message tends to lose its accuracy While communicating orally, 30% of the

information is lost in each transmission.

Inattention and premature evaluation: poor listening on the part of the receiver can be a road-

roller in the path of effective communication.

Information Overload: when dumped with excess amount of information, the employees may

ignore certain segment of the information transmitted or make errors in processing , filter the

information.

Lack of Trust in the communicator: contradicting messages sent by the superiors may cause the

subordinates to lose their trust in them and hence result in ineffective communication.

IX. Gateways to Effective Communication

The following things are important to cause the communication to be effective and these include:

Interpersonal Trust: the subordinates must be able to trust their managers in order to

communicate freely.

Effective listening: The receiver must be attentive and should listen to what is being said.

Proper Feedback: it helps the sender to assess the effect or the degree of accuracy of the

transmitted message.

Understanding Non-verbal cues like Facial Expressions, Vocal characteristics and the choice of

words by /of the sender.