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The Moral

Character of
Management
Practice
- John Roberts

Karin & Joyce


Background
 “We are not accustomed to doubt the
effectiveness of managers in achieving
what they set out to achieve and we
are equally unaccustomed to think of
effectiveness as a distinctively moral
concept”
(Macintyre 1981,pg 71)
Background
 Morality - Private sphere of our lives,
realm of our immediate personal
relationship

 Management- Realm of public affairs


Background
 Managers’ practices are not judged by
reference to moral standards but
merely in terms of the effectiveness
with which they secure given objectives

 Effectiveness of manager’s day to day


practice depends upon his or her ability
to manipulate other human beings into
compliant modes of behavior
Case Study – PYT Ltd
 In early years, PYT Ltd had achieve a
very rapid growth

 In recent years, it begun to reach the


limits of its customer market and failed
to repeat business

 Senior management blamed on its style


of management
Research – PYT Ltd
High Sales Target, Incentive Payments,
Threats to job security

Short term personal interest in mind

Staff oversells to customers

Sales people preferred to leave the company

High turnover and strong customer resistance


Case Study - Dave
 Hard and detached manager

 Easier it make objective decisions when


there’s no friendship

 No ‘advantage’ in finding out more


about the people he worked with

 Personal relationship might actually


interfere with his ability to make
‘objective’ decisions
Case Study - Dave
 His relationship with his staff were
viewed as means to achieve future
promotion

 Staff were generally unwilling to work


and required to be forced to do so

 Style of management characterized as


‘Theory X’
Case Study - Val
 Val’s values changed when she got
married, she realize that there was more
to life than being a success in the job

 Her style of management characterized in


a shift from ‘Theory X’ to ‘Theory Y’

 She recognized that treating staff ‘like


kids’ might have been a contributory
factor to the high rate of turnover in staff

 She had force herself to let others be


responsible
Case Study - Val
 Present herself to staff as an advisor
and co-ordinator of their activities

 Managers were now presented as the


servants of staff

 Her aim was to help them develop their


own capacity for self-direction and self-
control

 Developed relationships with her staff


and she appeared much more
responsive to individual differences in
beliefs, feeling and aspirations
Case Study- Rita (Dave)
 Dave demoted her due to her
poor performance
 Dave used his aloofness and
distance to get Rita do what he
wanted
 This undermined her confidence
 Thus diminished her chances of
proving herself to Dave
Case Study- Rita (Val)
 Consoled Rita
 Val tried to rebuild Rita’s
confidence
 Rita thought that Val handled
her just right
 This way Val is able to serve her
own and Rita’s interest.
Case Study- Christine (Val)
 Confided in Val as to why she
missed her sales target
 Val used this ‘personal
information’ to gain control
 Demonstrated that her interest
in Christine was only
instrumentally motivated
 Caused a resistance in Christine
Dave’s style of management
Strength
 The most effective means for achieving
his targets
 Led him to impress his superiors and be
indifferent to the consequences of his
actions for his staff

Weakness
 Staff were generally unwilling to work
and required to be forced to do so.
 High turnover rate
Val’s style of management
Strength
 Enable her to understand the needs and
concerns that informed their behavior.
 More effective practice, good sales
results and low turnover rate

Weakness
 Superficial
 In the case of Christine, Val’s
appearance of concern, led her not into
conformity but into resistance.
Critical Thinking
 Personal motives and beliefs

 Led them to ignore subjectivity of the


staffs

 People behave differently when they are


observed

 People act like how they are being treated

 It seems that employees prefer theory Y


Critical Thinking
 When people perceive they have friendly
supervision, they are happier

 Do not use ‘personal information’ as tool to


manipulate and control staffs

 Manipulative forms of control forces staff’s


individualism

 Individualism diverts the realization of


potential organized relationships

 Only moral character of management practice


is effective

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