Management Human Relations Works of Chester Barnard, John French, Bertram Raven, Daniel Feldman, Robert Tannenbaum and Fred Massarik
Marlon Wijesekara
PA 642 Fall 2010
Final Paper During trying economic times, it is important to study how to organizations could be restructured for them to become more efficient; to accomplish more with less. As MPA students, we will be faced with such decisions in our professional careers; to combine, allocate and restructure our organizations to become more effective. In this paper, I will use three hypothetical fire stations which would be consolidated into one using the concepts from the Human Relations frame. I will mainly focus on the executive functions of the Fire Station and give more weight into explaining what my recommendations are to the executive to make this consolidated fire station more effective. I have specifically used the works of Chester Barnard, John French, Bertram Raven, Daniel Feldman, Robert Tannenbaum and Fred Massarik to build an argument for my scenario. The concepts of authority and power are couple of the major components that need to be addressed in this scenario. Without establishing proper authority and defining power, it is impossible for an organization to be functional. In the interest of Authority, my first recommendation is as follows; There will be only one fire chief who is selected by seniority. The remaining two chiefs will be given ranks below the chief according to their seniority. Barnard argued that Management's authority rested in its ability to persuade rather than to command. He also emphasized that legitimate management authority is derived from the functional skills and not the hierarchical position. I am assuming that the more years you are with the Fire Station, the more functional skills that one gains. By selecting the Fire Chief and the Deputy Fire Chiefs according to their seniority would help them persuade their subordinates due to their high functional skills. According to Barnard, authority also rests on clear communication between the principal and the agent. He goes onto state that " since the
PA 642 Fall 2010
Final Paper During trying economic times, it is important to study how to organizations could be restructured for them to become more efficient; to accomplish more with less. As MPA students, we will be faced with such decisions in our professional careers; to combine, allocate and restructure our organizations to become more effective. In this paper, I will use three hypothetical fire stations which would be consolidated into one using the concepts from the Human Relations frame. I will mainly focus on the executive functions of the Fire Station and give more weight into explaining what my recommendations are to the executive to make this consolidated fire station more effective. I have specifically used the works of Chester Barnard, John French, Bertram Raven, Daniel Feldman, Robert Tannenbaum and Fred Massarik to build an argument for my scenario. The concepts of authority and power are couple of the major components that need to be addressed in this scenario. Without establishing proper authority and defining power, it is impossible for an organization to be functional. In the interest of Authority, my first recommendation is as follows; There will be only one fire chief who is selected by seniority. The remaining two chiefs will be given ranks below the chief according to their seniority. Barnard argued that Management's authority rested in its ability to persuade rather than to command. He also emphasized that legitimate management authority is derived from the functional skills and not the hierarchical position. I am assuming that the more years you are with the Fire Station, the more functional skills that one gains. By selecting the Fire Chief and the Deputy Fire Chiefs according to their seniority would help them persuade their subordinates due to their high functional skills. According to Barnard, authority also rests on clear communication between the principal and the agent. He goes onto state that " since the