SHUBHANAV RANA MAGAR
s2291076
Degree Title: BBA
Module Title: Management Issues and Concepts
Module Code: M2N2255534
Date of Submission: 1/10/2025
Word count: 1648
Declaration: “This piece of coursework is my original work and has not been submitted
elsewhere in fulfilment of the requirement of this or any other award.
Signature (or printed name): ___________________________________________
CHALLENGES FACED BY MANAGERS IN HYBRID WORKING ENVIRONMENT
With more and more employees preferring hybrid working, post-
pandemic(BBC,2023), Williams, S. and Shaw, N. (2024) suggested that
hybrid working is an unavoidable reality of the future, and organizations
struggle to comply with consistent issues. This essay goes through the
definition of management, manager, and hybrid working environment,
management classical and human relations theories, roles of managers, and
real-world examples of challenges in implementing managerial roles in the
hybrid working environment. The main argument of this essay is that hybrid
working provides barriers to effective communication, decreases employee
performance, and creates isolation in workers.
According to (Daft et al, 2020, pp .4-5) “Management is the attainment of
organizational goals effectively and efficiently through planning, organizing,
leading and controlling organizational resources.” According to Robbins and
Coulter (2016, p.5-10) “Manager is responsible for coordinating their team to
meet organizational objectives.”, their responsibility is to coordinate tasks as
effectively which is defined as doing the right thing that coincides with the
achievement of goals and efficiently which is described as achieving more
output from least amount of input as possible, what they do is classified into
three sections: - management functions, roles, and skills.
Managers functions include: - planning refers to establishing clear goals,
organizing refers to structuring cohesive components to achieve desired
results, commanding and coordinating or leading is defined as working with
and through to attain common goals and controlling is initiating corrective
measurements, comparison of performance and constant monitoring to
ensure that organizational standards are being met.
managerial role refers to specific actions and behaviors expected to be
exhibited by managers. These roles are classified into three types: -
Interpersonal roles which are described as duties that comprise people
outside of the organization of ceremonial or symbolic duties, figureheads,
leaders and liaison consists of these roles
Information roles involve collecting, receiving, and disseminating information
these role consists of monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson.
Decisional roles revolve around making choices that impact the organization
these roles include entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator,
and negotiator
Three critical skills in managing are: -
Technical skills which he describes as the job-specific knowledge and
techniques required to perform tasks at the job.
Interpersonal skill is the ability to function in groups as well as on an
individual level.
Conceptual skill is the ability of the manager to grasp abstract situations.
As per Robbins and Coulter (2016, p. 25-26) Classical theory of management
is focused on rationality and making organizations as efficient as possible it
consists of two parts scientific management and general administrative
theory: -
According to Robbins and Coulter (2016, p. 60-61), Scientific management is
an approach that involves using the scientific method to find the “one best
way” for a job to be done.
In 1898 Taylor observed that workers in bethlehem steel plant had the
capacity to load and unload 4.5 tons of steel but with the current tools and
sequencing they were loading and unloading 12.5 tomes of steel, so with a
raise in pay from $1.15 to $1.85 and Taylor's theory the crew's productivity
skyrocketed (Daft et al, 2020, p. 36-37).
However, Taylor was not the only pioneer in this theory, Henry Gantt
developed the Gantt chart which is the bar graph that demonstrates planned
and completed work in each production stage in elapsed time. Frank B.
Gilbreth and Lillian M. Gilbreth are other notable pioneers Franks time and
motion study helped doctors reduce time spent in the operation theater and
Lillian’s paved the way for industrial psychology and made a significant
contribution in the field of human resource management. Henry Ford’s
assembly line pioneered the path for future mass production which
ultimately made goods more affordable and easy to manufacture.
Taylor characterized managerial role and responsibility as managers should
assess individual performance with individual metrics, managers are
responsible for their worker's training and development, there must be an
equal division of work between managers and workers, and managers and
workers should cooperate wholeheartedly to get the work done.
The merits of this theory are: -
Highlights the importance of compensation for performance.
Emphasizes the careful study of tasks and jobs.
demonstrates the importance of personnel selection and training.
The demerits of this theory are: -
Did not appreciate the social context of work and the higher needs of
workers, which can lead to conflict.
Did not acknowledge variance among individuals.
Tended to regard workers as uninformed and ignored their ideas and
suggestions.
General administrative theory emphasizes what a manager should do and
what is considered good management practices. fayol described principles of
management “as fundamental rules of management that can be taught in
schools and applied in all organizational situations”.
According to (Daft et al, 2020, pp .38-40) an organization that is being
managed on a rational impersonal basis is called a bureaucracy this
organization consists of a clearly defined hierarchy, division of labour,
detailed rules and regulations, and impersonal relationships.
UPS one of the largest package-delivering companies enforces bureaucracy
in its logistics services clear division of labour, strict employee hygiene
policy, and specific package-delivering process which is credited for the
success of UPS Robbins and Coulter (2016, p. 61-63).
The merits of this theory are: -
Employee advancement based on skill and technical qualification
Rules and regulations apply equally to all employees
Clear division of labour
The demerits of this theory are: -
Stagnation to change
Hinders employee creativity
Lack of employee concern for the organization
Human relation management (Daft et al, 2020, pp .11-15) describes that
truly effective control stems from the individual within rather than strict
authoritarian control, he also believed that an organization is a system where
human cooperation is vital in getting things done, he believed in the
acceptance theory of authority which means that people have free will to
accept authority or deny it and generally people follow authority if they
perceive a benefit for themselves.
A series of studies at a Chicago electrical company proved this theory in four
experiments and three control groups the researchers changed the lighting
condition from bright to a dime, working length, break length, sleep, and diet
but they did not find any correlation to increase in productivity, however, the
factors that increased productivity was human relations, feeling important in
a group and change in supervisory style that was a major factor in the
increase in productivity.
Abraham Maslow also contributed to this field with the hierarchy of human
needs because he observed that most of his patient's problems stemmed
from an inability to satisfy their needs. He ranked physiological needs at the
bottom of the table and moved up to safety, belongings, esteem, and finally
self-actualization.
Douglas M. McGregor formulated a framework that he called theory X and Y,
he believes that the classical perspective was based on theory X and Y as
the more idealistic theory, with owner-managers like Ricardo Semco
preferring theory Y over X, allowing employees to control their work
schedule, pay plans and location as well as encouraging managers to seek
new challenges, ideas and business opportunity his company Semco
partners has a high level of trust, growth, and profit.
Assumptions of Theory X
The average human is lazy and dislikes work.
Because of the dislike for work control and punishment is necessary to
achieve organizational goals.
The average human delegates responsibility, has little ambition,
prefers to be directed, and wants security above all.
Assumptions of Theory Y
The physical and mental effort required in work needs adequate rest,
humans do not inherently dislike work.
External control and punishment are not necessary when people are
committed, people will drive themselves forward towards goals worth
achieving.
Under proper humans learn to seek responsibility, organizational
culture matters on what habits employees pick up.
Imagination, ingenuity, and creativity are highly distributed in the
population.
Full utilization of human potential is not being utilized with the current
modern lifestyle.
Williams, S. and Shaw, N. (2024) suggested that Hybrid working refers to
employees working from office or non-office locations, at different times
using digital devices but they are also expected to show up in the office.
Data suggests that workers in the USA who worked from home accounted for
5.7% in 2019 by 2022 the figure had risen to 22% Toscano, F., González-
Romá, V. and Zappalà, S. (2024).
The challenge associated with hybrid working is social isolation from
colleagues which leads to investing extra energy to stay in touch with
colleagues this lengthens the communication process hindering employee
effeteness, it provides further challenges like dynamic pricing as the
employees need approval from their supervisor to set prices for airlines
ticket online, even a small mistake can lead to the competitors plane flying
full capacity while our flight is delayed to merge with other flights.
Lack of face-to-face interaction also creates frustration within employees
which leads to tension which is linked with poor performance, depleted
energy levels, clouded cognitive function, and lower work engagement.
In multilevel confirmatory factor analysis, the participants were asked
questions like rank on a scale of 1 to 7 whether they felt isolated” very
much” or “not at all” The overall value obtained was 0.80 and on a scale of 1
to 7 whether they felt relaxed at the moment or tended the overall value was
0.81, the participants were also questioned whether they felt immersed in
the job on a scale of 1 to 7 “not at all” to “very much”, the reliability
coefficient omega-within was 0.72 and one of the example items was “today,
how do you think your supervisor would evaluate the quality of your
performance?” the response scale was 1 “ very poor” to 7 “ excellent” the
coefficient was 0.88.
In conclusion, management is attaining the organizational goal efficiently
and effectively, while the manager is someone who coordinates a team to
meet organizational objectives they are responsible for planning,
organization, leading, and controlling their roles are informational,
interpersonal, and decisional, classical management is a rational mode of
management which focuses in efficiency whereas human relation
management focuses more on manager-worker relation to get things done.
Hybrid working is a mixture of working from home and working in the office.
The nature of hybrid working interferes with establishing proper managerial
roles like building manager-employee relationships which creates a sense of
isolation, tension, communication gaps, decreased commitment, and
productivity.
BBC (2023) The permanent imperfect reality of hybrid work. Available at:
[Link]
reality-of-hybrid-work (Accessed: 10 January 2025).
Daft, Richard L., Benson, Alan. And Henry Brian (2020) Management.
Andover: Cengage Learning. Extract pp. 33-61.
Robbins, Stephen P. and Coulter, Mary K. (2016) ‘Managers in the
Workplace’, 13(eds) Managers in the Workplace. Harlow: Pearson. pp. 34-71.
Williams, S. and Shaw, N. (2024), "Hybrid working – Benefits and challenges
for productivity and performance", International Journal of Productivity and
Performance Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print.
[Link]
Toscano, F., González-Romá, V. and Zappalà, S. (2024), “The Influence of
Working from Home vs. Working at the Office on Job Performance in a Hybrid
Work Arrangement: A Diary Study. Journal of business and
psychology.[Link]
