Authority and powerAuthority relationships, whether horizontal or vertical, are the factors that make organization possible and facilitate departmental activities providing coordination and harmony to the enterprise. It is possible to make a clear distinction between the concepts of authority and power: power is the ability of an individual or groups to induce or influence the beliefs or actions of other persons or groups while authority in organization is the right in a position to exercise discretion in making decisions affecting others. In order to avoid conflicts among the employees within the organization, authority is shown in the organizational chart (formal organization). On the other hand power is not detectable in the organization chart (informal organization). Obviously these two key powers run in parallel: usually in fact the higher the position, the higher the level of power. There are different bases of power:- Legitimate power normally arises from position and derives from our cultural system of rights, whereby a position is accepted by people as being “legitimate”- The power of expertness refers to the power of knowledge: the expertness of a person may have considerable influence on others because respected for its/their specialized knowledge. - Referent power refers to the influence that people or groups may exercise because people believe in them and in their ideas even if they have little or no legitimate power.- Reward power refers to the power to grant or withhold rewards. - Coercive power normally arises from legitimate power and refers to the power to punish. This power is the of opposite of the reward power. Empowerment Empowerment means that employees, managers, or teams at all levels in the organization are given the power to make decisions without asking their superiors for permission. Therefore empowerment of subordinates means that superiors have to share their authority and power with such subordinates. In order to be effective and sincere, empowerment shall be given to competent people and should be based on mutual trust: the employees hold relevant information regarding the firm while the firm strongly believes on the capacity of the employees empowered. The concept of empowerment is strictly connected to the idea of delegation and implies that the employees and teams accept direct responsibility for their actions and tasks. The increasing interest in empowerment is due in part to the need to respond quickly to the demands and expectations of customers, to establish a better-educated workforce and to the rise in global-competiveness. Empowerment has negative and positive aspects: negative aspects regard accountability issues; thus the difficulty that may arise in the control process directed to ensure that activities are being carried out with efficiency and effectiveness. Positive aspects of empowerment include time saving (no need to ask for permission) and enhancement of creativity through the freedom to test experiments given to employees (characterizes the R&D department). Line/staff concepts and functional authorityLine authority is that relationship in which a superior exercises directs supervision over a subordinate. Line authority therefore gives to a superior a line of authority over a subordinate and it is present in all the organizations. Line authority can be either direct, between top managers or middle managers, or indirect that refers to the circumstance in which the lower level does not report to the top-level manager. The clearer the line of authority form the ultimate management position to every position, the clearer will be the responsibility for decision-making and the more effective will be the organizational communication (scalar principle). The person who is subordinate to its superior has to report its activities to the latter due to the hierarchical relationships within all the organizations.On the other hand staff relationship is advisory: the function of people in a pure staff capacity is to investigate, research and give advice to line managers.

Functional authority is the right delegated to an individual or a department to control specified processes, practices policies or other matters relating to activities undertaken by persons in other departments. In conclusion the kinds of authority relationships, such as line, staff and functional authority emphasizes the dispersion of authority in the organization. Such concepts are strictly connected with the concept of decentralization of authority.Decentralization of authorityDecentralization is the tendency to disperse decision-making authority in an organized structure. It is important to underline that absolute centralization and decentralization are not present in any kind of organization because, in both cases, a situation of no structured organization would arise. Decentralization requires careful selection of which decisions to push down the organization and which to hold near the top, specific policy-making, to guide the decision-making process, proper selection and training of people who will be empowered and an adequate overall control.Delegation of authorityAuthority is delegated when a superior gives to a subordinate discretion to make decisions. Clearly, superiors cannot delegate authority they do not have whether their role in the organization. The process of delegation involves:- Determining the results expected from a position.- Assigning tasks to the position.- Delegating authority for accomplish such tasks- Holding the person in that position responsible for the accomplishment of the task. Being delegated means also to be required to accept responsibility for decisions, actions and accomplishment of the goals. In such matter power should be equal to responsibility. If power is greater that responsibility, could result in autocratic behaviour of the person who is not held accountable for its actions. On the other hand if responsibility is greater than power, could result in frustration because the person has not the necessary power to carry out the tasks for which is responsible. Most of failure cases of delegation are not due to insufficient knowledge of fundamental concepts but because superiors are unable or unwilling to apply them. Thus, failure of delegation is due to personal attitudes. In order to have successful delegation, the superior, giving the right of discretion to a subordinate, must be receptive: It has in fact to show willingness to listen, accept or give a chance to other persons’ ideas, suggestions etc. A manager in order to delegate authority effectively must be willing to release the right to make decisions to subordinates, must allow to make certain mistakes (costs deriving from mistakes must be considered as investment in personal development), must trust the subordinate, must establish and use broad controls (to assure that the authority given is being used to support the enterprise or departmental goals, policies and plans) and finally establish proper controls (the delegator is responsible of the delegated subordinates’ actions, decisions and tasks). Another fundamental requisite to establish an effective system of delegation is the presence of open lines of communication, characterized by a free flow of information between the delegator and the subordinate. Centralization of authorityCentralization is the systematic and consistent reservation of authority at a certain point of the organization (top level). Thus all the decisions and actions of any level need the approval of the persons who have full authority and power. There are different kinds of centralization:Centralization of performance (geographic concentration), departmental centralization (concentration of specialized activities in departments) and centralization of management (tendency to restrict delegation of authority). Recentralization refers to the centralization of authority that was once decentralized. Usually it is not a complete reversal of decentralization, as the authority delegated is not completely withdrawn.

Human resource management and selectionPeople are probably the most important asset in almost any organization. Nevertheless the “human asset” is never shown on the balance sheet as a distinct category, even though a great amount of money is invested in the recruitment, selection and training. Staffing The function of staffing is defined as filling and keeping filled positions in the organization structure. Moreover staffing is closely linked to organizing, that is, the setting up of intentional structures of roles and positions. Managers have the task to fill the positions in their organization and to keep them filled with qualified people. Staffing is a crucial function of managers that may determine the success or failure of the enterprise and which affects leading and controlling: proper staffing in fact facilitates leading and controlling.Need for managersThe need for managers is determined by many factors such the organizational plans, difficulty of tasks and size. Moreover present and projected organization structures determine number and kinds of managers and employees required to carried out the performance effectively. Inability to meet the demand for the managers needed may influence the growing process and the overall performance. Such demands are compared with the available talent through the management inventory which is an inventory chart of a unit with managerial positions indicated. On the basis of the demand analysis, external and internal sources are utilized in the processes of recruitment, selection, placement, promotion and separation. Other essential aspects of staffing are appraisal (performance evaluation), career strategy (approach to developing employees strengths and skills trying to overcome weaknesses) and training and development of managers. After the need for managerial personnel has been determined, a number of candidates have to be recruited. The recruitment process involves attracting qualified candidates to fill organizational roles. From such candidates, managers or potential managers are selected: selection is the process of choosing from among the candidates the most suitable ones. The selection process is carried out to permit an effective placement that shall allow managers to utilize their personal strengths and overcome their weaknesses. With the term promotion, we refer to the process of placing a manager already within the organization in a new position, which normally involves more responsibility.External and internal forcesStaffing requires an open system approach that interacts with both the internal and the external environment. External and internal forces affect the process of staffing. Internal factors include the organizational goals and tasks, the organizational structure, the demand and supply of managers within the enterprise, policies and the reward system. On the other hand external factors include the level of education, economical conditions, the legal-political and social cultural dimensions and the demand and supply of managers outside the enterprise. All this factors must be taken into account to maximize the human resources benefits.Common aspects regarding staffingThere are common aspects, connected either to ethical or law reasons, which are usually present in all the organizations. For example organizations, while carrying out the staffing function have to provide equal employment opportunities that prohibit employment practices that discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex. In such matter is important to mention that women, in the last decade, have made significant progress in obtaining responsible positions in organizations. Moreover most of the organizations today present a deep diversity in the workplace. Diversity in the work place has several advantages that include different perspectives to management and non-management issues, learning to tolerate different views and accepting that everyone is different.

Staffing in the international environment Companies have 3 sources for staffing the positions in international operations: (1) Managers from the home country of the firm, (2) managers from the host country and (3) managers from third countries. Managers are often selected from the home country because they have familiarity with products, personnel, enterprise goals and policies and so on. Moreover managers of the home country of the firm may be unfamiliar with the language or the environment of the foreign country. It is important also to point out it’s usually more expensive to send managers and their families abroad with the possibility that the families find it difficult to settle in. Managers who are host-country nationals speak the local language and are familiar with the country’s environment. Employing them is generally less costly and it may not require relocating them and their families. The problem is that those managers may not be familiar with the firm’s products and operations making control more difficult. Mangers from third countries are usually international career managers. Skills needed in managers To be effective managers they need to have various skills: technical, human, conceptual and design. The importance of each skill depends on the relative level within the organization. Moreover managers must be able to identify problems, analyze complex situation and by solving the problems encountered, exploit the opportunities presented. Moreover managers have to desire to manage, have the ability to communicate with empathy, behave in accordance to ethical standards and have past experiences as a manager. Personality Variables As we know, each and everyone of us has personal characteristics, attitudes, skills, intelligence, knowledge, experience etc. However a manager must have strong personality that has to be enough in order to lead subordinates in a proper way. According to several studies about personal characteristics of CEOs, emerged that narcissism is the most common. Narcissism people are those who particularly admire their own attributes. Since they have self-views and believe to have superior abilities has been proved that take care of their organization and that are extremely concerned with the self-improvement. Job DesignPeople spend a great deal of time working, and it is therefore important to design jobs that individuals like and at the same time that contribute to the overall mission of the organizationSelecting a manager effectively requires a clear understanding of the nature and purpose of the position that has to be filled. The job must be designed to meet organizational and individual needs as well. Other factors to consider are the skills required (vary with the level in the organizational hierarchy) and the additional personal characteristics desired by managers. In conclusion in order to design a job the first step that has to be done is create the task. Then on the basis of the task the job can be designed that answers to the question: “which kind of job should they create to accomplish a specific pre-created task? “. Conclusive step regards the selection process that aims to select the most suitable person capable to accomplish the required task. Ways to enrich a jobMoreover job design can be either for individual positions or work teams. Individual jobs can be enriched through grouping tasks into works unit; in words grouping related jobs into one category and assign responsibility to an individual. A second related approach is to combine several tasks into one. A third approach to enrich a job is to establish direct relationship with the customer or client. Another way to enrich a job is to establish a feedback mechanism within and outside the organization. Each role can be enriched through vertical job loading, which means increasing individual responsibility for planning, doing and controlling their own jobs. When someone is designing a job, s/he must take into consideration the requirements as well as the maximization of benefits of both the employees and the organization as whole. Other aspects to be considered are technological constraint, costs and

the organization structure. The awareness that individual characteristics vary from people to people is needed in order to design a job effectively.SelectionSelection of managers is one of the most critical steps in the entire process of managing. Selection is the process of choosing from among candidates, from within the organization or from the outside, the most suitable person for the current position or for the future position. The selection process must be done taking into consideration both the internal (company policies, managers demand and supply within the organization) and external forces. There are two approaches to filling organizational positions:1) Selection approach in which applicants are sought to fill a position with rather specific requirements.2) Placement approach in which the strengths and weaknesses of the individual are evaluated and a suitable position is found or even designed.Managerial performances are appraised and are the basis for rewards, promotion, demotion, replacement and retirement decisions. In the selection process the information about the applicant should be both valid and reliable. In selection the validity is the degree to which the data predict the candidate’s success as a manager. The information should also have a high degree of reliability a term that refers to the accuracy and consistency of the measurement. The steps in selection process:1) The selection criteria are established on the basis of job requirements.2) The candidate is requested to complete an application form.3) A screening interview follows to identify the more promising candidates. 4) Additional information may be obtained by testing the candidate’s qualification.5) Formal interviews are then conducted by the managers and other persons in the organization.6) The information provided by the candidate is checked and verified. 7) On the basis of the information provided the candidate is either offered the job or informed that he or she has not be selected for the position.TestsThe primary aim of testing is to obtain data about applicants that help predict their probable success as managers. The aim of testing is to find the best person for the job and reducing turnover. Here are some common tests:- Intelligence tests: designed to measure mental capacity- Proficiency and aptitude tests: constructed to discover interests, existing skills and potential for acquiring skills.- Vocational tests: designed to indicate a candidate’s most suitable occupation.- Personality tests: designed to reveal a candidate’s personal characteristics and the way the candidate may interact with others.Manager and organization developmentExecutives have to look to the future and be prepared for it. In such matter development and training of managers are necessary in order to be able to cope with new demands, new problems and new challenges. The term manager development refers to long-term, future-oriented programs and the progress a person makes in learning how to manage. On the other hand managerial training pertains to the programs that facilitate the learning process and is usually a short-term activity to help managers do their job better. Organization development is a systematic, integrated, and planned approach to improving the effectiveness of groups of people and of the whole organization. Organization development uses various techniques for identifying and solving problems. Therefore organization development focuses on the total organization (or a major segment of it), while manager development focuses only on individuals.

Manager development process and trainingBefore specific training and development programs are chosen, three kinds of aspects must be considered:1) Objectives of the enterprise, the availability of managers and the turnover rates. 2) Needs related to the operations that can be determined by job descriptions and performance standards.3) Data about individual training that can be provided from performance appraisals, interviews with the jobholder, tests etc.For what concern present jobs, managers’ development and training must be based on a needs analysis derived from a comparison of actual performance and behavior with the required performance and behavior. A similar process is applied in the identification of the training needs for next job. Present competency is compared with the competency demanded by the next job. Training and development for future jobs and needs requires forecast which new competencies will be demanded due to changing technology and methods. Approaches to manager development: on-the-job trainingThere are several approaches that regard the manager development:- Planned progression: is a technique that gives managers a clear idea of their path of development. Managers know where they stand and where they are going. The manager knows the requirements for advancement and the means of achieving it.-Job rotation: the purpose of job rotation is to broaden the knowledge of managers or potential managers. Trainees learn about the different enterprise functions by rotating into different positions. But the participants in the training program may not remain long enough in each position to prove their future effectiveness as managers. -Creation of “assistant-to” positions: assistant-to position are frequently created to broaden the viewpoints of trainees by allowing them to work closely with experienced managers who can give special attention to the development needs of trainees. This can be very effective where superiors are qualified or able to teach. -Temporary promotions: Individuals are frequently appointed as acting managers when, for instance, the permanent manager in on vacation, is ill, or is making an extended business trip, or even when a position is vacant. When the acting manager is given the authority to make decisions and to assume full responsibility, the experience can be valuable.-Committees and junior boards: gives trainees the opportunity to interact with experienced managers. - Coaching: there must be on a climate of confidence and trust between the superior and trainees. Patience and wisdom are required of superiors, who must be able to delegate authority and give recognition for jobs well done. Effective coaches will develop the strengths and potentials of subordinates and help the overcome their weaknesses.

In general development objectives include: an increase in knowledge, development of attitudes to manage, acquisition of skills, improvement of management performance and achievement of enterprise objectives. Changes in technology, internalization and the shift from manufacturing to service industries affect both managers and organizations’ development. Top and middle-level managers in situations in which changes may affect the current or future overall performance have to create motivations for change (unfreezing), assimilate new information and concepts or develop different prospective (changing) and stabilize the change (refreezing). There are many reasons why people resist change: for example what is not known causes fear and induces resistance, not knowing the reason for the change causes resistance and change may also result in a reduction of benefits or power.

Leading The managerial function of leading is defined as the process of influencing people so they will contribute to organizational and group goals. Managing requires the creation and maintenance of an environment in which individuals work together in groups toward the accomplishment of common objectives. Human factors in managing Through the function of leading, managers help people satisfy their own needs while utilizing their potential contributing to the achievement of an enterprise’s goal. Managers should thus have an overall understanding of the personalities of people. It’s important to underline the fact that in all organizations there is no an average person; each individual in fact is unique having different needs. In such matter effective managers should make their best to align people’s aims with those of the firm itself always taking into consideration that each is different but all are human beings. Achieving the overall objectives is important but managers should always take into consideration that they must never violate the dignity of people. The concept of individual dignity means that people must be treated with respect, no matter what is their position in the organization structure. In managing human assets, managers must to focus on the motivation of people. Motivation is a term applying to the entire class of drives, desires, needs, whishes and similar forces. To say that managers motivate their subordinates is to say that they do things which they hope will satisfy these drives and desires and induce the subordinates to act in a desired manner.McGregor’s theory X and YTheories X and Y are two sets of assumption about the nature of people. It is important to underline that such distinction between the natures of people does not imply associations with being “good” or “bad”.-Theory X involve the following characteristics about the nature of people:- Average human beings have an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if they can.-Because of this previous characteristic most people must be coerced, controlled, directed and threatened with punishment to push them to make more efforts for the accomplishment of organizations’ objectives.- Average human beings prefer to be directed, wish to avoid responsibility, have relatively little ambition, and want security above all.Theory Y involve the following characteristics: - External control and the threat of punishment are not the only means for producing effort toward organizational objectives. People will exercise self-direction and self-control in the service of objectives to which they are committed. - The degree of commitment to objectives is in proportion to the size of the rewards associated with their achievement. - Average human beings learn, under proper conditions, not only to accept responsibility but also to seek it. - The capacity to exercise a relatively high degree of imagination, ingenuity, and creativity in the solution of organizational problems is widely, distributed in the population. - Under the conditions of modern industrial life, the intellectual potentialities of the average human being are only partially utilized. It is important to underline that theory X and Y are only assumptions; they depict different views and they are not prescriptions or suggestions for managerial strategies. Maslow’s hierarchy Maslow’s hierarchy of needs describe how needs motivated us all. His theory is well represented by a pyramid structure. Only when lower order needs are satisfied we are concerned with higher orders. The pyramid is divided in 5 levels:

1) Physiological needs = Basic needs necessary to survive. (Food, water)2) Safety needs= Safety needs are given by the physical and emotional protection of the individual. This kinds of needs are necessary for an individual to feel safe and comfortable in any given environment. (Health, property)3) Social needs: the individual’s need for love and social acceptance including love,friendship and respect. 4) Esteem needs. We can distinguish them into two categories: internal and external needs. For what concern the former it includes self-respect, autonomy and self-confidence while the latter includes respect of and by the others.5) Self-actualization needs: the peak of this pyramid can never be fully satisfied. An individual will continue in the process of personal growth to achieve self-satisfaction. The hunger for more knowledge, creativity and self-expression is an example of this kind of needs.Herzberg’s theory Maslow’s theory has been considerably modified by Herzberg which introduced a two-factor theory of motivation. Starting from the bottom of the hierarchy, the first three steps are matched under the “Maintenance factors”, the last two instead under “Motivations”. If one of the Maintenance factors doesn’t exist the person will be dissatisfied. Instead, if one of the Motivations factors doesn’t exist, person normally won’t feel dissatisfied, but if it does, it will really motivate him/her. Alderfer’s ERG theoryThe Alderfer’s theory is similar to Maslow’s theory but presents only three categories that include existence needs, relatedness needs and growth needs.Vroom’s expectancy theory Following Vroom theory people will be motivated to do things to reach a goal if they believe in the worth of that goal and if they can see that what they do will help them in achieving it. Vroom’s theory may be stated as Force= Valence x Expectancy where force is the strength of a person’s motivation, valence refers to the strength of an individual’s preference for an outcome (when a person is indifferent about achieving a certain goal, we have a valence equals to zero) while expectancy refers to the probability that a particular action will lead to a desired outcome. The Porter and Lawler ModelAs this model indicates, the amount of effort depends on the value of a reward plus the amount of energy a person believes is required and the probability of receiving the reward. Equity theoryAn important factor of motivation is whether individuals perceive the reward structure as being fair. According to equity theory, motivation is influenced by an individual’s subjective judgment about the fairness of the reward he or she gets, relative to the inputs, compared with the rewards of others. If people feel they are inequitably rewarded, they may be dissatisfied, they may reduce the quantity or the quality of output, or they may even leave the organization. This wouldn’t occur if people perceived the rewards equitable. The essential aspect of theory may be expressed as follow:

Skinner’s reinforcement theory According to the psychologist B.F. Skinner’s reinforcement theory individuals can be motivated by proper design of their work environment and by praise for their performance, while punishment for poor performance produces negative results.

McClelland’s theoryMcClelland to the understanding of motivation identifying three types of basic motivating needs:- Need for power: people with a high need for power have a great concern with exercising, influence and control. They enjoy teaching and public speaking.- Need for affiliation: people with a high need for affiliation usually derive pleasure from being loved and tend to avoid the pain of being rejected by a social group.- Need for achievement: people with a high need for achievement have an take a realistic approach to risk. Job enrichmentIt is related to Herzberg’s theory of motivation in which factors as challenge, achievement, recognition and responsibility are considered as real motivations. Job enrichment is the attempt to build into jobs a higher sense of challenge and achievement: giving workers more freedom in deciding, encouraging participation of subordinates, giving workers a feeling of personal responsibility for their tasks, taking steps to ensure that workers can see how their tasks contribute to a finished product and to the firm as a whole and giving people their performance feedback.Job enlargement Enlarging the scope of the job by adding similar tasks without enhancing responsibility. For example a production line worker may install not only the bumper on a car but also the front hood. LeadershipAlthough some people treat the terms managership and leadership as synonymous, the two shall be distinguished since a manager can be a leader while being leader does not imply to be manager. Such distinction permits to study and analyze leadership without taking into consideration at which level of the organization hierarchy the leader is involved.The essence of leadership is followership that can express as the willingness of people to follow a person which is consequently a leader. Following the principle of leadership people tend to follow those whom offer them a means of achieving their own desires, wants and needs. Thus the more managers understand what motivates their subordinates, and the more they reflect this understanding in carrying out their managerial actions, the more effective they are likely to be as leaders. It emerges therefore that leadership and motivation are closely interconnected. Leadership is defined as the art or the process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of group goals. Ingredients of leadershipUsually every group of people that performs near its total capacity has some person as its head who is skilled in the art of leadership. The art of leadership is composed by the following abilities:

1) The ability to use power effectively and in a responsible manner2) The ability to comprehend that human beings have different motivating forces at

different times and in different situations3) The ability to inspire4) The ability to act in a manner that will develop a climate conductive to responding to

and arousing motivations.

Leadership behavior and styles There are several theories on leadership behavior and styles: 1) leadership based on the use of authority, 2) the managerial grid, 3) leadership involving a variety of styles.Leadership based on the use of authority:

Autocratic leader: commands and expects compliance (disciplina), is dogmatic and positive and leads by the ability to withhold or give rewards and punishment.

Democratic, or participative, leader: consults with subordinates on proposed actions and decisions and encourages participation from them

Free-rein leader: uses his or her power very little: givea subordinates a high degree of independence in their operations. Such leaders depend largely on subordinates to set their own goals and the means of achieving them and they see their role as one of aiding the operations of followers by furnishing them with information.

Leadership involves a variety of styles, ranging from one that is highly boss-centered to one that is highly subordinate-centered (Leadership continuum concept). The styles vary with the degree of freedom a leader or manager grants to subordinates. The appropriate leadership style depends on the leader, the followers, and the situation. The Managerial Grid (pag. 301)A well-known approach to defining leadership styles is the managerial grid designed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton. This grid has been used throughout the world as a mean of training managers and of identifying various combinations of leadership styles. The grid has two dimensions: concern for people and concern for production. The use of the word “concern” is meant to convey how managers are concerned about production and how they are concerned about people and not things such as how much production they are getting out of a group. Concern for production includes quality of policy decisions, procedures and processes, creativeness of research, quality of service, work efficiency and volume of output. Concern for people includes such elements as the degree of personal commitment toward goal achievement, maintenance of self-esteem of workers and maintenance of satisfying interpersonal relations. The grind provides four extremes styles at different points:Under the 1.1 style managers concern themselves very little with either production or people.Under 1.9 style: managers have little or no concern of production and are concerned only with people.Under 9.1 style: managers have little or no concern of people and are concerned only with production.Under 5.5 style managers have medium concern for production and people.Under 9.9 style managers acts providing the highest possible dedication both to people and production and are able to mesh the production needs of the enterprise with the needs of individuals. As always the use of one style of the grid depends on the situation. Fielder’s contingency approach to leadership The theory holds that people become leaders not only because of the attributes of their personalities but also because of various situational factors and because of the interactions between leaders and group members. He describes three critical dimensions of the leadership situation that help determine what style of leadership will be most effective:

1. position power: this is the degree to which the power of a position enables a leader to get group members to comply with (attenersi a) directions. A leader with a clear and considerable position power can obtain good followership more easily than one without such power.

2. Task structure: if tasks are clear rather than vague and unstructured, the quality of performance can be more easily controlled and group members van be held more definitely responsible for performance.

3. Leader- member relations: the extend to which group members like and trust a leader and are willing to follow the leader.

The Fielder’s model of leadership (pag 307) is the summary of Fielder’s research, in which he distinguished between “unfavorable” and “favorable” situations.Favorableness of situation is defined by Fielder as the degree to which a given situation enables a leader to exert complete influence over a group. On the other hand when a leader

position power is weak, the task structure is unclear and the leader-member relations are poor; such situation is known as unfavourable. At the other extreme, where all the parameters are strong, we have a favorable situation for the leader, so the task-oriented leader will also be most effective. However if the situation is only moderately unfavorable or favorable (in the middle of the horizontal scale in figure), the relationship-oriented leader will be most effective. Path-goal theoryPath goal theory suggest that main function of the leader is to clarify and set goals with subordinates, help them find the best path for achieving the goals and remove obstacles (best path depends on situations)The theory categorizes leader behavior into four groups:

1. Supportive leadership: behavior gives consideration to the needs of subordinates, shows concern for their well-being, and creates a pleasant organizational climate.

2. Participative leadership: allows subordinates to influence the decisions of their superiors, which may increase motivation.

3. Instrumental leadership: gives subordinates rather specific guidance and clarifies what is expected of them.

4. Achievement-oriented leadership: involves setting challenging goals, seeking improvement of performance, and having confidence that subordinates will achieve high goals.

Transactional and transformational leadershipA distinction can be made between transactional and transformational leaders: the former identify what subordinates need to achieve objectives, clarify organizational roles and tasks, reward performance and provide for the social needs of its followers. On the other hand transformational leaders articulate a vision, inspire and motive followers and create a climate favorable for organizational changes. Women as leaders According to several studies women usually use a different leadership style that men. Women see leadership as changing the self-interest of the followers into concern for the total enterprise by using personal skills in order to motivate subordinates. This interactive leadership involves sharing information and power, letting people know that they are important.Productivity Productivity is the output-input ratio within a time period with due consideration for quality. One of the major areas in any kind of enterprise is production and operations management. Production management deals with activities necessary to manufacture products including activities such as purchasing, warehousing, transportation and operations from the procurement of raw materials through various activities until a product is available to the buyer. Operation management instead refers to the activities necessary to produce and deliver a service as well as a physical product. Service organizations do not produce a physical output but provide some service as an output. Operations management systemOperations management has to be seen as a system. The inputs include needs of customers, information, technology, management and labor, fixed assets and variable assets that are relevant in the transformation process. Managers and workers use the information and physical factors to produce outputs. The transformation process incorporates planning, operating and controlling the system. There are many tools and techniques to facilitate the transformation process. Outputs consist of products and services and may even be information, such as that provided by a consulting organization. We know that operations are influenced by external factors such as safety regulations or fair labor practices. So it’s

important saying that operations management must be an open system interacting with its surroundings. Planning operationsFirst of all an end product or service has to be selected. After an end product/service has been selected, the specifications are determined and the technological feasibility of producing it is considered. The design of an operations system requires decisions concerning the locations of facilities, the process to be used, the quantity to be produced, and the quality of the product. One of the basic decisions an enterprise makes is selecting a product or products that intends to produce and the relative market. This includes gathering product ideas that will satisfy the needs of customers and contribute to the goals of the enterprise while being consistent with the strategy of the firm. In a product decision, the various interests of functional managers must be considered. Those of the production managers, of the engineers, of sales or marketing managers, of the finance managers and so on. The divergent interests of these functionally oriented managers and professionals influence what product will be produced and marketed, but it’s the general manager who has to integrate the various interests and balance revenues with costs, profits with risks, and long-term with short-term growth. The design of a product and its production requires a number of activities. Here are the steps:

1. Create product ideas by examining consumer needs and screening the various alternatives2. Select the product on the basis of the market and economic analysis3. Prepare a preliminary design by evaluating various alternatives, taking into account

reliability, quality and maintenance requirements4. Reach a final decision by developing, testing and simulating the processes to see if they work5. Decide whether the enterprise’s current facilities are adequate or if new or modified facilities

are required6. Select the process for producing the product, and consider the technology and the methods

available7. After the product is designed, prepare the layout of the facilities to be used, plan the system of

production, and schedule the various tasks that must be done

Operating the systemAfter a product has been selected and the system for producing it has been designed and built, the next major step is to operate the system. This requires setting up an organization structure, staffing the positions, and training people. The aim is to obtain the best productivity ratio within a time period with due consideration for quality. Controlling operations Controlling operations requires setting performance criteria, measuring performance against them and taking actions to correct undesirable deviations.

There are several tools and techniques available for improving productivity: Inventory planning and control: It forces consideration of the goals desired and the need

for placing values on both outputs and inputs providing basis for plans and standards by which measure performance

Just-in-time inventory system: the supplier delivers the components and parts to the production line only when needed and “just in time” to be assembled. Zero inventory and stockless production are other names or similar methods. In order to be effective just in time requires dependable and relationship and cooperation with the supplier which should be located near the company and provide high quality products.

Outsourcing: production and operations are contracted to outside vendors that have expertise in specific areas. The aim may be to reduce costs by saving on personnel benefits, to reduce personnel, or to be able to reassign employees to other tasks that are more important.

Moreover outsourcing grants access to the best sources available and it is charaterized by the fact that the firm shares risks with its suppliers (Nike, Inc., uses outsourcing for all of its shoe production, keeping only the production of the sophisticated Nike Air system).

Operations research: it is the application of scientific methods to the study of alternatives in a problem situation, with a view to obtaining a quantitative basis for arriving at the best solution. Thus, the emphasis is on scientific methods, on the use of quantitative data, on goals.

Value engineering: a product can be improved and its costs lowered through value engineering, which consists of analyzing the operations of the product or service, estimating the value of each operation, and attempting to improve that operation by trying to keep costs low at each step or part.

Work simplification: work methods can be improved through work simplification, which is the process of obtaining the participation of workers in simplifying their work.

Quality circles: (QC) is a group of people from the same organizational area who meet regularly to solve problems they experience.

Total quality management: TQM involves the organization’s long-term commitment to the continuous improvement of quality, throughout the organization and with the active participation of all members at all levels, to meet and exceed customers’ expectations. Such approach requires a careful analysis of the customers needs, the degree to which these needs are currently met and a plan to fill the possible gap between the current and the desired situation. When done effectively TQM should result in greater customers satisfaction, fewer defects, less wastes, increase of total productivity, reduced costs and improved profitability. It is important to point out that the quality improvement efforts need to be continuously monitored through data collection, evaluation, feedback, and improvement programs. TQM is not a one-time effort but a long-term endeavor (sforzo). With Six Sigma, TQM is a pillar of Lean manufacturing process.

Lean manufacturing: can gain a competitive advantage from the use of fewer workers, a shorter development time, lower inventories, fewer suppliers, less production and less investment to produce more models. It is characterized by continuous improvements with strategic breakthroughs aiming at zero defects, just-in-time inventory system and responsibility for problems rests on everyone especially management.

Six Sigma: is a statistical term that tells us how far a given process deviates from perfection. Sig Sigma seeks to improve the quality by identifying and removing the causes of defects. After defects are measured they can be eliminate, systematically approaching a process of zero defect. To achieve a level of six sigma quality there must be no more than 3-4 defects per million. Flow chart, pareto’s chart and Ishikawa’s diagram are techniques for analyzing six sigma.

Computer aided techniques: computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) are part of the cornerstones of the factory of the future. CAD/CAM help engineers design products much more quickly than they could with the traditional paper and pencil approach. Capturing the market quickly is crucial in the very competitive environment

Supply chain managementFocuses on the sequence of getting raw materials and subassemblies through the manufacturing process in an economical manner.Value chain managementInvolves analyzing every step in the process, ranging from the handling of raw materials to servicing end users, providing them with the greatest value at the lowest cost. Thus supply chain management focuses more on the internal process with an emphasis on efficient flow of resources, such as materials while value chain management has similar aims with additional concern for the external environment, such as customers.Professor M.Porter popularized the value chain process model which includes the primary activities of inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing/sales, and service. The process is supported by the enterprise infrastructure, the management of human resources, technology and procurement. The goal of value chain management is to create a seamless chain of activities from the supplier, through the manufacturer, to the customer to meet and exceed her expectations. Turnaround managementTurnaround management is an approach to the recovery of a firm’s economic performance following an existence-threatening decline. There are 5 areas that might cause the decline of an organization and regards: marketing and strategy, management team, information, efficiency and economy. The turnaround process must be seen as a cycle and involve the following steps:- Stabilizing- Analyzing - Repositioning - Reinforcing