Although I have held very few jobs in my college career, my experiences while working have truly made me recognize and appreciate the keys to running a successful organization. While at first the makeup of these structures seem to be invisible to a newer employee, with more work experience they become more apparent, especially when things do not run as smoothly as intended. For instance, as a new worker at a food delivery restaurant, I was able to notice that there was at least some hierarchy that had been established. There was a general manager, then several store managers, then managers in training and then in-shop employees.
While the order of the chain of command made sense to me, I was not clear on the responsibilities of each post and even less clear on how the system relied on the completion of ones job at every level until things didn't run smoothly. An example of this is when a store manager had allowed several deliveries to pile up, he disobeyed company policy to call the general manager to get more people to come in and work and simply let the orders keep piling up. Customers became very unhappy and began demanding their money back because their food was arriving so late. The general manager had not expected the store manager to act on his own and not follow procedure and eventually fired the store manager.
Because I was fairly low on the totem pole in terms of the hierarchy at the deliver restaurant, it wasn't until I became an executive officer in an RSO that I truly understood why strict and good organizational structure were essential to running a successful organization. While I was still not at the top of the chain of command, I still had to work very closely with the people around me in order to attract others to join our organization. Like any group of people working together, there is often a collection of ideas on how to best go about the task as well as who specifically we wanted in the organization. With so many opinions and ideas, conflict was unavoidable. However, with a common goal and interest, we devised plans (which often took many sessions for people to realize that they were not going to get absolutely everything they wanted) to allow for maximum utility.
Many of the transaction costs associated with being a member of an RSO deal not only with school, but also with your personal life. For instance, in order to make sure the RSO would continue to grow and thrive, others counted on me and my fellow board members to recruit the right people. This meant taking the time to not only meet the students, but also spending time with them to get to know them and attract them to our organization. This subtracted time for studying as well as time I could have spent with my other friends ( or even finding a job, which would have at least made me money). However, I felt as though being a part of the organization and making sure there were going to be people there even after I graduate seemed more important to me and I willingly accepted my duty.
I believe it true that when you work your first job, and maybe your first several jobs, you need only know who your direct supervisor is and need not understand the entire chain of command.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up an interesting point about whether middle management should should demonstrate independent judgment or simply follow orders. There is no blanket right answer for that, though in the case you describe it does sound like the guy didn't act appropriately. In an organization where creativity is more the essence of the work, independent judgment may be preferred.
In your last paragraph you use the expression "transaction cost" inappropriately. Surely there is an opportunity cost to one's time when working. You identified that in your paragraph. But it is only certain functions of work that qualify for being called a transaction cost. The rest are production costs, which is what you seemed to be talking about.
Looks like we were both unsure of the meaning of transaction costs. I also thought along the lines of opportunity cost and what I now understand to be production costs. In my first jobs I have been lucky enough to work with small enough companies that even as a lower tier employee I have known at least some of the management, or leaders of the organization, which after reading your seems to be more rare an experience than I believed. In terms of the middle men of organizations, I am of the opinion that a highly structured organization with the incorporation of many leadership roles, with increasing responsibility tends to work most efficiently. The catch that didn't seem to be employed in your situation was that the jobs of the different tiers shouldn't overlap, and responsibilities among team members shouldn't be repeated.
ReplyDeleteI now have a more clear understanding of transaction costs and realized that many of the examples I provided were more aligned with production costs. At this job, I knew the managers but I did not really know the specifics of everyone else's job responsibilities besides my own. I think those people knew what they were supposed to do, however decided to maneuver around the company policies, which ultimately cost the individual his job.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it may be hard for new employee in entry level to sense the structure and hierarchy in the organization. In my experience, even though my supervisor explained the structure to me, it was still vague because I didn't necessary to interact with those people.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea that people must compromise to get the best plans when conflicts and differences exist. I am curious that whether that will be any different solutions when facing this case in an RSO and the real world. It seems that people are welcome to bring up more ideas and discussion in an RSO because all members are students. In the real world, due to the difference in experience and control, the management style will more likely to be following the orders from the top of the organization.