Free Custom «The Theory of McGregor» Essay Paper

Performance is said to be measured by the use of financial results and bargaining power, as well as, market position. The sales growth analysis reveals many important implications as concerns the shipping industry. The growth in sales can be used as a metric for financial evaluation indicating the company and the view of the investors concerning the prospects of the organization. The analysis of the organization details after 2003, firms within the dry bulk sector have consistently maintained better growth when it comes to sales. Therefore, investors consider them as better growth oriented than the firms in containers and tanker sector.

In 2009, when the growth prospects of firms across the shipping industry received the hit as represented by the global downturn, the growth prospects of dry bulk were sloping upwards (Panayides, 2011). This sealed the deal for most investors and this may have seen a change of mode for Rohden to dry bulk almost entirely or at least a good percentage. The sustainability of sales growth attributed to dry bulk attracts investors with respect to the firm category. Dry bulk shipping companies are generally considered flexible and adaptable compared to the tanker and containers.

 

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The analysis of a market, which is also known as market capitalization, indicates that the price of traded stock for companies is on the recovery path. A trend followed a similar rise up to 2008 and plummeted the next year, but is on the recovery trail. The interesting point to note is that firms that had more to lose in the market with respect to higher market value lost heavily from the same value during the global crisis. The smaller firms like the dry bulk corporations had a smaller market value; therefore, the effects of the change in stock value barely made a dent in some of the companies as compared to others in two sectors.

There are protocols or responses to certain occurrences in jobs and businesses. Such as the increase in commodity, prices in the market may force a business to increase the retail price of their own volition to keep afloat. When it comes to shipping management, there are similar rules to follow. For example, the increase of running costs would precede the control of running costs by management following the appropriate control measures. There may be other challenges such as adding value to the industry and shipping market volatility.

In this case, innovation and dynamic performance management is the best response (Panayides 2008). For example, if the shipping company Rohden had a problem in these two sectors, the appropriate solution would be to identify the best areas for applying the innovative concept. This could be done by contributing to the ship’s quality of shipping operations in the areas of safety or the environment. The other alternative would be to maximize the customer’s shareholder value. This best applies to the optimal running costs and the scale.

Human resource may also be a target of methodology. Rohden could obtain low cost, but qualified and competent crews. This would save the company tremendous amounts in extensive training. However, there would be antagonistic forces because of those in the apprenticeship category including myself whose future employment status would be compromised by innovation principles of the department of human resource. On the other hand, environmental operations would be a beneficiary of innovative procedures concerning environmentally friendly procedures, which would be aimed at preventing spills and other harmful emissions.

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When considering market volatility, performance is usually related to the external market trends. In this case, accurate and holistic measures should be also related to the market trends (Panayides 2008). The goal of Rohden, like of any other company is to grow the brand and gain profits to become a well-known force in the immediate vicinity. One should first reach a stage of profit while maintaining safety and quality. Another goal would be to increase the number of vessels under current management. At present, the fleet consists of about ten vessels, which are bulkers, general cargo, and container ships.

There were up to 23 vessels managed during the lifetime of the company since it started in 1959 (Witt, 2009). As a result, development of S &P, several ships belonging to Rohden were sold at good prices because of their maintenance state. However, there are projects forthcoming for several bulkers and container ships being delivered to Rohden within the next 2 years. The next option left to the shipping company would be to enhance the markets knowledge of its existence. The main aim of shipping business is to provide effective and reliable transportation for whichever good and services.

What is more, it would also help in trying to be more cost-efficient. Naturally, the company is growing and there are forecasts as to the expected profits as well as benchmark targets, which are higher than the last year’s. These are signs of progress in a corporate atmosphere and in the scheme of Rohden, it is characterized by skills retention, expertise development, and efficient operations.

Apprentices, new entrants as well as the employees never took chances at work. The employer may organize this over less than three years. The majority are supported by modular learning course, which provide the knowledge and back up to practical course work. They ensure that the individual has the practical skill set and qualifications that the company needs. This is because the corporation needs the continuity of essential skills while providing opportunity and motivation to the whole work force.

I served my apprenticeship at Rohden for two and a half years, learning all I could about the shipping industry in the practical sense. The technical department opened up opportunities to gain experience in four departments, each of which has greatly enhanced my specialization. For example, the safety and quality department regulates the safety of goods on the vessel as well as the vessel’s condition in relation to its capacity to carry goods. The integrity of the ship falls under this docket while at sea.

Other departments in the course included technical purchasing, inspection, and controlling. These applied to the goods in the vessels and their integrity before embarking on the trip. The apprenticeship revealed many aspects of the shipping industry including the security threats to vessels in the recent times. The sea is still a major mode of transportation of goods because the products are usually large and bulky, which necessitates the usage of the shipping mode when transporting them to another a country or major companies. These imports affect the market, based on their bulk and hence the overall cost (Panayides 2008).

The theory of X and Y by McGregor would be an excellent way to describe the way that employers view their employees, or in this case, the apprentices in shipping. According to McGregor (1957), Theory X implies that employees are unintelligent and lazy. Thus, they are drones that need to be pushed around to get work done. On the other hand, theory Y implies that employees are creative and intelligent (McGregor 1957). Therefore, they only need some motivation in order to complete a task effectively. Shipping would need belief in theory Y, because the employees are being trained to take positions of vast importance in the future. I ascribe to this theory, because I have great confidence in my professional abilities and myself in whichever situation I am presented.

Honestly speaking, both theories are applicable to the shipping and it would be ignorant to think as all employees as exemplary or not to plan contingencies depending on different types of employees. Thus, the theories have certain assumptions that take place as optional actions in reaction to a situation. For example, Theory X portrays an employee as lazy, incapable of self-direction or lack of autonomy and decisiveness in the work environment. This employee would also offer none or little, if any, when it comes to organizational problem solving and adopts the attitude that work is something to avoid. Extra effort would be a foolish effort rather than a chance to exert ones abilities (McGregor1957).

This does not mean that these attributes are unwelcome, in fact, there are situations were they would fit. They include tasks that have short job cycles meaning they are repetitious and mentally non-stimulating. For instance, during my apprenticeship in this shipping company I often felt disoriented and uninterested with the highly routinized working environment. These job categories usually need someone with low skills. The work is machine paced and probably physically tiring. The ideal example would be a factory casual worker in this case. Managers reacts to this form of employment and possible employee candidates in a variety of ways. For one, they actively control the quantity and quality of the work submitted by the employee. Similarly, attention should be given to the planning and organization for efficiency at the work place. The workers are simply there in the basic theme to implement directives given to them by their seniors, in which case, the best source of motivation are rewards and promotions.

In shipping, this would relate to the casual and some technical jobs on deck. However, they would relate to the low-level jobs because these posts have a small scope for individual decision making on work related issues. Theory Y on the other hand, concerns the opposite situation by work situation and employee type. The employee exhibits all of the qualities not shown in theory X. They are capable of self-direction and are not inherently lazy. In addition, they can contribute ideas or suggestions that can improve the overall effectiveness of the organization.

The nature of these tasks suggests more complexity. They can stretch the ability of a person and offer development and growth opportunities. Here, skill and experience are applicable. The individual contributions of the person are easily recognized, because of the nature and specificity of the work. The employer has less responsibility with this employee (McGregor 1957). Their work is to provide objectives and rewards as well as the opportunity to participate in decision making with certain management practices including job delegation and performance appraisals. They relate to their employer on equal terms, though this stops at job delegation. This represents the direct difference between employer-employee relationships in the two theories.

From the analysis of these two theories, one may assume that management can take the hard or the soft approach. The methods for directing behavior involve the use of coercion and threats though these are discreetly disguised with close supervision and tight controls over the employee’s behavior. On the other hand, management can be soft and weak so to speak. The methodology for direction of behavior in this sphere includes being permissive and satisfying people’s demands and achieving harmony. The result is that they are tractable and more likely to accept the delegated direction.

There are difficulties to both methodologies nonetheless; management theories have thus come to some conclusions after half a century of research and observation. For one, the hard stance has its own issues in that force in this extent breeds counter forces and restrictions. This way, the employees may start to carry out subtle, but effective sabotage of the management objectives. This approach may not be advisable during instances of full employment. This is not to say there are no difficulties with the soft alternative. In some cases, it can lead to the abdication of management to harmony and performance may take on an indifferent turn. Employees no longer feel the drive to excel at their work, and after all, they are not accountable.

In shipping, it is wise to use a mixture of the methodologies lest one extremity causes a crisis on board. The hard stance is quite necessary in cases of casual or low level posts. In the past, the word of the captain was equated to the rule of law, but in some cases, this led to mutiny and chaos on board vessels. Over encouragement of the soft stance also may lead to crisis, reason being that ship maintenance requires a lot of work. If this is treated with indifference, standards will inevitably drop below par.

In some cases, this may also lead to a mutiny on board the ship, which s why the current popular theme across management circles in shipping is firm, but fair. This is the latest attempt to gain both advantages of the soft, as well as the hard stance, or rather X and Y theories in that order. Most conventional and economic theories view labor as a cost that needs to be controlled. Similarly, labor cannot be separated from the human motivation and free will. Labor can bring its interests and sources of power to the company. For example, the efforts of labor unions in shipping companies can gain political and economic influence.

The human capital knowledge-based perspective seeks to understand the workers as human assets that create value for the organization. In the act of joining and staying in the company, the employees invest their time and human capital, as they continue to take advantage of opportunities for the purpose of continued learning and development. Their human capital deepens and expands; employees have interests outside of the work environment such as businesses, families, communities and themselves. They do not have the ability to commit themselves to the organization fully, nor do they want to in the first place.

Therefore, it takes some effort to integrate personal aspects of one’s life with their employment. Employees also have many expectations to their jobs such as an interest in having a meaningful and voice in matters that are important to them. Similarly, the employers can expect the employees and their representative organizations to provide satisfactory work that contributes to the continued viability and effectiveness of the enterprise. Thus, there should be efforts to engage the employees in individual ways to address the individual expectations and interests.