List of Acronyms
AIDS- Acquired immunodeficiency Syndrome
CEO - Chief Executive Officer
CSO’s - Civil Society organizations
FOD- Facilitating Organizational development
HIV- Human Immunodeficiency Virus
KAP- Knowledge Attitudes and Practice
KIWAKKUKI – Kikundi cha Wanawake Kilimanjaro Kupambana na UKIMWI
NGO- Non Governmental organisations
NPOs- Not for Profit Organisations
NSSF- National Social security Fund
PM- Performance measurement
VAT- Value Added Tax.
VCT- Voluntary Counselling and Testing
Table of Contents Page
1.0 Introduction 4
1.2 Management related concepts 5
2.0 The profile of KIWAKKUKI as a Civil Society Organization 6
3.0 KIWAKKUKI’ s functional responsibilities of management and
Roles 7 Planning 7 Organizing 9 Leading 10 Controlling 13
4.0 Management Challenges faced by KIWAKKUKI 13
5.0 Conclusion 14
Annex 15
References 18
2.0 Introduction
1.1 Outline
This paper will give a conceptual background of Organizations, Management, Functions of Management, Manager Roles, Management Skills, Organizational Performance and the Learning Organization
This will be followed by a presentation and a critical analysis of some of the management functions which are practised by my organisation which is popularly known as KIWAKKUKI or Women Against AIDS in Kilimanjaro. It will cover how the functions of Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling as well as Roles and required skills for achieving organizational goals are applied in this organization which I manage.
As an Executive Coordinator, together with my middle managers we have kept some of what Daft (2004) in his book on Management regards as constant management principles. These include understanding and communicating information to others such as the KIWAKKUKI employees, members, volunteers, leaders, board members, development partners and various stakeholders, maintaining good relationships within the organization and with the KIWAKKUKI clientele, facilitation of a clear and rational decision making process and others which support the organization’s target of reaching its goals.
On the other hand, as a manager of this organization, I am also a change agent. Daft, insists that “Today’s managers must accept change….”due to different influences and forces within and outside the organizations. The paper will touch on how this is being managed in my organization. This leads to another aspect portrayed in the paper which is based on management challenges in my organization. Therefore, the paper will demonstrate how my organization has kept pace with all this by engaging an application of solid management functions and actions to address spontaneous crisis crises and maintaining a healthy, greatly inspired and highly productive organization. However, this has been and is still being done with the mindsets that there is no perfect management model and here I concur with Daft. The conclusion will address other issues pertinent to management which all managers have to work upon as we strive to reach organizational goals.
1.2 Management related concepts
Organizations: Organizations are said to be social organisms deliberately created to achieve a common goal. They are purposeful social groupings which people create in order to achieve their collective goal. Therefore, organizations are human creations since they are established by human beings. Moreover, organizations are deliberately created and the creators believe in collective endeavors. Organizations are classified according to whether they are Public like the government and the parastatals, or whether they are Business which could either be governmental through parastatals or private through, or whether they are Civil Society which could be Faith Based Organisations, Non Governmental Organizations or Community Based Organizations. All in all each sector is in every aspect involved in the other. There is an interface or centre at which they all integrate and they all work together to bring about a healthy and vibrant society. All types of organizations are expected to work hard to attain effectiveness by reaching the desired targets or goals and with efficiency by ensuring the appropriate use of resources. Kinnard (1988) (clarifies that “All organizations establish a variety of goal and establish their energies and resources to achieving them”p.4.
Management: Management is a skill, profession art, or science of combining or mobilizing the human and non human resources towards the goal of the organization. When defining management, Daft appreciates the fact that all managers get things done through their organizations and also they create conditions and environment that promote survival and recognition of the role of other people in the organization. Follet, an early twentieth -century management scholar, defines management as “the art of getting things done through people”. Recently, a management theorist Drucker added that managers give directions, provide leadership and make decisions on organizational resource utilization to attain set goals. The combination of the ideas of the two scholars leads to the definition of management as “an attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organizing, leading and controlling organizational resources”. To perform these functions of management, the top executives and the middle level managers, team leaders and supervisors apply conceptual, human and technical skills the performance of which is determined by the environment, global competitiveness and ethics.
Furthermore, According to Kinnard, management is a relatively new academic discipline. Few colleges and few scholars had interest in management before World war 2. Interest was triggled during and after World War 2 in attempts to rebuild the economies of
Management Skills: This is a bunch of techniques a manager requires to manage different functions at his/her dynamic and complex job and cope with the competitive market. These entail conceptual, human relations and technical skills which may differ at different organizational levels.
Conceptual Skills: Konard defines them as the abilities needed to view the organization from a broad perspective and to see interrelations among its components. Most important in strategic/long term planning, so more important to top levels executives.
Daft shares that Cognitive Knowledge gives ability of viewing the organization in its holistic nature and how different parts relate and are required at the top most level..
Technical Skills: Konard clarifies that these are specialized knowledge and ability that can be applied to specific tasks. Supervisory managers use technical skills very often and have roles of training their subordinates in the proper use of work related tools, machines and equipment.
Human Relations: Konard and Daft define these as abilities to resolve conflicts, work with and through other people. Ability to motivate, facilitate, coordinate, lead , empower, facilitate, coach, and communicate effectively with other workers.
Manager Roles: These are the day to day activities a manager performs that are related to his/her behaviour. Mintzberg’s observation and research came up with a classification of roles indicating that they could be informational, interpersonal or decisional roles. . Apparently, all roles do have an interface since they are interrelated in the course of implementation of management functions.
The Learning Organization: According to Daft is, “one in which everyone is engaged in identifying and solving problems, enabling the organization to continuously experiment, change and improve thus increasing its capacity to grow, to learn and achieve its purpose”
2.0 The profile of KIWAKKUKI as a Civil Society Organization
KIWAKKUKI exists because of the cause the women decided to pursue 16 years ago, to reach out to more women and let them be worriers in the war against AIDS. Today the number has risen from 42 at the fist Annual General Meeting in 1992 to more than 6,000 from virtually all corners of Kilimanjaro region. The organization was deliberately created to promote volunteerism and community’s responsibility taking for HIV prevention and AIDS patients and orphans care. KIWAKKUKI’s Vision is “A Community taking appropriate measures to eradicate HIV and contributing efforts to mitigate AIDS Impact.” Whereas its
3.0 KIWAKKUKI’s functional responsibilities of management and roles
3.1 Planning: This management function according to Daft entails the process of looking into the future of the organization by defining the goal or where it wants to be and how that organization will attain that goal. Planning at KIWAKKUKI is done in a participatory manner. The manager’s role has been that of facilitating shared decisions . Plans are made using the Strategic Planning processes with the first one (2003-2005 and the second one (2007-2011). Both have logical Frameworks depicting the planning details such as who what where, when the activities were to be completed, also the beneficiaries, possible risks, planned achievements in terms of community behaviour change and access to services related to HIV, AIDS and impact mitigation. Plans reviews and Budgeting are done biannually and annually.
Another role is to plan for sustainability. The manager uses the various employee’s teams to implement the decentralization of activities at district level and also to lobby for recourses from the local government, to conduct research to be able to inform practice and policy. There are 2 plots of land in
Moreover, the KIWAKKUKI manager works with the management team to make informed choices by applying human and conceptual skills. She plays the role of entrepreneur by working on things to be changed in the future one of them being the sustainability of office space the problem of which was not solved till September 2008 at the time of writing this paper! KIWAKKUKI has built partnerships with other HIV and AIDS key players
The manager as a chairperson of a management team also allocates resources in the organization including appropriate personnel, equipment, and funding. Currently the number of members is around 5,000 and at least 50% of them are active as volunteers delivering service in the grassroots communities and 41 are employed staff. Customer complaints have been experienced in the VCT service provision regarding waiting time for pre counseling and fare to the centre. The management resolved this by adding resources and introducing a mobile VCT service as well as group pretest counseling. The manager has also been a negotiator of more funding from donors. Another one has been creating a learning organization with a culture of reflection and learning by continually challenging organization’s paradigms and mindsets-challenging employees’ awareness of their practice.
Planning Skills required: To achieve all these roles and organizational goals, a manager applies such as Visioning for the future, Monitoring and Evaluation to ascertain if the goal is being achieved Also Planning using a Logical Framework Approach, to determine the vision, goal, objectives, outputs, activities, resources and their sources , risks, indicators of achievement. Another one is gender mainstreaming to ensure equal access and equity during planning by considering the needs of males and females.
3.2 Organizing: This refers to the way the organization prepares itself to accomplish the plan. It is the function which shows systems that are in place to facilitate activities that will lead to the desired results. The KIWAKKUKI manager’s role has been that of ensuring job descriptions and a structure are in place to help the Management Team to allocate roles and responsibilities. The decentralization process initiated by the management has facilitated service delivery by districts and grassroots groups more effectively and is an important milestone for reaching KIWAKKUKI goals. This is reflected in the organizational structure on transition. (See Annex 3). 7 Job positions were consequently created for District Coordinators. These report to the Executive Coordinator who together with the heads of Programmes do the final planning, integrate activities and resources to ensure a fair distribution across the various implementation teams at district level. This is then submitted to the KIWAKKUKI Councli for approval before implementation takes place. KIWAKKUKI uses its structure to allocate tasks and responsibilities to sub programmes, teams or individuals. Teams are organizational processes that transform organizations. Moreover, each of the supporting staff and their supervisors work tirelessly to contribute to the realization of the goal. The new structure with the team culture is smaller, less bureaucratic and promotes the sharing of power as they perform team tasks. (See Annex 4). Implementation of this is still transitional.
The manager also assumes the role of a figurehead to defend the position of the organization on many occasions including officiating ceremonies such as reading speeches to the guests of honour. This manager also plays a liaison role by linking KIWAKKUKI with other organizations through building relationships with its competitors like other CSO’s, the local leaders, and the media.
Organizing Skills required for achieving organizational goals: These are Technical skills used by middle and supervisory managers at KIWAKKUKI including training others in counseling, testing using rapid tests, communication with children, IT supervisor knowledge on computer software management information system. KIWAKKUKI has counselors, district coordinators, team leaders, assistant accountants and each level requires a certain amount of skills. When their morale goes down the manager applies Human Relations skills of listening to personal problems. The KIWAKKUKI management also uses inter collegial skills and listening partners to solve problems by peer approach.
3.3 Leading: This is a very sensitive function of the organization actually labeled by Konard as “the heart of management”. It means the use of some kind of influence to motivate employees to achieve organizational goals. The KIWAKKUKI’s top management is the Leadership Team that sets the vision and mission to guide the organizational direction. There is a shared culture, values and goals which are communicated to members, employees and even other stakeholders. This is done through members’ monthly meetings and workers’ quarterly meetings.
The top management offers motivation to the employees who are consequently inspired to enhance their performance. Motivation includes annual capacity building, verbal and written appreciation, annual salary increments, annual gratuity, days off after completing a difficult task, annual retreat, family day, participation in national and international conferences and meetings, stress management, inter collegial support and provision of a good working environment. Also there is a conducive working environment. Whenever things go well at KIWAKKUKI the manager encourages the use of songs which remind everyone of the organizational values such as “We are one big family...”. Here the CEO shakes hands with every one for contributing to this success. Moreover, middle level managers and supervisor managers are encouraged to develop self confidence and support those below them, to solve problems on their own and to regard themselves as contributors to the success of the organizational performance.
Generally, these roles involve enabling others to act by creating an atmosphere of trust and human dignity in the organization and providing a conscious role model and help establish the culture of the organization such as identity, values and it sets the standard for the organization. In this way there has been an encouragement of the heart by keeping hope and determination alive by recognizing contributions and celebrating achievements creating a sense of togetherness and people feel valued. Other roles include Clarification of each employees roles at different management levels in organization, watching out for multiple roles to be able to promote focusing on specific roles which lead to the goal. Also ensuring clarity, measurability and attainability of objectives. Others are Informational roles: The KIWAKKUKI management conducts a role of monitoring by collecting meaningful information from a variety of sources in the environment such as newspapers, internet, governmental and non governmental publications, knowledge on other service providers and circulates it accordingly. The manager effectively listens both to the environment and also internally to the fellow workers. This is done at the levels of the head, by getting the facts, the heart by getting the emotional part and at the feet by getting the way forward or the movement. ( See Annex 2)
Another role is that of dissemination of information inside and outside the organization through daily morning devotion and sharing forums for workers quarterly meetings, team leaders meetings, members monthly meetings, network meetings, national and international meetings. Informational materials such as brochures, reports and a website address are also disseminated. The KIWAKKUKI manager is also a spokesperson of the organization together with the chairperson. Another role is the leadership role when the manager creates a bridge with the subordinate staff by motivating, communicating and being a role model. Also the KIWAKKUKI manager has undergone a special training of facilitating organizational development and leading a shift towards a learning organization. At KIWAKKUKI the manager ensures participatory involvement of all employees in the listening and diagnosis of organizational challenges and using the Action Learning Model to address those challenges (See Annex…). In this way invisible processes are made visible and the manager makes conscious what is unconscious.
Another leadership role is that of disturbance handler despite the fact that there isn’t much conflict arising, sometimes the manager resolves issues between middle managers and their subordinates when there are delays of proposals reports and sometimes there are conflicting roles between the manager and the superiors and this as handled through action learning and developmental counseling which is more constructive compared to a stick. There are risks of secondary stress and accidental HIV transmission which the employees experience. The stress is addressed through a stress management sub programme for staff and volunteers which the management introduced since 2004. Also there is preparedness for post exposure prophylaxis to provide HIV transmission in case of accidents through counseling. Inspire a shared vision, to see how we would like to the future to be.
The KIWAKKUKI manager also has a role of. Moreover, the manager as an FOD graduate is always conscious of her role as a change agent starting by herself before others follow.
Leading Skills required for achieving organizational goals: These include Strategic thinking by taking long term goals or vision and integrating them into whole organization. Others are Perception skills to cope with management responsibilities, strategic thinking needed to make strategic decisions allocate resources and innovation. Need for skills for effective leadership versus leadership vacuum. Also required are Skills to inspire, mobilize, motivate, encourage others shaping their culture, coordinating their efforts. Others are psychological and sociological skills used as ongoing before holding a stick. Also required are change transition skills, coping, letting go, how to be change agents, choosing values which do not bring conflicts. Listening at three levels, Action Learning, Transparency, Reflecting on work done per day, week year and comparing it with set goals. Managing a complex environment economically, politically and socially also understanding individual, interpersonal and group behaviour. Others include Developing relationships that ensure adequate communication with their subordinates. Conflict management skills, disciplining, promotion of organizational values such as individual integrity, organizational honesty, high productivity, mutual trust and respect, equality and equity, volunteerism, love transparency.
3.4 Controlling: This is the tracking of performance of organizational members to ensure they are in line with the set goal and making adjustments where need arises. The KIWAKKUKI management’s role here is to monitor employees’ performance biannually and annually in relation to set goals. The Management Information System is used especially in research and other ongoing studies the data of which is analysed, presented and interpreted and used to inform better service. Also the application of stress management strategies high staff motivation. Moreover, it has become obvious that use of computerized accounting package has facilitated instant access to reports for an organization which has more than 10 donors to report to. It becomes easier to identify deviations and variances and manage the. Also the management conducts a participatory performance appraisal annually and this makes them to work hard to ensure the organization’s performance is excelling.
Other roles include designing and putting performance standards in place in the relevant policy documents. The Financial Monitoring and Evaluation Framework is also used as the basic tool for giving systematic feedback on the financial position of the organization. Cost control is achieved by comparing expenditure versus budget, comparing actual cost with standards set before actual production for materials, labour and overhead. Variations from standards help the manager identify problem and work on cost reduction strategies.
Finally, the manager administers a negotiator role by negotiating salary increases with the employees, bank interest and exchange rates, workers’ healthcare support with the NSSF, VAT exemptions and negotiations with the building contractors on late handing over of building.
Control Skills required for achieving organizational goals: Monitoring Staff conduct and work ethics, Human Resource Policies, Performance Appraisal. Internal Auditing, Designing cost effective strategies.
4.0 Management Challenges faced by KIWAKKUKI
Organizations work with complexities. These are social, economical, political and environmental situations in which the organizations operate. They have to be considered because they impact on the management functions. Managers need to be prepared for emergencies such as the ones I have experienced as a manager like change in donor priorities coping with challenges entailing dealing with the patrol police who impound resources such as food and nutrients meant to be distributed to the marginalized communities and jeopardize the whole purpose. Also there are challenges related with setting goals due to the long term nature of the realization objectives and goals due to the qualitative type of measurement.
5.0 Conclusion
Despite the challenges, KIWAKKUKI has been experimenting with new ways of managing by responding to the demands of the changing environment and diversified clientele thus shifting to a learning organization are always undergoing transformation; KIWAKKUKI has been striving to catch up with the philosophy. A manager’s roles vary according to organizational needs thus complexities associated with NGO management. Also, Learning organizations cultivate the art of open attentive listening. Managers must be open to criticism. Covey (1989) emphasizes that in order to manage people well it was good to know how to activate their strengths and help them overcome their weaknesses. He goes for managers becoming facilitative leaders by taking responsibility more than other people for reaching that objective and also with ability to strike a balance between desires to be democratic and desire to be effective. This has contributed to managing some of the challenges. This management style ought to trickle down to the community level. The open and facilitative approach has enabled KIWAKKUKI to attain some of the indicators of the developmental goal. One way of measuring this is the way KAP studies the KIWAKKUKI management conducts reflect increased use of informed decisions by the population towards taking responsibility for HIV prevention and AIDS care. Another one is the increased initiation of community support funds for the PLHA’s and orphans especially in Hai district. Moreover, the HIV prevalence has gone down in Kilimanjaro form 15% in 1998 to 6% in 2007. This of course is an impact of all the key players in the campaign against HIV and AIDS.
| “Listening for the head” | (thoughts) | Facts,concepts,arguments,ideas |
| “Listening for the heart” | (feelings) | Emotions,values,mood,experience |
| “Listening for the feet” | (intentions) | Energy,direction,motivation |
Annex 1: A Listening Model as a Tool to support for Leading
Annex 2: ACTION LEARNING MODEL as a Tool for Planning when Managing Organizations
PLANNING ACTION
NEW LEARNING REFLECTION
References
1. Daft, L.R ( 2004) Management.
2. Konard, J (1988)
3. KIWAKKUKI (2007-2011) Strategic Plan
4. Palmer, P (2005) Professor of Voluntary Sector Management, Sir John Cass Business
School,
4. Covey, S.R 1989. Seven habits of highly effective people: restoring the character ethic.
5. CDRA.(2006) Facilitating Organization Development. Manual of
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