In recent years a new management style has developed as part of the general trend toward humanization of work. This new style is less rigid and hierarchical. It treats workers as an integral part of the organisation and allows them to participate in planning work.

This approach believes the organisation is a reflection of its members and that it is necessary to understand their behaviour before attempting to understand the organisation as a whole. This locus on the intellectual, emotional and motivational aspect of human beings was missing from the classic organizational approach.

This does not mean that the modern organizational management style ignores the characteristics and needs of employees. An organization must decrease worker dependency, subordination and submissiveness to take full advantage of human potential. Leadership must become less autocratic and more responsive to inputs from workers: all members must be allowed to participate in decision-making. This style of management is based on three assumptions about people participation and performance:

Human relations: People should be treated fairly and with respect. People want to participate and, when allowed to do so, they become satisfied and committed to the organisation.

Human resources: People are valuable resources because they have ideas and knowledge. When people participate in decision-making, better solutions to problems can be developed. Organizations must foster the development of employees because it makes them more valuable to the company.

High involvement: People can be trusted to make important decisions about their work. Allowing people to take important decisions about their work results in greater organizational effectiveness.

In short, the modern organizational style calls for active workers? participation in policy making. This style of functioning is popular in the US, Europe and other parts of the world.

Skill identification: The proper selection of employees is a vital and complex process. This can be accomplished through a realistic job preview, which is an important aspect of recruiting. A selection programme requires a sequence of specific operations, including job analysis, worker analysis, establishment of minimal requirement and cut-off scores for the selection techniques, recruitment of applicants, administration of the chosen selection techniques and validation of the techniques.

Selection process should be governed by equal opportunity principles. The selection technique should be job-related and efforts should be made to prevent discrimination and favouritism. Racism, sexism, age, prejudice against physical handicap and such factors should be avoided.

Skill development: it is necessary to expose new employees to some sort of training. Even if the company is fortunate enough to find experienced employees, it may be necessary to teach them operating procedures or policies unique to the organisation.

Training and development takes place at all levels of employment, from unskilled ghetto youngsters who need remedial training in basic Maths and English skills to seasoned corporate chiefs, from the first day on the job to the final months before retirement. Training is not restricted to specific job skills. Much training activity is directed towards changing attitudes, motivation and interpersonal skills. The goal is to improve performance. This can be determined by job analysis, performance appraisal, and self assessment. Also of importance in a training programme is the selection and training of those who will conduct the training programme.

Although most executive development still occurs in formal on-the-job experience, the following techniques can be used for management training:

● Job rotation

● The case study method where trainees analyze, interpret and discuss a complex problem faced by managers on the job.

● Business games, where a group of trainees interact in simulated business conditions.

● Role playing in which trainees play the roles of workers or managers.

● Behaviour modeling of successful managers.

● Developing skills through sensitivity training.

● Leader-match training where managers earn how to change the situation to match their motivational style.

Perhaps the weakest point in the overall training process is the evaluation of training. This has rarely been carried out on a systematic and quantitative basis.

Skill allocation (transfer and promotion): The organization cannot succeed only by identification and development of human skills. Human skills should be properly allocated for efficiency. Performance appraisal programmes are also used to validate selection criteria to determine the need for and success of training programmes, for proper skill allocation, to improve employee behaviour, to determine promotion, wages, transfer and reduction in force, and to identify workers with promotion potential. To ensure effective skill allocation, performance appraisals must be based on job analysis which must focus on behaviour. The appraisers must be trained and must be able to observe the employees.

Production jobs can be evaluated by considering the quantity and quality of output, accidents, salary advancement history and absenteeism. Non-production jobs are more difficult to evaluate and must be done in more qualitative terms by having supervisors assess the workers? ability. These assessments are usually made through written narratives and the process of merit rating includes several techniques like rating ranking, paired comparisons, forced distribution and forced choice. These techniques involve one person judging the ability or characteristics of another.

Skill utilization: The most pressing problem organizations face is motivating employees to work productivity and increase their feeling of satisfaction for better skill utilization. Leadership is an important aspect in organizational life. It influences the productivity and overall management. Proper utilization of the human skill can be possible with effective leaders. An early view of leadership was based on scientific management, and the production workers were believed to be mindless creatures attached to their machines. This idea was replaced by the human relations approach, which is concerned with satisfying workers personal needs and enhancing their growth.

The human relation aspect of management is of greater importance in the world of work as is the recognition of the organizational setting. In contemporary management the factors affecting human relation and human skill are the most important. Human resource is the potential resource for an efficient and successful organization, and proper improvement of the potential skills of a human is the hidden key to the success of management.

Mohammed HAMUTH