Here is a compilation of essays on ‘Direction in an Organisation’ for class 9, 10, 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Direction in an Organisation’ especially written for school and college students.
Essay on Direction in an Organisation
Essay Contents:
- Essay on the Meaning of Direction
- Essay on the Elements of Direction
- Essay on the Importance of Direction
- Essay on Written Vs. Oral Directives
- Essay on the Techniques of Direction
- Essay on the Principles of Direction
Essay # 1. Meaning of Direction:
Direction involves communication and providing leadership to the subordinates and motivating them to contribute to the best of their capability for the achievement of organisational objectives. It is concerned with influencing the behaviour of human resources for the accomplishment of organisational objectives.
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Directing concerns the total manner in which a manager influences the actions of his subordinates. It is the final action of a manager getting others to act after all preparations have been completed. It starts with issuing orders and instructions to the subordinates and ends with getting the work done.
In the words of Ernest Dale, “Direction is telling people what to do and seeing that they do it to the best of their ability. It includes making assignments. Corresponding procedures, seeing that mistakes are corrected, providing on-the-job instructions and, of course, issuing orders.”
According to Theo Haimann, “Directing consists of the processes and techniques utilised in issuing instructions and making certain that operations are carried out as originally planned.”
According to Koontz and O’Donnell, “Directing is the interpersonal aspect of managing by which subordinates are led to understand and contribute effectively and efficiently to the attainment of enterprise objectives.”
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Essay # 2. Elements of Direction:
These are four elements of direction discussed below:
i. Supervision:
It is the process by which conformity between planned and actual results is maintained. Effective supervision ensures greater output of high quality. It reaches the subordinates the way their tasks are to be performed.
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ii. Leadership:
It is the process by which a manager guides and influences the work of others in choosing and attaining specified goals. According to Chester Barnard, “Leadership is the quality of the behaviour of the individuals whereby they guide people and their activities in organised effort.”
iii. Communication:
A manager has to tell the workers what they are required to do how to do and when to do it. He has to create an understanding in the minds of the subordinates of the work to be done. This is done by the process of communication.
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iv. Motivation:
Motivation is the function of a manager to motivate the people working under him to perform the work assigned. A successful manager has make proper use of motivation to enthuse the people to work harmoniously for the attainment of desired objectives.
Essay # 3. Importance of Direction:
These are some of the importance of direction discussed below:
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Direction is the function of management which follows planning, organising and staffing. Once objectives have been formulated and plans have been drawn, it is necessary to implement the plans. This can be accomplished by directing the people and their activities.
It is through directing that managers get the work done through people. Direction is the process of guiding, supervising, leading and motivating the subordinates to work in a way that is beneficial to the enterprise. The manager not only shows the right path but also leads the subordinates to achieve the objectives of the enterprise. He creates a sense of belongingness, faith and loyalty among the subordinates.
The importance of direction in an organisation can be viewed by the fact that every action is initiated through direction. Since, human, beings in the organisation handle the physical resources that is men, money, material, machinery, etc. to accomplish certain functions by which organisational objectives are to be achieved. This necessitates the importance of the direction function as an important factor for achieving organisational efficiency and effectiveness.
In this context, importance of direction is discussed as follows.
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i. Direction Initiates Action:
Through direction, management conveys and motivates individuals in the organisation to function in a desired way in order to achieve organisational objectives. Without direction, other managerial activities like planning, organising and staffing become ineffective.
ii. Direction Integrates Group Efforts:
Management uses various techniques of direction to integrate the efforts of different individuals in the organisation. Since their actions are inter-related in such a way that each individual’s performance effects the performance of others in the organisation. Direction integrates the activities of the employees by supervision, guidance and counselling.
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iii. Direction Facilitates Changes:
As we all know, organizations exist as a part of ever-changing environment, the dynamic nature of environment often require changes in the business enterprise. Direction helps the management to incorporate and implement these changes through better communication and leadership.
iv. Direction Improves Efficiency through Motivation:
Direction deals with an essential and sensitive factor of production that is human factor. Every individual in the organisation has a potential which can be utilised optimally only through motivation, leadership and effective communication which are essential elements of direction.
v. Direction Provides Stability and Balance in the Organization:
Effective leadership, communication and motivation provide stability and maintain balance in individual and organisational interest. The organisation with the help of direction expands and grows in the right direction in order to achieve a stable existence.
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“Direction Helps Initiating Action and Integration”:
The human resources available to management in an organisation must be properly activated. It is through the combined efforts of people that various resources are utilised for the achievement of organisational objectives. Therefore, direction of human efforts is a central responsibility of management everywhere.
The effectiveness with which human resources are led, motivated and utilised determines the success in achieving organisational objectives. The need of direction arises to deal effectively and efficiently with the human factor for the accomplishment of goals of the enterprise.
People working in the enterprise have to be told what they should do and they have also to be guided and induced to accomplish this. Moreover, individuals have their own goals which they expect to fulfil through the enterprise. These goals may be entirely different from those of the enterprise.
Effective direction is a must to achieve congruency in the goals of the enterprise and those of the individuals. It will lead to replace the existing behaviour patterns of the individuals by those which are in conformity with the requirements of the organisation.
Essay # 4. Written Vs. Oral Directives:
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The directives may be either written or oral.
Some of the advantages of written directives are as follows:
i. Written orders are comparatively more intelligible and the chances for misunderstanding and duplication of effort will be minimised.
ii. Written orders lead to clarity of thought and the quality of directive is, thus improved considerably.
iii. A written order can be consulted readily to maintain accuracy.
iv. The subordinate also gets an ample opportunity to study directive carefully.
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v. Written order also makes it possible to communicate it to all interested parties simultaneously.
vi. In case of written orders, every member of the organisation is certain of his job. This improves the accountability aspect of management.
Inspite of numerous advantages, written directives suffer from the following disadvantages:
i. Written instructions are expensive and more time-consuming.
ii. Written instructions might lead to an undesirable degree of inflexibility. Revision of written instructions is difficult. But it is not so difficult to revise an oral order.
According to Theo Haimann, “Oral orders are almost invariably used when the action required is relatively simple in character. Also in times of emergency oral orders are almost always used. In order to strike a happy medium between the advantages and disadvantages of a written instruction, it is often expedient to put merely the important points of the instruction in writing and to give additional information orally.”
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Essay # 5. Techniques of Direction:
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The main techniques of direction are given below:
i. Consultative Direction
ii. Free Rein Direction
iii. Autocratic Direction.
i. Consultative Direction:
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Under this technique of direction, the executive consults with his subordinate concerning the feasibility, the workability, and the extent and the content of a problem before the superior makes a decision and issues a directive. It does not weaken the manager’s formal authority because right to decide still remains with him. Here participation can occur in every level of organisation.
To make this technique a success, it is essential that the subordinate must be in favour of it. If the subordinate is the kind of a person who believes that the boss knows best and that making decisions and giving directives is none of his concern then there is a little likelihood that the opportunity to participate induces better motivation and better morale.
One of the clear disadvantages of this technique is that the directive emerging from this consultation does not appear to the subordinate as an order, but as a solution which came directly from him or in which he participated. This assures the subordinate’s best cooperation and enthusiasm in carrying it out.
Some other disadvantages of this technique are as follows:
(i) There is a danger that the executive, in his desire to consult with his subordinates, might give them the impression of being not able to come to a decision.
(ii) At times the subordinates consider it their right and prerogative to be consulted before a directive is given to them by their superior.
ii. Free Rein Direction:
This technique of direction encourages and enables the subordinate to contribute his own initiative, independent thought, drive perspicacity and ingenuity to the solution of the problem. This does not mean no- rein technique. He assigns the task not in specific way but in general terms.
In this technique the initiative remains with the subordinate. The subordinate will have to select the solution and carry it out. This technique of direction will probably show the best and quickest results if the subordinate is brilliant young man, highly educated, who has a sincere desire to become a top level manager.
iii. Autocratic Technique:
The anti-thesis of free rein technique is the autocratic method where the executive substitutes commands for the more informal methods and hands down detailed and precise orders in connection with close supervision of subordinates.
When autocratic technique is adopted, the manager gives direct, clear and precise orders to his subordinates with detailed instructions as to how and what is to be done. The most democratic manager will find himself forced in issuing autocratic commands.
Essay # 6. Principles of Direction:
The basic principles of direction are discussed below:
i. Harmony of Objectives
ii. Unity of Command
iii. Direct Supervision
iv. Effective Communication
v. Effective Leadership.
These are explained in brief as follows:
i. Harmony of Objectives:
Every individual is assigned a particular job and he himself is responsible to complete that. He can do it in a better way only when he thinks that it is going to attain his personal objectives which may be different from the organisational objectives. So, the manager must try to reconcile the personal objectives of his subordinates with those of organisational objectives.
ii. Unity of Command:
This principle of direction states that a subordinate should get orders and instruction from one boss. He is responsible to one boss only. It is the best principle if it is not affected by dual command.
iii. Direct Supervision:
Supervision refers to the direct and immediate guidance and control of subordinates in the performance of their task. Direct supervision by the boss and his direct advice to the subordinates boosts their morale resulting into renewed and vigorous effort. It also increases loyalty among the subordinates which is better for effective direction.
iv. Effective Communication:
Effective communication fosters mutual understanding, secures greater efforts from the subordinates and helps in coordinating the activities of an organisation. Effective communication is an instrument of direction.
Communication is complete only when the receiver receives and accepts the message intended. Two-way communications give the subordinates a chance to express their feelings and the boss to know the feelings of the subordinates. Misunderstanding, if any, can be removed through effective communication.
Participation of subordinates in decision-making and responsibility is essential to make communication really effective and meaningful.
v. Effective Leadership:
The success of an organisation depends upon the quality of leadership exhibited by its managers at every level. Subordinates are happy if they get effective leadership from their boss. The boss must possess the qualities of a good leader, if he is to get the work done with and through subordinates.
The style of leadership adopted by a manager may be directive or democratic depending upon the needs of the situation, In any case, the manager cannot afford to overlook the interests of the subordinates. A person can exercise leadership over his subordinates only when he can fulfill their aspirations, and when they are satisfied with the type of leadership provided.