Managing People ,Info & knowledge Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Managing People ,Info & knowledge - Assignment Example An example of this is the observation that Terry Cole makes that Veronica has a tendency to talk in ‘management terms’ when she does not know what she is talking about. Because she is not aware of what she does not know (as Terry puts it), Veronica risks being blind to alternatives and considering only her own opinion. She also generates conflict with other members of staff, as she is attempting to gain power for herself and her department through the proposed changes. She would like to see the HR department have a bigger role and be more integrated into the company; however, not everyone else agrees that this is desirable. Another person in the case study who exhibits expert power is Terry Cole. Terry is the head of information systems and acts as a liaison to external contractors as well as being responsible for the information and networking systems within the company. Like Veronica, he is very knowledgeable about his field of expertise. He has a tendency to confuse o ther managers by excessive use of technical language, and does not speak up about his own opinions. For example, he is concerned about the project that Veronica is proposing, as he does not believe that she knows the entire situation, and has not throughout about how her proposal will affect other systems within the company. He considers that Mike is too easily influenced into decisions; however, he is not prepared to confront Mike concerning this. Although both Terry and Veronica could be considered to have expert power, the differ in personality and in leadership styles. Veronica is more active than Terry in trying to gain power for herself, and she is also more confrontational in general.... The present study would focus on power as the ability that one individual or group of individuals has to affect control or change over a second individual or group of individuals. This control or change can come in the form of behaviour, attitudes, objectives, needs, opinions or values. Five general types of power are recognised, legitimate, expert, referent, coercive and reward. One issue that arises when any type of change is occurring is that the power of individuals comes into conflict. Each person aims to protect their position of power, and in many cases gain more. Because of this, the types of power that are exhibited in a corporation can have a substantial impact on leadership and the way that changes are implemented. A business has many different components that work together collectively to produce the products and services that the company offers. One aspect of the development of information systems is that each person views the problem from a different perspective. Becaus e of this, they see different approaches as being optimal. In order to understand, and then solve the problem, it must be examined from all potential perspectives. Selective attention is a psychological approach that considers why people pay attention to some factors and not others. There are many different factors that affect selective attention, some of which are external and others are internal. External factors are the stimulus and the context.