ORGANISING – STILL AN IMPORTANT FUNCTION

OF PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

Anna K. Stasiuk-Piekarska* and Magdalena K.Wyrwicka**

* Faculty of Engineering Management, Poznan University of Technology, Poznan, 60-965,

Poland, Email: [email protected]
** Email: [email protected]

Abstract: Organising is one of the management functions. Without organisational performance, we cannot
undertake the realisation of planned intentions. A well-prepared work system operates on a performer
in a motivating way and it stimulates correct task execution, for example, production tasks. Organisational
studies have their origins on the turn of the 19th and 20th century. From the authors’ viewpoint, organisation-
al principles still should be used and implemented equally with modern approaches to management.
In the article, the authors remind ground rules based on praxeological “striving for a good job performance”,
correlating them with a modern idea, which is implemented in Poland’s Eastern Neighbours called “Industry
4.0”, and research conducted in one of the biggest production companies in Greater Poland [in Polish:
Wielkopolska, a region of west-central Poland], indicating a need for paying a constant attention to organis-
ing processes and production systems.

Paper type: Research Paper

Published online: 30 April 2015

Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 129-142

ISSN 2083-4942 (Print)

ISSN 2083-4950 (Online)
© 2015 Poznan University of Technology. All rights reserved.

Keywords: organising, organisational principles, organisational problems, Industry 4.0

130 A.K. Stasiuk-Piekarska and M.K. Wyrwicka

1. INTRODUCTION

According to Tadeusz Kotarbiński, “Organisation is the whole, which elements

contribute to its success (Kotarbiński, 1969, p. 74). Organising concerns both things
(structures) and processes (their course in time and space, choice of technology, ob-
taining information for management). It is connected with purposeful composition
of the system which shows functionality, optimality, harmony, and synergy.
These attributes of the organised whole go beyond common assessment of the func-
tioning in the aspect of effectiveness or efficiency.
Contemporary requirements connected with dynamics of economic environment,
time pressure, resource limitations and rapid growth in problem complexity (Wyrwicka,
2003, pp. 20-21) have caused that decision-makers rather accepted “outward” orienta-
tion, focusing on stakeholders’ reactions and creating a brand (Wyrwicka, 2013, pp. 59-
68). Directing attention to environment’s acceptance makes regulatory or adaptive ac-
tions controversial as they show a need for correction. Thus, at present abandonment
of efforts connected with current creation of jobs, processes, and systems to ensure en-
terprise’s effectiveness is observable (Rummler & Brache, 2000, p. 15).
Organisation process aims at bringing each element of the enterprise to a condition
in which it works effectively, contributes to achieving desired effects through bigger
units, and positively affects the environment i.e. work environment which should also
be organised. Wrong organisation of work environment causes difficulties in task
realisation, resulting in effectiveness decrease. It often awakes willingness in employ-
ees to change a job. A problem of excessive staff turnover is connected with costs
of training a new employee for the job (apprenticeship costs) and loss of information
owned by a person quitting the job. It also shows the level of involvement in business
affairs and employees’ loyalty (Filipowicz, 2008, p. 36). Studies in Gallup Organisa-
tion have indicated that exactly working conditions (i.e. organisation of a work sys-
tem) determine the identification of an employee with an institution, and achieved
effects resulting from a solid-line manager’s behaviour and management style
he adopts, not a company policy or a remuneration system (Stasiuk, 2012, p. 77),
(Buckingham & Coffman, 1999/2004, p. 38, 41).

2. ORGANISING AS A MANAGEMENT FUNCTION

2.1. Organisational efficiency

Organising does not appear as an autonomic management function (Penc, 2005,
p. 66). Frequently a word “organised” is also perceived as an attribute of a positive
and efficient action, which basic values are efficiency, profitableness, and economi-
calness. Additional meanings of efficiency are accuracy, cleanliness or reliability.
 Organising – still an important function of production management 131

Action connected with organising has to counteract incoherence and disorder. There-
fore, realisation of such tasks which lead to indented effect as a goal is regarded
as efficient (Kieżun, 1997, p. 18 following: Kotarbiński, 1975). For profitable we can
recognise something when a difference between achieved (useful) result and activity
costs is positive (Kieżun, 1997, p. 19):

Achieved result > Activity cost  Activities regarded as profitable

Achieved result = Activity cost  Activities are (usually) regarded as indifferent
in terms of profits
Achieved result < Activity cost  Activities regarded as unprofitable

Last measure of efficiency of action is economicalness which determines relation

of achieved (useful) result to activity costs. If it is more than 1, the activity is eco-
nomical. However, it is important to mention that in praxeology not only tangible
costs but also moral costs are considered.

2.2. Chosen principles of organising

Classicists of the organisation worked out numerous recommendations concerning
work organisation. These are principles independent of management organisation.
One of them is a principle of labour division. It is based on the assumption which
states that when we divide work on small parts and appropriately allocate them
to each work station (organisational unit, employee, machine), productivity growth
will be achieved. This principle has been questioned many times as productivity
growth achieved this way does not always mean the growth of labour efficiency in the
broad sense (including cost and quality aspects) (Martyniak, 2001, p. 70).
A different principle is a principle of work concentration. It means joining special-
ised performers in one group cooperating together. This is supposed to increase useful
result worked out by the group (Kieżun, 1997, p. 321).
An assumption according to which effectiveness of organisation is only dependent
on its financial and tangible results and human spiritual needs are not important turned
out to be untrue (Martyniak, 2001, p. 71). The fact that salary is not the only motiva-
tor had been noticed before, the result of which were surveys and questionnaires cre-
ated by e.g. Gallup Organisation, Cameron and Quinn (More in Wyrwicka, Stasiuk,
Drzewiecka, Masadyński, 2011).
A production system is a coherent system. This means that changes in one
of its elements can carry changes in its other elements (Kieżun, 1997, p. 16). When
organising production systems, this is the attribute that is very often forgotten. In
other words, the thing that is not analysed is how a change of one element can influ-
ence the whole process realised by the system.
In a case of a production system in large productive systems, its organisation
is most often a subject to engineering and mathematical and computer analysis (Kie-
132 A.K. Stasiuk-Piekarska and M.K. Wyrwicka

żun, 1997, p. 337). That is why, basic organisational factors having an influence on a
large system’s behaviour include organisational variables (structures: formal and dy-
namic, decision-making procedures, structures: informal and non-formal) and stochas-
tic factors (internal and external) (Kieżun, 1997, p. 356).
Kieżun differentiated the following phenomena noticeable during the functioning
of large systems (Kieżun, 1997, p. 356):
• Causes and results cannot be directly connected with one another when con-
sidering sequences of time and space,
• They show a tendency to definite durability,
• Unplanned success of one subsystem can cause negative results for the
whole system,
• Efficiency differences are possible to happen and they result from short-term
and long-term assessments,
• Periodic differences between quantities between input and output might
happen,
• Numerous feedbacks cause the lack of sensibility to changes of most pa-
rameters,
• Phenomena of compensation appear and they are understood as a fact that
there can be a decrease of efficiency in one system whereas in another sys-
tem an increase of efficiency can appear.
When taking into consideration organisational problems in terms of their complexity,
the following problems can be distinguished:
• Simple,
• Complex,
• Very complex.

Table 1 List of threats that characterise „a sick company” source: own based on (Kaczmarek,
2006, pp. 130-131)

No. Symptoms of “a sick company” Potential problems

1. Influential executives are in pre- - lack of staff renewal in a company what might have conse-
retirement age and they have no quences to management continuity;
incentives to introduce changes. In a - reluctance to introduce changes as it may need to make an
result, those who see a need to intro- effort and be more involved than before;
duce the changes are perceived as a - underestimation of employees who are pro-active, have lots of
threat to an existing situation. ideas of changes concerning organisation of processes;
2. Confidence in leaders in a company is - emergence of a natural leader who is not interested in com-
decreasing and leaders’ positions and pany’s welfare. He is only interested in achieving personal goals
competences are questioned more with the use of other employees’ involvement;
often - reluctance to show the initiative and come up with own ideas
to people who stay “inert”;
3. Executives do not train the staff not to - lack of access to new knowledge for regular employees what
create competition for them can cause decrease of involvement, out-of-date knowledge
among employees;
- lack of employees’ involvement who do not develop (even if
they feel the need) and do not have any promotion prospects;
4. Employees do not receive information - reluctance to make the effort and decrease of employees’
how they are assessed involvement in longer time period;
 Organising – still an important function of production management 133

- keeping people who do not try despite the fact that everybody
knows these people are counterproductive;
5. Bureaucratised structures hinder - hindered possibilities of controlling the organisation and intro-
running a company business ducing changes in it;
- elongated reaction time on appearing problems;
- lack of new initiatives from employees caused by their hin-
dered introduction in a company;
6. Internal conflicts in an organisation - conflicts cause that employees/divisions create groups that are
are increasing against one another and energy which could be used for devel-
opment is wasted for a fight with “an enemy”
7. Gossips and slanders are escalating - loss of energy for passing unverified information by employees
and fighting with gossips and slanders by people who are con-
cerned with them;
- information noise that causes chaos in information flow;
8. New employees are left “on their - a long process of training new employees who can learn not
own” only good habits but also bad ones from co-workers when ob-
serving them at work;
- hindered process of work organisation as it is unknown what
kind of skills a new employee has;
9. Awarding employees (bonus pay- - lack of motivation among employees caused by the lack of
ments) is kept a secret feedback concerning the assessment of their work;
- reluctance to people who were awarded (as there is no informa-
tion for what they received a bonus payment);
- a possibility of giving bonus payments as a kind of “apprecia-
tion” for the work in a wrong way;
10. There is no hurry. A company is - the atmosphere can cause that people full of willingness to work
immersed in lethargy. are quickly leaving a company or starting to work “in slow motion”
11. New ideas are “suffocated” because - employees’ reluctance to share their ideas which are doomed;
the management thinks they are the - employees’ turnover who have ambitions and are eager to
only source of innovations develop;
12. Crucial decisions are made without - lack of a sense of stability at work which is manifested when
any consultations with those employ- employees quit their job and go to other companies;
ees whom they concern or without - making decisions without listening to interested parties causes
taking care of anxiety the decisions that information concerning a given situation is not complete (a
may cause person who is interested in this matter can be best informed);
13. Too much time is passing by between - elongated reaction time in problematic situations;
decision-making and decision en- - elongating time of a customer service in the whole process
forcement realised by a company;
- necessity to maintain bigger supplies of all the resources,
materials, semi-finished products, and final gods;
14. Rules and procedures are broken with - lack of a possibility to manage an organisation in a conscious way;
impunity - impunity can cause anarchy among employees;
- quitting a job by people who want to work honestly;
15. Company’s goals are not clearly - lack of shared vision of the organisation’s future may result in
defined and its executives have differ- passing different messages concerning a company’s functioning to
ent views on the same issues. The lack the employees. In consequence, employees may feel disoriented or
of consensus in this matter has a they will use the situation in order to achieve their personal goals;
negative influence on the whole - impossibility to implement changes as a compromise is impos-
company’s business. sible to reach;
16. Employees play a game “it goes - lack of employees’ abilities use which results in the fact that
beyond my duties”, and they perform employees avoid doing inconvenient tasks or prolong tasks’
minimum tasks deadline to maximum;
- lack of responsibility for performed tasks;
- hindered process of organising process for realisation due to the
lack of assigned duties;
17. Tasks and responsibilities are not - simplification of shifting the responsibility on other people;
clearly defined and assigned - lack of possibility to assess employees from assigned tasks;
- hindered process of organising for example production caused by a
134 A.K. Stasiuk-Piekarska and M.K. Wyrwicka

necessity to assign tasks to perform each time from the beginning

18. Even secondary decisions are made at management staff exhaustion with the excess of duties and
the highest management level information can result in a higher probability of making mis-
takes and reluctance to introduce changes (as it is connected
with a larger amount of work);
- lack of employees’ involvement as they have no influence on
performed tasks;
- elongated time for decision-making;
19. Commends are rare and the manage- - low employees’ involvement who might not feel support given
ment is perceived as inaccessible and for every effort they made for organisation’s welfare;
“deaf” - high labour turnover as employees want to do a job which
would be appreciated;
20. Employees do not know what is done - lack of management continuity, especially organising is made
in other workstations. Moreover, they difficult as an effect of lack of information flow (which is very
are not interested in learning about important when a given employee is leaving a job, he is taking a
that. sickness leave or having vacation);
- underestimating co-workers’ effort in creating an organisation;
21. Meetings at work overrun and they are - continuous speaking about problems without finding any solu-
badly managed. They finish without tions to them can indicate the lack of the effectiveness of the
clear decisions concerning activities management (“waiting till the problem solves itself”);
that need to be done as a result of the - time spent for overrun work meetings without drawing any
decisions. conclusions and decision-making is wasted and it is not an added
value for organisation;
22. Lack of willingness for self- - lack of involvement among people who want to develop which
development. Lack of interest in might be a result of excessive turnover in workstations;
taking part in training courses and in- - slack in organisation which might foreshow crisis of its exis-
service trainings tence;
23. The Board/Executives react to criti- - lack of submitting remarks by people who see shortcomings
cism in a negative way and problems what can result in delayed reactions to situations
threatening organisation’s functioning;
- “infallibility” of managers causes that employees do not feel
personally responsible for performed tasks;
24. Job resignations and quitting jobs by - high labour turnover might cause problems with management
employees are surprising the manage- continuity and work organisation;
ment - lack of drawing conclusions from employees’ job resignations
to keep other valuable employees;
- outflow of knowledge and experience from a company;
25. Incompetent employees create a group - blocking possibilities of changes in a company by incompetent
of dissatisfied people who support one people;
another - possibilities of strikes (for example work-to-rule) make it
difficult to manage the organisation;
- draw employees, who want to perform assigned duties, into
conflicts
26. Qualified staff turnover is significant - outflow of knowledge and experience from a company to
competing companies;
- difficulties with maintaining management continuity and ade-
quate organising processes in a company;
27. A syndrome of mutual recriminations - lack of calling to account for undone tasks;
is appearing and it is using an expres- - reluctance to taking the initiatives by employees;
sion “it is not my fault” very often
28. People responsible for staff recruit- - a difficulty in staff management as employees do not have re-
ment choose weak employees in order quired knowledge/experience to work at positions on which they
to maintain status quo being afraid of were recruited. That is why, company’s goals are not achieved.
their work positions - more experienced employees have an opportunity to leave a
company they work in and go to a competing company as they
might want to work with competent people;
29. Unreasonably favouring certain people - underestimation of employees, who do not “enter into a sys-
or functions tem” but perform assigned duties correctly, might result in the
 Organising – still an important function of production management 135

lack of their involvement;

- lack of clear assessment criteria causes that the atmosphere in
organisation does not foster taking up new challenges and intro-
ducing innovations according to the rule that nobody will ever
appreciate this;
30. Quick and cursory “repairs” are used - so called “putting out fires” does not foster management conti-
for dealing with current affairs nuity and adequate process organising;
- instead of improving processes, an effort is made to realise the
processes at all;
- not drawing conclusions from current situation, thus, the same
mistakes are still made;
- wasting the time when searching for solutions during a prob-
lematic situation existence instead of preventing its occurrence;
31. Lack of positive reactions in regard to - reluctance to improving qualifications by employees what
people who return from trainings that might result in the lack of innovativeness in a company in a
improve qualifications. Lack of pro- longer time period;
motion prospects - technological slack of a company;
- the atmosphere that does not foster changes and implementation
of new ideas;
32. Underestimated and frustrated em- - outflow of knowledge and experience from a company;
ployees look for a job in competing - revealing company’s know-how to competitors;
companies where they achieve suc- - a necessity to accustom new employees and run long-lasting
cesses recruitment processes;
33. Personnel that decide to stay in the - lack of involvement in tasks performed by employees;
company feel underestimated what has - a difficulty with processes organisation as labour efficiency is
a negative effect on the quality of their at low and non-established level;
job - willingness to change a job;
34. Cutting costs is introduced without a - high turnover of employees who are “unsure of their future”;
justification in an unexpected way - difficulties connected with financing the organisation of proc-
esses and their changes;
- leaving projects of changes caused by the lack of their continu-
ity of funding;
35. Managers do not take care of a good - high turnover of employees who want to self-develop and be
atmosphere around the personnel satisfied with a job they do;
- lack of involvement in the realisation of a common undertaking
which is a continuity of organisation functioning;
36. Huge waste of time appears - a problem with adequate organisation of processes (estimating
processes’ duration and availability of resources);
- lack of competitiveness on the market;
37. Inefficient employees are not bur- - involved and ambitious employees are burdened with work
dened with work and they explain their because they can be trusted;
work schedule with the fact that they - reluctance to taking up the initiatives which is caused by the
cannot be trusted fact that it is pointless “not to keep in line” as it threatens with
excess of duties;
38. Finances (profits) obscure problems - all kinds of expressions of activity are “killed” without any
with a company’s development explanations that there are no financial resources for them;
- short-term approach to saving as a possibility to increase profits
causes problems in organising processes (introducing apparent
savings);
39. Basic tasks are not assigned to specific - lack of ascribed responsibility causes a trouble with assessing
people employees from assigned duties;
- providing a possibility to “dodge” by people not involved in
their job;
- problems with organising the processes caused by the lack of
clear scope of duties;
40. Organisational structure does not - when a company is treated as a place where you can gain skills
allow for promotion prospects and then leave for a competing company to work one’s way up, it
means high labour turnover;
136 A.K. Stasiuk-Piekarska and M.K. Wyrwicka

- lack of involvement among employees who do not see opportuni-

ties for personal development and promotion prospects in a company;
41. Formalised structure limits effective- - hindered implementation of new solutions which impedes a
ness company’s development;
- lack of employees’ involvement who do not want to “break
through” inflexible framework of the organisation;
42. Intolerance destroys human relation- - lack of diversity in company’s teams which blocks innovative-
ship according to a bad rule “be just ness (“not jumping the gun”);
like me, and you will be fine” - lack of trust among employees caused by the reluctance to
show one’s own ideas and intentions;
43. Employees set their business above - each employee look at a company’s business taking own busi-
company’s business whereas a correct ness into account instead of building a community which would
approach is that a company’s business result in a positive atmosphere in a company and employees’
is all employees’ business involvement in assigned tasks;
- wasting company’s assets for own business;
- problems with organising the processes and their management
as an effect of problems with ubiquitous private interest;
44. Company’s internal policy is not - not realising processes indispensable to performing company’s
compatible with its operational interest basic activities due to the fact that “procedures provide otherwise”;
- financial loss caused by downtime, for example downtime in
production;
- lack of employees’ involvement who must “fight” against internal
procedures instead of focusing on performing basic duties;
45. People who do not have professional - hiding incompetence by employees with a method of avoiding
knowledge and skills work in a com- certain tasks (“it is not my task to do”, “it is not my fault”);
pany what impedes its development - lack of involvement of people who have professional knowl-
edge and skills which results in excessive labour turnover;
- difficulties in organising the processes realised in a company
caused by the lack of competent employees and inability to
assess their skills;
46. Job titles which sound proud are used - internal fight for job titles wastes energy which could be used
inside and outside a company as a for a company’s welfare;
attempt to hide incompetence and - lack of people to work – everybody feels competent to manage
forthcoming disaster. the others.

They are reflected in lists of symptoms of “enterprise’s disorders” (Table 1).

In a subject literature "Ryzyko i zarządzanie ryzykiem. Ujęcie interdyscyplinarne"
[“Risk and risk management. Interdisciplinary approach”] (2006, pp. 130-131),
Kaczmarek differentiated a list of threats to the company that runs a commercial and
production activity. These are 46 symptoms of “a sick company” included in Table 1.
The authors have also distinguished exemplary potential problems which can be the
effect of identified situations.
A concept of „a company’s health” is connected with an organic metaphor and
it emphasises the fact that people’s traits of character as basic and causative elements
of the organisation are transferred on teams or technical and social systems.
A company’s health has been defined since 1980s as an organisation’s ability to con-
tinuing self-regulation which is goal-oriented to detect contrary relations in a social
system and to make plans concerning necessary changes (Beer, 1980). This approach
used for production systems pays attention to the need of their careful formation and
maintenance in “right condition”.
 Organising – still an important function of production management 137

2.3. Industry 4.0 as a new approach to production systems organisation

At present industry heads for breakthrough which has resulted from shorter cycles
of innovativeness, increasing changeability and bigger customisation of products.
Simultaneously, chains of value generation have been evolving in the net. The Inter-
net, which is a base that makes it easier to get things, services and data, is obtaining
a name of a key infrastructure of another industrial revolution. Poland’s Eastern
Neighbours have already announced that the year of 2013 will serve to take up a sub-
ject matter of "Industrie 4.0" in order to protect and develop “a traditional German
core of industry and its well-established international position”. It has been noticed
that the Internet is “a steam engine” of the 21st century. Just like inventing a real
steam engine was a signal to outbreak of the first industrial revolution in the 18th cen-
tury, dissemination of the Internet gave an impulse to another fourth industrial revolu-
tion. Thus, the name of "Industrie 4.0" is used.
An Idea of the 4th Generation Industry is a philosophical view determining an in-
telligent production, extended cooperation between devices working in different stan-
dards and problem-free information flow (http://www.profibus.org.pl/). This approach
also includes a concept of sustainable development i.e. equivalence of economic, so-
cial and ecological criteria.
It is predicted that "Przemysł 4. Generacji" [“Industry 4. Generation”] will cause
the growth of production automation which consists in communication of generating
devices with each other, the effect of which are supposed to be goods adjusted to us-
ers’ individual preferences. These changes have already been noticed, however, in the
context of the nearest decade this evolution should adopt a global character. This im-
plies the growth of requirements which enable the implementation of "Industrie 4.0"
together with a need of verification and change in management methods and a logis-
tics coordination of the whole process. The mentioned effect ought to be products
manufactured in short series sold at the price of goods manufactured at large scale.
Moreover, entrepreneurs are going to come into possession of machines adjusted
to their specific needs and specificities of businesses they run. In addition, the ma-
chines are more effective than present solutions. Through task decentralisation,
it is planned to decrease the use of resources and energy by a quarter and production
costs by a half. Giant factories might go down in history. It is predicted that small
companies will dominate. They will be located close to each other. Semi-finished
products with the use of containers will be transported between the small companies.
Thanks to that, it is assumed that industry being less dependable on human work
will lower costs connected with functioning of the organisation.
Predictions described above are based on observations of the present where cur-
rently contents displayed in the Internet for various recipients differ from each other
as they are adjusted to customers’ individual preferences. People, who study and im-
plement the idea of "Industrie 4.0", think that soon there will be a similar situation
with particular goods. This will be achieved thanks to order processing. It will start
from observations of potential recipient’s behaviours. Next, conclusions will be sent
138 A.K. Stasiuk-Piekarska and M.K. Wyrwicka

to a factory what will allow for introducing necessary changes in a production process
(Industry 4.0 i.e. a new reality in production; http://centrumpr.pl/artykul/przemysl-4-
0-czyli-nowa-rzeczywistosc-w-produkcji,48295.html).
An idea of "Industrie 4.0" will also be raised on 39th German Congress of Indus-
trial Engineering which is held on the initiative of REFA-Bundesverband e.V.,
Verband für Arbeitsgestaltung, Betriebsorganisation und Unternehmensentwicklung.
In the article which promotes the event, the attention is paid to a growing number
of new ideas for management improvement in industry which should be based
on a process of organisational formation of production systems what is frequently
forgotten when striving after continuous improvement (Fecht, 2013, p. 4).

3. CASE STUDY

Within problem identification in organising production systems in Poland, pre-

liminary studies were conducted with the use of a list proposed by Kaczmarek (Table
1). Issues distinguished in the studies were a basis to formulate issues raised by the
authors of the article in studies concerning the functioning of an examined organisa-
tion.
An examined organisation is one of the big companies functioning in an automo-
tive branch having its customers all over the world. When analysing the data, we can
acknowledge that despite a long and stable functioning on the market, a company
is still developing either in a product aspect or a number of employees.
Within a conducted face-to-face interview, from 20% of employees working
in a department which deals with production management and own observations in an a-
nalysed company, signs of inappropriate situations that appear in a company were noticed
(Table 2). The most important problems were included in a group consisting of 12 issues
that constitute threats. According to this group, potential results, which might have a nega-
tive influence on the functioning of an organisation and a production system, have been
determined (Stasiuk & Werner- Lewandowska, 2013, p. 520). Within the analyses,
the threats were divided into three main groups of problems connected with:
• The functioning of a company,
• Involvement and employee appraisal,
• Above-average staff turnover.
Symptoms presented above have a negative influence on the functioning of a com-
pany and organisation of a production system. It is worth to consider that it is a part
of research that is why, indications mentioned above might turn out to be a part of the
problems that an examined organisation has. Despite their identification, it is also
necessary, in order to manage an organisation in a conscious way, to identify causes
of the problems and recognise possibilities of eliminating/minimising their results.
In the analysed company which managerial staff is aspiring to perform a function
of a leader in a branch, it is necessary to stop emerging of internal conflicts as they
 Organising – still an important function of production management 139

negatively influence in a direct and indirect way the realisation of a production system
and in a result a customer service. Take for example, a process of planning and organ-
ising the manufacture frequently can be encumbered with a high risk of errors which
appeared due to a problem of ensuring qualified staff. This is a potential result of em-
ployees’ “outflow” to competition. The employees are experienced but underesti-
mated in the examined company and discouraged by internal conflicts.

Table 2 Identified threats and their potential results in a chosen company

No. Symptoms Potential threats in the scope of the functioning of an organisation and
a production system
THE FUNCTIONING OF A COMPANY
1. Internal conflicts are - lack of strictly defined direction in which a company follows,
increasing - uncertain future of an organisation and inside the organisation,
- a problem with unequivocal decision-making and implementation of solutions;
2. Cutting costs is intro- - dissatisfaction and reluctance to supervisors and senior management,
duced without a justifi- - lack of stability either financial or professional,
cation in an unexpected - vehemence of changes (financial cuts) and lack of their justification lead to
way people’s unwillingness to be involved in preformed tasks;
INVOLVEMENT AND EMPLOYEE APPRAISAL
3. Employees do not - organising production is based on employees minimal abilities as the lack of job
receive information how appraisal causes the lack of responsibility for performed tasks (lack of settlement
they are assessed for an approach to duties),
- employees do not have a feedback what kind of tasks they perform correctly and
what tasks should be refined,
- lack of involvement in self-development as an effect of the lack of efforts appre-
ciation (if efforts are not noticed, it is pointless to make any effort);
4. Tasks and responsibili- - extending the time which is indispensable to solve problems concerning looking
ties are not clearly for people who are responsible for a given problem (or one of its elements),
defined and assigned - lack of strict tasks division during their performance,
- simplifying the use of a tactic according to which employees do not want to
perform inconvenient tasks and take up difficult but necessary decisions;
5. Employees perform - unpopular but necessary tasks which nobody wants to do, in a result, time of its
minimum tasks and realisation extends,
explain that realisation - a problem with assigning the responsibility or a lack of responsibility for just
of a given task is be- realised tasks,
yond their duties - difficult and troublesome tasks might be assigned to people who do not have
qualifications to perform them, for example, for newly employed workers as they
still will not get into the habit of avoiding assigned duties,
- people, who care about their job, are overworked;
6. Inefficient employees - ineffective employees do not feel obliged to introduce changes in their behaviour
are not burdened with as they are not punished for that. When they see overworked co-workers, they
work and they explain treat the fact that they are not burdened with difficult tasks as an award,
their work schedule with - lack of taking disciplinary actions for undone tasks might cause chain reactions
the fact that they cannot connected with a growing lack of involvement at other employees,
be trusted when it comes - reliable employees are burdened with the most important and urgent cases what
to correct performance causes that they have an excessive workload. Moreover, this situation influences the
of important activities quality of performed tasks and perception of one’s own place in an organisation;
7. A syndrome of mutual - lack of identification of disruptions which appear due to the reasons dependent
recriminations which on an employee and which are a resultant of a few different factors,
means frequent use of - a problem with taking disciplinary actions for assigned tasks;
an expression “it is not
my fault”
140 A.K. Stasiuk-Piekarska and M.K. Wyrwicka

8. Personnel that decide to - an opinion among the employees has appeared that minimum involvement is
stay in the company feel enough to still work in a company,
underestimated what - willingness to leave a company by those ambitious employees who still remain
has a negative effect on in it and who are specialists in their fields,
the quality of their job - work is done in inaccurate and unreliable way and it repeatedly requires to
provide a lot of corrections;
9. Lack of positive reac- - reluctance to gain new knowledge and personal and professional experience,
tions in regard to people - lack of promotion prospects causes the willingness among the employees to
who return from train- change a company they work in,
ings that improve - despite self-improvement programmes that are in progress in a company, there is
qualifications. Lack of a lack of willingness to take up new challenges, look for new solutions concerning
promotion prospects products and production;
ABOVE-AVERAGE STAFF TURNOVER
10. Job resignations and - a problem with exact planning and realisation of production,
quitting jobs by em- - mutual lack of trust between an employer and an employee,
ployees are surprising - opinions among the employees that it is necessary to hand in a resignation in
the management order to get a pay rise proposal;
11. High turnover of quali- - costs of educating a specialist who will decide to advance his/her career in
fied employees another organisation and costs of finding a new employee who will take place of
the previous one and finally costs of implementing a new employee,
- a process of organising production encumbered with an error which is caused by
incomplete information (for example, about new employees’ experience, their skills),
- incorrect realisation of production and extending its duration;
12. Underestimated and - a problem with “knowledge outflow” and making it accessible to competition,
frustrated employees - new ideas are made accessible to competition at a low cost,
look for a job in com- - costs of educating a specialist who decided to advance his/her career in another
peting companies where organisation,
they achieve successes - a process of organising production encumbered with an error which is caused by
incomplete information (for example, about new employees’ experience, their skills),
- incorrect realisation of production and extending its duration;
- information that is spread on the market about the fact that specialists are leaving
a company more often than they are employed in it (a negative corporate image in
a longer time period).

In the context of willingness to be pro-active and oriented on continuous self-

improvement, a need to go back to organisational sciences is noticed within which at first
a good organisation of space and work processes would be taken care of. Identified prob-
lems, to a large extent, could be minimised with the use of praxeological sciences “about a
good job”. Thus, a current situation needs to be properly planned and organised which
means that a production process should be properly ordered and there ought to be a job
evaluation and a clear and reliable employee appraisal, and also a broadly considered
production management. It is even more important that in the context of highly custom-
ised production identified in the examined company, each order is practically a separate
project which needs newer processes’ planning and organising, the effect of which
should be a product made for individually configured order.
Considering a tendency in production which Poland’s Eastern Neighbours want to in-
troduce, it seems even more legitimate to pay attention to organisational sciences return.
As it was emphasised in the results of the research, the idea of Industry 4th Generation
cannot achieve success if a production still needs to be improved in order to eliminate
its problems so called “put out fires” and it will not be a constant development which
would mean to look in the future ahead of the competition, a kind of innovativeness. Only
 Organising – still an important function of production management 141

“healthy” organisations can take part in a marathon, the effect of which is supposed to be
a position of a leader in a branch and its maintenance in time satisfactory to managers.

4. CONCLUSION

When organising production systems, entrepreneurs and people responsible for

that are looking for modern solutions in this area which would ensure competitiveness in
an examined segment of global economy. They frequently support themselves with
knowledge taken form organisational sciences, just like in the example of an idea “Indus-
try 4.0” presented in the article which is based on division of labour. Unfortunately,
it is often forgotten that organisational sciences are not only a certain set of rules, but also
they indicate that it is a human who makes it possible for each system to function. Al-
though people are difficult to “be organised”, they are the only recipients of goods pro-
vided by the system. Moreover, it is difficult to “programme” a human in a global and
quickly changing reality. Therefore, it is worth to pay attention not only to organisa-
tional rules that are known, but go deeper when looking for information, which was a
premise and a basis when the rules were formed. Only this in juxtaposition with prob-
lems identification in a company allows for organising systems and processes which
are realised by those systems.

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Anna K. Stasiuk-Piekarska is a doctoral student in the Faculty of Engineering Management
in the Chair of Management and Production Systems. She is a graduate of Poznan University
of Technology. She graduated from such faculties as Management and Marketing, specialisa-
tion – Logistics, and Safety Engineering. She had studied at Universität Kassel for half a year.
She was a member of Logistics students’ scientific association, and at present she is its organ-
isational supervisor. She was an organiser of 3 rd, 4th, and 5th edition of Inter-university Forum
of Young Logisticians and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd edition of Poznan Logistics Forum.
Due to the confluence of the two faculties, her main scientific interest has been born which
is risk management in production systems, and in this area she conducts her research. She is
an author of a several publications concerning risk management in production systems, logis-
tics, and production management.

Magdalena K. Wyrwicka is an associate professor and a vice dean for exact science in the
Faculty of Engineering Management at Poznan University of Technology in Poland. As a PhD
in technical sciences (her work applied to implementation of automation), she studied
the issues of human resource management and small and medium size enterprises’ manage-
ment in Witschaftsuniversität in Vienna which constituted the basis for her postdoctoral degree
in the scope of management science and it centred on a range of problems connected with
organizing an enterprise’s development. She is a licensed teacher of German REFA (Verband
fϋr Arbeitsgestaltung, Betriebsorganisation und Unternehmensentwicklung) in the elementary
scope and production planning and control. She is in contact with economic practice. She is
an author and a co-author of more than 150 publications. Her scientific research concentrates
on premises concerning the development of a company and companies’ networks. Since Octo-
ber she has been managing a project called “Foresight ‘Wielkopolska’s Economic Networks’ –
scenarios of knowledge transformations supporting an innovative economy” in the scope
of an Operational Programme of an Innovative Economy. A project’s realisation is scheduled
till the end of 2011.