McConnell, R. Shean (1998) Management and organisation. In: Balchin, Paul and Rhoden, Maureen, (eds.) Housing: the essential foundations. Routledge, London, UK, pp. 262-288. ISBN 978-0415160070 (hardback), 978-0-203-01042-6 (e-book)

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Abstract

This chapter is concerned with the application of the generic principles of management to housing organisations. It is not about the details of everyday ‘housing management’. While many of the general principles of management apply across the varied fields of housing there are, of course, differences in application, perception and suitability. It is the case that the management objectives within housing departments in the social rented and private sectors respectively became closer from the 1980s as a consequence of political pressure and economic necessity. Nevertheless the goals, or the long-term aims, mission and purposes, of housing management remain essentially different within the social rented and private sector housing organisations. Moreover there are also differences between housing associations and local authority housing departments. While most private landlords, with their own or their shareholders’ capital invested in housing, must have optimisation of profits from satisfying demand as their major goal, the managers in the social rented sectors will be concerned with meeting housing need and providing quality landlord service within the constraints of financial cost-effectiveness. Managers in the public and social rented sectors, like those working for private landlords, are also concerned with maximising the returns from rented property, so that accommodation can be provided, repaired and improved. The idea that housing is a social welfare service has become more fragile in the real world of cost-effectiveness. The truth, however unpleasant, is that many of the decision-making criteria of the market place are now having to be applied to social as well as to private sector housing management. There are no longer enough central government subsidies to support either the tenants or their housing managers in the manner of earlier decades. Tenants have to pay more and managers have to work more cost-effectively. Nevertheless, satisfying the housing needs of the most disadvantaged groups in society must remain as the mission and a goal of social housing organisations, and it is this that will continue to differentiate decision-making in the private and the social sectors. Policies and the criteria for the evaluation of alternative strategies will inevitably be different between the sectors. Specifically the chapter examines:

The economic and political contexts to housing management.
Accountability.
Tenant management of housing.
What is management?
Organisations and their structure.
Governance, corporate planning and management.
The management of change.
From resistance to planned change.
Planning and decision-making.
Quality leadership.
Delegation and control.
Empowerment.
Management by Objectives (MbO).
Human resource planning and management.
Motivation and morale at work.
Conflict and its resolution.
Communication.
Some questions about communication.
Problems in communication.

Item Type:	Book Section
Additional Information:	[1] Other University of Greenwich staff have authored chapters in this book. List of contributors: Paul Balchin, Gregory Bull, David Isaac, Maureen Rhoden, John O'Leary, Jane Weldon, Pauline Forrester, Mark Pawlowski, R.Shean McConnell [2] Available as an e-book in MyiLibrary: http://lib.myilibrary.com/Open.aspx?id=19503
Uncontrolled Keywords:	housing policy, housing finance
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Pre-2014 Departments:	School of Architecture, Design & Construction School of Architecture, Design & Construction > Sustainable Environments Research Group
Related URLs:	Publisher Organisation
Last Modified:	14 Oct 2016 09:21
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/8531

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