Principles, Models, Theories And External Factors In Running A Horse Riding School

Principles of Management

The English word ‘Management’ which means the process of dealing with or controlling things or people to achieve set objectives, was derived from a French word ‘Manège’ which means an arena or an enclosed area in which horses and riders are trained (Wolf, 2014). Manège is an art of horse dressage or ‘horse dancing’ that was practiced by the elite in society back in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. It was an intricate form of art that required years of practicing, understanding of how horses behave and skill to be able to maneuver the breathtaking dance moves while on a horse’s back. All these skills required to master the art of Manège relate to the skills and attributes of any managerial process hence the deriving of the name ‘Management.’

Since making a horse ‘dance’ was rather peculiar, lovers of this form of art had to find means to make this happen and one William Cavendish, the first Duke of Newcastle, developed means that are still used today to train both the horse and the rider to achieve these skills (Hansen, 2016). Several important aspects of this training, for example, were advocating mutual respect between a horse and his rider and ensuring that there was mutual harmony between the two as opposed to the more forceful means that trainers had previously pursued. This is true in all aspects of management, say in a business environment, as the management has to be in sync with their juniors to ensure the smooth running of activities and eventually achievement of set goals.

This report will look at the aspects required in running a horse riding school, that is, the principles, models, theories in planning, leading and organizing the institution. It will also address the external factors affecting the riding school and the challenges that these factors present.

Running a riding school can be challenging as it would be in launching and successfully operating any other business. A lot is at stake considering the investments in the animals, human resource and physical infrastructure that needs to be put in place. Therefore, one has to have clear and well-defined guidelines that will aid in decision making and management activities. These guidelines are what we call Principals of Management (Morden, 2017).

1. Division of work. Different people are gifted and skilled in different areas of work. A horse-riding school will be in need of employees with both generalized skill sets such as cleaners, security guards, and gardeners, as well as those with specialized skill, sets such as the trainers, managers, and chefs and so on.
2. Authority and responsibility. For the school to run efficiently, an agreement has to be made between superiors and their subordinates where the superiors will have the authority to issue directives to the latter. Both the superiors and their subordinates are responsible for the consequences of the issued orders and will be obliged to show it regarding performance(Leibler, J. & McConnell, C., 2016).
3. For the smooth running of the institution, juniors will need to be obedient to their seniors and maintain good conduct. Respectful interactions will be a core value that will ensure peaceful coexistence.
4. Unity of command.Avoiding confusion and conflicts will be of key importance, and this can be achieved by conforming to the principle of unity of command. An employee will only be liable to orders issued by their superior only and not from another superior (Booth, 2015).
5. Unity of direction. Those delivering the same activities, for example, students on the same level, will be delegated to the same team and allocated one team leader or manager(Fayol, 2016). Unity of direction ensures that tasks are focused, and there’s no time wastage.
6. Subordination of individual interest to mutual interest.Those that will be appointed to managerial roles have to strictly put their agendas aside and ensure that the school’s goals are to be first achieved. This will ensure that resources are well utilized, and the company functions well.
7. It is important to understand that for optimal productivity, the employees must feel that they are being rewarded for their efforts. Productivity goes hand in hand with employee motivation, and for most people, payment is a great motivator (LEgreid, 2017). Therefore, it is paramount that we ensure employees are duly and reasonably paid. There are also other forms of reward that are not monetary for example, giving credit to a job well done. The school can acknowledge the input for example, of a trainer whose students have all complimented for being easy to work with. Other examples would be giving more responsibility to a performing member of staff and so on.
8. The degree of centralization.It is speculated that most people with the passion for horse riding are in the business for more than just the money. Keeping this in mind, it is important to understand that members of the staff need to feel accommodated in matters concerning decision making in the institution. One way to do this is to ensure that the decision-making process is properly balanced (Donaldson, 2014). In that, it’s not just centralized to the top management with special and particular emphasis on the people handling the horses as they can get attached to the horses they get allocated to.
9. Scalar chain. Having a clear line of the chain of command structure is important to any business enterprise(Child, 2015). The riding school will be no exception. Knowing who to pass relevant information to will be key keeping in mind that this is physical activity based school where calamities are highly probable, the trainer and the employee involved in an emergency can contact their superior without challenging the hierarchy or the chain of command. The Scalar chain principle will foster better employee relations and ensure clear communication of information.
10. For optimum efficiency at the school, every employee will need to perform their job smoothly in a fluid manner. It is the responsibility of the management to provide both social order and material order. By social order, I mean employees must be in a comfortable, clean and safe working environment. They should be able to arrive at work at the right time and take the stipulated breaks (for example, lunch break) at the right time. The management should also ensure that the equipment, tools, and machinery are in working order and that there is a maintenance crew for keeping the equipment in working fashion.
11. Issues might come up among the employees and the managers to favoring of a particular employee. One of the core values of managing any organization is ensuring equity among all members of staff. Those in managerial positions will have to ensure that everybody is treated equally and this can be achieved by the managers ensure that they are present during work duties and supervise the work so that they can make informed decisions without being impartial.
12. Stability of Tenure of Personnel. This is a very critical aspect of managing any organization. It is speculated that the more stable the personnel in an organization is the more profitable it is to the said organization(Smith, 2015). The riding school will ensure measures are set to limit employee turnover as this is detrimental to the stability and progress intended. These measures will include but won’t be limited to, job duties and shift rotations to eliminate boredom and giving employees incentives to cap aggression.
13. Employee participation will be of the pivotal essence in the affairs of the school and not just in fulfilling their day to day duties. The school will incorporate ideas from every member of staff to set the innovation standards high. These innovations should not just be allocated to the top management as everybody has their share of creative ideas and giving the employees initiative to participate and also give feedback will be great progress to the institution.
14. Esprit de corps. The management of any organization is ultimately responsible for the morale of their employees. The institution will ensure that all members of staff are heard and are kept in a conducive working environment. This along with management ensuring that the staff is kept motivated in performing their duties will ensure that the team spirit is kept alive(Raab, 2016).

The human resource management model best fits the situation at hand, that is, running a horse riding training school. As much as this business and keeping in mind that the main purpose of a business is to make a profit, I find that the attribute of horse riding sets this business apart from most businesses. This is because horse riding is an art and those who partake of it are very passionate about it hence making it more about the social interaction rather than just making money. For this reason, human resource management, in this case, plays a very crucial role to how this business will perform. The institution will have a vision statement that will project that will show the school’s ambitions of the future and will act as a guide to both staff and students.

Models of Management

The school management will ensure that their subordinates are treated as human beings and not just as tools or a means to an end. Some of the ways the management will use to ensure that social relationships in the working environment are natured are being genuinely concerned with fellow colleagues’ affairs, calling people by their first names, being cordial and being cautious with criticism.

Some of other ways the institution will use the human resource management model is by ensuring that the bureaucracy associated most organizations is reduced so that employees can interact freely, integrate the needs of the individual with the needs of the institution and distribute duties in a way every employee utilizes the full potential of his or her talents and/skills (Armstrong, M. & Taylor, S., 2014).

The students need to be accommodated within the human resource management model as they are the customers in this case. The institution will hire well trained and experienced professional who will put into consideration the welfare of the students. The trainers must do this by ensuring that the students feel accommodated, that the trainers show due regard to their personalities, show regard to a student’s opinion and that they take a keen interest in ensuring that a student trains well and performs in the activities provided.

Setting goals are paramount to any business as it ensures that the management has a guide to the direction that they would like the business to head (Pevin, 2015). Goal setting is also important to employees as it gives them a sense of direction about the tasks that need to be completed. Some of the advantages that the school will experience due to the setting of goals are having employees finish allocated tasks and duties quickly and efficiently as goal setting can be used as a technique to raise incentives to employees who achieve these set goals, in other words, it is quite a motivator to employees’ performance (Northouse, 2015). Another advantage is that there will be the optimum use of resources keeping in mind that this is a new business. There are never enough resources to go about, and the fact that this is a new business makes the situation direr. Having set goals will ensure that resources are optimally and efficiently and save on the expenditure hence improving the quality of business.

Goal setting will also come through as a crucially useful tool in time management. Knowing what you want to do and what one needs to achieve the set goals enables one set a schedule and a plan of the steps needed to attain the objective. Setting up a schedule eliminates the time-wasting that would be incurred with one beating around the bush.

The impact of horse riding to protected areas. Horse riding can have detrimental effects on the environment especially in protected areas such as parks. These effects can range from biophysical impacts such as reduction in height, cover and biomass of natural vegetation, changing the plaint composition by introducing exotic plant seed (for example, weeds) and impacts on soils such as loss of soil or soil compaction or changes in hydrology. There could also be damage to vegetation due to trampling caused by the horses’ hooves (Newsome, 2014).

Impacts on safety. Working with horses presents a unique challenge that is not present in other jobs. The horse itself is a huge animal that gets spooked easily and can over-react. This presents a safety issue as one can obtain injuries if the horse attacks. Another safety issue I brought to the surface when cleaning the stable and hygiene maintenance is brought to the topic. These activities involve the use of a chemical that could pose hazardous if inhaled and comes into contact with open skin or eyes. A rider could also be in danger from motorists when sharing the road with other motorists (Thompson, K., McGreevy, P. & McManus, P., 2015).

Diseases. Sometimes horses can get infected with diseases that are transmissible to human beings such as leptospirosis, ringworms, Hendra virus and human beings can also get skin infections from a horse’s bite or from working in horse stables having an uncovered cut or abrasion (Damron, 2013).

• The institution will be made up of law abiding citizens, and therefore it will be in our interest to conserve the environment. All the training and riding will be conducted on the school’s track, and field and horse riding outside the school premises will be prohibited.

• As handling a horse can prove disastrous the management will ensure all safety measurements are adhered to. These will include wearing of protective gear for example knee and elbow pads, a helmet and so on. Those working in the stable need to always wear protective clothing to cover themselves from inhalation of cleaning agents and pesticides. Horse riding outside the school compound will not be allowed as this can pose a danger from motorists.

• The management will ensure that the horses are kept healthy and well fed. Treatments and vaccinations will be conducted in due time to avoid any infections.

The institution will ensure maximum standard regarding the well-being of the horses is adhered to. This will include ascertaining that the horses have readily accessible food and water to maintain top notch health and vigor, freedom of movement to stand, stretch, turn around, lie down and roll. The horses will have social contact with human beings and other horses, spacious and comfortable accommodations, protection from disease and parasites and rapid treatment of injury/disease.

References

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Booth, S. (2015). Crisis management strategy: Competition and change in modern enterprises. London: Routledge.

Child, J. (2015). Organization: Contemporary Principles and practice. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Damron, W. (2013). Introduction to animal science. New York: Pearson Higher Ed.

Donaldson, L. &. (2014). Fit-The Key to Organizational Design. New York: Cambridge press. 

Fayol, H. (2016). General and industrial management. Carlifornia: Ravenio Books.

Hansen, N. (2016). Dressage: Training the Equine Body. Foucault and Animals. New York: Sage publishers.

LEgreid, P. (2017). Transcending new public management: the transformation of public sector reforms. London: Routledge Publishers.

Leibler, J. & McConnell, C. (2016). Management principles for health professionals. Carlifornia: Jones & Bartlet Publishers.

Morden, T. (2017). Principles of Management. London: Routledge.

Newsome, D. (2014). Appropriate policy developement and research needs in response to adventure racing in protected areas. Biological Conservation, 171, 259-269.

Northouse, P. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice. Boston: Sage Publications.

Pevin, L. (2015). Goal concepts in personality and social psychology. Boston: Psychology Press.

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Smith, A. (2015). Pioneers of management London: Rutledge publishers. 

Thompson, K., McGreevy, P. & McManus, P. (2015). A critical review of horse-related risk: A research agenda for safer mounts, riders and equestrian cultures. Animals, 5(3), 561-575.

Wolf, J. (2014). White Horses. California: Harlequin press and company.