Business Leadership Test Review

Ms Rajan

Characteristics of a New Economy

• Global 

• Knowledge driven (Ai and how is it affecting future careers?)

• Performance Driven (Evolving, changing skillses)

Overview of the new workplace

• The workplace is ever-present changing and host new career challenges

• Smart people commit their energies to continuous learning and personal development 

• Companies with a future are committed to people

  • They offer inspirational leadership and rewards, respect people, and provide supportive work environments

• High performing companies gain extraordinary results from people

Challenges in todays Economy

• Talent (Hiring talented people)

  • People and their talents are the ultimate foundations of organizational performance

  • Intellectual capital is the collective brainpower or shared knowledge of a workforce can be used to create value

  • A knowledge worker is someone whose mind is a critical asset to employers and adds to the intellectual capital of an organization 

Challenges in todays Economy 2

• Diversity

  • Workplace diversity reflects differences with respect to gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientable and able bodiedness. 

  • A diverse and multicultural workforce challenges and offering opportunities to employes

  • Many call diversity as a “business imperative” and view it as an asset

  • Prejudice, discrimination and glass ceiling effect (breaking limitation barriers)

Challenges in todays Economy 3

• Globalizations

  • National boundaries of world business have largely disappeared.

  • Globalization is the worldwide independence of resource flows, product markets and business competition that characterize the new economy 

Challenges in todays Economy 4

• Ethics

  • Code or moral principles that set standards of conduct of that is good and right

  • Ethical expectations for modern businesses

Challenges in todays Economy 5 

• Careers

  • Core workers, contract workers, and part time workers

    • Core workers are permanent, full-time employees who are essential to a company’s long-term operations.

    • Contract workers are hired for a specific period or project, often through a contractual agreement rather than permanent employment.

    • Part-time workers are employed by a company but work fewer hours than full-time employees.

• People must be prepared to be any one of these types of workers

• People must make sure that their skills are portable and of current value in employment markets

Early Career Survival Skills (critical skills for success in the new workplace”

• Mastery

• Networking

• Entrepreneurship

• Love of technology (embracing it)

• Marketing

• Passion for renewal (Improving / developing)

What is an organization?

• A collection of people working together to achieve a common purpose

• Organizations provide useful goods and / or services that return value to society and satisfy customer needs

• High performing organizations treat people as valuable strategic assets

  • Characteristics of organization are

    • Purpose

    • Division of Labour

    • Hierarchy of Authority 

Organizational Performance

• Productivity 

• Performance effectiveness 

• Performance efficiency

Changing Nature of Organizations

• Reward belief in employees

• Disappearance of “command and control”

• Emphasis on teamwork

• Prominence of technology

• Embrace of networking

• New workforce expectations

• Concern for work life balance

• Focus on speed

Managers

Is a person in an organization who supports and is responsible for the work of others. The people who managers help are the ones whose tasks represent the real work of organizations

Level of Management

• Top Managers

  • Responsible for the performance of an organization as a whole or for one of its larger parts (Ceo, Presidents Directors). They develop missions and goals

• Middle Managers

  • In charge of relatively large departments or divisions. They focus on how to achieve goals / missions (Plant Managers, Branch Sale Managers)

• Project Managers

  • Coordinates complex projects with task deadlines. They direct and coordinate meetings 

• Team Leaders  Supervisors

  • In charge of a small work group of non managerial workers, responsible for the front line workers. (Department Head)

Type of Manager

• Line Managers

  • Responsible for work activities that directly affect organizations outputs (shift supervisors of a store) 

• Staff Managers

  • Use technical expertise to advise and support the efforts of line workers. They usually don't deal with day to day operations, and they are experts in fields. (Accounting Department Head)

• Functional Managers

  • Are responsible for a single area of activity (Finance, Marketing, Accounting, Sales)

• General Managers

  • Responsible for more complex units that includes many functional areas (Plant Manager, Manager of manufacturing) 

• Administrators

  • Work in public and non profit organizations (Principles, hospital administrators)

Functions of Managers

• All managers are responsible for all four functions

• The functions are carried on continually

  • Planning (what are goals, and necessary actions to achieve them. Creating a certain timeline and are specific)

  • Organizing (allocating resources to achieve goals)

  • Leading (Motivate employees, interpersonal skills)

  • Controlling (Monitoring how well doing and taking corrective action is necessary)

Mintzberg's Theory - Roles of Managers (Theory on how people behave)

• Interpersonal Roles 

  • Involves interactions with people inside and out the work unit 

    • Figurehead 

      • Setting key policies and modelling

    • Leader

      • Providing direction and instilling enthusiasm

    • Liaison

      • Coordinating with others. How you work and communicate with others. 

Mintzberg's Theory - Roles of Managers (Theory on how people behave) 2 

• Informational Roles

  • Involves giving, receiving, and analyzing information

    • Monitors (scanning for information)

    • Disseminator (Sharing Information)

    • Spokesperson (Official Communicator)

Mintzberg's Theory - Roles of Managers (Theory on how people behave) 3

• Decisional Roles 

  • Involves interaction with people inside and out the work unit

    • Entrepreneur (developing new initiatives)

    • Resource Allocator (how to distribute resources)

    • Disturbance Handler (dealing with problems and conflicts)

    • Negotiator (Making deals and forging agreements) 

Competencies for Managerial Skills

• Communication

• Teamwork 

• Leadership

• Self Management

• Critical Thinking

• Professionalism

• Responsible, fair, integrity 

Katz’s Essential Managerial Skills

• Technical Skills 

  • The ability to apply to a special proficiency or expertise to perform particular tasks

• Human Skills

  • The ability to work well in cooperation with others

• Conceptual Skill

  • The ability to think critically and analytically to solve complex problems

Characteristics of managerial work

• Managers work long hours

• Manager work at intense pace

• Managers work at fragmented and varied tasks

• Managers work with many communications media

• Managers work largely through interpersonal relationships 

Managerial Performance

Effective managers fulfill performance accountability by helping others to achieve high performance outcomes and experience satisfaction in their work

Quality of work life (QWL)

• An indicator of the overall quality of human experiences in the work place 

  • Fair Pay

  • Safe working conditions

  • Opportunities to learn and use new skills

  • Room to grow and progress in  a career

  • Protection of individual rights

  • Pride in work itself and in the organization