Week 9: The Activity Perspective 'What Managers Do'

Clive helps us understand the importance of management in the workforce, and how different theorists view and describe management, thus linking to how different types of management can lead to different outcomes in the workforce

WHAT DOES THE ACTIVITY PERSPECTIVE FOCUS ON?

·       Focused on what managers actually do in practice, not just what theories say they should do

·       Looks at management as a set of activities (meeting, planning, negotiating, reporting)

·       Scholars study the daily routines and behaviors of managers to understand management better

WHAT ARE FAYOL’S 6 MANAGERIAL ACTIVITIES?

1.    Forecasting: predicting what is going to happen in the future

2.    Planning: Deciding course of action

3.    Organizing: allocating resources and tasks to different teams

4.    Commanding: Directing and motivating

5.    Coordinating: Making sure separate tasks work well together

6.    Controlling: Monitoring progresses

WHAT IS TAYLORISM ACCORDING TO FW TAYLOR

o   Replaces the “rule of thumb: with scientific procedures

o   Workers can be “retooled” like machines for better productivity

WHAT WAS HENRY MINTZBERG’S 1973 STUDY ABOUT?

The nature of managerial work

·       Found managers’ jobs are fragmented, fast-paced and full of interruptions:

·       Shows that management is about constant activity and interaction, not just planning

WHAT ARE THE 10 MANAGERIAL ROLES THAT MINTZBERG 1973 FOUND?

o   Interpersonal roles: figurehead, leader, Liasson

o   Informational: monitor, disseminator, spokesperson

o   Decisional: entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, negotiator

WHAT IS STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT?

Planning and managing a company’s long-term goals to succeed and compete effectively

o   Strategic, tactical, operational activities

o   Strategies can be intended, deliberate, emergent, unrealized, or realized

WHAT WAS JOHN P KOTTER 1947 THOUGHTS ON MANAGEMENT?

·       Leaders spend most time with others, not just direct reports

·       Lots of short, informal discussions, ask questions, rarely make big decisions in conversations

Influence others, react to initiatives, work long hours

·       He found managers spent most of their time networking and building relationships

WHAT ARE THE 4 KEY ACTIVITIES IN FRED LUTHANS’ 1988 STUDY OF “SUCCESSFUL VS EFFECTIVE REAL MANAGERS”?

o   Communication

o   Human Resource Management

o   Networking

o   Traditional Management

WHAT IS ROSEMARY STEWART’S MODEL FOR UNDERSTANDING MANAGERIAL JOBS?

o   Demands: required tasks (meeting, reports)

o   Constraints: limits (resources, laws, processes, attitudes, unions, technology, location)

o   Choices: Areas where managers have agency (how to do work, allocate tasks, get involved)

WHAT DOES THE CONCEPT ABOUT MANAGEMENT AND POWER TALK ABOUT?

·       Management involves exerting power

·       Managers have power over workers, strategy, decisions

·       Power also comes from owners, regulators, governance

Hierarchy and web of power in organizations

WHAT ARE MAX WEBER’S 3 TYPES OF AUTHORITY?

Rational, traditional, charismatic

WHAT ARE FRENCH AND RAVEN’S 6 BASES OF POWER?

legitimacy, coercion, rewards, expertise, referent, informational

WHAT ARE FLEMING AND SPICER’S TYPES OF POWER?

Episodic (direct) and systematic (structural) power

WHAT WAS ALASDAIR MACINTYRE’S 1929 THEORY ON EMOTIVISM?

·       Emotivism: Moral assertions as preferences with implicit commands

Moral statements are just expressions of personal feelings, not objective right or wrong

·       Managers as emotive characters; exert power through emotions

Managers focus on technique and effectiveness, not ends