What is management?

Management is -

  • Getting work done through others
  • Efficiency - getting work done with minimum effort, expense, or waste
  • Effectiveness - accomplishing tasks that help fulfill organizational objectives

Functions of management -

  • Planning
    • How to get things done and improve performance
    • What business are we in? What to do to increase?
    • Organization
    • Making a company more effective and efficient
    • Where decisions will be made
    • Who will do jobs/tasks
    • Who will work for whom
    • Leading
    • Inspiring and motivating employees
    • Controlling
    • Putting controls in place to make sure plans are followed and goals are met
    • Monitoring progress and taking corrective actions
  • Managers job is to make sure everybody is enabled to do what they do well

Jobs and responsibilities

  • Top managers
    • CEO
    • COO
    • CFO
    • CIO
    • Vice President
    • Corporate heads
    • Responsible for the overall direction of the organization
    • Create long range vision or missions for company
    • Develop employee commitment to and ownership of company performance (buy in)
    • Create positive organizational culture through language and action
    • Middle managers
    • General manager
    • Plant manager
    • Regional manager
    • Divisional manager
      • Setting objectives consistent with top management's goals
      • Planning and implementing subunit strategies for achieving the objectives
      • Must plan and allocate resources to meet objectives
      • Coordinate and link groups, departments, and divisions within a company
      • Monitor and manage performance of subunits and managers that report to them
      • Implementing changes or strategies
    • First-line managers
    • Office manager
    • Shift supervisor
    • Department manager
      • Train and supervise the performance of nonmanagerial employees who are responsible for producing a company’s goods and services
      • encourage , monitor, and reward the performance of their workers
      • Make detailed daily schedules
      • Make operating plans
    • Team leaders
    • Team leader
    • Team contract
    • Group facilitator
      • Responsible for facilitating team activities toward goal accomplishment
      • Help team members
      • Plan and schedule work
      • Learn to solve problems
      • Work effectively with each other
      • Are at the service of the group
      • There to bring intellectual, emotional, and spiritual resources to the team
      • Foster good additudes and address problamatic ones
      • Act as a bridge/liaison between their team and other teams

Managerial roles

  • Interpersonal
    • Figurehead - managers perform ceremonial duties
    • Leader - managers motivate and encourage workers to accomplish organizational objectives
    • Liaison - managers deal with people outside theiri untis
    • Informational
    • Monitor - managers scan their environment for information
    • Disseminator -managers share the collected information with their subordinates and others in the company
    • Spokesperson - managers share information with people outside their departments or companies
    • Decisional
    • Entrepreneur - managers adapt themselves, their subordinates, and their units to change
    • Disturbance handler - managers respond to pressures and problems that demand immediate attention and action
    • Resources allocator - managers decide who gets what resources and in what ammounts
    • Negotiator - managers negotiate schedules, projects, resources, and employee raises

What companies look for - skills of managers

  • Technical skills (higher importance in lower managers)
    • Specialized procedures
    • Techniques
    • Knowledge required to get the job done
    • Human skills (high importance in all managers)
    • Ability to work well with others
    • Conceptual skills (higher importance in higher managers)
    • Ability to see the organization as a whole
    • Understanding how the different parts affect each other
    • Recognize how the company fits into or is affected by its environment
    • Motivation to manage (higher importance in higher managers)
    • Assessment of how enthusiastic employees are about managing the work of others

Mistakes managers make

  • Insensitive to others - abrasive, intimidating, bullying style
    • Coldm aloof, arrogant
    • Betray trust
    • Overly ambitious - thinking of the next job and playing politics
    • Specific performance problems with the business
    • Overmanaging - unable to delegate or build a team
    • Unable to staff effectively
    • Unable to think strategically
    • Unable to adapt to boss with different style
    • Overdependent on advocate or mentor

Competitive advantage through people

  • Employment security
    • Employees can innovate and increase profitability of an organization without the fear of losing their job
    • Selective hiring
    • Companies need to hire the best talent due to the presence of employment security
    • Self-managed teams
    • Produce high productivity through increased employee commitment and creativity
    • Decentralization
    • Allows employees closest to problems, production, and clients to make timely decisions
    • High wages contingent on organizational performance
    • High remuneration helps an organization attract talented employees and retain existing ones
    • High wages indicates the organization values its employees
    • Training and skill development
    • Companies need to invest resources to train employees to ensure skill development
    • Reduction of status differences
    • Leads to employees concentrating on work related issues rather than biases and predjudices of the management
    • Sharing information
    • Helps employees participate in the decision making process

Summary

  • Functions of management are planning, organizing, controlling, and leading
    • Kinds of managers are top, middle, first-line, and team leaders
    • Roles played by managers include, interpersonal, informational, and decisional
    • Technical, human, and conceptual skills are essential for managers

Key terms

  • Management
    • Efficiency
    • Effectiveness
    • Planning
    • Organizing
    • Leading
    • Controlling
    • Top managers
    • Middle managers
    • First-line managers
    • Team leaders
    • Figurehead role
    • Leader role
    • Liaison role
    • Monitor role
    • Disseminator role
    • Spokesperson role
    • Entrepreneur role
    • Disturbance handler role
    • Resource allocator role
    • Negotiator role
    • Technical skills
    • Human skills
    • Conceptual skills
    • Motivation to manage