Managers: are individuals who coordinate and oversee the work of other people so that organisational goals can be reached

Classification of managers:

The hierarchy table decreases in the amount of employees as we go up the triangle

1. Top Managers: individuals who are responsible for making organisation-wide decisions and establishing plans and goals that affect the organisation

2. Bottom: individuals who manage the work of first-line managers

3. First-line managers: Individuals who manage the work of non-managerial employees.

4. Non-managerial employees: individuals who work directly on a job, and have no responsibility of overseeing the work of others

Managerial concerns:

• Efficiency: “doing things right”, getting the most output for the least input

→ low resource usage/waste (means)

• Effectiveness: “doing the right things”, attaining organisational goals

→ high goal attainment (ends)

What do managers do?

• Planning: defining goals, establishing strategies to achieve goals, developing plans to integrate and coordinate activities → creating

• Organising: arranging and structuring work to accomplish organisational goals → arranging

• Leading: working with and through people to accomplish goals → motivating

• Controlling: monitoring, comparing, and correcting work

→ All these functions help achieve the organisation’s stated purpose

Management roles:

• Interpersonal roles (figurehead, leader, liaison)

• Informational roles (monitor, disseminator, spokesperson)

• Decisional roles (disturbance handler, resource allocator, negotiator)

Managers have to:

• Interact with others, the organisation, and the external context of the organisation

• Reflect ~ thoughtful thinking

• Action ~ practical doing

Skills managers should have:

• Technical skills: knowledge and proficiency in a specific field

→ most important in lower management

• Human skills: the ability to work well with other people

→ most important in middle management

• Conceptual skills: the ability to think and conceptualise about abstract and complex situations concerning the organisation

→ most important in top management

How a manager’s job is changing:

• Changing consumer needs: high quality products/customer service

• Innovation: doing things differently, exploring new territory, taking risks

What is an organisation?

A deliberate arrangement of people to accomplish some specific purpose

→ individuals can’t accomplish them alone

Characteristics:

• Distinct purpose (goal)

• Composed of people

• Deliberate structure

The universality of management is that it is needed in all aspects of an organisation, no matter how small or large