MGMT: Principles of Management, Chapter 1
Chapter Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
1-1 Describe what management is.
1-2 Explain the four functions of management.
1-3 Describe the four main kinds of managers.
1-4 Explain the three major roles and ten subroles that managers perform in their jobs.
1-5 Assess managerial potential, based on what companies look for in managers.
1-6 Recognize the top mistakes that managers make in their jobs.
1-7 Describe the transition that employees go through when they are promoted to management.
1-8 Explain how and why companies can create competitive advantage through people.
1-1 Management Is . . .
Management: Getting work done through others.
Critical to start, grow, and maintain a business.
Key Concepts:
Efficiency: Getting work done with a minimum of effort, expense, or waste.
Effectiveness: Accomplishing tasks that help fulfill organizational objectives.
Managers need to focus on both efficiency and effectiveness.
There are often tradeoffs between effectiveness and efficiency.
1-2 Management Functions
Planning
Planning: Involves determining organizational goals and a means for achieving them.
Encourages people to:
Work hard
Work for extended periods
Engage in behaviors directly related to goal accomplishment.
Think of better ways to do their jobs.
Helps companies achieve larger profits and faster growth.
Organizing
Organizing: Deciding where decisions will be made, who will do what jobs and tasks, and who will work for whom in the company.
Deciding how things get done.
Reorganizing to meet customer needs.
Artificial intelligence (AI): Ability of computers to think, communicate, and act like humans, and to learn and adapt through experience.
Use of automation to reorganize tasks.
Leading
Leading: Inspiring and motivating workers to work hard to achieve organizational goals.
Rewarding, recognizing, and acknowledging hard work to motivate employees is an example of effective leadership.
Controlling
Controlling: Monitoring progress toward goal achievement and taking corrective action when needed.
Basic control process:
Setting standards to achieve goals.
Comparing actual performance to those standards.
Making changes to return performance to those standards.
Includes inspecting, maintaining, and repairing equipment.
1-3 Kinds of Managers
Top Managers
Top Managers: Executives responsible for the overall direction of the organization.
Positions: CEO, COO, CFO, and CIO.
Major Responsibilities:
Creating a context for change.
Developing employees’ commitment.
Creating a positive organizational culture.
Monitoring their business environments.
Middle Managers
Middle Managers: Positions include plant, regional, or divisional managers.
Major Responsibilities:
Setting objectives consistent with top management’s goals.
Planning and implementing strategies.
Planning to allocate resources to meet objectives.
Coordinating and linking groups, departments, and divisions.
Monitoring and managing performances.
Implementing the changes/strategies generated by top managers.
First-Line Managers
First-Line Managers: Positions such as office manager, shift supervisor, or department manager.
Major Responsibilities:
Training and supervising the performance of entry-level/nonmanagerial employees.
Monitoring, teaching, and short-term planning.
Creating schedules and operating plans based on middle management’s intermediate-range plans.
Team Leaders
Team Leaders: Positions include team leader, team contact, or group facilitator.
Major Responsibilities:
Facilitating team activities toward accomplishing a goal.
Increasing an associate’s decision-making authority.
Leading and developing people.
Fostering good relationships and addressing problematic ones within their teams.
Managing external relationships.
1-4 Managerial Roles
Interpersonal Roles
Managers spend time in face-to-face communication.
Three subroles:
Figurehead role: Performing ceremonial duties, such as greeting company visitors or representing the company at events.
Leader role: Motivating and encouraging workers to accomplish organizational objectives.
Liaison role: Dealing with people outside their unit.
Informational Roles
Obtaining and sharing information.
Three subroles:
Monitor role: Scanning their environment for information.
Actions include contacting others, reading local newspapers/journals, and subscribing to electronic monitoring and distribution services.
Disseminator role: Sharing information with others in their departments or companies.
Spokesperson role: Sharing information with people outside their departments or companies.
Decisional Roles
Four decisional subroles of a manager:
Entrepreneur role: Adapting themselves, their subordinates, and units to change.
Disturbance handler role: Responding to severe pressures and problems that demand immediate action.
Resource allocator role: Deciding who gets what resources and how many.
Negotiator role: Negotiating schedules, projects, goals, outcomes, resources, and employee raises.
1-5 What Companies Look for in Managers
Companies look for employees who have:
Technical skills: Specialized procedures, techniques, and knowledge required to get the job done.
Particularly important for team leaders and lower-level managers to train new employees and help employees solve problems.
Human skills: Ability to work well with others.
Equally important at all levels of management, from team leaders to top management jobs.
Conceptual skills: Ability to see the organization as a whole, understand how the different parts affect each other, and recognize how the company fits into or is affected by its environment.
Motivation to manage: Assessment of how enthusiastic employees are about managing the work of others.
Managers at higher levels usually exhibit a stronger motivation to manage than managers at lower levels.
1-6 Mistakes Managers Make
Top 10 Mistakes Managers Make:
Insensitive to others: abrasive, intimidating, bullying style.
Cold, aloof, and arrogant.
Betraying trust.
Overly ambitious: thinking of the next job, playing politics.
Specific performance problems with the business.
Overmanaging: unable to delegate or build an effective team.
Inability to staff effectively.
Unable to think strategically.
Inability to adapt to a boss with a different style.
Overdependence on an advocate or mentor.
Source: M. W. McCall, Jr., and M. M. Lombardo, “What Makes a Top Executive?” Psychology Today, February 1983, 26–31.
1-7 The Transition to Management: The First Year
Discussion on the transition employees face when promoted to management roles, potentially covering changes in responsibilities, leadership styles, and challenges encountered.
1-8 Competitive Advantage Through People
Competitive Advantage Through People:
Management Practices that assist in achieving competitive advantage:
Employment Security.
Selective Hiring.
Self-Managed Teams and Decentralization.
High Wages Contingent on Organizational Performance.
Training and Skill Development.
Reduction of Status Differences.
Sharing Information.