Understanding Management

Transcription

1 Colbourne College BA 103 Principles of Management WEEK ONE Lesson ONE (1) Understanding Management Management Defined Management Functions, Roles, Characteristics, AND Skills 1

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS WEEK ONE LESSON ONE Topics Covered Introduction: What do we mean by management? Pages 3 Management as a Process : 6 Management as Coordination : 8 Management as a Function : 10 Roles of the Manager 13 Management Skills 16 Skills and Personal Characteristics of Managers References 18 2

3 INTRODUCTION The world of management Carly had to admit that being promoted to Section Manager wasn t quite what she thought it would be. For her first review meeting with her line manager she had been asked to prepare an outline of her views on the job. Over the last three days, Carly had been making quick notes in her diary. As she read her list to her line manager she found it depressing: Constant interruptions! I can never spend enough time on a task. I always seem to be reacting to events and requests rather than initiating them. Most of my time is spent on day-to-day matters. I always have to argue about work responsibilities and resources. I never have time to think and decisions always need to be made immediately. I seem to spend all my time talking to people and never actually doing anything. When Carly finished speaking, she apologised. Her line manager laughed and said: Welcome to the world of management! What do we mean by management? You probably have a variety of reasons for wanting to learn about management. The main one is almost certainly that you want to develop your skills and effectiveness as a manager. If so, it helps to have a clear idea of what managers do and what is meant by managerial effectiveness. To do this, you need to be able to identify the roles of a manager and those factors which influence their effectiveness. These factors lie not only within us but also in the working environment. They include the job, the organisation, and the people we work with. Most writers on management in this part of the twenty-first century would agree that: Management is the planning, organising, leading and controlling of human and other resources to achieve organisational goals efficiently and effectively. There are many definitions of management but most perceptive managers are convinced that management is an organized effort of people whose purpose is to achieve the objectives and goals of an organization. 3

4 Management is a universal phenomenon. It is a very popular and widely used term. All organizations - business, political, cultural or social are involved in management because it is the management which helps and directs the various efforts towards a definite purpose. According to Harold Koontz, Management is an art of getting things done through and with the people in formally organized groups. It is an art of creating an environment in which people can perform and individuals and can co-operate towards attainment of group goals. According to F.W. Taylor, Management is an art of knowing what to do, when to do and see that it is done in the best and cheapest way. Management is a purposive activity. It is something that directs group efforts towards the attainment of certain pre - determined goals. It is the process of working with and through others to effectively achieve the goals of the organization, by efficiently using limited resources in the changing world. Of course, these goals may vary from one enterprise to another. E.g.: For one enterprise it may be launching of new products by conducting market surveys and for other it may be profit maximization by minimizing cost. Management involves creating an internal environment: - It is the management which puts into use the various factors of production. Therefore, it is the responsibility of management to create such conditions which are conducive to maximum efforts so that people are able to perform their task efficiently and effectively. It includes ensuring availability of raw materials, determination of wages and salaries, formulation of rules & regulations etc. Therefore, we can say that good management includes both being effective and efficient. Being effective means doing the appropriate task i.e, fitting the square pegs in square holes and round pegs in round holes. Being efficient means doing the task correctly, at least possible cost with minimum wastage of resources. Management is getting things done through other people. This is a very simple definition of management that is often quoted and it sounds very simple. Of course, it is not that simple. To this definition, managers do not do things they get other people to do things. If managing is an individual ability to get things done, then it is not a problem. We can plan and perform things according to our own convince and interests. When somebody else is involved and wants to get things done through them, there is a difficulty. All sorts of problems arise; personalities come into contact and conflict. Interpersonal problems crop up. 4

5 We have to understand the behaviour of other people and must have knowledge as to how to motivate them in order to get things done through them. We have to consider the conveniences and interest of others also in planning and implementing things. In getting things done through others, people have to be coaxed, they have to be shown, they have to inspired, they have to be motivated and this is what management means. These activities are performed not only by the people at the top but from the chairman of the board to the front line supervisors and foremen. They use the above mentioned methods to get things done through other people. To gain a better understanding of management, let s review the ideas and views expressed by academicians and practitioners. F.W. Taylor (father of scientific management) "Management is an art of knowing what is to be done and seeing that it is done in the best possible manner." (planning and controlling) Henri Fayol (father of modern management) "Management is to forecast, to plan, to organize, to command, to coordinate and control activities of others." Joseph Massie "Management is the process by which co-operative group directs actions towards common goals." McFarland "Management is that process by which managers create, direct, maintain and operate purposive organisation through systematic, coordinated and cooperative human efforts." Henry Sisk "Management is the coordination of all resources through the process of planning, organising, directing and controlling in order to attain stated goals." Tho Harmann, William Scott "Management is a social and technical process that utilises resources, influences human action and facilitates changes in oeder to accomplish an organization's goals." Rovert Kreitner "Management is a process of working with and through others to achieve organizational objectives in a changing environment, central to this purpose is the effective and efficient use of limited resources." 5

6 Management as a Process : McFardland defines management as A process by which managers create, direct, maintain and operate purposive organization through systematic, coordinated, cooperative human efforts. according to George R. Terry, Management is a distinct process consisting of planning, organizing, actuating and controlling, performed to determine and accomplish stated objective by the use of human beings and other resources. Firstly this definition considers management as a "process" i.e. a systematic way of doing things. Secondly it states four management activities: Planning, organizing, actuating, and controlling. Planning is thinking of actions in advance. Organizing is coordination of the human and material resources of an organization. Actuating is motivation and direction of subordinates. Controlling means the attempt to ensure no deviation from the norm or plan. Thirdly it states that manager uses people and other resources. For example, a manager who wants to increase sales might try not only to increase the sales staff, but also to increase advertising budget. Fourthly, it states that management involves the act of achieving the organization's objectives. An important term in this definition is Process. Process is a particular course of action or procedures intended to achieve a result. The emphasis is on the dynamic and ongoing nature of management hence why it is defined as a process, suggesting that it is an activity over varying span of time. Organisations are dynamic in nature implying that change is a reality of organizational life. In managing organizations, managers; create changes adopt organizations to changes and implement changes successfully in their organizations. As a process, management refers to a series of inter - related functions. It is the process by which management creates, operates and directs purposive organization through systematic, coordinated and co-operated human efforts. 6

7 As a process, management consists of three (3) aspects: Management is a social process - Since human factor is most important among the other factors, therefore management is concerned with developing relationship among people. It is the duty of management to make interaction between people - productive and useful for obtaining organizational goals. Management is an integrating process - Management undertakes the job of bringing together human physical and financial resources so as to achieve organizational purpose. Therefore, is an important function to bring harmony between various factors. Management is a continuous process - It is a never ending process. It is concerned with constantly identifying the problem and solving them by taking adequate steps. It is an on-going process. 7

8 Management as Coordination : Fundamentals of Management Authors; James H. Donnelly, James L. Gibson, John M. Ivancevich Donally, Gibson and Ivancevich also support the view of management as a process but their stress in more on co-ordination. According to them, Management is a process by which individual and group effort is coordinated towards group goals. This coordination effort is also stressed in the definition of Koontz and O Donnell. According to them, Management is a process of designing and maintaining an environment in which, individuals working together in groups efficiently and effectively accomplish group goals. According to Mooney and Reelay; Co-ordination is orderly arrangement of group efforts to provide unity of action in the pursuit of common goals. According to Charles Worth; Co-ordination is the integration of several parts into an orderly whole to achieve the purpose of understanding. Coordination means unification, harmonization, integration, organization, synchronization. Coordination is synchronizing the efforts of group members so as to provide unity of action in the pursuit of common goals. It is a hidden force which binds all the other functions of management. In order to achieve goals, coordination is essential and management involves securing and maintaining this coordination. Management seeks to achieve coordination through its basic functions of - planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. Coordination is not a separate function of management because achieving of harmony between individuals efforts towards the achievement of the group goals is a key to the success of management. Coordination is the essence of management and is embedded and inherent in all functions of management. 8

9 A manager can be compared to an orchestra conductor since both of them have to create rhythm and unity in the activities of group members. Coordination is an integral element or ingredient of all the managerial functions as discussed below: - Coordination through Planning - Planning facilitates co-ordination by integrating the various plans through mutual discussion, exchange of ideas. e.g. - co-ordination between finance budget and purchases budget. Co-ordination through Organizing - Mooney considers co-ordination as the very essence of organizing. In fact when a manager groups and assigns various activities to subordinates, and when he creates department s co-ordination uppermost in his mind. Coordination through Staffing - A manager should bear in mind that the right no. of personnel in various positions with right type of education and skills are taken which will ensure right men on the right job. Coordination through Directing - The purpose of giving orders, instructions & guidance to the subordinates is served only when there is a harmony between superiors & subordinates. Coordination through Controlling - Manager ensures that there should be coordination between actual performance & standard performance to achieve organizational goals. From above discussion, we can very much affirm that co-ordination is the very much essence of management. It is required in each & every function and at each & every stage & therefore it cannot be separated. 9

10 Management as a Function : There are those who view management as a function rather than a process. Dunn, Stephens and Kelly contend that Management is a role which includes a set of duties, responsibilities, and relationships-involved in work organizations. These duties and responsibilities constitute the function a manager performs. The duties and responsibilities a manager performs are quite different from those performed by managerial employees. The Five (5) Main Functions of Management Good managers discover how to master five basic functions: 1. Planning 2. Organizing 3. Staffing 4. Leading 5. Controlling The functions of managers provide a useful structure for organizing management knowledge. Planning: Planning involves selecting missions and objectives and the action to achieve them. Planning requires decision making, and choosing future courses of action from among alternatives. There are five types of planning: 1. Missions and objectives. 2. Strategies and polices. 3. Procedures and rules. 4. Programs. 5. Budgets. Planning as a function of management involves mapping out exactly how to achieve a particular organizational goal. Say, for example, that the 10

11 organization s goal is to improve company sales. The manager first needs to decide which steps are necessary to accomplish that goal. These steps may include increasing advertising, inventory, and sales staff. These necessary steps are developed into a plan. When the plan is in place, the manager can follow it to accomplish the goal of improving company sales. Organizing: After a plan is in place, a manager needs to organize his/her team and materials according to the plan. Organizing is the part of managing that involves establishing an organization structure with roles for people to fill in an organization -the purpose of an organization structure is to creating an environment helpful for human performance. Organizing then has two basic elements; Assigning work and granting authority Staffing: After a manager discerns his area's needs, he/she will address the organization s staffing needs by recruiting, selecting, training, and developing employees. A manager in a large organization often works with the company's human resources department to accomplish this goal. Staffing involves filling and keeping filled, the positions in the organization. This is done by identifying the work force requirements by assessing the quality and quantity of the labour force, i.e. assessing the people available and using the necessary tools to recruit, select, place, train, promote, appraising, plan careers, compensate and motivate these people who are the human resources of the organisation. Leading: A manager needs to do more than just plan, organize, and staff his/her team to achieve a goal. He/she must also lead. Leading involves motivating, communicating, guiding, and encouraging. It requires the manager to coach, assist, and problem solve with employees. Leading is influencing other people so that they will contribute to organization and group goals. Effective managers also need to be effective leaders. Leading involves motivating, using suitable leadership styles and approaches and correction communication. 11

12 Controlling: After the other elements are in place, a manager's job is not finished. He needs to continuously check results against goals and take any corrective actions necessary to make sure that his area's plans remain on track. Controlling is measuring and correcting individuals and organizational performance. It involves measuring performance against goals and plans, showing where there are deviations from plans and helping to correct them. In short controlling facilitates the accomplishment of plans. Controlling activities generally relate to the measurement of achievement. Some means of controlling is for example, managing a budget to contain expenses, inspection of work, record of laborshours lost, etc. Each shows whether plans are working out. In concluding, all managers at all levels of every organization perform these five main functions, but the amount of time a manager spends on each one depends on both the level of management and the specific organization. 12

13 Roles of the Manager Mintzberg's Set of Ten Roles Table 1 looks at the roles that help managers carry out all five functions described in the preceding Functions of Managers section. CATEGORY ROLE ACTIVITY Informational Interpersonal Decisional Seek and receive information; scan periodicals and reports; 1. Monitor maintain personal contact with stakeholders. 2. Disseminator Forward information to organization members via memos, reports, and phone calls. 3. Spokesperson 1. Figurehead 2. Leader 3. Liaison 1. Entrepreneur 2. Negotiator 3. Resource allocator 4. Disturbance handler Transmit information to outsiders via reports, memos, and speeches. Perform ceremonial and symbolic duties, such as greeting visitors and signing legal documents. Direct and motivate subordinates; counsel and communicate with subordinates. Maintain information links both inside and outside organization via mail, phone calls, and meetings. Initiate improvement projects; identify new ideas and delegate idea responsibility to others. Represent department during negotiations of union contracts, sales, purchases, and budgets. Decide who gets resources; prepare budgets; set schedules and determine priorities. Take corrective action during disputes or crises; resolve conflicts among subordinates; adapt to environments. 13

14 In his classic book, The Nature of Managerial Work, Henry Mintzberg describes a set of ten roles that a manager fills. These roles fall into three categories: 1. Interpersonal roles This role involves human interaction - relationships that a manager has to have with others. The three roles within this category are figurehead, leader and liaison. Managers must act as figureheads because of their formal authority and symbolic position representing the organisation. As leaders, managers have to consider the needs of an organisation and those of the individuals they manage and work with. The third interpersonal role, that of liaison, deals with the horizontal relationships which studies of work activity have been shown to be important for a manager. A manager usually maintains a network of relationships, both inside and outside the organisation. Dealing with people, formally and informally, up and down the hierarchy and sideways within it, is thus a major element of the manager s role. A manager is often most visible when performing these interpersonal roles. 2. Informational roles This role involves the sharing and analyzing of information. Managers must collect, disseminate and transmit information. These activities have three corresponding informational roles: monitor, disseminator and spokesperson. In monitoring what goes on in the organisation, a manager will seek and receive information about both internal and external events and transmit it to others. This process of transmission is the dissemination role, passing on information. A manager has to give information concerning the organisation to staff and to outsiders, taking on the role of spokesperson to both the general public and those in positions of authority. Managers need not collect or disseminate every item themselves, but must retain authority and integrity by ensuring the information they handle is correct. 14

15 3. Decisional roles This role involves decision making. Mintzberg argues that making decisions is the most crucial part of any managerial activity. He identifies four roles which are based on different types of decisions; entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator. As entrepreneurs, managers make decisions about changing what is happening in an organisation. They may have to initiate change and take an active part in deciding exactly what is done they are proactive. This is very different from their role as disturbance handlers. As disturbance handlers, it requires them to make decisions arising from events that are beyond their control and which are unpredictable. The ability to react to events as well as to plan activities is an important aspect of management. The resource allocation role of a manager is central to much organisational analysis. Managers have to make decisions about the allocation of money, equipment, people, time and other resources. In so doing a manager is actually scheduling time, programming work and authorising actions. The negotiation role is important as a manager has to negotiate with others and in the process be able to make decisions about the commitment of organisational resources. 15

16 Management Skills Not everyone can be a manager. Certain skills, or abilities to translate knowledge into action that results in desired performance, are required to help other employees become more productive. Robert L. Katz (1986) in the Harvard Business Review, who was interested in the selection and training of managers, suggested that effective administration rested on three groups of basic skills, each of which could be developed; 1. Technical skills. This skill requires the ability to use a special proficiency or expertise to perform particular tasks. Accountants, engineers, market researchers, and computer scientists, as examples, possess technical skills. Managers acquire these skills initially through formal education and then further develop them through training and job experience. Technical skills are most important at lower levels of management. 2. Human skills. Katz defines these as the ability to work effectively as a group member and to build cooperative effort in the team a person leads. Human skill demonstrates the ability to work well in cooperation with others. Human skills emerge in the workplace as a spirit of trust, enthusiasm, and genuine involvement in interpersonal relationships. A manager with good human skills has a high degree of self-awareness and a capacity to understand or empathize with the feelings of others. Some managers are naturally born with great human skills, while others improve their skills through classes or experience. No matter how human skills are acquired, they're critical for all managers because of the highly interpersonal nature of managerial work. 3. Conceptual skills. Katz saw these as being the ability to see the significant elements in any situation. Seeing the elements involves being able to: see the enterprise as a whole see the relationships between the various parts understand their dependence on one another recognise that changes in one part affect all the others. Conceptual skills call for the ability to think analytically. Analytical skills enable managers to break down problems into smaller parts, to see the relations 16

17 among the parts, and to recognize the implications of any one problem for others. As managers assume ever-higher responsibilities in organizations; they must deal with more ambiguous problems that have long-term consequences. Again, managers may acquire these skills initially through formal education and then further develop them by training and job experience. The higher the management level, the more important conceptual skills become. Although all three categories contain skills essential for managers, their relative importance tends to vary by level of managerial responsibility. Business and management educators are increasingly interested in helping people acquire technical, human, and conceptual skills, and develop specific competencies, or specialized skills that contribute to high performance in a management job. Skills and personal characteristics that managers need: Leadership ability to influence others to perform tasks Self-objectivity ability to evaluate yourself realistically Analytic thinking ability to interpret and explain patterns in information Behavioral flexibility ability to modify personal behavior to react objectively rather than subjectively to accomplish organizational goals Oral communication ability to express ideas clearly in words Written communication ability to express ideas clearly in writing Personal impact ability to create a good impression and instill confidence Resistance to stress ability to perform under stressful conditions Tolerance for uncertainty ability to perform in ambiguous situations 17

18 References Adams, J.,Hayes,J.andHopson,B.(1976)Transition: Understanding and Managing Personal Change, London, Martin Robertson. CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel Development) (2008) Absence Management Annual Survey Report [online], hrpract/absence/absmagmt.htm (Accessed 25 November 2008). Drucker, Peter F. (2004) What makes a good executive?, Havard Business Review,pp Fayol, H. (1949 [1916]) General and Industrial Management (trans. Constance Storrs from the original Administration Industrielle et Générale), London, Pitman. Jennings, E.E. (1952) A study of the relationship of some aspects of personality to supervisory success, Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Iowa. Retrieved 3 December 2008 from Dissertations & CIC Institutions database (Publication No. AAT ). Katz,R.(1986) Skills of an effective administrator, Harvard Business Review, March/April, vol. 64, issue 2, p Kotter, J.P. (1999) What effective general managers really do, Harvard Business Review,March/April,vol.77,issue2,pp Management Standards Centre ( ) Management Standards [online], Management Standards Centre, (Accessed 3 December 2008). Mintzberg, H. (1971) Managerial work: analysis from observation, Management Science,October. Other Sources