Managers and Management

Managers and Management an Introduction:

Managers:

Organizational Members (Employees) are divided into two categories: Operative and Managers.

Operatives are people who work directly on a job or task and have no responsibility for overseeing the work of others. The clerks at railway reservation counters, the cashiers at your local Kirana shop, or the administrative officers who process your course registrations in your institute are all operatives.

In contrast, managers direct the activities of other people in the organization.

Customarily classified as top, middle, or first-line managers, these individuals supervise both operative employees and lower-level managers. This distinction does not mean, however, that managers don’t work directly on tasks. Some managers also have operative responsibilities themselves. The distinction, then, between the two groups-operatives and managers-is that managers have employees who report directly to them.

Management:

Explain what is meant by the term management.

Management refers to the process of getting activities completed efficiently with and through other people. The process represents the primary activities of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.

The term management refers to the process of getting things done, effectively and efficiently, through and with other people.

The term process in the definition of management represents the primary activities managers perform. Effectiveness deal with what we are doing and how we are doing it (doing the right task, goal attainment). Efficiency means doing the task correctly and refers to the relationship between inputs and outputs (doing the task correctly, refers to the relationship between input and outputs; seeks to minimize resource cost). For instance, if you get more output for a given input, you have increased efficiency. Management is also concerned with completing activities. In management terms, we call this ability effectiveness. Effectiveness means doing the right task, which is an organization translates into goal attainment.

Describe the difference between managers and operatives:

Managers direct the activities of others in an organization. They have titles such as supervisor, department head, dean, division manager, vice president, president, and chief executive officer. Operatives are nonmanagerial personnel. They work directly on a job or task and have no responsibility for overseeing the work of others.

Differentiate between efficiency and effectiveness

Efficiency is concerned with minimizing resource costs in the completion of activities. Effectiveness is concerned with getting activities successfully completed that is, goal attainment.

Describe the four primary processes of management

In the early part of the twentieth century, the French industrialist Henri Fayol wrote that all managers perform five management activities (function) referred to as the “management process.” They plan, organize, command, coordinate, and control. In the mid-1950s, two professors at UCLA used the terms planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling as the framework for a textbook on management. The most popular textbooks still continue to be organized around the management processes, though these processes have generally been condensed to the basic four: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Managers must be able to perform all activities simultaneously and realize that each has an effect on the others; that is, these processes are interrelated and interdependent. “If you don’t much care where you want to get to, then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” the Cheshire cat said in Alice in Wonderland.

1. Planning Includes defining goals, establishing strategy, and developing plans to coordinate activities.
2. Organizing Includes determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made.
3. Leading Includes motivating employees, directing the activities of others, selecting the most effective communication channel, and resolving conflicts.
4. Controlling is the process of monitoring performance, comparing it with goals, and correcting any significant deviations.

The four primary processes of management are planning (setting goals), organizing (determining how to achieve the goals), leading (motivating employees), and controlling (monitoring activities).

Classify the three levels of managers and identify the primary responsibility of each group

The three levels of management are first-line supervisors, middle managers, and top managers. First-line supervisors are the lowest level of management and are typically responsible for directing the day-to-day activities of operative employees. Middle managers represent the levels of management between the first-line supervisor and top management. These individuals who manage other managers and possibly some operative employees are primarily responsible for translating the goals set by top management into specific details that lower-level managers can perform. Top managers at or near the pinnacle of the organization are responsible for making decisions about the direction of the organization and establishing policies that affect all organizational members.

There are 3 levels of Management/Manager in an Organisation. which are:

1. First-Line Managers are usually called supervisors. They may also be called team leaders, coaches, or unit coordinators. They are responsible for directing the day-to-day activities of operative employees.
2. Middle-Level Managers represent levels of management between the first-line manager and top management. These individuals manage other managers and possibly some operative employees and are typically responsible for translating the goals set by top management into specific details that lower-level first managers can perform.
3. At or near the top of an organization are Top Managers. These individuals are responsible for making decisions about the direction of the organization and establishing policies that affect all organizational members.

Summarize the essential roles performed by managers.

Through different experiences and practical knowledge that a manager can become an effective leader. But first. Henry Mintzberg, a Canadian management expert, and author came up with the idea of interweaving practical experience with business theory. In his 1990 book Mintzberg on Management: Inside our Strange World of Organizations, he listed clearly defined roles for managers to become effective team leaders.

Henry Mintzberg concluded that managers perform 10 different roles or behaviors. He classified them into three sets. One set is concerned with interpersonal relationships (figurehead, leader, liaison). The second set is related to the transfer of information (monitor, disseminator, spokesperson). The third set deals with decision-making (entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, negotiator).

10 Roles of Manager by Mintzberg are listed below;

1. Figurehead,
2. Leader,
3. Liaison,
4. Monitor,
5. Disseminator,
6. Spokesperson,
7. Entrepreneur,
8. disturbance-handler,
9. resource-allocator and
10. negotiator.

Discuss whether the manager’s job is generic.

Management has several generic properties. Regardless of the level in an organization, all managers perform the same four activities; however, the emphasis given to each function varies with the manager’s position in the hierarchy. Similarly, for the most part, the manager’s job is the same regardless of the type of organization he or she is in. The generic properties of management are found mainly in the world’s democracies. One should be careful in assuming that management practices are universally transferable outside so-called free-market democracies.

Describe the four general skills necessary for becoming a successful manager

The four critical types of skills (Managerial Skills) necessary for becoming a successful manager are conceptual (the ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations); interpersonal (the ability to work with and understand others); technical (applying specialized knowledge); and political (enhancing one’s position and building a power base).

Describe the value of studying management

People in all walks of life have come to recognize the important role that good management plays in our society. For those who aspire to managerial positions, the study of management provides the body of knowledge that will help them to be effective managers. For those who do not plan on careers as managers, the study of management can give them considerable insight into the way their bosses behave and into the internal activities of organizations.

Identify the relevance of popular humanities and social science courses to management practices

Management does not exist in isolation. Rather, management practices are directly influenced by research and practices in such fields as anthropology (learning about individuals and their activities); economics (understanding allocation and distribution of resources); philosophy (developing values and ethics): political science (understanding behavior of individuals and groups in a political setting); psychology (learning about individual behavior); and sociology (understanding relationships among people).