Introduction to Management Week 1

Introduction to Management (BU6004) - Week 1

• Course: BU6004 - Introduction to Management
• Institution: Bahrain Polytechnic
• Textbook: Contemporary Management (2024 Release) by Jennifer M. George
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Understand management, its importance, and how managers use resources effectively for goals.
  • Differentiate among planning, organizing, leading, and controlling as managerial functions, and how they impact organizational performance.
  • Recognize the different levels of management and associated tasks, responsibilities, and roles within an organization.

Definitions of Management

• Management is defined as the "art of getting things done through people" (Hill & McShane, 2008).
• Management is also the "attainment of organizational goals efficiently and effectively," achieved via planning, organizing, leading, and controlling resources (Daft, 2008).

Four Principal Functions of Management

• Planning: Choosing appropriate organizational goals and courses of action to achieve them.
• Organizing: Establishing task and authority relationships to enable collaboration towards organizational goals.
• Leading: Motivating, coordinating, and energizing individuals and groups for achieving organizational goals.
• Controlling: Establishing accurate measurement and monitoring systems to evaluate organizational progress against goals and to improve performance.

Planning Steps

• Decide organizational goals.
• Determine strategies to achieve goals.
• Allocate resources.
• Managers identify appropriate organization goals and develop strategies to achieve high performance.

Organizing

• Structuring relationships to foster collaboration for organizational goals.
• Managers decide best practices to organize resources, most specifically human resources.
• Organizational structure: A formal system of task and reporting relationships that coordinates and motivates people to achieve organizational goals. (e.g., Airbnb's COVID-19 response)

Leading

• Articulating a clear vision to spark engagement and inspire understanding of roles in achieving organizational goals.
• Vision statement: A concise summary of an organization's aspirations and future desired state.
• Using power, personality, influence, persuasion and communication skills to coordinate people/groups.

Controlling

• Evaluating how well the organization meets its goals and taking corrective actions.
• Monitoring performance of individuals, departments, and the overall organization to ensure standards are met.
• Control processes' output is accurate measuring and regulation of organizational efficiency and effectiveness.

Case Study: George David CEO

• Students are expected to analyze provided case study materials about George David to understand the aspects of his management style including planning, organizing, controlling, leading, and developing.

Example: Match Group CEO (Bernard Kim)

• Bernard Kim, the CEO of Match Group, previously served as president of Zynga and has experience at Electronic Arts and Walt Disney Company.
• He's been involved in global expansions (e.g., Hinge in Germany, Hyperconnect in South Korea).
• Kim emphasizes cost control alongside innovation in new products and services.
• Subscriber base of over 16 million worldwide.

Suggested Readings

• Contemporary Management (2024 Release) by Jennifer George, Chapter 1, Managers & Managing.
• Resources in suggested reading folder on the Moodle platform/Connect.

This quiz covers the foundational concepts of management as taught in Week 1 of BU6004 at Bahrain Polytechnic. It explores the significance of management functions such as planning, organizing, leading, and controlling, and their impact on organizational performance. Understand the essential roles of managers and the different levels of management within an organization.