Managers, Their Functions, Roles & Skills PDF

CHAPTER 7: MANAGERS, THEIR FUNCTIONS, ROLES & SKILLS L.O. → importance of management and roles → management functions: planning, organising function & controlling → key managerial skills 1. Management ⇒ management: process of planning, organising, leading & controlling to meet organisational g...

CHAPTER 7: MANAGERS, THEIR FUNCTIONS, ROLES & SKILLS L.O. → importance of management and roles → management functions: planning, organising function & controlling → key managerial skills 1. Management ⇒ management: process of planning, organising, leading & controlling to meet organisational goals → managers: - In charge of organisation or subgroup - Create environment & provide resources for employees to excel - Effectively and ethically guide their employees → Henry Mintzber’s managerial roles - Interpersonal ⇒ comes from their authority - Figurehead - Leader - Liaison, connecting with other stakeholders - Informational - Monitor, scan environment for information - Disseminate information - Spokesperson, info to outside stakeholders - Decisional roles in firm - Entrepreneur - Disturbance handler - Resource allocator - Negotiator 2. Management functions ⇒ planning: establishing objectives and goals for an organisation and determining the best ways to accomplish them - Strategic plans: plans that establish the actions and resource allocation required to accomplish a cohesive and collective goal - Usually defined for periods of 2 to 5 years and developed by top managers - Strategic planning process consists of 6 interrelated steps STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS 1. Define mission, vision & core values - Mission statement: why does the company exist, what it aims to accomplish for its stakeholders - Vision statement: what a company aspires or dreams to be - Values: short list of principles that guide a company’s decision and behaviours 2. Perform SWOT analysis 3. Develop forecasts 4. Analyse the competition 5. Establish goals and objectives 6. Develop action plans ⇒ organising: process of arranging resources to carry out the organisation’s plans - Create job design - Establish objectives & plans  - List the tasks to be accomplished and the employees required to perform the activities to reach organisational goals - Departmentation - Classify and group necessary work activities into manageable units (functional, product, matrix…) - Delegation of authority - Assign the defined work activities to specific individuals/ groups - Span of control - Assign authority to respective individuals/ groups to carry out the assigned tasks - Chain of control - Define the hierarchy of relationships within the organisation using the organisation chart The management pyramid → top managers: - Set goals and reward plans - Define mission, vision, values & culture - Conceptual knowledge → middle managers: - Develop plans to implement the goals of top managers & coordinate work of first-line managers - Interpersonal knowledge → first-line managers: - Supervise non-managerial employees & implement plans set by higher management - Technical knowledge ⇒ leading: process of guiding and motivating people to work toward organisational goals - Establishing SMART goals and objectives - Specific - Measurable - Attainable - Relevant - Time limited - Cognitive intelligence: involves reasoning, problem solving, memorisation & other rational skills  - Emotional intelligence: measure of a person’s awareness of and ability to manage his or her own emotion, and of others - Social intelligence: ability to grasp social situations and social dynamics, ability to function effectively in social or group settings ⇒ controlling: process of measuring progress against goals, and correcting deviations if results are not as expected THE CONTROL PROCESS 1. Establishing performance standards - Standards: criteria against which performance is measured - Quality: measure of how closely a product conforms to predetermined standards and customer expectations - Benchmarking: collecting & comparing processes and performance data from other companies 2. Measuring actual performance - Balance scorecard: - Finance - Operations - Customer relationships - Growth and development of employees and intellectual property 3. Compare actual performance with objectives and standards 4. Take necessary action ⇒ maintaining control in extraordinary circumstances: - Crisis management: procedures or systems for minimising harm caused by unusually threatening situations 3. Leadership styles ⇒ autocratic leaders: control decision making process, do not involve others in this process ⇒ democratic leaders: delegate authority and involve employees in decision making - Participative management ⇒ laissez-faire leaders: leave most decisions up to employees, emphasise employee empowerment ⇒ participative management (democratic): employees can take part in planning and decision making ⇒ employee empowerment (laissez-faire): employees have decision making and problem solving authority from management → difference between boss & leader - Boss inspires fear - Leader generates enthusiasm ⇒ coaching: helping employees reach their highest potential ⇒ mentoring: experienced managers guide less-experienced colleagues in the business 4. Managing change & corporate culture → managing change: - Proactive: planned changes needed by the organisation - Reactive: companies are forced to change - Model of change - Unfreezing the status quo - Making the change - Freezing new behaviours and methods to avoid people returning to how it was previously done ⇒ corporate culture: underlying values, norms & practices shared by members of an organisation  - Managers need to establish expectations, define rules and policies that shape behaviour and walk the talk - Increases employee performance, loyalty and satisfaction 5. Essential management skills ⇒ interpersonal skills: skills required to understand other people and to interact effectively with them ⇒ technical skills: ability and knowledge to perform the mechanics of a particular job ⇒ conceptual skills: ability to understand the relationship of parts to the whole → decision making skills: 1. Recognise and define problem/ opportunity 2. Identify and develop options of actions 3. Analyse the options 4. Select best option 5. Implement decision 6. Monitor results → decision making is difficult: - Cognitive automation: AI technology that helps professionals and managers with complex questions during the decision-making process → benefits of emotional intelligence at work: - Increased personal well being - Increased leadership ability - Increased team performance - Improve decision making - Decreased occupational stress - Reduced staff turnover