Chapter ONE Flashcards
Who is a manager?
Managers can be found in a variety of settings and are just likely to be women as they are men. Back then, it was really easy to define who a manager is: an organizational member who told others what to do and how to do it. It was easy to differentiate managers from non-managerial employees. HOWEVER, nowadays it isn’t quite that easy to differentiate as many traditional non-managerial jobs include managerial activities.
Give me examples of a corporation that does not follow the traditional structure:
the gaming company: Valve Corporation
They don’t have job titles
Little formal supervision
Where all projects are started by an individual employee or a group pitching an idea where they then put together a team
Even if projects do have “leaders” he or she ONLY keeps track of information and organizes tasks but NEVER gives orders
W.L. Gore, Zappos, and GitHub
They are more loosely configured
Work is done by ever-changing teams of employees who move from one project to another as work deman arise
Even though it’s not easy to tell who the managers are in these organizations, someone must fulfill the role of coordinating and overseeing the work of others EVEN if that someone changes work tasks or have the title of being manager
HOW DO WE DEFINE MANAGERS THESE DAYS?
A manager is someone who coordinates and oversees the work of other people so organizational goals can be accomplished (NOT about personal achievement: BUT helping others do their work)
HOW CAN MANAGERS BE CLASSIFIED IN ORGANIZATIONS?
If you are in a traditionally structured organization, managers are often classified in a pyramid because more employees are at lower organizational levels than at upper organizational levels.
Nonmanagerial employees → typically involved with producing the organization’s products or servicing the organizations customers
First-line managers → manage the work of non-managerial employees, typically have titles such as supervisor, shift manager, office administrator or department head
Middle managers → mainly responsible for turning the organization’s strategy into action, typically have titles such as regional manager, store manager, or division manager
Top managers → responsible for making organization-wide decisions and establishing the strategy and goals that affect the entire organization, typically have titles such as executive vice-president, president, managing director etc
WHERE DO MANAGERS WORK?
Managers work in organizations → a deliberate arrangement of people to accomplish some specific purpose
FOR EXAMPLE: Your university is an organization; so are churches and a grocery store
What do all organizations/entities have in common?
Distinct Purpose → typically expressed through goals the organization seeks to accomplish
People → each organization is composed of people, it takes people to perform the work that’s necessary for the organization to achieve its goals
Deliberate Structure → all organizations develop a deliberate structure within which members do their work; could be open and flexible with no specific job duties or strict adherence to explicit job arrangements, FOR EXAMPLE it can be:
Big projects at Alphabet (parent of Google) are tackled by small focused employee teams that set up in an instant and complete work just as quickly
Or the structure can be more traditional, Procter & Gamble: clearly defined rules, regulations, job descriptions, and some members identified as “bosses” who do have authority over other members
Why Are Managers Important?
Organizations need their managerial skills and abilities more than ever in uncertain, complex, and chaotic times. Organizations deal with many of today’s challenges such as changing workforce dynamics, the worldwide economic uncertainty and changing technology. Therefore managers play an important role in identifying critical issues and crafting responses.
Critical to getting things done. Managers create and coordinate the workplace environment and work systems so that others can perform their tasks. If the work isn’t getting done or isn’t getting done as it should be, managers are the ones to find out why and get things back on track
Make a difference in an organization’s performance. The Gallup Organization found that the single most important variable in employee productivity and loyalty isn’t pay, benefits of the workplace environment – it’s the quality of relationship between employees and their direct supervisors. They found leadership to be the single largest influence on employee engagement
WHAT IS MANAGEMENT?
Management involves coordinating and overseeing the work activities of others so their activities are completed efficiently and effectively by the people responsible for doing them.
Efficiency refers to the most output from the least amount of inputs or resources. Managers deal with scarce resources (people, money, equipment) and want to use those resources efficiently. Efficiency refers to “doing things right” and not wasting resources.
Effectiveness is often described as “doing the right things” of which will result in achieving goals.
Efficiency is concerned with the means of getting things done, effectiveness is concerned with the ends, or attainment of organizational goals.
WHAT DO MANAGERS DO?
Three approaches to describe what managers do: functions, roles and skills
FUNCTIONS: TODAY we use four functions to describe a manager’s work: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.
Planning → If you have someplace in particular you want to go, you’ve got to plan the best way to get there and achieve it. Setting goals, establishing strategies, and developing plans to coordinate activities
Organizing → Managers are responsible for arranging and structuring the work that employees do to accomplish the organization’s goals. They determine what needs to be done, how it will be done, and who is to do it
Leading → Every organization has people, and a manager’s job is to work with and through people to accomplish goals. When managers are motivating, leading, and any other actions involved in dealing with people
Controlling → After all these three functions are put in place, managers monitor activities, evaluate performance and correct to ensure that they are accomplished as planned
ROLES: Mintzberg found ten roles, grouped around interpersonal relationships, the transfer of information, and decision making.
Interpersonal roles → involve people (subordinates and persons outside the organization) and other ceremonial and symbolic duties. It includes: figurehead, leader, and liaison
Informational roles → involve collecting, receiving, and disseminating information. It includes: monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson
Decisional roles → making decisions or choices. It includes: entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator
SKILLS: managers need three critical skills in managing: technical, human, and conceptual.
Technical skills → job-specific knowledge and techniques needed to proficiently perform work tasks. More important for first-line managers because they typically manage employees who use tools and techniques to produce the organization’s products or service the organization’s customers.
Interpersonal skills → involve the ability to work well with other people both individually and in a group. Because all managers deal with people, these skills are equally important to all levels of management.
Conceptual skills → skills managers use to think and to conceptualize abstract and complex situations. Using these skills, managers see the organization as a whole, understand the relationships among various subunits, and visualize how the organization fits into its broader environment. Most important for top managers
Managers in todays world are dealing with many challenges, name the challenges and explain.
FOCUS ON TECHNOLOGY
FOCUS ON DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION
FOCUS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
FOCUS ON ETHICS
POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY
FOCUS ON THE CUSTOMER
WHY STUDY MANAGEMENT?
THE UNIVERSALITY OF MANAGEMENT
THE REALITY OF WORK
REWARDS FROM BEING A MANAGER
GAINING INSIGHTS INTO LIFE AT WORK
What is a manager? How do managers differ from nonmanagerial employees?
Why are managers important to organizations?
What is the difference between efficiency and effectiveness?
Is your course instructor a manager? Discuss in terms of managerial functions, managerial roles, and skills.
What is an example of a disruptive innovation that managers might have to cope with in the future?
Why is it important for managers to focus on the customer?
Explain why the universality of management concept still holds true or doesn’t hold true today.
Which of the reasons for studying management is most important to you and why?
