What is Management?

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despite a proliferation of management

gurus management consultants and

management schools it remains murky to

many of us what managers actually do and

why we need them in the first place

unless someone has actually performed a

managerial work it's hard to understand

exactly what managers do on an hour by

hour or day by day basis in this course

we explore this role of managers a role

is a set of expectations for a managers

behavior the roles of managers can be

divided into three conceptual categories

informational where we manage by

information interpersonal where we

manage through people and decisional

where we're managing through action each

role represents activities that managers

undertake to ultimately accomplish the

functions of planning organizing leading

and controlling although it's necessary

to separate the components of a

manager's job to understand the

different roles of a manager the real

job of management isn't practiced as a

set of independent parts all of the

roles interact in the real world

informational roles describe the

activities used to maintain and develop

an information network seventy-five

percent of managers time is about

communicating with people the monitor

role involves seeking current

information from many sources

the manager acquires and scans

information to stay well informed the

next two roles are quite the opposite

the disseminator role is where the

manager transmits current information to

others both inside and outside the

organization who can use it

the disseminator role is where managers

forward information within the

organization doing things like sending

memos and reports making phone calls or

holding meetings likewise the

spokesperson roles where a manager or

transmit information to outsiders

through various forms of communication

interpersonal roles pertain to the

relationships with others and are

related to the human skills described

earlier the figurehead role involves

ceremonial and symbolic activities for

the department or organization the

manager represents the organization in

his or her formal managerial capacity as

a head of the unit

the leader role encompasses

relationships with subordinates

including motivation communication and

influence the liaison role pertains to

the development of information sources

both inside and outside the organization

finally decisional roles pertain to

those events about which the manager

must make a choice or take action the

entrepreneur role involves innovation of

change managers are consistently

thinking about the future and the

changes needed to achieve a future goal

or vision the mediator role involves

resolving conflicts among subordinates

or between the managers Department and

others the resource allocator role

pertains to decisions about how to

assign people time equipment money and

other resources to attain desired

outcomes the managers must decide which

projects receive budget allocations

which of several customer complaints

receive priority and how to spend his or

her own time

and finally the negotiator role is where

the manager represents a team or

departments interests when negotiating

issues negotiation happens in budgeting

union environments purchases and many

other management activities managers at

every level perform these tendrils which

are grouped into informational

interpersonal and decisional roles the

relative emphasis that a manager puts on

these roles depends on a number of

factors such as the manager's position

in the hierarchy natural skills and

abilities the type of organization and

department goals that need to be

achieved management is the attainment of

organizational goals in an effective and

efficient manner through planning

organizing leading and controlling

organizational resources there is a

shift from traditional management

approach to new management competencies

that are essential in today's

environment there are managers of all

types of organizations who are learning

to apply new management skills and

competencies in oversight results

relationships and design instead of

being a controller

today's effective manager is an enabler

who helps people do and be their best

today's managers learn to

design the rules of the game without

specifying the actions of the players

managers shape the cultures systems and

conditions and then give people the

freedom to move the organization in the

direction it needs to go they help

people get what they need

remove obstacles provide learning

opportunities and offer feedback

coaching and career guidance when it

comes to accomplishing tasks managers

have to move from supervising

individuals to leading teams instead of

management by keeping tabs

they employ an empowering leadership

style managing relationships based on

authentic conversation and collaboration

is essential for successful outcomes

today's managers need to enhance

communication and partnership

today's best managers our future facing

focused on designing an environment that

is flexible enough to change that is

they design the organization and culture

to anticipate threats and opportunities

from the environment challenge the

status quo and promote creativity

learning adaptation and innovation

today's world is constantly changing but

the more unpredictable the environment

the greater the opportunity is if

managers have the skills to capitalize

on it

the definition of management encompasses

the idea of attaining organizational

goals in an efficient and effective

manner frankly management is so

important because organizations are so

important an organization is a social

entity that's goal directed and

deliberately structured organizations

pervade in our society and managers are

responsible for seeing that the

resources are used wisely to obtain an

organizational goals based on our

definition of management the managers

responsibility is to coordinate

resources in an effective and efficient

manner to accomplish the organization's

goals organizational effectiveness is

the degree to which the organization

achieves a stated goal effectiveness

means providing a product or service

that customers value organizational

efficiency refers to the amount of

resources used to achieve an

organizational goal it's based on the

amount of raw material money and P

that are necessary for producing a given

volume of output efficiency can be

defined as the amount of resources used

to produce a product or service so the

ultimate responsibility of managers is

to achieve high performance which is the

attainment of organizational goals by

using resources in efficient and

effective manner there are four basic

functions of management planning

organizing leading and controlling will

explore each as we define management in

today's organizations planning is about

identifying goals for future

organizational performance in deciding

on the tasks and use of resources needed

to attain them managerial planning

defines where the organization wants to

be in the future and how to get there

organizing typically follows planning

and reflects how the organization tries

to accomplish the plan organizing

involves assigning tasks grouping tasks

into departments delegating Authority

and allocating resources across the

organization leading is the use of

influence to motivate employees to

achieve organizational goals leading

means creating a shared culture and

values communicating goals to people

throughout the organization and infusing

employees with the desire to perform at

a high level one doesn't have to be a

top manager of a big organization to be

an exceptional leader many managers

working quietly in both large and small

organizations around the world provide

strong leadership within departments

teams nonprofit organizations and small

businesses controlling is the fourth

function in the management process

control e means monitoring employees

activities determine whether the

organization is moving towards its goals

and making corrections as necessary one

trend in recent years is for

organizations to place less emphasis on

top-down control and more emphasis on

training employees to monitor and

correct themselves however the ultimate

responsibility for control still rests

with managers

managers perform a wide variety of

activities that fall within the four

primary management functions of planning

organizing leading and controlling

although some management theorists

propose a long list of skills the

necessary skills for managing an

organization can be placed in three

broad categories conceptual human and

technical let's take a look the

application of these three skills

changes dramatically when a person is

promoted to management technical human

and conceptual although the degree that

each skill is required at different

levels of an organization may vary all

managers must possess some skill in each

of these important areas to perform

effectively many managers get promoted

to their first job because they've

demonstrated an understanding and

proficiency in the performance of

specific tasks which are referred to as

technical skills technical skills refer

to the understanding of and proficiency

in the performance of specific tasks

technical skills include mastery of

methods techniques and equipment

involved in specific functions such as

engineering manufacturing or finance

technical skills also include

specialized knowledge analytical ability

and the competent use of tools and

techniques to solve problems in a

specific discipline technical skills are

particularly important at lower levels

of the organization

however these skills become less

important as human and conceptual skills

as managers move up the hierarchy top

managers with strong technical skills

sometimes have to learn to step back so

that others can do their jobs

effectively human skills refer to a

manager's ability to work with and

through other people and work

effectively as part of a group these

human skills are demonstrated in the way

that a manager relates to other people

including the ability to motivate

facilitate coordinate lead communicate

and resolve conflicts human skills are

increasingly important for managers at

all levels and types of organizations a

recent study found that human skills

were significantly more important than

technical skill

for predicting manager effectiveness

human skills are essential for frontline

managers who work with employees

directly on a daily basis a recent study

found that the motivational skill of the

frontline manager is the single most

important factor in whether people feel

engaged with their work and committed to

an organization conceptual skills refer

to the cognitive ability to see the

organization as a whole in the

relationship amongst parts conceptual

skills involve knowing where one's team

fits into the total organization and how

the organization fits into the industry

the community and the broader business

and social environment it means the

ability to think strategically to take a

broad long-term view and to identify

evaluate and solve complex problems

conceptual skills are needed by all

managers but especially by managers at

the top many of the responsibilities of

top managers such as decision making

resource allocation and innovation

require a broad view good management

skills are not automatic in recent years

numerous highly publicized examples have

shown what happens when managers fail to

apply their skills effectively to meet

the demands of uncertain rapidly

changing worlds around them managers

have complex jobs that require a range

of abilities and skills

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