Management
Management is...
Getting people to do great things for the organization and its customers.
Quiz - Are you a great manager?
1. Do you frequently observe, talk with and listen to your people?
2. Do you have a clear vision for the future of your department and inspire
people to achieve it?
3. Are you passionate and enthusiastic about what you are trying to do in your
job?
4. Do you continally build on your strengths and work on your weaknesses in
management?
5. Do you trust your people by delegating key tasks and encouraging them to
take responsibility for results?
6.Do you agree objectives with your people and then give them the autonomy to
achieve them in their own way?
7. Do you reward and encourage people's performance, training and
self-development?
8. Do you effectively communicate with your people?
9. Do you treat everyone equally and respond sensitively to their
problems?
10. Have you the courage to make really tough decisions?
How to be a great manager
1. Know your people and treat them well (lead by
example)
a) knowing and caring
Know what they want and give it to them, if possible.
b) explain and negotiate
- explain difficult decisions
- negotiate over irreconcilable differences (e.g. redundancies).
c) involve them
(in decisions affecting their work).
d) praise them and reprimand kindly
Tactfully mention their mistakes and talk about your mistakes first.
e) never humiliate them
Honour their dignity and self-respect, so they don’t lose face.
f) empathize
(see things from their point of view)
g) stand by them
(when they face external criticism).
h) keep your promises.
i) treat everyone the same.
2. Empower and sometimes command
People perform best, if they like their work and take responsibility for doing it well.
So trust them.
But tell people what to do (called command and control) if quick, decisive action is required,
like an army in battle.
The style of management must suit the situation.
3. Be a leader-manager
Managers must not only do what their bosses tell them but also lead their people to inspire and empower
them.
So they must:
- Create a common, challenging purpose based on customer satisfaction.
- Get people working well together in teams to achieve these
objectives.
- Lead by example – do what they say, explain why they’re doing it and stick to their
principles.
- Meet people to listen to their problems and help them (called management by wandering around,
MBWA).
- Give people the resources and information to do their jobs effectively.
4. Reflect, plan , do, review and refine
Managers should make time for quietly thinking about
- what they are going to do in the future (plan).
- do it (i.e. being proactive).
- evaluate performance (review).
- change plans, if necessary (refine).
Here are some tips to do these four things:
a) prioritize
Don’t get bogged down in detail - see point 5 below.
b) don’t waste time
(see time management).
c) remember your influence on people
- they will do what you do.
d) accept external constraints
(company policy and procedure, your bosses, legislation and resource limitations).
e) always do what’s right
Win in the face of fierce opposition.
f) be enterprising
Be prepared to be innovative and take risks.
g) think long-term
Plan for the future.
5. Concentrate on what’s important
- Prioritize – do the important things first and delegate everything else.
- Be creative and find new and better ways of solving customers’ problems.
- Value the quality of people’s work - make sure people achieve their objectives like
making the most of their ability and satisfying customers as quickly as possible.
6. Lifelong learning
Managers must
a) continually learn and improve (so training and education are vital).
b) know their strengths (to use them well)
and weaknesses (to work on them and recognize their effects on
others).
c) act as a coach, helping others to learn.
7. Character with competence
Managers must deliver results through people, so they must have the character and principles to
inspire others.
They must be kind but tough enough to make difficult decisions like firing
under-performers.
Key quotes explained
“The simple part is knowing what to do. The part that is not easy is
getting others to do it”
- Peter
Drucker (American management
writer, pictured right)
Motivating people is a vital function of management.
“To balance trust and
control”
- Charles Handy (Irish
management writer, pictured right)
A vital job for managers is to know when to trust people to get on with things and when to check up on how well
they’re doing.
“Speed, simplicity and self-confidence”
- Jack
Welch (the ex-boss of General Electric, pictured
right)
Welch says that the best managers have three characteristics:
- Carry out decisions as quickly as possible (speed).
- Don’t over-complicate problems (simplicity).
- Have the confidence to be the best (self-confidence).
Best books and articles
Douglas McGregor
(pictured right) , The Human Side of Enterprise
(1960)
There are two ways of managing people:
- Theory X – assumes that people are basically lazy and need lots
of supervision (as in Taylor’s scientific management).
- Theory Y – assumes people can be self-motivated and work well
on their own (so based upon empowerment).
McGregor said that Theory Y isn’t always best – theory X is best for quick decisions.
In other words the best management style depends on the situation - the conclusion of Paul Lawrence and
Jay Lorsch in their book Organization and Environment(1967).
(For more detail see The Human Side of Enterprise in the Business Books section).
Peter Drucker, The Practice of Management
(1954)
Key functions of managers are:
- planning (setting objectives).
- integration (getting people to work well together).
- measurement (setting targets and performance criteria).
- managing the organization’s social responsibilities.
Managers are concerned with performance and must be:
- administrators (looking after what already exists).
- risk taking innovators and entrepreneurs (creators of tomorrow).
Also important are:
- management by objectives (MBO) – giving individuals, groups and departments
objectives that relate to the organization’s objectives.
- marketing (customer satisfaction) and innovation – the two most important functions
in an organization.
For more detail see The Practice of
Management in the Business Books section.
Henri Fayol (pictured right), General and Industrial Management (1949)
The functions of a manager are to:
- plan (set objectives and policies).
- command (direct and motivate people).
- organize and co-ordinate (get people working effectively together).
- control (making sure people achieve their objectives).
- organize (creating the best structure)
Henry Mintzberg
(pictured right), The Nature of Managerial Work
(1973)
Managers don’t plan and reflect, as they should, but deal with many tasks superficially.
Their main jobs are dealing with people, giving and receiving information and making decisions.
Andrew
Grove (pictured right) High Output Management (1983)
The ex-boss of Intel says that effective management is based on:
a) managerial leverage
(maximizing the performance of teams and organizations under the manager's control).
b) excellence in key managerial activities
- information gathering and giving.
- decision making (based on free discussion and full support for a clear, agreed decision).
c) motivation
Inspiring the best people to be the best through:
- satisfying their needs (like interesting work).
- mutual trust (from integrity and shared values).
- good people relationships (but don't let friendship damage your managerial effectiveness)
d) the best management style
This must adapt to people's task-relevant maturity (TRM), their capacity to take responsibility and deliver
results.
e) achievement of agreed objectives
(management by objectives).
Meetings should also achieve their aims as quickly as possible.
f) fewer levels of management
(to improve the giving and receiving of information).
H. Edward Wrapp (pictured
right), Good Managers Don't Make Policy Decisions (Harvard Businss Review article,
1967)
Managers don't plan but let solutions to their problems emerge from a series
of decisions that gradually progress towards achievement of their objectives (“muddling with a purpose”).
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