MANAGEMENT AND MANAGERS.

MANAGEMENT AND MANAGERS.

REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ON MANAGEMENT.

Introduction (What)

Management has been defined as the attainment of organizational goals efficiently through planning, organizing, controlling, leading, and motivating organizational resources. Managers, on the other hand, have been defined as the people responsible for supervising the use of an organization’s resources to meet its goals. Management entails various features;

• It is a process
• It is complex
• It is pervasive
• It is goal-oriented
• It is a continuous process.

Managers are mostly distinguished either by their level in the organization or by their functional areas. When classifying managers by their levels, I have established that there are first-line managers, middle managers, and top managers. Managers can also be in charge of functional areas or departments. These are the marketing, operations, and finance departments. There are five major management functions; controlling, leading, motivating, organizing, and planning. I have established that a good manager must possess good managerial roles and skills. The roles include interpersonal roles, information roles, and decision making roles. Skills are inclusive of technical skills, human skills, conceptual skills, and diagnostic skills. The roles and skills aid in communication within an organization and crucial decision making. Planning precedes all the other functions as this sets the standards against which actual statistics are measured against (CIPD, 2008).

As in many fields, management to has its theories and concepts;

• Systems theory ~ the general system theory is composed of interacting elements mostly affected by their environment. The theory was founded by a biologist, Ludwig von Bertalanffy, attempting to refute reductionism and revive the unity of science. In the management or business perspective, the theory helps managers realize that their business is a system governed by laws and behaviors affecting most biological organizations (Ludwig, 1984).
• Principle of administrative management theory ~ developed by Henry Fayol, the theory clearly stated that managers had six responsibilities when it came to employee management and these are commanding, organization, controlling, planning, forecasting, and coordinating. Fayol also developed fourteen principles that guide managers on how to lead their teams (Fayol, 1917).
• Bureaucratic management theory ~ this theory considered a more sociological approach and was invented by Max Weber. It states that a business needs to be structured around a hierarchy with clear rules and roles. This theory can be very effective for emerging businesses that need structure, procedure, and standards. Here, it is claimed hiring and promotion are based on qualifications and performance and not personal relationships. Labor is also equally divided with employees putting the goals of the business before their own. The chain of command is based on hierarchy (Weber, 1978).
• Scientific management ~ the theory was brought to existence by Frederick Taylor. This theory promotes standardization, supervision, training, and enough training. In the nineteenth century, Taylor conducted controlled experiments to assess workers’ productivity. Often, the theory aims at finding an optimal way to complete certain tasks at the employees’ expense. Even though the theory is not commonly used today, efficiency, training, and cooperation are the foundation of some of the major successful businesses (Taylor, 1954).
• Human relations theory ~ early in the twentieth century, Elton Mayo improved worker satisfaction by changing environmental conditions such as lighting. He then changed things he perceived would harm satisfaction such as the length of a workday. He found out that worker satisfaction always increased. Here, employees are motivated by social factors more than they are by environmental factors such as money (Elton, 1927).
• Classical management theory ~ based on the idea that employees only have physical needs. This theory only focuses on organizing workers. Personal and social needs that influence employees’ job satisfaction are ignored. The theory focuses on profit maximization, labor specialization, centralized leadership, streamlined operations, and productivity emphasis. A select few control the business thus making decisions and directing the company (Fayol, 1917).

Application (How)

          In our daily lives, we have goals in mind and often we make decisions on how to achieve them successfully. An example is when we want to go shopping. We mostly go shopping to replenish items we run exhaust but before we go there I need to budget my money and consider the cost of public means if I do not own a car. We also need to plan and decide which outlet we are going to buy from considering factors such as distance and the actual cost. All these questions need to be thought of in advance. Another example is that of a housewife. When she wakes up she has in mind a host of activities to be done. These may be cleaning the house, washing the clothes, cooking breakfast, and preparing her kids for school. If she has a nanny, equal distribution of work will reduce the workload and complete the tasks faster. These two examples elaborate that managers have to make decisions to manage activities properly (Slide Share, 2012).

 

Conclusion (Why)

From all this, we see management helps in achieving the set group goals. Resources are also efficiently utilized in both human and physical resources. Proper management ensures maximum results through minimum input and maximum output after investing both human and financial resources. Proper management helps businesses run smoothly as everyone is aware of their roles. Ensuring that a manager has the right roles and skills needed to perform their duties ensures harmony between a manager and employees. When readjusting services or products in a business, a good manager keeps in touch with emerging trends to ensure the business keeps in touch with what the competitors are doing and even looks for better ways to market themselves. This will maximize profits. Proper management of business brings about stability in society through increasing the welfare of the people by employing them. This avoids wastage of scarce resources. Through self-motivation, good management helps achieve personal objectives. This is achieved by developing commitment, cooperation, and a good team spirit. This benefits an individual grow and learn new skills to better themselves (Emerald, 2015).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Jack, G. (2002). Marketing across cultures (3rd edition)20022Jean‐Claude Usunier. Marketing across cultures (3rd edition). Harlow: Financial times with Prentice‐hall 2000. , ISBN: 0‐13‐010668‐2. International Marketing Review, 19(1), 100-102. https://doi.org/10.1108/imr.2002.19.1.100.2

Drazin, R. (1985). Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and principles, by Peter F. Drucker. New York: Harper & row, 277 pp., $19.95. Human Resource Management, 24(4), 509-512. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.3930240410

Nevill, D. E. (1999). Book review: Making strategy: The journey of strategic management. By Colin Eden and Frank Ackermann. Published by sage, 1998, 460 pp., £24.99, ISBN 0 7619 5224 1 (paperback). Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 16(2), 198-199. https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1099-1743(199903/04)16:2<198::aid-sres315>3.0.co;2-z

Mintzberg, H. (2007). The manager’s job: Leadership, 33-50. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvpg85tk.8