What Is an Organization, Management, Kinds of Managers, Managerial Skills, kinds or process of plans and Leadership Styles or Types?

 

What Is an Organization?

            A group of people works together in a structured and coordinated fashion to achieve a set of goals.                                                                                                                                                           

What Is Management?

A set of activities (including planning and decision making, organizing, leading, and controlling) directed at an organization’s resources (human, financial, physical, and informational) with the aim of achieving organizational goals in an efficient and effective manner.

Who Is the Manager?

1. College Dean?
2. Police officer?
3. Surgeon?
4. Web-designer?
5. Football coach?
6. Chef?
7. Managing your checking account?

The Management Process

Ø  Planning and Decision Making

     Setting the organization’s goals and deciding how best to achieve them.

Ø  Organizing

     Determining how best to group activities and resources.

Ø  Leading

     Motivating members of the organization.

Ø  Controlling

     Monitoring and correcting activities.

The Manager Must Control

Control means?

•         A method of checking up to find what has been done and what must be done. A manager must know how well employees are performing.

Kinds of Managers

Top Managers

•         Small group of managers who manages the overall organization.                                    

 

Middle Managers

•         A large group that implements the strategies developed at the top.

First-Line Managers                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

•         Supervise and coordinate the activities of operating employees.

The Interpersonal Roles

•         Figurehead

•         Leader

•         Liaison, Coordinator

The Informational Roles

•         Monitor

•         Disseminator

Spokesperson

The DECISIONAL ROLES

•         Entrepreneur

•         Disturbance Handler

•         Resource Allocator

•         Negotiator

Managerial Skills

v  Technical Skills:    These skills are necessary for the first-line managers to accomplish or understand any kind of work being done.

 

v  Interpersonal Skills:  The ability to communicate and motivate individuals and groups.

v  Conceptual Skills:  A manager’s ability to think and understand organizational goals.

v  Diagnostic Skills:  Skills that able a manager to solve any kind of problem.

v  Communication Skills:  A manager’s abilities to understand ideas and information from others and also present his own ideas and information.

v  Decision-Making Skills:  A manager’s ability to define problems and opportunities and solve them.

v  Time-Management Skills:  The manager’s ability to manage the time in an efficient way for workers and other activities.

•         Becoming a Manager

•         How does one acquire the skills necessary to blend the science and art of management to become a successful manager?

 

 

 

Sources of Management Skills

The Nature of Management

The manager’s job is fraught with:

Ø  Uncertainty

Ø  Change

Ø  Interruption

Ø  Fragmented activities

Planning

 Planning is the process of making decisions about goals and activities. Basically, it is a process of ‘thinking before doing’.

Advantages of Planning

There are different advantages of Planning.

1. Minimizes Uncertainty:   The future is generally uncertain and things may be to change with the passage of time. Planning helps you to think about future events.

 

2. Emphasis on Objectives:    The first step in planning is to fix the objectives then plans will be facilitated towards these objectives.

 

3. Promotes Coordination:    Planning helps to promote the coordinated effort beforehand goals.

4. Facilitates Control:    Planning and control are similar in the sense that unplanned actions cannot be controlled. Control is nothing but making sure that activities conform to the plans.

5. Economical Operation:   It helps proper utilization of resources and removing of unnecessary activities.

6. Improves Competitive Strength:   Planning enables a business to discover new opportunities, which gives it a competitive advantage.

7. Tackling Complexities of modern business:   Planning helps in getting a clear idea what is to be done, when is it to be done, where it is to be done and how it is to be done.

8. Encourage Innovation:    This creates an innovative and foreknowledge attitude among the managers.

Kinds of Organizational Plans

Ø  Strategic Plans: A strategic plan is a general plan outlining decisions of resource allocation and the top manager's set and plan for a long period of time.

Ø  Tactical Plans: A tactical plan is aimed at achieving tactical goals, is developed with specific parts of a strategic plan. Tactical plans generally include the upper and middle managers in shortage periods of time.

Ø  Operational Plans: An operational plan focuses on carrying out tactical plans to achieve operational goals and developed by middle and lower-level managers, operational plans focus the short term.

Time Frames for Plans

•         Long-range Plan:

Long-range plans are for five years or more.

•         Intermediate plan:

The intermediate plan is usually for one to five years.

•         Short-range plan:

A short-range plan is generally for one year or less.

Other kinds of plans

Action plan: used to make any other kind of plans.

Reaction plan: Due to failing one plan and putting another plan.

Contingency planning: Already make two plan if I will be failed on the first plan then I use the second plan.

   

                                                                                                                                                                      

Process of Planning

1. Being aware of the opportunity
2. Setting objectives and goals
3. Considering planning premises
4. Identifying alternatives
5. Choosing an alternative
6. Implement the plan
7. Follow –up
8. Numbering plans by making a budget.

Leadership

Leadership is the action of leading employees to achieve a goal. He plays an important role in employee performance and productivity. A good leader sets a clear vision by employs to understand and accept the future state of the organization.

  

Manager and Leader

Manager	Leader
1.   Doing things right.	Doing the right things.
2.   Efficient in climbing the success ladder	Choosing the right wall for leaning the ladder.
3.  Works well in peacetime	Works well in crises also.
4.  Plans and budgets.	Sets direction.
5.  Utilizes material resources.	Utilizes human resources.
6.  Uses authority.	Uses power.
7.  Manages people.	Inspires people.

 

Leadership Styles or Types

1. Autocratic or Authoritarian leaders.

In the autocratic leadership style, all decision-making powers are with the leader. They do not take any suggestions from juniors. They give any orders to employees and in any case, the employees should do the tasks.

 

2. Participative or Democratic leaders.

The democratic leadership style favors decision-making by the group. Such a leader gives instructions after consulting the group. Then they achieve the goal with an efficient style.

 

 

3. Laissez Faire or Free rein leaders.

A free rein leader does not lead and he leaves the group totally to itself. He is given a free hand in deciding his own policies and methods. Here, the leader acts as an umpire. If employees are highly educated they can produce good results.

 

Characteristics of Leadership

The various features of leadership are as follows:

1. It is a personal quality of character and behavior in man which enables him to exert internal personal influence.
2. It presupposes the existence of a group of followers.
3. It is concerned with the laying down of objectives and policies for the followers.
4. Its style may differ from situation to situation.
5. Leaders can direct some of the activities of group members and group members obey the leader’s directions.

 

 

Qualities of a Good Leader

1. Intelligence
2. Initiative and creative ability
3. Inspire others
4. Honesty
5. Ability to lead
6. Good communicator
7. Vision and foresight
8. Decision-making capabilities
9. Self-confidence

Organizational Structure and Design

Ø  Organizing

§  The process by which managers establish working relationships among employees to achieve goals.

Ø  Organizational Structure

§  Formal system of task and reporting relationships showing how workers use resources.

Ø  Organizational design

§  The process by which managers make specific choices that result in a particular kind of organizational structure.

 

Organizational Design

v  Work Specialization

The tasks in the organization are divided into separate jobs with each step completed by a different person.

v  Departmentalization

The process of grouping jobs is called departmentalization.

v  Common Bases for Departmentalization

Ø    Functional departmentalization:

Functional departmentalization groups together those jobs involving the same or similar activities.

Ø    Product Departmentalization:                                                                                                    

Product Departmentalization involves grouping and arranging activities around products or product groups.

Ø    Customer Departmentalization:

The organization is able to interact with specific customers or customer groups

 

v  Chain of Command

Chain of command” refers to a company reporting relationships -- from the bottom to the top of an organization.

 

v  Span of Control

The span of control refers to that the first-line manager can report directly to top management.

Ø  Tall structures have many levels of authority and narrow spans of control.

Ø  Flat structures have fewer levels and wide spans of control.

 

v  Centralization and Decentralization

Ø  Centralization:  The top managers make all the decisions and lower-level employees simply process orders.

Ø   Decentralization: The decision-making is taken by lower-level managers and employees who are closest to the action.

v  Formalization

The degree to which jobs the organization are standardized and the extent to which employee behavior is guided by rules and procedures.

v  Traditional Vs. Contemporary

Ø  Traditional organizational: Traditional organizational structure usually has a leader and multiple layers of subordinates, somebody leads and others follow on them. Companies that are not flexible still use this structure of top boss, middle management, and employees, because it provides control and stability.

Ø  Contemporary Structure: In contemporary structure power transfers from middle management to employees. These types of organizations are flexible towards change. In some ways, the contemporary structure is the opposite of the traditional structure.

 

Traditional Organizational Designs

Ø  Simple structure – an organizational design with low departmentalization, wide spans of control, centralized authority, and little formalization.

Ø  Functional structure – an organizational design that groups together similar or related occupational specialties.

Ø   Divisional structure – an organizational structure made up of separate, semiautonomous units or divisions.

 

Contemporary Organizational Designs

1.       Team Structure
A team structure is made up of teams, and each team works towards a common goal. The teams can work the way they want to, they are given the power to be as creative as they want.

2. Matrix Structure
A matrix structure is one that assigns different functional departments to work on one or more projects.

3. Project Structure
In project structure, employees continuously work on projects. Whenever a project ends the employees don’t go back to their departments. Each employee brings his or her specialized skill to the team. Once the project is finished then the team moves to the next project.

4. Autonomous Internal Units
Some large organizations have adopted this type of structure. That is, the organization is comprised of many independent decentralized business units. There is no centralized control or resource allocation.

5. Boundaryless Organization

A boundary-less organization is not defined by limited to, the horizontal, vertical, or external boundaries. This structure is more flexible because there are no boundaries to deal such as chain of command and departmentalization. In order to eliminate boundaries managers may use virtual, modular, or network organizational structures.

Ø  Virtual organization structure: In a virtual organization work is outsourced when necessary. There are a small number of permanent employees; however, specialists are hired when a situation arises. Examples of this would be subcontractors.

Ø    Modular organization: A modular organization work has done outside of the company from different suppliers. Each supplier produces a specific piece of the final product. When all the pieces are done, the organization then assembles the final product.

Ø    Network organization: A network organization is one in which companies outsource their major business functions in order to focus more on what they are in business to do.

6. Learning Organization

 A learning organization has developed the capacity to continuously learn, adapt, and change. The learning organization must have a strong organizational culture where all employees have a common goal and are willing to work together through sharing knowledge and information. A learning organization must have a team design and great leadership.

Motivation

Ø  Motivation- is a process or a force that makes a person move or behave in a particular way. It is a technique of encouraging somebody for putting his best possible efforts into achieving the pre-set goal.

Ø  Motivator- it is the technique used to motivate people in an organization. Managers use diverse motivators like pay, bonus promotion, etc. in the organization to influence people to contribute their best.

What are the three factors that determine individual performance?

1. Motivation - The desire to do the job.
2. Ability - The capability to do the job.
3. Work environment- The resources needed to do the job.

Ø  Traditional Approach

•      Economic game was the primary thing that motivated employees.

•      Money was more important to employees than the nature of the job.

•      Employees could be accepted to perform any kind of job if they were paid.

Ø  Human Relation Approach

•      It emphasizes the role of social processes in the workplace.

•      Employees want to feel useful and important.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

Hierarchy of needs theory - Maslow’s theory that human needs — physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization — form a sort of hierarchy.

1.      Physiological needs - a person’s needs for food, drink, shelter, and other physical needs.

2.      Safety needs - a person’s needs for security and protection from physical and emotional harm.

3.      Social needs/ Belongingness - a person’s needs for affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship.

4.      Esteem needs - a person’s needs for internal factors (e.g., self-respect, autonomy, and achievement) and external factors (such as status, recognition, and attention).

5.      Self-actualization needs - a person’s need to become what he or she is capable of becoming.

 

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Ø  This theory explains that everyone is motivated to satisfy five basic needs.

Ø  These needs are arranged in a hierarchy.

Ø  We satisfy the lowest needs first as each need is met, we satisfy the next,

Ø  Level need until we have met all five needs.

 

“ERG” Theory

This Theory collapses the need hierarchy developed by Maslow into three levels.

1. Existence Needs

2. Relatedness Needs

3. Growth Needs

 

Existence Needs

•      Existence needs correspond to physiological and security needs.

2. Relatedness Needs

•      Relatedness needs to focus on how people related to their social environment.

3. Growth Needs

•      Growth needs focus the highest level which includes the needs of self-esteem and self- Actualization.

•      The “ERG” Theory suggests that more than one level of need can cause motivation at the same time. e.g. it suggests that people can be motivated by a desire for money (Existence), friendship (relatedness), and the opportunity to learn new skills (growth) all at once.

McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y

•      McGregor proposed two distinct views of human beings:

    One is negative and one is positive.

    The negative one is Theory X and

    The other one is positive Theory Y.

Theory X and Theory Y

•      Theory X - the assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy, avoid responsibility, and must be directed to perform.

•      Theory Y - the assumption that employees are creative, enjoy work, seek responsibility, and can exercise self-direction

    What is Communication?

Communication is the process of sending and receiving messages that convey information, ideas, feelings and beliefs.

 

Forms of Communication

1. ON THE BASIS OF CHANNEL:

a)      Formal Communication: Formal communication is one that takes place in a formal organization structure. It usually takes the form of written communication such as notes, memos, letters, reports, and statements.

b)      Informal Communication: Informal Communication is the communication between the members of the group on the basis of informal relations and understanding among people at the same or different levels of the organization. It does not follow the lines of authority.

2. ON THE BASIS OF DIRECTION:

a)      Vertical Communication: It refers to communication on that takes place between persons occupying superior and subordinate positions in the organization hierarchy.

      It may be sub-divided into:

i)                   Downward Communication.                                                                                                   

ii)                 Upward Communication.

 

       i)            Downward Communication:

       Under this method, communication flows from the superiors to the subordinates. Orders, instructions, circulars and manuals are instances of this type of communication.

     ii)            Upward Communication: It is the flow of communication from the subordinates to the superior positions. Reports, suggestions, complaints and grievances are instances of this type of communication.

b)      Horizontal Communication:

      It refers to communication that takes place between the persons holding equal ranks in the same or different departments.

Exchange of information between two departmental heads or two or more managers of equal ranks is an example of horizontal communication.

 

3. ON THE BASIS OF EXPRESSION:

a)      Oral Communication:

      Oral communication is one that implies the transmission of orders, messages, or suggestions through spoken words. A face-to-face conversation is the most natural way of transmitting messages.

b)      Written Communication:

Written communication is one that implies the transmission of messages in black and white. It is generally of formal nature and ensures that everyone concerned has the same information. It is a permanent record of communication for future reference. Letters, circulars, office memos, telegrams, manuals, and bulletins are examples of written communication.

c)      Gestural Communication:

Communication through gestures and postures is often used as a means to supplement verbal communication. It is highly used to motivate the subordinates and understand their reactions.

 

Types of Communication

Ø  People communicate with each other in a number of ways that depend upon the message and the context in which it is being sent. Choice of communication channel and your style of communicating also affect communication. So, there are different types of communication.

Ø  Types of communication-based on the communication channels used are:

Ø  Verbal Communication

Ø  Nonverbal Communication

Ø  Verbal Communication: Verbal communication refers to the form of communication in which a message is transmitted verbally; communication is done by word of mouth. The objective of every communication is to have people understand what we are trying to convey.

Verbal Communication is further divided into:

Ø  Oral Communication

Ø  Written Communication

Oral Communication: In oral communication, spoken words are used. It includes face-to-face conversations, speech, telephonic conversation, video, radio, television, voice-over-internet.

Written Communication: In written communication, written signs or symbols are used to communicate. A written message may be printed or handwritten. In written communication messages can be transmitted via email, letter, report, memo, etc.

Ø  Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal communication is the sending or receiving of wordless messages. We can say that communication other than oral and written, such as gestures, body language, posture, facial expressions, is called nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is all about the body language of the speaker.

Nonverbal communications have the following three elements:

Appearance
Speaker: clothing, hairstyle, neatness, use of cosmetics
surrounding: room size, lighting, decorations, furnishings.

Body Language
facial expressions, gestures, postures.

Sounds
Voice Tone, Volume, Speech rate.

Process of Communication

Communication may be broadly defined as the process of meaningful interaction among human beings.

  The various elements involved in the process are as follows:  

• Sender
• Encoding
• Message
• Channel
• Decoding
• Receiver
• Feedback
• Noise

Effective communication in The Organization

Ø  Selection of the right word to convey a message.

Ø  Select the right channel.

Ø  Don’t hide the main message.

Ø  Select a word that is familiar to the audience.

Ø  Use synonyms instead of jargon words.

Ø  Use the language in which the receiver can easily get accurate information.

Common Barriers to Effective Communication:

•      Lack of attention, interest, or irrelevance to the receiver.

•      The uses of jargon words.

•      Emotional barriers.

•      Differences in perception and viewpoint.

•      Physical disabilities such as hearing problems or speech difficulties.

•      Culture and language difference.

By: Sumiya Dost 

The writer is a post-graduate student from Economics Department

University of Turbat