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What is Management?

• The term management refers to the process of getting things done, effectively, and efficiently, through and with other people
• Process of reaching goals through the use of human resources, technology and material resources
• Art of maximizing efficiency, as a social process, a method of getting things done through others a plan of action and its direction by a co-operative group moving towards a common goal
• Efficiency – means doing the task correctly and refers to the relationship between inputs and outputs. Management is concerned with minimizing resource costs.
• Effectiveness – means doing the right things. In an organization, that translates into goal attainment. Effective utilization of available resources to achieve same objective is management
• As a process, management refers to a series of inter-related functions. It is the process by which management creates, operates and directs purposive organization through systematic, coordinated and co-operated human efforts, according to George R. Terry, “Management is a distinct process consisting of planning, organizing, actuating and controlling, performed to determine and accomplish stated objective by the use of human beings and other resources”.

Levels of Management

Top Management – managers in positions such as president, CEO, CFO and vice president who make decisions regarding the firm’s long-run objectives;

             Functions:

• responsible for controlling and overseeing the entire organization; 
• develop goals, strategic plans, company policies, make decision on the direction of the business and communicate those plans to all managers; 
• play significant role in the mobilization of outside resources;
•  accountable to the shareholders and general public

Middle Management – managers who are often responsible for the firm’s short-term decisions; intermediate management level accountable to top management and responsible for leading lower level managers; being subordinate to the senior management but above the lowest level of operational staff; they can be General Manager, branch managers, department managers

            Functions:

• Executing organizational plans in conformance with the company’s policies and the objectives of the top management
• Defining and discussing information and policies from top to lower management
• Inspiring and providing guidance to lower –level managers to assist them in performance improvement and accomplishment of business objectives
• Communicate upward by offering suggestions and feedback to top managers (Because middle managers are more involved in the day-to-day workings of a company, they can provide valuable information to top managers that will help them improve the organization’s performance using a broader, more strategic view)
• Determine how many new employees to hire
• Designing and implementing effective group and intergroup work and information systems
• Defining and monitoring group-level performance indicators
• Diagnosing and resolving problems within and among work groups
• Designing and implementing rewarding systems supporting cooperative behavior

Because middle managers work with both top-level managers and first-level managers, middle managers tend to have excellent interpersonal skills relating to communication, motivation, and mentoring. Leadership skills are also important in delegating tasks to first-level managers.

Supervisory (first-line) Management – supervise the activities of employees who carry out the tasks determined by the plans of middle and top management; who are usually highly involved with the employees who engage in the day-to-day production process; they can be supervisors, section leads, foremen

     Functions:

• Assigning employee tasks
• Guiding and supervising employees on day to day activities
• Ensuring the quality and quantity of production
• Making recommendations and suggestions
• Upchanneling employee problems
• Provide basic supervision, motivation, career planning, performance feedback and staff supervision

Management Process

1. Planning – the process of setting performance objectives and determining what actions should be taken to achieve them
   1. Establishing goals – determining the organization’s broad strategy, translating this into specific objectives, and ascertaining ways of achieving these
   2. Allocating resources – acquiring and applying resources, manpower, machinery, money, materials for the fulfillment of organizational goals
   3. Developing alternatives – providing various routes according to different circumstances prevailing, so that alternatives choices may be made as a situation develops
   4. Making decisions – formulating the direction in which the company, division or department is to go, by allocating the necessary resources, i.e; the ability to make good, non-routine decisions
2. Organizing – the process of assigning tasks, allocating resources and coordinating the activities of individuals and groups to accomplish objectives
   1. Designing structure – fashioning the arrangement of people and work to achieve the organization’s goals in situations of both stability and change
   2. Coordinating parts – integrating the activities of separate units in an organization, to provide unity of action in pursuit of common purpose
   3. Arranging delegation ­– assigning authority and responsibility to other people or groups, to do specific task
   4. Managing conflict and change – stimulating a desired amount of controlled conflict and managing its resolutions, to bring about necessary change for improved organizational performance
3. Leading – the process of arousing people’s enthusiasm to work hard and inspiring their efforts to fulfill plans and accomplish objectives
   1. Implementing decisions – having the confidence to oversee the carrying out of decisions and the ability to enact them in humane fashion
   2. Providing climate ­– creating and maintaining a good organizational climate, in which individual members can be motivated to achieve necessary objectives
   3. Forming communications and Team building ­– encouraging two-way transmission between people and between groups, so that they take part jointly in the organization’s activities
   4. Developing personnel ­– enabling personnel consciously to carry out appropriate career development through self-assessment and opportunity seeking
4. Controlling – the process of measuring work performance, comparing results to objectives and taking corrective action
   1. Establishing standards – specifying performance standards in key areas for individuals and groups and having them accepted through participation of those concerned
   2. Measuring performance – making measurements of actual performance in key areas at agreed frequencies, and comparing them with the standards set, in time for action to be taken
   3. Taking action – seeing the control process through to its conclusion by action, in changing operations or standards when necessary, or exploiting opportunities when indicated
   4. Instigating self-control – instituting the means by which organizational members can control their performances against objectives and ensuring that a proper balance is achieved in the amount of control exerted

Management Skill

In order to perform the functions of management and to assume multiple roles, managers must be skilled. Robert Katz identified three managerial skills that are essential to successful management:

• Technical skills – the ability to use process or technique knowledge; skill of working with the resources and having knowledge in a specific area
  • Ability to use principles, tools, techniques, procedures
  • Most important to first level managers
• Human skills – the ability to interact effectively with people and concerns interpersonal relations
  • The ability to work with, motivate, and counsel people who need help and guidance
  • Directly related to a manager’s leadership abilities
  • Ability to get things done by understanding and working through others outside of formally prescribed organizational mechanisms is crucial for management success
  • Most important to middle level managers
• Conceptual skills – the ability to formulate ideas; to coordinate and integrate ideas, concepts, and practices; understand abstract relationships and solve problems creatively
  • Using information to solve business problems
  • Identifying of opportunities for innovation
  • Recognizing problem areas and implementing solutions
  • Selecting critical information from masses of data
  • Understanding of organization’s business model
  • Most important to top level management

Managers need to demonstrate these skills to carry out their role in achieving results through their employees.

Management Roles

To meet the many demands of performing their functions, managers assume multiple roles. A role is an organized set of behaviors. In the 1960s, Henry Mintzberg concluded that managers perform ten roles that can be grouped around three themes:

• Interpersonal roles – ensure that information is provided
• Informational roles – process information
• Decisional roles – make significant use of information

The performance of managerial roles and the requirements of these roles can be played at different times by the same manager and to different degrees depending on the level and function of management.                                                                                                                                                                                     

Principles of Management

Henri Fayol explored this comprehensively and, as a result, he synthesized the 14 principles of management. These principles of management serve as a guideline for decision-making and management actions. They are drawn up by means of observations and analyses of events that managers encounter in practice.

1. Division of Work – In practice, employees are specialized in different area and they have different skills. Different levels of expertise can be distinguished within the knowledge areas. According to Fayol, specialization promotes efficiency of the workforce and increases productivity as well as accuracy and speed.
2. Authority and Responsibility – In order to get things done in an organization, management has the authority to give orders to the employees. With this authority comes with responsibility. According to Fayol, the accompanying power or authority gives the management the right to give orders to the subordinates. The responsibility can be tracked back from performance and it is therefore necessary to make agreements about this
3. Discipline – It is often part of the core values of a mission and vision statements in the form of good conduct and respectful interactions. It is essential for any organization to run effectively.
4. Unity of Command – The individual employee should receive orders from one manager and that the employee is answerable to that manager. If tasks and related responsibilities are given to the employee by more than one manager, this may lead to confusion which may lead to possible conflicts for employees.
5. Unity of Direction – all about focus and unity. All employees deliver the same activities that can be linked to the same objectives. All activities must be carried out by one group that forms a team. These activities must be described in a plan of action. The manager is ultimately responsible for this plan and he monitors the progress of the defined and planned activities.
6. Subordination of Individual Interest - where any individual's interest that conflicts with an organizational interest must be subordinated to the interests of the organization.
7. Remuneration - the employees should get a fair remuneration so that the employees and the owners find equal amount of satisfaction. It is the duty of the manager to ensure that employees are being paid remuneration according to their work.
8. Centralization and Decentralization -  management and authority for decision-making process must be properly balanced in an organization.
9. Scalar Chain – there should be a clear line in the area of authority (from top to bottom and all managers at all levels). It means each communication must move from top to bottom and vice versa in a straight line. The important condition here is that no step (post) should be overlooked during communication.
10. Order - there should be an orderly placement of resources (manpower, money, materials, etc.) in the right place at the right time. This ensures the proper use of resources in a structured fashion. Misplacement of any of these resources will lead to misuse and disorder in the organization.
11. Equity - managers should treat their subordinates in a just and kind manner so that they develop a feeling of dedication and attachment for their work. All the employees should be treated equally and impartially.
12. Stability of Personnel – deployment and managing of personnel and this should be in balance with the service that is provided from the organization. Management strives to minimize employee turnover and to have right staff in the right place.
13. Initiative – employees should be allowed to express new ideas. Employees’ initiatives are source of strength for the organization as this encourages to be involved and interested.
14. Esprit de Corps – stands for striving for the involvement and unity of the employees. Managers are responsible for the development of morale in workplace. This contributes to the development of the culture and creates an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding.

Managing Teams

• Clarifying team expectations
  • Interactions with you
  • Interactions within the team
  • Completion of work deliverables
• Setting team goals
  • Engage the entire team in SMART goal-setting process
• Delegating responsibilities within a team
• Managing underperformance within the team
  • Address promptly
• Avoiding common managerial mistakes
  • Being perfectionist - define standards and establish criteria for a quality outcome
  • Dependent – help teammates problem solve, helping them learn to address the specific issue
  • Spoon-feeding ideas – refrain from leading with your ideas and ask questions to draw out ideas from your teammates
• Rebounding from setbacks
  • Understand what, how, why it happened and what steps can be taken to avoid
• Giving and receiving feedback
  • Make sure it’s a good time
  • Articulate the behavior you expect to see in the future
  • Provide feedback in timely manner
  • Focus on one topic
• Manager as a coach, mentor, and sponsor
  • Coach - provide developmental feedback to the people on your team
  • Mentor - providing teammates counsel or guidance on major career decisions
  • Sponsor - advocate on behalf of people you've worked with and set them on a path for advancement
• Managing virtual teams
  • Meet in video conferences rather than by phone
  • Allowing few minutes for life updates as part of your meeting agendas
  • Establish clear expectations for projects and set milestones and deadlines that give you each time to monitor progress
  • Empower your employees to give input on the best ways to track their work if you need to monitor their working time
• Managing an Intergenerational teams
  • A - avoid generalizing or lumping people into categories based on their generation. Treat each teammate as an individual. Don't assume anything about their preferences
  • C - create a flexible work environment
  • E - establish some rules of engagement for everyone on the team. Make sure no one is being singled out for being the team baby, or grandpa, even in jest
• Managing culturally diverse teams
  • Create a culture of inclusion
• Managing difficult personalities on your team
  • Acknowledge what's happening and the impact it has on you, co-workers, and the work overall. Just do a quick review of the patterns and behaviors you personally observe.
  • Deal with the issue directly by having a discreet conversation with the person
  • Empathize with the employee. Try to get a sense of where they're coming from and what's motivating the behavior
  • Show some grace. Whenever you can, give your co-workers the benefit of the doubt. People have bad days and manage the stress of everyday life, differently.
• Managers prioritize wellness
  • You can't take care of your team if you aren't taking care of yourself so take care of yourself.
  • Managers must model practices that emphasize wellness for everyone by practicing what they preach
• Celebrate with your team
  • Make an effort to celebrate work-related milestones
  • Consider celebrating personal milestones such birthdays, weddings, births, etc.
  • Acknowledge and offer support during difficult times and recognize their pain
  • Demonstrate that you care about your employees on an individual level by taking the time to enjoy the good times and support each other through the difficult ones

Personal Growth and Development

• Earning respect
  • Explain your behavior and decisions
  • Share the credit for successes
  • Always stand up for your team
  • Walk the talk
• How to admit you are wrong
  • Be timely
  • Meet in private
  • Apologize and make amends
  • Thank them
• Offering a needed apology
  • Sincere apology
  • Very specific and owned
  • Timely
  • Strive to include a solution
• Managing emotions at work
  • Emotional Intelligence – ability to understand and manage your own emotions and of those people around you
  • People with a high degree of emotional intelligence know what they're feeling, what their emotions mean, and how these emotions can affect other people.