Learning objective 4
Explain the basic principles of management. (Text pages 8-14)
C.Management Roles
1.In exercising their authority within the organization, managers take on different roles.
2.Henry Mintzberg identified 10 key managerial roles, split into three categories.
a.Interpersonal
i.the figurehead role
ii.the leader role
iii.the liaison role
b.Informational
i.the monitor role
ii.the disseminator role
iii.the spokesperson role
c.Decisional
i.the entrepreneur role
ii.the disturbance handler role
iii.the resource allocator role
iv.the negotiator role
3.Mintzberg found that managers were more often “in the moment” rather than focused on strategic plans, jumping from problem to problem.
progress Check Questions (Text page 10)
- What are Mintzberg’s three categories of managerial roles?
- Describe and provide an example of five of the 10 managerial roles.
- Think of a manager you work for currently (or have worked for in the past). How would you describe his or her combination of managerial skills?
- Why are managers called upon to be “in the moment”?
1.Managers need to have three types of skills.
a.Conceptual skills involve understanding the relationship of the parts of a business to one another and to the business as a whole.
b.Human relations skills: Drawn from the Hawthorne Studies and the work of Elton Mayo, the human relations movement argued that workers respond primarily to the social aspects of their work environment.
c.Technical skills involve the ability to perform the mechanics of a particular job.
2All levels of management require a different combination of these skills, but different skills are more important at different levels of management.
progress Check Questions (Text page 11)
- Why is it important to understand the skills required to perform a particular job?
- Give an example of each of the three managerial skills.
- Find a job description for a management position from your local newspaper or a website such as Monster.com or Careerbuilder.com. How do the responsibilities outlined in that job description match-up to the three managerial skills?
- Why are human relationship skills important at all levels of management?
Management Roles
(Refers to text page 9)
PowerPoint 1-9
Managing Roles
(Refers to text pages 8-9)
Lecture link 1-1
Performing the Management Roles
Senior management is often called on to perform the very visible roles of spokesperson and figurehead. (See complete lecture link on page 1.23 of this manual.)
PowerPoint 1-10
Management Skills
(Refers to text pages 10-11)
lecture link 1-2
Learning Management Skills
Another way of classifying specific management skills is presented here. (See complete lecture link on page 1.23 of this manual.) These concepts are also used in Critical Thinking Exercise 1-2 below.
critical thinking
exercise 1-2
Rate Your Management Skills
This exercise expands on the classification of management skills (based on Lecture Link 1-2 above.) See complete exercise on page 1.30 of this manual.
TEXT Figure 1.5
Mix of Skills Used at
Different Levels of
Management
(Text page 11)
TEXT REFERENCE
Study Skills Box: Study Skills Are a Learned Behavior!Studying is a learned behavior that can improve with practice. (Box in text on page 11.) An additional exercise and discussion is available in this chapter on page 1.22.
CASE INCIDENT 1.1
The Wadsworth Company (Text page 12)
Donna Carroll has been supervisor of the small parts subassembly department of the Wadsworth Company for a year. Donna decided to have two group leaders report to her, Evelyn Castalos and Bill Degger. Evelyn made work assignments and Bill assumed the task of training new employees. Now some employees are complaining about how Donna and her two group leaders have been performing.
1.Do you think Donna should have delegated the duties Evelyn and Bill are handling? Why or why not?
Delegation is an essential activityof all companies no matter their size or structure. Delegation is a helpful tool, but it can be misused and nonproductive if not developed and carried out correctly. Part of delegating is knowing how to use and motivate employees, as well understanding how to accomplish the company’s goals and missions without creating a sense of power and self-servicein the person in charge. Finally, delegation at its heart must be done in fairness to help motivate employees and to wake up nonproductiveones. However, it must be done with good cause and equity.
To answer the question, Donna had good cause to use some levels of delegation considering she supervises 28 employees. Her choices for delegating work assignments and training may be questioned and scrutinized. Further investigation as to her choices of Evelyn and Bill could be reviewed. Their training and supervision need to be looked at in order to understand their selection as supervisors. Finally, the upper level manager(s) Donna reports to should have some say in the hiring of these supervisors, as well as the development and selectionof future supervisors.
2.What difficulties do you see for Evelyn and Bill in being both group leaders and operative employees?
A supervisory role has levels of authority that must be respected if it is to be effective. When an employee moves into a supervisory role, it is unwise to have him/her maintain previous non-supervisory dutiesat the same time; their new supervisory role needs to be entrenched in the company model to be most effective. Dual roles often diminish the supervisory function and the effectiveness that take place during the transition process (see “The Management Agreement” in the Lecture Outline and review the “new rules” for the supervisor). As a result, Evelyn and Bill should be properly groomed and then placed in supervisory roles,so that this department can function at a higher level.
3.Do you consider Evelyn and Bill to be managers? Why or why not?
Yes, Evelyn and Bill now act as managers. But not good managers. Bill and Evelyn could become good managers with proper training and support in their new roles. However, the misuse of their authority and the possible mistakes they are making could lead to more problems in morale and performance rather than raising department productivity and output. Early review of Bill and Evelyn’s performance lead you to believe that they are poor managers. However, more information needs to be gathered to make a full, accurate assessment. Once established, better training for Bill and Evelyn would be necessary for the short and long-term growth and development of their jobs.
4.Is Donna doing the right thing in referring employee complaints back to Bill or Evelyn? Why or why not?
If Bill and Evelyn were hired in a fair and equitable manner and if Donna and her direct supervisor(s) correctly supported their promotion, you could argue that the normal chain of command for Donna’s employees is to address their immediate concerns with their direct supervisor. However, it appears that the supervisor system is not operating with the right training and support, causing rifts and complaint levels that are above normal. The frequency of complaints and employee reluctance to take complaints to their direct supervisor suggests that Bill and Evelyn’s performance is less than satisfactory.It is probably in Donna’s best interest to get directly involved and to fix these problems before she loses total control of the work assignments and training functions that are vitally important to her department’s success.
III.THE MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT
A.A promotion to management brings more power and responsibility.
B.However, the manager must also set the standard for the behavior of department employees.
C.A manager must abide by the management agreement: “with power comes responsibility.”
D.One of the toughest challenges with a management promotion is developing a new relationship with former friends and colleagues. / PowerPoint 1-11
The Management
Agreement
(Refers to text pages 12-13)
lecture link 1-3
Beware of Bad Bosses
Bad bosses have always been with us. This lecture link explains some ways to handle them. (See complete lecture link on page 1.25 of this manual.)
CASE INCIDENT 1.2
The Expansion of Blue Streak (Text page 13)
Arthur Benton started the Blue Streak Delivery Company five years ago. He started with himself, one clerk, and one driver. Within three years, Art decided to expand to provide state-wide service. The new service was an immediate success. The next year, Art decided to expand into two neighboring states. However, the new operations don’t seem to be performing as well as expected and Art spends a significant part of his time traveling between the three states putting out fires.
Art decided to have a one-day meeting that all of his office managers would attend in order to discuss the company’s problems and come up with some solutions.
1.Why do you think Blue Streak is struggling to grow?
Expansion of a business offers great challenges. If done correctly, a small business can grow exponentially. However, a small business owner has to learn how to develop the “system” and to find the best people who can learn and carry out the mission at a high level. In the case of Blue Streak’s struggles, Art has some work to do if he thinks more growth for the company is essential. One, Art has to look at his business model to see if it is sound and adaptive to each new market he penetrates. Second, Art has to develop the site manager’s duties and responsibilities as clearly as possible, including establishing authority and trust levels so they can truly be the site managers, not babysitters. Third, Art has to make sure he examines each new market to see if his business model can survive, considering the level of sales he would like to obtain, the type and size of the competition, and the potential growth of each site compared to the vision and mission of the company. Not all site selections will grow and prosper; there will be normal attrition. It is just as important move on and cut losses that are draining and nonproductive to the company as it is to stay make something work.
2.Was it a good idea to change managers in all four out-of-state offices? Why or why not?
In this case, it appears this was not a good decision. One, two of the four locations were performing well. Second, firing all the managers was too dramatic; nothing was learned as to why such ineffectiveness was occurring. Third, too much pressure was now placed on the new replacement managers.
3.What suggestions would you offer to Art to improve his operation?
Art has seen both success and failure. In the process, he has also learned some valuable lessons – good employees with sound guidelines and good training and support can learn and develop into highly productive employees. Once he is able to find a team of senior and middle managers that can help move his business’s vision and mission, Art needs to spend more time on developing the vision and mission of his company. Creating this team and hierarchy will help develop his business model and will create an expectation and culture to which all levels of employees will aspire to and follow. Once Art can do this, he can remove himself from the daily tasks of the store level and allow the talent and dedication of his managers to carry out the goals and objectives of the company.
4.What management skills must Art master if he is to resolve his company’s problems and continue to grow?
Art has to be more of a senior manager, spending more time looking at the growth of the company, the challenges of competition and changing demographics rather than worrying about whether an employee showed up for work or if a supply delivery reached a store on a given day. Art has to look at the overall productivity of the company and make strategic decisions for the future growth and well being of his employees and stock holders.
progress Check Questions (Text page 14)
- Why is management such a difficult subject to study?
- Why should a manager model the behavior s/he expects from his/her people?
- Consider the list of behaviors one must give up to become a successful manager. Which one would be the hardest to give up? Why?
- Think of your current job (or a job you have had in the past). How well does/did your manager abide by the “management agreement”?