Horizontal Dimension: Responsibility Areas

In addition to their vertical differences, managerial jobs differ on a horizontal dimension that relates to the nature of the area of responsibility involved.

The three major types of horizontal differentiation among managerial jobs on the basis of responsibility area are functional, general, and project managers.

Functional managers are managers who have responsibility for a specific, specialized area (often called a functional area) of the organization and supervise mainly individuals with expertise and training in that specialized area. Common specialized, or functional, areas include finance, manufacturing or operations, marketing, human resources management, accounting, quality assurance, and engineering.

General managers are managers who have responsibility for a whole organization or a substantial subunit that includes most of the common specialized areas within it. In other words, a general manager presides over a number of specialties or functional areas (hence the term “general”). General managers have a variety of titles such as “division manager” and “president”, depending on the circumstances. A small company usually will have only one general manager, who is the head of the entire organization. Depending on how it is organized, a large company may have several general managers (in addition to the chief executive officer).

Project managers are managers who have responsibility for coordinating efforts involving individuals in several different organizational units who are all working on a particular project. Because the individuals report not only to managers in their specific work units but also to project managers. Project managers usually must have extremely strong interpersonal skills to keep things moving smoothly.

Project managers are frequently used in aerospace and other high-technology firms to coordinate projects, such as airplane or computer project development. They also are used in some consumer-oriented companies to launch or stay on top of market development for specific products such as cookies or margarine.

II. Exercises.

1. Ознакомьтесь со словами в разделе III и запомните их.

2. Переведите предложения, обращая внимание на подчеркнутые словосочетания:

Пример: Managerial jobs in organizations fall into such categories as: first-line, middle, and top management.

Перевод: Виды управленческой деятельности в организациях подпадают под такие категории, как: управляющий первого звена, управляющий среднего звена и высшее руководство.

1. At the same time, the power of first-line supervisors has been gradually eroding because of such factors as union influence and the unceasing educational level of workers.

2. Middle managers also sometimes supervise operating personnel, such as administrative assistants and several specialists (such as engineers or financial analysts).

3. Some typical titles include such words as “manager”, “director of”, “chief”, “department head”, and “division head”.

4. General managers have a variety of titles, such as “division manager” and “president”, depending on the circumstances.

5. Project managers are frequently used in aerospace and other high-technology firms to coordinate projects, such as airplane or computer project development.

6. They also are used in some consumer-oriented companies to launch or stay on top of market development for specific products such as cookies or margarine.

3. Найдите в тексте предложения, в которых употребляется причастие настоящего времени – Participle I. Определите его формы и функции. Переведите эти предложения на русский язык (см. грамматический справочник, стр. 80).

4. Переведите письменно текст на русский язык, пользуясь словарем.

5. Напишите развернутые ответы на следующие вопросы, исходя из содержания текста:

1. What do a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension differ in?

2. What are first-line managers directly responsible for?

3. Why can first-line supervisors easily find themselves in the middle of conflicting demands?

4. What titles are used for middle managers?

5. Why did many companies begin cutting the number of levels of management hierarchy by the early 1980s?

6. What managers typically oversee the overall planning for the organization?

7. What do functional areas include?

8. What does a general manager preside over?

9. Why must project managers usually have extremely strong interpersonal skills?

6. Напишите определения к следующим терминам своими словами на английском языке:

• first-line managers /supervisors;

• middle managers;

• top managers;

• functional managers;

• general managers;

• project managers.

7. Напишите на английском языке, как Вы понимаете:

“The variation of managerial jobs on the basis of a vertical dimension and a horizontal one”.