(
Revised
Unit 1 from English for Managers by E.Tikhova and E.Tolstikova)
WARM-UP POINT
Divide the following styles of behaviour into pairs of opposites:
being group oriented
being cautious and careful
being decisive and able to take rapid individual decisions
being individualistic
being assertive, authoritative, ruthless and competitive
being happy to take risks
being good at listening and sensitive to other people's feelings
being intuitive
being logical, rational and analytic
liking consensus and conciliation
Which five of the above styles do you think are generally
preferable for managers?
Now look at the following list of qualities. Which are the most important for a manager?
k. being competent and efficient in one's job
l. being friendly and sociable
m. being a hard worker
n. being persuasive
o. having good ideas
p. being good at communicating
q. being good at motivating people
r. being good at taking the initiative and leading other people
Make a list of the five most important qualities from a. to r.
Which of these qualities do you think you have? Which do you lack?
Which could you still learn?
Which do you have to be born with?
THEORY-1 POINT
WHAT IS MANAGEMENT
1.
The need for effective managers has never been greater. We are living in an era of accelerating global competition. Pressures from foreign companies are causing many managers to reassess their approaches as they strive to be successful in a formidable competitive environment. More than ever, managers operating both globally and domestically require the best ideas that the field of management has to offer in order to gain a competitive edge.
2
For most of us, organizations are an important part of our daily lives. By organization, we mean two or more persons engaged in a systematic effort to produce goods or services. We all deal with organizations when we attend classes, deposit money at the bank, buy clothing, and attend a movie. Our lives are indirectly affected by organizations through the products we use.
3
Management is the process of achieving organizational goals by engaging in the four major functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. This definition recognizes that management is an ongoing activity, entails reaching important goals, and involves knowing how to perform the major functions of management. These functions are crucial to effective management. In this section, we provide a brief overview of the four functions (see Figure 1-1). Then we consider how they relate to other major aspects of managerial work.
4
Planning is the management function that involves setting goals and deciding how best to achieve them. This function also includes considering what must be done to encourage necessary levels of change and innovation.
Organizing is the management function that focuses on allocating and arranging human and non-human resources so that plans can be carried out successfully. Through the organizing function managers determine which tasks are to be done, how tasks can best be combined into specific jobs, and how jobs can be grouped into various units that make up the structure of the organization. Staffing jobs with individuals who can successfully carry out plans is also part of the organizing function.
Leading is the management function that involves influencing others to engage in the work behaviours necessary to reach organizational goals. Leading includes communicating with others, helping to outline a vision of what can be accomplished, providing direction, and motivating organization members to put forth the substantial effort required.
Controlling is the management function aimed at regulating organizational activities so that actual performance conforms to expected organizational standards and goals. To do the necessary regulating, managers need to monitor ongoing activities, compare the results with expected standards or progress toward goals, and take corrective action as needed.
Figure 1-1. The interactive nature of the management process
The Management Process
5
While the four major functions of management form the basis of the managerial process, there are several additional key elements in the process. As Figure 1-2 shows, work methods and managerial roles, as well as work agendas, feed into the core management functions. A manager's knowledge base and key management skills are other important factors that contribute to high performance (goal achievement). The management process applies not only to profit-making organizations, but also to not-for-profit organizations.
6
A not-for-profit organization (sometimes called a nonprofit organization) is organization whose main purposes centre on issues other than making profits. Common examples are government institutions, educational institutions, cultural institutions, charitable institutions, and many health-care facilities.
Nature of Work Agenda
7
A work agenda is a loosely connected set of tentative goals and tasks that a manager is attempting to accomplish.
Work agendas provide rough guidelines within which managers operate in determining how to orient their various activities and roles. There are three main factors that are likely to have an impact on a manager's work agenda: demands, constraints, and choices.
Job demands are the activities a manager must do in a job. For example, managers usually have responsibilities related to the major goals and plans of the organization (such as achieving a 10 percent increase in sales) that are difficult to ignore.
Job constraints are the factors, both inside and outside the organization, that limit what a manager can do. Constraints include such variables as resource limitations, legal restrictions, union contract provisions, technological limitations, and the degree to which the work of a manager's unit is defined.
Job choices are work activities that the manager can do but does not have to do. For example, without a directive to do so, a manager might initiate a proposal to develop a
C omputerized customer service tracking system. Thus work agendas tend to reflect, at least to some extent, the personal preferences and career objectives of individual managers.
Work Methods and Roles
8
We have discussed management in terms of four broad functions. We can look beyond these functions to identify a number of specific roles that managers may fill at various times. You are already familiar with some of the crucial roles required of managers - because you are already a veteran of many different relationships that have evolved over your life thus far! In your ties with your family, friends, classmates, and co-workers, sometimes you lead, sometimes you act as a go-between or liaison, and sometimes others look to you as a symbol of some worthwhile trait such as honesty or willingness to work hard. In these same relationships, you monitor what is going on outside the relationship, share information with your partners, and even act as a spokesperson for them. Furthermore, you sometimes take the initiative, sometimes handle disagreements, sometimes allocate resources such as money, and sometimes negotiate with your collaborators.
Henry Mintzberg has carefully studied what managers do. In his book "The Nature of Managerial Work" he describes the manager's agenda as consisting of precisely the ten activities discussed above. Mintzberg refers to the first three as interpersonal roles of a manager, the next three as informational roles, and the final four as decisional roles.