Managing People Successfully - Coursework Example

MANAGING PEOPLE SUCCESSFULLY al Affiliation) A manager is an individual who has the opportunity to lead, mentor, monitor, and supervise others. The ability to manage people effectively results to the company’s overall success (Slater, 2010). Managers need to plan on how they will thrive their team to succeed. The biggest role of managers is to make things happen and ensure that the vision and mission of a company is clear and implemented efficiently and successfully (Margerison & Dick, 2000). An effective manager is keen on the facets of management, leadership, and learning skills within an organization. In addition, they achieve a hardworking, productive, and effective workforce that work towards achieving the expected or exceeding the expected performance. Successful managers are able to attract exceptional staff, they are involved in increasing the market share of the organization, and they make the organization to be a preferred employer and are involved in reducing costs. Moreover, successful managers are committed to go the extra mile to ensure the goals of an organization are met (Leatherman, 2008). The importance if managing people is to guide employees on an efficient and effective productive work while leading by example. It involves directing and organizing people to ensure better co-ordination and output. Managers should not only have technical knowledge about their work but also the management functions and principles. Managing people successfully is not the only skill a manager needs to be successful. Successful managers have the skill of relating well with their staff. They give themselves and others a chance to succeed. Thus, a good manager will not ask the people under him to something they may not do themselves. They trust, commit, and engage in relationships that benefit the organization. It is the manner in which a manager creates a relationship with their staff, which separates the ordinary employees from the good, as well as the exceptional ones (Torrington &Jane, 2001). According to behavioral management theory, managers should understand and treat employees as great assets to achieve organizational goals. This can be done by motivating employees whenever they achieve the set targets. In addition, successful managers have the skill of taking full control of their domain, act like an owner, and perform their responsibilities with utmost confidence. On the other hand, unsuccessful managers are not sure of themselves because they lack the confidence and knowledge to manage people. The lack of confidence results to them to be defensive when the decisions they make are questioned. In addition, the defensive nature of the unsuccessful managers and the lack of confidence as well as the lack of complete control of their domain and decision making causes others to distrust them and the judgments they make (Rossiter, 1998). Successful managers have values, which resonate with those of the organization. They act and live these values and make decisions based on these values. In addition, they embody and practice their values whether they are providing customer service, or the commitment to quality, they are always striving to master and improve their values (Pickford, 2003). This is because they always look at their behavior before looking at others and judge based on what they believe is right. By doing this, they are able to set a good example for their staff who might eventually emulate both on the job and off the job. However, those who do not have values do not know what they want in life and have difficulties when making decisions. They tend to follow other people’s opinions and beliefs, as they are not firm. As managers cannot work on their own, they need to have the skill of effective delegation to achieve the team’s goals and objectives. For delegation to be successful, managers need to match tasks and people according to their knowledge and skills. The first step is to identify the team’s goals and ensuring that each team member is clear with their roles and goals. In addition is it important to ensure that all team members are accountable for their results (Wellington, 2011). Having a purpose and explaining to the team how it will work is a useful tool for achieving the desired results as well as keeping the team back on track whenever a team member goes astray. On the other hand, those managers who prefer doing all the work on their own may end up having so much workload and work pressure therefore not achieving the expected results. This eventually leads to them becoming unhappy, stressed and the feeling of not delivering. Therefore, delegation is a win-win situation when done appropriately. Delegation allows managers to make the best use of their knowledge, skills, and time as team members grow and develop to reach their full potential. However, this does not mean that managers can delegate anything thus delegating effectively (Ong, 2010). Successful managers are committed to excellence and this is why they set high standards and work hard to achieve or exceed them. They ensure that the employees meet the standards that are attainable and realistic. However, unsuccessful managers just work to meet the set standards they do not go an extra mile to challenge themselves for better results. They are always whining about the team members and do nothing to make the employees perfect their skills and knowledge (Katzenbach & Douglas, 2003). Effective communication is the heart to excellence and most successful mangers have the skill of communicating with their teams to meet their goals and objectives. Communication is one of the important roles of a manager to keep the workplace running effectively. Successful managers are excellent communicators and provide ample feedback that many be positive or negative. They are always available and ready to communicate and pass useful information to their staff. They are always present and easily accessible and even when working in remote areas they are reachable by phone, email, or text. On the other hand, unsuccessful managers do not provide ample feedback to their staff, are always absent and hard to find. They take time to respond to urgent matters and at times do not respond. When they are working in remote areas, they do not respond to calls or even return calls and sometimes switch off their phones. Successful managers know the importance of providing meaningful feedback in real time (Hadderman, 2008). It is the responsibility of a manager to ensure that the staff gets training in the job duties. A manager should plan for a schedule for orientation of the staff and any other subsequent training that is important for the employee to perform their job. A manager is responsible for evaluating the performance of the employees and determines whether more training should be conducted. In addition, managers should be able to identify employees who are candidates for promotions and advanced positions in the organizations (Whitaker, 2000). They should not be bias and should conduct the promotion process professionally. Moreover, they are also responsible for making the decision of terminating an employee who is unable to perform their roles satisfactorily. However, managers who do not train their employees always get poor results as the team members are not well equipped with the right resources for ensuring they work towards meeting the goals and objective of the organization. Successful managers are flexible, open-minded and adapt the ever-changing work environment. They are always looking for new opportunities and new ways of doing things. They strive to learn a new thing every day so they can better themselves (Drucker, 2005). They are open to positive criticism and use it to better themselves. On the other hand, unsuccessful managers are closed minded, do not like change and rigid. They are in the comfort zone and are afraid of progress. They do not mind doing routine work and are comfortable with what they have. Successful managers are disciplined and do what is required of them, in addition they have the skill of disciplining their teams effectively. They follow the policies of an organization and have the desire to excel themselves and the team members (Whitehead, 2000). Additionally, they commit to meet organization objectives by doing the right thing at the right time. However, unsuccessful managers do not have discipline and only work when they feel like. They delegate all the work so they are left idle doing nothing. They are lazy and are not fully committed to fulfil the objectives of an organization. Successful managers gain cooperation in the workplace without dominating and gain power without force. They know what they want and do and their intentions are clear (Dalton & George, 1996). They have focus and aim at working hard to ensure they meet their goals. However, unsuccessful managers want to be seen as “the boss” and are motivated by an ego rather than the desire to be of service to others (Dalton & George, 1996). They misuse their authority, power, and demand to be respected. In addition, team members who work for such managers are normally discouraged by such behaviors and may eventually leave the organization. Successful managers are aware of what is needed for them to excel in the workplace and dedicate to perfecting their skills. They are always aware of what is going on in their departments and ensure their team members are aware of what is going on in their department and the organization at large (Haves, 1997). On the other hand, unsuccessful managers often struggle to achieve what is required of them and are not sure of their expectations. They do not know what constitutes the appropriate actions therefore ending up working in undefined and underdeveloped objectives (Lussier & Christopher, 2001). Successful managers have the skill of using office resources effectively and focus most of their time, resources, and energies in perfecting their skills to fulfil their responsibilities and achieving results. According to the scientific management theory, managers need to improve efficiency in the organization. For example, reducing waste in the office by using office equipment effectively. They do not do this to portray a good image because they believe that their actions, accomplishments, and performance speak for themselves. These managers and their teams have tangible results, which they have worked hard to achieve. However, unsuccessful managers always talk about their plans but do not put it in action (Gebelein, 2008). They always want to portray a favorable image and they are more concerned in looking good but in the real sense, they do not as their actions betray them. In the end, they get criticism for acting well while the results are poor. Successful managers have the skill of coaching others. They are always willing to educate, encourage, and counsel others so they can succeed (Bluck, 1996). These managers commit to be active in their teams performance improvements as well as helping them become more talented and capable. Conversely, unsuccessful managers do not coach those under them, as they are not interested in developing other people’s skills. They do not like sharing ideas and opinions as they see it as a way of the team members taking up their positions. To them, coaching others is a sure way of sacking themselves. Successful managers know that success does not happen overnight. They know it is a continuous process that is perfected every day (Covey, 2004). They do not mind repeating for the team members to understand the concept that will help achieve their goals. They help others succeed through repeated coaching and the provision of examples. They are aware that in order for a team to be successful as well as maintain a high level of success, they need to repeat frequently while maintaining high standards of discipline. Nevertheless, unsuccessful managers find it a task to repeat the same concept over again (Bagraim, 2010). They see it as a waste of time and resources. To them, they would rather fire someone who does not get the concept other that repeat. They do not value success and this is the reason they would not repeat a concept. The management structure helps managers be responsible in planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the efforts of an organization towards meeting its business objectives. This includes, regional managers organizing for operations on a regional basis. They also delegate and direct activities that need accomplishment. In conclusion, successful managers have the urge to grow and develop themselves and others. They do not mind training and coaching others to make them succeed. They are good listeners and excellent communicators. They are always available and ready to make others succeed in their careers and life. References Bagraim, Jeffrey 2010. People Management. 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