Modern Trends in Capabilities Management - Essay Example

? Managing capability Introduction It is rather difficult to define what management is and the best method of its application. Actually, management is not just something that we commonly learn and afterwards apply. It is a mix of both formal and informal methods of people management. (Thompson, 211) However, also it is something that is more sensitive; you need to have some personal skills, some feelings or instincts which can not be taught. (Bandura, 132) This can emerge from past experiences as well because we learn more from our experiences (not only from work experiences but from life experiences as well) than from taught knowledge. "I learn to be a manager from experience". (Mumford, 177) Then, why is it so complicated to manage people all times whether it is 1990 or 2010? The reason is there is not only one way to manage people but a multitude of ways. Everybody is different; he/she acts and reacts differently to the same situation. There are a lot of variables which intervene like character, knowledge, past experience, etc. Management capabilities area, in business management, is quite complex. People, who take part to this process, have their own strengths and weaknesses. They have their own point of view about what management is their own capability to transfer their knowledge. In addition to it, the working context gets changes. It appears some changes in the employment patterns, in the structure of the organization and in the economical and managerial context. Prospective and Modern Trends in Capabilities Management The environment of the work very much influences the form and the efficiency of the management which is applied. Indeed, there were a lot of changes in the way of managing people, because the structure of the company has changed (restructuring, re-engineering, downsizing...), the market has changed as well (globalization, decentralization, and deregulation), the culture has changed (feminization; psychological contract). The manager has to internalize all these variables to be able to produce a greater managerial work, adapted to his/her audience. The achievement of the objectives depends, to a great extent, on the way the management is applied. Thus, we can propose a definition of management in Naylor’s words that management is the course of gaining organizational targets, within a varying environment, by harmonizing efficiency, effectiveness and equity, acquiring the most from restricted resources, and working with and through other people" (Naylor, 6). Managing Capabilities and its Impact of Organizational Development Management is the practice of attaining organizational objectives, within a shifting atmosphere, by balancing competence, efficiency and fairness, achieving the most from limited resources, and functioning with and through a successful team comprising other people (Naylor, 6). The enhanced intricacy of the working atmosphere and the improved requirement for better productivity transpire the significance of the individual development and learning phases. In addition, Pickett (1998) affirms that in today set ups, managers, must recognize the core competencies of their organization. This act will guarantee the ample and suitable corresponding between the organizational and the personal or managerial competencies. (Pickett, 111) Khandwalla (2004) research results summarize management capability which has been extremely oriented in successful managers in various organizations throughout the world. The core competencies appear to be goodwill promoting" (p.12). Trustworthiness has a great effect on the capability to earn esteem which eventually helps to activate insufficient resources in tough situations. Planning aptitude and time management capabilities have revealed appositive impact for taking individual responsibilities. In managing capability in corporate sector, team building traits are an essential source for helpful, effectual and relaxed environment. Some schools have different approaches to management development. The management development is "...the planning and the management of people's learning." (Updegraff, 43) They privilege a more formal, more structural approach. Others see management development as a skilled professional process"... The skilful condition of knowledge experiences in the workplace in order that capability can be improved." (Updegraff, 45) Through this, management development is seen as a planned, formalized and highly structured process. In fact, the key features are the clarification of the objectives, the planning, the organization, the direction and the control (Updegraff, 47). We can highlight two types of formal managerial tools: the 'on- the-job' ones and the 'off-the-job' ones. According to Mumford, there are three types of 'on the job' learning: 1.Changes in job (promotion, job rotation). 2.Changes in job content (responsibilities, project work, membership of committees and junior broads). 3. Within the job function (counseling, training, modeling, mentoring, feedback but also all the way through technical as well as managerial literature). Even if it is planned and formal, this type is contextually relevant because managers are placed in informal learning contexts. However, through the on-the-job learning methods, "learning is limited to manager's experience, thus it is potentially insufficient". (Mumford, 183) Moreover, this type "may lead to performance but not developmental-focused learning" because if you get no feedback, you can not learn from your task. (Mumford, 188) Concerning the 'off-the-job' learning, we can distinguish: 1.On site or off site training courses (training courses, lectures, focus group, role plays, skills and competencies based) 2.Management education 3. Outdoor learning events (outdoor project based on physical activities which can focus on leadership, team working. This type can offer a new insight into learning not available in the job previously; you can concentrate on your development and your learning. Finally, the formal management development methods are planned, target the learning and provide some clear and measurable objective. (Robbins, 266) However, they are also costly and may not fit with the individual needs or interests. In addition, there exists a difficulty to transferring learning in practice, and these methods do not recognize the individual differences. Informal model Managers need more that formal methods to manage people. The problem is that sometimes there is no clue of how to solve a problem, perhaps because it is the first time that this problem occurred. The formal methods can not bring a solution because we can not always transfer knowledge into practice. For that reason informal learning processes become more and more important. These methods are based on the accidental learning process. They try to be more flexible and experimental. This model associates two major methods of management development: 1.the retrospective one 2. The prospective one Both are linked with the Learning Cycle (Luthans, 60): -Concrete experience -Active Experimentation -Reflective observation -Abstract Conceptualization The learning circle shows how learning can be viewed as a circular process. It means that learning is a continual process. We always learn (life-long learning). The retrospective learning process is based on: 1.Something 2.It is reviewed 3. Conclusions experienced are reached This scheme explains that experiences are learning opportunities. Sometimes people stock on the concrete experience but in fact they just act, make their task and not learn from. In the retrospective methods, there is an important work on the past experience, which creates new learning. Every time, we learn from our mistakes more that our successes, each experience give us more practical knowledge. Thus, these methods allow people to clarify what has been learned, provide deeper analysis of what is learned, and increase the understanding of how they learned. (Fujimoto, & Hartel, 54) The prospective learning process is based on: 1.Plan to learn 2.Implement Plan 3.It is reviewed 4. Conclusions from activity are reached This method consists of looking into the future. We need to introspect the tasks before they have been done. We plan, we try and we learn from. Through informal methods, people learn from their past experiences (accidentally) and not just act according to a formal guide. Then, they acquire some practical knowledge. Moreover, these methods develop the learning skills because they learn how to learn. These methods bring more than formal methods because they take into account of the changes of the work context and the differences between people. However, we can be limited to applying only the informal methods because you can not just learn from your own experiences; you need to have some formal supports. (Pickett, 112) In addition, with these methods, company has less control on the performance because the manager assesses it on their own. Here a question arises if is it appropriate to use appropriate methods in order to develop effective management capabilities? And the answer is definitely yes. Highlighted by the analysis of the different methods, it is clear that formal methods are necessary to an effective management development but they are not sufficient. Coping with Individual Differences and Managing Capabilities An issue of the management development is the audience. You can not apply the same management to each group. Everybody is different and react differently to a style of management. Then, the managerial work becomes more difficult because it is quasi impossible to adapt it to each person. Therefore, the notion of self-development has been developed. In addition, the key features of formal methods which are planning, organization, motivation, co-ordination and control, have led structures for developing managers which have been unrealistic, and therefore unhelpful. Moreover, their research highlighted that managerial activities in which individual had to be effective were seen to depend on the specific kind of function and job, or the manager's interpretation of that job (or role), and other's interpretation of the manager's role and responsibilities within the job. According to Mumford, if effectiveness is defined clearly by managers in terms of results and not on the knowledge that someone possesses. Instead of giving emphasis to the knowledge in subsequent action, it would be both more appropriate and more likely to be successful if we gave attention to issue of action and only secondary attention to issue of the required knowledge. Thus, the only use of formal methods seems to be inappropriate because they do not include the difference between people. The changes in the work context (globalization, restructure, new technologies) created some changes in culture of the organization (Mumford, 192) Effective program of management development "An effective management development is based first on awareness of effective managerial behavior. Secondly, the awareness of effective learning processes must also be a prime constituent. Thirdly, development is most likely to arise from real work rather than abstract knowledge or even simulation of real work" (Mumford, 193). Thus, an effective management development program should be one which associates both formal methods and informal methods. On the other part, it should be integrate an individual dimension. Then, the self-management learning allows the manager to set its own objectives and goals. In addition, the manager would be able to co-ordinate the learning needs with its own strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, self-development is flexible and quickly adaptable to changes and new contemporary issues of managerial work in contrast to formal tools, where managers are educated through courses, workshops and seminars which do not go into the particular strengths and weaknesses of the individual participant. (Gardner & Schermerhorn, 275) However, the evaluation of this method is quite complex because it depends on a self-assessment. The manager may be weakened because he/she has no formal structure to assess his/her work. Thus, the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) may answer to the problem of structures. It provides some structures of self-evaluation and planning and integrates formal and informal methods. Moreover, CPD aims "to develop a culture and system where people are encouraged to think as widely as they can in order to stimulate individual growth and ensure the company's long-term survival." (Harrison 135). In addition, the CPD takes into account of the changes in work environment. This dimension adds some values to the formal methods. However, there are some issues of this process. Firstly, research has highlighted that there are a lack of employer support, a lack of support mechanisms (Yagan, 88) and a lack of manager capability. Indeed, some manager may not be really capable of self-development. In addition, the CPD "develops a greater awareness of self and work and the sources of development opportunities and may be a strong motivator and source of self-efficacy. Unfortunately, it might generate an isolation of manager's goals and skills from those needed by the organization". (Yagan, 90) The evaluation is an important part of the identification of the efficacy of a management development. Indeed, the evaluation looks at the total value of the management development strategy. In addition, it allows justifying the costs (Training, development department), identifying the impact of the learners' motivation, skills, attitudes, behavior, and job satisfaction and on the profitability and the performance of the organization. To evaluate the impact of the management development strategy, organizations have to look at the bottom line (Impact on the profitability), the cost effectiveness, and the level of strategic integration. However, the problem of evaluating the value of Management Development is the objectivity of the measures. In fact, it is quite subjective to evaluate the emotional, attitudinal and behavioral aspects. Leadership is considered a higher or next level where a person is ready to successfully start and/or run an entire business and does not need to be managed at all. This do not mean running a simple sub shop or dry cleaning service, but a complex organization where multiple departments and/or disciplines must be used to deliver value to customers and where many employees and departments must be coordinated. This has a large set of skills which could fill a book and most people will jump in before they are ready, but that is how we learn too. The global capability oriented competitive battles in high-technology industries and firms such as information services, corporate sector, semiconductors, and software have verified the requirement for an extended paradigm to recognize how competitive advantage is gained. Well-known companies emerge to have adhered to a capability-based approach of multiplying employees as assets, often protected by a forceful capability stance. However, this policy is frequently not enough to maintain a noteworthy competitive advantage. Winning managers in the global market position have been businesses that can display well-timed receptiveness and rapid and stretchy product innovation, tied with the management capability to successfully coordinate and reorganize internal and external competences. Not amazingly, corporate observers have observed that companies can heap up a large stockpile of expensive technology and still not have many functional capabilities. In terms of capability management, this ability refers to achieve new forms of dynamic capabilities to highlight two key features which were not the major focal point of concentration in preceding strategy standpoints. The term dynamic in the context of capability refers to the faculty to renovate competences so as to attain congruence with shifting surroundings that is prevailing contemporarily or expected to occur prospectively; certain inventive responses are requisite when time-to-market is decisive, the tempo of technological transformation is rapid, and the environment of future contest and markets hard to conclude. The term capabilities accentuates the key function of strategic management in properly adapting, assimilating, and reconfiguring internal and external capability based people management and organizational skills. With this also raise the resources and practical competences to equalize the requirements of a changing atmosphere. One facet of the strategic dilemma in front of an innovating firm in a world of tough competition is to categorize complex to reproduce internal and external competences most probable to maintain valuable services and products. Preferences about spheres of capability are influenced by precedent choices. At any specified point of time, firms must pursue a certain path or corridor of competence growth. This trajectory not only elaborates what choices are open to the firm today, but it also puts limits around what its internal inventory is likely to be in the prospect. The concept of competitive advantage requires two types of exploitations which are called internal and external management-specific capabilities. However, only lately have researchers started to spotlight the specifics of how some organizations initially develop management-specific capabilities and how they renovate competences to react to shifts in the corporate environment. These matters are familiarly tied to the firm's business progressions, market evaluations, and development paths. The dynamic capabilities trait offers a consistent agenda which can both incorporate existing theoretical and experiential knowledge, and facilitate recommendation. Capable managers who are in direct contact with employees may be the most important influences on the motivation levels of employees. Capable managers understand the unique characteristics of each employee and are responsive to their differences. Applying the theories of individual differences can help managers work effectively with many different types of employees. Two proven ways to help employees be productive are to be sure that they have clear and challenging goals to strive for and to be sure that employees feel good about achieving those goals. Goals affect motivation in two ways: by increasing the amount of effort people choose to exert and by directing or channeling that effort. When employees accept a goal as something to strive for and then commit to achieving that goal, they essentially agree to exert the amount of effort required to do so. Put simply, goal-setting theory states that managers can direct the performance of their employees by assigning specific, difficult goals that employees accept and are willing to commit to. In addition, goal setting can be effective only if employees have the competencies needed to achieve the goals and receive feedback about their progress toward achieving them. Conclusion To conclude, the management development area is quite complex. People that take part in this process have their own strengths and weaknesses, their own point of view about what is management, their own capability to transfer their knowledge. In addition, the working context changes with time. It appears some changes in the employment patterns, in the structure of the organization and in the economical and political context. The formal methods and the informal methods have their own advantages and disadvantages but the both are necessary to an effective management. There are numerous approaches to several management styles in contemporary business. Nevertheless, there is a straightforward and efficient system that can be utilized to leverages, many of these fantastic systems that can be anywhere from implausible to devastating in a specific situation. In every case, some consideration must be specified to which skill is suitable for each exceptional situation and individual. The personal capabilities to exercise changes as been addresses through various theories and concept. In connection with managing capabilities, self efficiency and self responsiveness aptitudes afford an insight to one’s abilities to adjust his behavior through analysis and decisive appraisal of activities. Additionally, personal triumph to transformation also implies to be ingrained in one’s perception of one’s emotions. An effective and yet a simple model for managing capabilities uses the following amalgamation of well known management technique by opting the proper manner for each individual. This is an uncomplicated model to comprehend and execute the management method to each individual's definite abilities and boundaries. Generally speaking, a 21st manager must start by working very narrowly i.e. micromanagement of capabilities oriented tasks through proper capable team members. This will facilitate them in settling on their unique capabilities and then move them up and down the scale until they would reach their existing ability to carry out all aspects of the job. Preliminary micromanagement will also permit defining of constraints for working collectively and considering each employee's individual styles and wants. Works Cited Bandura, A. (2000). Cultivate self-efficacy for personal and organizational effectiveness. In E. A. Locke (Ed.), Handbook of principles of organization behavior (pp. 120-136). Oxford, UK: Blackwell. Barczak, G, McDonough III, EF (2003). 'Leading global product development teams', Research Technology Management. Washington, Vol.46, Iss. 6; pg. 14 Burgoyne & Reynolds (1997), Management Learning: Integrating Perspective in Theory and Practice. Sage publication. 110 Fujimoto, Y & Hartel, C (2004), 'Culturally Specific Prejudices: Interpersonal Prejudices of Individualists and Intergroup Prejudices of Collectivists', Cross Cultural Management. Patrington:.Vol.11, Iss. 3; pg. 54 Gardner, W.L. and Schermerhorn, J.R., (2004) "Unleashing Individual Potential: Performance Gains Through Positive Organizational Behavior and Authentic Leadership". Organizational Dynamics, 33,: 270-281. Harrison, R (1997), Employee Development. Institute of Personnel and Development. 135 Khandwalla, P.N. (2004) Competencies for Senior Manager Roles. 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