The Human Resource Department in the Company - Essay Example

? Key points Introduction of the topic in general aspects Identifying the major roles and functions of a manager The importance of each role or function in the organization Identify a particular managerial function Identification of an external environmental factor that impacts on this function General explanation of this external environmental factor The impact of this factor on that particular managerial function (Negative or Positive) How the manager is dealing with this particular impact to harmonize the company Identifying the major challenges in dealing with this external factors Conclusion of the topic with regard to the externalities and managerial function Impact of Recent Specific External Environmental Change Name: Instructor: Task: Date: Impact of Recent Specific External Environmental Change Introduction There are five categories of managerial functions, namely: planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. For a manager to work efficiently, he/she must be able to master all the five skills. Planning is the outlined steps on how to achieve your company’s goal. For instance, I am currently working with a toy company and I apply these skills on a daily basis. However, one will realize it is important to outline steps on how to offer the best services, attract a large market share and how to expand services internationally. Organizing falls right after planning. After the manager has come up with a good plan, the manager starts to organize the materials and staff according to the plan (Adrienne 2006, p. 68). He or she will give authority to staff. Similarly, different staff members usually perform different duties. Staffing is also a key contributor to a good managerial function. A manager must work hand in hand with the human resource department in the company to ensure recruitment, training, selecting and developing employees is perfect. This helps the company in having qualified and hardworking staff. In addition, the manager needs more than just organizing or planning. The manager needs to motivate his employees. He also needs to encourage his employees. He can achieve this by solving the arising problems that the employees are facing. This helps in building a good relationship between the employees and the manager. Consequently, controlling also being one of the major functions is important. After all the four functions are in place, the manager has to be checking on the progress just to ensure that the organization is running smoothly. He has to check and ensure that the company is running in accordance with the set objectives and goals. Hence, the manager has to be in control. The external environment has two major divisions, namely: direct and indirect interactive (Bassie 2008, p. 161). In direct interactive, the environment has an immediate impact on the organization. A new competitor entering the market is a good example for direct interactive. However, in indirect interactive the environment has a secondary impact on the organization. Similarly, planning being the major role of management requires modernized and accurate decision making for the company’s achievement. It is evident that without planning, one is destined to fail. Additionally, planning gives an organization a sense of direction in that they are able to deal with any organizational problem efficiently (Burke 2010, p. 8). Without a plan, organizations are likely to make temporary choices that will impinge on the organization in the end. With a plan, long-term decisions make the organization work efficiently. Planning gives the employees a sense of motivation. The employees knowing the results will work tirelessly towards the purposed goal. In addition, it brings teamwork, with a well-outlined plan; people of different roles are able to work together in harmony knowing what they are supposed to do. Planning helps reduce potential problems in the future; it makes problem solving easier because the people involved already know how they will handle it. Similarly, a good plan helps in decision-making. However, without a plan there are no guidelines on how one can make decisions in the future. Hence, planning is the most basic role that is required before the other four managerial functions. Without planning, there is no organization. One of the major challenges that I have in executing the managerial functions as a toy store manager is the external environment. The impact of external environment either positively or negatively influences the direction of the organization. For instance, in the last twelve months the government has taken measures in streamlining the market of all goods and services across the board. This has a major impact on planning because planning has to be in line with the government provisions. Additionally, this year the government has regulated the importation of materials that are critical in the manufacturing of toys, hence having a negative impact on planning. This is because the company in not in a position to meet the market demand due to reduced production. However, the biggest external driver that has affected the company is the introduction additional competitors in the market, hence stiffening the competition. This factor has a direct impact on planning as a managerial function. The manager has to come up with an effective plan to increase sales and outsmart all other competitors in the industry. Competition is the major external factor that that directly influences the planning process as a managerial function. In this case, from previous statistics of the toy industry, it has experienced many new entrants in the market. Increased competition makes planning more complex in a company or organization Before planning, an organization must determine their organizational goals that they want to achieve (Harold 2007, p. 16). The goals act as missions and that is why many organizations have a mission statement. These mission statements symbolize the purpose of the organization and its existence, why the organization exists. A good mission statement attracts investors and many kinds of people; it also gives its employees a sense of working smart and harder to achieve their organizational goal. It also makes the society want to associate with the organization and thereby their services and products will be highly used by the society. This, in turn, leads to an increase in the organizations income leading to a good pay to its employers and the organization is able to give back to the society. A good pay will act as a motivation to the organization and thus, the employees will continue to offer their best services and products to the society. All this is due to good planning strategies. Planning involves making good goals. However, good criteria should be evident in order for a manager to realize the organizations goals. A manager must set measurable goals that the organization can honestly achieve. For example, if your company has been making little profit, one cannot come up with a goal that steers the organization to realize an increase in after tax profit. In addition, a poorly performing organization aiming to realize 25% profit in the short-term is highly unlikely. This goal is unrealistic; it is not achievable in the organization. However, if their goal entails getting a profit rise by 2% in two months, then it is achievable. This shows that by putting an achievable goal, the organization can realize its good planning (Joan 2011, p. 54). The goals set must also be specific in nature. By this, the organization is able to know the necessary steps required to achieve their goals. However, if their goal is not specific, then the employees are not able to know which steps to follow in order to achieve a certain goal. Specifying the kind of goals an organization has put in place and how to go about it reduces any kinds of delays and time wastage. It reduces the period an organization needs to realize its purpose. In addition, goals must also cover key result areas. The managers must be able to know the key areas in the organization that, if they are improved, the organization is able to acquire much more income. If it is in the customer care relation, then they mostly deal with customers face to face or if it is sales department. If a company deals with customers mostly, then they must come up with ways of improving their customer relations. However, if it is sales, the company must be able to come up with ways of improving their sales department. Having a goal that covers an organization’s key areas has the potential of elevating the situation of a company. This is so in that employees will tend to work on that goal to see its outcome. This goal gives a good outline to a good organizational plan that is able to revive and maintain the organization in business. However, the goals set must be challenging but not too difficult for employees to realize them. These goals must be according to the resources the company has and the financial position of the government. If the goals are unrealistic, this will lead to low motivation amongst the employees. Employees will not work towards the goal because they already know of the inadequate resources or money to realize their goal; the goal will be impossible for them to realize. However, if the goal looks easy to achieve, the employees will tend to work towards it. Easy goals give employees the motivation they need (Warren 2007, p. 23). They make the employees work towards them. Thus, the employees are able to realize the goal and this makes them overcome different kinds of challenges or obstacles on their way towards achieving their goal. In addition, goals should be time specific. This enables employees to work with a time schedule and helps reduce laziness in employees. Short-term goals give employees something to work towards unlike long term goals that always seem unrealistic to employees. Long-term goals make employees reluctant in working towards achieving them. They feel like it is too far and they have so much time, but a short-term goal with a deadline keeps the employees on their toes. Learning to put other activities with deadlines before the goal also helps in keeping the employees in good shape towards meeting the set goal. In addition, all goals are to be rewarded with something that is in line with the achieved goal, something tangible. By this, the employees will feel appreciated, and they will know that their efforts bore fruits. This is a good thing because the employees will have something to motivate them in the future. This will make them want to achieve more and more goals because they know: for every achievement there is always a reward. Motivation is always a key factor of getting employees to work effectively and efficiently. Co-ordination of all these plans leads to an effectively working organization. All these goals should work together in achieving what the organization has planned to achieve (Robert 2010, p. 8). If the plan included very achievable and good goals, then it is able to realize its success in the specified area. Plans fit in a form of hierarchy in that if the low-level goals are achieved, then in the end the high level goals will also be achieved. It has known as means ends chain in that, when the low-level goals are attainable, then the high-level goals are attainable in the end. There are three types of planning: tactical, strategic and operational planning. These types of planning always help the manager achieve his goals in the organization. In addition, operational plans include goals expected from individuals, workgroups and different departments in an organization. These goals are usually achievable in that they are specific and measurable, and they have a time specification (when they should end). On the other hand, managers and supervisors use this operational plan to ensure work is done effectively in the organization (Paul 2007, p. 97). They also use this goal to support tactical planning in the organization. Operational plan is divided into single use plan and ongoing plans. Single use plan is mostly for activities that do not repeat the activities that occur once. A budget can be a good example; a budget is for a specific project and carried out once. It outlines the steps it is going to use when funding. This is so because the project has no repetitions. On the contrary, ongoing plans are repetitive, their implementation is one-time and their effect lasts over a period. Examples of ongoing plans include procedures, rules and policies. In addition, policies are general statements that guide a manager on how to handle his/her responsibilities. They also act as guidelines to the managers. On the other hand, procedures explain or give directions on how activities carried out in an organization should be. Rules are what guides employees on what to do and what not to do. Rules also protect the employees. Most organizations set their rules using the ‘do’ and ‘don’t’ method. This helps employees to know what they are required to do and what they should not. These rules make them know their rights in an organization and in return, they protect them. They also promote the uniform treatment of employees in an organization. Without rules, an organization is destined to fail at all costs (Harold 2007, p. 16). Tactical plans are concerned with the lower unit in an organization. They are for a short-term period. They mostly last for one year on the higher side. Tactics are means used to activate a strategy and making it work. Unlike tactical plans, strategic plans are concerned with the organizations mission statement. It is a whole organizations plan; they have a longer time span. They look for over two to three years unlike the tactical plans that fall for less than one year. This plan requires harmony in all levels of management. This is because for it to be realized, all departments in the organization must work in harmony. For an organization to prosper, the manager must be able to be flexible, can adapt to any situation and, more so, can have the mastery of changing conditions. By this, it is clear that a manager has so many responsibilities to carry while still in office. This makes the manager to draft a good time schedule that will help him incorporate all what is required of him. Without the manager spending his time wisely, the organization will be on the verge of losing all it already has. To be an effective manager, you must understand every condition, and most of all, you must incorporate all these skills to work efficiently. However, as much as a manager might try to plan properly for his/her organization to be successful, there are always barriers that hinder them from this. These barriers, if not carefully considered, might render the organization unsuccessful. In order for them to overcome the barriers, they must be able to identify the potential barriers and give solutions to them. By this, they reduce the number of barriers that they are likely to encounter. If the barriers discovered not early enough, then the chances of the manager handling them in the right manner is also limited. There are different kinds of barriers that need careful handling. Different organizations have different barriers, but there are also the common barriers found in different organizations. The ability to plan is not inborn; no one is born with the ability to plan. Some organizations have managers that have no ability to plan. This is because they do not know about planning, and they do not have the background of planning. Improper schooling brings this about. When a manager is not able to incorporate all these factors, then he or she may not make the right choices to save the organization. Inability to plan is the right statement to use for managers who have no education or skill on planning (Ricky 2011, p. 9). A number of managers have the fear to fail. By this, they take little or no time to prepare an excellent plan for the organization. They tend to say they are too busy for that. However, they should note that an excellent plan would help in the success of the organization. A good number of the managers think that it is time wasting because it requires commitment and more time to come up with a good plan. Many of them are not committed in the planning process. By this, we can say lack of commitment is a big barrier towards making a good plan. Inferior information is one of the common barriers in planning. No matter how perfect the plan might look like, if based on facts that do not exist, then it is destined to fail. In conclusion, a good number of managers waste their time in making plans based on inferior information. To overcome this, manager must include true information; they must put their resources as per that time. They must be true to themselves and employees; by this, the outlined plan destined to work will be successful. In addition, focusing now than in the future is also another barrier. A number of managers try to sort out short term problems and forget about the future. Managers also focus so much on variables they can control and forget about the outside economy and thus, they do not get to realize their success. Good managers can overcome all barriers. Finally, to plan successfully managers have to use effective communication to all staff members. The managers also need to acquire quality information for their organizations success. References Adrienne, C 2006, Managing information & systems: the business perspective, Routledge, New York. Andrew, JD 2011, Essentials of management, South-Western College Pub, Massachusetts. Baton, C & Hazleton, V 2006, Public relations theory 2: public relations theory two (Lea's Communication Series) (Routledge Communication Series), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey. 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