Role of Supervision in Management - Essay Example

The administration is a staff function that pays attention to a variety of tasks to assist the line managers to concentrate on their core tasks. Thus, administration deals with issues like set up/maintenance of facilities, keeping employee-related records, travel arrangements, public relations, etc. Good administration is essential for the efficient functioning of any organization (ibid.).

The term management as a verb denotes the task of ensuring that an organization achieves its set objectives and goals by identifying problems, reviewing alternative solutions, selecting the most appropriate ones, and implementing them. As a noun, the term encompasses the set of people at different levels who are entrusted with accomplishing the assigned tasks by efficiently deploying resources. More commonly, managers at the higher echelons of an organization are referred to as management because their role has a defining impact on its success or failure (ibid.).

Leadership is an individual characteristic and is essentially a trait by which a person commands the respect of peers and the followership of several subordinates. A leader leads by example and inspires people. Unlike a manager who is more focused on achieving current goals and objectives, a leader transcends short-term objectives and works creatively for the long-term benefit of an organization. In this sense, one finds leaders at all levels of an organization – both for inspiring people to excel in their current tasks as well as to lead an entire organization for successful growth (ibid.).

A person to lead an organization must be a visionary and a leader of men. It is his/her vision that would propel the company to higher levels of growth and profitability. It is one thing to keep running the existing operations efficiently and quite another to be able to see the challenges that the marketplace imposes on businesses in the form of competition and demand saturation – factors that inhibit the growth of a business. Competition can come from rivals based on pricing or product features. Demand saturation in one geographical area forces one to think of new markets at home or abroad. Therefore the position of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) would call for a wide spectrum of experience, leadership ability, and management skills.

The three potential candidates for succeeding as CEO are to be judged in this background and an appropriate selection made. Each of the three candidates has excelled in their respective roles and a wrong choice mustn't elevate them to their level of incompetence.

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is a specialist in the narrow field of finance and accounts. Despite his proven track record of excellent man-management and public relations abilities, there is little evidence of his abilities as a visionary. Rather, it would seem that he is too focused on ‘investing public, stock analysts and tax rules’ and the related professional bodies. Thus, he hardly had any time to grow out of his area of specialization. Elevating him to CEO would be disastrous since he can neither let go of his passion for his former domain nor do justice to his enlarged role. Rather, he might stifle the new CFO by interfering in day-to-day work.

The Chief of Operations (CoO) is a strong contender for the CEO position because of his knowledge of operations, his acceptance as a great leader by the employees/unions, and his success with the suppliers. He is well qualified, has a long association with the company, and was credited with making every acquisition/expansion an outstanding success. He is a leader of men and works tirelessly to make a success of whatever activity he handles, but it is doubtful if he can provide leadership for peers and secure their cooperation. Another factor against his candidature is that he too had a limited role in the company’s business. There is no mention if he had been a prime mover in any of the company’s initiatives over the 24 years that he had been with the company – rather, others decided and he made a success of those decisions.

The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) also had a long stint with the company and has exposure to sales, marketing, and HR functions. She is a person of high integrity and honesty as perceived by customers. Most importantly, she creates higher value for the company’s products and has thus shown the ability to challenge the competition and succeed. Since the touchstone of the success of a firm is its ability to sustain, grow and make profits, the CMO has both the experience and the abilities needed for the future of the firm. Her canvass of operations and interface with the external factors is much wider. Being among the senior-most of the management team, she will not have much problem in her acceptability as the new CEO. Finally, she will have a lead time of six months as a successor-in-waiting, which time is adequate for taking over and carrying forward the ideas of the present CEO.