Interview with a Manager Showing How the Unifying Framework of Management Used in His Activities - Essay Example

?Transcript of Interview with a Manager showing how the unifying framework of management were used in his daily activities. Profile of the Manager Interviewed: The interviewed person is the Managing Director of CPI Outsourcing. CPI outsourcing is an outsourcing company who does the payroll of business processing centers and big companies. Their clients include the BPO industry, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, advertising, retail, mining, petroleum and logistics. To date, they are processing more than 75,000 payrolls in a month. Question 1: How did you end with your current position? I am actually a part owner of the company that is how I ended with my current position. I grew up with the company and help set it up from where it is now. Me and my friends just saw this trend a decade ago when companies are breaking up their operations to save on cost. You know, the effect of globalization and stuff. We knew then that with the liberalization of business and the heightened competition brough about by this free trade, it will be inevitable that companies will be looking for somebody who could some of its work better. That is how we came in the business and that is how i came into this position. Question 2: How long have you been in that position? I held this position since this company started, give or take around 12 years. We started around 12 years ago and the company took off 2 years later. Question 3: How is your typical day in the office like? It actually depends. To properly answer that, you have to look first what my role in the company and what my objectives are. First, I am responsible for the continuity of the business and the direction of where it is going. I no longer do the overseeing of the day to day operation of the business, I have my managers to do it. To fulfill that function, my day typically begins with a quick browse of my emails and any other communication and documents from our clients, vendors and partners. You see, our clients, vendors and partners operate on different time zones so I have to constantly check any updates from them. That will give me a clearer picture of how the company stands for the day. Then a meeting usually ensues with my manager. Then I make my rounds with employees if time will allow. Again, I go back to the office and do creative things on how we can be more competitive as a business How does that fit in the usual Managerial concepts and functions? You know what is taught in school and stuff. Ah, you mean the planning, organizing, staffing, and controlling stuff. That is pretty much how things are done here and elsewhere only that we don’t call it strictly with such names anymore. My role involves more on the planning organizing and leading and some creativity. In addition, a portion of my time is also dedicated on assessing the direction of the industry. You see, in IT industry, everything happens so fast and trends changes in a dizzying manner that I have to keep myself updated otherwise our company will become obsolete. When it becomes obsolete, you pretty much know what will happen next. In addition, I also have to keep in touch with our clients, vendors and partners just to have a constant pulse on them. Sort of a liaising thing but more than that because I can make decisions in behalf of the company. It’s a sort of PR thing that you want to give your client a “feel” that they are being taken cared of. I think your interaction falls on that part. When I already have the bigger picture of the industry, company and clients, that is where planning comes. But I have to know my objectives first, or what would I like to happen. Say for example, my objective is to have a zero percent error free, then my planning would involve how am I going to achieve that. Then I call on my managers to organize its implementation. It does not happen immediately. You see, the system and structure of the company has to allow that to happen. It will not happen by balking to everybody that you want your processing error free or telling everybody that is what you want. So I plan to implement a system and a process that will ensure that there will be no error in our computations of salaries. If you are processing a few payrolls, that would be easy. But you see, when you are processing more than 75,000 heads in different companiesin different industries with different pay scales, that is tough and is bound to make errors if you have no system and processing in place. in this industry, an error has a fatal consequence because that could cause me our business with clients shying away from us. I think that is your organizing, you get the people composing of IT, training, systems and other people who would make that happen. On my end, to ensure that our process and systems serve that purpose, I have it audited and certified by ISO. That certification will also provide our clients the confidence that our process can be relied on. How do you manage your office? The word manager does not necessarily mean that you are always at your employees back to “manage” or check if your employees are doing their job. In practice, the reality is very much different. You have to delegate to optimize yourself. And managers in this highly competitive industry, has to function more as an executive to ensure the viability of the business. that means that I have to think more of creative ways on how to add more value to our service our clients, how to do things better, how to save on cost, etch. How do you deal with issues in your office? Nobody likes issues in the office and that includes me. If you’re thinking that if my employees makes a mistake and that they are going to get hell from me, no, that is not happening. Managers in this day and age don’t do that anymore. Instead, i have to think and ask why did the employees made such mistake? Was there a lack in training? Or misunderstanding of policy that is suppose to be implemented, stuff like that. Read More