The Skills of Management by Rees and Porter - Book Report/Review Example

? The Concept of the Managerial Escalator Porter, C. & Rees, W.D., 2008. The Skills of Management. New Zealand: Cengage Learning EMEA Introduction The report on chapter one analysis of The Skills of Management by Rees and Porter will be discussed under the following report headings; 1. Chapter summary 2. Concepts 3. Rees and porters points of view 4. Main assumptions of the chapter 5. Conclusions Of The Chapter Chapter One: Management Escalator Summary Rees and Porter in their book “the skills of management” are trying to unearth the reasons why managers fail, or why people in managerial positions fail to deliver the desired results. The authors are seeking to unravel the reasons that people in managerial positions do not bring the best out of people in spite of being in possession of specialist skills. The authors view the specialist background as the pedigree of the vast majority of managers (Rees & porter, 2008, p 3). In their bid to answer to find for a solution; Rees and Porter point out that managers may have been engaged at a lower level in a specialized department. The authors are also setting out on how people acquire managerial skills. Most people in managerial positions have acquired the managerial skills from training, experience or a mixture of the two. The management escalator looks at levels that specialists follow before becoming managers. Most people who end up being managers initially start up as specialist in the lowest levels in the organization. Conflicts may arise between managerial activity and specialist activity because management position calls for exceptional expertise and knowledge for managing people. It also requires managers who are in charge of other specialists to well comprehend the environment because employees have changing needs (Porter & Rees, 2008). Sometimes, managers may have the requisite specialist skills in a certain field, but may fail to bring the best. For instance, a certain IT manager was incredibly brilliant in his technical expertise, but did not have interest in engaging his colleagues. Thus, he was relieved of his duty as a manager (Rees &   Porter, 2008). Management escalator concepts The basic concepts used by Rees and Porter are the need to possess people skills and the expertise skills in management. Technical skills alone are not sufficient enough to warrant a person to hold a managerial office. Specialist skills alone may prejudice one’s ability to identify the managerial aspect in a job, thus making managers engage in improper balance of activities (Porter & Rees, 2008). Additionally, the aspect of job titles creates a specialist culture in many organizations, which is a hindrance to effective management. For instance, a head teacher title conventionally appears oriented towards teaching, rather than management of school and other teachers (Porter & Rees, 2008). Work preferences always make people opt out of managerial position by concentrating on what their specialization is. The reason is that they may pay too much attention in their area of specialization and neglect the managerial work. Too much priority may be given in terms of time, resources and decision making in the areas of specialization, neglecting other aspects of the managerial job. To illustrate this point, Rees and Porter give an example of a cost accountant who was promoted to the general manager’s position. Nevertheless, due to his specialization in the area of cost, the general manager paid much attention on cost control and neglected the marketing elements of his job. The cost accountant was reluctant to consent to expenditure that would have brought significant net income. This denied the organization some profitable opportunities because the cost accounted focused on cost control rather than optimizing the difference between revenue and expenses (Rees &   Porter, 2008). Rees and Porter Perspectives on management escalator In order to address this problem in management, the author perspective is for remedial strategies to be put in place. These include; role definition, managerial selection, training and development, as well as monitoring. Defining the roles and responsibilities in a clear manner helps people to be effective managers. If managerial role can be well defined, selection, training and monitoring become effective, as well. Role clarification needs to be an integral part and basis for selecting managers. Managerial selection may result in ineffective management because of general selection incompetence and failure to acknowledge the managerial element in jobs. Many organizations select a manager on the basis of their past performance, which tends to ignore the differences between tasks that a person has performed in the past and the tasks anticipated to execute in the future. This mistake is what is termed as the general selection incompetence. Rees and Porter assert view training and development as essential for effective management. Managerial training should be both qualification training and practical training in order to ensure that the effectiveness and training goals are attained. Monitoring and evaluation is required after training in order to the correct job imbalances that may exist in the workplace. Monitoring also helps in ensuring accurate role definition, selection, as well as training and development (Rees & Porter, 2008). Rees and Porter Assumptions on management escalator Rees and Porter hypothesize that people ought to deliver on their managerial positions as long as they are trained. For instance, a person who is academically qualified to fit a principal’s position is assumed to have the relevant skills in both teaching and administrative work. A cost accountant who is assigned the role of a manager is expected to be all rounded in terms of expertise and the commercial element of it. An IT expert (manager) need not only have technical skills but also the ability to be compatible with other members of staff. Rees and Porter conclusion on the managerial escalator concept The most integral conclusion from the chapter is that most managers end up in a managerial position through a management escalator kind of progression, where most begin from being specialist at the lowest level in the organization, and rise up the career path to being the manager of other specialists (Rees & Porter, 2008, p 20) Report on two people with managerial positions with regards to how they got into management and problems they face With regards to information from two managers, anonymous name X and Y will be used. Manager X has spent forty years in a management position and heads a reputable name in the airline industry. Manager Y on her part has spent ten years in a managerial position, though in two different corporations. In a bid to establish how they got to their current positions, manager X explained his progression similar to that in management escalator. He started his management career in his early twenties by starting from scratch his own company. However, it is worth noting that manager X never had any management courses like most corporate leaders. What is more, is that manager X is a successful leader is globally renowned, yet was a school dropout. Manager X then enlarged his business in the 1980s and 90s. Currently, his brand has more than 200 businesses, which are extremely successful. Manager Y is regional manager of a global corporation, whose entry into the current position was granted on the merit of her education qualification. When I sought to know of her time in management, manager Y says that she started off as a graduate in training in the corporation. After a while, she was endorsed to a supervisory position and later into a middle position. Afterwards, manager Y got a promotion as a regional manager, the position she has held in the last three years. What problems managers and the organizations face With regards to management, managers x noted that he rarely encounters problems while managing. According to him, management entails three simple rules. One, smile, as a smile makes everything much easier. Second is to have fun at work and finally is to believe in ones ideas, workers and colleagues. Management is a trial and error aspect, and according to him, there is no preset recipe for management support. What other managers view as challenges is an opportunity for him. The challenge he faces is a learning and trying to do something better. His risk taking attitude is so intense that people working around him argue that they cannot contemplate the risks he takes. Additionally, manager X has built his strategy around people, empowering them as much as they can (Thompson & Martin, 2010, p 42). Stepping back is one of his principles, where he starts a new venture, helps the management formulate the vision of the venture and then steps back to watch the other managers implement it. From the discussion I had with manager X, one problem he has is being “too simple and accommodative”. For instance, his organization is run from his house, and does not have a head office infrastructure. Additionally, manager X is reachable by anyone, unlike other top ranking managers. The first thing he does in the morning is to clear and respond to emails from different people (Ahlstrom & Bruton, 2009, p198). This acts as a proactive escalator, as the feedback is offered in time, thus the organization does not face communication breakdown. He also sends speculative emails on success stories that he has read in order to motivate his employees. His management skills are unique and rarely do complaints arise from organization. He believes that the success of the organization comes from empowering people and making sure employees work are his first priority. The problems facing his organization are not related to human resources but from external forces outside the business. These are such as competition, which are outside the firm’s control. His simplicity further emerges the moment he says that he “never allows accountant get in the way of business”. As a result, he does not run the organization on the preset organizational structure and does not depend on specialist view some times. Therefore, he does not allow costs to compromise his focus on the customer and service. On the other hand, manager Y says she experiences several managerial and organizational problems. Some of the managerial problems she encounters are change leadership, communication and creating team unity. Working in a multinational requires the division to be highly competitive. In order to survive in the business world that is characterized by intense competition, manager Y is faced with the challenge of reshaping the organization to meet the needs of a swiftly changing world. As such, manager Y is required to instate certain changes in order for the organization to attain a competitive advantage. Some of the changes entail removal of underperforming workers and others considered redundant. However, this has not come easily as resistance from other employees has hindered that change implementation (Baban & Naghibi, 2011, p 543). Nonetheless, she says her managerial position warrants her to get rid of unproductive people in order for the organization to operate cost effectively and profit efficiently. As a result of doing this, she and the organization have to face constant strikes as the remaining employees strike for better working conditions and job security. Additionally, the organization follows a hierarchical structure where manager authority are hardly questioned, thus making manager Y undertake certain decisions without participation of employees as the people to be affected by the change. This results in communication breakdown for the organization, and makes it difficult to attain team unity (Raju, 2011, p. 24; Lussier, 2012, p. 171). Conclusion With regards to the situations that both managers are going through, manager X says that how people get into management has some effects on the organization. However, he adds that there is no pre-set recipe for managing an organization and this differs from the commonly held view that managers must be specialists in management fields. He emphasizes on trial and error leadership, though it may not work well with other organizations. On her part, manager Y asserts that management is a complex aspect, and she says that specialist qualification and exercising authority alone may not result in effective management. The two scenarios produce opposing view in that, whilst manager X is a school dropout, he has a global reputation in management, and hardly encounters problem, yet a manager with specialist training in the management field experiences difficulties in running the organization. Therefore, the concept of management escalator and effective management are tricky subjects to comprehend. Bibliography Ahlstrom, D. & G.D, Bruton, 2009. International Management: Strategy and Culture in the Emerging World. Connecticut: Cengage Learning Baban, H. &, M.A. Naghibi., 2011. strategic change management: the challenges faced by organizations. International Conference On Economics And Finance Research. 4 (1), 542-544. Lussier, R., 2012. Management fundamentals: concepts, applications, skill development. Mason, Ohio: South-Western. Martin, F. & J.L, Thompson., 2010. Strategic Management: Awareness & Change. New Zealand: Cengage Learning EMEA. Raju, K., 2011. Managerial Skills for Organizational Performance: An Analytical Study. Indian Streams Research Journal, 1 (1), p.23-27. Appendix Questionnaire schedule Hello, I am ……………………………………………………………. from …………………………………………………university. Please allow me to enquire from you some managerial and organizational information, which are significant for my course in management. Please feel free to respond, as this report will ensure confidentiality and anonymous names will be used to avoid compromise of independence. Manager X 1. What is your knowledge in management and how did you get into management? 2. Considering the nature and success of your organization, what are the likely challenges do you encounter in your role as the organizational overall manager? 3. What would you say are the problems facing your organization? 4. In your opinion, do you think the managerial and organizational challenges facing the organization result from how you got into management. If so, what can be done in future to minimize that effect? Manager Y 1. How did you get into your current position 2. Considering the nature of your work, what are the problems you encounter in your role as the manager 3. What are the organizational challenges does your organization facing? 4. In your view, do you think that the managerial and organizational problems result from the way you got into office? What is your view on what can be done with regards to reduce management transition? Thank you for participating in the interview, I am equally grateful for your responses. Read More