The Practice of Management - Essay Example

The Practice of Management A manger is a person who supervises and synchronizes the activities of his subordinates with a view to ensuring achievement of the organizational goals efficiently and effectively. A manager of any organization leads from the front. The success or failure of a team or an organization largely depends on how well a manger can lead his team. So, to be successful, a manager has to have some skills that are necessary to succeed in achieving the organisational goals. The four overriding functions of a manager are planning, organizing, controlling and leading. (Barnett 2006). The basic purpose of this paper is to focus on the lack of managerial skills of a particular manager who failed to successfully lead his team towards achieving the goals of the organizations. The paper will also spell out the necessary skills that a manager should have to be successful as a manager. The manager I am going to write about in this paper is the person whom I used to report while working in the marketing department of a reputed company. I used to work for that company as a marketing executive. In my whole professional career I worked under quite a few mangers, but this particular manger was undoubtedly the worst. He lacked all essential managerial skills. The most basic skill a manager should have is the ability to lead a team. Not surprisingly, this particular manager also seriously lacked this skill. I am now going to explain all the requisite skills a good manger should have in relationship to the manger I used to work under who seriously lacked all those skills. Planning is surely the first step in achieving a goal. Planning is a holistic activity that requires a lot of thinking. It can be defined as setting goals and determining a course of action for attaining those goals. While planning, a manger must take the available resources, time and objectives into consideration. Planning marketing strategies call for scanning the competitive environment. Environmental scanning can be done through research and marketing intelligence. Without a clear understating of the competitive environment, a successful planning can not be formulated. Moreover, planning also requires allocation of resources and time for implementation of the plan. The success of a plan is measured how effectively and efficiently a goal has been achieved. This particular manager had a complete lack of skill in planning. For instance, at the beginning of every year, the marketing department was given a budget of USD 2 million for carrying out a wide range of marketing activities to raise brand awareness with the eventual objective to increase sale. It was then the responsibility of the Marketing Department to allocate the resources for television advertising, newspaper advertising, brochure printing and so on. But my manager allocated an equal amount of money for all marketing activities. I found this way of allocation of resources really disastrous for the company. My manager did not even formulate any strategic or tactical planning for the set goals. The manager also did not formulate any contingency plan that he can lean on when needed. It was the responsibility of the manger to consider the competitive environment as well as our objectives that the marketing department wanted to achieve before allotting the budget for the marketing activities. In an increasingly competitive business environment, this sort of decision may spell disaster. When it was time to evaluate the company’s marketing activities at the end of the year, everyone was frustrated. The sale of the company dropped by 12% even though the sale of the particular industry rose by 20%. This result did not come to me as a surprise as it is exactly what I presumed when my manager “planned” the company’s marketing activities at the outset of the year. As a matter of fact, my manager proved that he does not know the first thing about planning on many other occasions. In my view, planning is done so that a goal can be achieved effectively using the least amount of resources. So, had I been the manager, I would have firstly considered the goals we wanted to achieve. Then I would have allocated resources for the gaol. But setting a realistic goal and sensible allocation of resources can never ensure success. Constant monitoring of activities has to be done at all times. Evaluation of the actions taken for achieving the goals should also be done from time to time. I would have done exactly the same. The second most important task of a manager is organizing. Organizing calls for development of a structure of the company that matches the objectives and vision of company. While organizing, a manger also has to allocate personnel so that the objectives of the organization can be successfully achieved. The right person has to be in the right place. A good manager knows about the upsides and downsides of his subordinates. An efficient manager knows who is good at what and he than places his subordinates accordingly. The structure of an organization is the framework within which effort is coordinated. But regrettably my manager proved himself as bad in organizing as in planning. My manger blatantly lacked people skill. His negotiation skill was at the minimum. Neither did he know how to communicate ideas to others nor was he willing to listen to what others might have to share. But free flow of information is a must for success in today’s dynamic and involvement oriented organizations. Not surprisingly, my manager failed to place the tight person in the right place. Resultantly, there had always been a credibility gap between my manager and other employees of our department. After a drop in the company’s sale, my manager could not find out the reason nor could he come up with any innovative ideas to solve the problem as he lacked problem solving skill as well. Most importantly, my manager was possibly even unaware about the company’s business model. If I had been the manager, I would certainly have considered each employees strengths and shortcomings before assigning him or her any job. At the same time, I would have monitored their performance and provided suggestions as their mentor. Before transforming any idea into action, I would certainly have done some brainstorming with my employees as I believe that team work not only produces better ideas but also motivates subordinates. I would also have delegated necessary authority with responsibility to my subordinates considering their role in the organization. Technological innovation and globalization are bringing novel opportunities for the organizations and these are also a source of threats for the survival of the organization. As a manager, would try to keep pace with what are happening through market scanning, marketing intelligence, market research and extensive networking with the industry. Leadership can and does make a meaningful in every aspect of organization. “The dynamism of the business environment requires leadership that continuously assesses the external environmental for the purpose of identifying and creating opportunities and lessening potential threats to the organization.”(Hickman 1998) The most important quality of a manager is surely leading. The success of a team undoubtedly depends on good leadership. A good leader takes every step thoughtfully. A good manager, who is also a leader, has excellent conceptual and human skill. He knows how to motivate his people to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization. As the leader, a manager plays a wide array of roles in the organization namely informational role, decisional role and so on. At the time of crisis and conflict, a good manger applies his problem solving skill. The manager moves his whole team towards the set goal effectively and efficiently. A manager constantly supervises his employees’ activities to ensure that the expected results are achieved And he or she act as mentor to the subordinates. When the subordinates are in need of help, they seek information, help and suggestions form a manger. In a word, a good manager has to have the natural charisma to influence, motivate and lead a group of people. But my manger did not have the skills or capabilities that a manager should have. He did not know how to motivate his subordinates. Resultantly, some employees in our department were always either chatting online or having a small talk over the phone. But to my surprise my manger did not take any action against them. The total marketing was in total disarray. The employees in our department did not have the confidence on our manager. When needed help or suggestions, no one in our department ever turned to our manager as he was notoriously bad at mentoring. My manger hardly ever supervised the activities of the employees in our department. Consequently, some employees used to shirk their responsibilities. My manager completely failed to maintain discipline in the department that lead to a chaotic situation. Despite being the manger of a marketing department, he was least interested to know about the changing business environment and competitive activities. If I had been the manger, I certainly, would have taken a few requisite initiatives to ensure attainment of the organizational goals. Firstly, I would have placed the right person at the right place with specific responsibility and necessary amount of authority. Secondly, I would have monitored their activities. Thirdly, I would have organized training if someone needed. Most importantly, I would have made every endeavour to keep them motivated because I know that lack of motivation among the employees can hinder the growth of the organization. I certainly would have tried to crate a congenial and amiable working atmosphere with a view to ensuring free flow of information among all employees. “Leading involves influencing others toward the attainment of organizational objectives.” (Barnett 2006). I would have tried to influence the employees for attainment of the goals efficiently as well as effectively. The controlling function of a manger is of significance for successful achievement of organizational goals. If an active control system is not in place, the whole department or organization may fall into complete disarray. Monitoring of the activities of the employees have to be done on continuous basis to make sure that activities are being carried out in line with the set objectives and plan. If there is any deviation, necessary changes should be made. My manager is was also very bad at controlling. He has no control over the employees. Controlling was turned into manipulation by this manager. Hence, performance standards were below acceptable standards. As a manager, I would have ensured effective control and monitoring over the activities of the employees. Control also calls for managing resources as planned. Because of lack of control, resources may be wasted. Management of time is also significant in controlling. A good manager knows how to allocate his time. He knows how to priorities his works for better controlling. If I had been the manger, a clear line of communication would have been established to ensure that performance meets the required standards. Thus, planning, organizing, leading and controlling would be researched by the manager and the manager would use the data to make the organization an efficient and effective entity. In this organization, particular attention needs to be given to the leading dimension of the manager’s functioning. Therefore, if I were made the manager, I would certainly build a foundation on gaining the trust of the employees. Consequently, I would use all requisite information gathered about the human resources, the external and internal environment to successfully achieve the goals and objectives of the organization. References Barnett, Tim. Management Functions. 2006 Hickman, Gill Robinson. Leading organizations: Perspectives for a new era. CA: Sage Publications Inc. 1998, P 2 Read More