Essentials for Managers to Lead and Manage Effectively - Case Study Example

Essentials for Managers to lead and manage effectively Introduction to effective management Managers are involved in multiple roles and perform a variety of activities on a daily basis and this complexity has always created hurdles to theorists who attempted to define managers’ roles in an organisation. Hence, their roles cannot be comprehensively defined or conceptualized (Alvesson & Willmott; 1996). Nevertheless, based on managerial roles and expectations, many theories have been proposed by different philosophers and researchers. Scientific management theories, initiated by Frderick Taylor, in totality, involved modifications in aspects related to the way work was distributed, planning and organising work, types of skills possessed by employees, measuring and rewarding performance, standardization of best suitable methods of working and defining the role of each employee, group, function and/or unit. Subsequently, the Managerial Grid was proposed by Blake and Mouton (1964/1971) in which the interplay of three organisational universals, i.e. people, production and hierarchy, is studied through a grid depicting different ways how managers are concerned about production and people and their impact on each other. A transition of management perception towards human relations begun with Hawthorne studies conducted by Elton Mayo, which proved that variations in external environment impacted performance of the workers; variations in pay in the form of performance incentives motivated workers to perform better; increased social interactions that occurred between work motivated workers in turn leading to higher productivity (Dixon, 2003). These theories and others explain how different perspectives, i.e. planning and organising work, organisational structure and systems, and human relations, have an impact on effective management, contrary to my approach which has more often been authoritative and less inclined towards human relations. Difference between leadership and management The most essential requirement for effective management is ‘leadership.’ For a manager to be successful he/she should exemplify qualities of a leader; however, a person may not be in a managerial position to emerge as a leader. Hence, leadership qualities such as the ability to influence, create a vision, and ability for doing the right things help a manager to become more effective. For instance, Tripathi (2008) sums up leadership as characterized by existence of followers; involving a community of interests between leader and the followers; unequal distribution of authority; and guiding followers towards the right direction. However, management focuses on stability and management of work; meeting short-term objectives by doing things right; putting forward plans and directives; influences people through policies, incentives etc. Managing individuals and teams Managing individuals as well as teams requires interpersonal skills like negotiating skills through assertive behaviour, listening, coaching, mentoring, rewarding etc. For managers, every interaction whether with individual or with team leaves a significant impact that further decides the outcome. Hence, to achieve the intended outcome, managers have to be cautious about their interactions. Managers/leaders can practice specific skills for this purpose, such as listening, writing, and verbal; behavioural skills such as assertive and adaptive behaviour, and negotiating and influencing skills (Honey, 2001). Guirdham (1990) emphasizes that aggressive or submissive behaviour will not be yield the intended outcome. Assertive skills include content skills, non-verbal skills like tone of voice and eye contact, and social interaction skills such as the process of assertion. Secondly, negotiating skills are very important to impact the outcome of the discussion; the process requires awareness of limitations, motivational orientation, and also an awareness of circumstances and appropriate strategies. Thirdly, listening skills help managers to relate to the situation and people; obtain clues for non-stated words; and avoid misinterpretation of facts. As Fowler (1998) explains, influencing and persuasion are important ingredients of negotiation for an effective manager. Managers need to use these skills according to the situation; secondly, managers need to be clear of their expectation from the other person/team; thirdly, if negotiation brings no outcome, managers will have to seek others’ help. Formation of teams has led to greater productivity, more effective use of resources, better decision making and problem solving, better output quality and greater innovation and creativity. According to LaFasto and Larson (2001), Team leaders’ behaviours for building effective teams should include: team focus towards goal; facilitate a collaborative climate; technical competence; set priorities; and manage performance (cited Hill, 2009). Belbin identified eight types of people in effective team: company worker, chairman, shaper, plant, resource investigator, monitor-evaluator, team worker, and completer-finisher (Stander, 2003). Managing teams requires good interpersonal relationship with all the team members, which helps to identify issues within the team at an early stage in order to avoid further problems. Issues with individuals, such as domination and distraction, can hamper team work, which can be addressed only if the managers/leaders are aware of their behaviour and motivational needs. Managers can become effective in leading the team by preparing the team to be open to new changes, new ideas and accept members from other sociocultural and ethnic groups (Lumsden et al. 2009). Megginson and Whitaker (2003) emphasize continuing professional development for leaders to sustain their effectiveness in the changing aspects of job nature and organisational growth, which demands a continual enhancement of skills, knowledge and experience. Simultaneously, managers can be more effective by helping their people to continually learn and develop professionally as continued development enhances performance, and also helps in succession planning and retaining staff. This is the best way to keep team members motivated. Effective Performance management Growth and sustenance of business require a continuous improvement and control of activities, which requires knowledge of the goals and objectives and an assessment of performance against the goals and objectives. Performance measurement provides direction, dedication, determination, discipline and deadline to the employees (Khera, 2002). Performance management system also facilitates alignment of organisational objectives with manager’s performance requirements and measurements. The key skills required by a manager to develop high performance employees are coaching, counseling and mentoring skills. Coaching involves assessment of development needs, training and educating team members about organisational goals and vision. Counseling involves correcting the behaviour of employees to match with team’s norms and organisational values in aspects of performance on job, adherence to policies and procedures and/or interpersonal relationships. Mentoring is an activity of coaching the best performers towards career development, skill enhancement or helping to take up additional responsibilities (Stone, 2007). While coaching, counseling and mentoring can help in enhancing performance, performance measurement is also equally important for managers as it helps managers to identify the levels of performance, gaps and issues which in turn pave way for improvement. Performance Appraisals are yearly or half-yearly performance assessment processes conducted to educate employees on their performance, expectations form the management, and also to identify areas of improvement. As this process makes employees realize their potential, managers should possess skills for influencing employees towards better performance; convince them of their actual performance against their peers and areas of improvement. However, this process is complex and sensitive one, requiring managers to deal with the discussions with great sensitivity. Ideally, management specialists opine that performance review discussion sessions should not be used to provide feedback on work, but to discuss issues related to skill development, future performance expectations and career succession. Feedback provided in the right time can be more effective, and saves time for constructive discussions. This process can also avoid stress for the employees as well as managers, and probably make employees feel friendly towards their managers. One method that might wonderfully work is the sandwich method in which the negative feedback aspects can be embedded between appreciation for good work/behaviour (positive) and futuristic career planning for the employee. Self Discipline One of the most important requirements for effective management is discipline. Managers’ role is multidimensional and hence cannot be confined to only team members’ performance and/or job. Managers of an organisation have the responsibility of ensuring continued progress in normal work, ensuring targets are being achieved, ensuring quality of work by identifying and correcting mistakes, analyzing inflow and outflow trends, propose improvements to the work, ensuring customers and clients satisfaction, cascading management information to subordinates, performance evaluation and management of subordinates, and other administrative activities related to the subordinates. To be effective, managers should learn how to manage their time effectively by prioritizing activities based on their urgency and importance and avoiding activities that may be detrimental to their effectiveness. Conclusions and learning: Significant inferences may be drawn from this discussion pertaining to managers’ roles and competencies required for effective management. From managers’ perspective interpersonal skills including negotiation, behaviour, level of connectedness, communication skills and self discipline to manage work appropriately are competencies required for being effective. Secondly, from human relations perspective, team building and management through motivation, appreciation and recognition, continued learning, career succession are essential. From an organisational perspective, succession plan, alignment of employee roles with organizational vision and goals, connectedness with people and effective leadership are essential for an effective management. Based on inferences drawn from the entire discussion, I have designed action points related to areas I need to improve. Surprisingly, I need to improve in some sphere of every aspect of management; the same has been detailed in the action plan (see appendix). References Alvesson, M and Willmott, H. 1996. Making sense of management: a critical introduction. London: Sage. Dixon, R. 2003. The management task. 3rd ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Fowler, A. 1998. Negotiating, persuading and influencing. London: CIPD Publishing. Guirdham M. 1990. Interpersonal Skills At Work. London: Prentice Hall. Hill, S.E.K (2009). Team Leadership. In Northouse, P.G’s Leadership: Theory and Practice. California: Sage. (Ch: 11; pp:241-270). Honey P (2001) Improve Your People Skills. London: CIPD. Khera, S. (2002). You Can Win: a step by step tool for top achievers. New Delhi: MacMillan Publishers. Lumsden et al. 2009. Listening and Questioning. In Communicating in Groups and Teams: Sharing Leadership. 5th ed. U.S.A: Cengage Learning. Megginson, D and Whitaker, V. 2003. Continuing professional development. London: CIPD Publishing. Stander, M. 2003. Understanding Work Teams. In Robbins, S’s Organisational Behaviour: Global and Southern African Perspectives. Pearson South Africa. (Ch.10; pp:199-221). Stone, F.M. 2007. Coaching, counseling & mentoring: how to choose & use the right technique to boost employee performance. 2nd ed. U.S.A: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Tripathi. 2008. Principles of Management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill. APPENDIX 1: Mind Mapping for Effective Manager EFFECTIVE MANAGER APPENDIX 2. Action Plan for Skill Enhancement to help in Effective Management S No Skill Area of improvement Plan of action 1 Management style (managerial grid) All types of management styles to be adopted according to the situation Know the people, their skills, work and its progress. Coach team members who are new to work/situation. Monitor work and provide feedback. Delegate work to able team members according to their skills and mentor for enhancement of skills. 2 Adaptive skills Behaving appropriately according to the situation Analyse the situation; take time to respond; controlling anger/emotions; understand the situation from other persons perspective. 3 Time Management Prioritization of work checklist of all activities, and mark Urgent/Important, not important and can be avoided; Prioritize work on a daily basis according to urgency and importance; avoid unwanted phone calls; set deadlines for all activities; negotiate with others for work completion if not very important/urgent; attend to team members concerns/issues on high priority. 4 Communication Usage of appropriate medium according to the activity Important and formal information to be communicated in written as well as verbal forms; request for receipt confirmation and check for understanding; document procedures and policies related to organisation/work; devise and maintain communication matrix/protocol for different types of communication like organisational information, grievance escalation, general information, updates on work etc. 5 Interpersonal skills Improve connectedness with team members/stake holders Look for opportunities to interact; not to procrastinate feedback sessions and recognition; conduct periodic team meetings; ensure stated points are brief and accurate; look for ways to resolve problems together; avoid aggressive tone, eye contact and verbal statements. Maintain contact with customers/clients and senior management team. Receive regular feedback regarding work and understand issues/concerns, provide assurance of improvement. 6 Conflict management Focus on Win-Win approach, try to address the conflict with maintaining everyone’s interest i.e. people, customer & organisation Improve Listening skills, try to convince people, ensure that the results are not forced on people, be transparent, and create ownership at all levels towards organisation interest. 7 Team Building Build successful teams, involve team in decision making wherever its possible, add emotional flavor to team bonding Move people from self centered approach to organisation centered approach, Promote team efforts, create interdependency among team to work more closer. Identify team members strengths and areas of interest; empower to take decisions whenever appropriate; delegate additional responsibilities according to their strengths. 8 Succession Planning Improve foresight, recognize potential leaders, recognize good talent, and create back up at all levels for all tasks. Recognize right talent and promote them, reduce the dependency on individuals. Plan back up at all levels. Assess performance & approach every now and then to ensure the effectiveness of back up plan 9 Knowledge Sharing Minimize knowledge gaps, improve quality of work. Knowledge repository, documentation, periodic review of documents, contracts. Organise cross training of team members on other areas of work they are not directly involved in. Provide opportunities to team members to present new learning to the team. 10 Attrition Management Improved interpersonal relationships; recognize and motivate good performance and provide timely appropriate feedback for low performance. Improve people connectedness through periodic formal and informal meetings; listen to their concerns and provide plausible suggestions; promote good performance through rewards and recognition and timely feedback for low performance. Prepare a career success plan and personality development plan for all members of the team. 11 People Developmental Programmes Aim to improve skills required for work and personality skills Conduct training for enhancing skills required for work; organise training for personality development skills such as communication skills, presentation skills, leadership skills, time management skills depending upon every team members personality developmental plan. 12 Planning and organising work Business continuity, resource utilization, leave planning Designing back-up work plan in case of disaster; appropriately plan number of resources for completion of forecasted work on a daily/monthly/yearly basis; also plan team members leaves accordingly. Read More