Concept of Managerial Escalator - Coursework Example

Concept of Managerial Escalator Concept of Managerial Escalator – Summary of the Chapter Management is defined as the art of getting work done (Robbins & Coutler, 2008) through utilizing the resources primarily human resource. There are multiple functions which fall in the responsibility of managers. Broadly speaking, the functions includes planning, organising, leading and controlling the organisational resources (man, media, money, material) to achieve the goals and targets (quality, quantity, cost and time). To ensure effective and efficient performance of all the required functions, the managers need to equip themselves with certain skills and competencies. In addition to the skills, the inner personality of the individual seeking or playing the role of manager also plays a vital contributory role in determining his success as a manager. It is commonly misunderstood among the business studies and circles that management is responsibility of few people who are at the leading positions in the organisation. The reality is the management functions are spread through all the levels of organisation and every other individual is involved in one or other type of management activity. As the organisation has several functions and the individuals serving in various departments have specialised skills in the function they are performing, it is quite logical that the managers of that very area also have the specialised skills. It happens that the people with increased expertise in their specialised skills are supposed to perform better than the one who have comparatively less experience. With the passage of time, they assume or are assigned the supervisory role, helping and guiding the other junior members about how the activity is to be planned and carried out. They also benefit others with the skills and tips they have self learned in that field with the virtue of their experience. Gradually they achieve higher positions and formal supervisory roles. A stage comes where they design the standard operating procedures of the function in which they are expert and the organisation tends to consider them an authority in that function. This gradual progression towards the managerial positions in the organisation by acquiring enhanced expertise in their specialised field is called managerial escalator (Rees & Porter, 2008). As per the authors, the managerial escalation is directly related to level of specialised skills in one’s field. As an employee develops more and more specialisation in his field, he adopts more growth in the field and enjoys managerial roles. The functional level responsibilities become minor for him and henceforth he inculcates the desire of broadening the vision and adopt managerial and policy maker role. Those who are senior to him consult him for the issues arising in the field and attach great weight to his words and suggestions. However, there are no exceptions that people attaining more and more experience in a field become frog in the well and do not cater for the related managerial assignments. For instance, they dislike going along with the people left alone managing them as a boss. They prefer working with their tools and machines rather than engaging in motivating and leading the teams. Fields like Information Technology and maintenance accept people with high specialist skills with little or no concern to the managerial aspects. A stage comes, where the career plateau (Snell & Bohlander, 2012) occurs and the growing employees are left with no more option to promote as there are no higher positions. It is quite possible that the problem of dual career also occurs, as the employee may want to retain his specialised field and grow to the managerial position as well. For senior managerial positions, specialised skills in one field are not required; the individual should have the knowledge of all aspects of organisation. In many organisations, the managers of the respective department are invited in the recruitment process of the members of their department (Miller, 2009) so that the selection on the basis of desired skills and characteristics can be ensured. As mentioned earlier, there is element of management in every job, hence it is mandatory that the selected employee possesses certain traits that are helpful in paving the way for managerial escalation. In modern organisations, the team building (Dyer & Dyer, 2010) and interpersonal skills (Levin, 2010) are attaining increased emphasis. The key questions the authors are trying to answer What is the management? What are the functions of management? How people become managers? How specialists become mangers? What is the need of managerial role in every position? Why people dislike managerial responsibilities when combined in their major functional role? Basic concepts used by the authors The authors have used the basic concepts of management, organisational structure, career progression and the growth needs of the employees. Assumptions of the authors in their reasoning People get efficiency and proficiency in their respective fields with the passage of time. People adopt coaching role to enhance the performance level of others working with them. Employees are eager to grow yet not every one of them is willing to take managerial responsibilities. The most fundamental conclusions in the chapter People long for growth and development in their professional lives. To ensure win - win situation for the employee and organisation, it is mandatory to consider the presence of leadership and managerial qualities in the person right in the process of recruitment. The probability of career portability (Storey, 2005) and skill dynamics should also be evaluated so that once the person is hired; he could serve the organisation in its required spirit. He should climb up the ladder of growth and have the versatility to move around if escalation in his specialised area is no more possible at any stage. Interview Findings Two managers were selected for interviewing to come to know of their managerial escalation. The first one is the Sr. Manager Sales & Marketing in an oil company. He is an MBA with strong communication skills and pleasant personality. He started his career as a Telesales Executive and based on acquiring persuasive skills so quickly, he switched his career to direct sales. Because of flexible personality and easy going nature with internal and external customers (Ferrell & Hartline, 2010), he became an emergent leader soon. He learnt the psychology of his team members as well as the external customers. Through careful analysis of their personalities, he established participatory relations with all his fellows. He adopted managerial hybrid even before he was formally promoted. His organisation planned managerial trainings to boost his potential. He successfully underwent them and was formally promoted. He was monitored on the basis of his sales targets and the targets of his team members. He was of the view that being the commercial organisation, all the employees should warmly deal with the customers, even if they find him anywhere in the office premises. It is because; they may seek guidance in locating the desired office or proper person. No doubt the receptionist is there; still it is quite possible that the visiting customer may not comprehend his guide to the desired location easily. The second manager interviewed for this report was a Maintenance Engineer in Oil Filtration Plant. He was a mechanical engineer. He started his career as a Trainee Engineer and undergone extensive trainings of plant maintenance. After passing the maintenance exams, he was promoted as Plant Maintenance Engineer. It was a field job; he had to ensure serviceability of filtration plant. He maintained the plant for its routine and non routine activities. He successfully accomplished multiple machines maintenance simultaneously. Yet, he never applied any managerial hybrid in his career. He was monitored on the basis of successful accomplishment of routine and non routine shut down of filtration plant equipments. Plant Maintenance Engineer was the top most position in the field. Upon outstanding performance and reliability, he was transferred to the Planning department which had higher positions available for technical people. The planning department was responsible for planning and issuing filtration equipment for cleaning and maintenance. He had to allocate time and duration for the maintenance of all machines in the plant. Despite his exposure and vision in the maintenance, he could not perform the managerial role successfully. He had developed the superiority complex while excelling in his technical field which prevented him form mixing with the people already working in the planning department. Poor communication skills and interpersonal relations with his old colleagues rather than mixing with the new colleagues hindered him from winning hearts in his managerial role. He tried to impose his will upon the entire team without considering their exposure and expertise in the area of work. Because of unfavourable repute at new department, he preferred quitting the job and joined other oil company as a junior member of planning department. Conclusion The report concludes with agreement as an agreement with the Managerial Escalation model presented by the authors. However, it highlights another point of consideration in the model. The authors have discussed the structure of the organisation and the career plan of the individual. In the context of role, they have talked about specialised skills and managerial roles. However, the discussion with two managers throw light upon the nature of profession that plays a vital role in the managerial escalation. People having soft skills like interpersonal skills and flexibility feel it easier to adapt to the requirements of new roles. They are more involved in career portability as compared to the technical people. The authors have quoted the example of IT industry that people with high professional skills can sustain in the IT field no matter they do not adopt managerial roles. Careful analysis of the interview of Plant Maintenance Engineer shows that people with technical skills can grow in the hierarchy where they have to perform the technical jobs. They may help others performing their activities and guide them where they are stuck. But they cannot get the work done through people, they cannot manage the resources, they have less insight into the planning and policies area of the work they are doing. It is quite possible that people with technical background grow in some managerial roles as well. The only reason behind it is their acquiring of managerial knowledge and skills. A supporting argument for this point is the increased emphasis on the MBA degree for all individuals who have technical qualification and pursue the managerial positions (Eades, Lasester & Skurnick, 2010). It was not a trend quite few years back but presently, its needs is realised at a growing pattern. It is because; the soft skills are required more in today’s industrial settings (Amer, 2008). Appendix Questions asked form the two managers 1. Name, Age, Qualification, Profession, Industry, Designation, Contact Number 2. Length of service in the present organisation 3. Positions taken in the whole career along with duration 4. Roles taken in the whole career along with duration 5. What is your professional field? Have you ever switched your field? 6. What are the specific skills required in your profession? How did you learn them? 7. How did you grow in your field? 8. What were the difficulties in adapting with managerial role? 9. How did you grow on managerial positions? 10. What growth plans do anticipate in your future? References Amer, B. (2008) Soft Skills at Work: Technology for Career Success. UK: Cengage Learning. Dyer, W. G. & Dyer, J. H. (2010) Team Building: Proven Strategies for Improving Team Performance. UK: Jossey Bass. Eades, K. M., Lasester, T. M. & Skurnick, I. (2010) The Portable MBA. Canada: John Wiley & Sons. Ferrell, O. C. & Hartline, M. (2010) Marketing Strategy. UK: Cengage Learning. Levin, G. (2010) Interpersonal Skills for Portfolio, Program and Project Managers. USA: Management Concepts. Miller, W. (2009) Proactive Sales Management. USA: AMACOM. Rees, W. D. & Porter, C. (2008) Skills of Management. UK: Cengage Learning. Robbins, S. P. & Coulter, M. (2008) Management 9th Ed. India: Pearson Education. Snell, A. S. & Bohlander, G. W. (2012) Managing Human Resources. UK: Cengage Learning. Storey, J. (2005) Leadership in Organizations Current Issues and Key Trends. USA: Routledge. Read More