Managers Duties in Terms of the Four Functions of Management - Essay Example

Manager’s Duties in Terms of the Four Functions of Management A friend of mine is an HR manager in a medium sized organization. Happened to visit him a couple of times, I have thoroughly observed his duties and behavior at work. Fundamentally, the management functions are split into four distinct parts: planning, organizing, leading and controlling (Heather Rothbauer-Wanish, 2009). Planning: When we say the word planning, we are referring to defining objectives and goals for the organization and then formulating a path of action for their achievement. As far as I have seen, this HR manager is pretty much involved in employees’ planning such as how many employees need to be hired in the coming quarter and how and what kind of training should be given to the existing employees so that they are better able to contribute towards that attainment of organizational goals. Organizing: The organizing function of management refers to the arrangement of sources and people for the attainment of goals and objectives (Heather Rothbauer-Wanish, 2009). The HR manager is usually seen involved in division of work so that the goals can be achieved in an organized and clear manner. For instance, if a new project is announced, after designing a recruitment plan, he would assign for himself, HR officers and admin person different tasks such as giving advertisement in newspaper, writing job descriptions, defining a career development plan, identifying training needs, sorting resumes, making interview calls such that the process be carried out systematically. Leading: Leading is all about having such an influence on the employees which acts as a motivator for them. This HR manager is keen in communicating with his subordinates on a day to day basis. He discusses problems and their solutions, counsels, motivates and guides them as well as educates them on appropriate behavior. Controlling: Controlling as a management function means ensuring that all efforts towards goal achievement are being properly carried out. Our HR manager keeps a check on employees’ performance and behavior and corrects them where necessary. The HR manager seems to be carrying out the four management functions effectively. The organizational employees are quite satisfied with his performance and contribution towards achievement of set goals. As the size of organization is not large enough so the management functions were easily identified and analyzed. Compare and contrast the manager’s motivational practices with the theories presented in this module. Does the manager’s behavior seem consistent with any of the theories of motivation? One of the intangible concepts of management is motivation. Motivation refers to a strong desire that comes from within and impels a person to perform a certain action on exhibiting a particular behavior (Tom Gorman, 2007). Our HR manager possesses leadership qualities and is seen motivating his employees intrinsically and extrinsically most of the times. Maslow’s Theory of Motivation: According to Maslow’s motivation theory, a person is motivated depending upon his needs. The five needs of a human being are psychological, safety, social, self esteem and self actualization. When one need is satisfied, the person struggles for the next level and so on. The HR manager fulfils the psychological needs of employees by designing a pay structure for all designations that is sufficient enough for fulfilling basic necessities. Safety needs are met by ensuring job security. The HR manager organizes meetings and events that allow employees to interact formally and informally thus, fulfilling social needs. By appreciating good performance of employees, the HR manager meets their needs for self esteem. Lastly, he gives employees room for creativity and open communication which helps in meeting needs of self actualization. McClelland’s Achievement-Motivation Theory: According to this theory, there are three needs of individuals: need for achievement, need for affiliation and need for power. By arranging in house and out house trainings, the HR manager ensures that employees have the right skills to attain their goals. As discussed in Maslow’s safety needs, the HR managers allow socialization for the attainment of need for affiliation. However, the HR manager isn’t much of an advocate of empowerment therefore; the employees are unable to meet their needs for power. Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory: According to Herzberg’s two factor theory, there are two types of factors which motivate or de-motivate individuals at workplace. Maintenance factors are those which must be present in a job to retain employees’ satisfaction. Their presence may not motivate employees but their absence will lower their moral. (S Anil Kumar, S.C Poornima, Mini K. Abraham, K Jayashree, 2003). Our HR manager is making sure that he develops a strong relationship with all employees, dispatches their salary and bonuses on time, maintain a healthy work environment and respects his colleagues. On the other hand, motivator factors are those which motivate the employees to a high degree but their absence is not always a source of dissatisfaction. For instance, the HR manager recognizes employees’ good performance monetarily and non-monetarily and provides them opportunities for personal growth. Expectancy Theory: Expectancy theory explains why individuals choose to perform a behavior based on expectancy, instrumentality and valence. The HR manager ensures that he communicates clearly to the employees about the level of required performance, targets and the rewards associated with accomplishments. Equity Theory: According to equity theory, a manager must be sure that the performance of employees is justifiably recorded. Our HR manager is careful in observing employees’ performance so that none of them goes through unfair treatment. This, however, is a difficult task for him because in case of mistaken judgment, employee productivity is lowered. Reinforcement Theory of Motivation: The HR manager ensures that he praises employees on good performance (positive reinforcement), does not rebuke formally (negative reinforcement), keep back influencing behavior (extinction) and penalizes for inappropriate performance (punishment). Identify the leadership style the manager most consistently demonstrates. Use Hersey and Blanchard’s classifications and support your conclusion with examples that relate to “Introduction to Situational Leadership II” program. The four types of leadership styles as explained by Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory are: Telling, Selling, Participating and Delegating. The HR manager we are discussing here makes use of participating style most of the times because he is very much interested in getting input form the employees about a particular objective. He believes that discussing the goals with employees while encouraging their participation in decision making makes the task more clear to them and this is how they realize how important the task is for the organization. Also it fulfils their need for self esteem as described in Maslow’s Hierarchy Theory. According to the Situational Leadership Theory, the choice of leadership style by manager or leader depends upon the potential of the followers (Claude L. Graeff, 1983). In participating style of leadership, the followers are usually talented but they are a little less confident about their tasks. By taking part in the decision making process, the workers develop a thorough understanding of their tasks and execute them confidently. I once witnessed that the HR manager was unsecure about the skills of few subordinates and intended to provide them training. So he gathered them all and discussed training needs with them. The employees contributed by informing him why they think they need to be trained and the kind of training they require. Present your conclusion about whether the person you are examining functions like a manager or like a leader or some combination of the two based on the concepts of managers and leaders we have examined in this module. There are a number of reasons which are aimed at justifying why our chosen HR manager functions like a combination of manager and leader. As mentioned, leading is a part of management functions therefore, our HR manager plans, organizes, leads and controls not only according to the directions set by the company; he also believes in forming his own vision and communicating it to his followers. A deep look into his personality identified him as an individual who is aware of his strengths and weaknesses and tries to eliminate the latter. He is a great motivator for his colleagues and subordinates; he motivates them with his own actions and personality. This is one quality that makes him stand out from the rest of managers. One of the leadership qualities that this HR manager possesses is the ability to deal with conflicts and teach his employees the same. He confronts conflicts and faces them with courage and tactically handles these. Like a manager, he sometimes tends to deal with employees with sympathy rather than empathy. Our HR manager is a good problem solver as well as wise in taking calculated decisions, which are both qualities of managers and leaders respectively. Instead of avoiding conflicts and problems such as those related to employee performance management, promotions, workplace diversity, recruitment, training and career development, he faces them challengingly. He is keen on grooming his employees both personally and professionally. Make a summary statement about this manager’s overall effectiveness. What areas would you advise this manager to work to develop? How? Overall, the HR manager is seen as competitive and efficient. He is good at developing and maintaining social contacts with all employees and other professionals. The HR manager ensures that new and existing employees are provided job related training so that they can perform well and contribute in the organization’s effectiveness. He has a habit of carrying out one to one session with all employees in order to discuss their career development path. Continuous mentoring and feedback are the two characteristics that have gained him a place in good books of executives. He knows how to encourage employees so that they struggle for improvement. He has set compensation and rewards for employees based on their performance. Another good quality of our manager is that he encourages employees to give their input in organizational decisions. Apart from the good characteristics, there are a few shortcomings in his personality which lowers his overall performance. He isn’t much of an advocate of team work; he believes that individual efforts can bring in more success. Most employees are in favor of team playing and they feel that individual efforts are bringing a decrease in their productivity. Our HR manager is having a difficult time judging each employees performance fairly because he is not much of a keen observer and sometimes prone to flattery. He must understand that employee satisfaction and retention is linked to fair measurement of performance. He must work on his personality to avert compliments. Furthermore, he must be given training on personality building, management skills and change management. References: Claude L. Graeff. "The Situational Leadership Theory: A Critical View." The Academy of Management Review 8.2 (1983): 285-291. Print. Heather Rothbauer-Wanish. "Four Functions of Management" Suite101. 20 Apr 2009. Web. 17 Apr 2012. S Anil Kumar, S.C Poornima, Mini K. Abraham, K Jayashree. Entrepreneurship Development. New Delhi: New Age International, 2003. Print. Tom Gorman. Motivation: Spark Initiative. Inspire Action. Achieve Your Goal. Avon: Adams Business, 2007. Print. Read More