Motivating and Empowering Employees - Coursework Example

Management Name: Tutor: Subject: Date: INTRODUCTION Managers describe what they do as “managing people”. Managing people requires the manager to be able to plan constantly and develop as a way of ensuring efficiency in managing as noted by Armstrong and Taylor (2014). The importance of managing people is that it gives a new opportunity for the manager to supervise efficiently, lead and also participate in mentoring and motivation of the others. The ability of a manager to efficiently manage is very critical in the determination of achievement of set goals for institutions. From the statement provided the main theme arising is people management. The argument arising is whether what managers do should be described as “managing people” or not? This essay will make a justification to the argument by using two perspectives on the organization which is “managing people” as a social process and identity, belonging as a way of motivating and empowering employees. MAIN DISCUSSION Theme-people management People management involves various tasks such as recruitment, management and also motivating and supporting the employees of any company as noted by Clark et al.(2016). It also encompasses various tasks such as motivation, support, communication, training and many other activities by the manager to the employees. While managing people in any institution, the manager should hire or select the right people. Efficient management enables the manager to get the best out of the people being managed as found out by Armstrong, M., and Taylor, S., (2014). Effective people management ensures the personnel provides the company with top quality which makes the organization to achieve its goals. Managers using their people management skills should come up with great ways of utilizing the personnel efficiently ensuring maximum performance in the organization. Getting the fullest from the people would mean the manager has good policies put in place so as to ensure the personnel undergoes proper training and development. This would make the employees be satisfied in their job. According to Bryman and Bell (2015) effective people, management skills will ensure the potential of the employees are fully unlocked thus seeing success in the organization. In case people are not managed well, their skills and talents will not be channeled well thus will lead to a decline in the performance of the firm. Failure for managers to manage people properly in the organization leads to bad behaviors in the workplaces such as narcissism, bullying, predation, gossiping and also procrastination. Managers have the mandate to manage people properly in organizations so as to ensure that they do not come up with defense mechanisms as a way of showing dissatisfaction in the job places. Managers also have the mandate of encouraging good behavior amongst the employees in the companies. Addressing the employees immediately after discovering a problem behavior is also a way by which managers manage their employees effectively. Great managers will take responsibility and discuss with the employees regarding some ineffective behaviors in the organizations. They will discuss with other people regarding on the impacts of the bad behaviors on the organization. Managing people also involves mentoring the employees to change the ineffective behaviors to other alternative good behaviors. Managers with proper people management skills usually draw improvement performance contracts. These contracts make the employees agree to specific actions for transformation in their behavior. In managing people, a manager is expected to stay involved to motivate the employees in the process of transformation after signing the improvement performance contracts. Great managers cannot just assume the problem is automatically rectified but instead they will make follow ups in the process of change. Managers should also confront the employees in case the employee is not performing or behaving well. One important thing managers should know while managing employees in the organization is that one person’s bad behavior can spread rapidly in the whole workplace in case it is not dealt with properly. To properly manage workers well, a manager should consider some things. First, is providing the employees with the necessary tools and resources for them to perform efficiently in the organization. Secondly, the manager should be able to know the characters of each employee and ensure that he or she is aware of the roles of the individuals in the company so as to ensure good people management. Finally, the manager should involve the persons he or she is managing in making some decisions within the organization for them to have a feeling of belonging. People empowerment is very essential in managing people. It usually involves employees in a professional development and improvement program as noted by Malik, A. and Rowley, C. eds., (2015). Important aspects of career development such as being accountable and being responsible are delegated to the employees to develop the tasks they are given to the organizations. A great manager will manage the employees such that they can be acting responsibly and also in an accountable manner without seeking permission in making decisions in within the organization. This however is only attainable when the manager efficiently “manages the people” by recognizing their efforts and thus giving them rewards for performance improvement as posited by Weiss, (2014). Argument- Should what managers do be described as “managing people”? Business success in an organization is as a result of great managers who effectively manage the employees. These managers ensure full employee engagement as a way of creating the feeling of ownership. This essay agrees that what managers do is indeed “managing people” with some justifications of the argument. The first reason is that managers are involved in selection of people for various tasks in their organizations. Selection of people for various tasks is a way of “managing people”. Managers usually select employees in regards to their talent or even skills. Herrmann and Herrmann-Nehdi, (2015) explains talent as the recurrent pattern of thinking, feeling or even behavior. Managers should select the individuals with talent since talent accounts for diverse results even for individuals with same skills or even same training. Talented employees are effective in managing customer relationship thus ensuring customer satisfaction. Managers have the responsibility of managing people by hiring those talented and skilled persons in their organizations. Secondly, managers manage people by setting their expectations regarding performance and achievement of goals in the future. Harmon (2015) claim that Managers should exercise their role of “managing people” by specifying the steps the employees ought to take so as to attain a specific set goal for the organization. Managers manage the employees in their organization by clearly defining the outcomes they are seeking for their organizations and give each person an opportunity to use their talent to attain the set target for the organization. However, it is important for managers to know that they do not always need to mandate steps to be used but instead should give clear guidelines as a way of ensuring accuracy and also safety among the employees. Thirdly, managers manage employees by motivating them. Motivating individuals to achieve want they dreamed to be is a way of managing people according to Aryanasl et al. (2016). Managers have the role of finding and then rectifying the weaknesses of their employees. They will manage individuals with the emphasis on improving them by putting the focus on the negative side of the person in the organization. Kumar and Yakhlef (2016), notes that “managing people” to be motivated will involve encouraging the employees to improve on their distinct strengths as a way of utilizing maximally on their talent. Managers will manage the employees with weaknesses by finding appropriate ways of supporting those weaknesses to be transformed to strengths (Weske, 2012). Fourthly, managers also manage people by developing them in their career. A manager with good people management skills will often rate the performance of the individual and then develop them. They will manage the employee in their development process but at the same time realizing that each is different. Promotion is part of career development for many people. Managers have the obligation of first seeking the right fit employee before promoting them according to Harmon (2015). They should manage the employee well by rewarding them for their performance in the organization. Great managers will always manage their employees well thus ensuring that their talent is developing by giving then more challenging tasks in the organization. CONCLUSION It is indeed true what managers do should be regarded as “managing people”. There are various justifications to this argument as highlighted in the discussion. First, they manage people by setting objectives and then deciding the work which ought to be performed to accomplish the set targets. Secondly, they manage people by organizing tasks in their organization (Weske, M., 2012). Managers have the role of managing activities by choosing talented and skillful people to perform the activities as required. Thirdly, a manager manages people by motivating them. The manager communicates efficiently to the employees and enrolls them to programs for their growth in their profession as concluded by Aryanasl et al. (2016). He or she gives promotions and also rewards as a way of motivating them. Fourthly, a manager “manages people” by establishing targets then analyses and evaluates the performance (Sadgrove, 2015). Finally, a manager “manages people” by developing them. Employees are very important in the achievement of business success in any organization and for that matter, a manager should “manage them” properly to develop them for overall success in the organization. Managers are responsible for increasing or maintaining the success of their organizations. However, this is only possible when they “manage their people (employees)” well so as to get the best performance possible out of them. (WORDS=1630) Bibliography Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers. 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