How Managers Manage People - Coursework Example

Managers Manage People Introduction Managers often describe what they do as managing people. This work disagrees with the above statement. The following discussion proves this contention. This work contends that managers manage not only people, but also address the overall wellbeing of the organisation. In this endeavour, they have to represent the organisation as an institution. In addition, managers have to address the cultural issues of the organisation. In this regard, they have to achieve coordination among several internal and external stakeholders, and institutions for the successful growth of the organisation. As such managers play the role of a figurehead, leader, and effectors of liaison between internal and external stakeholders. In addition, this work analyses the management perspectives with regard to cultural and institutional issues. Finally, this work concludes that management is not limited to managing people. It has to deal with several issues, such as culture and institutional networks, and achieve a liaison between external and internal stakeholders for the overall wellbeing of the organisation. Discussion An organisation’s culture determines whether it is a congenial place to work. Albeit, several managers recognise the importance of culture, few comprehend their function and responsibility in the development of culture. In fact, consistency, mentorship, delegation, empowerment, trust and trustworthiness contribute towards the overall wellbeing of the organisation. These elements have no significance in isolation. These factors coexist, and empowerment and mentorship are based upon the trust and trustworthiness[Kan06]. In addition, strong mentor programmes contribute towards a high level of trust. In addition, in the presence of strong culture, managers take the initiative to mould and maintain it. Such managers are termed symbolic managers, as they devote considerable time towards thinking about the rituals and values of the culture, and as they regard their basic job as the management of value conflicts that emerge from daily events. The function of managers in developing a healthy culture for their organisation has been studied by a number of scholars. The latter discerned that this entailed several important features, including exemplification of trust and trustworthiness by managers, consistency and mentorship by managers, and delegation and empowerment by managers[Kan06]. Moreover, it has become crucially important, due to the advent of economic globalization, to construct and preserve a competitive edge over others. From a fundamental perspective, successful management is ensured by the harmonious development of individual traits rather than specialisation in a specific field of study. As such, the innate qualities of the person controlling the affairs of a corporation exert a tremendous influence upon its management, logical approach, aesthetic sense, ethical norms and pragmatic dynamism, and produce outstanding results[Raj07]. As such, the intrinsic function of managers is to generate a positive environment in the organisation, which will expedite the achievement of its goals. Strictly speaking, employees are entitled to expect fair treatment and understanding. In addition, they are justified in expecting professional competence, including the delegation of tasks thereby ensuring enhanced participation and self-management. It is incumbent upon managers to establish a system, wherein employees have the opportunity to perform optimally. To this end, the interest and strengths of employees have to be determined and duties have to be passed on[Raj07]. Human capital is founded on the notion that organisations have to produce an environment that values employees and encourages them to make the best use of their capabilities. Institutional Roles Institutional leaders are central to the practice-institution relationship. This is due to several factors, such as, the decisions taken by them, and establishment of decision making processes by them. Whenever, management has to be undertaken as a practice in a specific domain, then the domain where this is conducted should facilitate constancy that is accompanied by a suitable goal[Bea13]. With regard to healthcare organisations, the role of managers in implementing programmes is, in general, evaluated in the realm of quality programmes and this results in the provision of exemplary service. With regard to the service sector, management commitment, support and leadership are central towards the implementation of total quality management programmes, in programmes aimed at enhancing quality, and in determining the success or failure of customer satisfaction programmes[Fil10]. Moreover, information roles are the function of mangers as individuals who receive information, act upon the same and communicate information[Els09]. Moreover, a business manager can be described as an individual who is responsible for conducting the business profitably and efficiently as an agent or principal. Managers could possess skills and knowledge in several of the functional areas. From this perspective, business managers could hold the position of general managers, and managers of departments, functional groups or units[Sen14]. Furthermore, the competitiveness and economic success of an organisation is critically dependent upon the notion of diversity management. Consequently, organisations have to regard diversity management as a strategic concept that respects diversity and makes optimal use of it. The presence of diversity among the individual members of the organisation should be considered essential [Ege12]. In addition, it should be perceived as the bestower of competitive advantage to the organisation, due to its capacity to make better use of individual potential. As such, it is desirable for managers to possess a set of different abilities and skills that permit them to take effective strategic decisions. In addition, managers should have the ability to communicate the details of the strategy and preserve the consistency of the activities. As such, whilst implementing the strategy, managers should maintain several meta-abilities, including self-knowledge, individual determination, reasoning skills and emotional flexibility[Rad14]. In addition, distributed leadership is a form of collaborative working, wherein leadership is the shared responsibility and function of the entire organisation instead of that of a specific individual. This model stresses upon the necessity to reduce dependence upon a figurehead, which could result in empowerment via the development of leadership skills. Furthermore, distributed leadership pertains to: first, collective achievement and goal setting, and it enables its adherents to be empowered as leaders. Second, knowledge distribution. Third, organisation and subsidiary section direction. From this perspective, leadership has to be comprehended with reference to leadership practices and organisational interventions, instead of personal competences or behavioural style[Mor141]. The emphasis is upon organisational relations, connectedness, interventions to the organisational system, and transformation of organisational practices and processes. Culture Roles The presence of proper culture is a sine qua non for optimal learning and teaching. Its primary features are: openness, patience, tolerance and trust. Patience pertains to the long-term perspective. Thus, investing substantial quantities of time and attention produce outstanding results at a later date. This is due to the fact that employees acknowledge ownership of their jobs, intensify their allegiance towards the organisation, and enhance their proficiency and reliability levels[Wis91]. Despite the abstract nature of notions regarding culture, they have tremendous influence in producing effective organisational change. It is indispensable for organisational leaders to understand the connotations of cultural change. In fact, organisations that undergo continued success strengthen fundamental presumptions and as a consequence redoubtable organisational cultures[Val04]. The culture of an organisation retains its robustness, as long as its internal environment is stable. In addition, consistency within an organisation is indispensable. In this context, the term alignment denotes mutual congruence or alignment betwixt the management philosophies, shared values, mission statement, structure and all other aspects. Such alignment transpires whenever trust, empowerment, trustworthiness and other stanch principles are central to an organisation[Kan06]. In such organisations, contradiction does not exist between what is stated and what actually transpires. Moreover, the fundamental task to be undertaken by management is to establish the required coordination for achieving knowledge integration. It is a fact that organisation theory focuses primarily upon the issues associated with achieving cooperation. However, the intricacies of knowledge integration indicate that even in the absence of conflict of goals, achieving coordination is not an easy task. Substantial variation in different types of knowledge, vis-à-vis their capacity for aggregation and transfer generate profound implications for organisational structure and location of decision making authority[Gra96]. Furthermore, the knowledge based approach suggests certain principles of organisational design that are in conflict with the principles suggested by other organisational models, especially the bureaucratic and information processing approaches. The knowledge based approach, per se, furnishes a theoretical basis for comprehending several contemporary organisational trends and innovations. Some of these are: renovation of traditional organisational structures via delayering and empowerment; and the development of novel organisational structures, such as team based and horizontal structures and inter-firm alliances[Gra96]. In addition, there are some other important roles that have to be enacted by managers for realising the success and sustainable growth of the organisation. For instance, the following roles have been identified in which managers’ function. Interpersonal Roles Figurehead Role This constitutes the representative role of managers, and managers represent it only by virtue of being the head of their institution[Lus14]. Since, the organisation is considered as an institution, the manager becomes its representative. Leader Role Upon regarding the organisation as a system, managers are the entities who provide leadership to all the people involved in the organisation. Consequently, these managers enact the role of the leader in their organisation. Thus, such managers guide and direct the other individuals involved in the functioning of the organisation[ONe112]. As such, the manager has to play a leadership role in an organisation, while regarding it as an institution. Liaison Role Managers function as the link between their organisation and individuals in external organisations. This imparts a liaison role to managers[Kro90]. Managers achieve an association between their organisation and other external organisations. In addition, the role of personnel and human resource managers has been influenced by organisational change. Conventionally, the role of personnel managers has demonstrated ambiguity and ambivalence due to the wide range of roles and responsibilities undertaken by these individuals. The transformation of personnel management into human resource management has intensified this ambiguity. In fact, descriptions of human resource management depict a transition towards a unitary frame of reference, assertion of management control and enhanced individualistic employment relationship[Foo99]. Addressing diversity in organisations has emerged as a major management challenge, as organisations have become increasingly team based. In fact, several researchers have pointed out that dealing with workgroup diversity has become a key issue for organisations. In addition, organisations have experienced greater diversity due to demographic differences between people. As such, a culture of learning can be delineated as an orientation towards dissemination, facilitation, promotion and sharing of individual learning with respect to group internal integration and external adaptation processes[Lou14]. Such cultures are distinguished by experimentation, openness and error acceptance. The superior business leaders and managers possess several outstanding qualities. For instance, such individuals have exemplary leading age vision, strong business plans, capacity to rapidly recognise the various drivers of change, ability to identify the lacunae and determine the priorities for the necessary crucial group of skills and abilities required for transformative learning and change with respect to the orientation of business strategies and planning that will guarantee the best delivery of learning prospects resulting in talent management and human capital development. Contemporary business practices and conditions tend to change and develop on a continuous basis [Pre141]. This obliges managers to review their internal policies, planning and business strategies, human resource and human resource development practices, and the implementation of new technologies. As such, it is feasible to regard human resource management as a source of continuous competitive advantage for organisations. Consequently, research in human resource management has undergone significant progress in exploring the correlation between human resource management practices and organisational performance. Some of these practices are: recruitment and selection, training and development, personnel planning, teamwork, employment security, performance related pay, performance management, communication, participation, internal career possibilities and job descriptions. It has been made clear in the literature that human resource management is a major feature of organisational success[Yan15]. Moreover, prior studies have indicated that adopting human resource management practices can enhance the competitiveness of firms and improve their legitimacy. Conclusion This work claims that it is incorrect to state that managers deal solely with managing people in an organisation. Instead, they play a number of roles, including interpersonal roles as leaders, figureheads, and effectors of liaison, and cultural and institutional roles. Managers, as the head of the institution, have to enact several roles to realise sustainable growth for the organisation. Upon regarding an organisation as an institution, managers have to achieve a connection between internal and external stakeholders of organisations. As such, this work establishes that managers not only manage people, but also undertake several other important roles for the growth and success of the organisation. 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