Is Management the Responsibility of Everyone - Essay Example

Debate: Management is the Responsibility of Everyone- Not Just Managers (Negative) Introduction There has been, and continues, extensive debate in management discourse and literature over whether management is the responsibility of managers alone or the responsibility of everyone- managers and employees or staff. On one hand, proponents of a wider scope of responsibility beyond managers such as Moller (1994) have claimed that there has been a tendency to overestimate the responsibility of managers which itself is often highly overrated. They have emphasized that management in an organization is only a part of the total picture and thus can only be held partly responsible. This view is consistent with supporting decentralization or delegation of managerial roles and responsibilities beyond managers to staff and employees and holding everyone, not just managers, accountable for the success or failure of the organization. On the other hand, several commentators have insisted that in an organization, management should be the exclusive responsibility or domain of managers. Proponents of this view such as Drucker (1999) and Corrigan (1999) have pointed out the dangers and risks of managers’ “ducking” their responsibilities or excessive decentralization and delegation or managerial roles and responsibilities in an organization. This report presents the negative side of the debate that “management the responsibility of everyone, not just managers". The report summarises the two main arguments in support of the more conservative view that that management should be the exclusive domain of managers: that knowledge and experience required of managers allows them to take responsibility for management and that it would be risky to delegate or to decentralise managerial responsibilities and roles as this would compromise efficiency, decision making and accountability. First, the report will define the role of managers in an organization. The report will then demonstrate some of the skills and approaches of managers and management that are important in ensuring efficiency, success and growth in an organization. The report will then argue against the position that management should be the responsibility of everyone by demonstrating some of the risks involved in assuming such a position by arguing that this obscures accountability and compromises effectiveness in an organization which may have negative repercussions for the organizations’ running and overall performance. The report will also provide several examples or illustrations to reinforce the arguments and will conclude by arguing that when managers fail to take responsibility for management in an organization, the results may be catastrophic for the organization. Management and the roles of Managers Robbins and Coulter (2012, p9) have defined management as the coordination and oversight of the work activities of others so that their activities are completed efficiently and effectively in an organization. Therefore, according to this definition, a manager is someone who coordinates and oversees the work of other people so that organizational goals can be accomplished. There are various ways through which managers are, or management is, expected to coordinate and oversee the activities of others which can be understood through the functions of management. The key management functions or functions of managers in an organization are planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Planning involves setting goals, establishing strategies and developing plans to coordinate activities while organizing basically entails the effective and timely allocation and distribution of the organizations’ resources through the determination of what needs to be done, when it will be done, how it will be done, and by who it will be done. Leading encompasses issues such as motivating employees through incentives such as performance based pay and promotion. The control function of management involves monitoring the activities of staff and employees to ensure that they are accomplished as planned (Robbins and Coulter 2012). There are various levels of management in an organization: top management, middle management and line management. As the name suggests, top managers are found at the highest level of management and consist of the organization’s strategic decision makers. Top managers often have executive authority to establish plans and set goals that affect the operations, performance and strategic direction of the entire organization. As the leaders of the organization they state the vision, create excitement among people to believe in the vision and then direct actions to accomplish the vision (). They include Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), the Managing Directors or other executive members of the Board of Directors, the Chief Operations Officer and the President. Between the top level and the lowest level of management are middle managers. Middle managers have the responsibility of managing the work of first line managers at the lowest level. They include operations managers, division managers or project managers. At the lowest level of the organizations’ management are line managers or first line managers. Line managers manage the work of non-managerial employees or staff and perform roles such as monitoring and supervision of employee attendance and performance. Non managerial employees are involved in production of goods or in the actual servicing of the organization’s customers. The coordination and oversight of the activities of others to foster efficiency and effectiveness implies that one of the essential roles and responsibilities of managers in an organization is to share responsibility for the performance of the organization. As Drucker (1999) argues, what separates managers from other members of staff, workers or employees is that they share the responsibility for the performance of the enterprise or organization. This is essentially the “work” of managers and for Drucker, anyone who is not expected to take such responsibilities in an organization is not to be considered a manager. Corrigan (1999) reinforces this view by arguing that taking responsibility for the outcomes of the work of others is at the core and the very essence of the “work” of managers. Managers are important to organization as they possess the managerial skills and abilities to deal with the problems and challenges of managing employees and organizing work, particularly in today’s economic climate, changing technology and globalisation with their role in to identify critical issues and crafting responses. Arguments against the claim that Management is the Responsibility of Everyone- Not Just Managers 1. The knowledge and experience of managers allows them to take responsibility for management Given the roles and responsibilities of managers as demonstrated by Robbins and Coulter, management should be the responsibility of managers and not everyone in an organization. As reiterated by Drucker (1999), taking responsibility for the outcome of the work of others is the essence of management and the “work” of managers. As Drucker argues, anyone who is not expected or able to take such responsibilities in an organization cannot be considered a manager. Management should therefore be primarily the exclusive domain of managers as this often enhances accountability, decision making and efficiency within an organization. For managers to perform their roles efficiently, they require certain knowledge and experience in managing others which makes management an obligation which cannot be fulfilled by everyone in the organization. Managers in an organization also perform several roles which require managerial skills in effectively managing employees. This includes interpersonal roles such as figurehead, leader or liaison to employees, informational roles such as monitor, disseminator or spokesperson and decision roles such as entrepreneur, implementer, disturbance handler, resources allocator, and negotiator. As an example of these various key managerial roles, top level management such as CEOs and presidents are responsible for the strategic decision making of an organization. As demonstrated with the example of Honda, President Nobihuko Kawamoto was once forced to make an executive decision on the company’s new car models when the various divisions failed to come to an agreement (Daft and Marcic 2010). Line managers are also expected to assume responsibilities such as ensuring staff or employees report to work on time and perform their roles effectively and efficiently (monitor). They also relay the concerns of employees to higher level management and represent them at meetings (liaison or spokesperson), communicate strategic direction and implement managerial directives (disseminator and implementer) and also manage conflicts among employees (negotiator, disturbance handler). Therefore, the knowledge and experience of managers allows them a higher and more realistic taking of management responsibility as compared to other employees within an organization (Robbins and Coulter 2012). As further demonstration of the importance of managers to organizations, Robbins and Coulter (2012) cite findings that 35% of employees who quit their jobs say it’s because of unhappiness with management, 3 times when managers are disengaged with their work, their employees are 3 timed as likely to be disengaged from their work, 51% of workers say they do not have qualified managers; 28% of people would lay off/fire their boss if given the option; 8% of job applicants say that a good rapport with the manager is most important when considering a new employer; 30% of white collar workers think incompetence is what makes for a bad boss(Robbins & Coulter, 2012, p5). Even in hospitals, Wilson (2000) argues that quality management in hospitals cannot be effectively implemented if it is made the responsibility of health professionals. Health professionals, doctors and nurses do not have the time, skills and in many cases the interest to be responsible for these systems and the responsibility should be left to managers (Wilson 2000). 2. It is risky to delegate or decentralize managerial responsibilities Secondly, management is not a responsibility which could be fulfilled by anyone since it would be risky to delegate or decentralize some of the roles performed and considered by managers to other workers for holding or taking that management responsibility for the organization. Efficiency and effectiveness in an organization is largely contingent on manager’s willingness to take responsibility for the work and performance of employees which in turn enhances accountability and decision making in the organization. There are several dangers of assuming the view or adopting the position that management is the responsibility of everyone in organization. As Corrigan (1999) argues, the delegation of managerial responsibilities to staff and other members of the organization or deliberate efforts by managers to try and duck responsibility for their staff or employees may have serious negative repercussions for the organizations’ performance. When managers fail to take such responsibilities or attempt to delegate them in the view that management is not the sole responsibility of managers, the results could be catastrophic for the organization. For instance, it should be the responsibility of line managers to ensure that staff report to work and on time. While they may not be able to control extraneous factors such as weather, sickness or other unforeseen circumstances, managers who fail to take responsibility for staff attendance will see staff absenteeism rise, productivity decline and will thus have failed in their role as managers. On the issue of accountability, Daft and Marcic (2010) illustrate the risk delegation of managerial responsibilities or decentralisation of decision making by top level managers. Accountability can be built into the organizational structure when the responsibilities of managers are clearly defined and enhanced when managers take responsibility for strategic decision making or operations. When management is the exclusive domain of managers, they can be held accountable for the performance or operations of their various divisions, departments or the organization as a whole in the case of top level management. This is especially important in times of crisis where managers may need to exercise their authority and also as a guarantee against corporate failure in cases where managers attempt to duck responsibility. When management is excessively decentralised or managerial responsibilities shared outside of management, it becomes increasingly difficult to hold anyone accountable. As earlier illustrated, Honda Motors’ president Nobihuko Kawamoto was forced to make an executive decision on the company’s new car models when the various divisions failed to come to an agreement (Daft and Marcic 2010). This demonstrates the importance of top level management taking responsibility for their company’s strategic decision making to avoid gridlock in decision making which would otherwise negatively affect the organizations’ operations. In contrast, the top level management of Nokia illustrate the dangers of top level management not taking responsibility for the company’s strategic direction. In 2007, Nokia executives privately dismissed the touch screen feature of the iPhone, a feature which they had offered even earlier than its competitors, a strategic miscalculation which would allow Apple and Research in Motion (RIM) to significantly cut into their market share in the global smart phone market segment with the iPhone and the Blackberry respectively (Smith 2009). Subsequently, Nokia’s image suffered and it lost momentum as a market leader as it was perceived as lagging behind in the smart phone segment which resulted in a drop in its share of the global smart phone segment from 49% in 2007 to 37% in the first quarter of 2009 while RIM boosted its share from 10% to 20% and Apple tripled its share to 10%. This was compounded by global recession which saw Nokia profits down 66% to $536 million in the first quarter of 2009 (Smith 2009). Conclusion This report has argued on the negative side of the debate “Management is the responsibility of everyone, not just managers.” To support the argument that management should be the responsibility of managers alone, the report has first defined management as the coordination and oversight of the work activities of others so that their activities are completed efficiently and effectively in an organization and the role of managers as someone who coordinates and oversees the work of other people so that organizational goals can be accomplished. Managers at the various levels of management play very important roles in organizations such as planning, organizing, leading and controlling. The first argument is that to perform these roles, they require certain managerial skills, knowledge and experience and therefore are the only ones in an organization who can be realistically expected to take responsibility for management. The second argument is that it would be risky to delegate or decentralise managerial responsibilities or roles in an organization. It would be risky to delegate or decentralize some of the roles which are supposed to be performed by managers in an organization to other members of staff or workers or to hold the view that management is the responsibility of everyone in the organization. This view would allow managers to duck some their responsibilities, such as top manager’s responsibility for providing strategic direction or line manager’s responsibility for attendance and performance of employees. Taking responsibility for the outcomes of the work of others is essentially the work of managers and enhances accountability and decision making in an organization. Therefore, management should be the responsibility of managers alone, not everyone. References Corrigan, P 1999, Shakespeare on Management: Leadership Lessons for Today’s Managers, London: Kogan Page Publishers. Daft, R.L & Marcic, D 2010, Understanding Management, Stamford: Cengage Learning. Drucker, P.F 1999, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, London: Taylor and Francis. Møller, C 1994, "Employeeship: The Necessary Prerequisite for Empowerment: The Success or Failure of an Organization Is Not (only) the Manager's Responsibility", Empowerment in Organizations, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp 4 - 13. Robbins, S.P, De Cenzo, D.A 2012, & Coulter, M, Fundamentals of Management, New York: Pearson Education Limited. Smith, A 2009, “Nokia Plays It (Not Too) Smart”, TIME Magazine, 24 August, p.1, retrieved on 28 February, 2012 from Wilson, L 2000, “‘Quality is everyone’s business’ why this approach will not work in hospitals”, Journal of Quality in Clinical Practice, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp 131–135. Read More