The Mondu Operandi of a Manager - Essay Example

Analyi of the Mondu Operandi of a Manager Analyi of the Mondu Operandi of a Manager The nature of buine and buine environment i continually in flux, affecting the nature and tructure of buine. Thi flux caue hift in the role and nature of management and manager, preenting the challenge and procee of a changing external buine environment and whoe role i o vital, Mintzberg himelf tated ""No job i more vital to ociety than that of the manager."From Government to mall buine, the role of manager a defined by Weihrich and Koontz i "the proce of deigning and maintaining an environment in which individual, working together in group, efficiently accomplih elected aim. It include all ytem where group of people are involved to achieve a pecific et of goal" (Weihrich-&-Kootz,-1994). To bring about thee aim, a defined and created by each individual buine to reach it goal, there are three main management role a defined by Mintzberg, which include the Interperonal, information role and the deciional role. Thee in-turn encompa more pecific dutie which will be dicued later. The Concie Oxford Dictionary define a manager a "A peron controlling or adminitering a buine or part of a buine". Manager Cae-tudy:Buine Name - Playtec Pty LtdName - Matthew tewartAge - 29Phone No - *******Poition Held - General ManagerBuine ize - mall (approximately 20-employee)Buine Decription - Playtec Pty Ltd i a manufacturer of indoor oftplay equiptment, ditributed nationwide and occaionally overea. A a General Manager of a mall buine, Matthew' management role conit of interdependent-factor coordinated into an organied 'ytem' to allow efficient allocation of reource through well-planned adminitration, complimenting D.A Holt definition of "defining organizational objective and then articulating trategie, tactic and objective that are neceary to achieve thee objective." (Holt,-1987,-p.793). Thee are divided into the three main egment of reponibility, collectively known a the Mintzberg' Management role. Under Interperonal management role, Matthew i een a a 'figurehead' in playtec, ometime being referred to a the "heart'n'oul" of the company. Although not the buine owner, the role of a leader i one he ha aumed, taking-on the reponibility of planning and providing future growth under one' 'umbrella' of reponibility for operation and employee. Taking a large amount of reponibility for buine function, a well a the peronal well-being of it' employee, Matthew ucceed in the "getting-it-done" part of the management proce. Manager do thi by motivating people to accomplih the tak through coaching and praie. They alo make key deciion that enable tak to be completed (Robbin, Coulter, 2003 pg256). Taking peronal reponibility not only for buine function and operation, but of the peronal well-being and of it' employee, ha allowed Matthew to take-advantage of the maller buine tructure to connect with hi "underling" on a peronal level, motivating them through friendhip and loyalty, not only bringing employee to work in a poitive manner toward the buinee-goal, but allowing "empowered group a full reponibility to develop a project plan and carry out the tak within the plan within contraint from the enior group. Thee contraint can only include iue uch a budget, ize, weight etc. (Dale, E., 1978)A a liaion, Matthew excel, addreing the entire workplace a well a employee individually on matter both relating to workplace performance, evaluation and peronal matter. He alo liaie efficiently between the upper-level, or organiation-level of the buine, to the factory-floor many time a day to enure buine goal meet at every level, a well a co-coordinating (with the buine owner) the companie network of upplier. He i attentive and "controlling" of the proper and efficient method of manufacturing, and often take on the role of training new peronnel, enuring quality-control of the final product and maintenance of the current 'buine-model'. Thi alo prevent employee taking "artitic-libertie" by cutting corner and changing et practice, following the cientific-management model of 'deigning each job o that each worker ha a pecified, well-controlled tak that can be performed a intructed. pecific procedure and method for each job mut be followed with no exception. (Taylor, F. W.) Thi type of control alo "enable manager to ee if the organization i achieving it goal" (Robbin, Coulter, 2003 pg496). In relation to the Informational role of monitoring, dieminating and pokeperon, manager are reponible for receiving, collecting, filtering and analyzing the information available to him and making deciion regarding buine operation, and making thee known to affected partie. A a monitor, Matthew i contantly in communication with thoe on the factory-floor, coordinating the eparate "work-tation" to flow together, upplying intaller in the field who are pread cro-country. Making change to date, projection, job-priority and allocation of tak i handled by a large ytem of white-board with all-apect covered in efficient format. He alo monitor upply tock which total over 600 individual product, monitoring uage-peed, cot-effectivene and practicality a well a tracking the progre of ordered tock. To help facilitate thi, he take top-priority in developing relationhip with upplier and freight companie, knowing their contact by name and having on-going account with them to develop a buine network and upplier who are aware of the buinee need and 'go that extra mile' in order to maintain an amicable connection. In thi egment, the maller buine model force Matthew to take a large role in the 'informational-apect' of management on all level, acrificing longer hour to enure efficient allocation. In larger buinee, numerou worker would fill thi role. A General Manager and 2IC (econd-in-charge) of operation, Matthew i involved in deciional-role and etting buine policy. However, hi role a an entrepreneur i limited, a buine development, dicovery and puruit of avenue and reearch in product i left to the buine-owner(Ivan), who i alo the chief aleman, upervior of deign and cot-effective procurement. Matthew i more an inular-entrepreneur, allowing hi viibility a a leader to open channel of honet and productive communication to improve the internal buine-model. Improvement to productivity and cot-effectivene are critical to mall-buinee, due to limited fund and being ubject to market-hift, upply drought and inflation, which would not heavily affect a larger company. A a negotiator, perform conflict-reolution a well a addreing all tenion and problem a quickly a poible from both internal and external ource that affect the buine. A previouly tated, the exitence of 'open and honet' channel of communication in the buine allow Matthew to reolve many apect of internal conflict and inubordination efficiently. Alo, a maller buine allow development of camaraderie and up-to-date knowledge of employee activitie, facilitating reolution with a level of undertanding that minimie damage to buine operation, while thi duty would be conducted by larger companie on a very imperonal and indifferent level. A vital role of manager i reource allocation, which involve the "allocating and arranging human and other reource o plan can be carried out uccefully, it involve etablihing an intentional tructure of role for people to fill in an organization" (Bartol et al. 2001). In mall-buine, the allocation of finite reource, equiptment and labor into pecified project with efficiency i vital, a watage i not acceptable. Where-a many large buine manager, whoe budget poe "cah-to-flah" are uually not aroued by mall dicrepancie which could potentially damage a maller-buine. A large difference between mall-to-large companie i een through the exitence of 'price-under-cutting', though an independent tudy in the 'National Competition Policy' tate "price-dicrimination generally enhance economic efficiency" (national-competition-policy,p79-80). Thee activitie are policed in the U. under the Robinon-Patman-Act, but no uch control exit in Autralia. A an example, Woolworth and Cole poe 80% of Autralia' grocery-market, the highet rate of any duopoly in the world, procuring good at much-lower price than any other retailer in the country (eg-Necafe Blend 43) and now with the etablihment of Aldi-chain, thee two giant have been able to further drop price to compete, a feat which no independent-retailer can match. The ACCC releaed a report to the enate in 2002 on thi matter and concluded "... price difference in the ale of grocerie by upplier to the major chain and to independent wholealer do not appear to exhibit anti-competitive conduct" (www.accc.gov.au). In practice however, maller-buine are contantly preured to reduce cot and improve allocation in order to compete with larger buinee. Giving the importance of thi, Matthew cloely monitor performance and allocation, identifying the trength and weaknee of individual worker, tailoring role to individual trength. A a Negotiator, Manager engage in 'verbal-jouting' with individual or group that repreenting the affected partie and arbitrate an amicable compromie, plitting the reponibility o what ideally neither party facing advere conequence. In Playtec, negotiation often occur over with client on job-ite, purchaer' of the oft-play unit, but mot commonly with upplier and freight companie over dipute concerning tardine or incorrect ervice. A uperlative negotiator i eential, a the phrae "time-i-money" i even more true for mall-buinee who cannot iue penaltie or purue length litigation. In the buine world, the reponibilitie of manager to fulfill their eential tak a outlined by Mintzberg, and adapting to the contantly hifting external buine environment i more eential than ever in-order to compete in an ever-globaliing buine market. Thee challenge are unquetionably more difficult for mall-buinee and rely immeaurably more on the manager to make well-informed deciion on buine practice and planning-out goal to reach in the future. Every manager ha a different approach to the way they manage taff and ituation. Thee may vary coniderably form manager to manager given their type of work involved and more importantly their experience. The role of the Front Line manager can be viewed a being the 'keytone' in an organiation.The keytone view, identified by Profeor Keith Davi, i many people' ideal of a upervior' job. The comparion between an archway and an organization i very intereting. Without the keytone (upervior), the arch (organization) collape. The keytone i the central topmot tone of an arch. It i an eential part becaue it take the preure of both ide 6Theorit Robert L Katz defined a kill a 'an ability which can be developed, not necearily inborn, and which i manifeted in performance, not merely in potential, thu the principal criteria of killfulne i effective action under varying condition. (Katz, R 1974) 7While all management kill are of a great value to manager of all level, ome kill are of more importance to a Front Line manager. I believe that in my current role the kill which are mot critical to poe are ( in order of importance ) - Interperonal kill. You have to be able to communicate with and undertand people. Thi particular kill i, I believe a prerequiite to being a ucceful manager. Leaderhip kill. You have to be able to lead and motivate people in order to gain commitment. Leading or motivating i neceary for an organization to obtain the bet performance out of their employee. Planning/organiing. You have to be able to plan and organize. Thi entail the putting in place trategie ( uually hort term ) and plan for day to day operational need. You would alway try to be one tep alway ahead-alway. Talk, think and act one tep ahead and you will be one tep ahead. Controlling. You have to be competent in the monitoring of 'et goal' and 'target' and be able to addre the ituation if the need be. In other word 'put thing back on track' if need be. Technical kill. You have to know or at leat have a working knowledge of what you are talking about. Mot of the time Front Line manager work in area of pecialied knowledge and would need ome level of technical kill in particular kill involving method. Political kill. Thi kill i omewhat important a it tend to give you 'the edge' over other manager who poibly do not poe uch a kill. One key trait of thi kill i to know the corporate culture you operate in. Over a period of time you would cultivate upport and contact and reap the benefit of better acce to reource and poibly promotion.Conceptual kill. Thi kill involve the ability to viualie the organiation a a whole, and involve the manager thinking, information proceing and planning abilitie. I now realie that a manager' role i to lead hi/her organization to a clearly tated objective (Miion tatement). In doing o he/he mut channel all hi reource in a precie and organized way to work toward thoe goal. No matter what level of management a manager i at, or the ize of an organiation that he/he i employed in, a ucceful manager need four baic kill - Human kill: which are vitally important when communicating and working with other. Technical kill: which are abilitie that are related to pecific know-how and knowledge of the indutry area in which they work. Conceptual kill: relate to the mental ability to analye and diagnoe complex ituation Latly, Political kill: The individual poeing thi kill would be very aware of the corporate culture in which they work and have the ability to build a good network of connection within the organiation. Thee kill are alo developed a the individual progree (gain experience) through an organiation and manager often ue all of thee kill during the coure of their working day. Reference National Competition Policy : Report of the Independent Committee of Inquiry pp.79-80Robbin, tephen P and Coulter, Mary, (2003). Management (7th ed.)Holt, D.H. (1987). Management Principle and Practice. New Jerey: Prentice- Hall. Taylor, F. W., Growth of cientific Management, (online) http://www.accel-team.com/cientific/cientific_02.html, (23rd eptember, 2003)Robbin, tephen P and Coulter, Mary, (2003). Management (7th ed.)Weihrich, H. & Koontz, Harold. 1994, Management-A Global Perpective, 10th edn, McGrew-Hill, ydney. Bartol, K, Martin, D, Matthew, G & Tein, M. 2001, Management-A Pacific Rim Focu, 3nd edn, McGraw-Hill, ydney. Gabarro, John J.; Kotter, John P. (Jan 2005) "Manage your bo"Harvard Buine Review, Vol. 83, Iue 1. pp92-99 Herzberg, Fredrick. (Jan 2003)"One More time: How Do You Motivate Employee" Harvard Buine Review, Vol. 81 Iue 1, p87 Malow, Abraham F. (1943) "A Theory of Human Motivation." Pychological Review Minztberg, H (1973), "The nature of Managerial Work". Harper & Row. Robbin, . P., Bergman, R., tagg, I. & Coulter, M. (2000). Management. Maryborough: Prentice-Hall. Read More