Basic Skills for Managerial Success - Essay Example

Manager's Work Essay: Introduction to Management The manager interviewed for this paper is part of the middle management of a large organisation. He is holding a position as a key account manager of a multinational organisation with a business office in Australia. The organisation is part of the service sector with core competence in the consultancy business. It is a private firm with over one hundred employees and the organisation has 15 nationals worldwide. The manager's major functions involve defining his team's goals and deciding on the best strategies on how to achieve these goals. He set targets for his team on a monthly basis. The targets focus on the number of consultants that generates revenues for the organisation. His managerial function also involves motivating his team members to perform their work at the highest possible level for the benefit of the team and the organisation. Since the company is a target-driven organisation, the manager's major functions also involve monitoring and correcting the activities of his members through weekly reports and meetings. According to Daft and Marcic (2001), the general definition of management is the achievement of desired organisational goals in a manner that is efficient and effective. In order to achieve these goals, a manager must perform different functions of planning, organising, leading and controlling organisational resources. A manager must know how to learn what is valued, what would be of more value, and what will be valued by customers and users. (Parr, 1992) Planning involves setting goals and deciding how to best achieve these goals. It helps the organisation set its future objectives and map out activities that are necessary to attain these goals. Plans are created as guide for the organisation to obtain and commit the resources needed to reach its goals. This also serves as a framework where members of the organisation carry on activities which are consistent with the chosen objectives and procedures. Plans are necessary in order to measure and monitor the progress towards the achievement of the objective. (Mintzberg, 1994) Organising is assigning responsibilities for the accomplishment of tasks. Organising also includes allocation and arranging of organisational resources so that plans can be carried out successfully. These resources may include financial, physical, informational, technical and human resources. Leading is the manner of influencing other people to work towards the achievement of goals. Influence can be used to motivate people. Controlling is the manager's role of monitoring activities and making corrections. It is also considered as regulating activities to reach the desired goals. (Daft & Marcic, 2008) In association to the general definition of management, it is observed that the middle manager interviewed for this paper has performed the different functions of management. The planning function is demonstrated through his setting of the team's targets for the month and creating work strategies focused on achieving the targets. The manager follows the principles of management by objectives. (Hindle, 2003) The organising function is exhibited through assigning team members to meet with clients and prospects on a daily basis, in order to create business transactions. The leading function of the key account manager is best displayed when the manager motivates his people to perform exceptionally and creates a happy and healthy work environment. The controlling function is shown through weekly monitoring as well as business improvement meetings and brainstorming. The manager monitors the team members through a feedback mechanism and reports. Such reports will be compared with the expected results or targets. Corrective actions are made in order to put the members back on its track of achieving the desired objectives of the month. Effective managers are concerned with accomplishments where they set standards of performance, pursue aggressive goals and work hard to achieve them. (Zenger, 1997) Henri Fayol identified three basic skills for managerial success such as conceptual skill, technical skill and human skill. Conceptual skills are the ability to coordinate and integrate an organisation's interests and activities. Technical skills are the ability to use procedures, techniques and knowledge of a specialised field. Human skills are the ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people whether as individuals or as groups. (Hindle, 2003) Robert Katz further popularised these skills into strategising skills, task-related skills, people-related skills and self-awareness skills.(Daft, 2008) Strategising skills involve the ability to see the big picture while keeping focused on key objectives. A manager must be able to sense and to understand the internal and external factors affecting the organisation as well as respond to uncertainties in an appropriate and timely fashion. Task-related skills involve the ability to define best approaches to accomplish both personal and organisational objectives with thorough consideration of resources, time, organisational structure, financial resources and people. A manager must know how to prioritise yet remain flexible and agile to make changes when necessary. People related skills involve the ability to delegate tasks, share information and resolve conflicts. A manager must get the work done through others and with others. Self-awareness skills involve the ability to adopt to other people and to understand why people react the way they do. Managers must avoid rush judgments, size up opportunities, capitalise on personal strengths and avoid situations in which they are likely to fail other people. (Daft, 2008) The key account manager interviewed has displayed the managerial skills described by Fayol and Katz. Based on the questionnaires answered by the manager, he mentioned that much of his abilities are directed towards the technical and human skills. Only a moderate amount of conceptual skills are utilised in his work. Moderate amount of conceptual skills are common scenarios for middle managers where planning function is only limited to the short term strategies and day-to-day operations of his team. Traditional management hierarchy reveals that middle managers have lesser participation on the corporate strategic plans of the organisation. (Porter, 1985) On the other hand, senior managers are expected to utilise more of his conceptual skills and human skills with less emphasis on his technical skills. Conceptual skills are necessary in formulating long term strategies for the organisation. Furthermore, first-line managers or supervisors have lesser conceptual skills yet greater technical skills than middle managers. The technical skills portrayed by the key account manager on focus involve highly specialised knowledge on technology and consultancy. The skills are developed through in-house training and external trainings provided by third party experts. The human skills depicted are more on interpersonal skills through the ability to communicate and work with other teams especially from different nationalities. The conceptual skills involved in the manager's scope is focused mostly at the organisational structure, allocation of resources and setting of team targets. As a manager, it is important to have high level of conceptual and interpersonal skills in order to lead an organisation effectively. The functions and roles of a manager are affected with the conditions of the internal situations and external factors of the environment. According to the manager consulted, his work is influenced by the size of his organisation, the advances in technology and other uncertainties in the environment. Knowledge of the internal factors such as organisational size, structure and culture are crucial to the effective performance of a manager. (Drucker, 1967) Managers can capitalise on the strengths of his team to be successful or he may fail due to negligence of the weaknesses of his organisation. (Porter, 1985) The key account manager reinforces his position through motivation and influence. He sets a reward system by highlighting the best performers of the team and repay their commitment by celebrating fun days and eating out. These activities also reinforces the team's camaraderie, spirit of teamwork and cooperation. All elements existing outside the boundaries of the organisation have the potential to affect the organisation. Technology has become a driving force that threatens the existence of a company. Advances in technology force companies to restructure their business operations and evaluate their strategic goals and objectives. (Kaplan & Norton, 1996) Managers must monitor and respond to the environment in order to be effective. The middle manager interviewed states that he meets with high level managers of clients to build a good relationship with them and maintain a healthy business environment. He also conducts SWOT analysis of his organisation and the environment conditions in order to respond to unexpected disturbances. He then creates a recommendation for potential business improvements to his senior managers for approval and implementation. Through weekly meetings with team members, he communicate the business strategies of senior management as well as convey the market conditions. He emphasises on the team's activities that would capitalise on the opportunities present in the market. He also upgrades his management skills and technical knowledge by browsing the Internet and other available media. New informations help the manager and the organisation perform better and respond to environmental factors that may affect them. Being a manager is not an easy task. He mentioned that managing people in a consultancy business is totally different from his other jobs. He further states that there are too many external factors that should be considered in order to evaluate the business. He also mentioned that as a manager, he must focus on leading his people achieve their targets. He promotes team bonding exercises and creates collective targets in order to motivate his people to work for the greater benefit of the organisation and prevent them from focusing most of their efforts on the short-term rewards. Commissions from successfully achieving targets may cause selfish behaviours from his people. In conclusion, the nature of management is all about human beings. Its fundamental task is to make people work together in order to achieve the desired common goal, to establish a common value and to create the right organisational structure. (Drucker, 2001) It is the nature of management to make people add value to the organisation. Effective managers don't just focus on profit and growth of the organisation but also direct his strategies on the fulfillment and satisfaction of his people. Managers must realize that a highly motivated employee creates a highly performing worker. Well-contented employees show their gratitude through the results of his work and his attitude. At the end of the day, these results would further increase the organisation's profit and growth. (Kaplan & Norton, 2001) References Daft, RL & Marcic, D (2001), Understanding Management, (3rd Ed), Forth Worth, USA : Harcourt College Publisher, . Daft, RL & Marcic, D (2008), Management: The New Workplace. (6th Ed), Mason, OH: Thomson South Western. Drucker, P (1967). The Effective Executive. New York, NY: Harper and Row Publishing. Drucker, P. (2001). The Essential Drucker. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers Inc. Hindle, T. (2003), Guide to Management Ideas, London: The Economist. Kaplan R & Norton D, (2001), The Strategy-Focused Organization, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, . Kaplan R & Norton D. (1996), The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Mintzberg, H (1994, January), The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning. 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