Fundamental Management Functions - Essay Example

Effective hiring and firing, attracting the best candi s, reducing staff turnover and improving employee performance are fundamental management functions” (Taylor, S: 2002:1) A company can move from a position of stability to one of a complete unstable stance as it acquires different means of gathering the market and its driving factors that come along with it. The firm has to change its position with the changing times otherwise it will literally vanish away from its competitors and more so the customers, for which it actually exists. It must bring about certain efforts which are geared up to make it sound, look and eventually feel different from the rest of the lot and in the long run, have a selling proposition in it and in its products that help it in winning the customers time and time again. For getting on to this track of success and achievement, it is significant to understand that having the most sought after employees and workers in the market is necessary since they will give the most productivity in the toughest times possible. In an office place, there are certain instances when it is best to choose different people for the various jobs that are assigned in the working environment. This holds true for the rationale that a single person cannot and will not be able to do his work as well as the additional burden that is thrust upon him with zeal and enthusiasm. Hence the need of the hour is to understand that employees and workers need a manager to comprehend their shortcomings in the field of work and thus be assigned tasks and responsibilities in line with the same. It has been seen that at times, the top line personnel present in offices delegate jobs and assignments to their sub-ordinates without even thinking that the same might not be the correct manner and mode of action as to go about carrying out the tasks and responsibilities. They think that delegation would prosper a sense of getting more work within the sub-ordinates who themselves are pretty much occupied with their already assigned tasks and jobs. This is hence not the correct manner in which things should be done and hence a need has to be chalked out to ramify the very same problem. The best possible diversity that could be made in this regard is to appoint top line managers who understand the psyche of the people working under him or her or on the same level as his so that he or she can get a grasp as to what employees usually are best suited at and what they do not prefer under certain strenuous conditions in the office place environment. As a consequence, being able to do more work is definitely considered a plus and an added advantage for an employee but this should not, under any level, exceed his or her capabilities and skill sets. He or she must be assigned the amount of work which is proportionate with his or her pay, already set working conditions and more so the skills on the basis of which he or she was selected in the first place. Diversity therefore could be pinpointed in the area of managing these people well with the help of a manager who not only takes care of them but also acts as a person who is professional and knows how to get work done from his specialists, technicians and other sub-ordinates present at various levels within the very company. This manager thus not only plans their work that they have to carry out within a specific period of time but also organizes their routines, looks after them both from the company and the human perspectives, and not to forget his integration skills which are deemed so very necessary for involving people and their commitment towards their assigned tasks and jobs over a period of time. Lastly, he also measures their performance that they have done over this time period. This measurement tool goes against a number of managers in the work environment of present times as it is usually very difficult to get a hang of because employees feel that the managers were the one to guide them along and hence they should also be held accountable in cases of extreme failure where the burden only falls on the person who carried out a task or a job. This is pretty much true of the negative aspects related with managing people and treating them fairly. Thus the diverse workforce issue gets its base from the fact that people work as a team rather than working alone yet they perform their own respective tasks and duties in their own capacities within the office environment for which there is no direct or indirect connection as concerns the groups and teams that they are working under from time to time. The manager thus chalks out a plan to review each and every sub-ordinate’s performance and then allot him the potential duties which may or may not be linked to their strengths over a given period of time. A company’s environment consists of two factors or types – microenvironmental and macroenvironmental actors. These, within themselves constitute a number of actors or forces, which will be mentioned here in the following paragraphs. Microenvironmental forces or actors make up the company in its own self, as well as its suppliers which can be bracketed in the intermediaries’ category, its intermediaries too which could be in the form of retailers, wholesalers, logistics distributions (i.e., distributors) and so on. The fourth actor is the most important one for the company, i.e., the customer and then we have the company’s different competitors, which could be strong as well as weak, close or distant and at times, good or bad, depending on the type of ethics they display over a period of time within their particular areas. Last but not the least; we have the different publics that are associated with the company. There are basically seven kinds of publics that make it up. These are the financial, media, government and citizen action, local, general and internal ones. Companies need to gear up their strategies with the passage of time to counter the pressures that keep on rising in the business segments’ scenario every now and so often. The companies must be on a vigilant mode so as to keep away the pressures that when arise have to be directly dealt with by the top management and the senior bosses who are the ones making and taking all the decisions, no matter how significant or otherwise they are in the long run of the company and the business itself. Managers who have been appointed to take their businesses towards sustainability are also advised to be on red alert so as to see for themselves what is in store for their company, both from the threats point of view as well as the positive side for the company, i.e., the opportunities there are in the offing, upon which the company and the business can cash upon. Plants and offices have in recent times been filled by women who were reckoned by the authorities as of less efficiency as compared to their male counterparts some years back. This has changed for the better and more and more companies in the world of today are recruiting female candidates for suitable positions within their staff. Apart from this positive change in mindset of the companies and businesses, there have been some pretty negative points attached to the same notion moreover. In World War II, it so happened that all the men in the developed nations went to war who held high positions within the companies and industries, thus the workload then was burdened by the women who took over the reigns of these plants and companies. When they came back, these women were stripped of their jobs and positions, thus showing the ever-unequal nature of jobs and positions meted out to women over the decades. Of late, there have been noticed a number of problems for women working in the American workplaces which have really distracted the potential array of the females in the job openings and ultimately their process of recruitment. Companies must encourage mixed communities to interact and collaborate with each other as well as bolster the selection of deserving (on merit-basis) women. so that all of them in their own particular areas of output give their best and eventually produce the required results and pre-determined targets for the company or the business in unison. Career management is not an easy job to start with. There are a lot of hurdles that stand in the way of success so that organizations can best achieve their mission and vision that have been set right at the onset. The goals are always in line with the set aims and objectives and for all these things to happen in the first place, it is of paramount importance to recruit the right kind of people – people who can deliver the goods when the going gets tough, and even when it is not that tough! Career management looks at the aspects which discuss the recruitment of staff that can bring about a change in the day to day operations of the company and not only that but also deliver to their individual maximums. This means that there is tremendous room for improvement both from the individuals’ perspectives as well as from the company’s standpoint, since the company is the one which can benefit in the long run, in terms of revenues, increasing sales trends, changing (and positive) consumer recognition models and recall patterns and so on and so forth. The effective handling of staff ensures that their careers are developed in a proper and adequate manner and there is understanding between the corporations and their staff members. Career management’s main task is to maintain the careers of the employees who have been enrolled on the active roster of an enterprise or a company and thus bolster their careers in the light of growing trends, changing circumstances and problems that might arise from time to time. This also means that employees are better understood by the organizations not only with regards to their own individual standpoints but from the whole industry’s stance as well. This can be a positive sign since people would trust the initiatives which are taken by the corporations and thus aspire to contribute in a better and more productive manner as and when the need arises. In fact this will be a proactive step rather than the one that needs encouragement and a pat on the back every now and then. Proactive efforts would reap far better and more fruitful results than a company which just praises once an employee does something extraordinary. Career management is not a new field that comes under the management of human resources in organizations rather it is one tenet which needs to be discussed at length as the same was missing in the past, as far as organizational ranks are concerned. Career management task is a difficult proposition, one that needs to be seen and understood in the proper contexts before deliberating upon the very same. It also means that organizations need to decipher the sentiments, demands and even the basic requirements of the people who are working for them, day in day out. More than anything else, this is a symbiotic relationship, one that benefits both the parties and hence focus should be on the linkage in a broad perspective rather than the one which only discusses of the gains towards the organization’s account and forgets the one that lies on the part of the employee or the staff member. After all, it is a fundamental right of an employee to ask for proper compensation when he/she delivers his/her best in the workplace and thus this symbiotic relationship emphasizes the aspect which balances the two of them on a common platform. Organizations therefore need to think from the longer term standpoint and devise on particular methodologies which ask for providing more and more gains in terms of bonuses, compensations, incentives and rewards to their employees. The upward trend in the field of career management will continue to be like this and with the passage of some more time, we are surely going to witness drastic changes in the manner in which employees would be able to manage their professions, their jobs and indeed their own selves. All said and done, it is the duty of the organizations to understand the desires and wants of their employees and in return the employees must make sure they give in their best no matter how trying or tough the circumstances are, say at a given point in time. Thus effective hiring and firing presents a scenario of an organization which believes in a democratic set up within the realms of the business that it is undertaking. This ensures that people are rewarded or fined for their work ethics and activities. This is a sign of encouragement as they come to know that doing their best would provide them more and more benefits and advantages both in the short term as well as the long run. Attracting the best candidates and that too having them within the organization’s realms at a reasonable rate is an exercise which is filled with potholes and difficulties. It is seldom that one sees smooth sailing in the related segment of having the best possible employees and workers giving in their best for an organization day in day out. The aspect of cutting down on staff turnover raises an interesting discussion nonetheless since the costs incurred in this domain are something to be spoken about openly. An organization drastically wants to cut down on its costs which seem to go the exorbitant way no matter how many the limits are set. This means that reducing the turnover is something that can give the organization a lot of room to maneuver its very basis. Performance management systems make use of the fact that performance is increased on the part of all concerned and there is no shortfall as concerns to commitment, dedication and devotion when at work. What this performance management system does is to ensure that the right people get the bonuses, incentives and so on as well as point out the ones who have fallen short on the company’s expectations over a period of time. This would help in giving them rewards and incentives which will eventually make one and all happy at the end. Also this will continue their desire to achieve more and more within a specified period of time and thus come into the good books of the company. In return, they can be given all these rewards so that they could be encouraged in line with their work attitudes. Moreover, the people who lag behind with regards to their work schedules and dedication levels will stand up and take notice and thus would want to be counted as the effective and efficient ones within the company as well. The role of organizations in the maintenance of these systems is also very paramount. BIBLIOGRAPHY BASSETT, Glenn. (1993). The Evolution and Future of High Performance Management Systems. Quorum Books TAYLOR, Paul J. (1999). Effects of Introducing A Performance Management System on Employees Subsequent Attitudes and Effort. Public Personnel Management, Vol. 28 ROTHWELL, William J. (2005). Career Planning and Succession Management: Developing Your Organization’s Talent for Today and Tomorrow Praeger LYONS, Mary Frances. (2002). Making the Most of Your Career – And Your Life – Career Management Physician Executive LLEWELLYN, Robert N. (2002). The Four Career Concepts: Managers can learn how to better develop their people by learning how they’re motivated – Management Tools: Supervisor Resources HR Magazine LYONS, Mary Frances. (2002). Leadership and Followership – Career Management Physician Executive LINNEY, Barbara J. (2000). Can you take your soul to work? – Career Management Physician Executive STOREY, John. (2004). Leadership in Organizations: Current Issues and Key Trends. Routledge ZEIDNER, Joseph. 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