The Manager Shadowing Program - Essay Example

Report on manager shadowing By: ______________________ College This report is compiled to provide an overview of the manager shadowing program attended with two distinct managers for 3 days each, one with branch manager at Barclays Bank and the other with manager at a retail phone shop. An attempt to depict the importance and essence of shadowing process has been made by outlining the details of the program. The report includes a basic understanding of management, summary of observations made during the shadowing process and an analysis of these observations on the basis of theory related to managerial functions. Some challenges faced during the shadowing process have also been mentioned followed by conclusions. Table of contents page Introduction 4 What is Management? 4 Motivation for and the essence of shadowing 5 Summary of observations 7 Theoretical base 10 Reflection and Evaluations 11 Critique and Challenges 16 Conclusions 17 References Appendices Introduction: Managerial functions are a complex set of activities and involve a variety of people including internal as well as external associates. Tremendous information on management and managerial roles is available from literature; however, without practical application one cannot realize the intricacies involved in manager’s role. Shadowing provides a fair idea of the practical application of managerial concepts although one may not be directly involved in applying the principles. For a budding management professional, this shadowing activity for 3 days each with a bank manager and a manager at a phone shop provided good amount of information on day-to-day managerial activities along with an insight of managers’ behaviours determined by various factors. The following report elaborates on my observations and learning from the shadowing activity. Learning obtained from observations is based on my theoretical understanding of management concepts. As management concepts are numerous, this report is drafted based on few management models, like that of Stewart’s, Mintzberg’s and Drucker’s concepts. Further, it includes a comparison of managerial activities and behaviours of both the managers and the kind of roles each of them exhibited in similar and different situations. What is management? My understanding of management until now is based on what Peter Drucker once said, ‘Management is about human beings. Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant. This is what organisation is all about, and it is the reason that management is the critical, determining factor. We depend on management for our livelihoods and our ability o contribute and achieve (cited by Mullins, 2007; 413). Nevertheless, to manage, the process comprises of a complex set of activities, policies, procedures, culture, systems and an organisational structure that every individual of an organisation follows in his/her capacity and role. According to Mullins (2007), management is essentially an integrating activity (p.414). In this activity, the manager is involved in most of the integration work and drives this integration through coordination and collaboration between different people across various departments, functions and hierarchies. Activities performed by managers may vary in different settings, however, their core functions remain the same in every setting/department/organisation. Yet, it is important for one to learn and know what managers are expected to do and how their activities impact others and the business of the organisation. For this purpose, two managers were shadowed separately: one was Barclays bank manager and the other a manager at a private phone shop. This process provided much learning and experience of managerial activities, behaviour and style in two distinct settings, which has been reported in the following discussion. Motivation for and the essence of shadowing: Motivation for shadowing two different managers came from the knowledge gained from theoretical aspects of management and an urge to practically observe leaders’/managers’ activities and learn from their experience. The shadowing process provided access to highly skilled and experienced managers for 3 working days, which helped in drawing critical inferences in comparison with theoretical aspects learnt earlier. This was required to observe the practical challenges faced by managers; observe actual managerial work against theory; develop better understanding of managerial style and organisational context; and reflect on leadership values. Buchanan and Huczynski (2007) have summarized the evolution of leadership theories, proposed by different people over time, as based on traits, different styles, transformation, and acquiring the ability to adapt to different situations in different times throughout the organisation. Theoretical aspects related to managerial work is tremendous and varied, and hence assimilation of these concepts may be possible to a large extent through experience. Shadowing the bank manager provided much insight into core management activities of planning, controlling, coordinating and motivating. However, other aspects such as monitoring, measuring quality and productivity and expectation setting were more evident through work performed by the manager at the phone shop. Shadowing activity provides much more practical experience than class-room lectures and training sessions as the participant not only observes managerial activities, but also required to recollect and correlate his/her previous learning to different situations in order to actually understand why the managers performed/behaved in specific manner. Buchanan and Huczynski (2007) asserted the need for participation and involvement in the management activities in order to enhance interest and commitment towards job. An in-depth assessment of the shadowing process has provided insight into information that was otherwise previously unknown or seemed impractical. With little knowledge of planning, coordinating and controlling functions, this activity gave wider view of how these functions are carried out. Confirmation of the shadowing program has been given in writing by both managers (see Appendix 1.1 and 1.2). Summary of Observations Learning obtained from both managers have been documented under five major management functions along with comparison between the two managers. Planning: Planning activity that the bank manager performed included a variety of tasks/objectives. Firstly, the manager shared his capacity plan or resources to be deployed at various counters on various days of the week. Monday had highest number of members deployed at the cash counters and at customer service desks. In addition, resource plan also included schedule based on leaves, absenteeism, overtime estimation and customer inflow on different days during the month. The credit card and loan sections had relatively lesser numbers. In addition, the plan also described shuffle of resources between different desks based on the need. Secondly, the manager conducted a meeting with couple of his senior associates to design a plan to launch a new investment product that the bank was about to release. This process involved a comprehensive plan of how, where, when, and who will be responsible for various activities associated with this new product launch. It also included names of members that will be accountable for the management of the new product in terms of marketing, sales, documentation, verification, collection, and handling customer queries and complaints. On the other side, planning activities that the manager at the phone shop shared with me included the number and design of phone instruments/products that would arrive every month; forecast of sales and service; marketing costs; and estimated supply costs of instruments and their individual parts. Organising and Controlling: Post planning procedure, the bank manager explained about monitoring of cash inflow and outflow, treasury management, custody of valuables, audit control procedures, and foreign exchange documentation processes. He was also responsible for facilities management including security and safety aspects of the branch. In one instance, the manager visited customer locations as a part of hypothecation and mortgaged property checks. The phone shop manager’s organising functions comprised mainly of inventory management, staff allocation at three counters, cash management, directing product display and marketing procedures to the staff, customer engagement activities and facilities management. Noticeably, the bank manager had many of his staff perform most of the organising and controlling activities than the phone shop manager. Decision making: When approached with a business plan from one of the venturing entrepreneurs with a requisition for loan, the bank manager reviewed a variety of documents; he also contacted staff from other departments within the bank; interviewed the applicant in detail; and then passed on the information for further investigation involved in the process of approving the requisite loan amount. The point that is reinforced in these activities is the ownership and accountability towards approving the requisite loan. Decision making situation experienced with the other manager involved the manager agreeing to sell a new product launched by an established phone company. This decision was comparatively quick and firm; however, the manager had to confront the sales target proposed by the supplier. This manager agreed for lesser target than proposed as he wanted to first check customer satisfaction towards this new product before agreeing upon larger sales target. Coordinating: As observed in the bank manager’s work, most of his core functions/activities were actually performed by other employees with specific responsibilities. Like for example, monitoring of cash inflow and outflow on a daily basis was actually done by 4 members in different sections. The bank manager was responsible for smooth running of this process without any hindrance to the bank’s business on a daily basis. For this, the manager would probably procure funds from other branch in case of any shortage, or even lend to other branches if required. Also, in the process of approving loan application, the manager had to liaise with various departments for verification, documentation, collections etc. For audit control and facilities management, the manager had to ensure all members of security team and staff members are aware of audit requirements and are adhering to the required processes. Thus, coordination function required the manager not only to coordinate but also to foster collaboration within the branch and also different branches. The manager at the phone shop had trained his staff to engage with all customers walking into the store and to coordinate with staff at cash management during every sales process. Apart from this, the manager had to contact different suppliers for stock arrival during different days of the week. Motivating: Much theory emphasizes that motivating employees is one of the core functions of managers. Motivating employees was more evident in the bank setting than in the phone shop. The bank manager appreciated his staff for working extra hours on a Monday. He also appreciated and thanked two members for identifying a fraudulent cheque that had come for clearance. Nothing of this sort was observed in the phone shop. However, the staff there seemed equally enthusiastic probably due to other reasons such as flexible work timings, empowerment to take decisions, lesser stress, and frequent interaction with the manager. These employees had incentivized pay depending upon the sales achieved, which was not the case in the bank. Organisations may follow different rewards and recognition programs; however, day-to-day motivation can be driven by managers by following simple appreciation practices. The phone shop manager had to resolve a conflict between two staff members regarding an issue with a customer’s complaint regarding a phone instrument purchased a few days back. The conflict arose when the customer alleged that he was given a faulty instrument; the supervisor claimed that his staff member was responsible for being ignorant of the damaged product in his area. Here, conflict management becomes important in order to restore the morale of the staff so that they can continue to do the business in an unaffected manner, and also retain customers. A healthy resolution will not only reinstate their morale but also drive them towards performing better and/or not allowing mistakes to happen in future. Theoretical base: Literature provides different perspectives or views related to management and managerial job functions. Druker identified five main operations in the work of a manager: setting objectives, organising, motivating and communicating, measuring, and developing people (Mullins, 2007). Likewise, others include activities related to administrative, personnel, finance, customer etc. Mullins (2007) points at Stewart’s model that explains managerial work and behaviour fall in three categories i.e., demands, constraints and choices. This model is mainly based on the assumption that although management may be divided into core functions, but managerial job varies according to their focus, behaviour, style and organisational factors such as systems, culture, and organisational behaviour. Drawing on what Drucker said, Mullins (2007) summarizes that management is all human activity. A reflection on my observations of the two managers and their activities reinforces this statement. Reflection and Evaluations: A reflection on the observations made from shadowing two managers made me believe that management is all about human beings. This experience has been my launch pad to management and managerial role. As outlined by Mintzberg (Mullins, 2007; p.424) all managerial activity can be seen as a set of ten managerial roles placed into three categories, namely, interpersonal roles, informational roles and decisional roles. Analysis of the shadowing activity is based on these three categories. Interpersonal roles: Managerial attributes, skills and styles are difficult to be judged in a short span. Also, evaluation of appropriateness of specific actions is equally difficult. Although management demands specific activities from managers, their behaviour is more often determined and/or influenced by various factors such as structure, technology, organisational values and culture, customer demands etc. This fact was evident by the way the bank manager interviewed the loan applicant, keeping in mind all constraints that were limiting the manager to act in favour of his customer. Amidst all constraints, the manager had to fulfill his responsibilities in the form of ultimate authority for approving/disapproving the application after consulting with other departments for verification of applicant credentials. This action informs that managers need to be able to make critical decisions based, not only on information and requirement, but also considering all possible rationalities associated with a specific situation. Nevertheless, they will also be required to involve and/or liaise with other members across different hierarchical levels. As for the manager in the phone shop, critical decision making process did not involve other staff members at the time of accepting order new product. In this situation it may be argued that his decision making was driven by his knowledge based on his experience and relevance. Again, the manager probably reviewed restricted factors such as limited knowledge of customers’ preferences; past experience with new product sales; or, even his theoretical knowledge or assumptions about marketing and sales of new products. In this case, although he figure headed the decision, there was no liaising with others. Had he consulted his staff members, he would have got more information related to customer preferences and selling potential of the product. Moreover, he did not take the risk of accepting greater sales target, which would have turned against his projections if the product did not sell. Informational roles: The planning process adopted by the bank manager fell into the monitoring category as described by Mullins (2007). Staff allocation at different counters was driven based on the manager’s understanding of customer inflow and business requirements. Besides acting as a leader, the manager provided information on new product launch to some of his staff. Selecting specific senior members for this task depicted motivational approach described by Vroom’s expectancy theory. According to this, people’s behaviour is based on expectations of specific outcomes. Although there were many senior staff members, the manager’s focus on specific members for this task informs that there must be specific terms that defined these members as good performers, or motivated these members to take up the additional task (Crowther & Green, 2004). The manager did not receive any confrontation from other senior members which indicated that every one was in agreement with the manager’s choice. Yet, this action would also question the manager’s management style, which certainly was more participative type than directive as evident by his actions in other situations. Though the manager assumed a monitor and disseminator’s role, he also acted as a leader and a motivator. The phone shop manager also assumed the roles of a monitor and disseminator when he provided information about the new product to his staff members with no further information on the product. This information was one-way with not much input from the staff side, and hence was different from that of the bank manager. This manager was more of a spokesperson by giving his views to the supplier and information to his staff members. Though it was observed that he did empower his staff to take decisions, this empowerment was limited or defined to specific activities. Critical decisions such as new product assimilation still remained with the manager taking up the decisional role in the form of resource allocator. Even the bank manager performed resource allocation activities, but by liaising/checking with internal and external demands. With external customers, the phone shop manager adopted a negotiator role while taking up the non-routine transaction with the supplier to reach a consensus as deemed right by the manager. Adopting any other role, like leading, figure heading, or spokesperson would have harmed business potential; hence, the manager avoided taking up any risks. Changes to the business are the biggest challenges that managers have to face. Huczynski and Buchanan (2007) emphasized the importance of managers’ role in handling change with the help of key competencies, skills, resources and expertise. These skills and competencies would include communication skills, motivational and leadership skills, coordination and collaboration abilities; negotiation and influencing skills; planning and controlling; managing superiors’, direct reportees’, as well as peers’ expectations. Decisional roles: Decisional roles include entrepreneurial, disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator roles (Mullins, 2007). Managing change is never a one-time activity, and is done over a period of time gradually. Although it was not possible for me to experience the launch of new investment product at the bank, the manager’s planning, organising, coordinating and collaboration abilities came to the forefront through the meeting he organised with his senior staff members depicting his entrepreneurial and resource allocator abilities. It is important for managers to note that a simple change or new challenge will affect business, personnel and technology. Besides motivating, this new challenge created enthusiasm in the senior members which would definitely transfer to their teams eventually. However, not much work was done to identify potential gaps or issues that may arise in the process during that meeting. Buchanan and Huczynski (2007, 599) assert that all stakeholders need to be considered while planning for any change, and that risks associated with the change need to be assessed. Risk assessment will help managers to be prepared for the unforeseen events. Overall, any change, whether planned or unplanned, requires strategic dealing because its effect branches out to every member and function of the organisation (Buchanan and Hucznsyki, 2007). For any leader/manager, conflict management is an integral part of managing people because every person comes with different values and beliefs; when these values and beliefs are challenged or questioned, it leads to a conflict. It is almost impossible to prove any one person right or wrong when values/beliefs are involved. According to Huczynski and Buchanan (2007, 764), conflict is the process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something the first party cares about. This situation surfaced at the phone shop with customer complaining of receiving faulty instrument. Though the phone shop members or its manager were not involved in manufacturing of the product, they were still responsible for delivering perfect product to their customers. In a situation where hundreds of products are kept, it would be practically impossible for few members to check for faults and errors; to address these cases, manufacturing companies usually provide warranties by which the products can be replaced with new ones. The conflict between phone shop’s supervisor and the staff member was sorted out by the manager by not reprimanding either of them; he also apologized to the customer and gave him a new and perfect product. However, the manager handled the disturbance by telling the staff member to be extra careful while delivering products to their end customers; he recommended that all staff members check the specific products for working condition before delivering, which would avoid future embarrassments. I guess this way of dealing with people comes with knowledge and experience. It is the manager’s quick decision making abilities driven by knowledge and experience that have saved both the staff from warning from their manager. Critique and Challenges: Though organisations define their expectations in terms of behaviour/conduct expected form their leaders, these behaviours are limited to specific functions but cannot really influence the overall personality of their personnel. Besides managing their work, managers play the most important role in developing their people in terms of career as well as overall personality. This responsibility makes it imperative for managers to possess key leadership qualities besides requisites for efficient management. Motivational theories have emphasized a great deal about the criteria/conditions leading to human motivation; however, it is equally important to note that managers have great ability and opportunity to instill motivation in their people from time to time. This would require closer interaction, team bonding, and better understanding of individuals’ nature and requirements. Secondly, the fact that both the managers were intensely shadowed may have masked or changed part of their behaviour/personality, which could be a barrier to the learning process besides the time limit. Time available to observe and learn was limited. As a participant, my involvement in actual decision making or utilizing my learning and capabilities was nil. Although thorough task orientation was present, it was limited to obtaining an understanding of the basic concept of the task demonstrated. This understanding was followed by an analysis based on my understanding of managerial work. Learning was obtained verbally and face-to-face, which was documented on a daily basis; these points have been analyzed based on theoretical aspects though greater explanation by the managers would have given better insight from their perspective. Conclusions: In conclusion, this 3-day shadowing process with each manager was overwhelming in terms of functions and roles of managers, in general. Although managers in every organisation are meant to perform specific functions that would enable smooth running of their processes/work, activities and behaviour differ from person to person, and in every situation. I believe that managers act according to the situation and their actions are further influenced by their attitude, knowledge and experience. References Cunningham, I, Dawes, G and Bennett, B. 2004. The handbook of work based learning. England: Gower Publishing, Ltd. Crowther, D and Green, M (2004) Organisational Behaviour. Chartered Institute of Personnel and development, London   Huczynski A, A and Buchanan A, D (2007) Organisational Behaviour. 6th Edition, London: FT Prentice Hall. Appendix 1.1 August 20, 2010 Mr. ------------(Your name) Course/Certification:------------------- College/University City, Country Dear Mr.---------(your name) Thank you for attending our 3-day Job Shadowing program on managerial roles and responsibilities. Hope this program equipped you with insightful learning that is practical and implementable in your future assignments with management aspects. I also hope that you received complete support from our staff that made you feel comfortable during your learning process. Please feel free to contact us for any clarifications or any assistance that you may require in future. Sincerely, ------------- Branch Manager Barclays Bank City/Country. Appendix 1.2 August 28, 2010 Dear Mr…….. Course/Certification: ----------------- College/University City/Country Dear Mr……..(Your name) Confirming completion of the program, I hope this 3-day learning experience has proven helpful for you to understand key aspect of the working environment as experienced in this retail phone shop. Thank you for being very patient during the learning process. I hope all the observations and learning made during this time prove useful and qualify you to become a better management professional in future. Sincerely, ………………. Manager The Phone Shop. City/Country. Read More