3 Introduction to management principles

III MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

Benjamin karimatsenga ‘s notes

ORGANIZATIONAL PERFOMANCE

organizational perfomance

• managerial performance is explained in terms of effectiveness and efficiency.

• Paul Drucker definitions:

Effectiveness- doing the right things.

Is the degree to which the goals of an organisation have been attained. The strategy that is going to be used o attain certain goals is also a measure of the effectiveness.

Efficiency - doing things right.

It is based on the inputs and outputs relationship, for example, efficiency of an engine. Efficient managers achieve high levels of output with a given base of outputs. Minimising the costs of the resources for higher output levels.

The Functional Approach• Planning: this is designing a framework of performance by:

1. Evaluating environmental forces and organisational resources.

2. establishing a set of organisational goals

3. developing strategies and plans to achieve the stated goals

4. formulating the decision-making process

• Organising: is establishing order, function and design. It includes the following three elements:

1. Developing structure of the organisation

2. Acquiring and training human resources

3. Establishing communication patterns and networks.

• Leading: is directing employee’s performance. It includes four principles:

1. motivating employees

2. influencing employees to perform

3. forming effective groups.

4. improving the job performance.

The Functional Approach

• Controlling: is evaluating performance, that is, ensuring that the organisation is moving towards the goals. The basic components of the controlling are:

1. elements of a control system or performance standards

2. evaluating and rewarding employee performance

3. controlling financial, information, and physical resources

Mintzberg’s Management Roles Approach

• The term role is defined as the organisational set of observable behaviours that are attributed to a specific office or position

• Roles are a capacity to which the manager acts and Minztberg defined these as

1. interpersonal roles

2. informational roles

3. decisional roles

INTERPERSONAL ROLES

These characterize managerial activities.

1. Figurehead - for sales manager involves ceremonial work as receiving visitors or hierarchical duties as requesting subordinate to follow up a specific job.

2. Leader - hires, trains and motivates field and personal personnel.

3. Liaison - consists of interaction with other managers of external organisations, for example to establish a sales contract with a customer. He acts as a representative of the organisation.

INFORMATIONAL ROLES

1.Monitor - seeks and receives wide variety of special information. Nerve centre of internal and external information about the org.

2.Disseminator - transmit that information to members of the organisation or subordinates.

3.Spokesman - transmit the information to the outsiders about the org’s plans, polices, actions, results, etc.

DECISIONAL ROLES

1.Entrepreneur - searches organisation and its environment for opportunities. Initiating projects in the org and bring about change.

2.Disturbance Handler - takes the corrective action when org faces unexpected disturbances. Also, in

handling conflicts.

3.Resource Allocator - allocates resources of all kinds for the org.

4.Negotiator - represents the organisation for major org’nal negotiations.

TYPES or LEVELS OF MANAGERSFIRST-LINE MANAGERS•These are responsible for the work of others•They direct employees but they do not supervise other managers•They are often called supervisors•Their duties include evaluation of day-to-day performance indicators, such as volume produced, quality control, inventory and preventive maintenance.•Examples of such are: sales manager, foreman or production supervisor in a manufacturing plant, clerical supervisor in a large plant.

MIDDLE-LEVEL MANAGERS•Can include more than one level in an org.•These direct first line managers the activities that implement their orgnal polices and to balance the demands of their managers with the capacity of their employees.•This level is the prime training ground for executives and is at the centre of orgnal activities.•Examples are: general manager, plant manager, operations superintended

TOP OR EXECUTIVE MANAGERS

• These are responsible for interacting with representatives of the external environment and establish the goals of the org, its plans, strategies, broad operating polices and guidelines.

• Typical examples are President, CEO or COO-Chief Operating Officer, Executive vice president, senior vice president and vice president.

DISTRIBUTION OF TIME PER ACTIVITY BY ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL

•Executive manager spends much time on issues of planning and change which concern overall policy and strategy formulation. •The Middle-Managers has much time on organizing and leading. This is called strategy implementation. It means they put into action the plans and strategies of executive managers.•First-line managers spend much of their time on leading and controlling. The main focus is on implementation and evaluation of the organizational plans achieve certain goals.

LEVEL-SKILL RELATIONSHIP

MANAGERIAL SKILLTECHNICAL SKILLS

The ability of using tools, techniques, procedures, or approaches in a specialised manner.

Engineer designing a bridge can be an example.

People with these skills are referred to as experts.

HUMAN SKILLS

This relates to the ability of selecting, motivating, work with or lead employees.

An examples is a manufacturing manager resolving a conflict between an inventory supervisor and a loading supervisor.

CONCEPTUAL SKILLS

This relates to the ability to see the total orgnal picture by integrating or coordinating a large number of activities.

This is a picture of how the different part of the org fit together and how each part can affect another.

The manager should also be able to link the works of different groups together

CHALLENGES FOR MANAGEMENT IN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT1.THE NEED FOR VISION

A vision for living through is important for a manager in thus world of increasing technology advancements. Thus, building a competitive advantage.•Increasing Efficiency -Reducing the quantity of resources used to produce

goods and services.•Increasing Quality -Introducing Total Quality Management (TQM) to improve

quality.•Increasing Speed, Flexibility, and Innovation -Adapting to bring new products to market faster.•Increasing Responsiveness to Customers -Empowering employees to deal with customers.

2. INCREASE IN NUMBER OF GLOBAL ORGANISATIONS.

3. MAINTAINING ETHICAL STANDARDS

This is the study of who is and should be benefited or harmed by an action.

Ethics deals with both conflict and opportunity in human relationships.•Factors Influencing Behaviors:

– External pressures from stockholders/stakeholders for increased organizational financial performance.

– Internal pressures from top management to lower-level managers to increase the organization’s competitive performance and profitability.

– Societal, cultural, and environment demands on the organization.

BUILDING A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

4.MANAGING A DIVERSE WORKFORCE

•The Increasing Diversity of the Workforce•Non-Discriminatory Employment Practices•Performance-Enhancing Benefits of a Diverse Workforce

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