Name: Mohd. Norizam Md. Salleh Student ID:CGS00534317 I/C No: 670703-01-6045 Part 1: Page 1 of 15 BMOM 5203 ASSIGNMENT PART 1 PART 1: INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT (25%) INSTRUCTIONS 1. Please answer the questions in not less than 5,000 words in total. 2. The answer sheet should include cover page, table of contents, references, and appendix (if necessary). 3. The answers should be deliberate, precise, elaborative, original and inclusive of real business issues with examples. 4. Answer all the questions.
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Question 1 In a short essay, describe the three main types of managerial skills identified by Robert Katz. Which skills are most important to each level of management, and why? [6 marks]
Answer 1
The three main types of managerial skills as identified by Robert L. Katz are
technical skills, human skills followed by conceptual skills. Different skills are
applicable to different levels of management which are top, middle and operational
management in order to achieve successful management performance.
Technical skills require one to fully utilize their specialized knowledge and expertise
to work related techniques and procedures (Certo & Certo, 2009). It refers to the
proficiency in a certain specialized field such as accounting, computers
programming, engineering and manufacturing. Most of the times, it is actually
working with “things” such as processes or physical objects.
Basically, it is more vital at lower level of management which is also known as
supervisory or operational management as they need to follow the standard of
working procedures to carry out and to complete their daily task. These managers
also have to deal directly with employees on those small activities that complement
to organization’s goals and objectives.
In other words Technical Skill is the ability of a manager to use the equipments,
methods and techniques involved in performing specific tasks. This skill is required
more at the lower level of management i.e. at the supervisory level. For the higher
levels, the technical skill is less important as managers can rely upon others for
these technical informations. Line managers and operation managers are represent
this group.
Human skills is the ability of a manager to work with, understand, and motivate
people in the organization. It also involves the ability to build effective work teams
involve building cooperation and the capability to work well with other peoples both
individually and in a team. The human aspect of management requires individual as
well as group relations to be maintained and developed for achieving maximum
efficiency.
Since managers have to deal directly with peoples from time to time, they need to
pose good interpersonal skills to communicate with peoples especially their fellow
colleagues and subordinates. Human skills are important at all levels of management
but it is very crucial at the middle level management since they need to lead,
motivate, communicate and inspire enthusiasm and getting the trust among their
peoples, supervisors and workers group to achieve company’s common goal. This
Question 2 Describe FOUR (4) popular variables established by the contingency approach. Explain how each variable might affect management approaches in different organizations. Provide an example of each. [9 marks]
Answer 2
Defining management is the ability to execute tasks that meets organisational goals
through organisational resources and when we talk about variables may affect the
management approach four basic management functions in the management
process the namely planning, organizing, influencing and controlling are referred.
The definitions of management process;
Planning: Choosing tasks that must be performed to attain organisational goals,
outlining how the tasks must be performed and indicating when they should be
performed (Certo & Certo, 2009). .
Organizing: Assigning the tasks developed under the planning function to various
individuals or groups within the organisation and then creates a mechanism to put
plan into action (Certo & Certo, 2009)..
Influencing: To control workers behaviour through motivating, directing,
communicating, group dynamics, leadership and discipline. The purpose is to
channel the behaviour of all personnel to accomplish the organization's mission and
objectives while concurrently helping them accomplish their personal achievement.
Controlling: Is ongoing process of establishing performance standards based on
the firm's objectives, measuring and reporting actual performance, comparing the
two, and taking corrective or preventive action where and necessary.
Figure 2: Relationships among the four functions of management used to attain organisation goals
changed. If a worker or a group of workers need to be changed because of their bad
behaviour then the influencing process is to be changed.
Figure 5: The organisation, the levels of its environment, and the components of those levels (Certo
& Certo, 2009. p. 229).
Changes on one or more of the PESTEL component can also result to contingency approach. The changes involves shall affect not only the management process, organisation resources but also the external environment component. One of the external environmental factors that entrepreneur should take into
consideration will be political factors. They have to beware of government policy
such as the degree of intervention in the economy. Specifically, political factors
include areas such as labour law, tax policy, environmental law, subsidies, trade
restrictions, tariffs, and political stability. Furthermore, governments have great
influence on the certain items e.g. health, education, and infrastructure of a nation.
For example shall suddenly the government stop giving the work permit for foreign
workers from Indonesia and bring in more workers from Pakistan, the influencing
process may change as different group of people shall requires different type of
approach.
Second, economic factors which include interest rates, taxation changes, economic
growth, inflation and exchange rates should be considered since it can have major
impact on a firm’s behaviours. For example, investment is not advisable when
Question 3 Please read the following article – ‘The High-Intensity Entrepreneur’ and discuss how entrepreneurs can effectively plan when the external environment is continually changing. [10 marks] Answer 3
An entrepreneur is a person either man or woman who is an innovator in nature that
is able to produce some products on demand for the general public, the
government and even the military. They are more likely to pick up niches that are
not over-crowded and they actually create new niche and market segments most of
the times.
Basically, they have the ability to organize multiple peoples, tasks and resources on
any given day. They are visualizer and an actualizer as they can visualize something
and when they visualizes they see exactly how to make it happen.
Not only that, they are risk takers and see “problems” as “opportunities” and
create value by taking action to identify the solutions to those problems. In
order to succeed, they can bear with constructive criticism of their business and
adapt it quickly to achieve the best product possible with the lowest cost and highest
quality. Good entrepreneurial characteristics are crucial in creating and maintaining
an organization that is capable to effectively carry out its corporate strategies over
the long term. Eventually, the entrepreneur is able to adapt quickly to changes in its
external environment through the deployment of fluid and dynamic strategic plans
due to the development of core competence over times (Hadji & Cocks, 2007).
A charismatic entrepreneur should have a vision of what their organizations can do
and become. Most of the times, their image will induce enthusiasm, expectation and
commitment in others. Thus, they should clearly communicate this vision to
associates and motivate them to support this vision. Another important quality of
successful entrepreneur is openness to changes. When it comes to make decisions,
they should not be stubborn and headstrong because the path to success lies in
evolution of ideas, services, products or technology. They should be aware of the
latest technologies by keeping on changing and evolving with the time. Not only that,
they should be courageous enough to bear risk while pursuing opportunities, and
often are associated with creative and innovative actions.
Planning for entrepreneurship is a process where individuals/company identifies
opportunities, allocate resources and create value through the identification of unmet
needs or through the identification of strength, weakness, opportunities and threat for
change in order to capitalizing the strength and minimizing weakness. This is some
people call a SWOT Analysis. It is simply the combination of ideas, hard work and