Management Skills

Management Skills

agarbandhu

In order to perform the functions of management and to assume multiple roles, managers must be skilled.

Three managerial skills

Robert Katz identified three managerial skills that are essential to successful management: -Technical,

-Human, and

-Conceptual.

Technical skill involves process or technique knowledge and proficiency. Managers use the processes, techniques and tools of a specific area.

Human skill involves the ability to interact effectively with people. Managers interact and cooperate with employees.

Conceptual skill involves the formulation of ideas. Managers understand abstract relationships, develop ideas, and solve problems creatively.

Thus, technical skill deals with things, human skill concerns people, and conceptual skill has to do with ideas.

A manager's level in the organization determines the relative importance of possessing technical, human, and conceptual skills.

Top level managers need conceptual skills in order to view the organization as a whole. Conceptual skills are used in planning and dealing with ideas and abstractions.

Supervisors need technical skills to manage their area of specialty.

All levels of management need human skills in order to interact and communicate with other people successfully.

As the pace of change accelerates and diverse technologies converge, new global industries are being created (for example, telecommunications). Technological change alters the fundamental structure of firms and calls for new organizational approaches and management skills.

Bojourn................!!!!!!!!!!!!!! agarbandhu

Managerial Roles

Managerial Roles

agarbandhu

To meet the many demands of performing their functions, managers assume multiple roles. A role is an organized set of behaviors.

Ten roles common to the work of all managers

Henry Mintzberg has identified ten roles common to the work of all managers.

The ten roles are divided into three groups: interpersonal, informational, and decisional.

The informational roles link all managerial work together.

The interpersonal roles ensure that information is provided.

The decisional roles make significant use of the information.

The performance of managerial roles and the requirements of these roles can be played at different times by the same manager and to different degrees depending on the level and function of management. The ten roles are described individually, but they form an integrated whole.
The three interpersonal roles are primarily concerned with interpersonal relationships. In the figurehead role, the manager represents the organization in all matters of formality.

The top level manager represents the company legally and socially to those outside of the organization.

The supervisor represents the work group to higher management and higher management to the work group.

In the liaison role, the manger interacts with peers and people outside the organization. The top level manager uses the liaison role to gain favors and information, while the supervisor uses it to maintain the routine flow of work.

The leader role defines the relationships between the manger and employees.

The three informational roles

The direct relationships with people in the interpersonal roles place the manager in a unique position to get information.

Thus, the three informational roles are primarily concerned with the information aspects of managerial work.

In the monitor role, the manager receives and collects information.

In the role of disseminator, the manager transmits special information into the organization.

The top level manager receives and transmits more information from people outside the organization than the supervisor.

In the role of spokesperson, the manager disseminates the organization's information into its environment. Thus, the top level manager is seen as an industry expert, while the supervisor is seen as a unit or departmental expert.

The unique access to information places the manager at the center of organizational decision making.

There are four decisional roles.

In the entrepreneur role, the manager initiates change.

In the disturbance handler role, the manger deals with threats to the organization.

In the resource allocator role, the manager chooses where the organization will expend its efforts.

In the negotiator role, the manager negotiates on behalf of the organization.

The top level manager makes the decisions about the organization as a whole, while the supervisor makes decisions about his or her particular work unit.

short-term outlook
The supervisor performs these managerial roles but with different emphasis than higher managers. Supervisory management is more focused and short-term in outlook. Thus, the figurehead role becomes less significant and the disturbance handler and negotiator roles increase in importance for the supervisor.

Since leadership permeates all activities, the leader role is among the most important of all roles at all levels of management.

Bojourn.............!!!!!!!!!!!!! agarbandhu

Management Levels

Management Levels

agarbandhu

The extent to which managers perform the functions of management - planning, organizing, directing, and controlling - varies by level in the management hierarchy.

The term supervisor could be applied at all management levels of the organization to those who direct the work of others. In common usage, however, the title tends to be used only in the first level of the management hierarchy. If an organization were divided into top, middle, and lower managerial levels, the term generally applies to the lower level.
Supervisors are managers whose major functions emphasize directing and controlling the work of employees in order to achieve the team goals. They are the only level of management managing non-managers. Thus, most of the supervisor's time is allocated to the functions of directing and controlling.

In contrast, top managers spend most of their time on the functions of planning and organizing. The top manager determines the mission and sets the goals for the organization. His or her primary function is long-range planning. Top management is accountable for the overall management of the organization. Middle management implements top management goals. Supervisors direct the actual work of the organization at the operating level.

Keystone in the Organization

The keystone view, identified by Professor Keith Davis, is many people's ideal of a supervisor's job. The comparison between an archway and an organization is very interesting. Without the keystone (supervisor), the arch (organization) collapses.

The keystone is the central topmost stone of an arch. It is an essential part because it takes the pressure of both sides, exerts pressure of its own and uses them to strengthen the overall arch.

The keystone supervisor is the main connector joining management and employees making it possible for each to perform effectively. Supervisors are the level of management linking the operations of each department to the rest of the organization. This view underscores the critical importance of developing people at all levels.

Employees need their jobs and want to know what is expected of them and how their work relates to the whole process. The supervisor is the point of contact in the satisfaction of these needs for employees. By his or her efforts toward productivity and efficiency, the supervisor helps make the company successful, which preserves and creates jobs. By interpreting policies and giving instructions and information and through normal, everyday contact with employees, the supervisor serves as the point of contact with management.

The keystone has determined that he or she will control the job instead of the job controlling him or her.

Thus, It is the confidence in self that will help determine the success of the manager.

Bojourn.............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! agarbandhu

Managerial Functions

Managerial Functions

agarbandhu

Managers create and maintain an internal environment, commonly called the organization, so that others can work efficiently in it.

A manager's job consists of : planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the resources of the organization.

These resources include people, jobs or positions, technology, facilities and equipment, materials and supplies, information, and money. Managers work in a dynamic environment and must anticipate and adapt to challenges.

functions of management:
The job of every manager involves what is known as the functions of management: planning, organizing, directing, and controlling. These functions are goal-directed, interrelated and interdependent.

Planning involves devising a systematic process for attaining the goals of the organization. It prepares the organization for the future.

Organizing involves arranging the necessary resources to carry out the plan. It is the process of creating structure, establishing relationships, and allocating resources to accomplish the goals of the organization.

Directing involves the guiding, leading, and overseeing of employees to achieve organizational goals.

Controlling involves verifying that actual performance matches the plan. If performance results do not match the plan, corrective action is taken.

Bojourn...............!!!!!!!!!!!!!! agarbandhu

Today's Manager

Today's Manager

agarbandhu

The Industrial Revolution began in the eighteenth century and transformed the job of manager from owner-manager to professional, salaried manager.

Prior to industrialization, the United States was predominantly an agricultural society. The production of manufactured goods was still in the handicraft stage and consisted of household manufacturing, small shops, and local mills. The inventions, machines, and processes of the Industrial Revolution transformed business and management (such as, the use of fossil fuels as sources of energy, the railroad, the improvement of steel and aluminum metallurgical processes, the development of electricity, and the discovery of the internal-combustion engine.) With the industrial innovations in factory-produced goods, transportation, and distribution, big business came into being. New ideas and techniques were required for managing these large-scale corporate enterprises.

examples of control
Two large-scale institutions, the church and the military, served as examples of control for these new managers. Many of the management terms and techniques used today have their basis in ecclesiastical and military authority (for example, superior, subordinate, strategy, and mission). Military commanders need only give orders and then discharge, penalize, and demote those who do not carry them out and reward those who do.
transformation by high technology
Today, business and management continue to be transformed by high technology. In order to keep pace with the increased speed and complexity of business, new means of calculating, sorting and processing information were invented. An interesting description of the modern era is the Information Age that describes the general use of technology to transmit information.

Relevance of immediate knowledge of relevant information
Managers realized that they could profit from immediate knowledge of relevant information. The telegraph was the first instrument to transform information into electrical form over long distances. The telephone, radio, television, and computer expanded instant information. Computers store and handle a vast amount of data, automate manufacturing, and enhance modern communication systems. The mainframe in the 1970s, the PC in the 1980s and the office network in the first part of the 1990s were the platforms that drove massive product development and growth for the technology industry.

Communication and processing technologies are an essential tool in almost every field of business. The Internet, with its interconnection of millions of computers, has evolved to potentially become one of the greatest resources available to businesses today. The World Wide Web (www) offers access to vast information resources and an immense number of sites on the Internet. Managers can access, store and move digital information (voice, sound, text and numbers). Private corporate intranets provide a universal interface for sharing company-wide information and work group level information. Employees can access information, collaborate, and distribute results anywhere, anytime.

The computer and telecommunications industries continue to converge and have resulted in advances in two-way pagers, digital cellular service, desktop video-conferencing, portable satellite phones, mini-dishes and high-speed Internet access. Business documents include graphics and text on computers around the world, sound, video and simultaneous voice communications. Thus, the Information Age implies a time for a revolution in the information environment for business and management. The changes that are taking place may be more significant to management than the Industrial Revolution.

What organisations are ?

Organizations are two or more people working together in a structured, formal environment to achieve common goals. Managers provide guidance, implementation, and coordination so those organizational goals can be reached. The modern manager coaches employees of the organization to develop teamwork, which effectively fulfills their needs and achieves organizational objectives. The traditional autocratic organization with its hierarchical system of management and an overbearing "boss" that forces performance out of people is no longer needed. The modern manager provides an atmosphere of empowerment by letting workers make decisions and inspiring people to boost productivity.

Bojourn..............!!!!!!!!!!!!!! agarbandhu

Planning Process

Planning Process

agarbandhu

Leaders are proactive. They make change happen instead of reacting to change. The future requires corporate leadership with the skills to integrate many unexpected and seemingly diverse events into its planning.

Every organization must plan for change in order to reach its ultimate goal. Effective planning helps an organization adapt to change by identifying opportunities and avoiding problems. It sets the direction for the other functions of management and for teamwork.

Planning improves decision-making. All levels of management engage in planning.

Strategic Planning
Strategic planning produces fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it. It requires broad-scale information gathering, an exploration of alternatives, and an emphasis on the future implications of present decisions.

Top level managers engage chiefly in strategic planning or long range planning. They answer such questions as "What is the purpose of this organization?" "What does this organization have to do in the future to remain competitive?"

Top level managers clarify the mission of the organization and set its goals. The output needed by top management for long range planning is summary reports about finances, operations, and the external environment.

Strategic planning is the process of developing and analyzing the organization's mission, overall goals, general strategies, and allocating resources. A strategy is a course of action created to achieve a long-term goal. The time length for strategies is arbitrary, but is probably two, three, or perhaps as many as five years.

It is generally determined by how far in the future the organization is committing its resources. Goals focus on desired changes. They are the ends that the organization strives to attain. Traditionally strategic planning has been done annually.

However, many companies are doing away with annual business plans altogether and moving to a system of continuous planning, to permit quicker response to changing conditions. Thus, the strategic plan involves adapting the organization to take advantage of opportunities in its constantly changing environment.

"digital strategy."
Philip Kotler suggest that strategic planning will be replaced by "digital strategy." They make the argument that business change originates with technology -- particularly with new computer-based products and services that transform industries, the way American Airlines' SABRE system transformed travel.

Top management must formulate digital strategies (software and digitally delivered services) that not only support business but also actually dictate how business is done.

The planning process is rational and amenable to the scientific approach to problem solving. It consists of a logical and orderly series of steps. Strategic planning sets the stage for the rest of the organization's planning.

The tasks of the strategic planning process include:
*Define the mission.

*Conduct a situation or SWOT analysis by assessing strengths and weaknesses and identifying opportunities and threats.

*Set goals and objectives.

*Develop related strategies (tactical and operational). *Monitor the plan.

Define the mission. A mission is the purpose of the organization. It is why the organization exists. Thus, planning begins with clearly defining the mission of the organization. The mission statement is broad, yet clear and concise, summarizing what the organization does. It directs the organization, as well as all of its major functions and operations, to its best opportunities. Then, it leads to supporting tactical and operational plans, which, in turn leads to supporting objectives.

A mission statement should be short - no more than a single sentence. It should be easily understood and every employee should be able to recite it from memory.

An explicit mission guides employees to work independently and yet collectively toward the realization of the organization's potential. The mission statement may be accompanied by an overarching statement of philosophy or strategic purpose intended to convey a vision for the future and an awareness of challenges from a top-level perspective.

Conduct a situation or SWOT analysis by assessing strengths and weaknesses and identifying opportunities and threats.

A situation or SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis is critical to the creation of any strategic plan. The SWOT analysis begins with a scan of the external environment.

Organizations must examine their situation in order to seek opportunities and monitor threats. Sources of information include customers (internal and external), suppliers, governments (local, state, federal, international), professional or trade associations (conventions and exhibitions), journals and reports (scientific, professional, and trade).

SWOT is the assumptions and facts on which a plan will be based. Analyzing strengths and weaknesses comprises the internal assessment of the organization.

Assess the strengths of the organization.

What makes the organization distinctive?

How efficient is our manufacturing?

How skilled is our workforce?

What is our market share?

What financing is available?

Do we have a superior reputation?

Assess the weaknesses of the organization.

What are the vulnerable areas of the organization that could be exploited?

(Are our facilities outdated? Is research and development adequate? Are our technologies obsolete?)

What does the competition do well?
Analyzing opportunities and threats comprises the external assessment of the environment. Identify opportunities.

In which areas is the competition not meeting customer needs?

(What are the possible new markets? What is the strength of the economy? Are our rivals weak? What are the emerging technologies? Is there a possibility of growth of existing market?)

Identify threats.

In which areas does the competition meet customer needs more effectively?

(Are there new competitors? Is there a shortage of resources?

Are market tastes changing? What are the new regulations? What substitute products exist?)

The best strategy is one that fits the organization's strengths to opportunities in the environment.

The SWOT analysis is used as a baseline for future improvement, as well as gap analysis. Comparing the organization to external benchmarks (the best practices) is used to assess current capabilities. Benchmarking systematically compares performance measures such as efficiency, effectiveness, or outcomes of an organization against similar measures from other internal or external organizations. This analysis helps uncover best practices that can be adopted for improvement. .

Benchmarking with other organizations can help identify a gap. Gap analysis identifies the progress required to move the organization from its current capabilities to its desired future state. In this way, the organization can adapt to the best practices to improve organizational performance.

Set goals and objectives. Strategic goals and objectives are developed to bridge the gap between current capability and the mission. They are aligned with the mission and form the basis for the action plans.

Objectives are sometimes referred to as performance goals. Generally, organizations have long-term objectives for such factors as return on investment, earnings per share, or size. Furthermore, they set minimum acceptable standards or common-sense minimums. In addition, certain limitations, either explicit or implicit, such as "must provide jobs for existing employees" may exist.

Objectives elaborate on the mission statement and constitute a specific set of policy, programmatic, or management objectives for the programs and operations covered in the strategic plan. They are expressed in a manner that allows a future assessment of whether an objective has been achieved.

Develop related strategies (tactical and operational). Tactical plans are based on the organization's strategic plan. In turn, operational plans are based on the organization's tactical plans. These are specific plans that are needed for each task or supportive activity comprising the whole.

Strategic, tactical, and operational planning must be accompanied by controls. Monitoring progress or providing for follow-up is intended to assure that plans are carried out properly and on time. Adjustments may need to be made to accommodate changes in the external and/or internal environment of the organization. A competitive advantage can be gained by adapting to the challenges.

Tactical Plans
Top level managers set very general, long-term goals that require more than one year to achieve. Examples of long-term goals include long-term growth, improved customer service, and increased profitability. Middle managers interpret these goals and develop tactical plans for their departments that can be accomplished within one year or less.

In order to develop tactical plans, middle management needs detail reports (financial, operational, market, external environment). Tactical plans have shorter time frames and narrower scopes than strategic plans. Tactical planning provides the specific ideas for implementing the strategic plan. It is the process of making detailed decisions about what to do, who will do it, and how to do it.

Operational Plans
Supervisors implement operational plans that are short-term and deal with the day-to-day work of their team. Short-term goals are aligned with the long-term goals and can be achieved within one year.

Supervisors set standards, form schedules, secure resources, and report progress. They need very detailed reports about operations, personnel, materials, and equipment. The supervisor interprets higher management plans as they apply to his or her unit.

Thus, operational plans support tactical plans. They are the supervisor's tools for executing daily, weekly, and monthly activities. An example is a budget, which is a plan that shows how money will be spent over a certain period of time.

Other examples of planning by supervisors include scheduling the work of employees and identifying needs for staff and resources to meet future changes. Resources include employees, information, capital, facilities, machinery, equipment, supplies, and finances.

Operational plans include policies, procedures, methods, and rules. The terms themselves imply different degrees of scope. A policy is a general statement designed to guide employees' actions in recurring situations. It establishes broad limits, provides direction, but permits some initiative and discretion on the part of the supervisor.

Thus, policies are guidelines. A procedure is a sequence of steps or operations describing how to carry out an activity and usually involves a group. It is more specific than a policy and establishes a customary way of handling a recurring activity.

Thus, less discretion on the part of the supervisor is permissible in its application. An example of a procedure is the sequence of steps in routing of parts. A method sets up the manner and sequence of accomplishing a recurring, individual task. Almost no discretion is allowed. An example of a method is the steps in cashing a check.

A rule is an established guide for conduct. Rules include definite things to do and not to do. There are no exceptions to the rules. An example of a rule is "No Smoking."

Monitor the plan. A systematic method of monitoring the environment must be adopted to continuously improve the strategic planning process. To develop an environmental monitoring procedure, short-term standards for key variables that will tend to validate the long-range estimates must be established. Although favorable long-range values have been estimated, short-term guidelines are needed to indicate if the plan is unfolding as hoped.

Next, criteria must be set up to decide when the strategy must be changed. Feedback is encouraged and incorporated to determine if goals and objectives are feasible. This review is used for the next planning cycle and review.

Key Concepts.
Benchmarking is the process of finding and adapting best practices to improve organizational performance.
Budget is a plan adjusting expenses to available income over a fixed time period.
Goal is the end that the organization strives to attain.
Method is a sequence of steps describing how to carry out an individual task.
Mission is an organization's purpose or reason for existing.
Operational Plans are short-term and deal with the daily, weekly, and monthly activities.
Plan is a scheme for accomplishing the goals of the organization.
Policy is a general statement designed to guide employees' actions in recurring situations.
Procedure is a sequence of steps describing how to carry out an activity involving group effort.
Rule is an established guide for conduct.
Strategic Planning is the process of developing and analyzing the organization's mission, overall goals, general strategies, and allocating resources.
Strategy is a course of action created to achieve a long-term goal.
Tactical Planning is the process of making detailed decisions about what to do, who will do it, and how to do it.

Bojourn.................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! agarbandhu

The Art Of Planning: Making Before Taking The Plunge

The Art Of Planning: Making Before Taking The Plunge

agarbandhu

In a time where most things are becoming quicker to do, to achieve and to receive, many people feel that the internet holds all the answers and can help take your life from the dark ages into a new age of instant gratification.

If you think that what I just said does not hold true, do a quick search for “make quick money” on our favourite search engine and take a quick peak at those 60 million results.

As you can see, some false hope has been sprayed around and people are beginning to think that the internet is the next gateway to 24 hour riches.

Whilst the aim of this post isn’t to slander every single Get Rich Quick Scheme out there, I wanted to focus on a method that could actually help you to develop not only income, but success, branding, marketing, content creation much more quickly than before (but still not overnight either).

The name of the game is planning.
And I think you’ve heard this buzzword before.
What Are The Benefits Of Planning?
Some talented individuals always make plans before starting anything new including a new website or internet business or before doing something as simple (or not) as a blog update. These people make sure they know every single step in detail before actually undertaking the project, even though this might cost them 5-10 minutes of their time.

For those skeptics who never plan, here’s a few reasons why you should:

The human memory isn’t bulletproof. I often forget things half-way through a task and try and rack my brains to search for the thing I was thinking about. By writing or typing a plan, you make sure that you don’t leave out an important part of the procedure, which could end up costing you more time in the longrun.

Allow ideas to brew. This point is especially useful in content creation. By jotting down a plan of your next blog post, you can let your ideas brew, and don’t have the pressure of trying to write a post on the spur of the moment, something that guarantees a lack of quality.

Be more productive. Whilst planning takes up some of the precious “action time”, in the longrun, it can actually help you to organize your activities and to make sure you perform the most useful activites whilst you’re in the groove. Our guru ji always mentions making a plan before undertaking any task, so you should too.

How Do I Make My Plan?
Once you’ve decided that planning really is necessary before you take the plunge, then the next step would be to decide how you are going to make that plan. In the world today, there are 2 places where you can write down pre-thoughts; on a screen or on a piece of paper.

jotting things down in rough book
It’s up to you which one you use, I myself personally prefer jotting things down in my rough book .The advantages of doing this, is that you get to step away from the screen a bit (which in turn uses less power), but at the same time, you’re using paper. So from an environmental perspective, you’re doomed both ways. Find out whichever one works for you - experiment a little.

Once you’ve decided upon the medium, it’s time to decide upon the method. Here are a few methods that I’ve used in the past:
1. Spider Diagrams - This method was great, as it allowed me to link factors together, to continually add on top of the ideas I had already formed for the post, and it inevitably led me to realize that I could put together a great series, instead of a single post.
2. The Simple List - ideal for planning events or continuous steps (again great for Wordpress Upgrades). Planning this will help you get rid of uncertainty and will make sure you carry out the task in the quickest time possible. This technique is great also for creating social media linkbait.
3. Flowcharts - again a flowchart can be awesome for planning an event or for detailing your workday. These can also be more visually attractive, helping to detract from that boring, planning experience.

Again, I’ve only detailed a few pieces of opinion here, but the key here is to continually trial and improve upon your planning techniques.

Once you’ve mastered the art of planning, not only will your productivity shoot up, but you’ll be left with more time to focus on aspects of your website, blog or company that are lagging behind and which are causing you to lose potential gains.

Patching up these leaks will guide you to success; sooner rather than later.

Bojourn..................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! agarbandhu