Fundamentals of Management: Managements Myths Debunked!

CHAPTER 1

1-1: Who are managers and where do they work

Managers work in organizational setting.

Organization – systematic/deliberate arrangements of people brought together to accomplish

a specific purpose

Three shared Organization Characteristics:

1. Has a distinct purpose or goal
a. Goal lead to increasing shareholder value
2. People work to achieve goal
a. Making decisions, engaging in work activities
b. Make desired goal a reality
3. Has a structure that defines/limits members’ behavior with rules, regulations, policies
a. Higher job level = longer time experience = larger office space

Managers vs Non-managerial employees

1. Non-managerial employees
a. Works directly on task; no responsibility of overseeing
i. Ex: associates, team members, contributors or employee partners
2. Managers
a. Direct and oversee the activities of other people so goals can be accomplished;
b. not personal achievement, but it’s about helping others to do their work; may
still have non-managerial work duties

Types of Managers
1. Top Managers
a. Make decisions regarding the direction of the organization; defining policies and
values
i. Ex: President, VP, Chancellor, Managing Director, COO, CEO, Chairperson
2. Middle Managers
a. Manage other managers and employees translate the goals of the top managers
into specific details to be done by lower
i. Ex: Department or Agency Head, Project Leader, Unit Chief,
District/Division/Store Manager
3. First-line managers
a. Direct day-to-day activities of employees
i. Ex: Supervisors, Shift Managers, Office Managers, Department Managers,
Unit Coordinators
4. Team Leaders
 a. More common in employee work teams
b. Manages and facilitates activities of a work team.

Scientific management
1911: defined by Frederick Winslow Taylor (mech engineer and father of scientific
management) in Principles of Scientific Management

Scientific Management – use of scientific methods to define the “one best way” for a job to be
done.

1-2: What is Management?

Management - process of getting things done effectively, and efficiently, with and through
people

Process - set of ongoing/interrelated activities

-primary activities or functions that managers perform

Efficiency - doing a task in a way that generates the most output from the least amount of
input;
-minimize resource usage and costs.
-doing things right or correctly
-concerned with means of getting things done

Effectiveness - doing the right things to achieve goal

- easier to be effective if efficiency is ignored
- completing important activities
- concerned with ends or attainment of goals

1-3: 3 Ways to Look at What Managers do

4 Functions Approach (NOW):

1. Planning – defining goals, establishing strategy, and developing plans to coordinate
activities
2. Organizing – determining what needs to be done, how it will be done, and who is to do
it.
3. Leading – directing and coordinating the work activities of an organization’s people
4. Controlling – monitoring activities to ensure that they are accomplished as planned

Fayol: 4 Functions Approach (THEN):

1. Plan
2. Organize
 3. Command
4. Coordinate
5. Control
Managerial roles – specific categories of managerial actions or behaviors expected of a
manager
-often grouped around interpersonal relationships, information transfer and
decision making.

Management Roles Approach

1. Interpersonal Roles (Leader, Liaison, Figurehead) – involving people and other duties
that are ceremonial and symbolic in nature
2. Informational Roles (Spokesperson, Disseminator, Monitor) – involving collecting,
receiving, and disseminating information
3. Decisional Roles (Entrepreneurs, Disturbance, Resource Allocator, Negotiator) –
entailing making decisions or choices

Conclusion: Functions approach stands out due to its clarity and simplicity

Skills and Competencies

4 General Management Skills:
1. Conceptual – a manager’s ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations
2. Interpersonal – a manager’s ability to work with, understand, mentor, and
motivate others, both individually and in groups
3. Technical – job specific knowledge/techniques needed to perform work tasks
a. Top level – knowledge off the industry, general understanding of the
org’s processes and products
b. Mid-Low – specialized knowledge in required areas: finance, HR,
marketing, comp. systems, manufacturing, IT
4. Political – manager’s ability to build a power base and establish the right
connections.

Other Managerial Competencies:

 Decision making; Loyalty
 Team building; Professionalism
 Decisiveness; Tolerance
 Politeness; Adaptability
 Personal responsibility; Creative Thinking
 Trustworthiness; Resilience
 Self - development; Listening
Level in the Organization
As managers move up in the organization, they do more planning and less direct over-
seeing of others.

Top managers – concerned with designing the overall organization’s structure

Lower-level managers – focus on designing the jobs of individuals and work groups.

Profit vs. Not-for profit

Managers do the same in both profit and non-profit.

Most important difference: how performance is measured.
Profit – unambiguous measure of a business organization’s effectiveness
Not-for-profit – don’t have such a universal measure which makes performance
measurement more difficult.
-still needs to make money to continue operating; but making profit is
not primary focus

Small business – an independent business having fewer than 500 employees that doesn’t
necessarily engage in any new or innovative practices and has relatively little impact on its
industry.

Job managing a small business different from large business

Small business most important roles: spokesperson
Large business: directed internally; resource allocator

Entrepreneurial role – least important for managers in large firms

Small business manager is a generalist and has more tasks
Small business relies on direct observation

Conclusion: Both small and large organization managers perform same activities but method
and proportion of time they spend is different.

1-4: Why study management?

 Interact with businesses every day and offers insights to many organizational aspects
 Formation of management skills and abilities
 Work with managers
 Managerial responsibilities even if one is not a manager
 No need to aspire to be a manager

1-5: What Factors are Reshaping and Redifining Management?

Changing Workplaces + Changing Workforce + Changing Technology and Global Uncertainties

 Technology changing how one works and play
  Rise of tech companies
 Old workforce
 Unli vacation time for employees to grow
Important to organizations and Managers
 Customers
 Innovation
 Social media
 Sustainability

Why are customers important to the manager’s job? (Josh Chambers, CEO of CISCO systems)
 Employee attitudes and behavior play a big role in customer satisfaction
 High quality customer services is essential for survival and success in today’s
competitive environment
 Must create a customer-responsive organization

Why is innovation important to the manager’s job?

 Success demands innovation
 Innovation – doing things differently, exploring new territory, and taking risks
 Managers not only need to be innovative personally, but also encourage their
employees

Importance of Social Media to the Manager’s Job

 Social media – forms of electronic communication through which users create online
communities to share ideas, information, personal messages and other content.
 used for work purposes as well
 to connect with customers but also as a way manage their human resources and tap
into their innovation and talent

Importance of Sustainability to the Manager’s Job

World Business Council for Sustainable Development: “a scenario where all earth’s inhabitants
can live well with adequate resources

Sustainability – a company’s ability to achieve its business goals and increase long-term
shareholder value by integrating economic, environmental, and social opportunities into its
business strategies.

Managers do matter to organizations

Single most important variable in employee productivity and loyalty: quality of relationship
between employees and their direct supervisors

Employee relationship with their manager is the largest factor to employee management
Employee management – when employees are connected to, satisfied with and enthusiastic
about their jobs – accounting for at least 70% of an employee’s level of engagement

Talented managers and engaged employees = higher profit

CHAPTER 2 – Management Environment

2-1:
External environment – refers to factors, forces, situations, and events outside the organization
that affect its performance

Sharing economy – an economic environment in which asset owners share with other
individuals through a peer-to-peer service, for a set fee, their underutilized physical assets or
their knowledge, expertise, skills, or time

Omnipotent view of Management – the view that managers are directly responsible for an
organization’s success or failure

Symbolic view of management – the view that much of an organization’s success or failure is
due to external forces outside manager’s control

Demographics – characteristics of a population used for purposes of social studies – can and do
have a significant impact on how managers manage.

Technology – any equipment, tools, or operating methods that are designed to make work
more efficient

Environmental uncertainty – degree of change and complexity in an organization’s

environment

Environmental complexity – number of components in an organization’s environment and the

extent of knowledge that the organization has about those components

Stakeholders – any constituencies in an organization’s environment that are affected by that

organization’s decisions and actions

Culture:
 perceived – perceive it on what they experience within the org
 descriptive – concerned with how members perceive or describe the culture
 shared – describe org’s culture in similar terms

Culture come from mission or vision

Employees learn through:
 corporate rituals
  material symbols or artifacts
 language

Strong culture – cultures in which the key values are deeply held and widely shared

Chapter 3:Integrative Managerial Issues