The Manager s Good Study Guide. Sheila Tyler

Transcription

1 The Maager s Good Study Guide Sheila Tyler

2 C ONTENTS Itroductio to The Maager s Good Study Guide 1 Sectio 1 Learig 3 Chapter 1 Workig with your atural resources 6 Chapter 2 Maagig your learig 20 Chapter 3 Learig skills 32 Chapter 4 Workig with others 73 Sectio 2 Maagemet tools ad techiques 103 Chapter 5 Workig with umbers 105 Chapter 6 Effective ways of displayig iformatio 116 Chapter 7 Ivestigative methods 140 Chapter 8 Workig with data 156 Sectio 3 Your career 179 Chapter 9 Maagig your career 181 Sectio 4 Compedium of key maagemet ideas 195 Chapter 10 Strategy ad the orgaisatio 198 Chapter 11 Marketig 222 Chapter 12 Fiace 244 Chapter 13 Leadership, maagemet ad motivatio 276 Chapter 14 Maagig people 295 Chapter 15 Moitorig ad evaluatio 317 Appedices 337 Appedix 1 Approaches to Learig ad Studyig Ivetory: Self-score Versio 339 Appedix 2 Usig a apostrophe: aswers to test 353 Appedix 3 The Ope Uiversity Busiess School 354 Refereces 356 Ackowledgemets 361 Idex 363

3 Itroductio to The Maager s Good Study Guide This book is desiged to: help you improve your learig skills provide you with maagemet cocepts, tools ad techiques. Why do you eed both? The text is based o the otio of adult vocatioal learig the idea that maagers apply their kowledge i the workplace ad lear from the results. The book is desiged to help you uderstad this process ad provide you with a wealth of maagemet tools ad techiques that you ca use at work. Who is this book for? The book is aimed at maagers who are followig formal courses of study, ad those who wat to improve their skills iformally without the aid of courses ad tutors. Fortuately, almost all study skills are oes you eed everyday i your professioal life. For example, the writig skills you may eed for acourse assigmet are just as relevat whe you write reports at work. The iclusio of maagemet cocepts, tools ad techiques i the book is self-explaatory: they costitute the basic kit every maager should have. The book will be valuable as ahady referece text whether or ot you are curretly studyig a maagemet course. How to use this book The Maager s Good Study Guide is ot desiged to be read chapter by chapter, cover to cover. Wekow you are too busy for that! Istead, it is orgaised so that you ca look up specific topics. The oly parts of the book which you would beefit from readig as complete texts are Chapter 1 o adult learig ad Chapter 9 o career developmet. The reaso for this is that there are o quick fixes to learig or career developmet ad these chapters cotai a progressio of ideas. You eed to uderstad what learig is ad how to lear as a adult, usig strategies ad tactics that esure you get the most from your time ad effort. As amaager or someoe who is aspirig to be oe, you already kow how valuable resources ca be wasted whe people have isufficiet kowledge ad, worse, are uaware of it. Are you sure you kow how to lear the adult way? Ad are you prepared? The remaider of the book ca be used for referece. It is abook to which you ca tur regularly for guidace both whe you are studyig ad whe you are dealig with everyday situatios at work. You ca explore ad idetify the kids of techiques that every maager should kow. THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 1

4 CHAPTER 1 WORKING WITH YOUR NATURAL RESOURCES Learig as a social activity Our ow kowledge ad thikig are i some sese, uique to each of us because we costruct them idividually. But they are likely to have much i commo with those of the people aroud us. This is because kowledge, meaig, uderstadig our experieces ad ways of thikig have ot bee developed i isolatio. They are everywhere embedded i social processes ad practices. They are shaped durig childhood, i educatio ad i daily life. Learig is essetially a social activity we lear from oe aother which is shaped by culture sice all our social activities are carried out i culturally-prescribed ways. To be sure, we costruct our kowledge, but ot i avacuum. You might like to revisit the six statemets about learig set out earlier. Have you chaged your coceptio i ay way? Ca you thik of ways i which learig might be life-chagig or trasformatioal? How to lear better We have covered some basic aspects of kowledge ad thikig. But do we eed somethig else to help us as adult learers? Adult learig Adult learers are ot the same as youger learers. Here are some of the ways i which adults are differet: They have idepedece ad ca direct their ow learig. They have a wealth of experiece which is a valuable learig resource. They have learig eeds which are closely related to chagig social or professioal roles (for example, becomig a mother or a maager ca act as triggers for learig). They are task- or problem-cetred ad iterested i applyig ew kowledge immediately. (Source: Kowles, 1978) As a adult, the, you take resposibility for your learig, for what you lear ad for how you lear it. Youchoose the topic of your learig ad decide how much time ad effort to ivest. The pressure to lear islikely to come from yourself as a result of your curret situatio, ot your educators. Youhave areaso to lear ad a active iterest i the utility of the outcomes. Adult learers eed to work with these characteristics to their best advatage. The trouble is that old coceptios of classroom learig from school or college are ofte brought to the ew, adult learig situatio. I other words, adults ofte kow how to be taught, but they do ot kow how to lear. THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 13

5 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE Experietial learig: a model for adult learig Adult learig ca be coceptualised as a cyclical process. Cocrete experiece Doig somethig ad experiecig feedback/results Testig Practical testig i the real world Observatio/reflectio Reviewig ad reflectig o the experiece Coceptualisatio Uderstadig through producig models, cocepts, themes, etc. Figure 1.1 The experietial learig cycle (Source: Kolb ad Fry, 1975) I this cyclical learig process, kowledge is created through the trasformatio of experiece. The cetral idea is that we have basic, cocrete experieces which first eed to be compreheded to be of use to iform our actios. Comprehedig a situatio you have just experieced meas you ca create for yourself a explicit model from which you ca make predictios about what will happe ext time this situatio occurs. But creatig this model a abstract coceptualisatio requires you to reflect o the impact ad meaig of the cocrete experiece. It requires you to make sese of your experiece. Oce you have developed your coceptual model (it may take time ad effort) you ca trasform it ito actio. Actig o the basis of your coceptualisatio, of course, will test its soudess ad will produce more cocrete experiece o which to reflect. So the cycle goes o. As show i Figure 1.1, the stages of the learig cycle are: 1 Cocrete experiece beig persoally ivolved; givig coscious attetio to ad beig iterested i your experieces. 2 Observatio/reflectio gatherig iformatio, thikig, sesemakig. 3 Coceptualisatio usig ideas, logic, systems thikig, aalysis, buildig metal models. 14 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

6 CHAPTER 1 WORKING WITH YOUR NATURAL RESOURCES 4 Testig (actig or experimetig) usig opportuities, settig ad committig to goals, takig risks, makig decisios, beig etrepreeurial. Reflectio does ot mea passive thikig. It ivolves critical reflectio ad critical thikig to refie, elaborate ad itegrate coceptual kowledge. This requires a reflective, aalytic, objective stace that distaces you from the cocrete here-ad-ow experiece. For maagers who are egaged i formal learig while workig, course materials will draw your attetio to particular experieces. They will help you to reflect o these experieces ad to coceptualise them by providig formal theories ad models devised by others, usually o the basis of research. They may also set out strategies ad plas for actios. These theories ad models may ot fit your ow coceptualisatios but coflicts ca be beeficial to learig. You will fid that The Maager s Good Study Guide is full of material which ca help you at each phase of the learig cycle. Kolb ad Fry s (1975) model provides auseful strategy that ca be used i ay situatio to moitor learig. It ca eve be used by teams or groups as a way of moitorig ad maagig collective kowledge. But, remember, all the steps i the learig cycle are ecessary. A actio that is repeated without reflectio is just a repetitio. Capture your experiece ad lear from it. See Critical thikig, p.63. The cultural dimesio The experietial learig cycle is ot without its critics. It teds to focus o the idividual, but as we kow, the idividual is ot the sole source or shaper of experiece ad actios. Our experiece, thikig, costructio of meaig ad actios are mediated by cotexts ad culture. Culture, of course, operates at may levels below ethic culture. The orgaisatio you work for, orgroups to which you belog are likely to have asubculture i the sese of havig commo practices, shared meaigs ad values. (Thik of your ow orgaisatio, aclub, agroup of urses or agroup of techicias.) Our kowledge of how our experieces, costructios ad actios are mediated by our ethic culture (ad subculture) is likely to be tacit. To make it available for scrutiy we must brig it ito coscious thought. I doig so we are more likely to see that our coceptios are costructed through our iteractios with others. Kowledge is ot absolute or o-egotiable. Whe we realise this we will also be able to brig to bear our imagiatio, ethics, feeligs ad values o our actios. As well as kowwhat, kow-how ad kow-why, there is also care-why. Usig the learig cycle systematically I reality, the learig process is ot a eat series of separate steps. Busy maagers are ulikely to have the time to collect all the evidece or thik THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 15

7 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE Dualism Cocepts of kowledge Relativism Kowledge see as absolute Multiple perspectives, ow opiio Kowledge see as provisioal Evidece used to reaso with Commitmet to a reasoed iterpretatio Coceptual developmet Acquirig iformatio Buildig up kowledge routiely Applyig kowledge ad skills Makig sese of ideas ad thereal world Developig as a perso Reproducig Cocepts of learig Trasformig Figure 1.2 Cocepts of learig ad their developmet (Source: Etwistle, 2000, based o Perry, 1970) future, or o the basis of their ow experiece. I essece, this is the developmet from surface to deep learig, facilitated by appropriate teachig which aids uderstadig ad ecourages coceptual chage. The result is amore expert learer ad amore developed way of thikig: a more idepedet learer. If you are studyig a formal course, you may wish to revisit the Approaches to Learig ad Studyig Ivetory i Appedix 1ad Figure 1.2 some time i the future to moitor your progress. See yourself develop! CHAPTER2 MANAGING YOUR LEARNING Returig to study ca be both exhilaratig ad dautig. You may be ethusiastic about studyig a topic of particular relevace to you, ad which ca further your career. At the same time, you may have cocers about how you will hadle learig while perhaps holdig dow a busy full-time job, participatig i your family life, orgaisig a household ad havig a social life. You may also have doubts about your ability to study effectively, especially if it has bee some time sice you last udertook acourse of formal learig. If you are ot followig a formal course, you may be tryig to improve your maagemet competece by other meas. Either way, you will eed to face your cocers, ad prepare. After all, whe you ivest your time ad effort ito atask you wat to make sure that the retur o 20 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

8 CHAPTER 2 MANAGING YOUR LEARNING your ivestmet is as high as possible. Good preparatio ad orgaisatio will help you to achieve your goal. Dealig with cocers Most of us ejoy learig, at least some of the time! Youmay feel quite cofidet about returig to study. However, if you are ow embarkig o a learig experiece a log time after your last oe, which was perhaps as a studet i a school or college settig, the returig to study might arouse cocers. A commo problem is that your previous experiece of study may ot have bee a particularly good oe. For example you may have: failed at some previous stage i your educatio ecoutered a teacher who destroyed your cofidece had amore successful siblig who seemed to get all the praise failed to meet your parets high academic expectatios. Ay oe of these experieces may have damaged your cofidece or reduced your icliatio towards fresh studies. Such experieces may also lead to difficulties with studies later o, such as: Perfectioism There may be a sese that My aswer has to be perfect. Youmay feel the eed to cover all the groud before attemptig a assigmet ad may write draft after draft i a attempt to achieve the perfect aswer. Iadequacy There may be a sese of persoal iadequacy. You may feel I am icompetet. As aresult, you may avoid the risk of beig put to the test. Avoidace of discomfort This icliatio is aother way i which you may seek to miimise risk. Overcomig fears There are remedies that ca help you overcome bad past learig experieces. Amog them are: Develop ew ways of thikig about yourself Examie ay egative self-coceptios ad create positive oes. Develop a positive self-image. Desig clear goals Map out your mai study tasks or learig goals ad set realistic ad achievable targets. Prioritise Idetify the urget study tasks ad do those first, for example, meetig a assigmet deadlie. The tur your attetio to the importat tasks (that were ot amog the urget oes). Lastly, if there is still time, tackle ay remaiig tasks. THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 21

9 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE Divide tasks ito maageable parts For istace, tackle a part of a learig task rather tha all of it at oce. Orgaise yourself Make a schedule before you start ad check off the tasks as you complete them. Commit yourself Tell other people about your study plas. Write prompts ad remiders for yourself ad display them promietly. Reward yourself Whe you have achieved a objective, reward yourself. Do somethig that you ejoy. Some of these remedies will require effort o your part, but it will be worth it. Sometimes the problems ca seem itractable. If they do, the seek professioal advice. With the aid of a adviser you may fid ew ways to study. If you are followig a formal learig course, discuss your difficulties with your teacher or tutor i the first istace. Acommo fear amog adults about to retur tostudy is ot oly that their mids are ot as sharp as they were, but that they may have problems rememberig material. This is a particularly commo cocer if a course of study ivolves assessmet i the form of examiatios. Here are some psychological research fidigs to reassure you: The best work of adults is doe at the age of about 40 whe productivity is highest. The quality of their work ca remai high for decades beyod that. Creativity ca be highest i late-i-life work. Short-term memory the sort we use for rememberig telephoe umbers while we key them i begis to declie aroud the age of 60. Log-term memory declies after the age of 60. Thus, there is ot much basis for cocer about cogitive ability i adulthood. We retai our ability for high-level productive work ad problem solvig, ad eve the declies i short- ad log-term memory are ot ievitable. Oe chage that does seem to occur i adulthood, however, is that we are less likely to focus o surface detail ad more likely to remember meaig. This is hardly a problem! Assessmet Imagie aworld i which you could ot see the results of the actios you took. You would ever kow whether to repeat the actio, abado it or modify it. Quite simply, i such a world o oe would lear aythig! Feedback is vital to learig. We moitor the cosequeces of what we do ad lear from them. It s obvious whe you thik about it. Cosider a archer who ever saw where his arrows struck. He would ever kow how to improve his aim. Ofte, though, feedback comes i the form of 22 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

10 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE Writig reports A maagemet report has specific purposes, for example to provide iformatio or to make recommedatios about a course of actio. Orgaisatios may have certai prefereces for the style of presetatio but overall there are commo practices. These practices have the merit of familiarity. Writers of reports have a template to work to; readers of reports ca rely o afamiliar format whe they read areport. You may be required to preset a course assigmet i the form of a report. If you are familiar with your ow orgaisatio s preferred style, the use it. If you have ot writte areport before, or if you wat to thik afresh about the layout of areport, the there are some geeral rules that you ca adopt. These will esure that you set out what you wat to say i away that will help your reader to follow your argumet ad to kow straight away what coclusios you have reached. I additio, the rules will provide you with a step-by-step checklist. The structure of a report The layout of areport is usually plai to see. Each sectio will have a geeral headig. There will also be subheadigs. The overall structure will deped o the purpose of a report. Here are some typical overall structures: A chroological order to show how thigs or processes happeed or should happe. A statemet of the problem, aalysis of the optios ad recommedatios. A proposal statig the stregths ad weakesses ad fially the recommeded actio. Reports will usually have the followig features: A cover page with a clear ad iformative title, together with the ames of the addressee(s), the author s ame ad the date of productio. A executive summary. This is ormally a précis of the report icludig the mai coclusios ad recommedatios. It is desiged to persuade a busy executive to read the rest of the report. A cotets list. A brief itroductio which states the purpose of the report. The mai text with the topics covered i separate paragraphs, with appropriate headigs ad subheadigs. Coclusios set out the aswers to the issues or problems raised, eve if oe or more coclusios are that further ivestigatio is required. The coclusios follow strictly ad oly from the precedig argumet. The recommedatios that arise strictly ad oly from the precedig argumet; they must be clear, specific, sesible ad realistic, ad must 44 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

11 CHAPTER 3 LEARNING SKILLS iclude likely costs where appropriate. Recommedatios ofte costitute the practical iterpretatio of the coclusios. A referece sectio givigthe sources of the iformatio cited i the report. Ay ecessary appedices to provide importat backgroud iformatio, icludig diagrams ad tables, that it would be iappropriate to iclude i the mai text. A umberig system throughout the report for ease of referece. Atemplate for reports The followig is a template for a report. Notice these features: presetatio of the executive summary at the top of the documet use of headigs use of umbered sectios. Cover page Iclude the title of the report; addressee(s); author; date. Executive Summary Provide a summary of your report here. By presetig your fidigs straight away, you release your readers from ucertaity. Cotets Isert page umbers if appropriate. 1 Itroductio 5 Recommedatios 2 First mai sectio 6 Refereces 3 Secod mai sectio 7 Appedices 4 Coclusios 1 Itroductio 1.1 Itroduce your report. Explai what prompted it, ad state its scope, that is, what you deal with. Coclude your itroductio with asetece that leads ito the mai body of the report. 2 First mai sectio headig 2.1 First sectio of the mai part of the report. There ca be subsectios to this first sectio. 2.2 Give each subsectio a separate headig. 3 Secod mai sectio headig There ca be as may mai sectios as you require. 4 Coclusios 4.1 Allocate a subsectio to each of the mai parts of your coclusio. 4.2 Esure that there is a correspodece betwee your coclusios ad the summary. As a rule, the cetral poit of a subsectio THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 45

12 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE See Citig ad referecig, p. 49. formig part of amai sectio is expressed as oe compoet of your summary. For istace, the cetral poit of 3.1 should be expressed i 1.1 of your summary. 4.3 Commet o the tetativeess or stregth of your coclusios. 5 Recommedatios 5.1 List your recommedatios as Recommedatio 1, Recommedatio 2 ad so o. Esure that there is a correspodece betwee your recommedatios ad the argumet i the mai sectios ad the coclusio to your report. 5.2 Commet o the appropriateess ad feasibility of your recommedatios. 6 Refereces List the sources of the iformatio you used i your report. They should be complete ad follow a recogised style. 7 Appedices 7.1 List your appedices by their titles ad give each a umber which correspods with the order i which they appear. It is usual to start each Appedix o aew page. It is good practice to iclude afile referece so that the report ca be easily retrieved from a archive your ow, or that of your orgaisatio. It is also usual to sig the ed of the report (before the appedices ad refereces). Writig research reports Aresearch report is aspecial kid of report that you may be asked to write. Oce you have gathered all your research data ad aalysed them you will eed to set out your fidigs, ad explai why, ad how, you coducted your ivestigatio. Research reports will usually have the followig features: 1 Title page (icludig the author ad date) 2 Executive summary 3 Cotets list 4 Backgroud, icludig aims ad objectives (terms of referece) 5 Literature review 6 Data collectio methods 7 Data aalysis ad results 8 Coclusios ad recommedatios 9 Critical reflectio ad learig 46 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

13 CHAPTER 5 WORKING WITH NUMBERS This sectio of The Maager s Good Study Guide deals with tools ad techiques for gatherig, usig ad presetig iformatio i a maagemet cotext. Every maager will ecouter situatios i which: facts or ideas eed to be commuicated iformatio eeds to be obtaied from ivestigatio data eed to be orgaised, aalysed ad iterpreted. Iformatio is required to make decisios o which actios are based. This esures that decisios made ad actios carried out are iformed. Iformed actios are more likely to be effective tha those based o a opiio that may be biased. Sometimes iformatio is readily available but eeds to be put ito aform that is easily commuicated i order to support acase or argumet. At other times, data will eed to be gathered systematically for a particular purpose. The, the data collected will eed to be aalysed ad iterpreted to tur the raw umbers or words ito iformatio a trasformatio process. Sectio 2 is orgaised by themes: workig with umbers, effective ways of displayig iformatio, ivestigative methods, ad workig with data. Like other sectios of the Maager s Good Study Guide, it is desiged for your referece ad each of the tools ad techiques preseted ca be looked up idepedetly of the others. Margi otes guide you to related tools ad techiques to aid your uderstadig. CHAPTER5 WORKING WITH NUMBERS The world is full of umbers, perhaps especially so for maagers. Almost daily we are preseted with graphs, charts, tables, budgets ad fiacial statemets, iformatio about iputs ad outputs, customers ad cliets. Not oly this, there are times whe maagers themselves will eed to geerate umerical iformatio which must be processed ad iterpreted. There are may tools available to help us work with umbers, from simple calculators to the sophisticated spreadsheet software packages o our computers. But to use them effectively, we eed to uderstad the basics of how to represet umbers ad carry out arithmetical operatios. May of us leared these umerical skills early o i school ad believed we would ever forget them. For some of us, arithmetic may have bee somethig of amystery which we put aside, perhaps hopig that the eed to uderstad it would fade over time alog with the pai of those early experieces! This chapter of The Maager s Good Study Guide is for those who eed to remid themselves about umbers ad arithmetical operatios, or eed to uderstad them for the first time. Youmay be surprised that you ca ow THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 105

14 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE more easily grasp cocepts that were previously elusive. Later chapters i this sectio assume you have a basic uderstadig of umbers ad arithmetic. Number represetatio We are familiar with how to write umbers ad the fact that there are place values for uits, tes, hudreds, thousads ad so o. Each place is a multiple of te larger tha the precedig oe. Cosider the umber 2,563. The four digits would read as two thousad, five hudred ad sixty-three. I the UK, acomma is used to separate the digits ito groups of three. I a larger umber such as 2,524,173 the comma is used twice; this allows us to easily idetify the umber of millios ad thousads. This visual idicator makes the list of digits easier to aalyse; without it we would have to cope with iterpretig We ca show the umber 2,563 i asimple table. Thousads Hudreds Tes Uits 2, There is oe further symbol, the decimal poit. This is used to show the trasitio poit betwee uits ad teths, ad is usually deoted by a full stop. The stadard decimal otatio for a umber such as ca be represeted as i the table below. Hudreds Tes Uits Decimal poit Teths Hudredths Note that azero (0) i aumber is simply holdig aplace: 100 meas 1 hudred, 0 tes ad 0 uits. Hudreds Tes Uits There are some other terms you may fid useful which refer to types of umber. Commo oes are listed below. Natural umbers Natural umbers are coutig umbers, the oes we kow ad use everyday: 1, 2, 3, 4,... The list goes o forever. Ifweiclude zero, we call these umbers whole umbers (0, 1, 2, 3, 4,...) because they have o digits to the right of the decimal poit which is ivariably omitted whe we write them. 106 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

15 CHAPTER 5 WORKING WITH NUMBERS Itegers Natural umbers are examples of itegers or whole umbers. We ca place whole umbers i alist that asceds from zero: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,... The list goes o forever. Numbers above zero are kow as positive umbers. Negative umbers These are umbers with avalue of less tha zero: - 1, - 2, - 3ad so o. They are kow as egative umbers, idicated by a mius sig i frot. Negative umbers ca be itegers (whole umbers). Whe they are whole umbers they ca be placed i the list of itegers, descedig from zero:..., - 4, - 3, - 2, - 1, 0. Youwill have ecoutered egative umbers if your bak accout has ever bee overdraw! Operatios: addig, subtractig, multiplyig ad dividig There are four operatios that you will use most frequetly. These are listed below alog with their idividual symbols ad a example of use. Operatio Symbol Example Additio =27 Subtractio 27 6=21 Multiplicatio = 60 Divisio = 8 If you are ot sure how to perform these operatios, seek more help as soo as you are able to. The iteret is aparticularly good source of aid. This is because the demad is great: you are ot aloe i eedig help with some of the cocepts at whatever level! Maipulatig positive ad egative umbers Addig ad subtractig Whe we add two positive umbers together, the aswer is a positive umber: = 4. Whe we add two egative umbers together, the aswer is a egative umber: ( - 2) +(- 3) = - 5. (The brackets are used to show that we mea mius 2 ad mius 3, rather tha subtract 2 ad subtract 3.) Whe we add aegative ad apositive umber, weget apositive or a egative umber depedig o which umber is bigger. For example, if we add 3to(- 1) the aswer is 2, apositive umber: ( - 1) +3=2.Ifweadd - 3ad 1, the aswer is - 2, aegative umber: ( - 3) +1= - 2. THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 107

16 CHAPTER 9 MANAGING YOUR CAREER Work takes up alarge part of our lives, so it s importat that we are doig what we ejoy ad that it brigs out the best i us. Whatever stage you are at i your career, there will be times whe it is ecessary to pla, review ad sometimes to make chages. Have you ever asked yourself ay of the followig questios ad foud it difficult to work out the aswers? Where am I ow? Where do Iwat to go? How will I get there? If so, this sectio of The Maager s Good Study Guide will help you to maage your career ad progress alog your chose path. It leads you through the logical ad sequetial steps that you will eed to take to idetify your career goals, what you eed to do to achieve them, ad how to pla atimescale for implemetatio. I doig so it will help you to: idetify the skills you have ad ay deficiecies decide what career path you wat to follow pla a systematic approach to job hutig lear how to be successful at iterviews. See Plaig, p CHAPTER9 MANAGING YOUR CAREER Your persoal marketig pla Oe way of cosiderig career developmet is to thik of it i terms of a persoal marketig pla. This does t mea you are about to sell your soul! Rather it meas adoptig arealistic view of yourself as the supplier of a service for which you eed to fid customers. These customers may be iteral withi your ow orgaisatio, or exteral i other orgaisatios. Creatig your ow idividual marketig pla will take time, of course, ad as you work through it you may discover aspects of yourself about which you feel ucomfortable! This is because a importat part of plaig will be the learig you do as aresult of the process. The pla you arrive at will ot ad should ot beset i stoe. Youmay eed to modify it from time to time, or eve chage it substatially to accommodate life evets, chages i your priorities, ad uexpected opportuities. See Assessig the competitive positio, p. 206, ad Developig a Marketig pla, p THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 181

17 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE Evaluatig your abilities The first step i creatig your persoal marketig pla is to coduct a career audit. This will allow you to evaluate your ow abilities, idetify ay gaps i your educatio ad experiece that eed to be addressed, ad help you to make decisios about your future aspiratios. See 360-degree feedback, p Gatherig iformatio Start by thikig about all the sources of iformatio that you have about yourself. Youmay be able to use: your last report a recet performace appraisal ay academic or professioal qualificatios you have 360-degree feedback (also called multi-rater, multi-source feedback) reports project or assigmet feedback. If you are lookig for richer sources of iformatio tha these, or if these sources are ot available to you, there are some others: aalytical iterviews persoality tests. Aalytical iterviews provide a valuable source of iformatio. The idea is that you iterview frieds, family ad colleagues to fid out how they perceive you. You have to be courageous ad able to take costructive criticism, but most people who complete this exercise fid it valuable. Persoality tests are also useful, although you will eed to make sure that you make a sesible choice of istrumets, ad have sufficiet iformatio about iterpretig the results of those you use. May iteret websites offer free self-assessmet tests. However, if you are usure, may careers-advisory services ad career cosultats also offer appropriate tests. The results of such tests should ot be take as immutable facts, but as useful prompts for you to thik about yourself. No-work experieces Now you ca supplemet the iformatio from all of these sources with data from your o-work experieces. Thik about your social life, for example. Do you belog to ay clubs or societies? Do you play sports? Do you have ay hobbies? What skills, kowledge or attributes do you use for them? Idetify your stregths ad weakesses Usig all these sources of iformatio, work ad o-work, make a list of all your stregths ad weakesses. Tur this list ito a short questioaire to give to asample of frieds, family ad colleagues ad ask them to rate 182 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

18 CHAPTER 9 MANAGING YOUR CAREER which of the listed stregths ad weakesses apply to you. I drawig up your list you may wat to group your skills uder similar headigs to those show i Table 9.1. Table 9.1 Topics for your questioaire Iformatio techology Techical People Creativity Leadership ad teachig Reliability Do you have basic office IT skills? Do you have ay specialised techical skills? Are you good with people? Are you agood team player? Ca you motivate people? Are you a good listeer? Are you good at persuadig people to do thigs? Ca you draw or desig? Are you a ideas perso? Do you thik about ew ways of doig thigs? Ca you lead a group? Are you good at teachig others ew skills? Are you a good timekeeper? Do you deliver? Do you respod to others who eed help? Are you a problem solver? The mai purpose of the questioaire is to discover if your ow view of yourself is realistic. You may uderplay your stregths, for example, or uderplay weakesses that you might wat to remedy. The results of your questioaire will provide costructive feedback ad you will probably be surprised at how positively others perceive you. What do you ejoy? Aother part of this first step idetifyig what you have to offer is fidig out what you ejoy ad what draws out the best i you. So ow you eed to reflect o all your successes to date, work ad o-work. Complete the statemets i Table 9.2 by writig dow the most importat or sigificat experiece. Table 9.2 Positive experieces checklist Idid well ad am proud of I valued most I became absorbed i I hadled well I felt passioate about, or was very iterested i I leared quickly I felt I had achieved somethig Icotributed I felt I beloged it felt atural THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 183

19 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE CHAPTER10 STRATEGY AND THE ORGANISATION The orgaisatioal cotext Our lives, whether we are maagers or ot, are lived i orgaisatios. These rage from micro- to macro-orgaisatios, that is, from systems as small as the smallest family uit to those as large as the govermet or state. We ca thik of these orgaisatios as embedded or ested sets of systems, with ifluece flowig i both directios, but ot i equal amouts. Clearly, a govermet will have more ifluece o a idividual tha the idividual will have o a govermet, except i exceptioal cases. Ifluece takes place through the iteractio of systems ad idividuals. We ca easily adapt this idea to the situatio of a idividual maager, the employig orgaisatio ad the wider commuity. This is show i Figure The maager ad the maager s iteractios with lie maager, colleagues ad direct reports 2. The orgaisatio s departmets ad sectios, e.g. fiace; huma resources; marketig; operatios; which iteract at the systems level to meet orgaisatioal objectives 3. The cotext ad systems immediately outside the orgaisatio, e.g. the competitio; customers; suppliers; the local political, ecoomic ad social eviromet; the media 4. The overarchig systems, e.g. the domiat beliefs ad ideologies; the ecoomic climate; atioal govermets; the global market; the IT revolutio 5. The bidirectioal, but uequal ifluece Figure 10.1 A systems perspective (Source: based o Brofebreer, 1979) 198 OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

20 CHAPTER 10 STRATEGY AND THE ORGANISATION Just as idividuals are iflueced by systems which are shaped by culture, politics ad ecoomics, so maagers ad orgaisatios are iflueced by the wider eviromet. This exteral or far eviromet eeds to be uderstood if orgaisatios are to be successful. It is ot uder the cotrol of the maager or orgaisatio. Maagers eed to aalyse it, uderstad what its implicatios are, ad make appropriate plas. The ear eviromet of suppliers, buyers, customers, competitors ad other stakeholders ca be iflueced by maagerial actio. Oly the iteral eviromet of the orgaisatio itself ca be cotrolled directly although, as may maagers will agree, eve this has its challeges! The fudametal priciple of strategic maagemet is a Wester cultural oe that we are cotrollers of our ow destiy ad ca make thigs happe. I the quest for improvig a orgaisatio, curret practices are costatly scrutiised alog with what is happeig i the far eviromet where both threats ad opportuities may exist. This ecessarily ivolves scrutiy of the ear eviromet too. Importatly, the ear ad far eviromet ca also be viewed from the perspective of time, as show i Figure This is particularly vital i plaig: idetifyig treds over time ad ascertaiig whether these treds costitute threats or opportuities which might idicate the eed for orgaisatioal chage. Eviromet Near Far Past Preset Future Time Figure 10.2 The time dimesio This chapter covers key maagemet ideas that focus o: aalysig the far ad ear eviromet; orgaisatios ad differet types of orgaisatio; ad assessig the eed for chage. Its aim is to provide you with asese of maagerial purpose for maagig operatios, fuctios ad people. OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 199

21 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE A orgaisatio s missio A orgaisatio s missio statemet sets out what the orgaisatio wats to be. It should be the startig poit for settig objectives ad makig strategic decisios. It cotais the orgaisatio s value propositio its reaso for beig ad therefore iflueces the etire orgaisatio s thikig. Typical format of a missio statemet Good missio statemets are cocise ad to the poit, ad capture the essece of the orgaisatio by statig: its purposes (why the orgaisatio exists, for example, to meet a specified eed); its busiess statemet (for example, to build homes); ad its values (for example, a commitmet to affordability ad quality). There is o strict format, however. Missio statemets typically cotai oe or more of the followig four compoets: 1 the orgaisatio s philosophy 2 specificatio of the product/market domai 3 the orgaisatio s key values 4 critical factors for success i the marketplace. Developig a orgaisatioal visio The terms missio ad visio are ofte used iterchageably, although missio is usually focused o the tagible goals of the orgaisatio, while visio may iclude quite abstract elemets. A orgaisatioal visio is a framework that icludes the guidig philosophy, core values, beliefs ad purposes from which the missio statemet is developed. The purpose of developig a orgaisatioal visio is to ecourage maagemet teams at the corporate level, the busiess uit or the brad level, to thik i detail about what they are tryig to create. A effective visio, whether for the orgaisatio as a whole or for a specific uit withi it, holds various dimesios i balace. There will be a referece to a idealistic future but it will be based i the preset. It will have a outward focus but be cogisat of ier stregths ad weakesses, ad it will be broad eough to ispire yet specific eough to differetiate the particular product or service of the orgaisatio from ay other. The six Ftest The followig questios will help you to idetify how well a visio is likely to be embraced. Because there are six questios, each playig o a keyword begiig with the letter F, the questios are kow as the six Ftest. 200 OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

22 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE C HAPTER13 L EADERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND MOTIVATION See Culture, p Leadig for results Maagemet ivolves far more tha plaig, implemetatio ad the exercise of co-ordiatio ad cotrol. If a orgaisatio is to operate successfully i the wider eviromet, effective leadership ad maagemet of people, iformed by a uderstadig of what motivates people to work, will be vital to a orgaisatio s ability to meet exterally-imposed competitive demads ad pressures. Leadership the ability to commuicate a visio, ifluece others ad gai their trust will be crucial to achievig your objectives as a maager, ad i tur, those of the orgaisatio. You will eed to exert ifluece i may directios i order to secure the resources ad support that you ad your team eed to do your job, while also esurig that you lead ad maage your team well. Your ability to ifluece others will deped o your sources of power ad authority, your leadership skills ad how effectively you use them. It will also ivolve uderstadig the sometimes puzzlig behaviour of others, for example, idividuals who remai committed to their work despite beig uder great stress, ad others who seem demotivated despite beig very well paid. Youwill eed to be familiar with the idea of culture, icludig orgaisatioal culture, because aspects of leadership, maagemet ad motivatio the subject of this chapter are shaped by culture. What makes a good leader? What is leadership? Commo to most defiitios of leadership is the ability to ifluece others. Leadership ca be described as the way a perso guides, shows the way or holds a group together. Approaches to uderstadig leadership have sought to explai it i differet ways. These approaches ca be ordered chroologically from the earliest to the most recet: The trait approach i which attempts were made to idetify sets of idividual traits that characterised effective leaders. Situatio theories which sought to idetify the leadership traits ad behaviours that might be most effective i particular situatios. 276 OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

23 CHAPTER 13 LEADERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND MOTIVATION Social process accouts which have sought to uderstad leadership as asocial process rather tha a attribute of a idividual or a iteractio betwee a idividual ad a situatio. Neither the trait approach or situatio theories have bee foud to possess much explaatory power. Withi the third approach, the social process perspective, two kids of leadership have bee distiguished: trasactioal leadership i which a maager maages a series of exchages or trasactios, ad trasformatioal leadership which ivolves the maagemet of meaig. Trasactioal leadership The trasactioal leader iflueces others by appealig to their self-iterest, primarily through the exchage of valued rewards for services or other desired behaviours. The relatioship betwee leader ad follower is see as a series of ratioal exchages or trasactios that eable each to reach their ow goals. Trasactioal leaders supply all the ideas ad use rewards as their primary source of power. Followers comply with the leader whe the exchage the reward advaces their ow iterests. The relatioship cotiues as log as the reward is desirable to the follower, ad both the leader ad the follower see the exchage as away of achievig their ow eds. Trasformatioal leadership The trasactioal leader motivates followers to perform as expected. The trasformatioal leader sometimes described as the charismatic, or visioary, leader ispires followers to do more tha origially expected. Trasformatioal leaders motivate followers to work towards goals that trasced immediate self-iterests to strive for higher-order outcomes. These leaders trasform the eeds, values, prefereces ad aspiratios of followers, so that followers become less motivated by self-iterest ad more motivated to serve the iterests of the wider group. The dager of trasformatioal leadership is that followers may become emotioally ad itellectually deskilled through abadoig their ow sese of ability, directio ad meaig. Equally, leaders ca become seduced by their followers ivestmet i them, ad cease to be midful of ucertaities or to be adaptive. Leaders of dagerous cults are ofte trasformatioal leaders. Table 13.1 summarises the key differeces betwee trasactioal ad trasformatioal leadership. OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 277

24 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE Table 13.1 Trasactioal leader Characteristics of trasactioal ad trasformatioal leaders Cotiget reward cotracts exchage of rewards for efforts, promises rewards for good performace, recogises accomplishmets. Maagemet by exceptio (active) watches ad searches for deviatios from rules ad stadards, takes corrective actio. Maagemet by exceptio (passive) itervees oly if stadards are ot met. Laissez-faire abdicates resposibility, avoids makig decisios. (Source: based o Bass, 1990) Trasformatioal leader Charisma provides visio ad sese of missio, istils pride, gais respect ad trust. Ispiratio commuicates high expectatios, uses symbols to focus efforts, expresses importat purposes i simple ways. Itellectual stimulatio promotes itelligece, ratioality ad careful problem solvig. Idividualised cosideratio gives persoal attetio, treats each employee idividually, coaches ad advises. Competecies of trasformatioal leaders As described i Table 13.2, four major competecies have bee foud to be commo to trasformatioal leaders: the maagemet of attetio, meaig, trust ad of self. Leadership as egotiatio People i positios of leadership ormally have formal authority a topdow approach. But leadership is egaged i by differet people at differet times, without such formal authority. Without formal authority, it is ot eough for aperso to offer directio: the directio eeds to be accepted by others, ad egotiatio is a way of recocilig the differet eeds of people ad ifluecig them to work to commo goals. Such leadership sometimes described as a bottom-up approach ca ifluece: Strategic issues These are the eds or results that a group seeks. Strategic issues cocer the directio i which a group should go i a chagig eviromet, correctly idetifyig opportuities ad avoidig threats. Task issues These are the meas of achievig the desired results of a group or a orgaisatio. Task issues iclude how best the ecessary tasks ca be performed ad whether there is tesio betwee the eds ad the meas. 278 OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

25 CHAPTER 14 MANAGING PEOPLE Job desig ivolves makig decisios regardig: what tasks to give to each perso i the orgaisatio i what sequece they should be performed where to locate each job who else should be ivolved i it how people should iteract with their workplace ad their immediate work eviromet how much autoomy to give staff what skills to develop i staff. C HAPTER14 M ANAGING PEOPLE Maagig idividuals Huma resource (HR) maagemet is of direct relevace to ayoe who has to achieve results through the efforts of other people. It cocers all maagemet decisios ad actios that affect the relatioship betwee a orgaisatio ad its members. Maagers with a wide rage of resposibilities will be ivolved i such decisios. For example, a IT maager may make decisios about iformatio systems desig which have importat cosequeces for the way work is orgaised. Or a marketig maager may make decisios about customer service strategies with cosequeces for the way employee performace is judged ad their efforts rewarded. Lie maagers make HR decisios every day i the course of maagig those who report to them. The flow of people HR policy cocers the flow of people ito, through ad out of a orgaisatio. This icludes: plaig for staffig eeds selectig ad recruitig the right people their iductio ito the orgaisatio iteral staffig ad promotio decisios OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 295

26 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE the maagemet of employees icludig cotract staff or, i the otfor-profit sector, voluteers exit from the orgaisatio, whether volutary or ivolutary. Maagers eed to make such choices as: the extet to which they rely o temporary or permaet staff the flexibility they require from employees i terms of patters of workig hours the extet to which they ivest i employee developmet ad traiig, or recruit for the skills they eed the extet to which they will meet chages i demad by varyig the umbers employed or hours worked. Factors affectig choices These choices ca be affected by awide rage of factors, icludig but ot restricted to: legal restrictios for example restrictios o dismissal, requiremets for compesatio for redudacy, restrictios o workig hours the level of expertise eeded to do the work the availability of skilled labour outside the orgaisatio the time take to trai staff iterally variability ad predictability of work flow. The strategic fit of huma resource policies To be effective, HR policies eed to fit the strategic goals ad eviromet of the orgaisatio. Table 14.1 gives a example of some possible relatioships betwee HR practice ad strategy. Some possible orietatios ad cosequeces Table 14.1 describes three geeric strategic orietatios ad some likely cosequeces for desired employee behaviours ad hece for HR maagemet. 296 OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

27 CHAPTER 14 MANAGING PEOPLE Table 14.1 The strategic fit of HR practices Strategic orietatio Desired employee behaviours Cosequeces for HR maagemet Seek advatage through iovatio. A high degree of creative behaviour. Loger-term focus. A relatively high level of cooperative, iterdepedet behaviour. A moderate cocer for quatity of output. Cocer both for process ad results. A greater degree of risk takig. A high tolerace of ambiguity ad upredictability. Jobs that require close iteractio ad co-ordiatio amog groups of idividuals. Performace appraisals that are more likely to reflect loger-term ad group-based achievemets. Jobs that allow employees to develop skills that ca be used i other positios i the firm. Compesatio systems that emphasise iteral equity rather tha exteral or market-based equity. Seek advatage through supplyig at low cost. Relatively repetitive ad predictable behaviour. A rather short-term view. Moderate cocer for quality. High cocer for quatity of output. Primary cocer for results. Low risk-takig activity. Relatively high degree of comfort with stability. Relatively fixed ad explicit job descriptios that allow little room for ambiguity. Narrowly desiged jobs ad arrowly defied career paths that ecourage specialisatio, expertise ad efficiecy. Short-term, results-orietated performace appraisals. Close moitorig of idustry pay levels for use i makig compesatio decisios. Miimal levels of employee traiig ad developmet. Seek advatage through high quality of goods or services. Relatively repetitive ad predictable behaviours. A more log-term or itermediate focus. A moderate amout of cooperative, iterdepedet behaviour. A high cocer for quality. A modest cocer for quatity of output. High cocer for process. Low risk-takig activity. Commitmet to the goals of the orgaisatio. Relatively fixed ad explicit job descriptios. High levels of employee participatio i decisios relevat to immediate work coditios ad the job itself. A mix of idividual ad group criteria for performace appraisal that is mostly shortterm ad results-orietated. A relatively egalitaria treatmet of employees ad some guaratees of employmet security. Extesive ad cotiuous traiig ad developmet of employees. OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 297

28 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE Recruitmet ad selectio The process of recruitmet ad selectio is the first meas by which a orgaisatio seeks to egage employees with the right set of skills, motivatio ad potetial to meet its eeds. It is also the first stage i formig a relatioship with employees. Validity ad fairess Selectio processes with high validity for predictig job performace may be see as ufair by applicats. Coversely, processes that seem fair ca be poor predictors of job performace. For example, past performace is a very good idicator of future performace but applicats regard iterviews as a fairer method of assessmet eve though iterviews have bee show to be a poor idicator of performace. Table 14.2 gives a summary of typical predictive validity ad typical applicat perceptios of fairess for a rage of selectio processes. Table 14.2 rage Selectio process Selectio processes predictive validity ad fairess of a Typical predictive validity Iterview Low High Persoality test Moderate Low Detailed collectio of persoal biographical iformatio High Typical applicat perceptio of fairess Low Cogitive ability test High Moderate Assessmet cetres High High (Source: Folger ad Cropazao, 1998) Assessmet cetres, where applicats are observed performig a rage of job-related tasks, have high predictive validity. The use of them is also see as fair by applicats. But while assessmet cetres are udoubtedly a highly effective method of selectio, they are costly. Whe usig other selectio processes maagers will have to make trade-offs betwee validity of selectio methods ad perceived fairess. What makes a process seem fair? Applicats are more likely to believe selectio processes are fair whe particular practices are followed. Box 14.1 provides a checklist for selectio processes. 298 OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

29 CHAPTER 14 MANAGING PEOPLE BOX 14.1 CHECKLIST FOR SELECTION PROCESSES The selectio process has a obvious relatioship to the job. Applicats are ot asked ivasive or improper questios. Applicats have a opportuity to demostrate job-related competecies. The selectio is carried out i a cosistet maer betwee cadidates. The selectors have good iterpersoal skills - they are courteous, ope, good listeers ad willig to provide iformatio. There are opportuities for two-way commuicatio. Applicats are give iformatio about the orgaisatio as part of the selectio process. Applicats are give clear ad detailed feedback o reasos for the selectio decisio. The ature of the selectio process is clearly explaied. Selectors are hoest about the orgaisatio ad about reasos for selectio decisios. (Source: Gillilad, 1993) The selectio iterview The aim of the selectio iterview is to ascertai whether the cadidate is iterested i the job ad competet to do it. It also has other fuctios: to explai the work of the orgaisatio, the job ad ay features such as iductio ad probatio to set expectatios o both sides, icludig a realistic discussio of ay potetial difficulties (if appropriate) to eable the cadidate to assess whether they wat the job beig offered. Preparig for the iterview There are a umber of issues to cosider whe preparig for a iterview, as show i Box OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 299

30 INDEX I NDEX 360-degree feedback abilities, self-evaluatio accoutig cocepts ad priciples see also fiace accruals, accoutig 246 accuracy, i samplig active listeig active voice 52 3 adult learig 5 cocers 20 1 experietial learig goals 6, 27 8 moitorig progress 27 9 overcomig fears 21 2 returig to study 20 1 special features 13 strategic plaig 23 6 support at work tactical plaig 26 7 time maagemet 25 6 see also approaches to learig; collaborative learig; kowledge; learig aggregatio, accoutig 246 aggressio 81 agreemet, cosesus 66-7 AIUAPR model Alla, J. 91, 356 Amabile, T.M. 316, 356 aalytical iterviews 182 aalytical tools PEST ad PESTLE models 203 Porter s five forces model Porter s model of geeric strategies Porter s value chai model STEEP model SWOT model three-level product aalysis Aderso, G. 303, 357 Asoff, H.I. 188, 210, 356 Asoff matrix 188, Athoy, R.N. 254, 356 apostrophes 54 6, appraisal see assessmet approaches to learig combied 18, 348, 352 deep 16 17, 18, 343, 345, 346, 348 9, 352 effort maagemet 344 8, orgaised 17, 19, 344, 347, self-score ivetory surface 17 18, 344, 346, 347, , 352 argumets dialogue ad iquiry 65 7 foudatio 64 5 logical reasoig 60 3 Argyris, C. 6, 324, 356 arithmetic mea see mea arithmetic operatios assertiveess 81 2 assessmet 360-degree feedback cetres 298 employee performace learig 22 3 methods 304 asset utilisatio ratio (AUR) 262, 264, 265 assets 248 9, depreciatio see also capital assigmets discussio 75 purpose of 37 8 tacklig 40 2 uderstadig questios 38 40, 41 writig 48 see also report writig; writig asychroous commuicatio 87, 91, 92 attitude scale 161 OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 363

31 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE attitudes to learig audiece, writig for 42 3 author citatios 50 1 averages axes, lie graphs 117 balace sheets ot-for-profit orgaisatios 248 balaced scorecard bar charts base value idex Retail Price Idex 175 Bass, B.M. 278, 356 behavioural segmetatio 226 beliefs, i problem-solvig 69 bechmarkig Beetto 215 Beett, M. 77 8, 356 Beett, S. 194 Beis, W. 279, 356 bias ad problem-solvig 71 2 research desig 143, bibliography, compilig 50 1 Blake, R.R. 281, 356 books 35 6 borrowig, log-term 250, 251 Bosto matrix boudary i a system brackets, i umerical operatios 110 braistormig 40, 95 7 brads compoets 231 successful 232 Brasford, J , 356 break-eve aalysis usig graphs usig umbers Brofebreer, U. 198, 356 budgets buildig soud argumets 64 5 busiess excellece model buyig decisios Buza, T buzz groups 98 calculatig probabilities calculatios, break-eve Camp, R.C , 356 capacity, margis of safety 261 capital employed workig capital 250, see also assets career developmet evaluatig your abilities gettig a ew job idetifyig goals 185 idetifyig opportuities optios persoal marketig pla 181 puttig it all together see also jobs careers advice 187 books ad websites 194 cases see argumets cash accout cash flow categorical scales chage maagemet 127 8, 218 see also orgaisatioal chage chaels, distributio charts bar charts orgaisatioal pie charts see also graphs citig ad referecig clusterig ideas 97 Clutterbuck, D. 308, 356 coachig employee developmet see also metorig codig, qualitative data cogitive processes 9, 11 i adulthood 22 see also thikig collaborative learig 86 7 peer resistace 90 committees 309 commuicatio 5, assertiveess 81 2 asychroous 87, OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

32 INDEX choice of model 80 1 computer-mediated 86 8 costructivist model 77 9 empathy 77 8 iformatio theory model 75 7 listeig marketig promotio egotiatig 82 4 see also feedback commuicatio loop commuicatio mix 242 competecies core 216 trasformatioal leaders 278, 279 competitio aalysis Porter s five forces model 203 positio assessmet scope 209 competitive advatage 203, computer-mediated group work co-ordiator 92, 93 cofereces 86 8, 89 critical success factors developmet 89 orgaisig 91 3 participatio 86 7 practical tips 93 5 rules 87 8 coceptual kowledge 9 cofereces, computer-mediated 86 8, 89 cofidece itervals 173 cosesus 66 costructivist model of commuicatio 77 8 cotiget approach, leadership 280 cotract of employmet 291 cotrol see exercisig cotrol; maagemet cotrol Coomber, S. 186, 194 co-operatio 86 7 Coopers ad Lybrad 330, 356 co-ordiator computer-mediated group work 92, 93 see also facilitator core competecies 216 correlatio correlatio coefficiet 166 cost cetres 259 cost leadership 209 costs balace sheet 251 break-eve depreciatio direct costs 258 idirect costs margial 262 types of Craier, S.194 creativity climate for see also iovatio creditors 250, critical dialogue 65 7 critical path aalysis critical success factors, computermediated group work critical thikig 5, 15, 63, 67 8 Cropazao, R. 298, 302, 357 cultural kowledge 10 culture i orgaisatioal chage 217, 220 i orgaisatios of quality 328 role i commuicatio 82 curret assets 249, curriculum vitae (CV) , 191 customers behaviour decisios marketig mix 229 relatioships 222 service expectatios data aalysis distributio primary OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 365

33 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE qualitative 142, 147, quatitative 141 2, 147, scales stadard deviatio triagulatio types ad frequecy uderstadig averages see also iformatio; statistics data collectio focus groups iteral documets iterviews observig primary ad secodary data public sources of iformatio surveys data presetatio see displayig iformatio Davidso, H. 231, 356 Dearlove, D. 194 debtors decimals 106, 111, deductive reasoig 60 1 deep approach to learig 16 17, 18, 343, 345, 346, 348 9, 352 deeper learig 19 delayerig 216 demad determiats of 235 price elasticity depreciatio developmetal model, group formatio diagrams fishboe diagrams force-field diagrams ifluece diagrams iput-output diagrams multiple-cause diagrams see also displayig iformatio; mappig dialogue see discussios diary, learig 29 differetiatio, competitive advatage direct costs 258 direct mail 144 discussios computer-mediated 86 8 critical 65 6 displayig iformatio 116 bar charts lie graphs matrices mid mappig etwork aalysis pie charts systems thikig time series lie graphs see also diagrams distributio chaels frequecy 123 4, 170 ormal distributio set of data diversificatio, Asoff matrix 211 documets, iteral double loop learig dowsizig 216 draftig reports 41 drivig forces i chage maagemet 127 8, 218 earigs Easterby-Smith, M. 147, 357 effort maagemet 17, 19, Eio, G. 93, 357 Elder, L. 68, 357 e-learig 86 emotioal kowledge 10 empathy 77 8 employee developmet coachig ad coachig styles metorig 30 2, 308 employees empowermet measurig performace performace appraisal performace maagemet 301 psychological cotract 291 recruitmet ad selectio OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

34 INDEX uderperformace see also huma resource maagemet empowermet Etwistle, N. 16, 20, 339, 357 equilibrium level of output 262 estimatig probabilities 176 ethical issues i observig 155 Europea Foudatio for Quality Maagemet (EFQM) model Europea Quality Award 333 evaluatio of iformatio matrices of self evasio 81 Evede, R. 303, 357 exchage relatioships exercisig cotrol cotrol loop ew forms of cotrol 327 orgaisatioal cotext process of 319 vicious circle of cotrol see also maagemet cotrol expectacy theory experietial learig explicit kowledge 7, 8 face-to-face study groups 73 5 facilitator braistormig sessios 96 7 focus groups see also co-ordiator factual kowledge 9 fairess, framework for 302 far eviromet 199, Fayol, H , 357 maagemet processes feedback i commuicatio 76 givig 84 5 job iterviews 192 i learig 22 3 egative 85 operatios maagemet performace appraisal positive 84 5 receivig 85 6 Fiedler, F.E. 282, 357 fiace accoutig cocepts assets ad liabilities balace sheet break-eve budgetig cash accout costs depreciatio earigs equilibrium level of output 262 fiacial perspective margial aalysis margis 265 margi of safety 261 orgaisatio types profit statemet ratio aalysis workig capital fiacial ratios fiacial statemets ot-for-profit orgaisatios requiremets 246 fiacial terms, glossary of fishboe diagrams fixed assets 248 9, fixed costs 257 break-eve focus groups Folger, R. 298, 302, 357 force-field aalysis force-field diagrams Ford, Hery 327 forecastig, log-term PEST ad PESTLE models 203 STEEP model formal groups 310, 311 formal iterviews 153 formal logical reasoig 60 2 four Cs 229 four Es 318 four Ps 228, fractios OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 367

35 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE frequecy distributio bar charts ormal curve Fry, R. 14, 15, 358 future eviromet, orgaisatios 199, gaps i the market geeric strategies, Porter s model Gillilad, S.W. 299, 357 Gilovich, T. 71 2, 357 glossary of fiacial terms goals adult learig 6, 27 8 career goods see also products grammar 56 graphs lie graphs ormal distributio showig break-eve time series lie graphs see also charts Gree, M. 90 group developmet group workig 5 active listeig braistormig 40, 95 7 buzz groups 98 clusterig ideas 97 factors affectig givig presetatios group characteristics 309 egotiatig 82 4, 278 plaig 102 roud robis 98 9 settig up 73 5 sowballig 98 types of seealso computer-mediated group work;focus groups;teams Grout, J. 194 Hackma, J.R. 314, 357 Harvard system of referecig 50 2 Hatch, M.J. 214, 357 healthcare segmets 227 Hertzberg F. 287, , 357 two-factor theory Herzliger, R.E. 254, 356 huma resource maagemet employee performace maagig groups ad teams policy recruitmet adselectio Hussey, J , 357 Hussey, R , 357 hygiee factors i job satisfactio IDEAL method for problem-solvig ideas braistormig 40, 95 7 clusterig 97 geeratig 95 6 roud robis 98 9 icome see sales icome ad expediture accout depreciatio idices costructio umbers Retail Price Idex 175 idirect costs iductive reasoig 61 2 iferece iferetial statistics 177 rules of 66 ifluece diagrams iformal groups 310 iformal iterviews 153 iformatio ackowledgig sources 48 9 evaluatio iteral documets iteret job opportuities public reports ad assigmets searches OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

36 INDEX see also data; displayig iformatio; statistics iformatio theory model of commuicatio 75 7 iovatio ad teams see also creativity iputs iput-output diagrams operatios maagemet iquiry 66 itagible assets 249 itegers 107 itercept, lie graphs iteral documets iteret career developmet ad 187, 191, 192 fidig iformatio o iterpersoal values 186 iterquartile rage 169 iterval scales 160 iterviews aalytical 182 bias 146 job 191 2, preparatio 300 selectio ivetory learig ad studyig scorig Isabella, L.A. 31, 358 iteratio 43 Jeso, M. 312, 359 job desig approaches to scietific maagemet socio-techical systems approach 285 job performace predictors 298 job satisfactio Hertzberg s theory see also motivatio jobs applicatio 191 descriptios gettig a ew job iterviews satisfactio checklist searchig for see also career developmet Johso, M.E. 212, 359 Johso-Lez, P. 93, 357 Johso-Lez, T. 93, 357 Kakabadse, A. 310, 357 Kapla, R.S. 332, 357 Kilaw, D , 358 kowledge abstractio 12 acquisitio cogitive processes 9, 11, 22 cultural 10 emotioal 10 see also learig kowledge types coceptual 9 explicit 7, 8 factual 9 metacogitive 7 8, 9 procedural 7, 8, 9 tacit 7, 8 theories 8 Kowles, M.S. 13, 358 Kolb, D.A. 14, 15, 358 Kram, K.E. 30, 31, 358 Krathwohl, D.R. 9, 10, 358 Lawless, N. 91, 356 leadership approaches cotiget approach 280 egotiatio see also maagemet learig assessmet 22 3 cogitive processes 9, 11, 22 cultural dimesio 15 developig deeper 19 diary 29 effort maagemet ad 17, 19 experietial feedback 22 3 five aspects of lifelog 193 OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 369

37 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE moitorig study of persoal theories profile, self-score ivetory strategies 6 tactics 6 your curret profile see also adult learig; approaches to learig; collaborative learig; kowledge learig skills assigmets critical thikig 63 logical reasoig 5, 60 3 readig strategies 32 5 writig 37 Lewi, K. 218, 358 liabilities 249, libraries life-cycle of a product lifelog learig 193 lie graphs time series listeig logical reasoig 5, 60 3 i actio 62 3 ad problem-solvig 69, 71 2 Logso, S. 194 log-term borrowig 250, 251 log-term forecastig PEST ad PESTLE models 203 STEEP model loss leadig 236 Maciarello, J.A. 319, 358 McCue, V.S. 16, 357 maagemet employee empowermet employee expectatios 291 Fayol s processes Mitzberg s maagemet roles problem-solvig scietific 284 5, 327 style theory see also huma resource maagemet; leadership; operatios maagemet; strategic maagemet maagemet by objectives (MBO) maagemet cotrol budgetig ew forms of 327 process workig capital see also exercisig cotrol maagemet grid maagers ifluece diagrams maagig chage, force-field diagrams maagig groups ad teams climate for creativity factors affectig group developmet teams ad iovatio types of group see also group workig mappig mid mappig systems mappig margial aalysis margial cost 262 margial pricig 236 margial reveue 262 margis 265 of safety 261 mark-ups 265 market-based approach to strategy 207, 208 market-based pricig 236 market peetratio, Asoff matrix 210 market research research desig triagulatio market share, relative marketig customer behaviour distributio chaels mix pricig OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

38 INDEX products promotio marketig pla persoal 181 markets Asoff matrix 188, gaps 211, 213 growth rate segmetatio value-drive culture 223 Marto, F. 11, 358 Maslow, A.H , 358 hierarchy of eeds Maso, G. 85, 86, 358 mass productio, scietific maagemet matrices Asoff 188, Bosto mea 161 2, 165 ormal distributio curve measurig performace media 162 3, metorig 308 at work 30 2 see also coachig messages computer-mediated group work iformatio theory model of commuicatio 75 7 metacogitive kowledge 7 8, 9 metaphors 53 4 methodological triagulatio metric scale, ordered 161 milestoes, virtual circle 92 3 mid mappig Migers, J. 63, 358 Mitzberg, H , 358 maagemet roles missio statemet 186, 200 mixed approach to learig 18, 348, 352 mode 163, models AIUAPR model commuicatio 75 7 EFQM PEST ad PESTLE models 203 Porter s five forces model Porter s model of geeric strategies Porter s value chaimodel204 5 STEEP model SWOT model see also aalytical tools moderator see facilitator moitorig, learig process 27 9, motivatio 287 expectacy theory Hertzberg s theory Maslow s hierarchyof eeds multi-rater feedback multi-source feedback multiple-cause diagrams Murray, J. 242, 358 atural umbers 106 ear eviromet, Porter s five forces model Neath, S. 194 egative feedback 85 egative umbers egotiatio group workig 82 4 leadership Nelso Bolles, R. 194 et profit 252 et worth 249 etiquette 88 etwork aalysis etworkig career developmet 190 etwork orgaisatio omial scales ormal distributio Norto, D.P. 332, 357 ot-for-profit orgaisatios ote-takig 36 7 umbers arithmetic operatios break-eve calculatios OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 371

39 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE decimals 106, 111, fractios operatios 107, 110 percetages ratios 116 represetatio roudig sigificat figures 111 squares, cubes ad roots 112 maipulatig positive ad egative workig with objectives, maagemet by objectivity critical thikig 63 logical reasoig 61 observatio, data collectio O Driscoll, A. 242, 358 Oldham, G.R. 314, 357 Ope Uiversity Busiess School (OUBS) operatig profit 252 ROCE operatios maagemet balaced scorecard feedback iputs outputs 326 trasformatio process 326 opportuities, career ordered metric scale 161 ordial scalig 160 orgaisatioal chage approaches to 216 feasibility assessmet six-step model stakeholders 222 orgaisatioal strategy aalysig the competitio Asoff matrix approaches to assessig competitive positio employee behaviour future eviromet 199, HR policies ew product developmet systems perspective value chai orgaisatios culture culture chage 217, 220 fiacial perspective future eviromet 199, missio statemet 200 etworks ot-for-profit service developmet stakeholders strategic choices strategic plaig structure visio statemet orgaised approach to learig 17, 19, 344, 347, origi, lie graphs 117 outputs equilibrium level 262 iput-output diagrams multiple-cause diagrams operatios maagemet 326 i systems 132 outsourcig overhead costs Pascal, B. 48, 358 Parasurama, A , 358 participat observatio passive voice 52 3 Paul, R. 67, 68, 358 peer relatioships resistace to 90 at work 31 2 peetratio pricig 236 percetages pie charts perceptios 53 4 perfect price ielasticity performace appraisal balaced scorecard measuremet OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

40 INDEX bechmarkig i the cotrol process gap 330 improvemet usig double loop learig multiple-cause diagrams orgaisatioal 318 performace maagemet measurig performace quatitative ad qualitative aspects 301 Perri, S. 194 Perry, W.G. 20, 358 persoal marketig pla 181 persoality tests 182 PEST model 203 PESTLE model 203 Piccii, S.J. 85, 86, 358 pie charts Piercy, N. 224, 359 plagiarism 48 9 plaig group workig 102 study sessios 26 7 study strategy 23 6 see also orgaisatioal strategy Plummer, K. 146, 359 Porter, M.E , 209, 359 five forces model model of geeric strategies value chai model positive experieces checklist 183 positive feedback 84 5 positive umbers presetatios process of steps i preparig price determiats of demad 235 pricig strategies price elasticity of demad (PED) primary data primary groups private sector orgaisatios 247 probability problem-solvig checklist 70 1 improvemets to 71 2 method for procedural kowledge 7, 8, 9 products Bosto matrix bradig developmet life-cycle marketig mix PED value three-level product aalysis see also goods professioal orgaisatios, careers advice 187 profit statemet depreciatio progress, moitorig of learig 27 9 project deadlies, fishboe diagram project maagemet, milestoes 93 promotio commuicatio loop commuicatios mix 242 customer decisios marketig commuicatios push or pull strategies 243 see also marketig proportioal data, pie charts protocol, computer-mediated commuicatio 88 psychological cotract 291 public iformatio sources public sector orgaisatios 247 pull strategy 243 purchase decisios push strategy 243 Pyke, G. 194 qualitative data 142, quality assessig service quality balaced scorecard OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 373

41 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE bechmarkig busiess excellece model culture of quality 328 meaig of quality gaps model 329 quatitative data see data quartiles ad the iterquartile rage questioaires see iterviews; surveys quota samplig radom samplig 143 rage see distributio raked data 160 ratio aalysis scales 160 ratios (umbers) 116 readig effectively 33 4 skim readig 34 5 strategies 32 3 studyig a text 35 6 reasoig, logical 5, 60 3 recorder,braistormig sessios 96 7 records, data collectio recruitmet ad selectio redudacy, i commuicatio 76 referece list relatioship marketig relative market share report writig 44 6 gettig started 40 2 research reports 46 7 template 45 6 see also assigmets; writig research desig research reports 46 7 resposibility, group workig 90 restraiig forces, chage maagemet 127 8, 218 restructurig, orgaisatioal chage 216 Retail Prices Idex i the UK 175 retur o capital employed (ROCE) 262, 263 4, 265 retur o sales (ROS) 262, reveue margial 262 see also sales roud robis 98 9 roudig umbers rules of iferece 66 safety margi 261 sales asset utilisatio ratio 264 break-eve retur o262, Säljö, R. 11, 359 Salmo, G. 89, 359 samplig sample size see also surveys Sargeat, A. 227, 359 scales data aalysis lie graphs omial Scheug, E.E. 212, 359 scietific maagemet 284 5, 327 Scho, D.A. 324, 356 secodary data secodary groups 311 segmetatio, market selectio processes iterviews perceptios of fairess self-evaluatio self-maagig teams self-score ivetory service developmet 212 SERVQUAL ivetory Shao, C. 75, 359 sigificat figures 111 similes 53 4 sigle loop learig 323 six F test six-step model of chage skim readig 34 5 skimmig, pricig strategy 236 SMART framework sowballig 98 socio-techical systems approach 285 software packages 374 OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

42 INDEX mid mappig 136 etwork aalysis speculative approaches, ew jobs 191 spellig errors 56 8 Spillae, H. 194 spreadsheets calculatig stadard deviatio 172 correlatio data 166 stakeholders stadard deviatio ormal distributio use stadard error 173 statistics data collectio iferetial 177 sample size see also data; iformatio STEEP model Stei, B.S , 356 stock strategic maagemet 199 strategic plaig strategy market-based approach 207, 208 promotioal 243 for studyig 23 7 see also orgaisatioal strategy stregths evaluatig your abilities SWOT model stress, computer-mediated group workig 91 study groups 73 5 studyig sessio plaig 26 7 strategy, plaig 23 6 texts 35 6 time maagemet 25 6 see also approaches to learig; learig subsystems 132, 133 surface approach to learig 17 18, 344, 346, 347, , 352 surveys o-respose 144 see also iterviews; samplig SWOT model syergy, teamwork systems map systems thikig tacit kowledge 7, 8, 15 targets see objectives Targett, D , 359 Taylor, F.W , 359 Taylorism teams 5 characteristics of 309 ad iovatio self-maagig see also group workig textbooks 35 6 theoretical kowledge 7, 8, 9, 11 thikig critical 5, 15, 67 8 developig 12 13, 67 8 systems see also cogitive processes three-level product aalysis time maagemet, adult learers 25 6 time series lie graphs timescale, etwork aalysis trasactio marketig trasactioal leadership 277, 278 trasformatio, iput-output diagrams trasformatio model, operatios maagemet 325 trasformatioal leadership triagulatio triggers, orgaisatioal chage 220 Tuckma, B. 312, 359 turover see sales tutors, writig for 43 two-by-two matrix 125 two-factor theory, Hertzberg s Tyler, S. 90, 339, 359 uderperformace employees OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 375

43 THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE multiple-cause diagrams uit elasticity validity, market research value chai value-drive market culture 223 values, persoal variable costs break-eve variables correlatio idices vicious circle of cotrol virtual circles 92 3 virtual orgaisatios 214 visio statemet voice, report writig 52 3 weakesses self-evaluatio SWOT model Weaver, W. 75, 359 weighted scores, evaluatio matrices 126 work metorig 30 1 peer relatioships 31 2 support i learig workig capital 250, workplace, active listeig 79 writig active ad passive 52 3 apostrophes 54 6 checklist 58 9 cociseess 47 8 effective 37 plagiarism 48 9 polishig 52 reports 5, 40 2, 44 6 research reports 46 7 similes ad metaphors 53 4 spellig 56 8 target audiece 42 3 see also assigmets writig process OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL