B240 Principles and Practices of Management

Transcription

1 B240 Principles and Practices of Management Sample materials

2 2 Learning OU Style Sample Materials What is management and what do managers do? Let s begin by thinking about what management is. We ll then look at what managers do from various perspectives: functions, roles, skills, systems, and different and changing situations. Defining management Now let s examine the definition of management. Complete the following reading, then return to this unit. Reading Pages 8-10 of the textbook excerpt that follows this section. In these pages, and throughout the book, Robbins and Coulter follow what has become the dominant approach to studying management that is, to consider it as a process: a systematic way of carrying out the functions necessary to achieve an organization s goals or objectives. Managers are defined as persons who are responsible for achieving these goals effectively and efficiently, by getting things done with and through other people. Note the distinction between efficiency and effectiveness. The authors treatment of efficiency is clear and concise. However, their discussion of effectiveness is inadequate. They define it as goal attainment. That is, effectiveness is measured by the extent to which we obtain intended targets. This is a rather simplistic and self-evident definition. Immediately a question arises is the goal realistic? Let us consider this question. It is clearly unreasonable to set goals that cannot be achieved with the available resources, and then to measure a manager s effectiveness against them. This seems obvious, yet it does happen. If a manager is to be effective, the goal must be realistic and obtainable. One way of achieving this is for the manager concerned and his/her superior to jointly determine, or at least discuss, the goal. In this way, unreasonable demands can be identified at the start. The point is, effectiveness is not absolute, but relative. It must be measured against the reasonableness of the objectives and take into account the circumstances in which you are seeking to achieve your objectives.

3 B240 Principles and Practices of Management 3 Activity Identify the main constraints which limit your effectiveness in your present job. Write short notes on how these could be removed. ACTIVITY Spend about 20 minutes on this task. Comment Because this task is based on your workplace, we do not have enough knowledge to make specific suggestions. However, we can make some general comments that may be helpful. One way of tackling this task is to identify where the constraints come from. For example, they may arise from: your supervisor or manager the people you work with people in other departments the collection of tasks which make up your job the machinery, if any the structure and culture of your organization pressures from outside your organization such as customers, suppliers or the government yourself (your attitudes, beliefs, values and past experiences). In analysing your effectiveness, you need to pay attention to each of these constraints. Look again at your notes. How many of your ideas for removal of the constraints require other people to do things or to change their behaviour? How many require you to change? The easy way out is to blame other people, or things which are outside our control, for our ineffectiveness. Certainly, take these into account, but do not neglect to analyse your own contribution. After all, this is the area over which you have most control and therefore the one in which you can effect most improvement! To sum up then, management is getting objectives accomplished efficiently and effectively with and through other people. Now you can take a step forward and examine what managers actually do. We will approach this question from three different viewpoints management functions, managerial roles and managerial skills. Management functions The term function is something of a problem. Management books often refer to an organization as being divided along functional lines

4 4 Learning OU Style Sample Materials when they discuss the specialist departments within the organization for example, production, accounts, marketing, etc. Function is not used in this sense by management theorists. It refers to what managers do and the nature of their work when they are working in any department and speciality. Watch out for this ambiguity, as it can be confusing. Now read the following pages before going on with the study unit. Reading Pages of the textbook excerpt that follows this section. Some early management writers defined management as consisting of five functions planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling. In the 1950s, other writers refined these, substituting staffing and leading for commanding and coordinating. In recent years, these functions have been reduced to four those referred to by Robbins and Coulter. The change is not because the omitted aspects (commanding, coordinating and staffing) are unimportant, but because they are subsumed under the other more general categories. For example, you cannot organize a company without considering how it will be staffed and its activities coordinated. Similarly, in leading or controlling staff, you may need to command, so there is no need for commanding or staffing to be separate categories. Peter Drucker (one of the most influential writers on management) suggests a fifth function the development of people since the unique contribution of managers is to give others vision and ability to perform. What do you think? It is important you understand that this functional approach offers a model of the management process, and that a model does not necessarily include every detail. You should also understand that the functions are interactive and occur in all organizations. Furthermore, they are prescriptive that is, they are what it is thought managers should do, not necessarily what they actually do. In most cases, individual managers are unlikely to have the freedom to carry out their functions without constraints. Such constraints may be imposed by their superiors in the hierarchy, by their subordinates, or by environmental influences such as government regulations or market pressures. Management roles Viewing the manager s job from the perspective of management functions is just one of the possible views of what managers do. You may also consider the manager s job from the viewpoint of managerial roles. In the following reading, Robbins and Coulter discuss the work of Henry Mintzberg, who conducted a study of a handful of American executives in the 1960s.

5 B240 Principles and Practices of Management 5 Reading Pages of the textbook excerpt that follows this section. Roles are expected patterns of behaviour associated with a given position in a group or organization. Managerial roles are expected patterns of behaviour associated with different managerial positions. Mintzberg s findings (which have been replicated in both America and other countries) suggest that there is much more to managers jobs than the functional analysis indicates. Without discarding the functional approach, it is possible to group the activities performed by managers into a number of roles which are commonly performed by most managers. Viewing management by function and role are different ways of analysing the same thing what managers do. They do not contradict each other, and, in fact, both offer insights into the activities carried out by managers. As Robbins says, functions and roles are reconcilable and can be smoothly aligned with each other. Managerial skills You have examined the manager s job from the viewpoints of management functions and management roles. A third way to look at what managers do is to consider the skills that they use when they are pursuing their goals. Different types of skills are required for managers working at different levels of organizations. A specialist in organizational theory, Robert Katz, suggests three different types of skill: technical human relations conceptual. Reading Pages of the textbook excerpt that follows this section. Technical skill is knowledge and ability in a specialized area of business, e.g. electrical engineering or accountancy. Human relations skill is an ability to understand, work with and motivate other people. Conceptual skill is an ability to coordinate and integrate an organization s activities and interests; to visualize the organization and its needs as a whole and not just as separate parts.

6 6 Learning OU Style Sample Materials Although every manager needs all three skills, the relative importance of each varies with the level at which the manager is operating. Generally, it is argued that the higher up the organizational hierarchy, the greater the need to possess conceptual skill. Technical skills, on the other hand, are usually more important at lower levels. So far, you have examined what functions managers perform, what roles they play and what skills they use to achieve their organization s goals. A simple diagram helps to represent the relationship between them. Functions: planning organising leading controlling Roles: interpersonal informational decisional Managers possessing skills: technical human relations conceptual Perform to achieve Organisational objectives Figure 1 What managers do It is generally believed that effective managers who make a significant contribution to the organization are in great demand and will move ahead quickly in the management hierarchy. Managing systems One approach to looking at a manager's job is the systems approach. The systems approach takes managers' thinking beyond a concentration on the individual or the group. It gives managers a wider view and makes them consider not only other groups and departments within the organization but also other organizations outside of their own. A society is a system of organizations. Taken to the extreme, the world is a system of organizations, each interacting with others, but not necessarily with all the others. The following reading deals with the systems approach. Reading Pages of the textbook excerpt that follows this section. Try the following activity to check your understanding of the systems concept.

7 B240 Principles and Practices of Management 7 Activity Draw: ACTIVITY 1 a closed system of a manufacturing company 2 an open system of the same company. This task should take you about 10 minutes. Put in only the main aspects for example, the production department but include rather more detail than Robbins and Coulter do in Figure 1.9 on page 20. Comment Our suggestions are as follows: Systems thinking reminds us to look beyond ourselves and our immediate work group and product. We are required to consider how our activities affect others and how their activities affect us. If we take a closed systems view of an organization, we might consider it as represented in Figure 2a. Figure 2a A closed system If we adopt an open systems view, we could show an organization as represented in Figure 2b. Figure 2b An open system

8 8 Learning OU Style Sample Materials ACTIVITY Activity 1 Draw an open systems diagram of your own organization or any organization you are familiar with, putting in only the most significant parts. 2 Identify some of the significant things that came out of the application of systems thinking to management. Comment 1 Director of OLI President of OUHK Associate Vice President Director Educational Technology and Publishing Library Human Resources Unit Dean, School of Business & Administration Academic Assessor Instructional Designer Tutors Inputs Material Ideas Books Cleaners Council Academic Advisers Deans of other School Adademic Board Senate Course Coordinator Other Course Coordinators in the School of Business & Administration Typists and Clerical Staff Person who services the photocopier Outputs Course Materials Students Figure 3 Course material production system This is our attempt at displaying the course material production system in the Open University of Hong Kong. The double lines indicate the more important internal influences on the Course Coordinator. 2 The systems approach emphasizes the interdependence of factors within the organization and the importance of the flow of communications and materials within it.

9 B240 Principles and Practices of Management 9 It also stresses relationships and flow of information and material between the organization and other organizations that make up its environment. The task of managers is to coordinate all the factors that are required to achieve the organization s objectives. One aspect of the systems approach that is not mentioned by Robbins and Coulter in Chapter 1 is its importance for controlling the production process. The importance of good control techniques and, especially, feedback to ensure that the work of an organization is monitored and, if necessary, corrected is discussed later in this course. You will have noted that the ideas of the systems approach are not really new. But the renewed emphasis on them which has resulted from the conscious study of management systems has made managers think more carefully about these ideas. It has also led to the development of new, more sophisticated tools of management, such as management information systems (MIS). MIS is also discussed later in this course. The systems approach is not without its critics. Use of this approach tends to make it difficult to distinguish between important and less important variables. In theory, all could be equally important, but in practice some are more important than others. Whether or not a variable is important will depend on the individual circumstances of organizations, and these may vary over time. A further limitation of the systems approach is that it does not help the manager to decide what to do about an issue or a problem. Managing in different and changing situations Another approach to describing what managers do is the contingency approach. It emphasizes the need for organizations to identify the variables which are significant for them in any particular situation. This approach is known as the contingency approach. The following reading gives you a brief account of this approach. Reading Pages of the textbook excerpt that follows this section. The contingency approach has many supporters, for as Robbins and Coulter point out, it is intuitively logical. It has several advantages.

10 10 Learning OU Style Sample Materials The contingency approach specifically identifies the internal and external factors which influence the organization at any one time. It makes managers realize that because of differences in size, goals, working methods and people, it is difficult to find principles of management that can be universally applied. The contingency approach also helps managers to identify which managerial practice is most appropriate in a given set of circumstances. However, like the systems approach, the contingency approach also has its critics. Some, such as Harold Koontz, point out that the contingency approach is not new. Many of the classical theorists warned against applying management principles rigidly and thought that circumstances need to be taken into account. Also, the approach has not been developed to the point where it can be considered a true theory. That may be so, but for practising managers, the contingency approach is still useful in that it constantly reminds them of the complexity of the world in which they are operating. It reminds them that they need to take an active role in assessing which possible solution to a problem will work best in the specific situation. They need to take into consideration the effects of their decisions on other departments as well as interested parties outside the organization. Summary You have examined the definition of management and what managers do. Management is the process of achieving organizational goals effectively and efficiently, with and through other people. In this process, managers perform four functions planning, organizing, leading and controlling. What managers do can also be examined from the viewpoint of 10 managerial roles they perform. These roles are expected patterns of behaviour for people occupying managerial positions. In order for managers to perform their functions and roles, they need three different kinds of skill: technical, human relations and conceptual. In addition to these skills, managers also need networking skills which may help them to move ahead in the organizational hierarchy. You have also looked at a manager s job from the perspectives of managing systems, and managing different and changing situations. The systems approach and the contingency approach are used to describe what managers do. The systems approach views the organization as being composed of inter-related and interdependent parts that make up a whole. The contingency approach emphasizes the need to identify the situation variables that determine which of the possible solutions to a given problem will work best.

11 B240 Principles and Practices of Management 11 Self-test 1 1 Observe the behaviour of your supervisor or any other manager in your organization. Identify examples of Mintzberg s 10 roles that he or she performs in your organization. 2 Summarize in about 100 words the gist of each of the following approaches to describing what managers do. The systems approach The contingency approach. Spend about 30 minutes on this task. You can now compare your answers with the suggested answers at the end of this section. You should now be able to meet the first learning objective for this study unit, i.e. you should be able to explain what management is, and what managers do. If you are confident that you have achieved this objective, you can go on with your study. If you had trouble with the self-test questions, you should review the major points from this topic and the set textbook readings, and then reevaluate your ability to complete the self-test questions and meet this section s learning objective before you go on.

12 12 Learning OU Style Sample Materials Suggested answers to the self-test questions Self-test 1 1 Compare your examples with the list of roles indicated in Table 1.2 (p. 14) of your textbook. 2 The systems approach The systems approach views an organization as made up of interrelated and interdependent parts. The task of managers is to coordinate these interdependent parts so that the whole can function effectively. A closed system is one that does not interact with its environment. An open system is one that interacts with the environment. From an open systems perspective, an organization is seen as a system that acquires inputs from the environment which are transformed into outputs that are returned to the environment. According to the systems approach, the well-being of an organization is dependent on successful exchange of inputs and outputs with the environment, as well as effective internal coordination which makes the various parts of the organization function as a whole. The contingency approach The contingency approach emphasizes the importance of contingency (situational) variables that affect the applicability of management principles. The contingency approach maintains that it is difficult, if not impossible, to find principles of management that can be universally applied. Therefore, managers need to identify the contingency (situational) variables that are important for a particular management situation. These contingency variables are the conditions under which certain principles may apply. In short, the contingency approach tries to integrate management concepts and theories into a situational framework. The gist of the contingency approach can be graphically represented as follows: The principle approach If X Y Figure 4a The contingency approach If X Y Figure 4b depending on Z

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