The Maager s Good Study Guide Sheila Tyler
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 2524173. We ca show the umber 2,563 i asimple table. Thousads Hudreds Tes Uits 2,563 2 5 6 3 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 251.32 ca be represeted as i the table below. Hudreds Tes Uits Decimal poit Teths Hudredths 251.32 2 5 1. 3 2 Note that azero (0) i aumber is simply holdig aplace: 100 meas 1 hudred, 0 tes ad 0 uits. Hudreds Tes Uits 100 1 0 0 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
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 + 6 +21=27 Subtractio 27 6=21 Multiplicatio 6 15 6 4 = 60 Divisio 7 24 7 3 = 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: 2 + 2 = 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
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. 102. 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. 243. THE OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 181
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. 305. 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
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
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 10.1. 1 2 3 4 5 1. 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
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 10.2. 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
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
THE MANAGER S GOOD STUDY GUIDE C HAPTER13 L EADERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND MOTIVATION See Culture, p. 215. 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
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
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
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
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
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