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How managers use their time
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How managers use their time can tell much about them and their work. It also can throw light on managerial behavior as a whole. One fact seems to characterize almost all managers: they work long hours. According to the information suggested by the survey of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, managers spend more time at the office than any other occupational groups. Research indicates that the manager spends about 43 hours per week at the office. On top of that, however, must be added seven hours per week at home doing paper work and business reading. Another five hours on business entertaining: receptions, banquets and so on, the total amount of time coming to 60 hours a week.
Some organizations believe that managers must not only perform their company duties, but also participate in community, (social) activities. Indeed, such participation sometimes is the best way for an ambitious young man to demonstrate his abilities and bring himself to the attention of higher management. It should be noted that these external activities of a manager are expanding too rapidly. It is becoming clear, that they cannot be something that a manager performs exclusively on his own time. In the future, such activities will have to be incorporated into the manager's organizational position and his office schedule.
Managing people requires a high level of knowledge, of human behavior and psychology. Of particular importance for a manager in managing people is the relationship between the manager and his/her subordinates. If a manager wants to be effective, he must try and develop the skills for managing people. Here are a few recommendations to this end.
To manage well you need to work in a climate of mutual trust and respect. The manager has to create an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. Keep calm when confronted with employees who oppose any new plan or suggestion. To motivate performance use the Productivity Formula: "Talent times Relationship, plus Expectations, equals Productivity".
Managers are coordinators of economic activities in business organizations. Coordination of group efforts is an essential function in a company, and whoever acts as a coordinator is a manager. Managers do not perform physical tasks I which are necessary to produce and sell the goods and services that are the output of the company. All this is done by workers and employees. On the other hand, the latter would be unable to achieve the goal of the organization without the guiding hand of management. There are literally thousands of decisions in a company about what is to be done, who is to do it and how it is to be done. It is managers, who make these decisions and see that they are implemented.
The duties of a manager include: the determination of the best form of organization, development of a control system, budgeting and forecasting, marketing and sales policies, effective performance of the sales staff, development of improved methods for the planning and control of ordering, handling and sorting out of the materials and supplies, determination of wages and salaries, the establishment of incentives for good performance.
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The work of managers is, by no means, confined to manufacturing industries. It is indispensable in offices, banks, mercantile establishments, insurance agencies and other similar activities. Speaking about personal qualities of a manager it should be noted that he/she needs energy, good judgment, a sense of reality and a sense of social responsibility. He/she must be persistent in getting at the root of a matter, quick in grasping things and in reaction, and operationally efficient. A manager must be professionally well educated and be knowledgeable in the field of psychology, sociology, management, economics and modem type of business running policy.
Managers are problem solvers. They achieve results through persistence, tolerance, and good will - these are useful traits in large conservative organizations. They achieve their goals through a cautious process of trial and error. Managers strive to protect the existing order of affairs. They identify with status quo. Strengthening existing institutions heightens their self-worth. Managers fear uncertainty. They prefer to manipulate co-workers and to use established policies to reach organizational goals. Managers are more concerned with processes that achieve results, than with the results themselves.
Managers focus on the organization’s goals. They are driven by a need to conform, rather than a desire to change existing systems. They are passive individuals, whose goals are shaped by their organization’s history and culture. Managers relate to people according to their job titles and social status. They are more concerned with people's roles in a process than, with their needs. Managers' authority stems from their positions. Managers are supervisors, department heads, and administrators.
Choosing a manager is a decisive step, ill determining the successful functioning, of a business organization. Among the requirements, which a manager is supposed to meet is a good knowledge of modern information and computing systems, new types of equipment and advanced technologies. The second major requirement lies in the field of human relations. It's a well-known fact that management is of social nature. Indeed, it is carried out through people.
Therefore, it's absolutely necessary that a manager should get along well with people, both his superiors and subordinates. He must try to create a working atmosphere and applying effective methods of management, make his subordinates realize his plans and intentions, and work to the best of their abilities in order to achieve, in the final analysis, the organizational goals.
In addition, as regards young employees working under him, the manager should not only direct them, but also educate them, exercising a continuous supervision over their professional activities within the framework of the organization. The application by the manager, of the appropriate principles of management, is sure to have a considerable impact, on the relationships between the manager and his subordinates.
CONTROL IN MANAGEMENT
An important feature of the ·people-organization relationship is management control and power. Control systems exist in all spheres of the operations of the organization and are necessary part of the process of management. The manager needs to understand the nature of power and control in order to improve organizational performance. Control is an integral part of the process of management.
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Management control is primarily a process for motivating and inspiring people to perform organization activities that will further the organization's goals. It is also a process for detecting and correcting unintentional performance errors and intentional irregularities, such as theft or misuse of resources.
Control is also often associated with the act of delegation. However, this does not imply that control is undertaken only by the manager. The person to whom the task is delegated can also often effectively identify and operate day-today controls. The process of control is at the centre of the exchange between the benefits that the individual derives from membership of an organization and the costs of such benefits.
Unfortunately, 'control' often has an emotive connotation and is interpreted in a negative manner to suggest direction or command by the giving of orders. Control systems are concerned with the regulation of behaviors. People may be suspicious of control systems and see them as emphasizing punishment, an indication of authoritarian management, and a means of exerting pressure and maintaining discipline.
This is too narrow an interpretation. There is far more to control than simply a means of restricting behavior or the exercise of authority over others. Control is not only a function of the formal organization and a hierarchical structure of authority. It is also a feature of organizational behavior and a function of interpersonal influence. Control is a general concept which is applied to both individual behavior and organizational performance. People are the integral element of the control and all other stages of management. Therefore developing the process of the control the manager should consider behavior of people.
Control can stand for reliability, order and stability. Whenever a person inquires 'I would like to know how well I am doing', this in effect can be seen as asking for control. Members of staff want to know what is expected of them and how well they are performing. This places emphasis on the exchange of information, and feedback and comparison of actual results against planned targets. Control is a basis for training needs, the motivation to achieve standards and for the development of individuals.
At the organizational level, management needs to exercise 'control' over the behavior and actions of staff in order to ensure a satisfactory level of performance. Managerial control systems are a means of checking progress to determine whether the objectives of the organization are being achieved. Control completes the cycle of managerial activities. It involves the planning and organization of work functions, and guiding and regulating the activities of staff. Control provides a check on the execution of work and on -the success or failure of the operations of the organization. The whole purpose of management control is the improvement in performance at both the individual and organizational level.
Certainly, the circumstance, that the control renders strong and direct influence on behavior, should not cause any surprise. Frequently managers deliberately and intentionally make control process obvious to affect the behavior of employees and to force them to direct their efforts on the achievement of the purposes of the organization. Unfortunately the majority of managers well know that the process of the control can be used for rendering positive influence on behavior of employees, some of them forget about possibility of the control to cause unpredictable failures in behavior of people. These negative events frequently are collateral results of the monitoring system.
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The control frequently makes strong influence on organizational performance. Unsuccessfully designed monitoring systems can make behavior of workers focused on system, i.e. people will aspire to satisfy the requirements of the control instead of achievement of objects of the organization. Such influences can lead also to deliver the incorrect information. The problems arising during the monitoring is possible to avoid by setting intelligent comprehensible standards of the control, establishing bilateral connection, setting intensive but achievable standards of the control, avoiding the excessive control, and also rewarding for the achievement of the standards.
Whatever the nature of control and whatever forms it takes there are five essential elements in a management control system: planning what is desired; establishing standards of performance; monitoring actual performance; comparing actual achievement against the planned target rectifying and taking corrective action. Planning what is desired involves clarification of the aims to be achieved. It is important that people understand exactly what should happen and what is required of them. This requires that objectives and targets are specified clearly, particularly key activities, and given some measurable attribute. Planning provides the framework against which the process of control takes place.
Related to planning is the establishment of defined standards of performance against which the level of success can be determined. This requires realistic measurements by which the degree and quality of goal achievement can be determined. There can be no control without them. Objectives and targets, and standards of performance, should be stated clearly and communicated to those concerned, and to those who are subject to the operation of the control system.
The third element of control is the need for a means of monitoring actual performance. This requires feedback and a system of reporting information which is accurate, relevant and timely, and in a form that enables management to highlight deviations from the planned standard of performance. Feedback also provides the basis for decisions to adjust the control system, for example the need to revise the original plan. Feedback should relate to both the desired end-results and the means designed to achieve them. Next, it is necessary to compare actual performance against planned targets. This requires a means of interpreting and evaluating information in order to give details of progress, reveal deviations, and identify probable causes. This information should be fed back to those concerned to let them know how well they are getting on.
The final element of a management control system is the taking of corrective action to rectify the situation which has led to the failure to achieve objectives or targets, or other forms of deviations identified. This requires consideration of what can be done to improve performance. It requires the authority to take appropriate action to correct the situation, to review the operation of the control system and to take any necessary adjustments to objectives and targets or to the standards of performance.
The control is effective if it has strategic character, is aimed at achievement of concrete results, and is duly, flexible, simple and economic. When the organizations carry out the business in the foreign markets, function of the control gets an additional degree of complexity. The control over the international scale is especially difficult business because of the big number of various spheres of activity and communication barriers. Productivity of the control can be improved, if periodically to carry out meetings of responsible heads in headquarters of the organization and abroad. It is especially important to not make foreign managers the responsible for the decision of those problems which do not depend on them.
Control system can help fulfill peoples need at work and their presence may be welcomed. Often control over behavior is resented and perceived as a threat. The manager should, therefore, enlist the co-operation of control systems. The effective function of control systems is influenced by: motivation of staff; the operation of groups and the informal organization; organization structure; leadership style and systems of management.
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