Change is indeed the order of the day.

As we move toward networked organizations, a global society and

knowledge workers, our organizations are changing. And these changes require managers change as well. The
role of managers within our organizations is drastically different than it was just ten years ago. And what's more,
we are just beginning to see the start of these changes.

As the structures within our businesses are altered, the processes by which the work is performed are also
altered. The role of the manager within our organizations has indeed changed in response to the times.

Peter Drucker identified the importance of information in today's organizations and the move to knowledge
workers. With these changes there are fewer management levels needed. For years, Drucker has suggested
these knowledge experts will dominate our organizations - not managers. The management ranks will continue to
shrink. And the remaining managers will be required to fill very different roles.

Fayol's Management Functions : Fayol suggested there are four primary functions of the manager: planning,
controlling, directing and staffing. Since the early 1900s they have guided the actions of managers. While they still
hold value today, they now mean different things in light of the current environment.
Managers have always been required to engage in planning. Not so long ago, it was believed this planning varied
by organizational level. That is, top management planned in the longest time horizon and engaged in more
strategic planning
. Middle managers planned in a medium time horizon and lower level managers engaged in more operational
planning that was shorter term. Today, however, all managers are being asked to engage in strategic planning.
The responsibilities for strategic management are being delegated down the organizational pyramid with all
managers responsible for taking a long-term view of the organization.

Staffing involves placing the right person in the right job within the organization. This staffing responsibility today
also involves ensuring the person-job-organization fit is made. This means managers are not only concerned with
staffing the position with the right person, but also ensuring the person "fits" with the organization taking into
account organizational culture. Two decades ago this fit was not part of the staffing decision-making process.
Today, however, it is recognized certain personality types fit better with specific organizational types. For
example, people that are more open and less rigid tend to be more comfortable in organic organizations.
Employees who are more comfortable with rigid rules and procedures work best in mechanistic organizations and
bureaucracies.

The role of control has always been important to managers. Only by comparing actual performance to desired
performance are gaps identified in order to take corrective action. Control today is tied to technology. The role of
control has been changed with the technological advancements. Some of the control has even been "replaced"
with computers, as they monitor employee performance on jobs that was once monitored by human managers.
The role of control has also been reexamined from an ethical perspective. That is, employees do not want to be
controlled and the move is toward self-control on the part of employees.

Of the four functions of management, perhaps the greatest changes have been seen in the directing function.
Even the term directing itself seems archaic in terms of the changing environment. Astute managers today are
more engaged in coaching and mentoring rather than the traditional directing.
The traditional role of directing was more in line of Frederick Taylor's view of management responsibility in
organizations. That is, the manager's responsibility was to determine the one best way to perform the job and the
worker's responsibility was to perform the job in that one best way. The manager, then, directed the employee in
how to perform the job. Much of the decision making was removed from the employee's hands.

"Directing" The Activities Of Others Today : Directing

seems a misnomer today. The trends in today's
workplace are away from directing the activities of employees. In fact, just the opposite is seen. More of
the responsibilities formerly performed by managers are now being delegated to employees throughout
our organizations.

As organizations move toward the autonomous work group, empowered employees and the self-managed team,
the very nature of "directing" the work of others has changed. This function now means managers need to be
coaches and mentors-not directors. The command and control manager is a dinosaur. There is no longer a place
in our progressive organizations for this manager. Instead, our businesses need managers that can fill the new
need for these new roles - those of coach and mentor.

As a coach, a manager advises and assists employees. This does not mean controlling and issuing commands.
The manager as coach requires the role be one of support. The manager provides guidance to the employees in
an objective fashion. Good coaching can foster better relationships between managers and employees.
 The concept of coach focuses on the developmental needs of employees. This requires the manager help
employees tap into their full potential and improve flexibility. The focus is on means (not ends). That is, the move
is away from rigid rules and procedures. More flexibility is allowed in how the tasks are performed.

The coach empowers employees. Rather than exerting control over workers, this manager sets employees up to
manage themselves. This means giving up control.

The coach in today's workforce is a listener. The directing manager exerted control through talking. Little listening
was actually done. In addition, this new manager uses participative decision making. Autocratic decision making
has no role in coaching.
This new manager also emphasizes sharing information. Hoarding information has no place in coaching. Part of
this relinquishing control, then, means giving up the control of information. If employees are to be truly
empowered and participate in decision making, they need to also have access to the appropriate information.

Just as the coach for an athletic team spurs the athletes on to higher levels of performance, likewise the manager
as coach helps employees reach higher performance levels. A coaching environment helps nurture teamwork.
Cooperative environments are created with a focus on coaching. These environments are best at developing
employees by encouraging growth and building confidence.

The best coaches are sincere and open. This helps create a climate of trust and mutual respect where employees
can take risks without fear-such as trying new ideas. Yet employees in this environment are comfortable
recognizing the ownership of their decisions.

The coach is also mentor. This mentoring manager serves as a role model and a teacher. This manager gently
guides the activities of others. Contrary to earlier theories suggesting managers had to be strong and in control,
today's managers must be caring and show concern for their human resources.

What Are These Coaching Skills? Dulin suggests there are four types of skills important in coaching. These are
observational, analytical, interviewing and feedback skills. Observational skills are really skills in identifying
opportunities for employees to improve performance. Then opportunities to provide feedback have to also be
identified. Analytical skills are needed so managers can analyze the opportunities observed. Coaching also
requires good interviewing skills. This involves excellent communication including reading nonverbal behaviors.
Finally, effective managers must have exceptional feedback skills so they can feed back information to their
employees.

Supervise and manage the overall performance of staff in his department.

Analyzing, reporting, giving recommendations and developing strategies on how to improve quality and quantity.

Achieve business and organization goals, visions and objectives.

Involved in employee selection, career development, succession planning and periodic training.

Working out compensations and rewards.

Responsible for the growth and increase in the organizations' finances and earnings.

Identifying problems, creating choices and providing alternatives courses of actions.

More Tips for Managers.

Provide satisfaction Your subordinates are happy when they are provided with the necessary tools and
resource. They feel secure if the management puts priority on health, safety and cleanliness issues. And you
satisfy customers by giving good quality of service or product and take care of their needs.

Keep updated on new and different methods and technologies. Become the agent of positive change to your
team and an expertise in your line of work. Keep yourself updated on methods and technologies that can help
make you and your team more efficient.

Become an exemplary role model. Managers who set high standards or goals and achieve them are great
leaders by examples. The ability to tolerate stress and remain poise under job pressures and still maintain a high
activity and energy level are contagious. Set the example by being accountable for your own activities and
performance. Work harder on your personal growth and you will become a respected and efficient leader.
[edit] As differential accumulation

Main article: Differential accumulation

Political economists Jonathan Nitzan and Shimshon Bichler have proposed an explanation of
stagflation as part of a theory they call differential accumulation, which says firms seek to beat
the average profit and capitalization rather than maximize. According to this theory, periods of
mergers and acquisitions oscillate with periods of stagflation. When mergers and acquisitions
are no longer politically feasible (governments clamp down with anti-monopoly rules),
stagflation is used as an alternative to have higher relative profit than the competition. With
increasing mergers and acquisitions, the power to implement stagflation increases.

Stagflation appears as a societal crisis, such as during the period of the oil crisis in the 70s and
in 2006 to 2008. Inflation in stagflation, however, doesn't affect all firms equally. Dominant
firms are able to increase their own prices at a faster rate than competitors. While in the
aggregate no one appears to be profiting, differentially dominant firms improve their positions
with higher relative profits and higher relative capitalization. Stagflation is not due to any actual
supply shock, but because of the societal crisis that hints at a supply crisis. It is mostly a 20th
and 21st century phenomenon that has been mainly used by the "weapondollar-petrodollar
coalition" creating or using Middle East crises for the benefit of pecuniary interests.[23]

[edit] Demand-pull stagflation theory

Demand-pull stagflation theory explores the idea that stagflation can result exclusively from
monetary shocks without any concurrent supply shocks or negative shifts in economic output
potential. Demand-pull theory describes a scenario where stagflation can occur following a
period of monetary policy implementations that cause inflation. This theory was first proposed
in 1999 by Eduardo Loyo of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.[24]

[edit] Quality of money theories

Modern monetary economics assumes that a crucial role for central banks in maintaining
stable prices is management of inflationary expectations. Thus central banks make every effort
to appear not to pursue growth if a further stimulation of growth would fuel higher inflation. This
theory rests on the fact that the overall marketplace is attuned to the possibility that when a
central bank allows excessive inflation, higher long-term interest rates result, which lead to
higher prices followed by higher wage demands in subsequent labor negotiations. Left
unchecked, this is seen to bring round after round of greater inflation, which is known as the
"inflationary spiral". Inflation can thus be seen to be embedded in the self-fulfilling nature of
inflationary expectations. One school of thought is that inflation targeting and other forms of
limited central bank discretion are the best way to maintain low inflationary expectations. The
Federal Reserve in the US has, however, managed to drive inflationary expectations to a quite
low level while maintaining broad policy discretion. These theories are often combined with
"quantity" theories of money supply, though not always.[citation needed]

[edit] Quantity theories

Quantity theories of inflation, such as monetarism, argue that inflation is due to the money
supply rather than demand and predict that inflation can occur with high unemployment if the
government increases the money supply in a period of rising prices.[25][citation needed]

Traditional economists distinguish between modern usage of the term inflation[26] and the origin
of the term within economics, a social science which aims to explain how economies work and
how economic agents interact. Popular modern economics equates inflation with price
inflation, increases in overall price levels.

It can therefore be seen that in terms of the origin of the word "inflation", the combination of a
declining Gross Domestic Product and increasing money supply over a prolonged period - as
has been seen in response to the Financial crisis of 2007–2009 - can be directly equated to
ongoing current stagflation.[citation needed] However, this explanation does not make sense to most
economists,[citation needed] since the United States experienced deflation for the first time since the
1950s in 2008-2009, suggesting that the Financial crisis of 2007-2009 is more akin to
traditional deflationary or low-inflation recessions and depressions.

B2B amount to the biggest part of transactions made online. Creating sales - oriented
marketing plan and strategies is essential when starting some B2B online business. Here is
how you can do that.

Choose your unique niche market:

Target some market segment which is less explored, and make sure you start by offering
some product or service to this specific niche. You cannot create some product which satisfies
all segments of the market. Instead of offering something which every customer will find less
than satisfactory, offer some product which some of them will find exclusively designed for
themselves. Isn't it better to have a few loyal customers in the initial stage of your business
than having little more unsatisfied ones, who will never buy from you again?

Credibility:

Customers are turning into practical and no-nonsense types in this age of information. These
types of customers will not buy from you, unless you establish your credibility. All your
marketing techniques will fail to provide you with sales if your customers are not having trust in
you. Exhibitions, business magazines, testimonials and trade shows can all help you in
achieving this much needed credibility.

Lead management:

Lead management is all about generating leads and then making the most of it. Lead
generation and then a healthy rate of conversion can do wonders for instant growth. E-mail
marketing, referrals, seminar, cold calls are some of the mediums used for lead generation.
You can think of your own methods as well, depending on your business.

Landing Pages:

Leads alone cannot provide you with sales; you need to convert these leads into sales. The
first step is to make an effective landing page (AKA lead capture page). This is the page on
which some customer lands or arrives after clicking on your link at some referral page or
advertisement. This is not necessarily your homepage; it can be a blog or sign-up page as
well. You can include images, frequently asked questions, sales pitch or testimonials. Ideally
the landing page should be focused on selling just one product or service. In case, there are
many offers, customer will get confused and leave.

Train your sales staff:

An effective marketing practice combines the two objectives of retaining old customers with
attracting new customers effectively. Train your sales staff for this purpose because, after all
your costly advertisements and marketing campaigns, it is your sales staff that will actually be
making sales and reaching your customers with the follow-up calls. Sales staff should be fully
aware of the business and offers, capable of coping with customer's initial resistance or
hesitation and well equipped with presentation skills.

•Allowances and Discounts

•Awarded for giving something up or doing it yourself
•Forms
–Sale (500) temporary reduction in list price; adjust inventory quickly (excitement)
–Quantity disct: decrease for buying more
»May be price cuts or additional goods (movie rentals; freq. Flier)
–Cumulative:
»For buying over time (Subway;
buy ten, one free)
»Loyalty
–Non-cumulative:
»For one purchase
»Decrease storage
•ad allowance: price reduction for downstream ads
•stocking allowance
–pay for retail space (Wal-Mart)
–mainly for new (justify: costs)

If a firm has the power in its market to set its own price, it can adopt a pricing policy:
 Market penetration pricing
 Destroyer pricing
 Follow-the-leader pricing
 Skimming

Why is price important in the infomation marketplace?

For individuals, price has a significant impact on access to information. In industry,
price is associated with revenue generation. In society, the viability of organisations
and their information products will have significant impacts on economics, politics
and culture.
The information industry embraces publishers, on- line hosts, database producers and
other service suppliers. For these organisations, price is clearly important in
determining their continuing commercial viability.
Sometimes prices are charged for selected services (e.g. interlibrary loans), or price is
decided by other criteria (e.g. perceived need for the information). Even then there is
a value that the customer places on the service, and also a 'cost' to them in accessing
the service (e.g. time and energy). This helps determine how likely they are to use the
service.
Information as a Product