Contents

1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1

2.0 Manager A with 5 Years Experience ..................................................................... 5

3.0 Manager B with 2 Years Experience ................................................................... 16

4.0 Importance of Work Experience 24

5.0 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 27

6.0 References ............................................................................................................ 29

7.0 Coursework ......................................................................................................... 30

1.0 Introduction

Understanding Management Skills

These skills are both theoretical and practical. Many subtleties are more subtle than

certainty. However, research into the talents of successful managers will show that these

areas are always needed.

 Technical ability need to be an important part of your management skills. The

era of "managing by intuition" or acting on it is over. As many "cyber police"

organizations have said, there are very few processes and/or related crimes that

do not involve computers, the Internet, or some form of electronic processes or

communications. While the details of your knowledge base will depend on the

needs of your specific job, industry, or company, technical skills are critical.

This factor is more important in lower and middle management because hands-

on skills are often necessary at all stages of a career. You usually deal directly

with employees, teams, and/or customers.

 At any level of management, good work and the ability to communicate with

others are critical. While some people are naturally good at interpersonal

relationships, others must strive to perfect the skill. However, it is an essential

skill for all managers in all industries. If your "human resources" are a constant

source of challenges, you should know that even if you rise to the level of coo or

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 CEO, this requirement still exists. The person at the top of the chart still needs to

be on good terms with all employees and sometimes with the company board,

which is a challenging area. Managers need clear communication, motivation,

leadership, empathy and motivational skills. Remember, you are leading and

motivating "people," not inanimate objects.

 Managers must learn to identify and deal with abstract, global, and complex

problems. You have to develop the ability to see your organization as a whole, a

living, changing, diverse entity. Managers need to develop a comprehensive and

effective understanding of all departments, branches, and other sub-areas of the

company. While it's always important to focus on your specific job, you must

understand how your company interacts with the industry environment and

economy.

These skills are critical to managers' career success. Whether you prefer low-level

management responsibilities or executive-level management responsibilities, these

abilities will replace other job-specific skills. Even if you foresee the future remaining at

your current level of management, you need to adopt and refine these three essential

elements of all good managers.

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Every business professional -- and every business -- is dealing with lightning-fast

change and long-term uncertainty. Only the strongest can survive. Make sure you are

prepared for future challenges. Having strong skills in multiple areas opens up a whole

new world of possibilities for success. You will adapt more easily, eliminate

weaknesses, cooperate more successfully, and be more valuable to your organization.

1. Leadership and People Management

 Attract, retain, motivate, coach and develop team members for high performance

2. Communication Skills

 Communicate, present, assert, speak senior management language

3. Collaboration Skills

 Influence, build relationships, navigate politics, manage conflicts, negotiate

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4. Business Management Skills

 Understand strategy, business functions, decision-making and workflow

5. Finance Skills

 Budget, forecast, manage cash flow, understand financial statements, manage

business metrics

6. Project Management Skills

 Plan and manage successful projects, manage risks, costs, time and project

teams

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2.0 Manager A with 5 Years Experience

2.1 Current Position and Responsibilities

Marketing plays an important role in almost every industry. Its simplest form is to

ensure that the needs of customers are met while maximizing the profits of the company.

The responsibilities of a marketing manager can vary greatly, but always make this a

central goal.

As a marketing manager, Manager A has to:

 Maintain the work structure by updating job requirements and job descriptions

for all positions.

 Maintain organization staff by establishing a recruiting, testing, and interviewing

program; counseling managers on candidate selection; conducting and analyzing

exit interviews; recommending changes

 Prepare employees for assignments by establishing and conducting orientation

and training programs

 Maintain a pay plan by conducting periodic pay surveys; scheduling and

conducting job evaluations; preparing pay budgets; monitoring and scheduling

individual pay actions; recommending, planning, and implementing pay

structure revisions.

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 Ensure planning, monitoring, and appraisal of employee work results by training

managers to coach and discipline employees; scheduling management

conferences with employees; hearing and resolving employee grievances;

counseling employees and supervisors.

 Maintain management guidelines by preparing, updating, and recommending

human resource policies and procedures.

 Maintain historical human resource records by designing a filing and retrieval

system; keeping past and current records.

 Maintain professional and technical knowledge by attending educational

workshops; reviewing professional publications; establishing personal networks;

participating in professional societies.

 Maintain human resource staff job results by counseling and disciplining

employees; planning, monitoring, and appraising job results.

 Contribute to team effort by accomplishing related results as needed.

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2.2 Expectation of Subordinates

The subordinates expect manager A to be the leader. Their expectations of managers are

high, and they are rarely disappointed. Here are some of manager A's expectations when

leading his subordinates.

He is expected to:

 Ensure a safe and respectful work environment.

 Provide employees with ongoing feedback

 Address performance and/or behavioral problems in a timely fashion

In the early days, hr was more of an administrative and financially driven function, with

things like salaries, fun and other operational agendas being the responsibility of hr

professionals. However, as employees become the core differentiation factor of

enterprises, leaders begin to realize that human resources can create strategic value-

added for enterprises. As a result, today's hr professionals have more power to create

real change by implementing talent programmes at both strategic and tactical levels.

With more power comes more responsibility, and today's hr professionals must master

the right expertise and skills to lead these changes. Therefore, as Dave Ulrich first

proposed, the role of hr professionals has evolved into a hybrid of the following three

roles:

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Strategic partner: the human resource plan must be closely aligned with the business

plan and objectives of the entire organization. Human resource professionals must

understand the business in depth and translate business requirements into the design,

development, and deployment of human resource interventions. CHRO must use the

business language and demonstrate the business savvy necessary to gain a strategic

place at the business table.

Employee advocate: HR is responsible for supporting employees' careers, including

understanding their needs and desires, and helping them gain motivation and

productivity. Human resources must create the right human resources processes in terms

of employee participation, learning and development, performance management,

recruitment and retention, compensation and benefits, and strive to enable each

employee to give full play to his/her potential. The most important part of human

resource work is to empower and empower employees and align their goals with those

of the organization. This includes employee communication to balance organizational

and employee outcomes.

Change champions: human resources are becoming more and more strategic as

organizations undergo tremendous change. Change is painful for employees, and HR's

job is to be a champion of change through a smooth and effective process. As part of

organizational development and change management, HR professionals must act as

change managers, driving the necessary people and processes.

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Therefore, the HR manager of the new era must be equipped with the skills to undertake

these responsibilities at the same time. HR has become more extensive and business-

oriented, and in order to meet this expectation, HR must become a more dynamic talent

manager.

2.3 Major Stresses and Challenges

Human resource managers have three responsibilities for the organization that employs

them. Unlike other department managers whose responsibility is to manage their

departments and their respective employee teams, human resource managers are

responsible for the functions of the human resource department, supervise the human

resource staff, and ensure the cohesion, participation and productivity of all employees

in the organization.

Compliance

Expanding legal considerations, legislation, and federal and state laws make compliance

an important aspect of managing human resources and determine the extent to which

certain laws apply to each workplace. One of the challenges for human resource

managers involves keeping up with changes and ensuring that departments' strategies

are in line with their legal obligations. The Affordable Care Act, for example, contains

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health Care reforms that have had a serious impact on the way some employers provide

health insurance to their employees.

Ted Lewkowicz, a lawyer who specializes in employee benefits and tax law, says the

law requires many employers to calculate and report the dollar value of employee health

benefits on w-2 forms. In an August 2012 column for hr professionals, Lewkowicz

reminded hr professionals that they have a responsibility to ensure that their companies

adapt to the changes brought about by the ACA. Compliance related issues require

collaboration between HR leaders, compensation and benefits specialists, and HRIS or

HR information systems specialists. If the hr manager missteps on compliance, the

company is in serious danger.

Perception

It has been a challenge faced by human resource managers since the 1980s to improve

the awareness of employees and leaders on human resources. Personnel management -

responsible for collecting employee schedules, processing payroll, and making open

enrollment arrangements for employees' health insurance - is now a strategic business

partner responsible for creating a workforce that meets the needs of the organization.

Executive leaders must improve their awareness of human resources so that human

resource managers can participate in determining the direction of the company.

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Employee Relationships

Many employees equate going to hr with going to the principal's office. This means that

human resource managers face two major challenges. One is that employees feel that

there is a parent-child relationship in the workplace, rather than an adult-to-adult

relationship. Second, visiting the human resources department will not bring any

benefits. In order to convince employees that human resource is both a champion of the

company and a champion of employees, it can be said that the human resource manager

must find a way to let human resource have face. Human resource managers are faced

with the challenge of getting out of the limitations of human resource departments and

getting to know employees. For companies that work 24/7, this means hr managers or

their employees need to be available 24/7 to let all employees know that hr is meeting

their needs.

2.4 Aspect which Dislike

Strong interpersonal skills are required to succeed in many jobs. Human resource

managers have to deal with different types of people every day. He spends most of his

day interviewing prospective employees, attending budget meetings, addressing

concerns of employees and management, and interacting with providers of services like

health care and benefits. Every time he comes into contact with people, he must keep in

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touch with them so that their problems can be properly solved and the employment

department of the company can operate efficiently. Manager A must be A "people

person" who enjoys interacting with people.

2.5 Aspect which Like Best

Manager A likes his job because he has more freedom in his schedule and is not tied to

his desk for more than 40 hours A week. He also keeps meeting new people. He

traveled (to trade shows, etc.) to build up more customers. His salary is unlimited - it

depends on how well he and his team perform.

Marketing managers are usually busy, not bored. Manager A is responsible for many

activities, including product, pricing, advertising and distribution. For example, he is

directly involved in deciding which products their organization sells; And the pricing of

those products. He also determines the package size, aroma, taste and size of the

product according to the input of customer survey. He may also work with suppliers or

agents, or help AD managers decide which ads to use to attract customers. In addition,

as a marketing manager, he decides where to sell products, such as grocery stores or

pharmacies, commodity sellers, wholesalers or industrial middlemen.

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2.6 Critical Differences between Average Managers and Top-performing Managers

While good managers and human resource professionals can identify what makes an

employee stand out in the most positive and negative ways, what sets an average

employee apart from the best performers? Again, in some ways, it's easy to spot, but it's

worth considering the difference in ROI (money, efficiency, time). When you stop and

look at the differences, it's really about how they can improve your company and make

it run more smoothly. To use an educational metaphor, consider the sometimes subtle

but significant differences between "C" and "A" employees.

First, there is concrete evidence that the best performers are better than their colleagues:

a study in Personnel Psychology found that the top 5 per cent of workers at a particular

company surveyed contributed 26 per cent of total company output. That means they are

producing four times as much as expected, or 400 percent (26 percent instead of 5

percent). Think about what this means for your bottom line and do what you can to

nurture that 5 percent of income.

While "average" doesn't mean "poor" quality of work, great employees do have some

outstanding qualities that can bring you a positive return on your investment.

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They tend to have strong resumes, including graduating with honors, and demonstrate a

desire for high achievement and a strong work ethic. You can also see if they were

promoted quickly in their previous jobs. It also demonstrates both of these qualities --

they translate into your company's production and help you make money.

A good employee has a good grasp of time management, which is an important factor

for success in small (individual) and large (company) scale: people who can effectively

manage multiple projects and tasks will contribute to the overall efficient output.

Time management can only go so far if employees have the same ambition and "I can"

attitude. They know their goals and how to achieve them, often with little guidance. In

their efforts to improve performance, they become resourceful problem solvers and

learn from their mistakes. Note that high performers tend to become trainers and

mentors to the average employee, urging them to improve as well -- a positive ripple

effect that can have a long-term impact and impact on overall ROI in terms of work

quality, efficiency, and overall productivity.

Good employees are ambitious and dare to stand out. They know the status quo and try

to transcend it. The employee is motivated to do more to change expectations rather

than simply meet them. These top performers make positive changes and never settle for

less than their best.

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2.7 Skills and Knowledge to be Effective and Ways to Acquire

Marketing managers need to be good at communicating in writing, writing promotional

briefs, convincing colleagues to take specific actions, analyzing product pricing and key

features, good investigators who can study markets, consumers and competitors, and

organizations that manage inventory and plan product withdrawal from the market.

The selected marketing manager must be able to perform effectively in each of these

areas:

 Researching and evaluating new product opportunities, demand for potential

products, and customer needs and insights.

 Overall marketing strategy and execution of plans for the existing products.

 Working with product development teams to manage new product development.

 Managing launch campaigns for new products.

 Managing distribution channels for products.

 Ensuring effective, branded marketing communications including the company

website, print communication, and advertising.

 Managing media and marketing staff and external PR agencies.

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3.0 Manager B with 2 Years Experience

3.1 Current Position and Responsibilities

Manager B is the branch manager, who is responsible for managing and efficiently

carrying out the daily business of the branch with full service, including business, loan,

product sales, customer service and security guarantee, in accordance with the bank's

objectives. Developing new deposit and loan businesses; To foster sales and service

culture through training, mentoring and employee motivation to build good customer

relationships; Achieve individual and branch sales goals through new business sales,

customer referrals and customer relationship retention. Leadership, training and

supervision; Delegate daily operations to the operations officer or other departmental

staff. Manager B is responsible for achieving the bank and branch objectives by actively

participating in the sales management and personnel telephone project. He is also

involved in community affairs to raise the profile of the world bank and to increase new

and existing business opportunities. He may perform his functions in the absence of

other managerial capabilities as directed by the operational officer or the regional

manager.

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3.2 Expectation of Subordinates

A manager should be the perfect combination of a boss and a friend. He or she should

not be rude or harsh to subordinates. Some managers are unable to contact or

communicate with their respective managers. For subordinates, the result is simply

frustration. This is because the manager puts himself in a position where his team

members cannot approach him.

In the long run, a form of delegation never leads to good results. Managers should

remove this invisible wall and must create an image in which employees are free to

approach their managers when in doubt and when things are clear.

A lot of times, when managers and subordinates communicate one-on-one, there will be

confusion among team members. If a manager wants to build an effective employee

relationship, he or she should try to communicate their expectations and what their

colleagues are doing in a transparent way. It is important to have BBS open for more

than a month to involve all team members.

What's more, managers should give feedback to their subordinates. It can be positive

feedback; Even negative feedback. However, without communicating their mistakes,

managers should not expect their subordinates to improve. Communicating mistakes

and positive feedback openly makes a manager's life easier without losing his or her

ground.

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3.3 Major Stresses and Challenges

As a bank manager, manager B must present to his clients the highest level of the bank

as a whole. The manager will be responsible for the failure of the cashier, staff and other

staff to handle customer service matters accurately and satisfactorily. It is usually

necessary to explain the bank's terms and conditions to the customer. For those

unfamiliar with banking, this interpretation requires that the legal terms used in the

bank's various disclosure provisions be interpreted as expendable terms. Fully

answering customer inquiries and resolving issues with disgruntled account holders will

satisfy the customer and continue to open accounts with the company.

For many large Banks, the hiring of bank tellers and credit officers is sometimes carried

out at the corporate level. Hiring people to work in financial institutions faces many of

the same challenges as hiring other positions, but the additional need to find, vet, and

hire bank employees comes with a responsibility for trust and accuracy. I need to know

the detailed background of the applicant, which can not only prove that the applicant is

competent for this job, but also the past problems that prevent me from handing over the

sensitive account information to the applicant, which is accessible to me.

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3.4 Aspect which Dislike

It's hard to be strong in banking. A study by an American academic has found that most

young bankers work stupidly hard for the first three years of their careers, to the

detriment of their health. Mergers and acquisitions are most detrimental to weight gain.

One former m&a banker told us that he was able to change his m&a weight only when

he lost his job and finally had time to exercise.

Banking is not just a cause of weight gain - us research on bankers' health has also

found it to be a cause of hair loss.

Few other industries pay as well as investment banking. Once I had worked in banking

for a few years and accumulated a lot of expenses, it was hard to find another high-

paying career.

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3.5 Aspect which Like Best

There are many advantages to being a bank manager. Manager B can work with many

different people. Managers will need to attend meetings and workshops, work with local

community leaders and, in some cases, act as customer service representatives. He will

work with all kinds of people.

B manager has strong management ability. Bank managers not only manage the bank's

budget but are also responsible for staff supervision and training.

He has both interpersonal and financial skills. The manager is responsible for

motivating staff to meet targets, providing disciplinary action and meeting with

customers on complaints. However, they must also have strong financial skills.

3.6 Critical Differences between Average Managers and Top-performing Managers

In training and consulting with senior executives, presidents, managers and directors

often ask what makes a superstar employee different from the typical employee in an

organization.

Through the analysis, training and consulting of different companies, organizations and

industries, I found that there are indeed significant differences between these two types

of employees.

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Because this is a common problem, I want to explain in this article the main differences

between those who excel, those who excel, and the rest of the workforce. The top

differences are as follows: (Excellus vs the Average performer)

1. Having the attitude of being a top performer vs the attitude of an order taker

2. Commitment to work excellence vs working the minimal needed

3. Possesses Values integration with the companies vs values clashing with

organizations

4. Having a far-sighted vision beyond the pay vs working just for the pay

5. Having the Humility to learn and reflect vs habitual ignorance and arrogance

6. Willingness to Turning mistakes into improvements vs avoidance to fail and tendency

to blame and complain

7. Take Self responsibility vs company’s and other’s problem

8. Takes calculated Risk taker vs risk adverse and total risk avoidance

9. A Positive Relationship builder with Boss, Colleagues and Clients (BCC) vs talking

to others outside of social group only if left with no choice

10. Emotionally and mentally strong vs mood sensitive and easily environmentally

influenced

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11. Possess Clarity of career goals vs just work for the moment and see what happens

12. He is an Energizer vs an energy and emotional depleter

13. He helps improve the organization to Excel Beyond Excellence!

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3.7 Skills and Knowledge to be Effective and Ways to Acquire

Future marketing managers should consider a wide range of skills that can be applied to

different scenarios, industries, and companies large and small.

1. Critical Thinking

In a 2010 survey by the AMA, most executives said they needed workers with solid

critical thinking skills that are not fully developed by the current workforce. Critical

thinking, or the ability to analyze situations or statements and determine their validity, is

the foundation on which modern management professionals build their careers. Critical

thinking breeds creative thinking, which in turn solves problems. That's what employers

need managers to do.

2. Project Management

In today's business, you don't need to be a project manager. Projects can be simple or

complex, short-term or long-term, but in marketing, they increasingly occur in rapid

response to social media opportunities and customer engagement. Future marketing

managers will need to improve their project management skills to lead their teams and

achieve their goals.

3. Analytical Skills

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Successful marketing managers have an analytical mind. They know the value of the

vast amount of data available today and are interested in how it can inform consumer

behavior, the effectiveness of various marketing approaches, and more. The best

managers also know how to go beyond data and capture trends and patterns to deliver

better and more successful marketing.

4. Holistic Approach

Future managers will market by thinking about integrated, interconnected systems and

how they interact. From trade show presentations to Twitter feeds, it is critical to

understand the relationships between the various parts of the marketing plan and

manage them effectively.

5. Technical Skills

Because technology will continue to advance and influence the way marketing is done,

it is always important for marketing managers to be tech-savvy. Customer engagement

will take place in more ways and competing for their attention will mean delivering the

services and information they want through user-friendly applications and relationship-

building tools.

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4.0 Importance of Work Experience

As the average age of MBA students rises, so does the level of work experience before

applying to business school. Just last year, only 2% of students at the University of

Pennsylvania Wharton School had less than two years of full-time work experience.

Ultimately, MBA students can no longer rely on the strength of the programme or the

school to help them develop their careers after graduation. It is now crucial to integrate

work experience into the MBA student's career trajectory.

Experience is important because:

1. It will help you find a job in the future

It's true. Most, if not all, employers are looking for people with work skills and

experience. Having a good degree is great, but if you haven't worked in your field or

volunteered, it may make it harder to land a job. Looking for experience in the field you

want to work in will make your resume look good and will help you stand out in an

interview.

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2. It will establish whether you really want to work in that field

Work experience will help you decide if you will work in a certain field in the future.

By observing and working with professionals, you can talk to them and ask them

questions about the job. All of these will help you choose your future career or potential

workplace.

3. It will provide you contacts for the future

You'll have the opportunity to meet and build relationships with professionals in a

potential workplace. This will put you in a good position if you are applying for a job in

the area of your chosen work experience. If people remember you from the time you

worked for them and you leave a positive impression on them, it will put you in a good

position in the future.

I really hope that by reading this article you will understand the relevance and

importance of work experience. Staffordshire university really offers students the

opportunity to acquire new skills and experiences, so I strongly recommend you accept

them!

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5.0 Conclusion

An "effective" manager is responsible for ensuring that everyone in his department

succeeds, and that the team or business unit achieves results. Successful managers need

talent and skills. Management skills can be developed through training, mentoring, and

experience. But if a manager lacks talent, his chances of success are greatly reduced.

The most effective companies are often more proactive than their peers in identifying

and developing effective managers. The six common characteristics of management

success include communication, leadership, adaptability, interpersonal relationship,

others' development and personal development.

1. Communication. A manager with strong communication skills can guide and listen.

Managers who communicate effectively are able to process information and then clearly

connect it to the team. Effective managers should be able to understand, understand, and

relate the organization's vision to their employees in order to maintain productivity.

Instead, ineffective communicators ignore the points they are being told, fail to

recognize the impact on the team, or fail to share information with the team.

2. Leadership. Leadership is an important trait that many managers lack, even though

they have different titles. It's common for companies to promote individuals with the

best performance, but sometimes the best salespeople don't necessarily make the best

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managers. True leaders instil trust, provide direction, and delegate responsibility among

team members.

3. Adaptability. Adaptability also helps managers to be more efficient. When a manager

can quickly adapt to an unexpected situation, he can also lead his team to adapt.

Adaptability also means that managers can think creatively and find new solutions to

old problems.

4. The relationship of architecture. Effective managers should strive to build personal

relationships with their teams. When employees trust their managers, they are more

likely to exceed expectations. When managers build a relationship with employees, it

builds trust and employees feel valued. Valued employees are more likely to do a good

job and put in the extra effort when needed.

5. Develop others. The best managers know when employees need more growth and

how to ensure that those growth opportunities succeed. Developing others involves

developing everyone's talents and motivating them to channel their talents into

productive forces.

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6.0 References

1) http://www.publishers-edge.com/index_files/Manager_Expectations.htm

2) http://www.staffingthousandoaks.com/2014/02/28/woodland-hills-top-

performers/

3) http://www.msm.nl/Community/Social-Media/Blog/Amit-

Biswas?page=3#.UyHbAz-SwnQ

4) http://creativepool.com/articles/jobdescriptions/marketing-manager-job-

description

5) http://humanresources.about.com/od/jobdescriptions/qt/specification_marketing.

htm

6) http://sales.about.com/od/Sales-Management/a/4-Common-Sales-Management-

Obstacles.htm

7) http://essentialsofbusiness.ufexec.ufl.edu/resources/marketing/five-essential-

skills-for-the-future-marketing-manager/

8) http://wearesurge.co.uk/item/1139/the-importance-of-work-

experience#.UyCI0T-SwnQ

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7.0 Coursework

1. An important category of communication is electronic media. Explain disadvantages

and advantages of electronic communication.

Advantages of electronic communication are numerous and dramatic.

Within firms, the advantages include the sharing of more information and the speed and

efficiency in delivering routine messages to large numbers of people across vast

geographic areas. Business-related wikis such as Social text let project teams post their

ideas in one forum for others to add contributions. Social text allows project leaders to

grant users access based on their need to know and participate. Web Crossing uses wikis

for product development. Michael Krieg, vice president of marketing, says the wikis

save the company "untold amounts of paper, postage, meetings, travel budgets,

conference calls, and the time required to coordinate it all."

Communicating electronically can reduce time and expenses devoted to traveling,

photocopying, and mailing. When a fire caused by a truck accident closed a major

freeway route in the San Francisco Bay area, Valerie Williamson skipped the traffic

mess by visiting with her colleague Brian Friedlander at her company's virtual office in

Second Life, the online virtual world. Williamson and Friedlander used avatars

(animated images of themselves) to navigate their meeting in the online conference

room of their real-world business, Electric Sheep Company. Participants in Second Life

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can use their avatars to perform such business communication activities as giving

PowerPoint presentations, streaming audio and video, and asking questions.

Some companies, including Boeing, use brainstorming software that allows anonymous

contributions, presuming it will add more honesty to internal discussions.

Some research indicates more data sharing and critical argumentation, and higher-

quality decisions, with a group decision support system than is found in face-to-face

meetings.

But anonymity also offers great potential for lies, gossip, insults, threats, harassment,

and the release of confidential information.

Disadvantages of electronic communication include the difficulty of solving complex

problems that require more extended, face-to-face interaction and the inability to pick

up subtle, nonverbal, or inflectional clues about what the communicator is thinking or

conveying. In online bargaining-even before it begins negotiators distrust one another

more than in face-to-face negotiations. Alter the negotiation (compared with face-to-

face negotiators), people usually are less satisfied with their outcomes, even when the

outcomes are economically equivalent.

Although organizations rely heavily on computer-aided communication for group

decision making, face-to-face groups generally take less time, make higher-quality

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decisions, and are more satisfying for members. E-mail is most appropriate for routine

messages that do not require the exchange of large quantities of complex information. It

is less suitable for confidential information, resolving conflicts, or negotiating.

Employees have reported being laid off via e-mail and even text messages. Not only do

these more impersonal forms of communication cause hurt feelings, but an upset

employee can also easily forward messages, and forwarding often has a snowball effect

that can embarrass everyone involved. Like e-mail, IMs can help people work together

productively, but they can also leak sensitive information.

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2. Management is the process of working with people and resources achieve

organization goals. List the four traditional functions of management and explain briefly.

Planning: Delivering Strategic Value

Planning is specifying the goals to be achieved and deciding in advance the appropriate

actions needed to achieve those goals. Planning activities include analyzing current

situations, anticipating the future, determining objectives, deciding in what types of

activities the company will engage, choosing corporate and business strategies, and

determining the resources needed to achieve the organization's goals. Plans set the stage

for action and for major achievements.

The planning function for the new business environment is more dynamically described

as delivering strategic value. Value is a complex concept. Fundamentally, it describes

the monetary amount associated with how well a job, task, good, or service meets users'

needs. Those users might be business owners, customers, employees, society, and even

nations. The better you meet those needs (in terms of quality, speed, efficiency, and so

on), the more value you deliver. That value is "strategic" when it contributes to meeting

the organization's goals. On a personal level, you will do well when you periodically

ask yourself and your boss, "How can I add value?" Answering that question will

enhance your contributions, your job performance, and your career.

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Historically, planning described a top-down approach in which top executives establish

business plans and tell others to implement them. Now and in the future, delivering

strategic value is a continual process in which people throughout the organization use

their brains and the brains of customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders to identify

opportunities to create, seize, strengthen, and sustain competitive advantage. This

dynamic process swirls around the objective of creating more and more value for the

customer. Effectively creating value requires fully considering a new and changing set

of stakeholders and issues, including the government, the natural environment,

globalization, and the dynamic economy in which ideas are king and entrepreneurs are

both formidable competitors and potential collaborators.

Organizing: Building a Dynamic Organization Organizing is assembling and

coordinating the human, financial, physical, informational, and other resources needed

to achieve goals. Organizing activities include attracting people to the organization,

specifying job responsibilities, grouping jobs into work units, marshaling and allocating

resources, and creating conditions so that people and things work together to achieve

maximum success.

Historically, organizing involved creating an organization chart by identifying business

functions, establishing reporting relationships, and having a personnel department that

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administered plans, programs, and paperwork. Now and in the future, effective

managers will be using new forms of organizing and viewing their people as perhaps

their most valuable resources. They will build organizations that are flexible and

adaptive, particularly in response to competitive threats and customer needs.

Progressive human resource practices that attract and retain the very best of a highly

diverse population will be essential aspects of the successful company.

Leading: Mobilizing People

Leading is stimulating people to be high performers. It includes motivating and

communicating with employees, individually and in groups. Leading involves close day

to day contact with people, helping to guide and inspire them toward achieving team

and organizational goals. Leading takes place in teams, departments, and divisions, as

well as at the tops of large organizations.

In earlier textbooks, the leading function described how managers motivate workers to

come to work and execute top management's plans by doing their jobs. Today and in the

future, managers must be good at mobilizing people to contribute their ideas-to use their

brains in ways never needed or dreamed of in the past.

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Controlling: Learning and Changing

Planning, organizing, and leading do not guarantee success. The fourth function,

controlling, monitors performance and implements necessary changes. By controlling,

managers make sure the organization's resources are being used as planned and that the

organization is meeting its goals for quality and safety.

Monitoring is an essential aspect of control. If you have any doubts that this function is

important, consider some control breakdowns that caused serious problems.

After an explosion at BP's Texas oil refinery caused the deaths of 15 people,

investigations suggested that widespread failure to implement safety measures was

behind the tragedy. In spite of a year of record profits, BP's chief executive announced

plans to retire early, and his bonus was cut almost in half. Other lapses in controlling

can hurt customers. A recent outbreak of salmonella infections-which can cause fever,

diarrhea, dehydration, and even death-was traced to Peter Pan and Great Value peanut

butter made by ConAgra Foods in its Sylvester, Georgia, factory. Processing the

peanuts generally kills salmonella and other germs, so the likely culprit was

contamination of jars or equipment. ConAgra quickly announced a recall, but more than

400 people in 44 states reported being infected, and 71 of them had to be hospitalized.

The recall alone was expected to cost ConAgra at least $50 million; lawsuits, cleanup of

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the facility, and damage to the brands' reputation are adding to those costs. As you can

see, control failures can take many forms.

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