Case Study 1: A Day in Life of Adrian Jackson

Question 1 - Identify the basic managerial functions in which Adrian engaged during the day-

that is, planning, organizing, leading and controlling.

Planning is setting the mission and goals and defining the actions necessary to achieve

them. Adrian applies planning when he reviews notes from the team meeting that was held

last week and begins developing today’s agenda. He also writes out what he remembered

from the last meeting to discuss in the meeting room. Adrian engages in planning again when

he outlines his schedule for the next day.

Organizing involves determining the tasks to be done, who will do them, and how

those tasks will be managed and coordinated. Adrian engages in organizing when he’s

manager is concerned about a recent contract the company has signed, and she has some

serious reservations about the company’s ability to complete the work on time. Adrian tries to

reassure her that they will meet the deadlines. Adrian promises the manager to put together a

short report on the progress of the contract.

Leading is motivating and directing the members of the organization so that they

contribute to the achievement of the mission and goals of the organization. Adrian engages

with leading when he indicates trust in Greg’s knowledge of computers and software and will

defer to his judgement if he does not think the deadline can be met. Greg admit that he may

have an overacted a bit during the meeting and promises to reassess the proposed scope of

work. At lunch meeting with his manager, Adrian engages in leading when he quickly

adapting the concern of the partner and discussing the project’s merit and feasibility.
 Controlling is by monitoring performance of the organization, identifying deviations

between planned and actual results, and taking corrective action when necessary. Adrian’s

manager monitors the performance of the organization as well as their progress in

implementing strategic and operational plans.

Question 2 - When did Adrian act (a) interpersonal roles, (b) informational roles, (c)

decisional roles?

Interpersonal roles involve interactions and relationships with organizational members

and other constituents. The 3 interpersonal roles played manager are figurehead, leader, and

liaison. Adrian act in this interpersonal role when he manages to attend the meeting

discussion with his team members to discussed about the new agenda as well as last week

agenda. After a meeting, Adrian get back at the office to discover a voice-mail message

urging attendance at the manager’s meeting with one company’s partner during lunch. Even

Adrian had planned to run some errands over lunch but decides it is necessary to join the

lunch meeting.

b) In their informational roles, manager is responsible for ensuring that the people with

whom they work have sufficient information to do their jobs effectively. Adrian act with

informational roles when he’s manager is concerned about a recent contract the company has

signed, and she has some serious reservations about the company’s ability to complete the

work on time. Adrian tries to reassure her that they will meet the deadlines. Adrian promises

the manager to put together a short report on the progress of the contract.
c) In their decisional roles, managers process information and reach conclusions.

Decision roles include entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator.

Adrian act with decisional roles when he indicates trust in Greg’s knowledge of computer and

software and will defer to his judgement if he does not think the deadline can be met.

Question 3 - Did Adrian spend time appropriately? If so, in what ways? What adjustments

might been made to be more effective

Adrian may have tried to manage his time appropriately, but many events in a

manager’s day tend to be unplanned and difficult to control. He spent too much time on the

phone with his manager when he should have been finalizing the meeting agenda. He did not

manage the meeting well, wasting the members’ time with an extended argument over the

project timeline. He also spent two hours at lunch explaining the project’s merits and

feasibility, which prevented him from running the errands he had planned.
Case Study 2: Tropical Sandals

Question 1 - Do you think that the workers in this sandal factory were provided with too

much autonomy in selecting work procedures?

In my opinion, the workers in the sandal factory are well trained in selecting work

procedures. This procedure may be applied from Fayol’s general principles of management

which is the division of work whereby dividing the work into smaller elements and assigning

specific elements to specific workers, the work can be performed more efficiently and more

productively. Workers might be tested to several workstations, they may be observed to see

which area that they are could be more productive and by applying this method, workers get

to choose which task that they are more comfortable of doing and feel enjoy with their

working environment. When workers are in their comfort zone of performing the task,

productivity will increase and workers will feel more motivated and increase their level of

confidence of performing their task.

Question 2 - Review the principles of scientific management and discuss how they might be

used to improve the task performance of the workers.

According to Frederick W. Taylor he attempted to define the one best way to perform

every task through systematic study and other scientific methods. He also believed that

improved management practices lead to improved productivity. In the area of task

performance, supervision , motivation methods should be developed for performing each job

within the organization, next is selection of workers by doing it with the appropriate abilities

to be selected for each job, fourth is training of workers where workers should be trained in

the standard methods to let workers be familiarized with their job task. Lastly is support of

workers where workers should be supported by having their work planned for them.
 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MANAGEMENT

MGT420

CASE STUDY (INDIVIDUAL)

Name : Iman Firdaus Bin Mohd Khairol Anuar

Matrics Number : 2019218296

Lecturer : Puan Norshahniza Binti Sahari

Date Of Submission : 26 September 2019