Management

Management is the process of organising and coordinating resources to achieve objectives. It

operates through various functions
Planning i.e. deciding what needs to happen in the future and making plans for it
Organizing i.e. making optimum use of the resources required for the successful implementation
of the plan
Staffing i.e.job analyzing and recruitment for appropriate jobs
Leading i.e. determining what needs to be done and getting employees to do it
Monitoring i.e. checking progress against the set plan and modifying it according to feedback

Mintzberg identified ten managerial roles common to their work

Interpersonal roles i.e. dealing with and motivating staff in an organisation such as a figurehead,
leader or a liaison
Informational roles i.e. dealing with sources and transmission of information such as a monitor,
disseminator or a spokesperson
Decisional roles i.e. taking decisions and allocating resources to meet organisational objectives
such as an entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator or a negotiator.

Leadership styles
Leadership is the motivation of people towards achieving a common goal. It is about giving
direction to a business and inspiring employees to follow direction. Leadership styles include
autocratic leadership where all decisions are taken by the leader. The staff is closely supervised
and there is only one way communication i.e. no feedback. Little information is also given to the
staff.
Advantages of such a style of leadership are that employees know exactly where they stand
and don’t assert themselves. Decision making is quick and guaranteed as a single entity
decides and so there is no debate. Instructions are likely to be precise and clear. Such style of
leadership is effective in organisations where chain of command is crucial. Most employees are
content to take orders and don’t desire more involvement. Work is supervised closely and thus
objectives are achieved. This sort of leadership maintains a strong chain of command.
Disadvantages
Employees dislike it especially if it is extreme where they are micromanaged or that the
motivational style is negative. Low morale and conflict develop easily because subordinates
work half heartedly as they feel that their input is undervalued. In autocratic leadership,
managers are usually poor motivators and consequently employees hardly show any creativity
or judgment.
This leadership style is useful in crisis where decisive action is necessary in order to avert
further damage. It is also useful in organisations where chain of command is quintessential like
in the police organisation.
In a democratic leadership decisions are taken in unison through feedback. Its advantages are
that more ideas are taken into account. There is better bilateral communication. Objectives are
shared as a result of frequent discussions. There is improved motivation as a result which leads
to low employee turnover.
However consultation is time consuming and which can prove detrimental where quick decision
making is required. Even though the decision may be discussed, the leadership makes the final
decision which could be controversial for some and thus demotivate them. Certain issues are
too sensitive to be consulted with the staff such as research and development into a new
product. Sometimes consulting the employees may be redundant as they lack insight into the
‘big picture’
It can be useful in businesses that expect employees to contribute in decision making
processes. An experienced and flexible workforce will likely benefit from this style of leadership.
In industries which demand creativity such leadership style is valuable for example in the tech
industry.
Laissez-faire is a leadership style or attitude which leaves much of the business decision
making to the workforce i.e. a hands off approach. Its the polar opposite of the autocratic way.
It delegates a lot of responsibility on the workforce with broad limits. Advantages are that it
allows workers to be creative and take initiative. It also promotes teamwork and excellent social
cohesion within the organisation. This in turn promotes motivation. Employees set their own
objectives which they may be more capable of achieving than ones that were set by others.
Disadvantages are that workers may lack a sense of direction or lose direction. They may even
lack skills or relevant experience to make important decisions. Lack of supervision may lead to a
lower output, productivity and/or efficiency. Slow progress due to slow decision making.
Workers may experience demotivation due to this.
It is useful in situations where the managers are too busy or lazy to intervene. It is useful in work
that requires creativity. Appropriate for research purposes such as solutions to problems.

McGregor’s Theory X and Y

It is concerned with the attitude of managers to their workforce. Theory X managers see
workers as lazy, disliking work, unprepared to assume responsibility who thus need close
control and supervision. Theory Y managers see staff as enjoying work who can be creative and
will accept responsibility and contribute to the organisation and its decision making. They are
more trusting of their workforce unlike theory X managers and they respect them.
Leadership roles in business are many. Directors are elected by shareholders. They are the
head of a department and are responsible for delegation of responsibilities and meeting and
setting objectives in the department. Managers are individuals responsible people resources or
decision making. They have authority and tend to lead, motivate and discipline staff.
Supervisors are appointed by management mainly to supervise. Worker representatives are
elected by workers as trade union officials and establish councils to discuss areas of common
concern with managers.
Qualities of good leaders are the following. Leaders should be good communicators as staff
will need clear instructions in order to understand their work responsibilities. It also requires
good interpersonal skills which allows the leader to be persuasive in challenging situations.
Organising skills to efficiently organise resources. Motivational skills to stay motivated and help
motivate others. Mentoring skills to effectively advice staff. Time management skills crucial to
meet deadlines.
The difference between managers and leaders is subtle but not mutually exclusive. Managers
are seen as dealing with the operational now of the organisation. They focus on control and
efficiency in order to ‘get things done’. Leaders are seen as concerned with strategy to achieve
the long term goals, the vision and the mission of the organisation. However there is an overlap
in their roles. Both need to motivate the staff and foster a culture of the organisation. Often the
people who are managers are also seen as leaders or do assume leadership. However it all
boils down to the size and nature of the organisation.
Emotional intelligence is the ability of managers to understand their own feelings and
emotions and those of people they work with to improve business and personal performance.
Goleman has suggested that there are a number of specific emotional intelligence
competencies that will support effective manager performance. Self awareness is the ability to
recognise and understand personal emotions and their effect on others. It also means to have a
realistic confidence in personal abilities. Self management is the ability to control emotions and
impulses. It gives the ability to recover quickly from stress and prompts one to show initiative
and self control. Social awareness is the ability to understand and sense what and how others
feel. Take views of others into account and establish relations with them. Social skills is the
ability to build relationships and networks and find common ground. It is effective in leading as
the manager is persuasive and understanding.

Motivation is the internal and external factors that stimulate people to take action that lead to
the achievement of a goal. A well motivated staff has low labour turnover, work faster, displays
high productivity and quality of work, is efficient and it overall reduces costs to the business in
the long run.
Maslow proposed the Need Hierarchy Model for motivation. He is from the neo human relations
school of thought. The physiological needs are the most basic and foremost. They can be
catered by monetary compensation in return for work. Safety needs are above in the hierarchy
and these can be catered by providing and promoting health and safety at work by removing
hazards. Also providing pensions in retirement and overall job security is important in
maintaining motivation of the worker according to maslow. Social needs also have to be catered
by providing employees with a good working environment where they can bond and work in
teams in order to remove isolation. Esteem needs can be met through work appraisal and
promotions. The highest need according to maslow is self fulfillment where the individual wants
to reach and fulfill their potential. This can be achieved by providing workers the opportunity to
set their own goals. The worker can be provided training and development opportunities and
opportunities to progress in the company with any hindrance. Work opportunities should be
provided and employees should be put in positions of leadership, responsibility and
accountability. Employees should also be challenged in work to make it more fulfilling.

Fredrick taylor an american writer is from the scientific management school of thought. He took
Mcgregor's theory x approach to workers. He considered them to be naturally lazy and could
only be motivated by money. He believed that workers should be recruited and trained and also
supported division of labour in the workplace as a method to increase output. He also proposed
that workers should imitate the ‘one best way’ of doing a certain task and stick to it. This would
streamline the work and increase efficiency according to him. Productivity can be increased by
monetary rewards only as Taylor believed in the economic man theory. He advocated for piece
rates which are payments for number of items produced as they are linked to output. Bonuses
are another monetary reward which can motivate workers and increase productivity.

Herzberg belongs to the neo human relations school of thought and proposed the two factor
theory. He conducted his research by asking a group of people about their good and bad
experiences at work. Factors for satisfaction are called motivators and factors for dissatisfaction
are called hygiene factors. Hygiene factors are pay, working environment and relationship with
colleagues. Motivators are opportunities for promotion and self improvement, job design such as
job enlargement, job enrichment and empowerment. As per herzberg satisfaction and
dissatisfaction are not polar opposites. Taking away an employees dissatisfaction for example
by offering a higher salary does not necessarily mean the employee will then be satisfied. The
employee is just no longer dissatisfied.

Elton mayo introduced the human relations school of thought which focused on managers
taking more interest in the workers. He conducted a series of experiments at the Hawthorne
factory on two groups of women workers. He believed that workers are not just concerned with
money. They could be better motivated by having their social needs met. But he also agreed
with taylor on the economic man theory. His experiments were set up to investigate other
physical factors that impacted productivity. The experiments found out that it was actually social
factors that stimulated productivity. Mayo concluded that workers have social needs that
influence their motivation and thus communication with employees is critical in identifying their
needs. Productivity levels of workers at hawthorne improved due to better communication,
greater management involvement and team work. His theory closely fits with a paternalistic style
of management.

Mc Clelland theorized that we all have three motivating drivers and one of them is our
dominant. This dominant motivating driver is largely dependent on our culture and life
experiences. A dominant motivating driver can be achievement, affiliation or power. For
achievement the person has a strong need to accomplish challenging goals. Takes calculated
risks. Likes to receive regular feedback on progress and often likes to work alone. For affiliation
the person wants to belong to a group and wants to be liked. Favours collaboration over
competition. Doesn’t like high risk and uncertainty. For power as a dominant motivator, the
person wants to control and influence others, enjoys competition and winning and enjoys status
and recognition.

Vroom’s theory motivation is classified as a process theory of motivation concerned with how
motivation occurs. The output of motivation occurs when a certain input occurs. This is the
process that must be sought and repeated. According to Vroom, individuals will choose to
behave in ways they believe will lead to outcomes they value. There is a belief that good
performance will lead to a desirable reward. Managers need to convince workers that increased
work effort will improve performance and this will in turn lead to reward.

Motivating factors
Some financial rewards are salary which is paid monthly and is fixed. With time rates workers
get paid for how long they work. With piece rate a worker is paid for each unit produced.
Commission is a payment made to a salesperson on each sale made, often a proportion of the
value of the sale. A bonus is where the employee is rewarded when a target is achieved.
Performance related pay can be defined as a bonus scheme to reward staff for above average
performance. With profit sharing a proportion of the profit is shared.
Disadvantages of performance related pay are that it can be difficult or costly for the company to
establish the appropriate standard of supervision. PRP can be disruptive as it only focuses on
individual performance and often lead to allegations of favouritism. Levels of PRP can often be
inadequate. It can also prove to be demotivating for employees that cant achieve the standards
of performance. Piece rates may lead to reduction in quality and safety levels as workers are
only focused on producing the maximum number of items. Accidents may occur as a result of
this too. Workers may also just produce a set number of items in order to achieve their target
pay. This means that they might not make efforts to produce more. This may lead to
overproduction of items and waste of resources. For this method to be successful, employers
need to set precise, measurable and standardised output requirements. This sort of financial
reward has an increased labour turnover because workers find it demotivating. Profit sharing
motivates workers generally, improves employee loyalty and helps attract new employees.
Non financial rewards include subsidised transport and accommodation, discount on firms
products, health and child care, facilities, pensions and paid vacations.
Non financial motivation methods include job rotation where the worker is encouraged more
than one task by switching from one job to another, job enlargement which involves increasing
the scope of the job by broadening tasks or job enrichment where a job is designed to have
interesting and challenging tasks which can require more skill and can increase pay.
Advantages are that it gives employees a greater responsibility as they have more autonomy
and participation in decision making. It provides opportunity for professional development. It
provides new challenges which provides greater job satisfaction. Workers may feel more valued
and thus labour turnover and absenteeism will decrease. It may also encourage workers to
become innovative. Disadvantages are that not all workers may want additional responsibility
and if given will become demotivated. Job enrichment is criticised as a way for cutting workforce
as it requires employees to carry out additional tasks. It may also create false expectations of
salary increase. It may also not be available for all employees so it can lead to anger among
peers.

Other common methods of non financial motivation methods are team working, praise,
employee of the month awards, opportunities for promotion, job redesign which changes the
kind of job done, quality circles which are voluntary groups that meet regularly to discuss work
related problems, empowerment and delegation where authority is passed down, improving the
work environment and flexible working practices.
Advantages of quality circles are that they increase the motivation of staff as workers are more
involved, take pride. It also improves communication which develops a strong sense of working
as a team. It unlocks talents and abilities of employees. Increases productivity and output as
discussions may lead to constant improvements especially on methods.
Team working has many advantages. It supports and encourages members. Shared
experience and knowledge results in development of effective methods of carrying out a task.
Contributions to team work leads to self esteem boost. It improves communication. This means
that decision making is better and there is innovation.
Disadvantages are that not everyone is a team player and some like to work alone. This means
that they may become marginalised in the group. Effective team working may require training
and development which could be costly and disruptive. Individuals who do not contribute may
take undue advantage and credit. This can also delay decision making or lead to conflict of
opinion.

Employee participation is defined as the ways in which workers can get involved in the
business. It can take the form of a range of activities such as giving employees shares in the
business, holding regular meeting with the staff though it may cause loss of productive time,
using team working, empowering workers so they are involved in decision making, using
suggestion boxes, introduce quality circles, creating a culture of participation, using democratic
leadership style, creating workers councils etc. This may increase motivation, communication,
better decision making, employee involvement and responsibility. Reduce negative effects of
hygiene factors.

Functions of Human resource management include recruitment of competent and skilled staff,
selection of staff, training of staff and directing them productively, discipline and welfare of staff
and monitoring of staff performance. Recruitment and selection of staff is the process of
identifying the need for the job, defining the requirements of the position and the job holder,
advertising the position and choosing the most appropriate person for the job. Employees may
be needed when the business expands, the business targets a new market, new skills are
required or because employees are dismissed or retire.
Stages in recruitment are job analysis where a vacancy is identified, job description where
duties of employees are identified, job specification where qualities and qualifications needed to
do the job competently are identified, job advertisement. After this CVs and are received out of
which candidates are shortlisted based on desired qualifications. Interviews may be conducted
and then selection takes place.
There are two types of recruitment internal and external. Internal recruitment is when a job
vacancy is offered only to the current employees by advertising it on notice boards or company
journal. It is the appointment of staff to a vacant post from within the organisation. It saves time
and money especially of mass advertising, candidates are already known, employee already
familiar with the organization and it can also motivate other employees.