BM1803

MANAGEMENT AND MANAGER

Management and the Manager

There is no pattern or prototype or standard criteria as to who can be a manager. Managers today can be
under age 18 or over age 80. They may be women as well as men, and they can be found in all industries
and all countries. They manage entrepreneurial businesses, large corporations, government agencies,
hospitals, museums, schools, and not-for-profit enterprises.
An organization is a deliberate arrangement of people brought together to accomplish some specific
purpose.

Characteristics that all organizations share:

• Goals: It has a distinct purpose.

• People: People in an organization work to achieve its goals.

• Structure: It is structured in some way that defines and limits the behavior of its members.

Management: is the process of getting things done, effectively and efficiently, with and through other
people.

All corporations depend on effective management. Whether they run a multibillion-dollar business such as
Google or a small local fashion boutique, managers perform many of the same functions and have many
of the same responsibilities. These include analyzing their competitive environments and planning,
organizing, directing, and controlling the day-to-day operations of their business. Ultimately, they are also
responsible for the performance and effectiveness of the teams, divisions, or companies that they head
(Ebert & Griffin, 2017).

Efficiency and effectiveness have to do with the work being done and how it is being done. Efficiency means
doing a task correctly (doing things right) and getting the most output from the least amount of inputs.
Because managers deal with scarce inputs—including resources such as people, money, and equipment—
they are concerned with the efficient use of those resources. Managers want to minimize resource usage
and costs.

It is not enough, however, just to be efficient. Managers are also concerned with completing important
activities. In management terms, we call this effectiveness. Effectiveness means, “doing the right things”
by doing those work tasks that help the organization reach its goals. Whereas efficiency is concerned with
the means of getting things done, effectiveness is concerned with the ends or attainment of organizational
goals (Robbins, Coulter, & DeCenzo, 2017).

Basic Management Functions

Planning and Decision-Making
Planning means setting an organization’s goals and deciding how best to achieve them. Decision-making,
a part of the planning process, involves selecting a course of action from a set of alternatives. Planning
and decision-making help managers maintain their effectiveness by serving as guides for their future
activities. In other words, the organization’s goals and plans help managers know how to allocate their
time and resources.
Organizing
Once a manager has set goals and developed a workable plan, his/her next management function is to
organize people and the other resources necessary to carry out the plan. Specifically, organizing involves
determining how activities and resources are to be grouped.

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Leading
The third basic managerial function is leading. Some people consider leading to be both the most important
and the most challenging of all managerial activities. Leading is the set of processes used to get members
of the organization to work together to further the interests of the organization.
Controlling
The final phase of the management process is controlling, or monitoring the organization’s progress toward
its goals. As the organization moves toward its goals, managers must monitor progress to ensure that it is
performing in such a way as to arrive at its “destination” at the appointed time (Robbins, Coulter, &
DeCenzo, 2017).
Levels and Skills of Managers
Levels of Management
Top Managers: They make up the relatively small group of executives who manage the overall
organization. Titles found in this group include President, Vice President, and Chief Executive Officer
(CEO). Top managers create the organization’s goals, overall strategy, and operating policies. They also
officially represent the organization to the external environment by meeting with government officials,
executives of other organizations, and so forth.
The job of a top manager is likely to be complex and varied. Top managers make decisions about
activities such as acquiring other companies, investing in research and development (R&D), entering or
abandoning various markets, and building new plants and office facilities.
Middle Managers: They are probably the largest group of managers in most organizations. Common
middle-management titles include Plant Manager, Operations Manager, and Division Head. Middle
managers are primarily responsible for implementing the policies and plans developed by top managers
and for supervising and coordinating the activities of lower-level managers.
First-line Managers: They supervise and coordinate the activities of operating employees. Common
titles for the first-line managers are Supervisor, Coordinator, and Office Manager. Positions like these are
often the first held by employees who enter management from the ranks of operating personnel. In
contrast to top and middle managers, first-line managers typically spend a large proportion of their time
supervising the work of their subordinates (Robbins, Coulter, & DeCenzo, 2017).
Skills and Competencies
Conceptual Skills: These skills refer to a person’s ability to think in the abstract, to diagnose and analyze
different situations, and to see beyond the present situation. These skills help managers recognize new
market opportunities and threats. They can also help managers analyze the probable outcomes of their
decisions. The need for conceptual skills differs at various management levels. Top managers depend
most on conceptual skills, first-line managers least. Although the purposes and everyday needs of various
jobs differ, conceptual skills are needed in almost any job-related activity. In many ways, conceptual skills
may be the most important ingredient in the success of executives in e-commerce businesses. For
example, the ability to foresee how a particular business application will be affected by or can be
translated to the Internet is clearly conceptual in nature (Ebert & Griffin, 2017).
Human Relations Skills: Effective managers also generally have good human relations skills—skills that
enable them to understand and get along with other people. A manager with poor human relations skills
may have trouble getting along with subordinates, cause valuable employees to quit or transfer, and
contribute to poor morale. Although human relations skills are important at all levels, they are probably
most important for middle managers, who must often act as bridges between top managers, first-line
managers, and managers from other areas of the organization. Managers should possess good
communication skills. Many managers have found that being able both to understand others and to get
others to understand them can go a long way toward maintaining good relations in an organization (Ebert
& Griffin, 2017).

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Technical Skills: These are the skills needed to perform specialized tasks. A programmer’s ability to
write code, an animator’s ability to draw, and an accountant’s ability to audit a company’s records are all
examples of technical skills. People develop technical skills through a combination of education and
experience. Technical skills are especially important for first-line managers. Many of these managers
spend considerable time helping employees solve work-related problems, training them in more efficient
procedures, and monitoring performance (Ebert & Griffin, 2017).
Decision-Making Skills: These skills include the ability to define a problem effectively and to select the
best course of action. These involve gathering facts, identifying solutions, evaluating alternatives, and
implementing the chosen alternative. Periodically following up and evaluating the effectiveness of the
choice are part of the decision-making process. These skills allow some managers to identify effective
strategies for their firm, such as Michael Dell’s commitment to direct marketing as the firm’s primary
distribution model. However, poor decision-making skills can also lead to failure and ruin. Indeed, poor
decision-making played a major role in the downfall of such U.S. business stalwarts such as Enron
Corporation, who tried to hide their losses by manipulating their financial statements to show gains (Ebert
& Griffin, 2017).
Factors That Reshape and Redefine Management
Customers
Organizations need customers. Without them, most organizations would cease to exist. Focusing on the
customer has long been thought by many managers to be the responsibility of the marketers. Employee
attitudes and behaviors play a big role in customer satisfaction. Think of the times you have been treated
poorly (or superbly) by an employee during a service encounter and how that affected the way you felt
about the situation.
Managers are recognizing that delivering consistent high-quality customer service is essential for survival
and success in today’s competitive environment and that employees are an important part of that equation.
The implication is clear—they must create a customer-responsive organization where employees are
friendly and courteous, accessible, knowledgeable, prompt in responding to customer needs, and willing
to do what is necessary to please the customer (Robbins, Coulter, & DeCenzo, 2017).
Innovation
Success in business today demands innovation. Innovation means doing things differently, exploring new
territory, and taking risks. In addition, innovation is not just for high-tech or other technologically
sophisticated organizations; innovative efforts are needed in all types, all levels, all areas, and all sizes of
organizations. You would expect companies like Apple, Google, Toyota, and Instagram to be on a list of
the world’s 50 most innovative companies. However, what about the likes of Alibaba Group? Alibaba
started Hema Supermarkets in the early part of 2018. It is a supermarket applied with advanced technology
wherein a person can shop for groceries and pay them online by scanning its price tag. Also, groceries
can be bought online through a mobile application and can be delivered within 30 minutes. Hema
Supermarkets also has multiple restaurants inside where instead of waiters as servers, they have mini
robots to deliver food. In today’s challenging environment, innovation is critical, and managers need to
understand what, when, where, how, and why innovation can be fostered and encouraged throughout an
organization (Robbins, Coulter, & DeCenzo, 2017).
Social Media
You probably cannot imagine a time when employees did their work without e-mail or Internet access. Yet,
some 20 years ago, as these communication tools were becoming more common in workplaces, managers
struggled with the challenges of providing guidelines for using them. Today, it is all about social media,
which are forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share
ideas, information, personal messages, and other content. More than a billion people use social media
platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Instagram, and others.
Moreover, employees do not just use these on their personal time, but for work purposes. That is why
managers again are struggling with guidelines for employee use as they attempt to navigate the power

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and peril of social media (Robbins, Coulter, & DeCenzo, 2017). For example, Shopee, a social
marketplace that launched in 2015, was created to give a similar convenience that Lazada gives but for
lower prices. This entices people, especially those who don’t have enough free time, to buy stuff they need
online including groceries.
Sustainability
What is emerging in the 21st century is the concept of managing sustainably, which has had the effect of
widening corporate responsibility not only to managing efficiently and effectively but also to responding
strategically to a wide range of environmental and societal challenges. Although “sustainability” may mean
different things to different people, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
describes a scenario where all earth’s inhabitants can live well with adequate resources. From a business
perspective, sustainability has been defined as a company’s ability to achieve its business goals and
increase long-term shareholder value by integrating economic, environmental, and social opportunities
into its business strategies. Sustainability issues are now moving up the business agenda. Managers at
BMW, Walmart, and other global businesses are discovering that running an organization in a more
sustainable way will mean making informed business decisions based on (1) communicating openly with
various stakeholders and understanding their requirements, and (2) factoring economic, environmental,
and social aspects into how they pursue their business goals (Robbins, Coulter, & DeCenzo, 2017).

REFERENCES
Ebert, R. J. & Griffin, R. W. (2017). Business essentials. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

Investopedia. (n.d.) Enron scandal: The fall of a wall street darling. Retrieved from:
https://www.investopedia.com/updates/enron-scandal-summary/

Robbins, S. P., Coulter, M., & DeCenzo, D. A. (2017). Fundamentals of management: Management
myths debunked! Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

Saiidi, U. (2018, September 03). Inside Alibaba's new kind of superstore: Robots, apps and overhead
conveyor belts. Retrieved on December 6, 2018, from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/30/inside-
hema-alibabas-new-kind-of-superstore-robots-apps-and-more.html

The Philippine Star. (2017, June 4). Filipino entrepreneurs harness power of e-commerce. Retrieved from
https://www.philstar.com/business/business-as-usual/2017/06/04/1706666/filipino-entrepreneurs-
harness-power-e-commerce

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