Management Levels, Responsibilities, Constraints and Tasks PDF 2
1. Management involves planning, organizing, integrating, measuring, and supervising work. Managers must balance responsibilities to shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders while operating under various constraints.
2. Organizations can be structured into different levels and divisions to balance the benefits of scale in operations with the communication needs of employees in smaller units.
3. Effective management requires anticipating the future, setting goals, developing strategic plans, assigning tasks, coordinating work, managing risks, and evaluating performance. The level of supervision decreases as employee skill and autonomy increases.
Management Levels, Responsibilities, Constraints and Tasks PDF 2
1. Management involves planning, organizing, integrating, measuring, and supervising work. Managers must balance responsibilities to shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders while operating under various constraints.
2. Organizations can be structured into different levels and divisions to balance the benefits of scale in operations with the communication needs of employees in smaller units.
3. Effective management requires anticipating the future, setting goals, developing strategic plans, assigning tasks, coordinating work, managing risks, and evaluating performance. The level of supervision decreases as employee skill and autonomy increases.
- communications occur to any number of levels up or down the organization - most frequent communication is usually limited to two levels Other managers – same level as the person’s own manager Peers – both within the same function and within different functions Size of an organization varies – debate as to optimum size for maximum efficiency Two variables affecting efficiency: 1. Material considerations – economies of scale 2. People considerations – favor much smaller units due to the ff. reasons: a. communication problems (time wasted to insure smooth communication) b. inability to see individual contribution for staff working in large projects c. the larger the team, the greater the overhead (i.e., supervision and coordination) Remedy: Overcome people problems while maintaining advantages from material considerations
Divisions or profit centers – (i.e., one division devoted to
manufacturing only; thus, giving a larger size from the materials viewpoint and a level of autonomy for profit and loss) Corporate Headquarters • Responsible for corporate strategy • Setting divisional goals • Monitoring divisional performance • Carrying out functions that benefit from size (i.e., material procurement) Management Responsibilities • Functions of a manager are complex (Managers are people whose main tasks are to deal with other people – but note that human behavior is complex) • Managers operate in an environment in which they voluntarily accept responsibilities as part of their jobs under certain constraints • Shareholders – equity capital intact; return on capital (measured in terms of dividends and growth) • Employees (managers are themselves employees) – rewards for their labor; good working conditions; job that meets career aspirations • Customers – make it possible for the organization to exist “customer is king”; reasonable price; quality; regularity of supply • External customers – the ultimate buyers of the company products • Internal customers – depend on the manager and his department to produce a product or service in which they can add value before it reaches the external customers • Note that marketing contains the greatest number of internal dependencies in the next slide • Suppliers – raw materials at the right price and on time • Community – environment protection; employment balance maintained; other forms of support to the community CONSTRAINTS • Competitors – fight for market share and revenues; competition can force business organizations to be more efficient • Government – direct constraints such as regulations on health and safety issues; taxes; and measures to prevent monopoly - indirect constraints such as interest rates and currency fluctuations • Natural environment – manager has little control over the acts of God (i.e., fire, typhoon); however, there are cases when it presents opportunities • Labor market – shortage of skilled staff • Pressure groups– strive to influence the manager so that the aims of their members are met (i.e., labor unions, environment groups) • Creditors – wish to obtain short term returns on their loans; accounts payable to suppliers Planning • Anticipating future events and making preparations to meet them effectively; based on forecasts of alternative future events • Formulate goals for the organization and prepare plans for achieving the goals • Deciding in advance what to do, how to do it, where to do it, when to do it and who is to do it? Goals Strategic Plan – strategy that will be used to reach the goals (SWOT) Plan of Action - tasks needed to carry out the objectives long term growth vs. short term profits Organizing • To achieve the most effective utilization of the available resources (people, facilities, equipment and money) • Splits the tasks into workable packages and sets up the organization (i.e., recruit people, skills mix through training) to carry out the tasks • Coordinates tasks and avoid duplication • Effective delegation Integrating • Normally takes the longest time in which the plan of action is carried out to achieve the company’s goals • See the whole picture (i.e., differentiating the entire forest from the individual trees) • Need to make decisions - obtain additional information when decisions can be postponed • Risks must be taken but should be proactive • “What if” plans to minimize risks Measuring • Determine what was accomplished and how successful in meeting the original plan • Attempt to measure both the effectiveness and efficiency of the group’s effort • Provide feedback for corrective action Supervision Curves • Amount of supervision varies with staff qualifications • The higher the skill level, the less the supervision required