Introduction to Management - Management Within the Organization

Introduction

The content of this assignment and the examples used in it are to give brief information to leadership and management approaches, organization culture and motivation within organization and how these approaches are applied to the chose organization.

Management within the organization

Managers are the people responsible for helping organizations to achieve their objectives and for creating and implementing their plans.

A manager's role is to organize, supervise and control people so that there is a productive outcome to work. Organizations are essential for productive work because they bring people together with raw materials and equipments in order to achieve a variety of goals.

Organization whether they are companies, educational intuitions or hospitals will all have objectives. These objectives or goal may be expressed in terms of profit, educational achievements or health.

http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/ME96/Documents/Intro/leader.html

The definition 'getting things done by other people' emphasizes the fact that managers achieve organizational objectives by arranging for other people to perform whatever tasks are required and do not necessarily carryout these tasks themselves.

In figure 1 all managers may by involved with the operational aspects of management but as they are promoted and develop their role becomes increasingly one of planning, improvement and leadership.

The Management Role

The management challenge

The management challenge is to maintain control over the processes of an organization while at the same time leading, inspiring, directing and making decisions on all sorts of matters. Managers can be distinguished by their functions and by their level of responsibility, the management skills they apply will depend on their actual role in the organization. Figure 2 shows management levels in an organization. T. Bush (2003)

This remains a pyramid with a relatively small number of senior managers at the top, a large number of middle managers and an even larger group of junior managers supervising the majority of employees who are non-managerial.

The junior manager will be supervisor of a unit. They are working at or very close to the operational level. They role is to co-ordinate the work of non-managerial employees. Junior managers are expected to be skilled at both overseeing work and doing it.

Middle managers are usually accountable for the work of junior managers and in turn report to senior management. They spend more of their time on management functions rather than in an operational role. T. Bush (2003),

Senior managers are the executives, at the highest level of organization, responsible for its overall direction and co-ordination and for directing its major activities.

They are also concerned with the demands imposed on the organization by outside influences such as customers and suppliers. Basically they are responsible for the overall direction and success or failure of the organization.

Figure 3 shows a simplified management organization chart. G. Kanji (1995)

Board of Directors

Managing Directors & Chief Executive

Finance Marketing Production HR Corporate

Director Director Director Director planning

Director

Accountants & Factory Personnel & training Information

Finance managers managers managers system managers

Marketing Sales managers

Managers

Making Change

Managers are a small minority of people in the employment of any organization and therefore most people do not have experience of being a manager. Whereas managers have usually been through the operational stage and can to some extent transfer this type of experience to operational area.

The management of change is the most important management skill because it can be seen as a constant process of setting up working methods to meet changing circumstances.

John Harvey-Jones (1993) has stated that change is easier to manage when there is an element of danger present in an organization and there is obvious need for change.

Managing change is essentially about people and not concepts and ideas. Faced with pressure for change, managers are likely to deal with the situation in ways which match with the culture of organization. G. Kanji (1995)

For example technology change may mean the gradual introduction for computers to replace typewriters. In this case a few people will be left behind who are unable to make the change from typewriters to computers.

All change involves people and their working patterns and it can be argued that organizations can only change at the speed at which people in them are willing and able to change. However if competitors are clearly affecting the possibility of the company, the present position can be seen as a threat and the need for change will be easily appreciated. R. Sims (2004)

Managers have to determine the actual causes of resistance to change and remain flexible enough in their approach to overcome them in an appropriate manner.

The structure of the organization, the technology which is applied and the people working in it are highly mutually dependent and all three have to be involved in the change process.

Figure 4 illustrates the transition that can take place in the change process, from denial and resistance to exploration and commitment. The challenge for managers is to help people through the process. People move from the familiar to the unknown and often experience a feeling of loss when they struggle to accept a new direction.

EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

PAST FUTURE