What Is My Management Philosophy?

What is My Management Philosophy?

As part of my application for employment I would like to discuss with you my management style and philosophy. I've come to see that managing a small group or a large corporation is roughly the same as long as you know how to incorporate the five functions of management.

The first function of management is Planning and Decision Making. This is probably the number one trait a manager will need to have under their belt. Depending on the management level this planning and decision making could range from preparing the company's mission statement to writing a department budget. Planning is basically preparing for tomorrow and the next after that, but doing it today, in the present. A good manager is going to be able to create mission-based plans that will work harmoniously with other in the company all while keeping long-term goals in reality. These mission-based plans are the strategic, tactical, and operational. Strategic plans are plans put in place by the top management and lead to strategic goals. These contain who, what, where, when answers for achieving the strategic goals. Tactical goals are put in place by the middle management and lead to tactical goals. These also answer how, when, where questions but are often shorter and more detailed than strategic goals. Once you have the strategic and tactical plans in place by top and middle management, first-line managers can then create the operational plans. These plans help lead to operational objectives which support the tactical plans. Operational plans become the daily, weekly, or monthly tools that managers use. Of course these are just the fundamentals of planning. Using these building blocks managers of all levels can go on to create financial plans, research and development plans, competitive plans, even marketing plans. Managers are busy making decision after decision while preparing these plans. Managers need to be able to take the plans that have been create and put them to use using good decision making skills. They may face constraints on their plans and a quick decision will help them find a solution. Time seems to be the biggest constraint felt by managers. No matter how well planned out a plan really is, there just never seems to be enough time to fulfill everything. This is where managers need to be able to step back and decide what can be done to get to the ultimate goal.

The second function that managers need to possess is Organization. This means that the company's mission is going to be accomplished through all the parts of that company working together effectively and efficiently. The first step in organization is reviewing the plans and goals. This allows the business to grow and change as it is needed while still keeping some of the goals constant. The second step is to determine work activities. Managers will need to ask themselves "What activities are needed to accomplish this goal?" They will begin creating task lists and deciding what is the most important tasks needed. The third step follows closely after with the division of labor. A good manager is going to be able to divide the labor needed into smaller activities. These smaller activities can be completed more efficiently because employees can begin to specialize in what they are good at. Once the activities are divided up the employees will be assigned to groups created in the above steps. This is where employees can really begin to shine or flop. Authority is also create at this level and leads to the last step which is the designing of a hierarchy of relationships. This is where you start to see different top, middle, and first-line managers clearly with who answers to who is becoming straightforward.

A manager also needs to be able to attract, hire, train, develop, reward, and retain employees in order for the company to meet its goals. This is the function of staffing. There are eight elements in the staffing process. They are planning (see its everywhere in a managers life), recruiting, selection, orientation, training and development, performance appraisal, compensation, and employment decisions. A manager needs to be comfortable with performing these elements to be successful in the staffing area. As well as needed to conquer the above named elements, managers are also required to perform these in a number