Introduction to Management

What are three managerial roles Mintzberg identified? Be able to identify each role.

1) Interpersonal (sub roles: figurehead, leader, and liaison): this role involves interacting through oral and written communications with others inside and outside your organization. The purpose here is to develop and maintain positive relationships with others. If your relationships are negative, then you may get poor information or no information and as a result, you may make bad decisions. This points up the importance of treating your human resources well and the importance of developing good interpersonal or human skills. 2) Informational (sub roles: monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson): this role involves information processing. You receive information, you give information, and you analyze information, as a manager. This role makes the manager a nerve center for the entire organization. 3) Decisional (sub roles: entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator): this role involves using information to solve problems or take advantage of opportunities.

What are three managerial skills identified by Katz? Be able to identify each skill.

1) technical - an ability to use a special expertise relating to a method, process, or procedure in performing a task. Examples include engineering, accounting, QBA, and finance. 2) human - the ability to work well in cooperation with others. Examples include the ability to motivate people, leadership, communication, self-awareness, and empathy. 3) conceptual - the ability to problem solve. It's the ability to think in the abstract and in terms of the future. It's the ability to forecast events, to see opportunities that no one else sees, and to take advantage of these opportunities. It's the ability to see the big picture (i.e., gestalt thinking). It's the ability to see how the organization and its environment fit together and how a change in one part affects or causes changes in the other parts.

Five Functions of Management. Be able to identify and explain each one.

1. Planning 2. Organizing 3. Staffing and Human Resource Management 4. Leading and Interpersonal Influence 5. Controlling

At what level of management are conceptual skills most important? Technical skills? Human skills?

1st line managers need technical skills Middle managers should have a fairly equal blend of all three skills. Top managers must have better conceptual skills than other levels.

What is (are) the most important function(s) for a 1st-line manager? Middle manager? Top manager?

1st-line management, staffing and leading are the most important functions since you are dealing with operative level employees and the production process. Middle level management: organizing is the most important function since a middle level manager's job entails integrating work groups. Top-level management: planning is the most important function since top-level managers are supposed to determine the overall goals and strategies of the organization.

What percent of effective managers are successful?

28%

What is the difference between an administrator and a manager?

Administrators are managers who work in public or non-profit organizations as opposed to private, for profit, business concerns.

What gives rise to the three managerial roles, according to Mintzberg?

All managers have authority over their organizational subunits and they derive status from that authority. That status causes managers to be involved in interpersonal relationships with subordinates, peers, and supervisors who, in turn, provide managers with information they need to make decisions.

What does a top manager do? What are the names associated with top management?

CEO, Chairman of the Board, Executive VP They determine the form of the organization and define its overall character, mission, and directions. Set the strategy for the organization. They ensure that goals are set and accomplished according to the organization's purpose and they monitor the environment to identify potential problems and opportunities associated with the organization's goals or purpose.

On what activity do effective managers spend the majority of their time? Successful managers?

Communication Networking

What skill is most difficult to develop? Why?

Conceptual skills are the most difficult to acquire because they required a minimum level of mental ability (i.e., reasonably intelligent) and time/experience to develop.

What are the 2 key concerns of management?

Effectiveness and efficiency

What is effectiveness concerned with? efficiency?

Effectiveness is concerned with doing the right thing at the right time in the right way (ENDS) Efficiency is concerned with reducing waste or minimizing resource costs since many resources are scarce (MEANS)

What happened to productivity (supply), prices, and demand as a result of the industrial revolution?

Enormous growth in productivity and demand accompanied by a rise in demand.

What does a first-line manager do? What are the names associated with 1st-line management?

Ensure that plans developed by top management are fulfilled by their operating employees. Supervisor or Foreman

What is the difference between a functional manager and a general manager?

Functional managers have responsibility for a single area of activity such as finance, production, human resources, accounting. i.e. Most managers General managers are responsible for more complex organizational subunits that include many functional areas.

What is your most important resource as a manager?

Human Resources

How did management become important and why is it still significant today?

Industrial Revolution in the late 18th Century and the transfer of skills from craftsman to machines. It's still important today because it's the key to the efficient accomplishment of organizational and societal objectives.

Is management art or science? When is it considered a science? an art?

It is considered a science since we develop theories of managing, test these theories empirically using the scientific method, and refine, reformulate or discard these theories based upon the results of these studies. It is an art form when it is just an extension of ones personality and it comes easily or naturally to them. There is no one true road to success.

How are effectiveness and efficiency related?

It is much easier to be effective if one ignores efficiency but a good manager combines both at the right levels. However, effectiveness is more important than efficiency.

What is the difference between a line manager and a staff manager?

Line managers are directly responsible for the work activities that contribute to the process of creating the organization's basic product or service. They have authority over the process. Staff managers use their special expertise to support the efforts of line managers. Have no authority over the production process.

What are the siamese twins of management?

Planning and controlling.

What does "planning has primacy" mean?

Planning is said to have primacy because it is the first thing you must do as a manager. Planning provides the direction for all the other management functions. Remember, if you don't know where you are going any road will get you there. Planning is extremely important if you are going to be successful as a manager. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!

Why do most businesses fail?

Poor Management

According to Luthans(1988), are effective managers successful managers in general?

The answer he found was no they are not. Effective managers are usually not the ones promoted rapidly through the organizational ranks.

What is the primary difference between derailed executives and executives who made it to top management, according to the Center for Creative Leadership?

The major difference between these derailed executives and executives who made it all the way to the top was that the derailed executives were insensitive to others.

What is management?

The process of achieving desired results through the efficient utilization of human and material resources (Bedeian, 1993)

What was the pivotal event of our time, according to Drucker?

The switch from owner/manager to professional manager.

What was the basic change in the industrial revolution?

The transfer of skills from craftsmen to machines and the huge growth of factories that increased demand for more managers.

What does a middle level manager do? What are the names associated with middle level manager?

Two I's integrate and interpret. Plant Manager, Division Head Integrate (i.e. coordinate) the activities of different work groups so they operate in harmony with one another and are better able to cope with the demands made upon them. They act as interpreters and transform top management directives into first-line management. They are a communication channel between different levels of management.

What is corporate downsizing? What happens in corporate downsizing? What level of management is most adversely affected?

When a company adopts a "lean and mean" philosophy, an efficiency orientation. Eliminates layers of management and asks retained managers to do more. Middle level jobs are most affected.

What are the three aspects of controlling?

a)monitoring organizational performance b) comparing actual performance with "hoped for" performance (this "hoped for" comes from planning) c) taking corrective action in one or more the functions if actual results fall short of "hoped for" results This process is also called feedback. Feedback is both informational (tells you what you're doing right and what you are doing wrong) and reinforcing (motivational).