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Management
Functions |
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Henri
Fayol (1841-1925), a turn-of-the-century French engineer
and management theorist who worked in a mining and metallurgical
company, put forth the notion that management is essentially
about the following four things:
1. Planning
2. Organizing
3. Controlling
4. Leading
Planning is the decision on the courses
of action to be taken at any given point. It involves
gathering information, generating alternatives, and then
making an informed decision based upon the information
available to you.
Organizing concerns how you use all the
resources at your disposal: people, materials, information
and organizational systems.
Controlling is about managing performance.
It begins with imparting a clear understanding of goals,
roles, responsibilities and desired outcomes. Once this
has been accomplished, you as manager can follow what
has been termed the 80-20 rule, which states that eighty
percent of your success is determined by 20 percent of
what you do. Because you don't have the time, resources,
nor perhaps even the requisite skills to do everything,
the base-line clarity you have established at the front
end of the project allows you to select the twenty percent
of your overall responsibilities that you know you do
well. You then trust those you manage to achieve the other
80 percent. That's the part you will measure and control.
Leading requires that you be able to clearly
articulate what you expect from those you manage. Motivating
them towards delivering their best is at the heart of
leading. This requires that you be an effective communicator.
We will discuss that later in the module.
A word of caution: There is no one best way to
manage. Good managers come in a variety of personalities,
backgrounds, appearances, styles and mindsets. Each brings
to bear unique personal experiences and skills. The more
you know about good management, the more you are able
to select those tools and approaches that align with your
own uniqueness and are, therefore, most likely to make
you a successful manager. The most important thing to
consider is that your job as a manager is centered on
people, and your own success will largely depend on the
extent that you value them, develop them, motivate them,
and celebrate them.
Becoming a successful manager will require that you develop
three broad categories of skills:
1. Conceptual
2. Technical
3. Human Relations
Conceptual skills refer to your ability
to see the big picture. In other words, you will need
to understand how each action, each task, each deliverable,
feeds into the ultimate outputs of your organization.
Technical skills are probably the ones that,
as a new manager, you are most familiar with. As an entry-level
manager, you are likely to have a closer working knowledge
of the technology and skills required by those who report
to you. You may be called upon to assist them in either
acquiring these skills or utilizing them to achieve the
desired outcomes. As you move up the organizational chain,
a direct, hands-on knowledge of technical skills becomes
less necessary.
Human relations skills are the glue that
holds everything else together. You must be able to get
along well with others, communicate effectively, be a
good coach, deliver constructive feedback, guide performance,
and sometimes even make difficult choices about whether
a particular individual should continue on the team. |
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