Реферат: The profile of an effective manager

The manager

 

 

Managers work in anorganization.  Therefore, before we canidentify who managers are, it is important to clarify the term organization.Robbins S.P. (1991) defines an organization as: “a systematic arrangement of peopleto accomplish some specific purpose”.  Wecan divide organizational members into two categories<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[1]:operatives or managers. Managers differ from operatives, by the fact that theydirect the activities of others.

There are two big classifications ofmanagers<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[2]:the horizontal classification only looks at the responsibilities. We candistinguish the functional manager and the general manager. The functionalmanager is responsible for a whole of similar activities, for example,financial director, commercial director… While the general manager isresponsible for different functional areas, he is often concentrated on onebusiness activity and acts as a product manager or a division manager.  In the vertical classification, we need todifferentiate first-line managers, middle managers, and top managers. Thedifference between these three groups is based on the statute of subordinates.

Furthermore, we should pay attentionto the difference between a successful and an effective manager. As Luthans F.(1988) proved, a successful manager is not necessary an effective manager. Theformer is a manager, who has been promoted relatively quickly, while the latterhas satisfied, committed subordinates and high performing units. In general, wecould say that an effective manager is one who attains the organizationalgoals.

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Manager’s job

 

 

It was Henry Fayol, in the earlypart of this century, who was the first to give a global view about the job ofmanager. He observed that managers performed 5 management functions: they plan,organize, command, coordinate and control. In the mid-1950s, these managementfunctions were reduced to the basic four known as the management process.

Figure 1 shows that the tasks of a managerconsists of planning, organizing, leading and controlling.

Figure 1:Management Functions

 SHAPE  * MERGEFORMAT

managers

planning

organizing

leading

controlling

Organization’s stated purpose

<img src="/cache/referats/15631/image001.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_s1033 _x0000_s1034 _x0000_s1035 _x0000_s1036 _x0000_s1037 _x0000_s1038 _x0000_s1039 _x0000_s1040 _x0000_s1041 _x0000_s1042 _x0000_s1043 _x0000_s1044 _x0000_s1045 _x0000_s1046 _x0000_s1047 _x0000_s1048 _x0000_s1049 _x0000_s1050 _x0000_s1051 _x0000_s1052">

Source:Management, By: Robbins, S.P., 1991,,Prentice-Hall, Inc, p. 4

The planning component encompassesdefining the goals, establishing appropriate strategies, and developingdifferent plans to coordinate the activities. Furthermore, managers areresponsible for designing an organization’s structure, which clarifies whatmust be done and by who<st1:PersonName w:st=«on»>m.</st1:PersonName> As the jobof manager implies directing activities of others, the leading function is veryimportant. It consists of motivating subordinates, resolving conflicts andselecting effective communication channels. Eventually, a manager has acontrolling function. He has to ensure that the assumed goals will be achieved.Therefore the manager has to monitor the different activities.  Also keep in mind that an effective managermust be able to perform all four activities simultaneously.

Only recently has this classicalview of managers been challenged based on the observations of five CEO’s.  Mintzberg H. (1971) concluded that themanager’s job consisted of many brief and disjointed episodes with peopleinside and outside the organization.  Inaddition to these insights, Mintzberg provided a categorization scheme fordefining what managers do based on actual managers on the job. Mintzberg showsthat managers play different but highly interrelated roles<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[3].

Formal authority gives rise to thethree interpersonal roles (figurehead, leader, and liaison), which in turngives rise to the three informational roles (monitor, disseminator, spokesman).These two sets of roles enable the manager to play the four decisional roles.  We should also mention that the importance ofmanagerial roles varies depending on the manager’s level in the organization.

Another best known modern view ofmanagerial work is provided by John Kotter which is based on his observatory<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[4]of 15 successful general managers. Kotter stated that managers spend most oftheir time interacting with others and concluded that managers spentconsiderable time in meetings getting and giving information. By obtainingrelevant and needed information from his network, the effective manager is ableto implement his or her agenda.

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Critical skills related to managerial competence

 

In the ‘70s, researcher Robert Katztried to find an answer to the question: What are the critical skills that arerelated to managerial competence? He discovered that managers should possess 4critical management skills. Those skills can be categorized in two big groups<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[5]:general skills and specific skills.  Thereseems to be overall agreement that effective managers must be proficient infour general skills areas<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[6]

:Conceptual skills: the ability to analyse complex situations and to provide the necessary knowledge to facilitate the decision-making. Interpersonal skill: as a manager you should be able to direct others, so motivation, communication and delegation skills are absolutely needed. Technical skills: the ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise Political skills: the ability to build the right relationships with the right persons. Those connections result in higher chances of getting additional resources and power.

The proportions in which thoseskills are necessary vary with the manager’s level in the organization.  Conceptual skills become more and moreimportant as we grow in the hierarchy of the organization, while technicalskills become less important. Interpersonal skills are necessary on every level, because a manageralways works with people.

Research has also identified sixsets of specific skills that explain 50% of manager effectiveness:

Controlling the organization’s environment and its resources Organizing and coordinating Handling information Providing for growth and development Motivating employees and handling conflicts Strategic problem solving

In ‘The General Managers” (1983),John Kotter, concluded that effective managers have strong specialisedinterest, skills, knowledge and relationships. These specialised personalassets allow them to behave in ways that fit the demands of their specificsituations. Such specialization seems to have been central to their ability tocope with the often huge demands placed upon them by their jobs.

The many personal characteristicsthat helped contribute to good performance were developed over the entireperiod of the manager’s life. In terms of basic personality we can observe<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[7]:

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Needs/motives:like power, need for achievement, very ambitious

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Temperament:emotionally stable and even, optimistic

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Cognitiveorientation: above average intelligence, moderately strong analytically, strongintuitively

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Interpersonalorientation: personable and good at developing relationships with people,unusual set of interest that allows them to relate easily to a broad set ofbusiness specialist.

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Information:very good knowledge about the business and organization

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Relationships:cooperative relationships with a large number of people in the organization

Kotter concluded that in thestipulation for being an effective manager, there should be a match between thedemands of the job and the individual characteristics. So for organizations it isa challenge to put the right man on the right place.  Depending on the role a manager has to play inan organization, we need an individual with other characteristics.  For example, Kotter found that in jobs wherethe relationships were more demanding and accomplishing things more difficult,the general manager was someone with a strong personable style, skill atdeveloping relationships, a liking of power, an emotionally even temperament,an ability to relate to a diverse group of business specialist, and extensiverelationships in their organization and industry.

The main characteristics of the effective manager

In the followingpart we will discuss some of the main manager’s characteristics based on thetheories which were discussed in the first part of our paper. We havesummarized different visions and found out that all theories named thefollowing important characteristics:

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Decision making skills

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Conflict Management skills

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Flexibility and creativity

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Developing of managerialknowledge and  manager’s teaching role

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Motivation of employees

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Communication skills

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Developing trust inside theorganization

We will give adescription of each characteristic including some important theories.

 

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Decision Making Skills

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Mangersare at the same time the decisions makers. It is easy to make decisions, butmaking the right one is difficult. What criteria should an effective managerhave upon the decision-making aspect?  Let’sstart with a simple review of the decision making process. 

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Decision-makingis formally defined as the process of identifying and solving problems. Theprocess containing 2 major stages: problem identification and problem solution.According to the rational approach, there are 8 steps for each stage:<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:«Arial Unicode MS»; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[8]

<span Times New Roman",«serif»"> 

<span Times New Roman",«serif»"> 

<span Times New Roman",«serif»"> 

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<span Times New Roman",«serif»"> 

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Figure 2:

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">  <span Times New Roman",«serif»">Decision-making process

<span Times New Roman",«serif»"><img src="/cache/referats/15631/image003.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_i1026">

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Thepoint of rational approach is that manager should try to use systematicprocedures to arrive at good decisions. Actually in practice, there are many uncertainties when applying thismodel to make decisions due to the following type of information constraintsimposed up people:<span Times New Roman",«serif»; mso-fareast-font-family:«Arial Unicode MS»;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[9]

·<span Times New Roman"">        

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Limitedattention

·<span Times New Roman"">        

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Limitedmemory

·<span Times New Roman"">        

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Limitedcomprehension

·<span Times New Roman"">        

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Limitsto communication

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">These,plus other factors, have given rise to the notion that rational processindecision is bounded. Herbert Simon, in this regard, has proposed that,“within bounded rationality, individuals and groups often base their decisionson satisfying the search for what is good enough in the circumstances, ratherthan optimizing.”<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:«Arial Unicode MS»; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[10]

Often,managers have to face vast number of information and required to make adecision in a short time, it is impossible for him to analysis each problem andweigh each alternatives from the limited mental capacity. <span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:«Arial Unicode MS»; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[11]Therefore there is a limit to how rational a manager can be.

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Manymodels are built upon the uncertainty of the solution searching steps, while inall actuality managers are not making the decision in a vacuum.  They can use formulas or models to aid theirdecision making process.  Therefore, itis important for an effective manager to pay attention to the following pointswhen making the decisions:

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Theintuitive decision-making process always plays an important role in combinationwith the rational process.

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">  Managers build up long experience withorganizational issues, which provides them with a gut feeling or hunch aboutthe correct response. The large organizational decisions are not only complex,but also ambiguous.  In such a situation;previous experience and judgment are needed to incorporate intangible elements.Most of the time, without solid proof that problems exist, the intuition willtell the managers that there is or could be a problem that requires him to actbefore he is able to sit down and analyze  the proble<st1:PersonName w:st=«on»>m.</st1:PersonName>

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Aneffective manager knows how to cooperate with the internal and externalresources.

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Ofcourse, as decision-makers, the manager should not become an “autocrat”. Voicefrom internal will be listened, and sharing the opinions and having joint discussionsto reach the interpretation of the goals and problems accordingly the agreementwill be easier to reach and find solutions to the proble<st1:PersonName w:st=«on»>m.</st1:PersonName>   External comments or reactions have greatimpact on decisions makers. On one hand, managers are easily misled by thehypothesis given from the external environment and can forget to look broaderand further.   On the other hand,proactively utilizing the external resource can help managers to see better andfurther; therefore, objective evaluation of those opinions will be helpful togenerate wide range of the problem solving approach. 

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Creativityis vital to search for more alternatives during the crisis moment.

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">When there are fewpossibilities to solve the problem, people can easily stick to the first seemingpossible solution and start to convince themselves that there is no otherbetter ones. Therefore they are stuck in the corner and forget to look for theother alternative. Dynamic thinking and radioactive mentality will help themanager to look the situation from a different view, there fore create the newapproach.

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Aneffective manager will not only look to the short-term profit.

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">  He sees further.  He must be able to judge where the futurebusiness will be lead to from the decision made today. Those decisions, whichbring profits today but will undermine business tomorrow, will be dropped.

The difficultdecisions are always accompanied by the ethical issues. The best solution for the company’s profit might not be the rightones according to the laws or regulations. On making decisions, the ethicaldilemmas cannot be neglected, and the outcomes of unethical behavior can affectreputations, trust and career path. Results have been as severe as loss ofemployment, physical harm to individuals, corporate bankruptcy and even impactsto the economy.

The scandals of2002, including Enron and WorldCom, resulted in regulations having created a cultural shift particularly infinancial fields that has renewed emphasis on ethical business behavior.  What distinguishes mediocre level managersfrom the truly effective managerial leader is an ethical dimension. There existsdifferent moral stages that guide people in their everyday decision-making.Those people in the “principled level…make a clear effort to define moralprinciples apart from the authority of the groups to which they belong orsociety in general”<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-US;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[12]

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Learnfrom the formal fail experience is very important.

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">  Managers are apt to stumble down the samefailure-prone path over and over again without learning.  Learning is thwarted when leaders do nottolerate mistakes. In such an environment, people conceal bad out comes.Consequently, people in the same company, or the same person in differentperiod will repeat the similar mistake. A good manager will see the mistakes asan education and correct himself constantly according to the new situations.  Generally speaking, to be an effectivedecision maker, managers need to work closely with their team and “integratetheir faith, values and business practices”. <span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:«Arial Unicode MS»; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[13]  In the presentation we will use the case from“Nestle Company” to show why bad decisions had been made and what theconsequences are.<span Times New Roman",«serif»; mso-fareast-font-family:«Arial Unicode MS»;color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[14]

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Conflict Management Skills

According to JeanMiller from TIG (Taking It Global) “Conflict is the source of all growth and isan absolute necessity if one is to be alive.”<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-US;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[15]  An effective manager must be able to manageconflict and also learn from it to help the organization to grow and bechallenged.  Conflict is not alwaysnegative but can prove to have some positive outcomes as well.  The effective manager can balance thisdelicate relationship and works hard to handle conflict with care.

As further statedin the article, conflict can be viewed as something to manage or something toresolve.  John Burton, one of the world’sleading scholars in the field of conflict resolution commented “…resolutionmeans terminating conflict by methods that are analytical and that get to theroot of the problem.”  Miller explainsthat “conflict management is a multi-disciplinary, analytical, problem-solvingapproach to conflict that seeks to enable participants to work collaboratelytowards its management.”<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-US;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[16]

Conflict is noteasily avoided in any organization; therefore, an effective manager is preparedby knowing how he will approach certain issues before they happen.  There are many books and articles writtenthat address this topic in great detail. An effective manager will consult these items and use his or her ownjudgment in taking the advice of these publications. 

According to JamesCribbin, there are three basic kinds of conflict as follows:  Approach-Approach, Avoidance-Avoidance, andApproach-Avoidance.<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-US;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[17]  Approach-Approach would seem to be the moststraight forward type of conflict as there are two alternatives that areequally feasible.  If an employee is notbeing productive in the company this affects how the manager’s boss views thatdepartment.  The manager wants to pleasehis boss but also stay on good terms with his employee.  In each case the manager needs to approachthe other person with open communication and deal with the situation.

Avoidance-Avoidanceis very difficult because whatever decision is made to have negativeconsequences.  If a manager knows thathis boss is cheating the company financially, he must make a decision.  Tell on his boss and suffer the wrath, orstay quiet and sacrifice his ethics.  Hewould like to avoid the conflict on either side, but staying quiet may not bean option.

The last type ofconflict according to Cribbin is Approach-Avoidance.  He gives a clear example of a manager put ina situation in which he must make a decision that will affect himself and hisfamily.  He wants to approach thesituation but also avoid it completely. He is given a great promotion in the company but must move his familyfrom his nice comfortable town to a large metropolis city.  Cribbin has outlined the options he has andportrays what a difficult situation this could really be:

Accept the position and move Accept the position, leave the family in the small town and visit them on the weekends. Bribe the family to make the move. Ask the family to try to the <st1:City w:st=«on»><st1:place w:st=«on»>new city</st1:place></st1:City> for a year and then assess the situation. He can refuse the promotion. He can try to stall in making the decision and hope that something different will turn up. He can try to convince his superiors that he can take the promotion and contribute more from where he already is. He can get another job.<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[18]

While this is apersonal conflict for this manager, the skills a manager uses to deal withpersonal conflict must be transferable to the workplace environment involvingother employees as well as superiors.  Ifa manager knows that there are always several options in dealing with asituation, he will be more open to choosing one that will work for that uniqueconflict.

As mentionedearlier, consistency is an important part of an effective manager and can beapplied to conflict as well.    A goodmanager is consistent in executing rules and regulations with his employees.  He will not let close relationships withemployees cloud his judgment and rationale for making a decision.  When conflict arises, the employees will knowthat each person will receive the same treatment regardless of who they are.

According toRobbins, “Consistency can relate to an individual’s reliability,predictability, and good judgment in handling situations.  Inconsistencies between words and actionsdecrease trust.  Nothing is noticed morequickly… than a discrepancy between what executives preach and what they expecttheir associates to practice.”  Peoplewant to be able to “predict what you are going to do.”<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-US;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[19] 

In order for amanager to improve their effectiveness in a conflict situation they can alsouse “The Five A’s of Improving Your Personal Effectiveness” Model fromKerns.  The A’s are assess, analyze, action plan,act, and adjust – then repeat.<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-US;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[20]  A good manager will always assess thesituation in order to gather all of the details.  Once he has all of the information, he willanalyze it and develop an action plan. After implementation of the plan, he will be able to be flexible withthat plan if something needs to be adjusted. Effective managers use the Five A’s constantly without even realizingit. This helps a manager approach conflict with confidence knowing there is asteady process he can rely upon.

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Flexibility and Creativity

<span Times New Roman",«serif»;color:black;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> “

<span Times New Roman",«serif»; color:black">Managers<span Times New Roman",«serif»; color:black"> exist in a state of steady uncertainly and their success restsupon constant exploration of uncharted waters.”

Barry Munitz,

President of Federated Development Company

<st1:place w:st=«on»><st1:City w:st=«on»>Houston</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st=«on»>Texas</st1:State></st1:place>

Today changes in the business environment become morerapid and more complex and of course each manager must solve more problems in alimited period of time. AsDr. Abraham Zaleznik of Harvard University mentioned: «No matter how muchyou plan, when you get to the work place there are unanticipated problems: Andthe added constant challenge is that most of these problems cannot be solvedeffectively in old, familiar, or straightforward manners. Hence the qualitymost necessary for business and career success these days, and increasingly soin the future, is flexibility.”<span Times New Roman»,«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[21]But our group consider also creativity to be important today. These two aspectshelp manager not to be lost and not to lose in the modern business world and ofcourse to be effective.

According to the dictionary flexibility is “the ability to change or tobe changed easily to suit a different situation”<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[22].What factors made this aspect so important? Thirst of all the growing volumesof information a manager should deal with. Second, environment and technologieswhich changed quicker and quicker every year and the third point will beinternationalization. According to these three situations we can determine thefollowing characteristics of the flexible manager:

A flexible manager is able “to stay loose and to choose and explore a wide variety of approaches to problems, without losing sight of the overall goal or purpose”<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[23] Shows a resourcefulness in their ability to adapt himself quickly and easily to developing situation and changing environment He «does not see the environment as something to which they should passively respond, but as something they should actively shape.»<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[24]

Some authors also associated flexibility with personal openness of themanager<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[25].They pointed out that if managers are open then they can be influenced by whatis happening around them and as a result they react more flexible to all thechanges around the<st1:PersonName w:st=«on»>m.</st1:PersonName> The one thingis obvious that flexibility is a key feature of personal growth and anindispensable condition for being an effective manager.

Let’s now go back to the second aspect – creativity, and let’s see whatit means: “Creativity – producing or using new and effective ideas, results,etc”<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[26].When we think about creativity, we imagine people who are gifted, talented, anddifferent from others, whose ideas, decisions, and actions are situated out ofthe every day’s life borders.  In culture,creativity is associated with such a people like Bach, Van Gogh, and Einstein;in business with Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple Computers), Jack Welch(General Electric), and Anita Rodick (The Body Shop).<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[27]

  Today creativity is a way of thinking, theway to integrate you visions and ideas into relationships and business. Thisprocess can be presented as following:

Figure 3: Critical thinking

Begin with one problem or question

<img src="/cache/referats/15631/image004.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_s1056 _x0000_s1057 _x0000_s1059 _x0000_s1058"><img src="/cache/referats/15631/image005.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_s1053 _x0000_s1054">          

<div v:shape="_x0000_s1055">

Generate numerous possibilities

                                                                                                       

   Brainstorming processes

                                                 Free association, etc.                                 

                                                    

 

Source:Becominga Master Manager, By:Robert E.Qiunn,Sue R.Faerman,Michel P. Thomson,Michael R. McGrath; <st1:country-region w:st=«on»><st1:place w:st=«on»>USA</st1:place></st1:country-region>,2003

The use of creativity in the decision making process or in problemsolving allows manager to increase the effectiveness and encourage creativethinking among employees.  An effectivemanager will use creativity as a tool of motivation. When employees are encouragedto use creativity in their problem solving and in everyday work, they are morelikely to feel unique, valued and important for their organization<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[28].In this way a manager can not only develop effectiveness but also create agroup of like-minded employees.

For an effective manager of the future creativity or creative thinkingshould become the natural way to think. But to reach this ideal situation eachmanager should avoid the following barriers:

“A negative value of fantasy and reflection as a waste of time, a sign of laziness, or even a bit crazy”<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[29] the ideas that only children may play and fantasise but adults must be serious the idea that problem solving is a very serious an responsible process and you must forget about creativity and humour a negative image of feeling and intuition, which are regarded as illogical an impractical

Although it is very difficultsometimes to change the society’s cultural barriers and to change the image ofcreativity, each manager should try to overcome pragmatic influences and think individually.

 

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Developing of managerial knowledge and  manager’s teaching role

Every manager must be sure that heor she will develop the competence and knowledge of those they supervise. Everyemployee has a potential for personal and professional development, and a goodmanager should discover and develop this potential. We will start with the ideathat each person wants to know more. When a young employee comes to the companyhe has a lot of theoretical knowledge, personal ideas and visions.  He has read a lot of books and articles, buthe is still asking himself a lot of different questions. In that moment heneeds someone to teach him how to become successful.

<span Times New Roman",«serif»; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">When you are a small child your parents teach you howto walk, and when you make your first steps in your career you also need a“parent” to  teach, to give support, toempower and whatever else necessary. The effective manager is always ready tobecome such a “parent”. He is always open to his employees and colleagues, heshares his knowledge, and he inspires others with his own experience andexample.  During the process of teachinghe always remains patient and supports everyone in every step of the way.

<span Times New Roman",«serif»;color:black">And ofcourse leaders take the time to thank employees for a job well done.<span Times New Roman",«serif»; color:black">

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Butteaching doesn’t mean only sharing manager’s knowledge with someone; it alsomeans that the manager takes a role of mentor. Theterm "mentor"has been used quite often in recent years.  Jacqueline D. Heads, academic advisor for theRutgers University College of Pharmacy in New Jersey defines this term as thefollowing  “A true mentormotivates you and impels you to move to the next level, mobilizes you byadvising you on how to get there, and finally, like a guide, a mentorinformally monitors your progress to make sure you are moving in the rightdirection,"<span Times New Roman",«serif»; mso-fareast-font-family:«Arial Unicode MS»;color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[30]

<span Times New Roman",«serif»; color:black">But why should we pay so much attention to teaching role ofmanager or his mentoring role? The answer is obvious: teaching is a corecompetency the effective manger should have. The idea of effectiveness changedthe vision of teaching and today more authors speak not only about teaching ormentoring but about a developmental manager.<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:«Arial Unicode MS»; color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">[31]

  That means that instead of taskmasters andevaluators, managersare most effectiveas coaches, motivators, symphony conductors and employee developers”<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:«Arial Unicode MS»; color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">[32]  We will pay more attention to this idea.

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Developinghappened not at home but mostly at the work place during the work itself orduring the special classes. That is why it will be useful for each manager tocreate and to follow a development plan to avoid pointless talks and wasting oftime. The idea of “A+ employees takes A+ managers”<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:«Arial Unicode MS»; color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">[33] seems to our group to bea very interesting and future oriented idea of cooperation between manager andemployees. According to this idea you should follow these rules while developingpeople:

·<span Times New Roman"">        

<span Times New Roman",«serif»; color:black">Appreciate uniqueness of the people

·<span Times New Roman"">        

<span Times New Roman",«serif»; color:black">Assess capability of their team members<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

·<span Times New Roman"">        

<span Times New Roman",«serif»; color:black">Anticipate the future (leads others in the future)<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

·<span Times New Roman"">        

<span Times New Roman",«serif»; color:black">Align aspirations (create win/win partnerships built on trust andloyalty)<span Times New Roman",«serif»; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

·<span Times New Roman"">        

<span Times New Roman",«serif»; color:black">Accelerate learning <span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">

<span Times New Roman",«serif»; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">But in practice the theory is always confronted withreality. One of the main problems of teaching or developing people is that alot of managers are afraid of teaching other people. The main reason for suchan attitude is idea, that if you as a manager will teach someone everything youknow and after that he may become better and smarter then you, and take yourplace. Of course it can happen. But then manager should turn back to his mainvalues and decide what is most important to him: his own career or his company’ssuccess.

At the same time, if you are goingto share your knowledge with someone, to teach, to develop and to become amentor you must broaden your own knowledge. Theindividual becomes a manager because he was chosen to get results and to usehis knowledge, not because he won a popularity contest. Employees arenot going to listen to a person who has no knowledge in what he is talkingabout or gives out false information. People need to believe that a manager hasthe proper skills and abilities to carry out what he claims to be experiencedin. Only then a manager will earn a respect and employees will become hislike-minded tea<st1:PersonName w:st=«on»>m.</st1:PersonName> How will you beable to do this? 

 Some authors<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[34]say that as a manager and especially as an executive manager you are responsiblefor all fields of business in your company: for marketing and sales, forfinance, for information technology etc. You should understand howthings works (the IKEA-case and Kamprad’s attention to all details canillustrate this statement) and also how employees work whose knowledge in oneparticular field are deeper then yours. These are two main corner stones ofsuccess. How to reach them? The best solution can be continuous replacinginside organization. As a result manager receivesvariety of experiences and knowledge in different functions, business units,companies, and even countries. The positive effect of such a “moving” resultsin understanding, how the whole business operates; of the impact of managerialdecisions on the rest of the organization. Managers can also transfer bestpractices to new areas while moving; he learns how to lead in a variety ofsituations and he develops strong networks inside and outside the organization

<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;color:black; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[35]. 

Some other authors<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;color:black; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[36],especially from the business world, used to think that an effective managermust not be satisfied with his education degree and training, but must alwaysbe ready to catch advanced education opportunities. The advanced degree isMBA-program; if this level was reached then never avoid additional seminars,courses and workshops. In contrast to the thirst group of authors who arespeaking about continuous replacement, these theories accept the idea ofreceiving deep knowledge in one particular area.

These two approaches andalso all theories about teaching show us how important is for every manager todevelop himself and his employees. Continuous self-development, learning andteaching are the best ways to success and effectiveness.

<span Times New Roman",«serif»; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;text-decoration:none;text-underline:none"><span Times New Roman"">           <span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">Motivationof employees<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB"><span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">Like theprevious characteristics, the ability to motivate your employees to work isalso an indispensable one if you want to be effective as a manager. Thepsychology of motivation is tremendously complex, and what has been unravelledso far with any degree of assurance is very small. What I will do here is (1)give a definition of what motivation is, (2) very briefly going across themajor theories, classical and contemporary ones, and (3) address somepossibilities how an affective manager can implement the ideas the theoriesoffered in reality, which is of most importance. But first some theory.<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN"><span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">Stephen P.Robbins gives us the following definition of motivation in his book OrganizationalBehavior (2001, p. 155)<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:«Times New Roman»;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:NL;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[37]:“[…] the processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction,and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal”. Thus intensity (1)is concerned with “how hard a person tries”, with direction (2) we mean “towardattaining the organizational goals“and persistence refers to “how long a personcan maintain his or her effort”.<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN"><span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">In the past,especially in the 50’s, a lot has been written about how managers can motivatetheir employees. We can classify these theories in 5 categories.<span Times New Roman",«serif»;mso-fareast-font-family:«Times New Roman»;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:NL;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[38]These are:

 

1. Need theories:

<span Times New Roman",«serif»; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">-    Hierarchyof Needs Theory (A. Maslow) / ERG Theory (C. Alderfer)

<span Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">-<span Times New Roman"">         

TwoFactor Theory (F. Herzberg)

<span Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">-<span Times New Roman"">         

TheoryX and Theory Y (D. McGregor)

These theories all depart from thethought that to motivate your employees, you have to satisfy certain needs.Maslow’s hierarchical model, a classical one, says that you first have to satisfy physiological needs (i.e.hunger, thirst, …), then you have to offer them safety (from physicaland emotional harm), consequently you must satisfy them socially (affection,acceptance, …), after that you can motivate them by satisfying theiresteem (internal as well as external), and only then, when all the previousneeds are satisfied, you can motivate them by letting your employees actualizethemselves through their work (i.e. self-fulfilment). So if you want tomotivate someone, according to Maslow, you need to understand what level ofhierarchy that person is currently on and focus on satisfying those needs at orabove that level.

Maslow’s theory has received widerecognition, but unfortunately research does not validate the theory. A theory thatcontests Maslow’s theory is Alderfer’s ERG Theory, where E stands for existence(cfr. the physiological and safety needs), R for relatedness (cfr. thesocial needs and the external component of the esteem need) and G for growthneeds (cfr. the internal esteem component and the self-actualization need).This theory differs from Maslow’s in that (1) more than one need may beoperative at the same time and (2), if the gratification of a higher level needis stifled, the desire to satisfy a lower-level need increases. In opposite toMaslow’s theory, several studies do have supported this theory. It takes intoaccount that in different cultures the categories can be ranked in another way,for example <st1:country-region w:st=«on»><st1:place w:st=«on»>Japan</st1:place></st1:country-region>,where the social needs are placed under the physiological ones.

Another classical need theory is theTheory X and Theory Y of <st1:place w:st=«on»>Douglas</st1:place> McGregor.These two theories represent two distinct views of human beings: Theory X makesthe assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy, dislike responsibility,and must be coerced to perform, where Theory Y stipulates that employees likework, are creative, seek responsibility and can exercise self-direction.Research suggests that these theories may be applicable but only in particularsituations.

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Maybethe most important contribution to the motivation question comes from thepsychologist Frederick Herzberg with his Two-Factor Theory. The insightHerzberg brought to the matter meant a u-turn in previously thinking. He statedas first that the opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction, as wastraditionally believed, but that both are distinct and separate. Intrinsicfactors such as the work itself, responsibility, and achievement seem to berelated with satisfaction (motivators), while extrinsic factors such assupervision, pay, company policies and working conditions are associated with dissatisfaction(hygiene factors). This theory has had a major impact on management in the last30 years and the fact that managers nowadays allow workers greaterresponsibility in planning and controlling their work can probably beattributed largely to Herzberg’s findings and recommendations

2. Goal-Setting Theory (E. Locke):

 

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">The primary idea ofthis theory is that specific and difficult goals, with goal/ feedback, lead toa higher performance. This means that, for example, to motivate someone, youdon’t say “Just do your best”, but you say specific what has to be obtained,for example “You should strive for 85 percent or higher on all your work inEnglish”. Research supports this theory in that this do can lead to a higherperformance, although it may not lead to job satisfaction (cfr. supra).

 

3. Reinforcement Theory:

This theory states thatreinforcement conditions behaviour. Behaviour is thereby environmentallycaused. What controls behaviour are reinforcers – any consequence that, whenimmediately following a response, increases the probability that the behaviourwill be repeated. The theory ignores the inner state of the individual andconcentrates solely on what happens to a person when he or she takes someaction. Because it does not concern with what initiates behaviour, it is not,strictly speaking, a theory of motivation. But it does provide a powerful meansof analysing of what controls behaviour, and it is for this reason that it istypically considered in discussions on motivation.

 

4. Equity Theory (J. S. Adams):

 

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">This theory poses thatindividuals compare their job inputs (i.e. effort, experience …) and outcomes(i.e. salary, recognition …) with those of others and then respond so as toeliminate any inequities. For example a person who does the same job as anotheremployee but gets paid less will be motivated to perform better in order toeliminate the existing inequities.

<span Times New Roman",«serif»"> 

5. Expectancy Theory (V. Vroom):

This is currently one of the mostaccepted explanations of motivation. Most of the research evidence issupportive of this theory. Concrete, this theory says that an employee will bemotivated to exert a high level of effort when he or she believes that effortwill lead to a good performance appraisal; that a good performance appraisalwill lead to organizational rewards such as a bonus, a salary increase, or apromotion; and that the rewards will satisfy the employee’s goals.

The major theories briefly presented,we can now look at how in reality a manager can implement these. Robbinsmentions 6 applications. These are:

1. Management by objectives (MBO)(cfr. Goal-Setting Theory):

This means in realty, as a manager,you make sure that the organization’s overall objectives are translated intospecific objectives for each succeeding level (divisional, departmental, andindividual) in the organization. You develop a program that encompassesspecific goals, participatively set with the employees, for an explicit timeperiod, with feedback on goal progress. MBO programs are used in many business,health care, educational, government and non-profit organizations.

2. Employee Recognition Programs(cfr. Reinforcement Theory)

Consistent with reinforcementtheory, rewarding a behaviour with recognition immediately following that behaviouris likely to encourage its repetition. For example: personally congratulatingan employee, or sending a letter or an e-mail, having a celebration because ofgood achievement, or publicly recognizing, such as organizing a prize “BestEmployee of the Month” (he/she then gets a plaque on the wall). These programsare widely used because it costs no money and according to research bears effective.

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">3. Employee InvolvementPrograms (cfr. Theory X and Theory Y, Two-Factor Theory, Hierarchy of NeedsTheory & ERG Theory):

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">

<span Times New Roman",«serif»">Theidea here is that by involving workers in those decisions that affect them andby increasing their autonomy and control over their work lives, employees willbecome more motivated,

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