BBA Management Process Skills Study Material Notes
Table of Contents
BBA Management Process Skills Study Material Notes: Nature of management process management functions Interpersonal roles Management roles Informational Roles Decisionla roles behavioral Approach of management process Top Management Function Board Director Function of Chief Executive Supervisory Management Scientific management Roles Middle Management Human relations roles Functional areas of management Conceptual skills human skills Supervisory management skills :
MCom I Semester Study Material Notes / English
Management Process Skills
We have seen in chapter 1 that management is a process of getting things done with and through people in organizations. The term process refers to an identifiable flow of interrelated events moving through some purpose, goal, or end. Flow implies movement through time and in the direction of a result, Interrelatedness implies interaction within the process and between the events. Events are activites or happenings. Purpse, goal, or end implies some end result, consequence, or conclusion to be achieved by completing the process. The concept of process can be applied to any, type of system and depending on the nature to the system in which the process is applied, it can be static or dynamic.
Management Process Skills
Nature of Management
Process Since an organisation in which context management is applied is a dynamic system, management process can be treated as dynamic in which events and interrelationship must be seen as dynamic, flexible, and continuous, and must be considered as a whole. Thus, management as a process involves a number of activites and assumes that the totality of what managers do can be divided into a set of interrelated activities. However, what activities comprise management process is not quite clear and precise because divergent views have been expressed on this. The basic reasons for this diversity of views are as follows:
1 There is no complete agreement among the scholars, or even practitoners, of management about what activities are performed by managers.
2. Various terms denoting the managerial activities have not been defined with sufficient degree of precision and it is difficult to know what a writer means by a given term.
3. List of managerial activities has been derived based on managerial experiences rather than based on systematic researches. Naturally, the observarion of one manager may differ from that of the others. In order to overcome the above problems, we can go through three approaches which describe what managers do. These are as follows:
4. Functional approach of management process or management functions;
5. Role approach of management process or management roles;
6. Behavioural approach of management process.
Management Process Skills
MANAGMENT FUNCTIONS
The classical analysis, which is the basis for management analysis, takes various fuctions which managers at all levels of the organisation perform in order to achieve organisational objectives. A function is a group of similar activities. However, what functions are undertaken by managers in organisations, there is divergence of views. The list of management functions varies from author to author both in terms of the number of functions and their nomenclature. Table 3.1 presents the list of these functions.
The list is very long. However, this can be shortened by combining some functions into one. For example, directing may include leading, motivating, communicating, commanding, activating, and securing efforts. Similarly, planning may include formulating purpose, innovating: investigating may fall under planning and controlling, and so on. Taking the classification of mangement functions in this way, unanimity prevails in respect of three functions, viz., planning, organising, and controlling. However, to get the things done by others requires some sort of directing human behaviour to purposeful activities. Therefore, directing can be considered like the above three functions. Some authors have carved out a fifth function as staffing by splitting the social aspect of organising. However, this has acquired great importance in the context of the manager’s responsibility for getting human resources in the organisation. Thus, managerial functions may broadly be grouped into planning, organising, staffing, directing, and controlling. Some authors add coordinating in this list but this is not a separate function of mangement and it can be treated as essence of management since the basic objective of all managerial functions is to achieve coordination in organised efforts. A detailed discussion of each of these functions will take place in separate parts, here a brief discussion is given about what each function includes.
1 Planning. Planning is the conscious determination of future course of action. This involves why in action, what action, how to take action, and when to take action. Thus, planning includes determination of specific objectives, determining projects and programmes, setting policies and stategies, setting rules and procedures, and preparing budgets. Based on the futurity involved in the planning process, plans may be prepared for long-term period, usually five years or more, intermediate-term period usually 2-5 years, or short-term period usually one year. Plans for these three periods are coordinted and a longer-term plan provides basis for shorter-term plan.
2. Organising. Organising is the process of dividing work into convenient tasks or duties, grouping of such duties in the form of positions, grouping of various positions into departments and sections, assigning duties to individual positions, and delegating authority to each position so that the work is carried out as planned. Organising function can be viewed as a bridge connecting the conceptual idea developed in creating and planning to the specific means for accomplishing these ideas. Organising function contributes to the efficiency of the organisation by ensuring that all necessary activities are performed and objectives are achieved
3. Staffing. Staffing involves manning the various positions created by the organising process. It includes preparing inventory of personnel available and identifying the gap between manpower required and available, identifying the sources from where people will be selected, selecting people, training and developing them, fixing financial compensation, appraising them periodically, etc. There is a controversy whether staffing function is to be performed by all managers in the organisation or it is to be handled by personnel department which looks after the personnel matters enumerated above. The controversy can be settled because staffing function is too complicated and time-consuming. To make it convenient. some processes of staffing are completed by personnel department. In doing so, it facilitates the performance of staffing function by managers in the organisation. For example, managers!
Principles and Practice of Management are required to appraise the performance of subordinates. Personnel department facilitate this function by prescribing and supplying the proforma for this appraisal there is uniformity in appraisal system throughout the organisation. Similar support can be provided by personnel department in other aspects of staffing.
4. Directing. When people are available in the organisation, they must know what they are expected to do in the organisation. Superior managers fulm this requirement by communicating to subordinates about their expected behaviour. Once subordinates are oriented, the superiors have continuous responsibility of guiding and leading them for better Work perlormance and motivatind them to work with zeal and enthusiasm. Thus, directing includes communicating, motivating, and leading
5. Controlling. Controlling involves identification of actual results, comparison of actual results with expected results as set by planning process, identification of deviation between the two, if any, and taking of corrective action so that actual results match with expected results. It brings to light all bottlenecks in work performance and operates as straight pointer to the needs of the situation.
Management Process Skills
Nature of Management
Functions Nature of management functions can be identified in terms of their being universal, their iterative characteristics, sequential arrangement, and relative importance.
1 Management functions are universal in the sense that a manager has to perform all these functions in the organisation irrespective of his level or type of organisation. Acting in their managerial capacity, chief executives, departmental heads, foremen, supervisors, etc., all do the same thing. Similarly, whether it is business organization or non-business organisation, the management functions are involved.
2. Mangement functions have iterative quality, that is, they are contained within each other. For example, planning, organising, directing, and controlling may occur within staffing function. Similarly, organising may invovle planning, directing, and controlling. We hear planning and controlinig of organisational design (a part of organising process). Thus, all management functions can be thought of as sub functions of each other.
3. Although management process suggests a sequential arrangement of functions, it is not always possible in the performance of managerial functions strictly in a sequence. Sequential concept may be true for initiating management functions in a new organisation to begin with. For an on-going organisation, it is not necessary to insist on a special time sequence for the various functions of management process. In this case, management process can be seen as a circular continuous movement as shown in example, while giving direction through communication to subordinate, a superior manager also appraises (staffing function) his subordinate as how carefully he is grasping the ideas.
4. Since there are many managerial functions, often a question arises: which management function is more important so that managers devote more time to that. This question is quite vital but it cannot be pointed out categorically that a particular management function is more important than others. In fact, no function is more important but the mix of the functions varies from task to task and from level to level of management. Therefore, the relative importance of management functions can be identified in the context of management levels. This analysis will bring the clue for training and developing the managers at various levels for the performance of specific management functions.
Before we trace out the relative importance of different functions of various levels of management, it may be worthwhile to identify the roles that managers perform in the organisations.
Management Process Skills
MANAGEMENT ROLES
As against the management functions, Mintzberg has defined the roles of managers to identify what managers do in the organisations. Role is defined as the pattern of behaviour which is defined for different positions. It refers to the expected behaviour of the occupant of a position-not all their behaviour, but to what he does as occupant of that position. Minztzberg has pointed out that there are three broad categories of roles that a manager performs in an organisation. These are interpersonal roles, informational roles, and decisional roles. Within each category of roles, there are different roles as shown in Figure 3.2.
Management roles Management roles depend on the formal authority which is delegated to the manager in an organisation. The degree of authority determines his status and different roles. In performing a particular role, the manager uses his skills and other characteristics. The three major roles of a manager are interpersonal, informational, and decisional.
Management Process Skills
Interpersonal Roles
Interpersonal roles of a manager are concerned with his interacting with other persons, both the organisational members and outsiders. There are three types of interpersonal roles:
figurehead role, leader role, and liaison role. In figurehead role, the manager performs activities which are of ceremonial and symbolic nature. These include greeting the visitors, attending social functions involving employees, and handing out merit certificates and other awards to outstanding employees. Manager’s leader role involves leading his subordinates and motivating them for willing contributions. Willing contributions come from subordinates when they see in a manager certain exemplifying behaviour. In liaison role, the manager serves as a connecting link between his organisation and outsiders or between his unit and other organisational units. The major objective of this role is to maintaing a link between the organisation and its external environment.
Informational Roles
Informational roles of a manager include communication-giving and receiving informationboth within and outside the organisation. Information is required to make decisions effective. There are three types of informational role of a manager: monitor, disserninator, and spokesperson. In his monitoring role, the manager constantly collects information about those factors which affect his activities. Such factors may be within the organisation as well as outside it. In the disseminator role, the manager distributes the information to his subordiantes who may otherwise not be in a position to collect it. As a spokeserson, the manager represents his organisation or unit while interacting with outsiders. These may be customers, financiers, government, suppliers, or other agencies of the society.
Management Process Skills
Decisional Roles
Decisional roles of a manager involve choosing the most appropriate alternative out of the available ones so that the organisation achieves its objectives when the chosen alternative is put into action. In his decisional roles, the manager performs four roles: entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator. As an entrepreneur, the manager assumes certain risk which is involved in terms of the outcomes of an action because these are affected by a variety of external factors. Since these factors are dynamic and change constantly, the manager is required to bring suitable changes in the organisational processes to align these with the requirement of the environment. As disturbance handler, the manager is required to contain those forces and events which tend to disturb the organisational equilibrium and normal functioning. These forces and events may be strike by employees, shortage of raw materials, employee complaints and grievances, etc. As resource allocator, the manager allocates resources human, physical, and financial-to various organisational units according to their needs. As negotiator, the manager negotiates with various interest groups in the organisation. Such interest groups are shareholders, employees, and outside agencies.
Validity of Role Approach. Mintzeberg’s role approach is based on the close observation of the activities performed by five chief executives. Therefore, the question arises about its validity so far as managerial activities are concerned. Though some research studies have supported the views of Mintzberg.? this approach suffers from two limitations. First, the type of roles that have been identified by Mintzberg are not applicable to all types of managers particularly those at the lower levels. Second, there are many other managerial roles which have not been included in this list, for example, manager as a controller, as a coordinator, etc. Nevertheless, Mintzberg has given a new insight about what managers do.
Reconciling function and role approaches of manager’s job The reconciliation between function and role approaches of managerial jobs shows that in planning, a manager performs informational and decisional roles as he collects various relevant information on the basis of which he makes decisions. In organising, he performs decisional roles by allocating duties and resources to organisational units and makes way for coordinating of these units. In directing, the manager performs interpersonal and informational roles by interacting with his subordinates, leading, motivating, and communicating them. In controlling, he shares informational roles. The staffing function has not been included in role approach though managers at every level perform this function. Thus, function approach of managerial jobs is more comprehensive as compared to Mintzberg’s role approach
Management Process Skills
BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH OF MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Behavioural approach of management process is based on behavioural scientists observations of what managers actually do in their jobs. These behavioural scientists have opined that managers do not actually behave the ways suggested by functional and role approaches but the actual behaviour of managers appears to be less systematic, more informal. less reflective, more reactive, and much more unorchestrated. Kotter has emphasised that modern managers are involved in three critical activities which are as follows:
1 Managers, particularly general managers, spend significant time in establishing personal agendas and goals, both short-term and long-term. These personal agendas and goals include vague as well as specific areas and actually address a broad range of financial, product-oriented, and organisational issues.
2. Managers spend a great deal of time in building an interpersonal network composed of people at virtually all levels of the organisation. This network is generally consistent with the formal plans and networks of the organisation though it is different and apart. Managers build their networks using a variety of face-to-face. interactive tools, both formal and informal.
3. Managers use their networks to execute personal agendas. They interact with peers, corporate staff, subordinates even three or four levels below them, and sometimes with competitors to accomplish their tasks and achieve their goals. Out of the three approaches-function, role, and behavioural, function approach is more comprehensive as it explains the totality of what managers do in discharging their managerial obligations in organisations though relative importane of various functions differs at different management levels.
Management Process Skills
Functions at Various Levels of Management
We have seen earlier that five management functions-planning, organising, staffing, directing, and controlling-are performed by every manager in an organisation. However, the relative importance of these functions varies along the managerial levels. People of an organisation are arranged in a hierarchy and they all have the relationship of superiorsubordinate, except the person at the top-most position who is superior alone and person at the lowest level who is subordinate alone. Thus, there will be as many levels in the organisation as the number of superiors in a line of command. From this point of view. there can be many levels. From analysis point of view, some of the levels can be merged into one on the basis of nature of functions performed and authority enjoyed. However, there is no unanimity over the broad category of management levels. For example, Keith Davis has classified various levels of management as trusteeship management, departmental management, middle management, and supervisory management. Litterer has a different type of classification when he classifies the management levels into institutional (trusteeship) level. general management (facilitating) level, and departmental management (integrating) level. The last category includes foremen and other supervisory personnel. Brech has classified management levels into three categories-top management, middle management, and supervisory level. In fact, this classification is more suitable from analysis point of view, hence taken for further discussion. Various positions of an organisation can be put under three levels as shown in Figure 3.4.
TOP MANAGEMENT
Management of an organisation consists of board of directors, chairman, and chief ulcer. Generally, chairman and chief executive officer positions are combined one. Al other times, chairman remains part-time in the organisation. At top management level, environment of the organisation is evaluated and basic goals of the organisation are established to fit the environmental appraisal, resources available at the disposal of the organisation, and needs of the organisational members. Top management integrates the functions of the whole organisation. It is responsible for overall management and performs
Sucn lunctions which are necessary for this. These functions may be grouped into three categories: overall management, overall operations, and overall relationship. Obert management includes determination of organisational goals and objectives, overall planning organising staffing, directing, and controlling. Through these functions, it tries to integrate the organisation with the environment, balance interests of various groups, and is responsible for overall results. In overall operation, it translates organisational plans into action, creates environment for work performance, and coordinates departmental heads. in overall relationship, it requires maintaining relationship with elements in organisation’s environment like government, trade associations, suppliers, financial institutions, etc. Within the top level management, functions of board of directors and chief executive differ because board is constituted by persons taken from outside the organisation also while chief executive is a regular employee of the organisation.
Management Process Skills
Functions of Board of Directors
A board is elected by the owners (shareholders) and is responsible to them as their agent for managing the affairs of the organisation. Board has authority to manage subject to the limitations imposed by the Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association of the company as well as the provisions of the Companies Act. There are numerous areas of responsibility which are generally recognised as constituting the functions and powers of the board of directors. These responsibilities and functions may differ on the basis of board composition and its relationship with the company so far as management is concerned. Some companies emphasise only on the legal aspects of board functions while in many cases, the board really participates in the management of the company. Various functions of board of directors can be divided into six categories: ( trusteeship function, implying that board must use the property of the company: (i) determination of basic objectives and policies of the organisation; (tl) selection of top executives and determination of overall organisation structure: (tv) approval of financial matters like approval of budget, appropriation of corporate earnings, etc; (U) checks and controls over top managers; and (v) legal functions as provided under the provisions of the Companies Act which include liabilities toward outsiders, towards the company, and criminal liabilities.
Management Process Skills
Functions of Chief Executive
Chief executive is a person whose responsibility is to make major decisions for the organisation as a whole because he is responsible for overall management. In an organisation,
1 Chief Executive Alone. This is conventional view of the chief executive. A particular maividual alone functions as chief executive, and is responsible for overall functioning of organisation. He may have at his disposal the services of various specialised stall such as legal advisers, accounting experts, engineers, statisticians, etc. The advice tendered by these experts makes his functioning easy and smooth; he remains responsible for the functioning of entire organisation.
2. Chief Executive-Chief Operating Officer. In a large organisation, when the functions of the top management become very heavy, these are grouped into two parts-management division and operating division. The chief executive officer looks after management division and he concentrates his attention on managerial functions-planning, organising, staffing. directing, and controlling. Chief operating officer looks after operating tasks. Generally, the departments which are related with managerial functions such as finance, personnel, legal, etc., are kept under the chief executive, and production, marketing, engineering. etc., which are more related with operating tasks are kept under the chief operating officer. However, a particular officer may take the help of any specialised staff. In this system, both persons are responsible for organisational functioning.
3. Chief Executive-Chief Operating Officer-Chief Staff Officer. In very large organisations, when work increases so much that chief executive and chief operating officer are not able to cover the entire functions, a third officer-chief staff officer-is also appointed. In such a case, the staff departments are grouped into one and this is assigned to him. Thus, the functions of the chief executive are divided into three functions-chief executive officer, chief operating officer, and chief staff officer. In such a case, sometimes, the chief executive officer’s relationship is limited to chief operating officer and chief staff officer. In some organisations, there may be more than one chief staff officer such as chief staff officermarketing, chief staff officer-finance, and chief staff officer-technical, etc.
Management Process Skills
4. Executive Group. In this system, chief executive consists of a group of various executives in the form of a committee. This committee is appointed by the board and discharges all the functions of the chief executive. This committee takes all the decisions of strategic importance which the chief executive cannot take alone.
Concept of multiple chief executive system has been adopted throughout the world. In India, many large companies have adopted this system. For example, Reliance Industries has Chairman, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, and Managing Director: Larsen and Toubro has Managing Director and Joint Managing Directior: Infosys Technologies has Chairman and Managing Director and Managing Director; and so on. ITC Limited has a multiple executive system in the form of Corporate Management Committee with all the four full-time directors being its members with a provision of inviting other senior managers to participate in the committee meetings. In the case of a multiple executive system, the responsibility for overall management of the company is shared jointly by different chief executives. The chief executive performs the following functions:
5. Formulation of Long-term Plans. Chief executive is responsible for formulation of longterm plans and making strategic decisions. He is involved in formulating long-term plans by making decisions about these plans and also by taking initiative and providing relevant information to the board in order to arrive at such decisions. In formulating long-term plans, he can take help of planning staff and other personnel of the organisation.
6. Guidance and Direction. Chief executive provides guidance and direction to various functionaries in the organisation which include the following: (0 explaining and interpreting policies, programmes formulated by the board of directors: (1) executing plans by giving appropriate orders to his subordinates; and (ii) rectifying or modifying programmes set up by departmental managers to achieve organisational goals.
7. Integration. Chief executive integrates the efforts of various departmental heads reporting to him. He performs the following integrating functions: (0 integrating various departmental heads by prescribing organisational relationships: (t prescribing and defining authority and responsibility of various departments; (itt creating conducive environment in the organisation for efficient functioning; and (iv) providing effective leadership in the organisation.
8. Staffing. Chief executive performs staffing function by appointing senior personnel in the organisation. He is responsible for fixing pay structure, transfer, promotion, discharge and demotion of personnel particularly at higher levels. In doing so, he may take the help of committees but final authority of making decisions lies with him.
9. Review and Control. Chief executive, being responsible for overall performance of the organisation, tries to ensure that actual work is going on according to plans. If there is any discrepancy, he takes immediate action to overcome the problems. In this regard, he performs the following functions: (1holding meetings of the various functionaries to consult them on organisational matters and to review functions performed; (i) suggesting and effecting corrective action in the case of discrepancy: (i) preparing and presenting progress and control reports for perusal by board of directors; (iv) informing board of directors about the functioning of the organisation in general, and of senior managers so as to take suitable course of action.
10. Public Relations. Chief executive is responsible to integrate his organisation with the external environment. He has to maintain relations with various agencies in the society. These may be government, trade associations, trade unions, financial institutions, etc.
While the above discussion shows the theoretical framework for identifying the role of a chief executive, there are empirical views and findings about the role of chief executives. Thomas, former chairman of Hindustan Lever, has visualised three roles of chief executive which are as follows:
1 managing the relationship with the enviornment,
2. managing the board, and
3. long-term planning.
Management Process Skills
The role of chief executive, as perceived by Thomas, is based on his holding the positions of the chief executive as well as that of the chairman simultaneously. If the two positions are combined together, this situation is quite true. However, when the two positions are delinked, the chief executive’s role is to assist the board rather than managing it.
Some research studies have been conducted about the relative importance of various functions performed by chief executives. A study of 125 chief executives of effective Indian companies reveals the facts, as presented in Table 3.2.
Management Process Skills
MIDDLE MANAGEMENT
Middle management stands between top management and supervisory management level. The number of levels within the middle management depends on the size of the organisation in terms of number of employees. Since there are many levels within middle management often it is classified into upper middle level and lower middle level. At the upper middle
Management level, the basic divisions of the organisation are determined and overau Po m ies of a division or department are established. Lower middle management is primarily concerned with carrying out functions for achieving specific goals.
While working in the middle, middle level management has to face pressures from three sides: to top management forces it to act in accordance with the policies, direction, and guidance set up by top management. (ti) lower management puts pressure over middle management for accepting and accommodating its ideas and views, and (ii) middle level managers themselves are interrelated and they expect greater cooperation and working facilities. Since there is no uniformity about the number of levels in middle management, there cannot be uniformity in their functions. However, some generalisations can be drawn and functions of middle management can be identified as follows:
1 Performance of various functions of the organisation so that top management gets enough time for integrating overall functioning of the organisation.
2. Cooperation among middle management itself and also with top management supervisors so that organisation functions without any problems.
3. Integration of various parts of a department in whose context management is taking action.
4. Training and development of employees for better functioning and filling future vacancies arising in the organisation.
5. Development and inculcation of feelings among individuals working within the department for subordination of individual goals to organisational goals.
6. Management of the department in such a way that it contributes to the functioning of other departments for achieving organisational goals.
Management Process Skills
SUPERVISORY MANAGEMENT
Supervisory management level is above the operatives and below the middle management in an organisation. This level can be classified into three categories, particularly in a largesized organisation: senior supervisors, intermediate supervisors, and front-line supervisors. Supervisory management is concerned with efficiency in using resources of the organisation. It is an executor of policies and procedures making a series of decisions with well-defined and specified premises. Generally, a supervisor is called a marginal man in the organisation. He is concerned with explaining the views of management to workers and the views of workers to management. Because of this reason, the job of a supervisor becomes more complex than other levels of management. Management treats him the man of workers while workers treat him the man of management.
Supervisor is directly related with workers. Therefore, the job of a supervisor differs from other levels of management, though he performs the job of management like planning. organising, staffing, directing, and controlling. In doing so, a supervisor performs three types of roles: scientific management roles, human relations roles, and functional roles.
Management Process Skills
Scientific Management Roles
Scientific management roles of a supervisor are in the form of a technician, analyser/ researcher, and controller.
1 Technician. Since a supervisor is responsible for the effective performance of operatives put under him, he performs the functions of a technician. In order to perform his job well as technician, he must have thorough knowledge of the technical aspect of the Jobs being performed by operatives so that he can tender technical advice, solve the complicated and intricate problems of the present-day organisations which are using morden technology. Though the supervisor does not perform the operative job himself, he is expected to perform the role of specifying and analysing the jobs carefully to determine appropriate methods of work.
2. Analyser/Researcher. Another scientific management role of a supervisor is to act as analyst as the operatives expect that he should design new and scientific job procedures and methods to achieve efficiency in work operations. Though he may get assistance from staff experts such as industrial engineers in job design, he should be well conversant with the operations.
3. Controller. As a controller, the supervisor tries to ensure that operatives use proper methods of work performance so that the stated results are achieved. As a controller, he does not only measure the performance of his subordinates but takes suitable remedial action if things go wrong, including the actions related to reward and punishment. Human Relations Roles
A supervisor is required to perform human relations roles much more effectively because he is directly concerned with workers who perceive themselves as a separate group of persons distinct from managerial personnel. This perception may alienate them from the organisation. Since a supervisor is a kind of link between workers and management, he is required to perform human relations roles which are as follows:
1 Human Relations Expert. A supervisor is treated as human relations expert because he serves as a negotiator, buffer, communicator, and compromiser. All these require that the supervisor develops a broader perspective to deal with human problems and needs human relations and interpersonal skills. He has to develop good relations with management and workers as he is generally not treated as a member of any one of these.
2. Counseller. A supervisor is required to provide counselling to his workers. Counselling involves empathic listening to problems particularly those which have emotional content and advising the workers as to how they can overcome these problems. These problems may be related to the work and work environment or even the personal matters of the workers.
3. Linking Pin. A supervisor functions as a linking pin between management and workers as he is known as a person in the middle. He is considered as representative of management by workers and workers’ representative by management. In such a situation, the supervisor has to satisfy the needs of both, management as well as workers. He can do this by effective communication.
4. Motivator. Acting as a motivator is one of the most important roles of a supervisor because he has to motivate workers who generally do not associate their objectives with those of the organisation. They may have even negative feeling about the organisation. In such a situation, the role of motivating workers is a challenging one. In order to perform this role, the supervisor must understand his workers fully and create a work environment which provides satisfaction to them.
5. Trainer. A supervisor works as trainer so far as on-the-job training of workers is erned. He has to train workers requiring skills to perform their jobs effectively. Since workers may be raw and unskilled, a supervisor faces an uphill task of making many workers may be raw them skilled
Functional Roles
Besides performing Scientific management and human relations roles, a supervisor is required to perform various functional roles which are as follows:
1 Planner. In performing the role of a planner, a supervisor is required to 10 operational plans for workers, that is, what work is to be done, how to be done, and when y be done. He establishes production targets, schedules, and procedures. All these are required so that the supervisor gets the stated results from his workers well in time.
2. Organiser. While as a planner, the supervisor decides what, how, and when the work to be done, as an organiser, he has to define who will do what. He brings people. JODS. machines, materials, etc. together and coordinate them for smooth and orderly functions His role of organising can be compared to a conductor of an orchestra who brings to playing each instrument at right moment to produce melodious music.
3. Leader. A supervisor should be good leader and exercise appropriate leadership styles to bring the willing efforts from workers. He cannot always rely on his formal authority to get the things done but should influence the workers by his personal skills for better performance. Though the supervisor has a choice either to adopt task-oriented or peopleoriented styles, he should mix these into appropriate proportion according to the need.
4. Controller. A supervisor works as controller which involves evaluation of the work performance of his workers, measuring this in the light of standards set, and taking appropriate corrective actions where the work performance does not match with the standard. As a controller, he is responsible to ensure that the work proceeds according to plans.
Various functions performed by different levels of management suggest that managers at every level have to perform all five functions. However, the relative importance of a function may differ from level to level. For example, planning is the most crucial function at the top level while routine and direct control becomes most important at supervisory level. Thus, the relative importance of various functions at different levels of management can be presented in Figure
It can be observed from Figure 3.5 that top management functions are broad and creative Therefore, at this level, planning function becomes the most important. Since OP management sets objectives and standards through planning process, it is interested to exercise control to ensure that actual results achieved are in line with plan. At the supervisory level, the functions are detailed and routine. This level is directly concerned with handling operatives. Therefore, directing and controlling functions become more important. Middle management falls in between. Staffing function is relatively less important at all levels because many of the staffing functions are handled by personnel department in most of the organisations. Similarly, once the organisation structure is set up. tasks are allocated, and authority is defined, organising function proceeds on routine basis requiring less managerial time,
Functional Areas of management
Management process consists of several functions and a distinction should be maintained between management functions (planning, organising, staffing, directing, and controlling) and organisational functions (production, marketing, finance, etc.). Organisational functions differ from organisation to organisation depending upon their nature, while the functions of the managers are common to all. Thus, a manager may be put in production function, marketing or finance function but he completes the activities of these functions through all the managerial functions. These organisational functions are called functional areas of management. Identification and classification of these functional areas are important as these put certain limitations over mobility of a manager from one area to another. The universality of management functions suggests that a manager can move in any area but the requirement of technical knowledge of a particular area prevents his movement freely. Higher the level of management, more managerial and less technical ability is required. As such, the mobility as greater is higher levels.
The number and types of functional areas of management are determined by the nature of the organisation and the types of classifications of various activities. U.K. Ministry of Education, in its report on Management Education, has classified functional management areas into nine parts: production, finance, development, distribution, purchasing, transport, maintenance, personnel, and office. 12 This classification is very intensive. A more acceptable and practical classification includes four broad functional areas-production, marketing, finance and personnel. These areas have their own organisation, policies, procedures, and sub-activities.
Production. This area is normally kept under the control of a production manager who is responsible for the performance of entire related activities. This area may further be classified into major sub-activities:
1 Purchasing. This is related with the purchase of various things required by the organisation, and managing transporation, etc.
2. Materials Management. This subarea deals with the storing issue of materials to departmen where these are needed. This works in close coordination with purchasing management, This area deals with the research and development of various
3. Research and Development. This area deals with the research a organisation. The objective is either to bring refinement in an products in a manufacturing organisation. The objective is either existing product line or to develop entirely a new product.
It can be observed from Figure 3.5 that top management functions are broad and creative Therefore, at this level, planning function becomes the most important. Since OP management sets objectives and standards through planning process, it is interested to exercise control to ensure that actual results achieved are in line with plan. At the supervisory level, the functions are detailed and routine. This level is directly concerned with handling operatives. Therefore, directing and controlling functions become more important. Middle management falls in between. Staffing function is relatively less important at all levels because many of the staffing functions are handled by personnel department in most of the organisations. Similarly, once the organisation structure is set up. tasks are allocated, and authority is defined, organising function proceeds on routine basis requiring less managerial time,
Functional Areas of management Management process consists of several functions and a distinction should be maintained between management functions (planning, organising, staffing, directing, and controlling) and organisational functions (production, marketing, finance, etc.). Organisational functions differ from organisation to organisation depending upon their nature, while the functions of the managers are common to all. Thus, a manager may be put in production function, marketing or finance function but he completes the activities of these functions through all the managerial functions. These organisational functions are called functional areas of management. Identification and classification of these functional areas are important as these put certain limitations over mobility of a manager from one area to another. The universality of management functions suggests that a manager can move in any area but the requirement of technical knowledge of a particular area prevents his movement freely. Higher the level of management, more managerial and less technical ability is required. As such, the mobility as greater is higher levels.
The number and types of functional areas of management are determined by the nature of the organisation and the types of classifications of various activities. U.K. Ministry of Education, in its report on Management Education, has classified functional management areas into nine parts: production, finance, development, distribution, purchasing, transport, maintenance, personnel, and office. 12 This classification is very intensive. A more acceptable and practical classification includes four broad functional areas-production, marketing, finance and personnel. These areas have their own organisation, policies, procedures, and sub-activities.
Management Skills
In order to perform various management functions effectively. managers must possess certain skills. Skill refers to practical ability or expertness in an action or doing something. From the very beginning of development of management thought, both management practitioners and researchers have emphasised different skills for managers. Therefore. the list of managerial skills is very long. Robert Katz has grouped various managerial skills into three broad categories: technical skills, human skills, and conceptual skills.
Technical Skills
Technical skills are concerned with what is done. These pertain to knowledge and proficiency in processes, procedures, methods, and techniques which are used in doing a work. Boulton has called these skills as hard skills and are easily visible in a person. 14 Technical skills learned by accountants, engineers, managers, and other persons are developed by the actual practice on the job. For example, the person who is responsible to maintain files in an organisation must have technical skill relating to ‘how files are maintained and he learns this through practice. For managers, technical skills are required for effective performance of the following managerial jobs:
1 Managers are responsible to maintain workflow in the organisation. Workflow involves the intiation of action, that is, who will initiate action and who will receive it. For example, in an organisation, one person gives materials to another person, an initiation of action, and other person receives it. For prescribing workflow, managers must have technical knowledge of the work concerned.
2. Managers are responsible to maintain order in the work system, that is, there should be place for everything and everything should be on its place. For maintaining effective order system, managers must have knowledge of work system and workflow.
Human Skills
Human.skills, also referred to as human relations skills, are one’s ability to work effectively with others on a person-to-person basis and to build up cooperative group relations to accomplish organisational objectives. Since management in a process of getting things done with and through people, no manager can be effective without suitable human skils irrespective of his being technically and conceptually competent. Human skils are required for effective peformance of the following managerial jobs :
1 Every manager interacts on one-to-one basis with others-superior, subordinate, peer, and outsider. To make this interaction effective, the manager must have good interpersonal skills so that he can understand others and make himself to be understood by others.
2. Every manager interacts with others as a member of groups. Such groups may be constituted either formally by the organisation in the form of various committees and work groups or informally constituted by the group members themselves. A manager will be effective as a group member only when he has ability to understand other members and to make himself understood by these members.
3. Every manager communicates with others frequently. These people may within the organisation or from outside. For making communication effective, have ability to be empathic to understand others’ views in right perspective as a good listener besides being good orator.
4. For directing his subordinates, a manager does not only use his formali au because of its obvious limitations but relies more on his leadership ability so as get willing and enthusiastic efforts of his followers for achieving organisational objectives. Therefore, a manager must have emotional stability, empathy. Objection and ability to influence others.
5. For getting best result from people, it is essential that they are motivated properly. Motivation defends on people’s needs and their perception that they will be able to satisfy their needs by working in the organisation. It is the responsibility of a manager to create such an environment in which people may have perception that they will be able to satisfy their needs. Therefore, the manager must be able to understood the needs of his people and the way these needs may be satisfied.
6. Occasionally, conflicts arise in the organisation. Such conflicts may arise between two persons, in group, or between two groups. If such conflicts are not resolved amicably and within the given time frame, these may become dysfunctional leading to organisational inefficiency. Therefore, a manager must have ability to resolve conflicts appropriately. For this purpose, the manager must be a good compromiser,
smoother, and negotiator All the above human skills can be learned and developed by an individual by going through appropriate literature and practising accordingly.
Conceptual Skills
Conceptual skills are related to concepts and mental conception-conceptual framework intended to development of new product and/or idea. Since conceptual skills are in the form of imagination-chimarical, fantasy, notional, or vision, Boulton has called these as soft skills and are hardly visible in a person. 15 In the context of management, conceptual skills are also known as general management skills and refer to the ability to see the whole picture to reconsise significant elements in a situation and to understand the relationship among these elements. For managers, conceptual skills are required for the following managerial jobs:
1 For making decisions, particularly non-programmed or strategic decisions. conceptual skills are required. Non-programmed decisions are relevant for solving unique/unusual problems in which various alternatives cannot be decided in advance for example, launching a new product, expansion of business, and so on. For making non-programmed decisions, various factors, both environmental and Internal, have to be taken into account. These factors, particularly environmental factors, are quire dynamic and changes in these cannot be predicted easily Therefore, managers have to used their conceptual skills for broadly defining the likely change in contextual variables affecting decision-making. There are various examples of using conceptual skills in making non-programmed decisions. One example is presented here. In 1980s, when Hero Group of Ludhiana considered some new products in the personal transport product, it chose to add four-stroke motorcycle which was not considered highly lucrative at that time as compared to scooter. Even many professional friends of Brij Mohan Lall (Head of Hero Group) questioned the efficacy of this decision. On this, Lall, the present Chairman of Hero Honda Motors commented that “future personal transport will be dominated by motorcycle and not by scooters”. In the age of incraesing fuel cost and speed-oriented transport, motorcycles would have an edge over scooters.’ One can see very easily how much true this perception has been. Presently, motorcycles have overtaken scooters by a big margin and Hero Honda has become number one motor cycle manufacturer.
2. Conceptual skills are relevant for building models. A model is an abstraction of reality: a simplified representation of some real-world phenomenon. Models are used in different fields, for example, economic models, business models, transport models, etc. In management, models are used for diffferent activities like business models showing how different business activities will contribute to revenue generation, model for predicting environmental variables, etc. For constructing a model, only partial information remains available and the gap is fulfilled by the model creater using his conceptual skills Thus, technical skills deal with things, human skills deal with people, and conceptual skills deal with ideas. Every person has all these skills in varying proportion depending on the structure of his brain and the environment he lives is the case with managers. Every manager is required to possess these skills in varying proportion depnding on the nature of his functions. Since managers at different levels perform different types of functions, as discussed earlier, managers at differnet levels require different skills. Generally, as one goes up higher in the organisational level, one needs conceptual skills more as shown in Figure 3.6.16
Middle Management Skills
In middle management group, there may be managers at different levels placed between the top management and supervisors. Usually, they are concerned with a particular functional area of the organisation. There is a tendency of faster movement of this group of managers. Therefore, they require a variety of skills which must be relevant for their entire career. While at the lower end of middle management, more of technical and human skills are required; at the higher end of middle management, more creative and integrative skills are required. Thus, the managers in the middle management require human relations skill, leadership skill, motivating skill, and integrative skill.
Supervisory Management Skills
Supervisors may also be classified into front-line, intermediate, and senior. Since they are directly concerned with operatives where the actual operations of the organisation take place, supervisors should possess skills which help them to get things done by operatives. Every supervisor in the organisation should have sound technical knowledge of his field to provide proper instructions and guidance to operatives, interpersonal skill to develop cohesive operative-management relations, accuracy in work, motivational skill for creating proper work environment, and communication skill for interacting with higher management.
The production manager complained about the old machines and equipment used in manufacturing. Therefore, cost of production was high but without corresponding quality. While competitors had better equipment and machinery, Bharat Engineering neither replaced its age-old plant nor got it reconditioned. Therefore, to reduce the cost, it was essential to automate production lines by installing new equipment.
Director of research and development did not have any specific problem and, therefore, did not indicate for any change. However, a principal scientist in R&D indicated on one day that the director of R&D, though very nice in his approach, did not emphasise short-term research projects which could easily increase production efficiency to the extent of at least 20 per cent within a very short period. Moreover, such projects did not involve any major capital outlay.
Mr. Kumar got himself convinced about the management process going on in the divison and the type of problems being faced.
QUESTIONS
1 Discuss the nature and characteristics of management process followed in the company.
2. What are the real problems of industrial machinery division of the company ?
3. What steps should be taken by Mr. Kumar to overcome these problems?
