Teaching Plan


Managers: What Do They Do?

OUTLINE

 

Business Outcomes:

 

While the textbook, like most, follow the convention of defining management by its functions: planning, organizing, leading and controlling, I prefer an emphasis on the collaborative nature of achieving economic performance. This difference is clear on outcome measures. Where the text authors prefer the organizational outcome of management to be performance measured by:

Efficiency - how well resources are used

Effectiveness - goal appropriateness

An emphasis on economic outcomes would be measured by:

Profitability - the extent to which  sales, assets, or investment create profit (sales - costs)

Stock market performance - the extent to which the firm is creating value measured by demand for ownership in the business (stock price)

Of course the objective is to "win" but what is "winning" in business? It is doing better than all other rivals in the same market. It is a comparative measure, so we build a comparative or competitive advantage to gain higher profitability. Later we will make the argument that:

 

.

 

Hierarchical nature of management:

 

While we would like to argue that efficiency and effectiveness lead to economic value creation the evidence is illusive or, at least, the issue is much more complicated. Efficiency and effectiveness do provide, however, a way to look at performance at differing levels of the organization and provide standards for managers at differing levels. The role of manager is different dependent on hierarchical position:

 

What do Managers Actually Do?

 

Mintzberg reviewed the research on “the manger’s job” in his classic article “The Managers Job: Folklore and Fact.” Contrary to the popular notions that managers systematically and reflectively control, plan, and organize, Mintzberg found:

 

Myth

Fact

Work is reflective and involve systematic planning

Work is action oriented, stressed for immediate response, and work was varied

No regular duties

Duties are ritual and ceremonial, negotiations, and processing soft information

Relies of formal MIS for decision-making

Favor verbal, immediate information – even informal, soft data which is processed into coherent picture

Management is a science, or profession

Relies on judgment and intuition to make decisions

 

Roles of the Manager:

1.        Interpersonal Roles:

Figurehead – represents the organization and it authority

Leader – has power to make things happen

Liaison – makes contacts with peers and other managers

2.        Informational Roles:

Gathers and processes information

Monitor – scan environment for relevant cues

Disseminator – passes selected information to those who need to know

Spokesperson – informs outsiders

3.        Decisional Roles:

Entrepreneur – searches for new idea to implement, keeps mental track of their progress

Disturbance handler – tries to keep conflicts in balance and arbitrates conflict

Resource allocator – decides who gets what (resources and power); personal basis of decision-making

4.        The Integrated Job:

Implication for new manager – requirement for networks of information

Implication for Team Managers – requirement for information exchange

 

Implications for Effective Managers:

1.    Requires insight and introspection

2.    Systematic ways to share information – manager’s monopoly versus periodic debriefing and exchanges

3.    Ability to step back and see “big picture” – small emergencies detract; need to develop a “big picture”

4.    Use your specialists – and they need to understand the need for urgency over elegance

5.    See obligations as an opportunity and take time for introspection (thinking)

 

Implications for Business Education:

1.    Stress ‘cognitive learning “ – stress thinking skills over “skills”

2.    Put students into situations where skills can be developed – peer relationships, negotiating, motivating, processing information, and decision-making under ambiguity


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