Summary Of Chapter 1 by Usama Sultan

Who are managers?

A manager is someone who co-ordinates and oversees the work of other people so that the organizational goals can be accomplished.
This mainly includes the following levels of managers.
Top Managers: The top managers are responsible for taking the decisions of the organizations and their decisions effects the whole organization. Top managers are termed as executive vice president, president, chief operating officer, managing director or the chair person.

Middle Managers: Middle managers include all levels of management from first line managers to the top managers. These managers manage the work of the first level managers and are termed as regional managers, project leader, plant manager and division manager etc.

First-Line Managers: these managers manage the work of the people mainly involved in prducing the company products and servicing the organizational clients. First-Line managers are termed as supervisor, shift managers, district managers, department managers, office managers or even the foreperson.

What is Management?

Management invloves the co-ordinating and overseeing the work of people so that their work can be completed effectively and efficiently.

Efficiency: Getting the most output from the least number of inputs is termed as efficiency.

Effectiveness: Doing the things right is termed as effectivness.


What do Managers do?

Planning: Planning involves defining goals, establishing strategies for achieving these goals and developing plans to integrate and co-ordinate activities.

Organizing: Organizing involves arranging and structuring work so that the organzational goals can be accomplished.

Leading: Leading involves working with and through people to accomplish the organzational goals.

Controlling: Controlling invloves monitoring, comparing and correcting work performance.

Roles

Management Roles: The term management roles refers to specific categories of managerial behaviour.

Interpersonal Roles: The interpersonal roles are roles that invlove people that are symbolic and cereminial in nature. The three interspersonal roles include:

• Figurehead
• Leader
• Liaison

Informational Roles: The term informational roles refers to collecting, receiving and disseminating information. The three informational roles include:

• Monitor
• Disseminator
• Spokesperson

Decisional Roles: The term decisional roles refers to making choices or decisions. The four decisional roles include:

• Entrepreneur
• Disturbance Handler
• Resource Allocator
• Negotiator

Skills

Technical Skills: The term technical skills refers to job specific knowledge needed to proficiently perform specific tasks.

Human Skills: The ability to work well with other people individually and in a group.

Conceptual Skills: The ability to conceptualize about abstract and complex situations.

How the Manager's Job is changing?

Changing technology which invloves:

• Shifting organzational boundaries
• Virtual Workplaces
• More Mobile Workforce
• Flexible Work Arrangements
• Empowered Employees

Increased security which invloves:

• Risk Management
• Work life- Personal life balance
• Restructured Workplace
• Discrimination Concerns
• Globalization Concerns
• Employee assistance

Increased Emphasis on Organizational and Managerial Ethics which involves:

• Redefined Values
• Rebuilding Trust
• Increased Accountability

Increased Competitiveness which involves:

• Customer Service
• Innovation
• Globalization
• Efficiency/Productivity

Importance of Customers: The managers must create a customer responsive organization where employees are friendly and courteous, accessible, knowledgeable, prompt in responding to customer needs and willing to do what's necessary to please the coustomer.

Importance of Innovation: Innovation means doing things differently, exploring new territory and taking risks. The organzational managers need to encourage their employees to be on the lookout for new ideas and new approaches.

What is an Organzation?

An organization is a deliberate arrangement of opeople to accomplish some specific purpose.

Why Study Management?

Universality of Management: The reality that management is needed in all types and sizes of organizations at all organizational levels, in all organzational areas and in organizations and in all countries around the globe.

The Reality of Work: For those who plan to be managers, understanding of the management process forms the foundation upon which you build your management skills.