Manager Roles and Skills Essays

Manager Roles and Skills Essays Manager Roles and Skills Essay Manager Roles and Skills Essay Describe three different roles of a manager; what skills are essential to perform these roles? Ans: Many people say, that â€Å"management is what managers do† While that’s true, it doesn’t tell us much unfortunately. So in order to understand the concept of management, you have to understand what managers do. There are three specific categorization schemes to explain what managers do, result of many years of research and study: Roles (Henry Mintzberg) Skills (Robert L. Katz) There are three different management roles, which can be subdivided in ten more categories, which I am going to discuss here. Management Roles: Henry Mintzberg is a well know researcher, and the results of his studies about the work of managers were published in The Nature of Managerial Work (New York: Harper Row, 1973). The term management roles refers to specific categories of managerial behavior, and Mintzberg concluded that what managers do, can be described by studying ten different and interrelated roles, grouped around interpersonal relationships, transfer of information, and last, but not least, decision making. Interpersonal Roles The ones that, like the name suggests, involve people and other ceremonial duties.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Leader – Responsible for staffing, training, and associated duties.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Figurehead – The symbolic head of the organization.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Liaison – Maintains the communication between all contacts and informers that compose the organizational network. Informational Roles Related to collecting, receiving, and disseminating information.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Monitor – Personally seek and receive information, to be able to understand the organization.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Disseminator – Transmits all import information received from outsiders to the members of the organization.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Spokesperson – On the contrary to the above role, here the manager transmits the organization’s plans, policies and actions to outsiders. Decisiona l Roles Roles that revolve around making choices.   Ã‚           Entrepreneur – Seeks opportunities. Basically they search for change, respond to it, and exploit it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Negotiator – Represents the organization at major negotiations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Resource Allocator – Makes or approves all significant decisions related to the allocation of resources.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Disturbance Handler – Responsible for corrective action when the organization faces disturbances. It’s worth to mention that Mintzberg also considered that as managers perform the roles described above, their activities include reflection and action. Reflection (also called thoughtful thinking) because managers think, ponders and contemplates about their decisions. Action (or practical doing) because every time they act, they are doing something, they are applying their decisions. Mintzberg’s approach is debatable, but several studies that tested the Management Roles categories in different types of organizations support the idea that managers do perform similar roles. What does change is the emphasis given to each role that may vary depending on the organizational level. Management Skills: A managers job is varied and complex. Managers need certain skills to perform the duties and activities associated with being a manager. What type of skills does a manager need? Research by Robert L. Katz found that managers needed three essential skills. These are technical skills, human skills and conceptual skills. Technical skills include knowledge of and proficiency in a certain specialized field, such as engineering, computers, financial and managerial accounting, or manufacturing. These skills are more important at lower levels of management since these managers are dealing directly with employees doing the organizations work. Human skills involve the ability to work well with other people both individually and in a group. Because managers deal directly with people, this skill is crucial! Managers with good human skills are able to get the best out of their people. They know how to communicate, motivate, lead, and inspire enthusiasm and trust. These skills are equally important at all levels of management. Finally conceptual skills are the skills managers must have to think and conceptualize about abstract and complex situations. Using these skills managers must be able to see the organization as a whole, understand the relationship among various subunits, and visualize how the organization fits into its broader environment. These skills are most important at top level anagement. A professional association of practicing managers, the American Management Association, has identified important skills for managers that encompass conceptual, communication, effectiveness, and interpersonal aspects. These are briefly described below: Conceptual Skills: Ability to use information to solve business problems, identification of opportunities for innovation, recognizing problem a reas and implementing solutions, selecting critical information from masses of data, understanding the business uses of technology, understanding the organizations business model. Communication Skills: Ability to transform ideas into words and actions, credibility among colleagues, peers, and subordinates, listening and asking questions, presentation skills and spoken format, presentation skills; written and graphic formats Effectiveness Skills: Contributing to corporate mission/departmental objectives, customer focus, multitasking; working at multiple tasks at parallel, negotiating skills, project management, reviewing operations and implementing improvements, setting and maintaining performance standards internally and externally, setting priorities for attention and activity, time management. Interpersonal Skills: Coaching and mentoring skills, diversity skills; working with diverse people and culture, networking within the organization, networking outside the organization, working in teams; cooperation and commitment. Conclusion: In todays demanding and dynamic workplace, employees who are invaluable to an organization must be willing to constantly upgrade their skills and take on extra work outside their own specific job areas. There is no doubt that skills will continue to be an important way of describing what a manager does. Q # 2: Contrast between Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning theories of learning. Give suitable example for each. Ans: 1. Classical Conditioning: If a stimulus that results in an emotional response is repeated alongside another stimulus which does not cause an emotional response, eventually the second stimulus will result in the same emotional response. Classical Conditioning is thus ‘learning by association’. In more detail, we are pre-conditioned to unconditionally respond in certain ways to stimuli. For example a sudden noise (an unconditional stimulus, US) makes us flinch (the unconditional response, UR). If a movement is made at the same time as, or just before the noise, such as moving hands to clap loudly (conditional stimulus, CS), then the person will learn to flinch when the movement is made without the noise necessarily being there (the conditional response, CR). Thus the association is made between the US and CS, with either stimulating the same response. Classical Conditioning  does not work in all circumstances. In particular it is more effective where the conditioning may be of evolutionary benefit. Experiment: Pavlov did famous experiments with dogs, ringing a bell and then feeding them. After a while, he could ring the bell and their mouths would salivate. Garcia and Koelling (1966) showed that rats soon learned to avoid a sweet: I liked my aunt, she always made me feel warm and wanted. She always wore a particular perfume. When I smell the perfume now, I immediately feel warm and wanted. So what? Using it If you want to persuade someone to do something, get them to do it at the same time as doing something they like doing. Do something specific every time they do something you want (like touching them somewhere or making a specific sound). Then do that specific thing and theyll think of doing the desired behavior. Defending Watch out for people repeatedly touching you or having strange behaviors. Check that theyre not trying to program you. 2. Operant Conditioning: A behavior will increase if it is followed by positive reinforcement. It will decrease if it is followed by punishment. Operant Conditioning is thus ‘learning by consequences’. Whereas Classical Conditioning involves automatic, pre-programmed responses, Operant Conditioning involves learned behaviors. Also, whilst Classical Conditioning associates two stimuli, Operant Conditioning associates a stimulus and a response. Favorable circumstances are generally known as reinforcing stimuli or reinforces, whilst unfavorable circumstances are known as punishing stimuli or punishers. Operant Conditioning is also known as Instrumental Conditioning. Experiment: Skinner put rats and pigeons in a box where pressing a lever resulted in food being dispensed. From accidental knocking of the lever, they quickly learned to deliberately press it to get food. Example: Parents often try to balance praise and punishment. To be effective, they should punish only behaviors they wish to extinguishthey should not punish for not doing what should be done. So what? Using it: If you want someone to work harder, do not punish them when they do not work- reward them when they do. If you want them to stop smoking, make it unpleasant when they do rather than pleasant when they refrain. men

Dialogue Helps to Tell Your Story

Dialogue Helps to Tell Your Story Dialogue Helps to Tell Your Story Dialogue Helps to Tell Your Story By Guest Author This is a guest post by Charles A. Ray. If you want to write for Daily Writing Tips check the guidelines here. Dialogue can make or break your short story or novel. No matter how good the plot or subject line, poorly-written dialogue can turn a reader off quicker than anything. I recently read a draft novel manuscript that had a fascinating premise, a compelling story line, and conflict aplenty. I was, nonetheless, completely turned off because every character in the story sounded exactly alike. They all used the same stilted Shakespearean speech, and sounded as if they were reading from Hamlet. Even a street smart black activist student, who was portrayed as aggressive and racially sensitive, talked as if he was the villain from Othello. This is not to suggest that the character should have been lampooned, or that his dialogue should have been a parody of ‘Amos and Andy’ or ‘Shaft.’ But, the character would have been more credible and believable if the dialogue had been less formal, with more use of modern slang, instead of the formal speech that was employed. The only slang word this character used in the first chapter, in over a half page of dialogue, was the word ‘ofay,’ which was inserted in a formal sentence, making it stand out like a pimple on prom night; and it was as unwelcome and out of place as a pimple. Reading the passage, which described his encounter with his professor, I had difficulty telling which of them was speaking without looking at the tags, or going back to see who spoke last. This was clearly a case of poor dialogue ruining an otherwise good story. A more effective technique is to give each character a distinctive voice; either through the words they use, or some other action that belongs to that character and that character alone. Dialogue should be written so that the reader knows immediately which character is speaking. A good way to learn to write effective dialogue is to eavesdrop on the people around you. Note the quirks that distinguish one speaker from another. For example, teenagers these days seem to put the word ‘like’ indiscriminately in their speech. Here’s an example of a conversation I overheard on the subway one day, â€Å"He was like really out of control, and like I just couldn’t get into what he was like saying, you know.† That is an actual line of dialogue that could be used in your story. You have to be careful in most cases not to use what you hear verbatim. People don’t often say what they want to say as succinctly as you need your characters to speak to keep your story moving; but informal expressions in your dialogue will make your characters sound like real people. If you want your writing to keep people interested, in addition to a strong plot, and an interesting theme, you need characters that people find believable. This means learning to write dialogue that holds a reader’s interest as much as the plot. Dialogue, when well written, can help to identify a character more effectively than paragraphs of description or narrative, and it can help keep your story moving. More importantly, it can keep a reader interested in your story from the opening sentence through to the end. You can check Charles page on RedRoom for commentary on leadership, politics and life in general, as well as information about his books. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:When to use "on" and when to use "in"Flier vs. Flyer5 Keys to Better Sentence Flow

Metals in my life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Metals in my life - Essay Example Gold and Copper are considered to be the first metals discovered. However currently there are eighty six known metals. The dependency of mankind on metals is averred by the fact that the human civilization was based on seven metals which were known to be the Metals of Antiquity. These seven metals included Gold, Copper, Silver, Lead, Tin, Iron and Mercury. While referring the early development of civilizations, it has been found in the history that these metals were known and used by the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Greeks and the Romans. In the post modern era of advanced sciences, the role of metals is quite inevitable in the day to day activities of human beings. Its usefulness are widely ranged involving its applications in Transportation, Aerospace, Computers and other electronic devices that require conductors, Communications including satellites that depend on a tough but light metal shell, Food processing and preservation, Construction, Biomedical applications, Electrical power production and distribution, Farming and household conveniences. The objective of this essay is to analyze the role of metals in my life. The role of some of the metals play in my day to day life is being reviewed along with the factual on those metals. The dependency of my routine activities on the application of these metals is wide and vivid. In the following paragraphs some of the metals are being dealt in detail beginning with the scientific information on those metals and then on the utility of those metals in my life. Thus essay takes care of the science of metals with reference to my life along with the emotional and application level attachment of mine with those metals and their products. The beauty and ambience of this metal is very much reflected in its chemical symbol itself. Chemical symbol of Gold is ‘Au’ which has been derived from the Latin aurum meaning shining dawn. The name also refers much to the color of

The General Theory of Employment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The General Theory of Employment - Essay Example His definition of involuntary unemployment, based on response to an increase in aggregate demand led to his definition that full employment is "a situation in which aggregate employment is inelastic in response to an increase in effective demand for its output." (Chapter 3) In Keynesian theory capitalism has no machinery to guarantee full employment. Keynes assumes that when aggregate demand is outweighed by aggregate supply then output will serve as the self-adjusting mechanism. (Furstater, 2001, p. 4) There is "no self-adjusting mechanism which generates a level of effective or aggregate demand sufficient to ensure the full utilization of resources." (Pilling, 1986, p.5) This creates an environment where the possibility of unemployment always exists. This conclusion is repeated by Furstater (p. 10) who states that "capitalism is first and foremost a system that does not provide employment for every person willing and able to work." According to Keynes the level of employment is directly related to the level of output which fluctuates based upon the level of effective demand. The two key components of effective demand are consumption and investment. Consumption refers to the money spent by individuals on consumer goods. As income increases so does our demand for consumer goods, though not quite as much as our income, due to increased taxes and the possibility of our putting the money away in savings, and Keynes referred to this as the marginal propensity to consume. He developed an equation which expressed how much extra will be consumed with the each additional unit of additional income: Marginal propensity to consume= The amount consumption rises The amount income rises mpc (marginal propensity to consume) =dCw dYw (Rodda, p. 2) If savings are increased too much there is a chance that consumption will drop, leading to decreases in income. Keynes believed that if incomes rose the marginal propensity to consume would drop. "When income rose beyond a point where a level of sufficient comfort had been attained, marginal consumption would fall as a greater portion of income is saved." (p. 3) Investment refers to money spent by enterprises on investment goods. "Investment spendingis driven by expectations of future profits." (Taylor, 8) Profits are the revenue that remains after subtracting costs. So investment is based on projected revenue based on expectations of future costs. Whereas consumer spending is fairly predictable, investment spending is volatile. This led Keynes to note that economic downturns were due in part to "the uncontrollable and disobedient psychology of the business world." (Chapter 22) Output is made up of consumer goods and investment goods. The levels of consumption and investment directly affect the level of output. Any fluctuation in the level of effective demand directly, by affecting output levels, affects employment, with a fixed money wage. It must be remembered that the money generated by production is subject to three leakages: taxes,

Child and young person development Essay Example for Free

Child and young person development Essay Task 2 – Explain the difference between sequence of development and rate of development and why the difference is important. The sequence of development is the order in which development takes place. Although some stages of development may be missed (for example some babies do not crawl and go straight from shuffling to walking) the sequence is usually followed by children and the order usually remains the same. The rate of development is the time-frame given for the average development of a child expected at a certain age, i. e. at one has started to walk. All children are unique and will develop at their own rate. The rate of development is just a guideline. For example: some babies start teething from 6 months and some of them start at 9 months. Some babies can start making sentences at around 1 year; others can only speak few broken words. Read more: Rate of development  essay The sequence of development generally remains the same. The rate of development can change considerably and many other factors such as individual growth patterns, social background, health and nutrition, disability and learning difficulties can have an effect on it. It is important to know the difference between the sequence and rate of development as it helps to meet the children’s individual needs. It helps you recognise if any children have special educational needs and helps you plan to make sure they are getting the help and support they may need. Practitioners must have a good understanding of the child development rates. Practitioners should: †¢Carry out assessment and observation effectively. It is required for practitioners to make development comparisons between a child’s actual development stage and expected development rates. †¢Offer appropriate activities and experiences. This will be informed by  observation, monitoring and assessment of individual children. †¢Anticipate the next stage of a child’s development. This allows the practitioner to provide activities and experiences that will challenge and interest children, therefore, stimulating the child’s learning development. †¢Notice when children are not progressing as expected. Although children develop at different rates, significant delays in one area or many delays in several areas can be an indication that children need intervention and extra support.

Attitudes Towards the Religion of Islam Essay -- Culture

Attitudes Towards the Religion of Islam For centuries much of the Western world has targeted the Islamic religion as a threat to others. Many feel that the religion promotes hatred and violence while many others feel that Islam is a peaceful religion. With so many forms of the religion, though, it is hard to put a label on the religion as a whole as being either peaceful or violent. Perhaps the best way to try to answer these uncertainties about the nature of Islam is to look at its holy book, the Koran, and the practices of the religion’s followers. The Koran is the best source of information for non-Muslims to refer to regarding Islamic beliefs since Islam is followed in so many forms, and there is no central authority that can be consulted for a definitive decree of Islamic regulation. The Koran dictates to its followers what is morally right just as the Bible does for Christians. The Koran discusses a man named Mohammed who is looked at by Muslims as the perfect follower of the Islam faith. His role in the Koran parallels that of Jesus in the Bible. The differe...

TRW Case Analysis

Case 4 –TRW SYSTEMS (A and B condensed) ThiviyaManikandan sridhar – 54, Devika Srinivas – 11, Prabhudeep Shivakumar-31 1. What kinds of organizational design choices has TRW made about the design Challenges discussed in chapter 4? Due to the complexity of products being produced and the interdependency between the parts, systems, various groups, divisions and companies who assembled the parts forced TRW to adopt the matrix structure, where it covers vertical flow of functional responsibility and horizontal flow of product responsibility. On the vertical side, TRW systems have functional organizations like mechanical division, physical research division, systems divisions, fabrication integration and testing division. On the horizontal side, it has program organization which controls program office. Under these two organizations, sub project managers and assistant project managers are appointed. These managers have to report to two bosses. All these employees and departments are under the control of presidents and vice presidents. This is indicates a flat and decentralized structure, where managers and employees are allowed to take their own decisions. The level of decentralization followed by TRW is appropriate for the fluctuating and complex aerospace industry, as creativity plays important role in research and development which is accomplished by TRW engineers. A program manager maintained all the management responsibility for pulling together the various phases of a particular customer project. Assistant program manager was appointed to coordinate the activities of program manager. Under assistant program manager, sub project managers were also appointed to control the total project activity. Sub project managers are responsible for integrating and coordinating the functional organization and program organization. He also supervises the engineers and manages financial resources procured from program office. Sub project managers are the main integrating mechanism in the structure. There is too much of pressure and authority on the sub project managers, so TRW has to take drastic steps to develop its integrating mechanisms as integration plays an important role in matrix structure. TRW lacks standard operating procedures and standardized rules and norms. This indicates a total domination of mutual adjustment. As a result of this situation, most of the engineers are facing ambiguity problems. So TRW has to bring the balance between standardization and mutual adjustment. TRW makes minimal  use of formal hierarchical reporting relationships to coordinate activities. The informal  network of social relationships developed over time is important in determining how teams perform, and informal status  relationships between scientists are important as a means of coordination. Team values and norms  derive from informal interactions between scientists and are spread as members move between teams. 2. Are the design choices TRW has made appropriate for the organization, why or why not? From the above points, we can clearly say that the matrix structure and organic design followed by TRW systems is appropriate from the contingency perspective, as it matches the uncertain environment. But the managers are not utilizing their full potential and the employees are taking advantage of this structure by coming late to the work. This indicates the need for centralization and standardization. Fluctuations in the aerospace environment need spontaneous decisions which can be achieved by matrix structure. TRW is high in task variability and low in task analyzability. It  uses intensive technology and has  reciprocal interdependence. For all these features matrix structure is the best suitable structure. A matrix would not be suitable in  a simple, stable environment for routine technology and employees with  routine tasks. Here, it  would promote coordination and motivation problems and raise bureaucratic costs. 3. What is TRWs structure and what problems does it cause for TRW? TRW followed a matrix structure. The employees were responsible for two officers. Some of the problems caused by this structure – The relationship between the project officer and the functional division officer is a complex one. Both the roles are mutually dependent and have equal power. Hence authority is undefined. This leads to a lot of confusion about the role of the managers. Many employees are not comfortable with the relationship and this caused the status and authority problems within the organization. Another problem of the structure is the subproject manager is the prime mover of the organization. He is the person who brings the program officer’s requirements and the lab’s resources together to produce a subsystem. He has to cater to the needs of project manager as well as the functional manager. He has to keep in mind the interests of both the bosses; this puts him under a lot of pressure. If he reacts too much to pressure from either side, it hurts his ability to be objective about his subproject and this will in turn affect the employees. Hence the success of the project is majorly controlled by a single person. The matrix structure did not have any formal rules. The informal procedures followed are useful for the higher level management but the employees are given too much freedom. Due to the complexity of the structure, a lot of time is required in setting up a new project teams. This contributed to an increase in the cost incurred by the organization. As the structure is changing all the time there is lack of leadership. Also there exists large gap  between authority and responsibility. The project manager had no authority over people working on his project. He had to work with the functional heads on these problems. This imbalance enabled flexibility and adaptively in the organization, but it was difficult to work with. 4) What problems might TRW have with its present structure as it grows? The present matrix structure problem is that whether this matrix structure is suitable or Not for a large organization. As organization grows, it will be difficult for TRW to maintain Its Organic approach. We know that Divisions of TRW itself refused to share its R&D Information with other division. This attitude of employees will surely lead to Misunderstanding, conflicts and confusion. As the company grows, the company has to adopt For a new technology, some of the employees may not like new technology which is Complicated to understand and work.