Management Skills Chapter 11

Management Management is the process of achieving company goals by effective use of resources through planning, organizing, and controlling.

Decision makers for a company. Three major functions for a company. Management Functions What do managers do? Decision makers for a company. Three major functions for a company. Planning Organizing Controlling

Planning Involves deciding what will be done and how it will be accomplished. Good management planning at any level is realistic, comprehensive, and flexible What do we mean by this? Need to create short term and long term plans Try not to create plans that are too detailed. It’s important to leave room for change and input. Always be open to comments or ideas on improvement.

Organizing is coordinated effort to reach a company’s planning goals. Involves assigning responsibility, establishing working relationships, staffing, and directing the work of employees. What kinds of things do all of you do to keep organized? In large companies managers may have much narrower roles, where as in smaller firms a manager has a broader range of duties.

A company may create a mission statement before creating standards. Controlling Controlling is the process of comparing what you planned with actual performance. A company may create a mission statement before creating standards. A mission statement describes the ultimate goals of a company in a brief paragraph or two. It summarizes why a company exists. Three basic activities: Setting standards Evaluating performance according to the standards Solving any problems revealed by the evaluation

Types of Management Structure Businesses are organized in two ways: Vertical organization – up and down structure where managers look up to higher levels of management or down to employees within a single department. Horizontal Organization – involves self-managing teams that set their own goals and make their own decisions.

Vertical Organization Top Management – those who make the planning decisions that affect the whole company. Ex: CEO, President, COO Middle Management – implement the decisions of top management. Plan ways that departments can work to reach top management’s goals. Supervisory-Level Management – front-line managers supervise the activities of employees who carry out the tasks determined by top and middle management. Assign duties and evaluate the work of production or service employees.

Horizontal Management In the 1980’s and 1990’s corporations were searching for a way downsize staff, while sustaining production. By reorganizing, companies hoped to create a more creative and productive work environment. Can take years to shift from one model to the other. While the idea is strong it takes a strong management team to institute such a dramatic corporate change.

Components of Horizontal Management Self Managing Teams Customer Orientation Organization by Process

Self-Managing Teams Basis of the Horizontal Structure Levels of management have been removed and the amount of supervisors is decreased. This is called “flattening” the organization One person in team “owner” has responsibility for making sure the team reaches its goals. More like a coach than a boss. Encouraging team members to contribute to and take responsibility for the management process is known as Empowerment

Organization by Process Self-managing teams are organized around particular processes Ex: Developing new products, customer support The difference exists because these teams are made up of people with different specializations rather than looking to a separate functional division Ex: The Product Development team might include people from marketing research, design, engineering, and finance.

Customer Orientation The source of direction is management in vertical organizations; in horizontal companies, it’s the customer. Greater access to customer feedback If a company can achieve a high level of customer satisfaction they typically see: Larger profits High productivity Satisfied investors