Chapter 1: managers and you in the workplace
A key to success in management and in your career is having good time management
skills.
Time is a unique resource and one of your most valuable resources. Time is also limited
resource. First, if it’s wasted, it can never be replaced. Second, unlike resources such as
money or talent, which are distributed unequally in the world, time is an equal-
opportunity resource.
Improve your ability to manage your time:
1. Make and keep a list of all your current, upcoming, and routine goals.
2. Rank your goals according to importance.
3. List the activities/tasks necessary to achieve your goals.
4. Divide these activities/tasks into categories using an A, B, and C.
5. Schedule your activities/tasks according to the priorities you’ve set.
6. Plan your to-do list each day so that it includes a mixture of A, B and C
activities/tasks.
7. Recognize that technology makes it too easy to stay connected.
8. Realize that priorities may change as your day or week proceeds.
9. Remember that your goals are to manage getting your work done as efficiently
and effectively as you can.
1.1. Who are managers and where do they work?
Manager: someone who coordinates and oversees the work of other people so
organizational goals can be accomplished.
Levels of management:
1. Top managers
2. Middle managers
3. First-line managers
4. Nonmanagerial employees
First-line (frontline) managers: managers at the lowest level of management who
manage the work of nonmanagerial employees.
Middle managers: managers between the lowest level and top levels of the
organization who manage the work of first-line managers.
Top managers: managers at or near the upper levels of the organization structure who
are responsible for making organization-wide decisions and establishing the goals and
plans that affect the entire organization.
Organization: a deliberate arrangement of people to accomplish some specific purpose.
First, an organization has a distinct purpose typically expressed through goals the
organization hopes to accomplish. Second, each organization is composed of people.
Third, all organizations develop a deliberate structure within which members do their
work.
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,1.2. Why are managers important?
The first reason why managers are important is because organizations need their
managerial skills and abilities more than ever in uncertain, complex, and chaotic times.
Another reason is because they’re critical to getting things done. Finally, managers do
matter to organizations.
1.3. What do managers do?
Management: coordinating and overseeing the work activities of others so their
activities are completed efficiently and effectively.
Efficiently: doing things right or getting the most output from the least amount of
inputs.
Effectiveness: doing the right things or doing those work activities that will result in
achieving goals.
Planning: management function that involves setting goals, establishing strategies for
achieving those goals, and developing plans to integrate and coordinate activities.
Organizing: management function that involves arranging and structuring work to
accomplish the organization’s goals.
Leading: management function that involves working with and through people to
accomplish organizational goals.
Controlling: management function that involves monitoring, comparing, and correcting
work performance.
Managerial roles: specific actions or behaviors expected of and exhibited by a
manager.
Interpersonal roles: managerial roles that involve people and other duties that are
ceremonial and symbolic in nature.
Informational roles: managerial roles that involve collecting, receiving, and
disseminating information.
Decisional roles: managerial roles that revolve around making choices.
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,Technical skills: job-specific knowledge and techniques needed to proficiently perform
work tasks.
Important managerial skills:
- Managing human capital
- Inspiring commitment
- Managing change
- Structuring work and getting things done
- Facilitating the psychological and social contexts of work
- Using purposeful networking
- Managing decision-making processes
- Managing strategy and innovation
- Managing logistics and technology
Interpersonal skills: the ability to work well with other people individually and in a
group.
Conceptual skills: the ability to think and to conceptualize about abstract and complex
situations.
1.4. How is the manager’s job changing?
The job of a manager is to help people cross the bridge – to get them comfortable with
the technology, to get them using it, and to help them understand how it makes their
lives better.
Social media: forms of electronic communication through which users create online
communities to share ideas, information, personal messages, and other content.
Sustainability: a company’s ability to achieve its achieve its business goals and
increase long-term shareholder value by integrating economic, environmental, and social
opportunities into its business strategies.
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, 1.5. Why study management?
Universality management: the reality that management is needed in all types and
sizes of organizations, at all organizational levels, in all organizational areas, and in
organizations no matter where located.
Rewards of being a manager:
• Create a work environment in which organizational members can work to the best
of their ability.
• Have opportunities to think creatively and use imagination.
• Help others find meaning and fulfillment in work.
• Support, coach, and nurture others.
• Work with a variety of people.
• Receive recognition and status in organization and community.
• Play a role in influencing organizational outcomes.
• Receive appropriate compensation in the form of salaries, bonuses, and stock
options.
• Good managers are needed by organizations.
Challenges of being a manager:
• Do hard work.
• May have duties that are more clerical than managerial.
• Have to deal with a variety of personalities.
• Often have to make do with limited resources.
• Motivate workers in chaotic and uncertain situations.
• Blend knowledge, skills, ambitions, and experiences of a diverse work group.
• Success depends on others’ work performance.
If you want to improve your political skills at work, we offer the following suggestions:
• Frame arguments in terms of organizational goals
• Develop the right image
• Gain control of organizational resources
• Make yourself appear indispensable
• Be visible
• Develop powerful allies
• Avoid “tainted” members
• Support your boss
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