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Members off Unique Team What is management? Why is it important? Management is the process of obtaining, deploying, and utilizing a variety of essential resources to contribute to an organization’s success-?both effectively and efficiently. Managers are deemed effective if they achieve their goals and efficient if they do so with a minimal amount of resources for the amount of outputs produced. One of the most important resources of an organization is its employees. Managers devote a large proportion of their efforts to planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling the work of human and other resources.
One clear distinction teen managers and other employees, however, Is that managers direct the work of others rather than perform the work themselves. Management. The process of obtaining, deploying, and utilizing a variety of essential resources In support of an organization’s objectives. Manager. An Individual who plans, organizes, directs, and controls the work of others In an organization. They are an essential part of it. Supervisors perform exactly the same functions, to a greater or lesser degree, as all other managers in their organization-?up to and including the chief executive.
Each specific task, every responsibility, all the various oleos that supervisors are called on to perform are carried out by the management process (Figure 1-1). This process is repeated over and over, daily, weekly, and yearly, and consists of five broad functions. From a supervisor’s standpoint, each function has a particular significance: Planning. This is the function of setting goals and objectives and converting them into specific plans. For a supervisor, the outcomes of planning include operating schedules, quality specifications, expense budgets, timetables, and deadlines.
The planning process also establishes policies, standard operating procedures, regulations, and rules. Management process. Covers five key functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling organizational resources for the attainment of results. Internet Organizing. In performing this function, a supervisor lines up all available resources, including departmental tools, equipment, materials, and-?especially-?the workforce. It is at this stage that connection the organizational structure of a department is www. Meant. Org/index. HTML designed and its work is divided up into Jobs.
A Source for Management Development. Access the American Management Association (AMA) tit to see what this nonprofit organization provides in the form of educational forums and resources for managers. Staffing. This is the function by which supervisors figuratively put flesh on the organizational structure. Supervisors first figure out exactly how many and what kinds of employees a department will need to carry out its work. They 2 PART 1 Supervisory Management Planning FIGURE 1-1 Functions in the management process. Which function demands the most of a supervisor’s time?
Organizing Controlling Goals Staffing Leading then interview, select, and train those people who appear to be most suitable to fill Supervisors energize the vital human resources of their department by providing motivation, communication, and leadership. Controlling. Once departmental plans are set in motion, supervisors must periodically keep score on how well the plans are working out. To do so, supervisors measure results, compare them with what was expected, Judge how important the differences may be, and then take whatever action is needed to bring results into line.
Controlling is closely linked to planning (as Figure 1-1 shows), because control actions are guided by the goals established during the planning process. In theory, supervisors perform the five functions of the management process in the order listed above. In practice, however, supervisors perform all the management functions in one way or another each time action is in order. They may find themselves shortcutting the management process sequence or turning back on it, inasmuch as each problem situation is unique and calls for its own solution.
Quips Quotes Peter Trucker’s comment regarding the planning process: Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window. Why is it called a process? It is called a management process because it moves progressively from one stage to another in a fairly consistent sequence. In a fast-food restaurant, for example, a supervisor first plans the daily schedule, then organizes the tasks and resources, then assigns people to their roles, then directs the process by giving orders and instructions, and, finally, controls, or checks up on, results.
In a typical office, a similar management process takes place as supervisors plan the workday, organize the work and the staff, direct others by communicating and motivating, and control by seeing hat work procedures are followed properly. Management process. The major managerial functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling carried out by all managers in a repetitive sequence or cycle. CHAPTER 1 The Supervisor’s Role in Management 3 This process is carried on repeatedly, day by day, month by month, and year by year.
For this reason many people refer to it as the management cycle. Why is so much emphasis placed on the management process? There are two reasons. First, the process serves to differentiate the work of managers from the work of managers. Second, the management process provides a liable underpinning that guides the practice of management and its various QUICK TEST 1 12 Supervisors perform the same five functions that other managers do. The function of leading includes staffing, motivating, and communicating.
The role of managers differs from organization to organization, but the supervisory role is clearly defined by federal laws. Executive. A top-level manager in charge of a group of subordinate managers; this person establishes broad plans, objectives, and strategies. Middle manager. A person who reports to an executive and who directs supervisory personnel toward the attainment of goals and the implementation of Lana of an organization. Supervisor.
A manager who is in charge of, and coordinates the activities of, a group of employees engaged in related activities within a unit of an organization. Supervisors Versus Managers Are all managers alike? No. Managers, and the work they do, differ somewhat by the organization they are in (for example, for-profit versus nonprofit organizations), the size of the firm, their industry, their country’s cultural norms, their personal values and experiences, and especially their level in the organization’s hierarchy. This latter difference is illustrated in Figure 1-2.
At the top of an organization are its executives (often a chief executive officer-?the CEO-? and some vice-presidents). Executives are in charge of, and responsible for, a group of other managers. Executives establish a vision for the organization, define its mission, develop broad strategies, set objectives and plans, and implement broad policy guidelines. Then they motivate, direct, and monitor the work of the managers who report to them. Middle managers plan, initiate, and implement programs that are intended to carry out the broader objectives set by executives.
Middle managers motivate, direct, and oversee the work of the oppressors (and any other managers and employees) who report to them. Supervisors are managers who normally report to middle managers. Supervisors are responsible for getting the “line” employees to carry out the plans and policies set by executives and middle managers. Supervisors plan, direct, motivate, and monitor the work of managerial 4 Executives Middle managers Managerial levels. Where do first-level supervisors fit into the diagram?
Supervisors Managerial employees employees at the operational level of the organization. Examples of line employees include production workers, bank tellers, short-order cooks, lab assistants, aerogramme, nurses, and thousands of other “hands-on” and knowledge (e. G. , professional) workers. Some supervisors-?about half the total-?are called first-level supervisors, as they have only managerial employees reporting to them. Others are called second-level supervisors, because they supervise a combination of other supervisors and managerial employees.
In many organizations, the relative number of middle managers shrank significantly during the sass and the early twenty-first century. This was due mainly to a desire to cut administrative costs through the process of “restructuring,” the increasing use of computer-based information systems to fulfill the middle manager’s former role, a desire to “flatten” the organizational hierarchy, and the growing capacity and desire of many employees to take on greater responsibilities. As a consequence, supervisors now have greater challenges and expanded roles in planning and controlling their employees’ work.
In turn, supervisors have become increasingly dependent on the information provided by management information systems. Managerial employees. Often referred to as employees or associates; workers who receive direction from supervisors and then perform specific, designated tasks. Did You Know Origin of the Term Supervisor In earlier days, the supervisor was the person in charge of a group of towrope pullers or discharger. That person was literally the “fore man,” since he was up forward of the work crew.
His authority consisted mainly of chanting the “one, two, three, up” that set the pace for the rest of the workers. In Germany, the supervisor is still called a vertebrate (“fore worker”); in England, the term charge hand is used. Both terms suggest the lead-person origin. The term supervisor has its roots in Latin, where it means “looks over. ” It was originally applied to the master of a group of artisans. Today, the supervisor’s Job combines some of the talents of the “foreman” (or leader) and those of the “master” (skilled administrative artisan).
The federal laws of the United States provide two definitions of a supervisor. 1. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 says that a supervisor is … Any individual having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline employees, or responsibility to direct them or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action, if in connection tit the foregoing the exercise of such authority is not merely of a routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent Judgment. Ethical Perspectives Salary Versus Overtime Assume that you have worked in a three-person office for several years. Recently, the supervisor of the unit retired. The manager came to you and explained that a “budget crunch” prevents the company from replacing the supervisor, but that you have been selected to assume some of the supervisory roles while still performing most of your previous duties. Your Job will consist of about 70 recent technical tasks (as before) and about 30 percent supervisory tasks (including overseeing the work of the other two employees).
You will receive the title of “Supervisor” and switch to a salaried position, but you will no longer qualify for overtime. According to the FLEAS, is there a legal or ethical issue involved here? Explain. The act specifically prohibits supervisors from Joining a union of production and clerical workers, although they may form a union composed exclusively of supervisors. 2. The Fair Labor Standards Act (ELSE) of 1938 (or Minimum Wage Law) as amended set the tone for the above by defining a supervisor as .. N executive whose primary duty consists of the management of a customarily recognized department or subdivision; who customarily and regularly directs the work of two or more employees; who has the authority to hire or fire other employees or whose suggestions and recommendations as to the hiring or firing and as to the advancement and promotion or any other change in status will be given particular weight; who customarily and regularly exercises discretionary powers; and who does not devote more than 20 percent of his (or her) hours of work to activities which are not closely related to the (managerial) work described above.
The law also stipulates that supervisors be paid a salary (regardless of how many hours they work). This provision makes some supervisors unhappy, since it exempts them from the provision of the law that calls for overtime pay after a certain number reality of supervisory overtime by providing them with compensatory time off or other benefits. The key thrust of these two laws was to make supervisors a key part of management. Are supervisors permitted to do the same work as the people they supervise? Within the 20 percent stipulation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, there is no law preventing this.
Most companies with labor unions, however, have a contract clause that prohibits a supervisor from performing any work that a union member would ordinarily do (except in clearly defined emergencies, in which the supervisor would do as she or he sees fit). This is a valid and practical point. Few companies want supervisors to do the work their other employees are hired to do. Supervisors are most valuable when they spend 100 percent of their time supervising. It makes little sense for a well-paid supervisor, for instance, to do the work of an employee who is paid at a lower rate. Do employees ever do the work of supervisors?
Yes! An increasingly common trend, discussed in Chapter 13, is for members of self- managed teams to share many of the responsibilities (and perform many of the roles) that supervisors previously performed. This has resulted in a blurring of the supervisor-employee distinction and 6 vastly increased the need for supervisors to become better coaches to develop these skills in their employees. Some observers even predict that the title supervisor will be replaced by team leader and other descriptors. Other commentators assert that supervisors play a more important organizational role than ever before.
Whichever direction is true, much of the material in this book will be highly relevant to managerial employees as well as current supervisors. Supervisors are commonly considered middle managers but not executives. Supervisors are the types of employees most likely to be downsized in a cost- reduction effort (restructuring). QUICK TEST 2 A Body of Knowledge from Which to Draw What does it take for a supervisor to become a manager? Disciplined-?approach to the work environment. Individuals who move into supervision must begin to think in a systematic way.
They need to approach their ark positively, rather than passively. They should accept the responsibility of making things happen for the better in an organization. They shift their roles from those that entail Just following orders, to those that require making task assignments, helping others solve problems, and making decisions. They become increasingly aware of their involvement in a complex system of organizational activities, and they act accordingly. Supervisors become active in the management process by applying established management principles and practices to operating problems.
Where can one learn about management? Newly appointed supervisors are not left alone without guidance. Fortunately, they have a vast background of management experiences to draw upon (see Job Tip. ) First of all, supervisors can begin their new assignments by immersing themselves in the five responsibilities outlined for them in the management process. They can look next for guidance to a set of 10 basic management principles. And they can learn many “tricks of the trade” about effective supervision by interacting with a managerial mentor-?an experienced person willing to engage in frequent dialogue to provide 7 JOJOBA!
You Need to Read Did you know that supervisors who wish not only to succeed in their current positions but achieve future promotions read widely? They obtain practical ideas by reading publications such as Supervision; they broaden their knowledge about business by scanning publications such as Business Week and Fortune; and they stay in touch with what’s happening in the corporate world by reading the business section of their local metropolitan newspaper or even scanning selected portions of the Wall Street Journal.
Here’s some valuable advice: Talk to a couple of managers and ask them what they read, and what they recommend you read. They’ll be impressed, and you’ll gain some valuable information! Developmental guidance and support. Over a period of time, supervisors finally acquire a sense of the many factors at play in their spheres of influence. And from this sensitivity, they develop an invaluable flexibility. This enables them to do the right things at the right times for each situation they face. The same source, according to Henry Payola, an especially effective chief executive of a French mining company.
Payola was the first person to conceive of management as a separate “process of administration,” consisting of several distinct functions and eased on certain “principles. ” Payola’s writings (1916) led to the current generally accepted notion of the management process. His management principles as stated in those writings are acknowledged as widely applicable guidelines for carrying out the management process. Management principles. A set of guidelines established by Henry Payola and others for carrying out the management process. Exactly what are the principles of management?