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The manager (реферат)

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The manager

Managers work in an organization. Therefore, before we can identify who
managers are, it is important to clarify the term organization. Robbins
S.P. (1991) defines an organization as: “a systematic arrangement of
people to accomplish some specific purpose”. We can divide
organizational members into two categories: operatives or managers.
Managers differ from operatives, by the fact that they direct the
activities of others.

There are two big classifications of managers: the horizontal
classification only looks at the responsibilities. We can distinguish
the functional manager and the general manager. The functional manager
is responsible for a whole of similar activities, for example, financial
director, commercial director… While the general manager is responsible
for different functional areas, he is often concentrated on one business
activity and acts as a product manager or a division manager. In the
vertical classification, we need to differentiate first-line managers,
middle managers, and top managers. The difference between these three
groups is based on the statute of subordinates.

Furthermore, we should pay attention to the difference between a
successful and an effective manager. As Luthans F. (1988) proved, a
successful manager is not necessary an effective manager. The former is
a manager, who has been promoted relatively quickly, while the latter
has satisfied, committed subordinates and high performing units. In
general, we could say that an effective manager is one who attains the
organizational goals.

Manager’s job

It was Henry Fayol, in the early part of this century, who was the first
to give a global view about the job of manager. He observed that
managers performed 5 management functions: they plan, organize, command,
coordinate and control. In the mid-1950s, these management functions
were reduced to the basic four known as the management process.

Figure 1 shows that the tasks of a manager consists of planning,
organizing, leading and controlling.

Figure 1: Management Functions

Source: Management, By: Robbins, S.P., 1991, , Prentice-Hall, Inc, p. 4

The planning component encompasses defining the goals, establishing
appropriate strategies, and developing different plans to coordinate the
activities. Furthermore, managers are responsible for designing an
organization’s structure, which clarifies what must be done and by whom.
As the job of manager implies directing activities of others, the
leading function is very important. It consists of motivating
subordinates, resolving conflicts and selecting effective communication
channels. Eventually, a manager has a controlling function. He has to
ensure that the assumed goals will be achieved. Therefore the manager
has to monitor the different activities. Also keep in mind that an
effective manager must be able to perform all four activities
simultaneously.

Only recently has this classical view of managers been challenged based
on the observations of five CEO’s. Mintzberg H. (1971) concluded that
the manager’s job consisted of many brief and disjointed episodes with
people inside and outside the organization. In addition to these
insights, Mintzberg provided a categorization scheme for defining what
managers do based on actual managers on the job. Mintzberg shows that
managers play different but highly interrelated roles.

Formal authority gives rise to the three interpersonal roles
(figurehead, leader, and liaison), which in turn gives rise to the three
informational roles (monitor, disseminator, spokesman). These two sets
of roles enable the manager to play the four decisional roles. We
should also mention that the importance of managerial roles varies
depending on the manager’s level in the organization.

Another best known modern view of managerial work is provided by John
Kotter which is based on his observatory of 15 successful general
managers. Kotter stated that managers spend most of their time
interacting with others and concluded that managers spent considerable
time in meetings getting and giving information. By obtaining relevant
and needed information from his network, the effective manager is able
to implement his or her agenda.

Critical skills related to managerial competence

In the ‘70s, researcher Robert Katz tried to find an answer to the
question: What are the critical skills that are related to managerial
competence? He discovered that managers should possess 4 critical
management skills. Those skills can be categorized in two big groups:
general skills and specific skills. There seems to be overall agreement
that effective managers must be proficient in four general skills areas:

Conceptual skills: the ability to analyse complex situations and to
provide the necessary knowledge to facilitate the decision-making.

Interpersonal skill: as a manager you should be able to direct others,
so motivation, communication and delegation skills are absolutely
needed.

Technical skills: the ability to apply specialized knowledge or
expertise

Political skills: the ability to build the right relationships with the
right persons. Those connections result in higher chances of getting
additional resources and power.

The proportions in which those skills are necessary vary with the
manager’s level in the organization. Conceptual skills become more and
more important as we grow in the hierarchy of the organization, while
technical skills become less important. Interpersonal skills are
necessary on every level, because a manager always works with people.

Research has also identified six sets of specific skills that explain
50% of manager effectiveness:

Controlling the organization’s environment and its resources

Organizing and coordinating

Handling information

Providing for growth and development

Motivating employees and handling conflicts

Strategic problem solving

In ‘The General Managers” (1983), John Kotter, concluded that effective
managers have strong specialised interest, skills, knowledge and
relationships. These specialised personal assets allow them to behave in
ways that fit the demands of their specific situations. Such
specialization seems to have been central to their ability to cope with
the often huge demands placed upon them by their jobs.

The many personal characteristics that helped contribute to good
performance were developed over the entire period of the manager’s life.
In terms of basic personality we can observe:

Needs/motives: like power, need for achievement, very ambitious

Temperament: emotionally stable and even, optimistic

Cognitive orientation: above average intelligence, moderately strong
analytically, strong intuitively

Interpersonal orientation: personable and good at developing
relationships with people, unusual set of interest that allows them to
relate easily to a broad set of business specialist.

Information: very good knowledge about the business and organization

Relationships: cooperative relationships with a large number of people
in the organization

Kotter concluded that in the stipulation for being an effective manager,
there should be a match between the demands of the job and the
individual characteristics. So for organizations it is a challenge to
put the right man on the right place. Depending on the role a manager
has to play in an organization, we need an individual with other
characteristics. For example, Kotter found that in jobs where the
relationships were more demanding and accomplishing things more
difficult, the general manager was someone with a strong personable
style, skill at developing relationships, a liking of power, an
emotionally even temperament, an ability to relate to a diverse group of
business specialist, and extensive relationships in their organization
and industry.

The main characteristics of the effective manager

In the following part we will discuss some of the main manager’s
characteristics based on the theories which were discussed in the first
part of our paper. We have summarized different visions and found out
that all theories named the following important characteristics:

Decision making skills

Conflict Management skills

Flexibility and creativity

Developing of managerial knowledge and manager’s teaching role

Motivation of employees

Communication skills

Developing trust inside the organization

We will give a description of each characteristic including some
important theories.

Decision Making Skills

Mangers are at the same time the decisions makers. It is easy to make
decisions, but making the right one is difficult. What criteria should
an effective manager have upon the decision-making aspect? Let’s start
with a simple review of the decision making process.

Decision-making is formally defined as the process of identifying and
solving problems. The process containing 2 major stages: problem
identification and problem solution. According to the rational approach,
there are 8 steps for each stage:

Figure 2: Decision-making process

The point of rational approach is that manager should try to use
systematic procedures to arrive at good decisions. Actually in
practice, there are many uncertainties when applying this model to make
decisions due to the following type of information constraints imposed
up people:

Limited attention

Limited memory

Limited comprehension

Limits to communication

These, plus other factors, have given rise to the notion that rational
process indecision is bounded. Herbert Simon, in this regard, has
proposed that, “within bounded rationality, individuals and groups often
base their decisions on satisfying the search for what is good enough in
the circumstances, rather than optimizing.”Often, managers have to face
vast number of information and required to make a decision in a short
time, it is impossible for him to analysis each problem and weigh each
alternatives from the limited mental capacity. Therefore there is a
limit to how rational a manager can be.

Many models are built upon the uncertainty of the solution searching
steps, while in all actuality managers are not making the decision in a
vacuum. They can use formulas or models to aid their decision making
process. Therefore, it is important for an effective manager to pay
attention to the following points when making the decisions:

The intuitive decision-making process always plays an important role in
combination with the rational process. Managers build up long
experience with organizational issues, which provides them with a gut
feeling or hunch about the correct response. The large organizational
decisions are not only complex, but also ambiguous. In such a
situation; previous experience and judgment are needed to incorporate
intangible elements. Most of the time, without solid proof that problems
exist, the intuition will tell the managers that there is or could be a
problem that requires him to act before he is able to sit down and
analyze the problem.

An effective manager knows how to cooperate with the internal and
external resources. Of course, as decision-makers, the manager should
not become an “autocrat”. Voice from internal will be listened, and
sharing the opinions and having joint discussions to reach the
interpretation of the goals and problems accordingly the agreement will
be easier to reach and find solutions to the problem. External
comments or reactions have great impact on decisions makers. On one
hand, managers are easily misled by the hypothesis given from the
external environment and can forget to look broader and further. On
the other hand, proactively utilizing the external resource can help
managers to see better and further; therefore, objective evaluation of
those opinions will be helpful to generate wide range of the problem
solving approach.

Creativity is vital to search for more alternatives during the crisis
moment. When there are few possibilities to solve the problem, people
can easily stick to the first seeming possible solution and start to
convince themselves that there is no other better ones. Therefore they
are stuck in the corner and forget to look for the other alternative.
Dynamic thinking and radioactive mentality will help the manager to look
the situation from a different view, there fore create the new approach.

An effective manager will not only look to the short-term profit. He
sees further. He must be able to judge where the future business will
be lead to from the decision made today. Those decisions, which bring
profits today but will undermine business tomorrow, will be dropped.

The difficult decisions are always accompanied by the ethical issues.
The best solution for the company’s profit might not be the right ones
according to the laws or regulations. On making decisions, the ethical
dilemmas cannot be neglected, and the outcomes of unethical behavior can
affect reputations, trust and career path. Results have been as severe
as loss of employment, physical harm to individuals, corporate
bankruptcy and even impacts to the economy.

The scandals of 2002, including Enron and WorldCom, resulted in
regulations having created a cultural shift particularly in financial
fields that has renewed emphasis on ethical business behavior. What
distinguishes mediocre level managers from the truly effective
managerial leader is an ethical dimension. There exists different moral
stages that guide people in their everyday decision-making. Those people
in the “principled level…make a clear effort to define moral principles
apart from the authority of the groups to which they belong or society
in general”

Learn from the formal fail experience is very important. Managers are
apt to stumble down the same failure-prone path over and over again
without learning. Learning is thwarted when leaders do not tolerate
mistakes. In such an environment, people conceal bad out comes.
Consequently, people in the same company, or the same person in
different period will repeat the similar mistake. A good manager will
see the mistakes as an education and correct himself constantly
according to the new situations. Generally speaking, to be an effective
decision maker, managers need to work closely with their team and
“integrate their faith, values and business practices”. In the
presentation we will use the case from “Nestle Company” to show why bad
decisions had been made and what the consequences are.

Conflict Management Skills

According to Jean Miller from TIG (Taking It Global) “Conflict is the
source of all growth and is an absolute necessity if one is to be
alive.” An effective manager must be able to manage conflict and also
learn from it to help the organization to grow and be challenged.
Conflict is not always negative but can prove to have some positive
outcomes as well. The effective manager can balance this delicate
relationship and works hard to handle conflict with care.

As further stated in the article, conflict can be viewed as something to
manage or something to resolve. John Burton, one of the world’s leading
scholars in the field of conflict resolution commented “…resolution
means terminating conflict by methods that are analytical and that get
to the root of the problem.” Miller explains that “conflict management
is a multi-disciplinary, analytical, problem-solving approach to
conflict that seeks to enable participants to work collaborately towards
its management.”

Conflict is not easily avoided in any organization; therefore, an
effective manager is prepared by knowing how he will approach certain
issues before they happen. There are many books and articles written
that address this topic in great detail. An effective manager will
consult these items and use his or her own judgment in taking the advice
of these publications.

According to James Cribbin, there are three basic kinds of conflict as
follows: Approach-Approach, Avoidance-Avoidance, and
Approach-Avoidance. Approach-Approach would seem to be the most
straight forward type of conflict as there are two alternatives that are
equally feasible. If an employee is not being productive in the company
this affects how the manager’s boss views that department. The manager
wants to please his boss but also stay on good terms with his employee.
In each case the manager needs to approach the other person with open
communication and deal with the situation.

Avoidance-Avoidance is very difficult because whatever decision is made
to have negative consequences. If a manager knows that his boss is
cheating the company financially, he must make a decision. Tell on his
boss and suffer the wrath, or stay quiet and sacrifice his ethics. He
would like to avoid the conflict on either side, but staying quiet may
not be an option.

The last type of conflict according to Cribbin is Approach-Avoidance.
He gives a clear example of a manager put in a situation in which he
must make a decision that will affect himself and his family. He wants
to approach the situation but also avoid it completely. He is given a
great promotion in the company but must move his family from his nice
comfortable town to a large metropolis city. Cribbin has outlined the
options he has and portrays what a difficult situation this could really
be:

Accept the position and move

Accept the position, leave the family in the small town and visit them
on the weekends.

Bribe the family to make the move.

Ask the family to try to the new city for a year and then assess the
situation.

He can refuse the promotion.

He can try to stall in making the decision and hope that something
different will turn up.

He can try to convince his superiors that he can take the promotion and
contribute more from where he already is.

He can get another job.

While this is a personal conflict for this manager, the skills a manager
uses to deal with personal conflict must be transferable to the
workplace environment involving other employees as well as superiors.
If a manager knows that there are always several options in dealing with
a situation, he will be more open to choosing one that will work for
that unique conflict.

As mentioned earlier, consistency is an important part of an effective
manager and can be applied to conflict as well. A good manager is
consistent in executing rules and regulations with his employees. He
will not let close relationships with employees cloud his judgment and
rationale for making a decision. When conflict arises, the employees
will know that each person will receive the same treatment regardless of
who they are.

According to Robbins, “Consistency can relate to an individual’s
reliability, predictability, and good judgment in handling situations.
Inconsistencies between words and actions decrease trust. Nothing is
noticed more quickly… than a discrepancy between what executives preach
and what they expect their associates to practice.” People want to be
able to “predict what you are going to do.”

In order for a manager to improve their effectiveness in a conflict
situation they can also use “The Five A’s of Improving Your Personal
Effectiveness” Model from Kerns. The A’s are assess, analyze, action
plan, act, and adjust – then repeat. A good manager will always assess
the situation in order to gather all of the details. Once he has all of
the information, he will analyze it and develop an action plan. After
implementation of the plan, he will be able to be flexible with that
plan if something needs to be adjusted. Effective managers use the Five
A’s constantly without even realizing it. This helps a manager approach
conflict with confidence knowing there is a steady process he can rely
upon.

Flexibility and Creativity

“Managers exist in a state of steady uncertainly and their success
rests upon constant exploration of uncharted waters.”

Barry Munitz,

President of Federated Development Company

Houston, Texas

Today changes in the business environment become more rapid and more
complex and of course each manager must solve more problems in a limited
period of time. As Dr. Abraham Zaleznik of Harvard University mentioned:
“No matter how much you plan, when you get to the work place there are
unanticipated problems: And the added constant challenge is that most of
these problems cannot be solved effectively in old, familiar, or
straightforward manners. Hence the quality most necessary for business
and career success these days, and increasingly so in the future, is
flexibility.” But our group consider also creativity to be important
today. These two aspects help manager not to be lost and not to lose in
the modern business world and of course to be effective.

According to the dictionary flexibility is “the ability to change or to
be changed easily to suit a different situation”. What factors made this
aspect so important? Thirst of all the growing volumes of information a
manager should deal with. Second, environment and technologies which
changed quicker and quicker every year and the third point will be
internationalization. According to these three situations we can
determine the following characteristics of the flexible manager:

A flexible manager is able “to stay loose and to choose and explore a
wide variety of approaches to problems, without losing sight of the
overall goal or purpose”

Shows a resourcefulness in their ability to adapt himself quickly and
easily to developing situation and changing environment

He “does not see the environment as something to which they should
passively respond, but as something they should actively shape.”

Some authors also associated flexibility with personal openness of the
manager. They pointed out that if managers are open then they can be
influenced by what is happening around them and as a result they react
more flexible to all the changes around them. The one thing is obvious
that flexibility is a key feature of personal growth and an
indispensable condition for being an effective manager.

Let’s now go back to the second aspect – creativity, and let’s see what
it means: “Creativity – producing or using new and effective ideas,
results, etc”. When we think about creativity, we imagine people who are
gifted, talented, and different from others, whose ideas, decisions, and
actions are situated out of the every day’s life borders. In culture,
creativity is associated with such a people like Bach, Van Gogh, and
Einstein; in business with Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple Computers),
Jack Welch (General Electric), and Anita Rodick (The Body Shop). Today
creativity is a way of thinking, the way to integrate you visions and
ideas into relationships and business. This process can be presented as
following:

Figure 3: Critical thinking

Brainstorming processes

Free association, etc.

Source: Becoming a Master Manager, By:Robert E.Qiunn,Sue
R.Faerman,Michel P. Thomson, Michael R. McGrath; USA,2003

The use of creativity in the decision making process or in problem
solving allows manager to increase the effectiveness and encourage
creative thinking among employees. An effective manager will use
creativity as a tool of motivation. When employees are encouraged to use
creativity in their problem solving and in everyday work, they are more
likely to feel unique, valued and important for their organization. In
this way a manager can not only develop effectiveness but also create a
group of like-minded employees.

For an effective manager of the future creativity or creative thinking
should become the natural way to think. But to reach this ideal
situation each manager should avoid the following barriers:

“A negative value of fantasy and reflection as a waste of time, a sign
of laziness, or even a bit crazy”

the ideas that only children may play and fantasise but adults must be
serious

the idea that problem solving is a very serious an responsible process
and you must forget about creativity and humour

a negative image of feeling and intuition, which are regarded as
illogical an impractical

Although it is very difficult sometimes to change the society’s cultural
barriers and to change the image of creativity, each manager should try
to overcome pragmatic influences and think individually.

Developing of managerial knowledge and manager’s teaching role

Every manager must be sure that he or she will develop the competence
and knowledge of those they supervise. Every employee has a potential
for personal and professional development, and a good manager should
discover and develop this potential. We will start with the idea that
each person wants to know more. When a young employee comes to the
company he has a lot of theoretical knowledge, personal ideas and
visions. He has read a lot of books and articles, but he is still
asking himself a lot of different questions. In that moment he needs
someone to teach him how to become successful.

When you are a small child your parents teach you how to walk, and when
you make your first steps in your career you also need a “parent” to
teach, to give support, to empower and whatever else necessary. The
effective manager is always ready to become such a “parent”. He is
always open to his employees and colleagues, he shares his knowledge,
and he inspires others with his own experience and example. During the
process of teaching he always remains patient and supports everyone in
every step of the way. And of course leaders take the time to thank
employees for a job well done.

But teaching doesn’t mean only sharing manager’s knowledge with someone;
it also means that the manager takes a role of mentor. The term “mentor”
has been used quite often in recent years. Jacqueline D. Heads,
academic advisor for the Rutgers University College of Pharmacy in New
Jersey defines this term as the following “A true mentor motivates you
and impels you to move to the next level, mobilizes you by advising you
on how to get there, and finally, like a guide, a mentor informally
monitors your progress to make sure you are moving in the right
direction,”

But why should we pay so much attention to teaching role of manager or
his mentoring role? The answer is obvious: teaching is a core competency
the effective manger should have. The idea of effectiveness changed the
vision of teaching and today more authors speak not only about teaching
or mentoring but about a developmental manager. That means that instead
of taskmasters and evaluators, managers are most effective as coaches,
motivators, symphony conductors and employee developers” We will pay
more attention to this idea.

Developing happened not at home but mostly at the work place during the
work itself or during the special classes. That is why it will be useful
for each manager to create and to follow a development plan to avoid
pointless talks and wasting of time. The idea of “A+ employees takes A+
managers” seems to our group to be a very interesting and future
oriented idea of cooperation between manager and employees. According to
this idea you should follow these rules while developing people:

Appreciate uniqueness of the people

Assess capability of their team members

Anticipate the future (leads others in the future)

Align aspirations (create win/win partnerships built on trust and
loyalty)

Accelerate learning

But in practice the theory is always confronted with reality. One of the
main problems of teaching or developing people is that a lot of managers
are afraid of teaching other people. The main reason for such an
attitude is idea, that if you as a manager will teach someone everything
you know and after that he may become better and smarter then you, and
take your place. Of course it can happen. But then manager should turn
back to his main values and decide what is most important to him: his
own career or his company’s success.

At the same time, if you are going to share your knowledge with someone,
to teach, to develop and to become a mentor you must broaden your own
knowledge. The individual becomes a manager because he was chosen to get
results and to use his knowledge, not because he won a popularity
contest. Employees are not going to listen to a person who has no
knowledge in what he is talking about or gives out false information.
People need to believe that a manager has the proper skills and
abilities to carry out what he claims to be experienced in. Only then a
manager will earn a respect and employees will become his like-minded
team. How will you be able to do this?

Some authors say that as a manager and especially as an executive
manager you are responsible for all fields of business in your company:
for marketing and sales, for finance, for information technology etc.
You should understand how things works (the IKEA-case and Kamprad’s
attention to all details can illustrate this statement) and also how
employees work whose knowledge in one particular field are deeper then
yours. These are two main corner stones of success. How to reach them?
The best solution can be continuous replacing inside organization. As a
result manager receives variety of experiences and knowledge in
different functions, business units, companies, and even countries. The
positive effect of such a “moving” results in understanding, how the
whole business operates; of the impact of managerial decisions on the
rest of the organization. Managers can also transfer best practices to
new areas while moving; he learns how to lead in a variety of situations
and he develops strong networks inside and outside the organization.

Some other authors, especially from the business world, used to think
that an effective manager must not be satisfied with his education
degree and training, but must always be ready to catch advanced
education opportunities. The advanced degree is MBA-program; if this
level was reached then never avoid additional seminars, courses and
workshops. In contrast to the thirst group of authors who are speaking
about continuous replacement, these theories accept the idea of
receiving deep knowledge in one particular area.

These two approaches and also all theories about teaching show us how
important is for every manager to develop himself and his employees.
Continuous self-development, learning and teaching are the best ways to
success and effectiveness.

Motivation of employees

Like the previous characteristics, the ability to motivate your
employees to work is also an indispensable one if you want to be
effective as a manager. The psychology of motivation is tremendously
complex, and what has been unravelled so far with any degree of
assurance is very small. What I will do here is (1) give a definition of
what motivation is, (2) very briefly going across the major theories,
classical and contemporary ones, and (3) address some possibilities how
an affective manager can implement the ideas the theories offered in
reality, which is of most importance. But first some theory.

Stephen P. Robbins gives us the following definition of motivation in
his book Organizational Behavior (2001, p. 155): “[…] the processes that
account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of
effort toward attaining a goal”. Thus intensity (1) is concerned with
“how hard a person tries”, with direction (2) we mean “toward attaining
the organizational goals“and persistence refers to “how long a person
can maintain his or her effort”.

In the past, especially in the 50’s, a lot has been written about how
managers can motivate their employees. We can classify these theories in
5 categories. These are:

1. Need theories:

– Hierarchy of Needs Theory (A. Maslow) / ERG Theory (C. Alderfer)

Two Factor Theory (F. Herzberg)

Theory X and Theory Y (D. McGregor)

These theories all depart from the thought that to motivate your
employees, you have to satisfy certain needs. Maslow’s hierarchical
model, a classical one, says that you first have to satisfy
physiological needs (i.e. hunger, thirst, …), then you have to offer
them safety (from physical and emotional harm), consequently you must
satisfy them socially (affection, acceptance, …), after that you can
motivate them by satisfying their esteem (internal as well as external),
and only then, when all the previous needs are satisfied, you can
motivate them by letting your employees actualize themselves through
their work (i.e. self-fulfilment). So if you want to motivate someone,
according to Maslow, you need to understand what level of hierarchy that
person is currently on and focus on satisfying those needs at or above
that level.

Maslow’s theory has received wide recognition, but unfortunately
research does not validate the theory. A theory that contests Maslow’s
theory is Alderfer’s ERG Theory, where E stands for existence (cfr. the
physiological and safety needs), R for relatedness (cfr. the social
needs and the external component of the esteem need) and G for growth
needs (cfr. the internal esteem component and the self-actualization
need). This theory differs from Maslow’s in that (1) more than one need
may be operative at the same time and (2), if the gratification of a
higher level need is stifled, the desire to satisfy a lower-level need
increases. In opposite to Maslow’s theory, several studies do have
supported this theory. It takes into account that in different cultures
the categories can be ranked in another way, for example Japan, where
the social needs are placed under the physiological ones.

Another classical need theory is the Theory X and Theory Y of Douglas
McGregor. These two theories represent two distinct views of human
beings: Theory X makes the assumption that employees dislike work, are
lazy, dislike responsibility, and must be coerced to perform, where
Theory Y stipulates that employees like work, are creative, seek
responsibility and can exercise self-direction. Research suggests that
these theories may be applicable but only in particular situations.

Maybe the most important contribution to the motivation question comes
from the psychologist Frederick Herzberg with his Two-Factor Theory. The
insight Herzberg brought to the matter meant a u-turn in previously
thinking. He stated as first that the opposite of satisfaction is not
dissatisfaction, as was traditionally believed, but that both are
distinct and separate. Intrinsic factors such as the work itself,
responsibility, and achievement seem to be related with satisfaction
(motivators), while extrinsic factors such as supervision, pay, company
policies and working conditions are associated with dissatisfaction
(hygiene factors). This theory has had a major impact on management in
the last 30 years and the fact that managers nowadays allow workers
greater responsibility in planning and controlling their work can
probably be attributed largely to Herzberg’s findings and
recommendations

2. Goal-Setting Theory (E. Locke):

The primary idea of this theory is that specific and difficult goals,
with goal/ feedback, lead to a higher performance. This means that, for
example, to motivate someone, you don’t say “Just do your best”, but you
say specific what has to be obtained, for example “You should strive for
85 percent or higher on all your work in English”. Research supports
this theory in that this do can lead to a higher performance, although
it may not lead to job satisfaction (cfr. supra).

3. Reinforcement Theory:

This theory states that reinforcement conditions behaviour. Behaviour is
thereby environmentally caused. What controls behaviour are reinforcers
– any consequence that , when immediately following a response,
increases the probability that the behaviour will be repeated. The
theory ignores the inner state of the individual and concentrates solely
on what happens to a person when he or she takes some action. Because it
does not concern with what initiates behaviour, it is not, strictly
speaking, a theory of motivation. But it does provide a powerful means
of analysing of what controls behaviour, and it is for this reason that
it is typically considered in discussions on motivation.

4. Equity Theory (J. S. Adams):

This theory poses that individuals compare their job inputs (i.e.
effort, experience …) and outcomes (i.e. salary, recognition …) with
those of others and then respond so as to eliminate any inequities. For
example a person who does the same job as another employee but gets paid
less will be motivated to perform better in order to eliminate the
existing inequities.

5. Expectancy Theory (V. Vroom):

This is currently one of the most accepted explanations of motivation.
Most of the research evidence is supportive of this theory. Concrete,
this theory says that an employee will be motivated to exert a high
level of effort when he or she believes that effort will lead to a good
performance appraisal; that a good performance appraisal will lead to
organizational rewards such as a bonus, a salary increase, or a
promotion; and that the rewards will satisfy the employee’s goals.

The major theories briefly presented, we can now look at how in reality
a manager can implement these. Robbins mentions 6 applications. These
are:

1. Management by objectives (MBO) (cfr. Goal-Setting Theory):

This means in realty, as a manager, you make sure that the
organization’s overall objectives are translated into specific
objectives for each succeeding level (divisional, departmental, and
individual) in the organization. You develop a program that encompasses
specific goals, participatively set with the employees, for an explicit
time period, with feedback on goal progress. MBO programs are used in
many business, health care, educational, government and non-profit
organizations.

2. Employee Recognition Programs (cfr. Reinforcement Theory)

Consistent with reinforcement theory, rewarding a behaviour with
recognition immediately following that behaviour is likely to encourage
its repetition. For example: personally congratulating an employee, or
sending a letter or an e-mail, having a celebration because of good
achievement, or publicly recognizing, such as organizing a prize “Best
Employee of the Month” (he/she then gets a plaque on the wall). These
programs are widely used because it costs no money and according to
research bears effective.

3. Employee Involvement Programs (cfr. Theory X and Theory Y, Two-Factor
Theory, Hierarchy of Needs Theory & ERG Theory):

The idea here is that by involving workers in those decisions that
affect them and by increasing their autonomy and control over their work
lives, employees will become more motivated, more committed to the
organization, more productive, and more satisfied with their jobs.
Examples:

participative management: subordinates share a significant degree of
decision-making power with their immediate superiors.

representative participation: rather than participate directly in
decisions, workers are represented by a small group of employees who
actually participate

quality circles: a work group of 8 to 10 employees and supervisors meet
regularly to discuss their quality problems, investigate causes,
recommend solutions, and take corrective actions.

employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs): these are company-established
benefit plans in which employees acquire stock as part of their
benefits.

4. Variable Pay Programs (cfr. Expectancy Theory):

Here a portion of an employee’s pay is based on some individual and/or
organizational measure of performance. Examples:

Piece-rate pay plans: you are paid a fixed sum for each unit of
production completed.

Bonuses: extra payment because of certain achievement.

Profit-sharing plans: compensations based on some established formula
designed around a company’s profitability (direct cash outlays or stock
options).

gainsharing: an incentive plan in which improvements in group
productivity determine the total amount of money that is allocated.

5. Skill Based Pay Plans (cfr. ERG Theory, Reinforcement Theory, Equity
Theory):

These plans set pay levels on the basis of how many skills employees
have or how many jobs they can do. For example, if you are a machine
operator in a certain company, you earn 14$/hour, but because of the
skill based pay plan, you can earn up to a 10 percent premium if you
broaden your skills to for example material accounting. Several studies
have confirmed that skill based pay generally leads to higher
performance and satisfaction. These plans are expanding and already
widely used with success.

6. Flexible Benefits (cfr. Expectancy Theory):

These allow employees to pick and choose from among a menu of benefit
options that exceeds the traditional benefit programs. The options might
include hearing, dental and eye coverage; life insurance; extended
vacation time; …. This way the different needs of the employees can be
met. The major theories and their applications were provided; we want
to conclude here with some general guidelines:

Recognize Individual Differences

Use Goals and Feedback

Allow Employees to Participate in Decisions that Affect Them

Link Rewards to Performance

Check the System for Equity

The conclusion then is that if you have the skill as a manager to tailor
the perfect motivation method for each of your employees, you will be
more effective.

Communication skills

With Rees (1991, p. 159), we can say that this characteristic is
probably the most important of all the characteristics an effective
manager needs to possess. Everything a manager does involves
communication, his verbal and nonverbal behaviour. Communication between
managers and employees is important in the sense that it provides the
information necessary to get work done effectively and efficient in
organizations. Effective communication is the critical factor that moves
a team toward a resolution or consensus (“How to be an effective
manager”, 2000, p. 14).

Robbins & Coulter provide us with the following communication model (see
attachment 1). As we can notice by looking at this model, there are
seven factors involved in communication: (1) the communication source,
(2) encoding, (3) the message, (4) the channel, (5) decoding, (6) the
receiver and (7) feedback. The definition of communication is then “the
transfer and understanding of meaning” (Robbins & Coulter, 2002, p.
282). This means that (1) the message has to reach the receiver ( for
example a speaker who isn’t heard does not communicate) and (2), more
important, the message has also to be understood in the way it was meant
by the sender. Interesting to note is that communication can be affected
by noise, by which we mean any disturbance that interferes with the
transmission, receipt or feedback of a message, for example a phone
ringing in the background.

Robbins and Coulter (2002, pp. 288-291) distinguish 7 different barriers
to effective communication. These are (Robbins & Coulter, 2002, pp.
288-291):

Filtering: this is the deliberate manipulation of information to make it
appear more favorable to the receiver. For example when a manager tells
his boss what his boss wants to hear.

Selective perception: when people selectively interpret what they see or
hear on the basis of their interests, background, experience and
attitudes. For example an employment interviewer who expects a female
job applicant to put her family ahead of her career is likely to see
that in female applicants, regardless of the fact that it is true or
not.

Emotions: how a receiver feels when a message is received influences how
he or she interprets it.

Information overload: when the information we have to work with exceeds
our processing capacity. For example tons of e-mails. You are bound to
select and this way information gets lost.

Defensiveness: when individuals interpret another’s message as
threatening, they often respond in ways that hinder effective
communication.

Language: words mean different things to different people. Age,
education and cultural background are three of the more obvious
variables that influence the language a person uses and the definitions
he or she gives to words. The use of jargon, a specialized terminology
or technical language that members of a group use to communicate among
themselves, can be a barrier to effective communication.

National culture: cultural differences and consequently different values
(cfr. the problems of intercultural communication).

To these we can also add gender differences, status differences (for
example boss vs. subordinate) and interference of nonverbal
communication factors (for example smell as a personal physical
characteristic).

Now what can a manager do to overcome these and as such be effective in
his communication? If we know that an average manager spends 80% of his
or her time communicating in one form or another (10% writing, 15%
reading, 25% listening and 30% speaking), communication is affecting a
company in every possible way (“How to be an effective manager”, 2000,
p. 14). Therefore effective communication is of extreme importance.

Robbins (2001, pp. 302-304) mentions 8 rules by which the barriers can
be bridged:

Use feedback: question the receiver to know if he understood the message
in the way it was intended.

Simplify language: choose words and structure your messages in ways that
will make those messages clear and understandable to the receiver.

Listen actively: this means an active search for meaning, in opposite to
passively hearing

Contrain emotions: when emotionally upset, refrain from communication
until u have regained composure.

Watch nonverbal cues: to ensure that the receiver conveys the desired
message.

Empathize with others: put yourself in the shoes of your listeners. This
way you’re more likely to see things from their perspective. Then you
can choose the proper channel and the right words to transfer your
message (cfr. infra).

Use multiple channels: this increases clarity because (1) it stimulates
different senses and (2) it takes into account that people have
different abilities to absorb communication.

Match your words and actions: actions speak louder than words. When
nonverbal messages contradict official messages as conveyed in formal
communications, people become confused and the official message loses
its focus.

Tailor the message to the audience: different people in the organization
have different information needs. Individuals in organizations vary in
the type of information they need to know, their preferred channel for
receiving the information, and their understanding of language, so you
should take this into account and tailor your message to your audience.

Remember the value of face-to-face communication when dealing with
change: as we shall see immediately, some channels are more rich than
others. Especially in times of uncertainty, it is appropriate to use a
rich channel to convey ambiguous and nonroutine messages.

Channels: understand that some channels have different effects on
different audiences.

To conclude, I want to give some additional information to these last
two. As a manager in the 21st century, you can make use of a wide
variety of communication methods thanks to the rapid progression in
information technology. These include: face-to-face, telephone, group
meetings, formal presentations, memos, traditional mail, employee
publications, bulletin boards, audio and videotapes, hot lines,
electronic mail, computer conferencing, voice-mail, teleconferences, and
videoconferences. As a manager, it is of crucial importance that you
select the appropriate method/channel to communicate a specific message.
Recent research has found that channels differ in their capacity to
convey information. Some are rich in that they have the ability to (1)
handle multiple cues simultaneously, (2) facilitate rapid feedback, and
(3) be very personal. Attachment 2 shows us the hierarchy of channel
richness. The rule to choose one channel above another depends then on
the fact of whether the message is routine or nonroutine. For example
firing a person by sending him/her an e-mail isn’t quite effective.
Instead, sending an e-mail to let him know that he/she’s invited for a
personnel party this Saturday do is so.

As a conclusion we can say that effective communication is of extreme
importance if you want to be an effective manager. However, this doesn’t
mean that good communication skills alone make succesfull managers. We
do can say that if the suggestions made here to communicate effective
are applied in a correct manner, then a lot of problems for a manager
can be avoided and surely the company as a whole will benefit from this.

Decveloping Trust inside the organization

Ethics and values have always been an important part of business, but
they are now looked at more closely as there have been many instances
where they were not adequately defined. According to Szwajkowksi in
“The Myths and Realities of Research on Organizational Misconduct”,
managerial ethics are “principles that guide the decisions and behaviors
of managers with regard to whether they are right or wrong in a moral
sense.” Because not every manager and individual follows the same
principles, ethical dilemmas occur. It is crucial for a manager to
first develop a list of core values for himself in order to be
consistent in his business practices. As a manager handles each
situation with these values, trust is built.

It is difficult to decide which values a manager should pay more
attention to. According to Stephen Robbins’s in “The Essentials of
Organizational Behavior” trust is defined as a “positive expectation
that another will not – through words, actions or decision — act
opportunistically”. He goes on to present that trust is
multi-dimensional and therefore encompasses a vast range of values
within it. The Five Dimensions of trust that he mentions are as
follows:

Integrity: honesty and truthfulness

Competence: Technical and interpersonal knowledge and skills

Consistency: Reliability, predictability, and good judgement

Loyalty; Willingness to protect and save face for a person

Openness: Willingness to share ideas and information freely

By developing each of these qualities, a manager will encourage a
trustworthy environment in his relationships with his employees as well
as his superiors.

As Robbins suggests, trust is something that we expect as the outcome
from a person through our experiences with them. Over time, we get a
sense of how that person behaves and acts accordingly to our behavior.
Trust is a rather sensitive issue to most people and requires that
managers act appropriately to gain the trust needed to lead effectively.
It is dangerous to lose trust of an employee as they may not respect
your judgment without it.

Managers who want to engage in trustworthy relationships with their
workers, according to Robbins’s guidelines, must follow certain
practices that show integrity, competence and consistency. Without
these three characteristics, all aspect of trust becomes meaningless.
The normal day to day actions of a manager affect the level of trust
that each employee will have in him/her.

Managers of different levels and cultures prioritize trust differently.
This is evident when evaluating how managerial decisions can build trust
through the Managerial Linkage System. In “Managerial Leadership at
Twelve O’Clock” Charles Kerns, describes that on one end of the
managerial scale is an untrustworthy manager who accomplishes his goals
with lies and deception to obtain the numbers. On the other end of the
scale is a manager who uses the trust of his workers to accomplish the
same numbers. It is clear that the untrusting manager is taking a
shortcut through the managerial system from 12-9 and the trusting
manager has taken the time and effort to move along from 12-3-6-9 as
shown in the figure below.

The untrusting manager’s shortcut disregards the concerns of the workers
and in turn ignores the quality of output to the customers. This will
effect worker retention times and create poor customer satisfaction.
Though this manager may achieve sales targets the first time around it
will not last. The second time through the cycle the results will begin
to drop off due to poor management and a lack of trust. Conversely, the
trusting manager gains the trust of the workers and forms a great
relationship with them. Worker retention is much longer and they tend
to do a much better job caring for the customers. With happier
customers will come the increased sales. The second time around the
cycle, the trustworthy manager will have an easier time achieving the
same or improved sales. The Managerial Linkage System demonstrates that
having employee trust will cause business performance to increase.

Can we learn how to become an effective manager?

Last decades, many visions thought that we could learn how to become an
effective manager. We could refer to the success of many institutions
where MBA programs are offered. Many young high intelligent business men
are taught how to become successful. Nevertheless the success of these
business schools, there is a lack of correlation between scholastic
standing and the success in business. Clearly, what a student learns
about management in graduate school, does not equip him to build a
successful career in business.

For Livingstone S. (1971) the reason for this failure could be found in
the fact that:”they don’t learn from their formal education what they
need to know to perform their job effectively. The tasks that are the
most important in getting results usually are left to be learned on the
job, where few managers ever master them simply because no one teaches
them how.”

Formal management education programs typically emphasize the development
of skills which enables the future manager to solve problems and to make
decisions (‘respondent behaviour). But little attention is given to the
development of skills required to find the problems that need to be
solved (‘operant behaviour’). Furthermore, the problem solving in the
classroom is seen as an entirely rational process, while in reality
human emotions make it hard to deal with the problems objectively.

As the research of Norman H. Mackworth revealed, the distinction between
the problem-solver and the problem-finder s vital. He concluded that
managers not only should be able to analyze data of financial statements
or other written reports, but even more important they should be able to
scan the business environment for less concrete clues that a problem
exist. These perceptual skills are extremely difficult to develop in the
classroom and must be developed on the job.

We should ask our self the question: Are there people who have more
managerial skills than others, because they are able to learn from their
experience what they need to know to manage effectively. Livingstone S
(1971) found three characteristics of men who learned to manage
effectively.

Need to manage: to be able to manage effectively, you should have a
strong desire and satisfaction to influence the performance of others.
Many of those who aspires high- level positions are driven by the
expectations of high salaries or high status, but are not motivated to
get effective results through others. Those managers don’t learn how to
develop an effective managerial career, because there is a lack of
willingness to manage. They are not able to devote enough time and
energy to find a suitable way to manage. So the need to manage is a
crucial factor in determining whether a person will learn and apply in
practice what is necessary to get effective results on the job. For
example, managers who are outstanding individual performers, but with a
lack to motivate others or to delegate tasks to subordinates, rarely
advance far up the organizational hierarchy because they will be blocked
by low performances of a large number of subordinates.

Need for power: Since managers are primarily concerned with directing
and influencing subordinates, they should be characterized by a high
need for power. We could refer to the above chapter about leadership and
power.

Capacity for empathy: The capacity for empathy is ”the ability to cope
with the emotional reactions that inevitably occur when people work
together in an organization” (Livingstone S. 1971). Managers who are
perfectly capable to learn from their job experience, or who are able to
apply management techniques successfully, often fail because their
affinity with others is entirely intellectual or cognitive. They are
emotionally blind. They are not capable to deal with the emotional
reactions that are crucial in gaining the willing cooperation of
subordinates. It is very difficult to teach people how to cope with
human emotions.

So we could conclude that there should be a combination of inborn
characteristics and acquired knowledge and experience to become an
effective manager. There are people wit a higher needs for managing and
power and having a bigger capacity for empathy than others. But these
features are no guarantee for success. They should be combined with
technical and conceptual skills acquired during management education and
job experience.

But the effective manger is one, who is able to adapt his personality,
skills, knowledge and relationships in such a way that it fits the
demands of their specific situation.

3. Can we learn how to become an effective manager?

Last decades, many visions thought that we could learn how to become an
effective manager. We could refer to the success of many institutions
where MBA programs are offered. Many young high intelligent business men
are taught how to become successful. Nevertheless the success of these
business schools, there is a lack of correlation between scholastic
standing and the success in business. Clearly, what a student learns
about management in graduate school, does not equip him to build a
successful career in business.

For Livingstone S. (1971) the reason for this failure could be found in
the fact that:”they don’t learn from their formal education what they
need to know to perform their job effectively. The tasks that are the
most important in getting results usually are left to be learned on the
job, where few managers ever master them simply because no one teaches
them how.”

Formal management education programs typically emphasize the development
of skills which enables the future manager to solve problems and to make
decisions (‘respondent behaviour). But little attention is given to the
development of skills required to find the problems that need to be
solved (‘operant behaviour’). Furthermore, the problem solving in the
classroom is seen as an entirely rational process, while in reality
human emotions make it hard to deal with the problems objectively.

As the research of Norman H. Mackworth revealed, the distinction between
the problem-solver and the problem-finder s vital. He concluded that
managers not only should be able to analyze data of financial statements
or other written reports, but even more important they should be able to
scan the business environment for less concrete clues that a problem
exist. These perceptual skills are extremely difficult to develop in the
classroom and must be developed on the job.

We should ask our self the question: Are there people who have more
managerial skills than others, because they are able to learn from their
experience what they need to know to manage effectively. Livingstone S
(1971) found three characteristics of men who learned to manage
effectively.

Need to manage: to be able to manage effectively, you should have a
strong desire and satisfaction to influence the performance of others.
Many of those who aspires high- level positions are driven by the
expectations of high salaries or high status, but are not motivated to
get effective results through others. Those managers don’t learn how to
develop an effective managerial career, because there is a lack of
willingness to manage. They are not able to devote enough time and
energy to find a suitable way to manage. So the need to manage is a
crucial factor in determining whether a person will learn and apply in
practice what is necessary to get effective results on the job. For
example, managers who are outstanding individual performers, but with a
lack to motivate others or to delegate tasks to subordinates, rarely
advance far up the organizational hierarchy because they will be blocked
by low performances of a large number of subordinates.

Need for power: Since managers are primarily concerned with directing
and influencing subordinates, they should be characterized by a high
need for power. We could refer to the above chapter about leadership and
power.

Capacity for empathy: The capacity for empathy is ”the ability to cope
with the emotional reactions that inevitably occur when people work
together in an organization” (Livingstone S. 1971). Managers who are
perfectly capable to learn from their job experience, or who are able to
apply management techniques successfully, often fail because their
affinity with others is entirely intellectual or cognitive. They are
emotionally blind. They are not capable to deal with the emotional
reactions that are crucial in gaining the willing cooperation of
subordinates. It is very difficult to teach people how to cope with
human emotions.

So we could conclude that there should be a combination of inborn
characteristics and acquired knowledge and experience to become an
effective manager. There are people wit a higher needs for managing and
power and having a bigger capacity for empathy than others. But these
features are no guarantee for success. They should be combined with
technical and conceptual skills acquired during management education and
job experience.

But the effective manger is one, who is able to adapt his personality,
skills, knowledge and relationships in such a way that it fits the
demands of their specific situation.

Attachment 1

Message Medium
Receiver

Encoding Decoding

Sender Noise
Message

Feedback

1. Message: a purpose to be conveyed

2. Encoding: converting a message into symbols

3. Channel: the medium a message travels along

4. Decoding: retranslating a sender’s message. Difficulties may occur
here, especially in intercultural communication.

5. Feedback: returns the message to the sender and provides a check on
whether understanding has been achieved.

Noise: any disturbance that interferes with the transmission, receipt or
feedback of a message

Attachment 2

HIERARCHY OF CHANNEL RICHNESS

Channel Type of message Information medium

Richness

Richest Nonroutine, ambiguous

Face-to-face talk

Telephone

Electronic mail

Memos, letters

Flyers, bulletins, general reports

Leanest Routine, clear

Management, By: Robbins, S.P., 1991, , Prentice-Hall, Inc, p. 4.

Begrippen van Management, By: Jegers M., Moenaert R., Verbeke A., 1994,
, VUB-press, p.17.

The nature of Managerial work By: Mintzberg H., 1973, , New York,
Harper&Row, p. 93-94.

The General Managers, By: Kotter J.P.,1982, , New York Free Press.

Skills of an effective administrator, By: Katz R.L., 1974, , Harvard
Business Reiew 52.

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The General Managers, By: Kotter J.P.,1982, , New York Free Press, p.
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Organization Theory and Design, By Richard L. Daft, 2nd Edition,1983

Actionable learning, By Terrence Morrison, Asia Development Bank
Institute

Human Problem Solving By: Herbert Simon and R. Newel,NY:NORTON,1990

Extract from” The Next big Idea” By Carol Kennedy, Random House
Business Books, www.cec.globalcources.com

Essentials of Organizational Behavior. By, Robbins, Stephen P. New
Jesrsey: Prentice Hall, 2002

Putting Spirituality to Work. By, Professor Kerns

Why Decisions Fail By: Paul C. Nutt, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.,
San Francisco, CA,2002

Grant, Quacy. Conflict and Conflict Management. Taking It Global –

HYPERLINK
“http://www.takingitglobal.org/express/article.html?cid=1227”
http://www.takingitglobal.org/express/article.html?cid=1227

Grant, Quacy. Conflict and Conflict Management. Taking It Global –

HYPERLINK
“http://www.takingitglobal.org/express/article.html?cid=1227”
http://www.takingitglobal.org/express/article.html?cid=1227

Cribbin, James J. Effective Managerial Leadership. American
Management Association, Inc. USA: 1972

Cribbin, James J. Effective Managerial Leadership. American
Management Association, Inc. USA: 1972

Robbins, Stephen P. Essentials of Organizational Behavior. New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002.

Kerns, Dr. Charles. “The Five A’s of Improving Your Personal
Effectiveness”. Graziadio Business Report. September 2002.

Are you flexible enough to succeed? ,  By: Raudsepp, Eugene, Manage,
Mar90, Vol. 41, Issue 4

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English,pearson Education
Limited,1978,2001

Are you flexible enough to succeed? ,  By: Raudsepp, Eugene, Manage,
Mar90, Vol. 41, Issue 4

George T. Geis, research coordinator at UCLA’s Center of Human Resource
Management at Are you flexible enough to succeed? ,  By: Raudsepp,
Eugene, Manage, Mar90, Vol. 41, Issue 4

The Unblocked Manager, By: Mike Woodcock,Dave Francis,England,GB,1983

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English,pearson Education
Limited,1978,2001

Becoming a Master Manager, By:Robert E.Qiunn,Sue R.Faerman,Michel P.
Thomson, Michael R. McGrath; USA,2003

Becoming a Master Manager, By:Robert E.Qiunn,Sue R.Faerman,Michel P.
Thomson, Michael R. McGrath; USA,2003

Becoming a Master Manager, By:Robert E.Qiunn,Sue R.Faerman,Michel P.
Thomson, Michael R. McGrath; USA,2003

Mentors Are Guides to Success ,  By: Wilson, Cheryl F., Black
Collegian, Apr2002, Vol. 32, Issue 3

Do your managers have the right stuff? ,  By: Simonsen, Piggy,
Workforce, Aug99, Vol. 78, Issue 8

Do your managers have the right stuff? ,  By: Simonsen, Piggy,
Workforce, Aug99, Vol. 78, Issue 8

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Workforce, Aug99, Vol. 78, Issue 8

Ellen D. Rothberg, Greg Blencoe

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Pankoff Sr., J. A

I will use this book as a lead to construct the rest of this section:
Robbins, Stephen P. (2001). Organizational Behavior. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall, pp. 154-216

This classification is subjective and doesn’t claim at all to be
exhaustive.

A remarkable effort to explain these problems was provided by Hofstede,
who placed cultures on a continuum of high-context vs. low-context
cultures. In the former, the context is of extreme importance; what not
is said may be more significant than what is said (for example Japan).
In the latter, words are more important to transfer meaning than the
context in which communication takes place (for example North America).
It is then your task as a manager to take these in consideration.

Here I would like to refer to the interesting theories Deborah Tannen
developed in the ‘90’s. One of her conclusions was that men use talk to
emphasize status, whereas women use it to create connection. She even
states that the two sexes belong to two different cultures and speak as
such different genderlects (Tannen, 1991, p. 37). As such, intergender
communication can be a barrier to effective communication. It is then
your task as a manager to take these in consideration.

Szwajkowski, Eugene W. “The Myths and Realities of Research on
Organizational

Robbins, Stephen P. Essentials of Organizational Behavior. New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002.

Robbins, Stephen P. Essentials of Organizational Behavior. New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002

Robbins, Stephen P. Essentials of Organizational Behavior. New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002

Kerns, Charles D. PhD, MBA. “Managerial Leadership at 12 o’clock.”
Graziadio Business Report. Summer 2002.

Myth of the well-educated manager, By:Livingstone S;, 1971,, Harvard
Business Review p.82.

Originality, By: Mackworth N.H., 1969, , in The Discovery of Talent
p.242.

Myth of the well-educated manager, By:Livingstone S;, 1971,, Harvard
Business Review p.82.

Originality, By: Mackworth N.H., 1969, , in The Discovery of Talent
p.242.

Robbins, S. & Coulter, M. “Managerial Communication and information
technology” p. 283

Robbins, Stephen P. (2001). Organizational Behavior. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall, p. 295

PAGE

PAGE 33

The Profile of Effective Manager

Generate numerous possibilities

Begin with one problem or question

managers

planning

organizing

leading

controlling

Organization’s stated purpose

1.Monitor the decision

Environment

2.Define the problem

3.Specify decision

Objectives

4.Diagnose the problem

5.Develop Alternative

Solutions

6.Evaluate Alternative

Solutions

7.Choose the Best

Alternative

8.Implementhe Chosen Alternative

PROBLEM SOLUTION

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

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