Management and Its Role in Business free essay sample

Management is important in the business world. Managers, especially, have a great deal of responsibility for a company. It is essential that they have management skills; without them, the business would not function effectively and efficiently. Managers are individual(s) in an organization who are responsible for making a group of people more effective and efficient. They plan, organize, direct, and control resources to achieve their goals to perfect the business industry; functions of management. There are many different types of managers, level of management : top managers, middle managers, and first-line managers. Top managers spend their time setting objectives, scanning the environment, and most importantly, plan and make decisions. As for middle managers, they report to the top management, oversee first-line managers, develop and implement activities within the company, and allocate resources. As for the first-line, they are more involved. Their responsibilities contain reporting to middle managers, supervise employees, coordinate activities, and are involved and focused in day-to-day operations. Managers start with planning, where they set goals and evaluate the best way to achieve them. They develop a strategic plan, a process of establishing an overall course of action. In every company, they need to write a mission statement, identify core values or beliefs, assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as establish goals and objects and develop and implement plans to achieve goals. A mission statement describes the purpose of an organization; their commitment. For example, Starbucks. Starbucks mission statement is To inspire and nurture the human spirit one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time. Their mission statement describes the purpose of their organization; to inspire and nurture the human spirit. They are committed to a role of environmental leadership in all facets of their business. As for core values, it affects the overall planning processes and operations. Starbucks core values are diversity, inclusion and accessibility in everything we do. Starbucks goals and values are obvious. Though it is a business, judging by their mission statement, customers and employees are their priority, rather than sales. They take pride in inspiring and nurturing their customers. But of course, like any business, profit is a high priority goal as well. After planning comes organizing. Companies develop an organizational structure, an arrangement of positions that is most appropriate for the company at a specific point in time. To have an organizational structure, there are two activities one engages in: job specialization and departmentalization. These two processes are accomplished. Job specialization identifies activities that needed to be performed and breaks down activities into tasks that can be performed. Its main purpose is to improve the business efficiency. As for departmentalization, it groups specialized jobs into meaningful units; usually called divisions, departments, or groups. An organizations structure is represented in an organization chart, which is a diagram that shows the interrelationships of its positions. For example, in the textbook, Notes-4-You is shown in figure 6. 8. This chart starts with the owner, or the president of this company. Then, below the president, are the four different managers and their teams. In order for a business to function effectively, an organizational structure of hierarchy is needed. The third management function is directing, providing focus and direction to others and motivating them to achieve organizational goals. Directing a business is fairly complicating, but can be manageable. Depending on ones leadership style, their ways of interacting with and influencing others can be a motivation. The types of leadership styles are autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. An autocratic leadership style are managers who make decisions while retaining the authority to make the ultimate final decision. They exercise their authority and expect their workers to take responsible without further explanations. In other words, this manager has complete control and no one is involved with decision making. An example of an autocratic leader is Hitler. As for democratic leadership, they generally seek input from subordinates while retaining authority to make the final decisions. They are the ones who seek advice or comments from other employees, which keeps them well-informed about things that are affecting their work. I think an example of a democratic leader would be former President John F. Kennedy. Lastly, managers who practice laissez-faire leadership style adopt a hands-off approach and provide little direction to subordinates. They advise employees but usually give them considerable freedom to solve problems and make decisions on their own. It is not easy being a manager, especially if ones leadership style is an autocratic one. One can come off to their employee as being bossy, ordering them around without their input. The pro about having autocratic style is that work is done efficiently and effectively, meeting deadlines. However, most workers prefer to work for a democratic leader because it is flattering to be able to provide their input. Though there are some drawbacks of possessing a democratic leadership style. One of the drawbacks is the time it takes for the collaborative effort. Asking people for opinions, explaining it to them, and coming up with a decision will take even longer. Therefore, i think it is easier to work with democratic leaders. Furthermore, to be a successful manager, there are various skills that one has to master. These skills are technical, interpersonal, conceptual, communication, time-management, decision-making. Technical skills, which is used to get an entry-level position, are used to perform specific tasks. To advance, developing strong interpersonal and conceptual skills is a must. Interpersonal skills are skills used to get along with others and also for motivational purposes. These managers need to have strong working relationships with others, regardless if they are lower or higher in ranking. They must have people skills, a very essential skill. As for conceptual skills, they are skills used to reason abstractly and analyze complex situations. Their job relies strongly on their analytical abilities because they are responsible for deciding what is best for their organization or business. As for communication, time-management, and decision-making skills, it is vital for a managers, and employees of all levels, to hold these skills. Communicating both orally and in writing influences others. It also gives the other party a first impression of the companys organizational culture. For example, if a manager is giving a presentation on a product to another company and they are speaking loudly as well as using poor grammar, it reflects poorly on the company, as well as the manager themselves. Managers not only have to develop great communication, they also need to manage their time wisely. Some suggestions on how to time-manage is to: 1) prioritize tasks, important ones first 2) Set aside a time to return calls and/or answer emails. 3) Delegate routine tasks. 4) Insist that meetings start and end on time, sticking to the agenda. ) eliminate unnecessary paperwork. If these suggestions are followed, managers will be successful. Managers not only deal with others outside the company, but within the company/business/organization itself, their employees. Employees are an important asset to a company, giving the image of the company either a positive or a negative one. To ensure that employees are executing, there are four influential theories of motivation managers ca n use: hierarchy-of-needs, two-factor, expectancy, and equity theory. The first theory is Maslows hierarchy-of-needs theory. Starting from the bottom, managers motivate employees by acknowledging their physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. Second theory is the two-factor theory, which motivation involves both motivation factors (contributing to job satisfaction) and hygiene factors (which prevents job dissatisfaction). Third, expectancy theory proposes that employee will work had to earn rewards they value and consider obtainable. For example, an employee puts in so much effort which will result in managers accepting his or her performance. The outstanding performance leads to an incentive or a reward in which the employee values. Lastly, the equity theory, a theory of motivation that focuses on our perceptions of how fairly were treated relative to others. This motivational theory benefits employees because when they contribute to their job, their rewards reflect on the work they do and compare it to those of other people. Having a motivational leader also affects the workers; it encourages employees to show up for work everyday and to do their best.