FOM literature analysis

Seite 1

questions to answer:

What are the three articles talking about?What have I learned from the three articles?

What do I know about the nature of “The Job Of The Manager” now after comparing, contrasting and combining the ideas presented in these three articles?

What are the three articles not telling me but I think are important to my fuller understanding of the nature of “The Job Of The Manager”?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the ideas I learned in each of these three articles?

Are these ideas complimentary, or contradictory? Is there controversy?

The manager's job:

introduction:

problems that managers face: not reflective , regulated and not informed about the massive MIS system

what the author wants to convey: managers need to recognize : 1. what their job really is (10 roles mentioned ) 2.learn to use resources at hand to manage rather than managing with their instincts.

what is MIS:

MIS is short for management information system or management information services.

Management information system, or MIS, broadly refers to a computer-based system that provides managers with the tools to organize, evaluate and efficiently manage departments within an organization. In order to provide past, present and prediction information, a management information system can include software that helps in decision making, data resources such as databases, the hardwareresources of a system, decision support systems, people management and project managementapplications, and any computerized processes that enable the department to run efficiently.

author provided a set of self study questions to help provide more insight.

author is associate professor at McGrill university, Montreal ,Canada. (check his credibility, and other published articles regarding this topic)

articles focused mainly on western companies ( his article was based on his study on 5 american chief executives ) and their managers; may differ in Asian companies( do not see it as an important factor)

made reference to Fayol's classical view on management:

Division of Work – When employees are specialized, output can increase because they become increasingly skilled and efficient.

Authority – Managers must have the authority to give orders, but they must also keep in mind that with authority comes responsibility.

Discipline – Discipline must be upheld in organizations, but methods for doing so can vary.

Unity of Command – Employees should have only one direct supervisor.

Unity of Direction – Teams with the same objective should be working under the direction of one manager, using one plan. This will ensure that action is properly coordinated.

Subordination of Individual Interests to the General Interest – The interests of one employee should not be allowed to become more important than those of the group. This includes managers.

Remuneration – Employee satisfaction depends on fair remuneration for everyone. This includes financial and non-financial compensation.

Centralization – This principle refers to how close employees are to the decision-making process. It is important to aim for an appropriate balance.

Scalar Chain – Employees should be aware of where they stand in the organization's hierarchy, or chain of command.

Order – The workplace facilities must be clean, tidy and safe for employees. Everything should have its place.

Equity – Managers should be fair to staff at all times, both maintaining discipline as necessary and acting with kindness where appropriate.

Stability of Tenure of Personnel – Managers should strive to minimize employee turnover. Personnel planning should be a priority.

Initiative – Employees should be given the necessary level of freedom to create and carry out plans.

Esprit de Corps – Organizations should strive to promote team spirit and unity.

1. first focus of the article : how managers manage their time

time planning problems faced by managers:

- did not complete task at hand (9 min) , instead went on to other tasks ; reasons include: endless workload/issues that requires their attention , subordinates taking over the role of manager, interrupted constantly(emails,calls).

-most of their conversations are not work related: general planning

- manager did not report important information obtained from general conversations

In general, managers' plan are flexible as they have to be first time responder to stimuli , and to be conditioned by his job to prefer delayed action.

How managers process their information:

ideally, managers' job is to plan in advance and delegate jobs, responding occasionally yo unexpected exceptions.

in reality,managers need to handle expectations , managerial work involves performing a number of regular duties , including ritual and ceremony ,negotiations and processing of soft information that links the organisation to its environment e.g meeting with visitors/customers , taking over subordinates duties while they are away.

managers have 5 medias at their command: documents, telephone calls, scheduled and unscheduled meetings and observational tours. Managers prefer verbal media ( proven statistically, pg 4: british studies...)

one of the chief executive brushed off relatively more important task , instead was more concerned about small tasks. About 87% of the emails that the Managers received were not work related, causing them to be interrupt their meetings and reschedule their workdays( managers lose their priorities due to the large inflow of irrelevant information, sent to them through emails, causing them to address less important tasks : spend too much attention on non-work related information)

reasons for such behavior:

need to keep up with competitors , and cherish possible opportunities

It comes to show that managers make their decisions based on the information they received (be it work related or not ) and not based on a fix system.

verbal media : 1. data are stored in the managers' mind and not in computers/documents, thus strategic plans are not written down ; uncertainty as these plans may be forgotten ; their is limited information that the manager can remember and carry out.(withholding information from his subordinate)

2. managers are reluctant to delegate tasks ; as no one knows the plan as well as himself/herself( uncertainty )

easier to do the task by him/herself ( not delegating)

ways to help: 1. debriefing sessions with key staff, 2. maintain a diary --> staff to make effective decisions

managerial work:

1. characteristic of the work: a) how long the managers work, b) where c) at what pace d) what are the interruptions e) whom do they work with f) what media communication were used

2. what activities the managers carried out: 1. carry out plan immediately v.s. writing the plan down

overburdened but cannot easily delegate tasks, characteristic of job delay scientific attempts;became more pressurizing , as he/she need to respond to their bosses . subordinate do not do well with unexplained instructions . many people/issues expect his attention.

10 roles of a manager: 3 interpersonal (figurehead, leader,liaison), 3 informational(monitor,disseminator , spokesperson) , 4 decisional (entrepreneur , disturbance handler, resource allocator , negotiator)

interpersonal:

1. figurehead : ceremonial duties e.g. networking , acknowledging requests; these tasks requires little decision making but are important to the smooth functioning of an organisation

2. leader: motivate , encourage workers ( reconcile their needs with companies goals), depends on how he/she uses their power

3. liaison : manager makes contact with contacts outside his vertical chain of command ( their leaders ). to communicate to gather information

managers gather information from their staffs and liaisons, important: managers spent 40% of their contact time for transmission of data ; 70% of emails was purely informational

informational : communication is their job

1. monitor : look out for good ideas

2. spokesperson: sends information to people outside; satisfy the influential people who control the organisation ( report to leaders), managers must satisfy the needs of shareholders.

decisional:

1. entrepreneur : improve his unit to adapt to changing environment, create development projects; these projects involve series of small decisions , projects such as newproducts/ campaigns ,improvements. managers may need to juggle numerous projects at once, where at various intervals, he puts new projects on-stream and discards old ones.voluntary initiator of change

2. disturbance handler: change beyond manager's control ; must act because the pressure is too severe ; respond to situations before it reaches crisis proportions(anticipate)

3. resource allocator: decide who will get what in his organisational unit, e.g his time.manager's task is to design the unit's structure , pattern of formal relationshipa that determines how work is to be divided and coordinated. managers must retain their power and not assign power to others to make the decision , as this may lead to discontinuous decision making and disjointed strategy . have to consider the impact of their decisions on other decisions and strategy . They need to weigh the costs, benefits and feasibility of projects. managers need also to time their response ( reject / accept projects). solution to approving projects id to select the man instead of the projects , people that make judgement that the manager trusts.

4. negotiator:

managers cannot focus equally on all 10 roles

, therefore he/she needs to understand and how to respond to pressures of his job.

flaws of management: overload with work, encourage interruptions, responds quickly to stimulus, seek tangable and avoid abstract, make decisions in small increments and do things abruptly., not prioritizing work, lack of time control instead of steeping back from his tangiable bits of information to see the boarder picture and making use of analytical inputs.

need to heed the advice from management scientists

maybe bias:: promotional intentions