Manager Development

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 3C

(MANAGER DEVELOPMENT/BUM 321)

ASSIGNMENT 1

Question 1

a)

The roles of management are the four basic management functions (planning, organising, leading and controlling) and six additional management functions (decision making, communication, coordination, delegation and disciplining). The basic management functions are the most important steps in the management process and are performed consecutively during each activity during the simultaneous performance of different elements of the management function. The six additional management functions are usually performed in some or other combination with the four basic management functions.

Planning

The first phase of planning involves a conscious deliberation and visualisation of what the business and its departments should achieve within a particular time in order to be successful despite the uncertainty of the future.

It comprises environmental scanning of the future circumstances and the formulation of goals (long term) and objectives (short term) in every area where performance or results are expected.

The second phase of planning concerns the drifting of a realistic, feasible plan which spells out the activities that have to be executed and the resources that will be required to reach the stated objectives and goals.

Besides environmental scanning and objective setting, planning also includes policy formulation and interpretation and the establishment of programmes, schedules, procedures and methods, budgets, standards, rules and regulations.

Organising

Organising deals with the grouping and allocation of activities to main functional divisions and subdivisions, as well as with the creation of posts within these division and determining their duties, authority and responsibilities. During this process an organisation structure is established which provides the structural framework of the business's activities, its main and subdivision, formal lines of authority, channels of responsibility and communication, as well as the different management levels.

Staffing is mostly assigned to the human resource department; it mainly entails the recruitment, selection, placement, induction, training, promotion, transfer, demotion, termination of service and remuneration of personnel.

Leading

Leading is the process of influencing people in such a way that they will enthusiastically contribute towards the work activities in order to achieve the business' goals as efficiently as possible.

Leading encompasses effective leadership, motivation and communication. It is a difficult and demanding task because people have to be activated each individual has his or her own attitudes, personality, perceptions and frame of reference. Each person is unique because needs, ambitions, expectations, attitudes, knowledge, skills, potential and backgrounds differ.

In order to be a good leader, each manager should be thoroughly aware of these differences. The challenge for the manager is to create conditions that will allow the individual to best reach his own goals and then to guide this attempt to simultaneously achieve the goals of the business.

Controlling

Controlling is the process by which the execution of plans and instructions can be recorded and controlled through a management information system. Feedback of the actual performance can be compared with the standards and objectives set during the planning.

In this way deviations can be determined and corrective steps taken to ensure that the business or department will, as far as possible, reach its stated standards and objectives. Task control is to ensure that the carefully structured plans are not upset because of various problems, such as insufficient or unusable inventory and conflict with workers. This feedback or knowledge of results is used in the new planning cycle and in this way mistakes can be eliminated or reduced.

The behaviours of a successful manager in a dynamic work environment are:

To understand and predict environmental changes

Managers feel more comfortable when we can understand why organisational events occur and accurately anticipate future events. It helps them at some extent predict what people will do under various conditions.

Influence environment

They must be able to influence the environment in which they work thy need to master the practices that influence organisational events.

The six additional management functions also constitute behaviour of a successful manager, namely:

Decision making

Decision making is the process whereby alternative solutions to a problem are purposefully considered and the best alternative is chosen after considering the consequences and advantages or disadvantages of each alternative.

Decision making cam be seen as the most important of the additional management functions, because it can mean the difference between profit and loss, and even between the success and failure of a business. Because decision making deals with the present and the future and with probabilities and uncertainties, the decision maker should carefully weigh up the consequences of each alternative before making a decision.

Communication

Communication is the transfer of a message by any means and is concerned with the activities of the business between two or more persons and or to the relationship between the people involved. Communication plays a particularly important role in all management functions since it provides the information necessary for work performance. The way in which communication takes place determines the relationships among the employees, their attitude, the business climate, morale, motivation and performance of the personnel.

Motivation

Motivation comprises all attempts made by a manager to get his subordinates to the point where they willingly strive to do their best.

Motivation