1 What do managers do? : P.13-32

What do managers do?

Henri Fayol (1961)

defined management as a process

· involving

· Forecasting

· Planning

· Organising

· Commanding

· Coordinating

· Controlling

The Role of a Manager

Henry Mintzberg in 1971 identified 10 roles,

grouped the 10 roles under three headings

1. making decisions

1. Processing information,

1. Engaging in interpersonal contact.

Management Skills

Management Standards Centre research 2002 and 2004. The broad categories of skills and competencies

What is Managerial Effectiveness?

Peter Drucker (2004) suggests that effective managers follow the same eight practices.

1. They ask ‘what needs to be done’

1. Ask ‘what is right for the enterprise’

1. Develop action plans

1. Take responsibility for decisions

1. Take responsibility for communicating

1. Focus on opportunities

1. Run productive meetings

1. Think and say ‘we’ rather than ‘I’.

The Job Description Approach

The demands, constraints and choices

Rosemary Stewart (1982)

1. the demands of the job

1. the constraints

1. the choices,

1. Demands:

· Manager-imposed

· Peer-imposed

· Externally

· System-imposed

· Staff-imposed

· Self-imposed

1. Constraints:

· Resource limitations

· Legal regulations

· Technological limitations

· Physical location of the manager and his or her unit.

· Organisational policies and procedures. .

· People’s attitudes and expectations

1. Choice:

· What work is done.

· Wow the work is done.

· When the work is done.

Robert L. Katz (1986)

1. Technical skills

1. Human skills.

1. Conceptual skills;

· see the enterprise as a whole

· see the relationships between the various parts

· understand their dependence on one another

· recognise that changes in one part affect all the others.

Characteristics of an effective manager

Eugene Jennings (1952)

1. Gives clear work instructions

2. Praises others when they deserve it

3. Willing to take time to listen

4. Cool and calm most of the time

5. Confident and self-assured

6. Appropriate technical knowledge of the work being supervised

7. Understands the group’s problems

8. Gains the group’s respect, through personal honesty

9. Fair to everyone

10. Demands good work from everyone

11. Gains people’s trust

12. Takes a leadership role

13. Humble, ‘not stuck up’

14. Easy to talk to

Making the transition

Seven stages of transition (Adams et al.,1976).

1. Immobilisation: the initial ‘frozen’ feeling when you do not know what to make of your new role.

1. Minimisation: you carry on as though nothing has changed,

1. Depression: when the nature and volume of the expectations upon you have sunk in.

1. Acceptance: when you begin to realise there are things you are achieving and more you could achieve.

1. Testing: when you begin to form your own views on what management is all about.

1. Seeking meaning: you find the inclination and energy to reflect upon and learn from your own and others’ behaviour.

1. Internalising: you define yourself as a manager, not just in title but in what you think you are doing.

Recognising pressure and avoiding stress

The major causes of absence (CIPD, 2008) of work-related stress identified were:

1. Workload management style

1. Relationships at work

1. Organisational change and restructuring

1. Lack of employee support from line managers.

Causes of stress

· Demand

· Control

· Role ambiguity, incompatibility and role conflicts.

· Relationship problems

· Support

· Career uncertainty

Reducing stress

· Promoting collaborative working approaches.

· Creating ‘stability zones’. These are areas of work over which you and members of your work group have some control.

· Being alert to the actual demands being made on you and those in your work group.

· Ensuring that everyone knows their roles and the functions they are expected to fulfil.

· Setting yourself and others clear priorities and keeping an overview of everyone’s workload.

Managing your time

· Work shedding

· Time saving

· Time planning.

NOTES

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

2 Communicating and managing:

P.34 – 74 The communication climate

Characteristics of communication in open and closed climates, first identified by Jack Gibb in 1961

A study of a Dutch regional police force by Bartels et al. (2007) suggests that the communication climate is more strongly linked to employee commitment to the work group than the organisation as a whole.

Improving the communication climate

Ed Robertson (2005),

Job information

· Personal information

· Operational information

· strategic information

· Information to their managers.

Key Areas to focus on to improve climate;

· Information need

· Feeling valued

· Trust

· Conflict

· Grievances

· Feedback

Theories of Communication

Information theory model (Shannon and Weaver, 1949):

· Source

· Transmitter

· Receiver

· Destination

With noise an interfering factor along the route

· The model has three basic components:

· A sender or source of an encoded message – for example, a computer or a television camera.

· A medium or channel of transmission – for example, signals running along cables or sound waves travelling through the air.

· A receiver which decodes the message – for example, another computer, a television or a radio receiver.

Constructivist model of communication

Shannon and Weaver 1949

· Interactivity that communication involves

· The importance of context

· The need for shared set of rules and beliefs.

Decety and Jackson (2006) definition of empathy:

Having an emotional response to another person which involves being capable of feeling the same emotions as another and may involve sharing the other person’s emotional state. .

The mental capacity to take the position or perspective of another person. This may also involve understanding the context that might have led to a person’s actions and beliefs.

Self-regulation processes that prevent confusion between one’s own feelings and views, and those of the other person.

Bennett, 1987, 6 steps to perspective taking and empathy

· Assume difference

· Know self

· Allow guided judgement

· Allow empathic experience

Understanding communication

John Austin (1962), idea of language use as ‘speech acts’ in which it is possible to distinguish between.

· The literal or ‘dictionary meaning’ of words (locution).

· The intention of the speaker (illocution)

· How the utterance was received by the listener, or the consequence for the listener (perlocution) which may or may not be unintended.

Deaux et al (1963) suggests we use words to;

· Describe

· Influence

· Express feelings

· Make commitments

· Accomplish

‘Politeness’ theory, originated by Erving Goffman (1967).

‘save face’–that is, maintain self-respect.

At the same time, a person needs also to maintain the ‘face’ of other people.

Goffman maintained that face-saving constituted the ‘traffic rules of social interaction’. Everyone plays the game, which is based on a working acceptance of what people say rather than a ‘real’ acceptance.

Brown and Levinson (1987) suggest there are two types of face: positive and negative.

Positive face is the need to be liked and is conveyed when we compliment others or show concern for them.

A key feature of negative face is recognising that another person does not have to do what we want them to do.

Harvey Sacks, in the 1960s and 1970s believed conversation is highly structured. He considered, among other things,

· Turn-taking;

· How participants organise topics;

· How, in group settings, the next speaker is ‘chosen’.

Gibson (2008) describes conversation as incrementally and progressively produced and subject to the ‘rule’ of one person speaking at a time.

Barriers to communication:

· Physical barriers and distraction

· Perceptual

· Emotional

· Cultural

· Language

· Gender and status

· Interpersonal

Beyond the words: paralanguage and non-verbal communication

Ley, (2006) paralanguage advice and emoticons:

· Lower the pitch of your voice at the end of a sentence (unless it’sa question).

· Pause for two seconds at the end of every sentence before beginning the next.

· Speak softly and slowly but with enthusiasm.

No verbal communication:

Body language;

· Facial expression

· Gaze

· Pupil size

· Posture and gestures

· Interpersonal distance

· Use of mimicry

Communication Skills

Active listening skills include;

· Support

· Responding

· Retentions

Questions can also take many forms;

· Closed and open questions

· Direct and probing questions

· Leading questions

· Loaded questions

· Hypothetical questions

· Mirror or reflective questions

· Answering questions with questions

Communication and new technology

The richness of the medium required will depend on two things:

· Equivocality: where there is high equivocality, or different possible meanings, managers will need to exchange information to clarify ambiguities, define problems and reach agreement.

· Uncertainty: where there is high uncertainty, an organisation will need information in order to solve known problems.

What makes a medium ‘rich’ or otherwise? Daft and Lengel (1986) set out four main factors:

· Feedback.

· Multiple cues

· Language variety

· Personal focus

However, in general, distributed teams:

· take longer to develop effective communication and relationships

· take longer to acquire group norms

· find task planning and maintenance activities more difficult;

· an explicit communication plan and work expectation system are normally needed

· take longer to build a shared understanding of and agree goals .

· take longer to reach decisions,

· do not necessarily promote more equal participation among members

· have performance outcomes that depend on task type.

Advantages of asynchronous team work include:

· information is more likely to be shared between all

· More task orientation .

· discussion is ‘archived’ and can be referred to by group members to build on or respond to ideas

· There is time for pause and reflection.

Berry (2006)

What are meetings for?

· To bring together a range of knowledge and experience to air grievances

· To gather or give information

· To evaluate current activities .

· To explore the effects of current or proposed changes

· To come to decisions or assist in strategic decision-making .

· To allocate resources .

· To influence policy .

· To aid problem-solving

· to develop cooperation and commitment .

· To allocate tasks .

· To agree actions.

Meeting Style

.

3 Problem Solving and Decision Making P.75-96

The characteristics of a bounded problem or difficulty are:

· you know what the problem is

· You know what needs to be known.

· You know a possible solution.

· Priorities are clear.

· there are limited implications

· The problem can be treated in isolation from other issues.

· Few people are involved.

· The timescale is limited.

Typical features of unbounded problems are the opposite of those of a bounded problem:

· You are not sure what the problem is.

· You don’t know what needs to be known.

· You don’t know what a solution might be.

· Priorities are called into question.

· The problem cannot be isolated from other issues. The implications are uncertain, may be great, and are worrying.

· A number of people are involved.

· There is a longer and uncertain timescale.

Problems with problem-solving and decision making:

Identify what is known as bounded rationality (Simon, 1960). Limitations on time and resources mean that managers are often not able to approach a problem or decision rationally this is known as satisficing.

Unpredictability about problem solving and decision-making –looks something a little disorderly about it. James March (1978, 1981) suggests that managers need to be opportunistic and flexible, open to possibilities and pursuing broad agendas to avoid decision bias;

· Preferring some approaches to a solution (and problems) rather than considering equally possible alternatives. Previous experiences in similar situations.

· A simple view of uncertainty.

· Misconceptions and/or overconfidence.

Framework for problem-solving

This is the basic framework:

· Analyse the problem.

· Draw conclusions from your analysis.

· set the criteria for a solution

· Identify an appropriate solution

· Draw up an action plan.

Making decisions: comparing options and making choices

Some alternative approaches, based on the ideas of de Bono (1982), may help you when it is not easy to decide between options. These are:

· A less than ideal approach. Try to visualise the ideal solution and then choose an option that will be accepted and is as close as possible to the ideal.

· An intuitive approach. Make your choice intuitively, as you often will, but be honest with yourself. State the real reasons why you opted for that choice.

· A negative approach. Instead of looking for the best options, look for reasons to reject options. Eliminate the weaker options one by one until you are left with the least bad option.

· A changing circumstances approach. You can eliminate options by considering how valid they would be if your forecast of the future turned out to be inaccurate.

4 Planning and controlling P.97-130

Transformed resources

(Slack and Chambers, 2007)

They are usually a mixture of:

· Materials – some tasks and processes transform the physical properties of materials, such as wood transformed into timber frames.

· Information – some tasks and processes store and make information available (libraries)

· Customer/consumer/client – some tasks and processes transform clients e.g. knowledge

Transforming resources are required

These are the resources necessary to carry out the transformation but do not themselves form part of the output. They can be:

· Facilities or fixed assets – the buildings, computers and process technologies of the operation, and chairs, desks and telephones.

· Staff – the people involved in the operation.

Transforming at ‘local’ level

· Economy: lowest cost output

· Efficiency: How well inputs are transformed into output

· Effectiveness: the extent to which outputs meet customer’ needs

· Equity: fair and equal treatment of all service users

Planning and control

Planning can be improved by use of:

Techniques for planning

· Potential problem analysis, developed by Charles Kepner and Benjamin Tregoe (1981), to identify some of the likely problems ahead and either avoid them or minimise them.

· Contingency planning

Contingency plans indicate what to do if unplanned events occur (what if?)

Communication and consulting

Difference between evaluation and monitoring

Evaluation- as iterative process

· To optimise performance

· To demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness

Types of evaluation;

Evaluation of outcome: strategic, impact

Evaluation of process objectives: performance, process

Designing formal evaluation

(McCollam and White, 1993)

Qualitative and quantitate evaluations

Evaluation can expose some problematic issues, including;

· Hidden inefficiencies

· Over-commitment

· Collusion

· Resistance to findings

Ladder of participation

5 Managing information P.131-158

What do we mean by information?

information, formal or informal, being created, received or delivered in a variety of ways – some of them not specified. Note that in some cases, information leads to the need for more information. In all cases, the information needs to be made sense of so that it can be used and acted on to best advantage.

Data are the raw material of organisational life; they consist of disconnected numbers, words, symbols and syllables relating to the events and processes of the business. Data on their own can serve little purpose; in fact, a serious problem for managers is the need to make sense of the often huge – and sometimes overwhelming – amount of data that they receive in the normal course of their job (Martin and Powell, 1992).

The types of information that you may need to obtain from others and communicate to others include:

· Information from higher up the organisation about objectives, plans, resources and organisational changes.

· Information from other teams and departments you work with.

· Allocation of tasks, resources and responsibilities. Information for priority-setting. i

· information on staff performance

· Information and guidance on standards and quality.

Your effectiveness in collecting and conveying depends on a number of factors. For example:

· Management style, especially willingness to share information and to consult.

· The urgency with which information needs to be communicated.

· The complexity of the information. the sensitivity of the information and its relevance to all.

· the need to keep a record of the communication

· Whether the team works in one base or virtual.

· The communication channel options available.

Deferent perspective of information from (strassman 1985)

The qualities and cost of good information

Hard versus soft

The Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of ‘hard’, as applied to data, uses such adjectives as ‘factual, objective, reliable’; ‘soft’ is defined as ‘insubstantial, impressionistic, imprecise’. Examples might be:

The 10 criteria we propose for good-quality information for decision-making, whether hard or soft, are that it should be:

1 relevant

2 clear

3sufficiently accurate

4 complete

5 trustworthy

6 concise

7timely

8 communicated to the right person

9 communicated via the right channel

10 less costly than the value of the benefits it provides.

Lucey 1991 cost and value of information

Since the value of information depends on what is done as a result of receiving it, you can assess its value against its opportunity cost by asking questions such as: What information is provided?

What is it used for?

Who uses it?

How often is it used?

Does the frequency with which it is used coincide with the frequency with which it is provided?

Is it good-quality information?

What is achieved by using it?

What other relevant information is available that could be used instead?

What is the cost of collecting it?

Information requirements

Two of the most important types of management decision are those concerned with monitoring processes – how well an activity is progressing – and evaluating effectiveness – whether the activity met its objectives.

Management information systems

Lucey 1991 defines a management information system as: A system to convert data from internal and external sources into information and to communicate that information, in an appropriate form, to managers at all levels in all functions to enable them to make timely and effective decisions for planning, directing and controlling the activities for which they are responsible.

What you need when you need it: dealing with information overload

Kevin Miller, author of Surviving Information Overload (2004), has a simple strategy for reducing information load:

· Don’t try to hold in your mind information that you can easily look up.

· Research and learn what you need for the decisions you’re making now.

· Understand and manage well the information that your line manager expects you to have.

· Play to your strengths: seek information that helps you to be better at what you’re supposed to be doing.

He has some general recommendations:

· Skim read material to identify what is important – this is likely to be the information that helps you to make a decision or take action.

· If information is valuable and needed but costly in terms of your time, see if there is a quicker way of getting it.