The Management Process and the Skills Required to Manage Business Organizations - Essay Example

Name Instructor Course Date Introduction to Management The Management Process and the Skills Required Manage Business Organizations Management has a particular objective of effective provision of the desired results, irrespective of the organization. For success to be realized the required resources must be available and the manager must be able to apply the necessary management skills (Naghibi and Baban 542). Effective management requires full maintenance of the internal environment in a company and taking care of the external environment to guarantee accomplishment of organizational goals. Organizational resources can effectively be utilized if management is done in a step by step process. The management process encompasses six management opportunities of planning, coordinating, staffing, directing and control (Ludato 1). This provides room for getting the assigned tasks done through efficient resource allocation in order to get the set objectives. These resources must be put into correct use for the running of an organization. Organizing and coordinating process involves identification of the various activities that are to be accomplished and grouping the resources as necessary. Failure to do this may lead to wastage of resources as they can be used for fulfilling other tasks not planned for, which is very risky for the organization. An organization is expected to be fruitful in its operations if the activities are allowed to flow in a chronological manner. The most crucial step in organizational administration is setting goals and expectations. Planning as the first stage in management helps in providing goals in addition to objectives because it involves identification and making decisions on what to be done and how it can be done. Normally, human resource is a very important organ of an organization as they help use the provided resources to produce products that are sold to the customers. This is where staffing fits in as part of the management process. Based on the nature of the activities to be performed, the management must ensure that there are adequate staffs with the required proficiencies that can make the set resources useful to the organization. Suppose the available number of staff is not sufficient for the available work, the manager must conduct fresh selection and recruitment (Ludato 4). Staffing also involves frequent balancing between the available work and the number of staff, which might see some workers being terminated as a result of reduction in work volume. After effective staffing, the management needs to direct organizational activities towards achievement of the set objectives and the expectations (Naghibi and Baban 545). A worker is assigned the right task with adequately distributed resources with the aim of producing the required products. It is not always guaranteed that efficiently allocated resources and recruitment of competent workers will inevitably lead to operational success. However, adjustment must be made in the course of organizational operation depending on the nature of the progress. This explains why controlling is an important component of management process. Controlling in management is where the manager monitors the performance of the workers and of the organization in general to find out whether the set objectives are met and expectations are achieved. This helps in providing a positive direction, offering the manager with an opportunity to avoid certain things or increase their application if the objectives are not met or are met respectively (Stephen 10). According to Stephen (1), business organizations are not just managed by anyone but competent individuals with appropriate management skills. This is why an individual who only possesses leadership skills cannot succeed in managing a business organization. A manger has several responsibilities, all of which must be fulfilled for an organization to be safe in the market. The products made must be made known to customers through rigorous sales and marketing that necessitates to be organized by the manager. A manger must therefore possess marketing, sales and promotion skills to be able to attract customers to purchase the company’s products and services (Ludato 8). In addition, financial accounts must be kept in good status to make sure that the organization does not become bankrupt in the course of operations. The manager must then be able to understand all statements concerned with business financials. The other thing to be taken care of is constant availability of labor which can only be realized if the manager has human resource management skills. This will allow appropriate organizing and handling of staff (Stephen 4). They include good interpersonal and technical skills. Most importantly, managers have the responsibility of ensuring that all stakeholders of their organizations can get access to any information concerning the business. There is a need for the manager to hold excellent negotiation as well as communication skills. Without logistics expertise, it will be difficult for the manager to realize the set business standards (Ludato 6). The Classical Approaches to Management and the Foundations of Modern Management Thinking  Organizational management is considered to be effective based on a number of conceptions, most of which rely on the ancient understanding of the whole process. One of these conceptions is classical approach which allows for prediction and control of performance. Classical theory of management focuses on control of workers through an organized chain of command from the line management down to the employees (Naghibi and Baban 542). This approach upsurges people’s understanding on how contemporary organizations function especially on the role of communication in an efficient supervision of a firm. In this context, organizational management is viewed to encompass all the four principles of management, treatment of workers, communication within the organization and the general mode of operations. This management system is believed to allow easy predictability of organizational performance and is flexible in that, it allows for necessary changes to be undertaken in case negative performance is predicted. Under classical approach, specific rules need to be applied to certify success in the management process. For instance, keen managers are able to predict the future performance of their workers based on their behaviors. Classical method gives managers an opportunity to substitute staffs that are found to be operating contrary to the laid down expectations. Since classical approach of management takes care of workers, administration and leadership hierarchy, it is explained using Taylor’s theory of scientific management, Fayol’s administrative theory in addition to Webers’s theory of bureaucracy. Scientific management theory of classical approach to management aims at maximization of worker capacity and company’s profits. The main problem that this theory strives to solve is inability of the available employees to maximally perform. The main elements of scientific management include scientific creation of work designs involving critical studies of both time and motion. In addition, scientific management entails careful section and training of every task as well as providing good remuneration for the fast and high quality workers in order to help capitalize on output. The effective management under scientific theory integrates equal dispersal of responsibilities and work amid all workers. The management process is also undertaken entirely by the manager while employees are solely motivated by higher wages. This theory is employed by organizations that choose to redesign their operational strategies to conform to the prevailing circumstances. In administrative theory of classical approach to management, managers learn how to achieve their managerial commitments. It also emphasizes that wages are not the only source of worker motivation and that all employees deserve equal treatment in the workplace. In addition, the managers are directed towards effective planning, organizing, giving commands, coordinating and controlling. Suppose there is any worker who tries to derail organizational activities, he or she must be replaced with immediate effect. Again, Fayol’s administrative theory outlines that communication is a very necessary ingredient to successful management. This theory of classical approach to management is largely applied in large firms that require more participatory planning, and organization of human resources and communication. Weber’s theory of bureaucracy involves giving details of the ultimate structure of an organization. It supports that written rules must be available to ensure promotion of legitimate authority, for efficient and operative management of the organization. Modern organizations have several features of bureaucracies where managers are guided by written rules and regulations (Naghibi and Baban 545). Apart from the three theories of classical approaches to management, there are other foundations of modern management thinking. They include the following approaches; contingency, systems, operational, behavioral science and management science approach. The Role of the External Environment and Diversity Management in Effective Management of Multicultural Organizations The external environment of an organization refers to those aspects affecting an organization’s operations but originates from outside the company. They consist of political, economic, socio-economic factors, technological and legal factors. Effective management must take all these issues into account as the managers strive to maintain a positive relationship with the employees. The employee fraternity consists of workers from different cultural background and beliefs. In an organization, all of them have to associate with one another irrespective of their variations in customs. All managers need to be aware of the types of cultural backgrounds exhibited by all their employees for effective management. In this way, they will be able to make their planning processes without affecting the interest of workers (Ludato 13). A multicultural organization is composed of members of staff with more than two cultural backgrounds (Kiteleja 2). Some organizations have their workers interacting electronically through the internet and this promotes even a greater number of employees that need be managed. The political and economic structure of these people moderates their performance power and their levels of effectiveness. The management must recognize that cultural diversity may pose constructive and negative impacts on the productivity of the team. Effective management of multi-cultural organizations requires application of management skills in various areas including task-related selections, deciding on goals, power equalization and many others. In a multi-cultural organization, the manager needs to select employees based on their capabilities but not their ethnic backgrounds. These workers should be grouped by combining different attitudes to allow sharing of ideas and opinions across cultures within the organization. By doing this, the organization protects its image in the political environment and avoids creating a negative picture in the society. In addition, managers are supposed to be aware of cultural differences in their organizations to enable them shun barriers in communication. Kiteleja emphasizes that multicultural organizations normally experience difficulties when it comes to making agreements about the purpose of operations (6). To ensure maximum effectiveness, managers must direct their teams to agree to particular visions and to take care of their individual differences. Organizational Problems by Applying Decision Making Steps The manager should identify the problem that a company is facing as well as that which it is supposed to resolve. Management process is always geared towards solving a problem that is affecting an organization at any given time. To identify the problem, the manager is required to follow the decision making steps as this will facilitate formulation of strategies for effective management (Naghibi and Baban 543). The leading step in the decision making procedure is identification of the problem and diagnosing any opportunities that can be tackled to move the organization forward. The problem acts as the main reason as to why an organization exists. For business companies, most of the problems normally revolve around achievement of customer satisfaction. The problem identification step is followed by formulation of possible objectives that can act as a direction for the company. There should be both general and specific objectives that can be solved through simple actions. The manager then generates alternatives that can be pressed together to fulfill the formulated goals. These alternatives need to be aligned with the objectives and management expectations (Stephen 5). In order to find out whether they provide a way for fulfillment of expectation, the manager must evaluate the generated alternatives as the fourth step in organizational decision making. After setting aside the most promising alternatives, the manager has to reach the right decision by allocating the available resources to every option chosen. This sixth step is important because it helps the manager to gauge whether the resources available can be used to steer the organization towards realization of objectives. The next step in decision making process is choosing the implantation strategies and combining technological, human and financial resources in taking the exact action. Monitoring and evaluation step must follow the implementation step so as to identify whether the set goals are being realized, and to find out whether more resources are necessary or not. Application of managerial skills together with the above described process will help the manager to identify the specific problems that the organization is facing, and to formulate effective problem solving strategies that can help manage it (Ludato 3). Current Challenges Faced by Management Today With the rapid developments in the contemporary world, managers find great challenges as they try to make their organizations stand out in the market. One of the challenges faced by management today is changing the mission and vision of the company (Stephen 10). The management is required to continuously revise the organizational mission and vision to fit with the nature of the current market and consumer needs. It is a test to rework mission and vision because almost every component of the organization including employee selection and recruitment must be changed. Job descriptions must be made according to the types of workers that are needed. The nature of communication must be made to fit into the new mission and vision. This is not a simple activity and managers are defied to do their best in the course of their decision making. What is more, the knowledge error today tends to limit the number of workers in factories, with most of the activities being done electronically. Organizational capital must be applied in such a way that understanding and information can be shared to achieve sustainable business performance. It is upon the management to work its strategies right to know which employees are terminated and which ones are retained because their numbers must be reduced with technological advancements (Naghibi and Baban 544). Another obstacle encountered by corporations is that of empowering workers. Employees feel more empowered if they are allowed to use their talents by being assigned jobs that relate to their capabilities. However, this is at times difficult to achieve in organizations as some workers might find themselves in department where there is not much work to be done. These workers feel demoralized with others choosing to transfer to other organizations. For that reason, it becomes very difficult for replacements to be done at time when no employee selections and recruitments are going on. Additionally, managing international connections is also identified as a management challenge. This is very common for companies that are experiencing rapid expansion. Most of the modern organizations expand at a very high rate and some of them even extend their services to the international market. This calls for addition of more workforces to help cater for the customer needs that are expected to increase. The problem arises when the workers with then required competencies cannot be found (Naghibi and Baban 545). The organization is compelled to adjust its internal environment so as to continue existing in the market. Modern organizations are characterized by increasing the number of culturally diverse workers. These organizations are confronted by the practice of handling diversity in the place of work. Managers are aware that the future of their organizations relies upon their ability to manage the diverse talents with innovative ideas (Kiteleja 12). Currently, the tension between people of different cultural backgrounds has been found to be on the rise, making it difficult for managers to control and make them exist together. Finally, customer retention is another source of management challenge. Today, customers are attracted by quality more than quantity. Modern organizations require appropriate technological tools for production of quality goods that will content their customers. It becomes tough for an organization with limited financial capabilities to acquire the necessary equipment that can help to retain customers (Naghibi and Baban 544). The Different Types of Managerial Decisions The success of managers in their management is based on the nature of the decisions they make. This also reflects on whether or not the managers have followed the correct route in the decision making process (Naghibi and Baban 545). Managerial decisions are classified according to the manner in which the identified problems are unraveled. This gives two broad classifications of managerial decisions as normative and descriptive. Normative decision making process focuses on the practices that managers should use to effectively deal with the problems they encounter in their daily operations. This decision making requires managers to properly understand the situation at hand as this will act as guidance towards the best decision-making process to be applied. On the other hand, descriptive decision making deals with the exact decision making procedures that managers used to deal with the problem at hand. Here, managers behave differently from the way they should. Application of descriptive decision making process requires critical analysis of the quality of the decision that is to be made and its relevance to the organization. There is also need for involvement of the subordinate members of staff in effective decision making (Ludato 4). Works Cited Kiteleja, Sarah. Effective Management of Multicultural Team. Mwanza: Tanzania, 2012. Print. Ludato, Michael. “Management, the Process.” BP Trends, (2006): 1-14. Print Naghibi, Mohammed, & Baban, Hediyeh. “Strategic Change Management: The Challenges Faced by Organizations.” International Conference on Economics and Finance Research, 4(2011): 542-545. Print Stephen, Gordon. Business Management Skills. New York: Penguin, 2013. Print. Read More