Management and organisation summary, quarter 4
Management
9.2 The management
Management/organisational managers, is mean the collective organisational managers tasked
with directing an organisation. The group performing this task often consists of various
individuals, another frequently encountered term is the ‘management team’.
Management team, are often specialists representing the various functional departments of an
organisation, such as Purchasing and Sales, Finance Production and Personnel and Auditing.
A management function is often, the gateway to a promising career perspective, at both the
local and international levels.
9.2.1 Managerial activities
The number of levels of (hierarchical) control depends heavily on the size of the organisation,
the degree of specialisation, and the type of organisational policy.
There are three management levels within an organisations hierarchy: top-level management,
middle management and first-line management (departments heads). It is the responsibility of
the senior level to provide leadership to the organisation; middle management directs the
activities of the operational levels, including the first-line management level (especially within
large enterprises). First line includes heads of departments or group managers, who are located
between the operational levels and the middle management level.
The management levels have different managerial tasks: policy formulating tasks and executive
tasks.
• Policy formulating tasks → constituent tasks are tasks in the fields of diagnosis,
prediction, planning and organising activities.
• Executive tasks → directive tasks involve mainly the delegating of activities and the
supervising and motivating of employees.
Figure 1. Management level activities
,The distinction between functional managers and general managers:
- Functional manager: the responsibilities of a functional manager relate to the management
and performance of a single main activity within an organisation. Employees are coached by
this manager to focus on one task only. Purchasing managers and marketing managers are two
examples of functional managers.
- General manager: is responsible for all the activities within a certain part of the organisation,
including production, marketing and finance. The business unit manager and the divisional
manger are two examples of managers with general managerial duties.
Within the activities performed by management, a number of trends has become visible:
1. Flattening, organisational structures are becoming increasingly flat through the
assimilation of lower and middle management levels. Consequently, the number of
management levels and the number of managers has also declined.
2. Coaching and guiding, the task of the manager is increasingly changing from the
classical, directive leadership style to a style that is more oriented towards coaching and
guiding employees.
3. Business units, there has been a shift away from the recruitment of functional managers
to the development of more general managers in the workplace. This has been caused
by the subdivision of organisations into more autonomous business units, charged with,
for example, all activities aimed at a certain product-market combination.
These trends are as a result, more and more policy formulating tasks are assigned to middle
management, with top-level management being responsible for creating the required
conditions.
9.2.2 Managerial roles
The main function of the manager is to direct employees and manage the resources in an
organisation. There are three managerial roles, the interpersonal roles, the informational roles
and the decision-making roles.
1. Interpersonal roles: the manager directs employees and is responsible for the progress
and results of processes within their competence. By maintaining relationships, the
manager needs to govern processes and promote group interests as best as possible,
both at higher organisational levels and externally.
Constructing and maintaining formal and informal informational networks is part of this
activity. The main aspects of the role are figurehead, leader and liaison officer.
The latter role includes establishing contacts outside one’s own organisational unit.
These contacts constitute a distinct externally directed information system and are used
during the daily activities of the unit.
, 2. Informational roles: a manager needs to be informed of any changes within the
organisation that will affect the operational results of the division. The manager shares
this information with both the organisation’s members and other interested parties
outside the organisation. The ability to react quickly within a changing environment
requires accurate information, and thus information becomes increasingly important.
The main aspects of the role are observer, disseminator and spokesperson.
3. Decision-making roles: the person in charge of a business unit, a manager is responsible
for implementing policy. Using gathered information and personal contacts, the
manager translates the organisational units opportunities, threats, strengths, and
weaknesses into decisions. A managers needs to continually evaluate situations in order
to achieve the required objectives. Managers need to make optimal use of the staff and
resources available.
In order to make the right decisions in such a complex situation, managers must be able
to rely on their staff. The main aspects of the role are entrepreneur, trouble-shooter,
resource allocator and negotiator.
9.2.3 Top-level managers
Long ago the most senior manager was known as the director. Nowadays, they came to prefer
to be known as a manager or as top-level executives or entrepreneurs.
A top-level manager in an organisation is the main motivator and initiator of the enterprise in
its current modern form. They have a symbolic function. They are held responsible and
accountable for the future successes or failures of the organisations they lead.
A top-level manager needs to be a great communicator, able to inspire their employees. Other
characteristics are their creativity, enthusiasm, and open-mindedness. They must be able to
take a political approach toward all parties the organisation deals with, both internal and
external.
9.2.4 Middle management
Middle management basically consists of all managers below top-level, including divisional
managers, assistant directors, heads of department, store managers, divisional managers,
assistant directors, heads of department, store managers and chiefs. Middle management is
important as it is asked with implementing general policy and, often, with providing direct
leadership to the executive branch.
The most important tasks are:
• Managing and directing general activities
• Making operational decisions
• Passing along information top-down and bottom-up
, • Planning
• Organising work activities
• Motivating employees
• Maintaining internal and external contacts
• Reporting
• Generating business
Depending on its position, middle management’s tasks lean either towards formulation or
implementation. Given the trends towards decentralisation of top-level management
authorities, the policy formulating tasks are shifting towards middle management, thus causing
the function to increase in importance.
Top-level management may create wonderful new plans and strategies, but it is the middle
management that needs to motivate employees into giving life of these concepts. As discussed
earlier the middle management has to deal with the flattening of the organisation and this
flattening will have further consequences for changes in management style, budgeting policies,
and personnel management. In order to give people new challenges and promote further
business effectiveness, the notion of staff horizontally transferring between various business
positions will become more widespread.
9.2.5 Managers in government
In general, the managing board is responsible for making new policy decisions, and top
management is responsible for making new policy decisions, and top management is
responsible for putting the policies into practice.
As well as their job requirements, the managerial problems faced by top-level ministerial
officials and central government bodies differ from those of managers of decentralized or
governmental bodies, or even the market sector. There are several reasons for these
differences:
• The government is not part of a market-oriented organisation. Activities are not
determined directly by a buyer of a service, but by decisions of parliament, regional
government, or city councils.
• Services provided by governments and the costs of delivering those services have an
unstable character, as they are produces within a political and administrative decision-
making process that is constantly changing,
• Withing government, the influence of financial results on management is less clear than
within the market sector, since the financial position of a business is more transparent.
• Additionally, a government has certain requirements and duties not found in the market
sector: for example, the principle of good governance, the acceptance and prioritizing of
certain duties of care to special groups, and transparency of administration.
Management
9.2 The management
Management/organisational managers, is mean the collective organisational managers tasked
with directing an organisation. The group performing this task often consists of various
individuals, another frequently encountered term is the ‘management team’.
Management team, are often specialists representing the various functional departments of an
organisation, such as Purchasing and Sales, Finance Production and Personnel and Auditing.
A management function is often, the gateway to a promising career perspective, at both the
local and international levels.
9.2.1 Managerial activities
The number of levels of (hierarchical) control depends heavily on the size of the organisation,
the degree of specialisation, and the type of organisational policy.
There are three management levels within an organisations hierarchy: top-level management,
middle management and first-line management (departments heads). It is the responsibility of
the senior level to provide leadership to the organisation; middle management directs the
activities of the operational levels, including the first-line management level (especially within
large enterprises). First line includes heads of departments or group managers, who are located
between the operational levels and the middle management level.
The management levels have different managerial tasks: policy formulating tasks and executive
tasks.
• Policy formulating tasks → constituent tasks are tasks in the fields of diagnosis,
prediction, planning and organising activities.
• Executive tasks → directive tasks involve mainly the delegating of activities and the
supervising and motivating of employees.
Figure 1. Management level activities
,The distinction between functional managers and general managers:
- Functional manager: the responsibilities of a functional manager relate to the management
and performance of a single main activity within an organisation. Employees are coached by
this manager to focus on one task only. Purchasing managers and marketing managers are two
examples of functional managers.
- General manager: is responsible for all the activities within a certain part of the organisation,
including production, marketing and finance. The business unit manager and the divisional
manger are two examples of managers with general managerial duties.
Within the activities performed by management, a number of trends has become visible:
1. Flattening, organisational structures are becoming increasingly flat through the
assimilation of lower and middle management levels. Consequently, the number of
management levels and the number of managers has also declined.
2. Coaching and guiding, the task of the manager is increasingly changing from the
classical, directive leadership style to a style that is more oriented towards coaching and
guiding employees.
3. Business units, there has been a shift away from the recruitment of functional managers
to the development of more general managers in the workplace. This has been caused
by the subdivision of organisations into more autonomous business units, charged with,
for example, all activities aimed at a certain product-market combination.
These trends are as a result, more and more policy formulating tasks are assigned to middle
management, with top-level management being responsible for creating the required
conditions.
9.2.2 Managerial roles
The main function of the manager is to direct employees and manage the resources in an
organisation. There are three managerial roles, the interpersonal roles, the informational roles
and the decision-making roles.
1. Interpersonal roles: the manager directs employees and is responsible for the progress
and results of processes within their competence. By maintaining relationships, the
manager needs to govern processes and promote group interests as best as possible,
both at higher organisational levels and externally.
Constructing and maintaining formal and informal informational networks is part of this
activity. The main aspects of the role are figurehead, leader and liaison officer.
The latter role includes establishing contacts outside one’s own organisational unit.
These contacts constitute a distinct externally directed information system and are used
during the daily activities of the unit.
, 2. Informational roles: a manager needs to be informed of any changes within the
organisation that will affect the operational results of the division. The manager shares
this information with both the organisation’s members and other interested parties
outside the organisation. The ability to react quickly within a changing environment
requires accurate information, and thus information becomes increasingly important.
The main aspects of the role are observer, disseminator and spokesperson.
3. Decision-making roles: the person in charge of a business unit, a manager is responsible
for implementing policy. Using gathered information and personal contacts, the
manager translates the organisational units opportunities, threats, strengths, and
weaknesses into decisions. A managers needs to continually evaluate situations in order
to achieve the required objectives. Managers need to make optimal use of the staff and
resources available.
In order to make the right decisions in such a complex situation, managers must be able
to rely on their staff. The main aspects of the role are entrepreneur, trouble-shooter,
resource allocator and negotiator.
9.2.3 Top-level managers
Long ago the most senior manager was known as the director. Nowadays, they came to prefer
to be known as a manager or as top-level executives or entrepreneurs.
A top-level manager in an organisation is the main motivator and initiator of the enterprise in
its current modern form. They have a symbolic function. They are held responsible and
accountable for the future successes or failures of the organisations they lead.
A top-level manager needs to be a great communicator, able to inspire their employees. Other
characteristics are their creativity, enthusiasm, and open-mindedness. They must be able to
take a political approach toward all parties the organisation deals with, both internal and
external.
9.2.4 Middle management
Middle management basically consists of all managers below top-level, including divisional
managers, assistant directors, heads of department, store managers, divisional managers,
assistant directors, heads of department, store managers and chiefs. Middle management is
important as it is asked with implementing general policy and, often, with providing direct
leadership to the executive branch.
The most important tasks are:
• Managing and directing general activities
• Making operational decisions
• Passing along information top-down and bottom-up
, • Planning
• Organising work activities
• Motivating employees
• Maintaining internal and external contacts
• Reporting
• Generating business
Depending on its position, middle management’s tasks lean either towards formulation or
implementation. Given the trends towards decentralisation of top-level management
authorities, the policy formulating tasks are shifting towards middle management, thus causing
the function to increase in importance.
Top-level management may create wonderful new plans and strategies, but it is the middle
management that needs to motivate employees into giving life of these concepts. As discussed
earlier the middle management has to deal with the flattening of the organisation and this
flattening will have further consequences for changes in management style, budgeting policies,
and personnel management. In order to give people new challenges and promote further
business effectiveness, the notion of staff horizontally transferring between various business
positions will become more widespread.
9.2.5 Managers in government
In general, the managing board is responsible for making new policy decisions, and top
management is responsible for making new policy decisions, and top management is
responsible for putting the policies into practice.
As well as their job requirements, the managerial problems faced by top-level ministerial
officials and central government bodies differ from those of managers of decentralized or
governmental bodies, or even the market sector. There are several reasons for these
differences:
• The government is not part of a market-oriented organisation. Activities are not
determined directly by a buyer of a service, but by decisions of parliament, regional
government, or city councils.
• Services provided by governments and the costs of delivering those services have an
unstable character, as they are produces within a political and administrative decision-
making process that is constantly changing,
• Withing government, the influence of financial results on management is less clear than
within the market sector, since the financial position of a business is more transparent.
• Additionally, a government has certain requirements and duties not found in the market
sector: for example, the principle of good governance, the acceptance and prioritizing of
certain duties of care to special groups, and transparency of administration.
