ACCA F1 – Business & Technology | Ms. Vishah Hussain
Part D: Leading and managing individuals
and teams
Chapter 11: Leading and managing people
1 The purpose and process of management
Management is responsible for using the organisation's resources to meet its goals. Management
may be defined, most simply, as 'getting things done through other people'.
In a private sector business, managers act, ultimately, on behalf of shareholders.
In a public sector organisation, management acts on behalf of the Government.
1.1 Authority, accountability and responsibility
Authority:
Organisational authority: the scope and amount of discretion given to a person to make
decisions, by virtue of the position they hold in the organisation.
Managerial authority thus has three aspects:
• Making decisions within the scope of one's own managerial authority
• Assigning tasks to subordinates
• Expecting and requiring satisfactory performance of these tasks by subordinates
Responsibility:
Responsibility is the liability of a person to discharge duties. Responsibility is the obligation to do
something; in an organisation, it is the duty of an official to carry out assigned tasks.
Accountability:
With responsibility, we must associate accountability. Managers are accountable to their
superiors for their actions and are obliged to report to their superiors how well they have
exercised the authority delegated to them.
1.2 Delegation
Delegation of authority occurs in an organisation where a superior gives a subordinate the
discretion to make decisions within a certain sphere of influence.
As well as being essential for running an organisation, delegation brings a number of other
benefits:
, ACCA F1 – Business & Technology | Ms. Vishah Hussain
a) Training. Subordinates gain experience of problems and responsibility, which helps to
prepare them for promotion and contributes to the avoidance of crises of management
succession.
b) Motivation. Herzberg found that responsibility was an important factor in job satisfaction
and motivation.
c) Assessment. Subordinates' performance in relation to delegated responsibility can be
used as a measure of their need for further training and experience and their readiness
for promotion.
d) Decisions. Delegation brings decisions closer to the situations that require them,
potentially improving them by having them made by those with most knowledge of the
problems and factors involved.
1.3 Authority and power
Authority is the right to do something; in an organisation it is the right of a manager to require a
subordinate to do something in order to achieve the goals of the organisation.
Power is distinct from authority, but is often associated with it. While authority is the right to do
something, power is the ability to do it.
Three ways in which people could acquire legitimate power (or authority).
1. Charismatic authority arises from the personality of the leader and their ability to inspire
devotion through.
2. Traditional authority rests on established belief in the importance of immemorial
tradition and the status it confers.
3. Rational-legal authority raises from the working of accepted normative rules.
1.4 Power and influence
, ACCA F1 – Business & Technology | Ms. Vishah Hussain
1.5 Power centers
Senior management
Senior managers have coercive and reward powers, and most importantly take decisions relating
to personnel.
Middle managers
Middle managers have a number of power sources. They have some reward power over their
own subordinates. They need legitimate power, hence the need for formal job descriptions,
authorisation limits, and so on.
Interest groups
There are also formal interest groups; that is, groups which are perceived to represent the
interests of their members.
Departmental power
The power exercised by individual departments will vary. Some departments in the techno
structure exercise power by the use of functional authority, for instance, by specifying
procedures.
1.6 The manager's role in organising work
1. Work planning
Work planning is the establishment of work methods and practices to ensure that predetermined
objectives are efficiently met at all levels.
(a) Task sequencing
(b) Scheduling or timetabling tasks, and allocating them to different individuals
(c) Establishing checks and controls
(d) Contingency plans
(e) Coordinating the efforts of individuals
2. Assessing where resources are most usefully allocated
(a) Human resources: staff time and skills
(b) Material resources, including raw materials, equipment, machine time and office space
(c) Financial resources, within budget guidelines
(d) Information
, ACCA F1 – Business & Technology | Ms. Vishah Hussain
3. Project management
The job of project management is to foresee as many contingencies as possible and to plan,
organise, co-ordinate and control activities.
a) Outline project planning
b) Detailed planning
c) Teambuilding
d) Communication
e) Coordinating project activities
f) Monitoring and control
g) Problem resolution
2 Writers on management
2.1 Henri Fayol: five functions of management
1. Planning
Determining objectives, and strategies, policies, programmes and procedures for achieving those
objectives.
2. Organising
Establishing a structure of tasks which need to be performed to achieve the goals of the
organisation.
3. Commanding
Giving instructions to subordinates to carry out tasks, for which the manager has authority (to
make decisions) and responsibility (for performance).
4. Co-ordinating
Harmonising the goals and activities of individuals and groups within the organisation.
5. Controlling
Measuring and correcting the activities of individuals and groups, to ensure that their
performance is in accordance with plans.
2.2 F W Taylor: scientific management
Principles of scientific management include the following.
(a) The development of a true science of work. 'All knowledge which had hitherto been kept in
the heads of workmen should be gathered and recorded by management.
(b) The scientific selection and progressive development of workers.
Part D: Leading and managing individuals
and teams
Chapter 11: Leading and managing people
1 The purpose and process of management
Management is responsible for using the organisation's resources to meet its goals. Management
may be defined, most simply, as 'getting things done through other people'.
In a private sector business, managers act, ultimately, on behalf of shareholders.
In a public sector organisation, management acts on behalf of the Government.
1.1 Authority, accountability and responsibility
Authority:
Organisational authority: the scope and amount of discretion given to a person to make
decisions, by virtue of the position they hold in the organisation.
Managerial authority thus has three aspects:
• Making decisions within the scope of one's own managerial authority
• Assigning tasks to subordinates
• Expecting and requiring satisfactory performance of these tasks by subordinates
Responsibility:
Responsibility is the liability of a person to discharge duties. Responsibility is the obligation to do
something; in an organisation, it is the duty of an official to carry out assigned tasks.
Accountability:
With responsibility, we must associate accountability. Managers are accountable to their
superiors for their actions and are obliged to report to their superiors how well they have
exercised the authority delegated to them.
1.2 Delegation
Delegation of authority occurs in an organisation where a superior gives a subordinate the
discretion to make decisions within a certain sphere of influence.
As well as being essential for running an organisation, delegation brings a number of other
benefits:
, ACCA F1 – Business & Technology | Ms. Vishah Hussain
a) Training. Subordinates gain experience of problems and responsibility, which helps to
prepare them for promotion and contributes to the avoidance of crises of management
succession.
b) Motivation. Herzberg found that responsibility was an important factor in job satisfaction
and motivation.
c) Assessment. Subordinates' performance in relation to delegated responsibility can be
used as a measure of their need for further training and experience and their readiness
for promotion.
d) Decisions. Delegation brings decisions closer to the situations that require them,
potentially improving them by having them made by those with most knowledge of the
problems and factors involved.
1.3 Authority and power
Authority is the right to do something; in an organisation it is the right of a manager to require a
subordinate to do something in order to achieve the goals of the organisation.
Power is distinct from authority, but is often associated with it. While authority is the right to do
something, power is the ability to do it.
Three ways in which people could acquire legitimate power (or authority).
1. Charismatic authority arises from the personality of the leader and their ability to inspire
devotion through.
2. Traditional authority rests on established belief in the importance of immemorial
tradition and the status it confers.
3. Rational-legal authority raises from the working of accepted normative rules.
1.4 Power and influence
, ACCA F1 – Business & Technology | Ms. Vishah Hussain
1.5 Power centers
Senior management
Senior managers have coercive and reward powers, and most importantly take decisions relating
to personnel.
Middle managers
Middle managers have a number of power sources. They have some reward power over their
own subordinates. They need legitimate power, hence the need for formal job descriptions,
authorisation limits, and so on.
Interest groups
There are also formal interest groups; that is, groups which are perceived to represent the
interests of their members.
Departmental power
The power exercised by individual departments will vary. Some departments in the techno
structure exercise power by the use of functional authority, for instance, by specifying
procedures.
1.6 The manager's role in organising work
1. Work planning
Work planning is the establishment of work methods and practices to ensure that predetermined
objectives are efficiently met at all levels.
(a) Task sequencing
(b) Scheduling or timetabling tasks, and allocating them to different individuals
(c) Establishing checks and controls
(d) Contingency plans
(e) Coordinating the efforts of individuals
2. Assessing where resources are most usefully allocated
(a) Human resources: staff time and skills
(b) Material resources, including raw materials, equipment, machine time and office space
(c) Financial resources, within budget guidelines
(d) Information
, ACCA F1 – Business & Technology | Ms. Vishah Hussain
3. Project management
The job of project management is to foresee as many contingencies as possible and to plan,
organise, co-ordinate and control activities.
a) Outline project planning
b) Detailed planning
c) Teambuilding
d) Communication
e) Coordinating project activities
f) Monitoring and control
g) Problem resolution
2 Writers on management
2.1 Henri Fayol: five functions of management
1. Planning
Determining objectives, and strategies, policies, programmes and procedures for achieving those
objectives.
2. Organising
Establishing a structure of tasks which need to be performed to achieve the goals of the
organisation.
3. Commanding
Giving instructions to subordinates to carry out tasks, for which the manager has authority (to
make decisions) and responsibility (for performance).
4. Co-ordinating
Harmonising the goals and activities of individuals and groups within the organisation.
5. Controlling
Measuring and correcting the activities of individuals and groups, to ensure that their
performance is in accordance with plans.
2.2 F W Taylor: scientific management
Principles of scientific management include the following.
(a) The development of a true science of work. 'All knowledge which had hitherto been kept in
the heads of workmen should be gathered and recorded by management.
(b) The scientific selection and progressive development of workers.
