7 The management of time

In any business, it is important that managers should be effective.

There are so many pressures on managers, reducing their efficiency.sdf

They find that they do not have enough time to devote to the really important jobs.

The manager finds that other people take up a lot of his time, so that he has little time of his own.

The higher he goes, the more demands will be made upon his time.

Because of the nature of the manager's work, it is not easy for him to be effective.

Effective managers learn how to manage their time.

They cut out unproductive activities.

Either he or his secretary keeps an exact record of how he spends his working day, or week.

One way of logging time is to note down all the activities and indicate how long they took.

Once the manager has an accurate picture of how he uses time, he can analyse the time log.

This will help him to re-think and re-plan his work schedule.

He will also get rid of some activities which can be done just as well by someone else.

Knowing how to delegate is an essential skill of a manager.

The manager works out all the jobs he must do in the coming day or week.

He also sets deadlines for carrying out the more important activities.

8 Motivation

The work of managers is to ensure that staff work efficiently in an organization.

One of the best known theories of motivation was put forward by an American psychologist, Abraham Maslow.

In his theory, he presents a hierarchy of needs.

Physiological needs. These were things required to sustain life like food, water, air, sleep etc.

Security needs. They are the needs to be free from danger, physical pain and loss of a job.

Social needs. A human being needs to belong to a group, to be liked and loved, to feel accepted by others and to develop affiliations.

Esteem needs. After people have satisfied their social needs, they want to have self-respect and to be esteemed by others.

Self-actualisation needs. They are the desire to develop, to maximise potential and to achieve one's goals.

Maslow said that people satisfied their needs in a systematic way.

When a need had been met, it stopped being a motivating factor.

Another theory of motivation, which has been very popular with managers, is Frederick Herzberg's 'two-factor' theory.

9 Performance appraisal

Most organisations have some form of performance appraisal of their employees.

The appraisals are usually carried out once a year.

Appraisals help organisations to reward staff properly.

There are many methods of evaluating a person's performance at work.

A traditional method has been to give a 'rating'.

The most popular form of appraisal, in Britain and the United States, is Management by Objectives.

Another appraisal method is worth mentioning too.

This is the Critical Incident Method.

In spite of the need for performance appraisals, people do not like them.

Many managers see appraisals as their most unpleasant duty.

Appraisal can be a valuable process.

The purpose of the interview should be to discuss how the individual can 'grow' in the organisation, and make an effective contribution.

10 Centralisation or decentralization?

Alfred Sloan (1874-1966) was an outstanding figure in the business world of America

He worked for forty-five years in the General Motors Corporation (GM).

According to Sloan, every large enterprise has to face one major problem.

It must decide how much it wishes to centralise or decentralise its business.

When an organisation is centralised, a limited amount of authority is delegated.

In a decentralised company, the divisions will have wider responsibilities and authority.

When Alfred Sloan took over the running of General Motors, he inherited a corporation which was already decentralised.

Alfred Sloan set up a new, centralised cash system.

Nowadays, decentralisation is the fashion, the 'buzz' word.

If an organisation is too centralised, people become robots - which is demotivating.

It is normal for people to like independence, to dislike control.

13 Management in multinationals?

If asked to define a multinational, most people would say that it is a company doing business in more than one country.

To be a 'true' multinational an organisation should operate in at least six countries and have no less than 20% of its sales or assets in those countries.

In addition, it should 'think internationally*.

That is to say, the management should have a 'global perspective'.

Some economists have estimated that, by the year 2000, about 200 to 300 multinationals will be providing half of the world's total goods and services.

Because of their global approach, multinationals often make decisions which are against the interests of their host countries.

Multinationals are criticised by foreign governments for other reasons.

Difficulties often arise when a multinational wishes to transfer its earnings back to Head Office.

The host country may feel that the transfer will have a bad effect on the exchange rate of its currency.

Or, it may want the multinational to re-invest profits in the business.

The interests of multinationals and foreign governments frequently clash.

This can lead to friction between the two sides, and even bitterness.

As a result, many countries have tried to restrict their operations.

Multinational managers will spend much of their time working overseas.

They will, therefore, be living and working in a strange environment.

Managers working abroad need various skills.

Human relations skills are vital because, to be effective, the manager must persuade local staff to cooperate with him.

As differences in culture are important when a manager is negotiating in a foreign country

Finally, those working abroad must remember that a deal is not always a deal.

In some countries, a person may say 'yes a proposal simply to be polite, or agreeable.

Even written contracts, in some areas, may not be worth much.

12. Leadership

1.Leadership is needed at all levels in a organization.

2.There are different types of leaders because of that it is difficult give a sates factory definition of leadership (for example: a supervisor, or a manager «Provide direction» to achieve common goals.

3. But a chief executive must built the many personality beyond its normal limitations.

4. Are there special traits which differ leader from on leaders?

5. According to some studies if was clear doubt there are no special qualities that characterizes a leader.

6. An important analysis of leadership has been made by Fred Fiedle.

7. He observed how leaders behaved and identified  two basic leadership styles: task-motivated leaders and relationship – motivated leaders.

8. The priority of task-motivated leadership get the job done.

9. Relationship – motivated leaders socialize people and show responsibilities.

10. Relationship – motivated leaders describes his least – preferred co-workers favourable.

11. And a task-motivated leader describes his least-prefer co-worker unfavorably giving his a low rating.

12. There are no best style for all situations effective leadership depended on matching the leader to the task and the situation.

13. Fred Fiedler identified some characteristics of the top-manager which made them good leaders.

14. Firstly the leaders should be visible for example leader makes regular visits to plants ant sites

15. Secondly leaders provide a clear-mission  it means they know where the organization is going and persuaded staff to follow them.

16. So the leader not only lifts aman’s vision he / she protects the organizations values.

11 Communications

1. In recent years, few books on management have been more acclaimed than In Search of Excellence. Written by two business consultants, Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman

2. One of the points made by the writers is that communications in excellent companies are different from those in other companies.

3. Excellent companies have a 'vast network of informal, open communications'.

4. The companies do everything possible to ensure that staff meet easily and frequently.

5. The authors give many examples to back up their view.

6. The book is full of examples of companies who believe in 'keeping in touch': firms like IBM where the Chairman personally answers any complaint which is addressed by members of staff;

7. One problem with communication is that people think they have got their message across when in fact they have not.

8. We do not, in fact, communicate as effectively as we think we do.

9. A breakdown in communication is quite likely to happen if there is some kind of 'social distance' between people.

10. In organisations, people may have difficulty communicating if they are different in status, or if one person has a much higher position than the other.

11. For this reason, staff often 'filter' information.

12. They deliberately alter the facts, telling the boss what he/she wants to hear.

13. One way of reducing social distance - and improving communications - is to cut down on status symbols.

14. It is possible, for example, to have a common dining-room for all staff.

15. Physical surroundings and physical distance limit or encourage communication.

16. The physical layout of an office must be carefully planned.

17. Open-plan offices are designed to make communication easier and quicker.

18. Another important barrier to communication is selective perception.

19. Put simply, this means that people perceive things in different ways.

20. Therefore, a manager will say something, but the employee will interpret his meaning incorrectly.

21. Managers should encourage staff to ask questions and to react to what the managers are saying.

22. Feedback is essential.

23. The most useful question a manager can ask is 'Did you understand that?