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1&2: Managerial tools - systems, methods and techniques (general and specific):

I. Managerial Systems:
A. Management by Objectives - the most complex and widespread management system; can be
used either independently or in combination with other managerial systems;
Management by Objectives is defined as a managerial tool focused on rigorous determination
and derivation of objectives up to the job level and the correlation of rewards/sanctions with the
degree of achievement of these objectives. The defining elements:
• the existence of objectives at all organizational levels, with full process-based
organization involvement
• direct participation of the staff in setting up and achieve the objectives,
• staff motivation is performed according to the fulfillment of objectives and the degree of
involvement.
Components:
1. The system of objectives, which includes strategic objectives, 1st and 2nd degree
objectives, specific objectives and individual objectives.
2. Action programs outlining the main decisions and actions to be taken and initiated to
achieve the objectives.
3. Timetables, specifying intermediate and final milestones.
4. Budgets, developed for the company and its components, approached as management
centers.
5. Managerial methods and techniques, available and suitable to be used along
Management by Objectives, namely: diagnosis, delegation, managerial meeting,
dashboard, budget management etc.
6. Instructions, general or specific, materialized in methodological instructions on how to
achieve the objectives.
Methodology:
1. Setting up the strategic objectives – whose achievement determines both the present and
especially its future.
2. Setting up the other categories of objectives - The degree of breakdown of strategic objectives
determines to two version of Management by Objectives:
• team-based MbO, characterized by a breakdown of the target system to the specific level
• individual-based MbO, where objectives are set up to the job level, respectively individual
targets.
3. Development of other components of Management by Objectives - This is the case for action
programs, timetables, instructions, and especially budgets.
An important issue is delimitation and sizing the management centers. The management center
is a process-based component (activity, group of activities) or structure based (functional or
operational compartments), with large decisional and actional autonomy, with its own budget.
There are two important criteria of setting up management centers:
• the process-based criterion, according to whom management centers are created around
the most important activities or a group of activities (e.g. production, supply, sales,
treasury, personnel).
• the structure-based criterion, which allows the establishment of management centers
around specific organizational subdivisions (sections and workshops, functional
compartments, auxiliary compartments).
There are, therefore, three categories of management centers:
1. production related management centers;
2. auxiliary management centers
3. management centers specific to functional activities (administrative)
4. Decisional, informational, organizational and HR systems optimization according to the
requirements – in order to achieve the objectives.
5. Implementation, co-ordination and tracking of objectives achievement
6. Outcomes assessment and rewarding the employees

B. Product Management - is a management system characterized by the assignment of the main


managerial tasks, competencies and responsibilities regarding the manufacture and marketing
of a product or a group of similar products - with a significant share in the total production of the
company - to an individual managing exclusively both decision-making process and
operationalization of actions designed to and increase it (their) competitiveness.

C. Management by Exceptions is a simplified management system based on the upward


movement of information representing deviations from pre-established tolerance limits, in order
to simplify management processes and to better capitalize on resources. It can be used either
independently or in combination with other managerial systems. Characteristics:
1. Each manager has specific tasks, responsibilities and competences in addressing positive
or negative deviations (exceptions);
2. The informational system should focus on creating and maintaining proper operation of
its components - information, flows and circuits, procedures, etc. - allowing the
achievement of the company's strategic objectives;
3. The most important structural components of the company must be properly staffed,
both quantitatively and qualitatively;
4. Information feeding ascending information flows and circuits are exceptions, deviations
from the tolerance limits;
5. Information flows vertically to the management system selectively, ensuring a full
correspondence between the degree of aggregation of information and the hierarchical
position of the receivers (managers localized at different hierarchical levels);
6. Objectives and norms depending on which deviations are determined, must be realistic;
7. The applicability of the system is relatively low, i.e. in large production or mass production
companies.
Methodology:
1. First of all, setting up the objectives and other aspects of the domain subject of information
tracking with Management by Exceptions;
2. Setting up the limits of tolerance along with the intervals in which the occurrence of the
deviations (exceptions) require decisions and actions;
3. Thirdly, the achievements are tracked and compared with the expected level of objectives,
while the main causes that generated positive or negative deviations are identified;
4. Finally, the managers’ intervention takes place – when is the case – through decisions seeking
corrections or updates, centered on the causes of exceptions.
Management by Exceptions requires the use of two specific tools:
• the alert diagram - highlights the intervals for which the deviations recorded from the
planned level of objectives, norms, standards, etc. are considered exceptions
• decisional guide - highlights the main decision categories that managers directly involved
in solving the deviations (exceptions) have to made according to their magnitude
D. Management by Projects:
• the company faces some very complex problems with a strong strategic and innovative
character;
• when it is desired to shorten the duration of specific projects (or complex problems);
• when it has to substantiate a wide range of solutions for solving specific issues, involving
experts with a diverse background, recruited from the functional and operational
compartments of the company or from outside it.

II. Managerial Methods:


A. Diagnosis - based on a multidisciplinary team, whose main content is to identify strengths and
weaknesses of specific area, highlighting the causes that generate them, finalized in corrective or
development recommendations.
Diagnosis can be approached from two points of view. First, as a phase of the manager's work, in
exercising the control-evaluation. Second, diagnosis can be used by a group of managers and
experts to examine in-depth at a more complex issue, as a stand-alone method.
Characteristics:
• Its essence is in the cause-effect analysis, detecting and examining strengths and
weaknesses and formulating recommendations;
• Participatory nature is specific to diagnosis
• Finalization with recommendations
o General diagnosis – have as object the whole activity of the company;
o Specialized diagnosis – refer to a specific activity, department, etc.;
❖ Mono-phase (direct) diagnosis – the most common one; all the specialized diagnosis are
mono-phase diagnosis. As a rule, they are performed by heads of departments and their
subordinates.
❖ Multi-phases (snowball) diagnosis – investigation of at least two activities, taking into
account the cause and effect relationships between them.
B. Managerial meeting - consists of bringing together several people for a short time under the
coordination of a manager, in order to jointly solve some informational or decisional tasks on the
basis of communication.
I. Information sessions aim at providing information to the manager and / or collaborators
on certain areas.
II. The decisional meetings aim at making, with the participation of those present at the
meeting, specific decisions.
III. Harmonization meetings have as main content the coordination of the actions of both
managers and staff members of compartments located on the same or close hierarchical
levels within the organizational structure of the company.
IV. Exploration meetings are focused on investigating unknown areas of the company's
future, its components, or certain aspects that influence its performance. Exploration
meetings are designed to enhance creativity, usually forming the content of some stand-
alone methods such as brainstorming.
V. Heterogeneous meetings comprise elements of two or more of the other types
(information and decisional, for instance), being organized mainly at top and middle
management levels, while being the most common, also.
The use of the managerial meeting involves four stages - preparation, opening, progress and
completion. In order to make an effective meeting it is necessary to follow certain rules during
each stage.
In the preparatory stage, the most important issues are:
1. the establishment of a rational agenda, which is the main responsibility of the meeting
leader; the best approach is to address one issue, admitting, in the case of participatory
management bodies, maximum 3-4 issues on the agenda;
2. formulating the issues on the agenda with the utmost clarity, so that each participant will
know precisely the objective and the field to be addressed; ideally, the formulation must
stimulate the interest of those concerned, encouraging them to get involved;
3. designate the participants who will prepare the materials on which the works of the
meeting will take place in the areas addressed, based on the criteria of competence and
representativeness;
4. establish the participants to be invited to the meeting, it is advisable to involve the
managers and staff directly involved in the issues addressed; the unjustified increase in
the number of participants should be avoided;
5. prepare the shortest materials for the meeting, summarizing strictly unknown
information by the participants, formulating decisional alternatives, working hypotheses,
concrete proposals etc., being sent to the participants at least 1-2 days before the actual
meeting taking place;
6. in the case of occasional meetings establish the date, it is advisable to ask the participants
or at least inform them in time;
7. in the case of periodic meetings - weekly, decade, monthly - it is important to run them
on the same days and hours, facilitating a behavior from participants toward preparation
and attending;
During opening:
1. Opening of the meeting at the time communicated to the participants in advance;
2. Define the objectives of the meeting as clearly as possible
3. Present the ideas in a constructive way;
4. Use an attractive language to make the participants aware of the problems discussed;
5. Limit the introduction to 1-2 minutes;
6. - Establish, in agreement with the participants, whether there is a danger of excessive
speaking, the duration of the managerial meeting and the maximum duration of a speech.
During the progress of the meeting:
1. Emphasize contributions with new ideas, effective solutions, etc., hereby stimulating the
active and substantial involvement of the participants;
2. Avoid conflicts by intervening early on, firmly, to prevent or eliminate moments of
tension;
3. Promptly intervene in order to stop chatting or divagations from the agenda;
4. Set up an appropriate pace to ensure that the set duration is met, while achieving the
meeting goals.
Towards completion:
1. Limiting the duration of the meeting to 1-1.5 hours;
2. The recommended duration is anywhere between 30-50 minutes;
3. The secretary and the meeting leader has to sign the minute at the end of the meeting;
4. The final intervention of the meeting leader has to be concise and at the same time refer
to the main decisions made, agreements etc., facilitating their retention by all the
participants;
5. It is advisable to send the minute to the participants in writing at the latest on the day
following the meeting.
C. Delegation - consists of the temporary assignment by a manager of one of his tasks to a direct
subordinate, accompanied by the corresponding competence and responsibility. Components:
• task assignment;
• competence assignment;
• entrust responsibility.
It should be noted that in the case of delegation there is common the so called responsibility
duplication meaning that, although the delegate is fully responsible for the task and on the use
of the competence conferred, the manager who carried out the delegation maintains his ultimate
responsibility for the task in front of his supervisor, too.
The key issue in the successful use of the delegation is the consistent solution of the trust-control
dilemma. We refer to the trust that the subordinate feels his supervisor has in him and the
control the latter exercises over the subordinate. In solving this problem, we must start from the
axiom that the trust + control sum is always constant.
• Consequently, any amplification of control exercised by a manager diminishes the
confidence perceived by the subordinate, i.e.:
control + x = trust - x
• Similarly, increasing the confidence the manager has in his subordinate is accompanied
by a decrease in control, i.e.:
trust + x = control - x
• Effective delegation therefore implies a rational combination of trust and control with
regard to the individual to whom a certain task is delegated.

3. Qualitative parameters for decisions


• The decisional system is the set of decisions adopted and implemented within the
company, structured according to the system of objectives and the configuration of the
managerial hierarchy.
• The decision, a primary component of the decisional system, is an essential element of
management. In fact, effectiveness of organizational management is largely determined
by the quality of decisions.
• The decision is the course of action chosen to achieve one or more goals.
• Managerial decision is a decision that has immediate consequences on the decisions and
actions of at least one other individual, except the decision maker, during work processes.
o Decisional act - in the sense that it takes place within a very short period of time,
usually a few seconds or minutes. The decision-making act refers to low
complexity or recurrent instances.
o Decisional process - when the complexity of the decisional context in higher,
implying a considerable amount of time to actually made the decision, which can
be hours, days or even weeks
Integrated into the company's management system optimization, the decisional system
optimization has to go through several stages and phases. During the first phase, “Collecting,
recording and grouping information on the decisional system”, after putting up all the decisions
adopted during a certain prior timeframe and successfully classify them, It is very important to
highlight the qualitative parameters of the decisions according to their compliance with the
rationality requirements.
1. The decision must be scientifically substantiated - the decision must rely as much as
possible on data and information and on a rational process
2. The decision must be empowered - adopted by the manager or managerial body
specifically tasked to made that decision & decision maker must also have the necessary
skills and knowledge, possess the competence, and have the necessary decision-making
potential
3. The decision must be integrated - harmonized with all decisions adopted or designed to
be made; both vertically (in accordance with decisions taken at higher hierarchical levels)
and horizontally (decisions to other activities of the company)
4. The decision must be timely (opportune), in other words it must fall within the optimal
period to substantiate, adopt and implement it.
5. The proper formulation of the decision (completeness)
4. Organizational principles - one critical element in organizational system optimization
1. The principle of participatory management: This principle expresses the need for the
creation of participatory management bodies. Thus, the General Meeting and the Board
of Directors are set up at the company level. At the same time, participatory management
also means integration of participatory management bodies
2. The principle of supremacy of objectives: Each organizational subdivision must serve to
precise objectives achievement. It is necessary to establish the hierarchy and the
dimension of each organizational subdivisions, enabling the concentration of the main
human resources in the key areas.
3. The principle of unitary decision-making and action: each employee and each
compartment is directly subordinated to a single manager. Specifically, this means that
all decisions regarding the tasks assigned to an employee has to come from his manager,
who is ultimately responsible for the achievement of the objectives.
4. The principle of flattening organizational structure – reduce the number of hierarchical
structures to what is strictly necessary.
5. The principle of minimum organizational independence - specific and individual objectives
along with the tasks, competences and responsibilities of the organizational subdivisions
must have a degree of independence
6. The principle of management permanence: for each management position a replacement
must be provided, which can assume at any given time the manager in charge’s tasks.
7. The principle of efficient communications
8. The principle of the harmonized design of functions and jobs: between the individual
objectives, tasks, competences and responsibilities
9. The principle of matching the requirements of the job with the characteristics of the job
holder
10. The principle of creating cross-department teams: teams are made up of staff coming
from multiple compartments in the case of complex issues
11. The principle of organizational flexibility: continuously adapt to the realities and
requirements by periodical reviews in order to conceive and implement the most suitable
organizational solutions
12. The principle of effectiveness and efficiency of structures
13. The principle of determining the optimal variant of the organizational system
14. The principle of organizational system formalization – through organizational chart,
describing precisely and expressively the main components. Details are recorded in the
organization and functioning regulations and in the job descriptions

5. Informational principles - The design and implementation of informational systems needs


to be based on those principles designed to ensure that its specific functions are achieved with
maximum efficiency:

1. Subordinating the design and functionality of the informational system to the requirements of
the company's management
2. Linking the informational system with the decisional system and organizational structure
3. Achieving the methodological integration of information processing
4. Focus on essential deviations: information is required whenever possible, not globally but
selectively, only those that reflect significant deviations from objectives, criteria and means
5. Ensuring an adequate response time for management system and its components
6. Getting the most from the primary information: primary information, usually limited, is used
directly to track and control organizational process, as well as to make operative decisions by
the junior managers. The most important decisions and actions of the management are based
on final information.
7. Achieving informational flexibility - implies the continuous adaptation to its endogenous and
exogenous conditions, which are constantly changing
8. Ensuring informational and organizational effectiveness and efficiency

6. Informational deficiencies - typical, relatively frequent deficiencies, reflecting some


errors in the design and implementation of informational systems
A. Distortion - is the unintentional alteration of the information or the message during the
collection, processing and transmission stages from the transmitter to the receiver.
• Cause: the differences in the education of the individuals involved in the information flow,
the use of inappropriate information support, the negligent manipulation of the
information during transmission to the recipients, the use of faulty IT infrastructure etc.
B. Filtering consists in intentional alteration of the message or the information.
• The negative effect of both distortion and filtering is partial or complete misinformation of
the receiver. When misinformation occurs at the managerial level, is reflected in a poorer
quality of decisions.
• Cause: the intervention during the registration, transmission and processing of information
of individuals who have the interest that the receiver gets a changed message
C. Redundancy consists in iterative (repeated) recording, transmission and processing of
information. Redundancy occurs especially when the principle of unitary decision-making
and action is not observed, when several managers directly address information requests
to certain compartments, without the staff directly responsible for this being informed
• Cause: the lack of or poor coordination of some parts of the management system
• Effect: requesting the same information by different recipients - an appreciable waste of
time and sometimes additional material resources
D. Overloading - the attempt to transport through an informational circuit of an informational
flow that exceeds its capacity, which leads to jams or delays for the receiver (effect).
• Cause: besides redundancy – non-compliance with the pyramidal character of the
informational system – lack of selective aggregation of information

7. Business strategy
The strategy designates the organizational long-term major objectives, the main ways to fulfill
them, along with the resources allocated, to achieve the competitive advantage according to the
organizational mission.
Features:
• Includes the achievement of well-defined goals, as defined in the organizational mission
and strategic objectives.
o Objectives are the motivational and action-based foundation of the strategy, their
quality being decisive for the future performance of the company.
• Targets future periods (3-5 years) taking into consideration the risks and uncertainty
• Seeks to achieve competitive advantage, the ultimate goal, in strategic terms, for a
company.
• Aims at achieving the most effective interface between the company and the
environment, reflected in the organizational performance.
• Reflects, to a certain extent, the interests of at least some of the organizational
stakeholders: the owner(s), managers, employees, customers or suppliers
• Is a result of explicit or implicit stakeholder negotiation, facilitating harmonization of
stakeholders' interests, fostering the development of an organizational culture (inside
dimension of negotiation) and a relational system (outside dimension of negotiation)
supporting long-term performance.
Organizational culture is reflected in managers and employees’ attitudes, behaviors,
beliefs aspirations and values, and their effectiveness during organizational processes.
• In SMEs this is usually the business plan while in large corporations, strategies have their
own, well defined structure, involving complex procedures and mechanisms
Components:
1. Organizational mission – includes the fundamental goals, the business concept
(philosophy), the market on which company operates and what differentiates the
company from similar ones;
2. Strategic objectives – strategic objectives designate those goals on the long-term, usually
3 to 5 years, covering the whole of the company's activities or its major components.
Objectives are the first operational component of the strategy to be established. They
had to be set up accordingly, starting from the organizational mission and considering the
results of the organizational diagnosis and the environment analysis.
I. Economic objectives: long-term goals from a financial point of view (earnings per
share, share value, profit, margin, etc.
II. Social objectives are less common, but with a rapid growth trend over the past
decade (pollution, cooperation with public authorities, wages or working conditions).
3. Strategic choices - major approaches, with implications for the content of an appreciable
part of the company's activities, on the basis of which it is determined how it is possible,
rational and effective the achievement of strategic objectives.
4. Resources - all the elements of personnel, technical, materiel, and economic nature that
provide the means necessary to accomplish the organizational mission and strategic
objectives, following strategic choices. There are four categories of resources:
information, human, technical & material and financial.
5. Deadlines – sets the period for the strategy to be implemented
6. Competitive advantage – the ultimate goal of the business strategy providing long-term
competitiveness:
• According to Porter, the competitive advantage of a company essentially means
either a low cost or a product or service that is differentiated by its qualities from
similar products or services.
• To be viable, the competitive advantage needs to be sustainable, the company can
achieve and support it for a long time.
Typology
1. According to coverage:
a. Global strategies - the establishment of common directions to be followed in all
areas (commercial, production, HR, etc.) and for all products or services in the
portfolio.
b. Partial strategies – how the companies must act in specific areas
2. According to strategic objectives dynamics:
a. Recovery strategies – when the company experienced a decline; the objectives are
set higher than the ones on the last period;
b. Consolidation strategies – objects similar in quantitative terms with the last
period, but higher in qualitative terms so to consolidate the market position;
c. Development strategies – both quantitatively and qualitatively higher objectives;
imply large costs;
3. According to the nature of the objectives:
a. Specialization strategies - concentration of the company on a small range of
products or services, simultaneously seeking to improve them in terms of
technical, economic and social characteristics and performance;
b. Diversification strategies - require widening the range of products or services
provided by the company;
c. Offensive strategies – new markets penetration / increase of market share;
d. Defensive strategies – retreat from some markets / reduce the market share;
4. According to competitive advantage:
a. Cost-oriented strategies – cutting production costs as to ensure better prices on
the market
b. Differentiation strategies - distinguish the product by as many characteristics as
possible from the products of competition, in particular by improving its functions
c. Niche-oriented strategies - setting strategic objectives to ensure customer
satisfaction for a specific, well defined, segment of customers
d. Quality-oriented strategies - by setting strategic objectives to achieve superior
product quality in relation to competitors' products

8. Creativity methods (Managerial tools -> Specific methods -> Intuitive methods)
The intuitive methods are characterized by the removal of some emotional or intellectual
inhibitions of individuals or groups. This category includes brainstorming, Philips 66, Delphi,
Synectic, Panel method, Delbecq, brainwriting, etc.

Brainstorming - a method of stimulating group creativity involving stimulation of individuals


to generate new ideas, which are likely to be transformed into solutions to solve a complex
problem. In order to ensure the success of the brainstorming, a three-stage methodological
scenario is recommended:
A. Prepare the creative meeting
1. scheduling the creative session at an hour where the participants are relaxed;
2. carefully choosing the location and ensuring favorable microclimate conditions;
3. providing the instruments for accurate and complete recording of the debates (tape
recorder, camera, etc.);
4. specifying the dimensions of the creative group (8-12 participants);
5. establishing the structure of the group, selecting the experts. It is recommended a
heterogeneous composition of the group;
6. defining in the most precise terms the problem;
7. submitting the problem, in writing, to the participants long before the actual session.
B. Actual session development – the discussion leader assumes the role of “animator” and the
obligation to collect as many new ideas as possible. He has an extremely delicate and important
mission:
1. designing a variable duration of 15-45 minutes, depending on the complexity of the issue;
2. creating and maintaining a relaxed climate throughout the session (refreshments, coffee);
3. ensuring the formulation of ideas - short proposals, without digressing or chatting;
4. encouraging participants to issue new ideas, starting from the already formulated ones;
5. "prohibition of prohibition" to formulate, to issue any idea, regardless of its degree of
operationalization or apparent suitability in solving the problem;
6. prohibiting assessment of ideas issued during the session;
7. accurate and complete recording of the debates and, above all, of the ideas generated by
the participants;
8. finalizing the creativity meeting when 80 to 100 ideas were issued.
C. Evaluating and capitalizing the ideas, a stage unfolded outside the creative meeting itself. The
initiated actions concern:
• the selection and classification of ideas issued in
o feasible and applicable immediately;
o feasible and applicable in the future;
o unrealistic, unfeasible.
• final analysis and assessment of solutions; choosing the idea that can be operationalized
as a solution to solve the problem.

Philips 66 - focuses on delivering new ideas by multiple creative groups, also called functional
teams (recommended no more than 5), made of 6 people each. Delimitation from brainstorming:
• the much larger number of participants (approximately 30, if the classical parameters of
group composition are observed);
• the composition of the groups involved in the creativity meeting (each group designates
a leader);
• the duration of the creativity session, approximately 2 hours;
• the way it is deployed (sequential - debates within each group and debates in plenary);
• the existence of three important categories of "characters": the leader of the meeting,
the group leaders and the members of the group.
A. the first stage prepares the creative meeting and, in addition, sets up the groups to debate
the issue and their leaders are appointed;
B. in the next stage, the problem is debated in two distinct sequences:
• group (or within groups) debate, with the group leaders recording the ideas being issued;
• the plenary debate, starting with the presentation of the ideas issued in the creativity
groups by their leaders. They are presented without any limitation and are the subject of
critical discourse to which group members (members) can contribute
C. The last step is assessment the solutions and is also carried out in two sequences:
• assessment by group leaders and their presentation in plenary, followed by the final
assessment provided by the leader of the creativity meeting;
• presenting the selected ideas to the management after having been previously analyzed
by experts.

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