CHAPTER 1

THE CHALLENGE OF
MANAGEMENT

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Lecture outline
• Overview of management
• What managers actually do
• Managerial knowledge, skills,
performance
• Managerial job types
• Managing in the 21st century

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Management: An overview

Management defined:
“Management is the process of
achieving organizational goals
through the major functions of
planning, organizing, leading and
controlling.”

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Organizations
• Management takes place in
organizations:
“Two or more persons engaged in
a systematic effort to produce
goods or services”
Can be private sector, public sector,
charitable and religious sector, or the
community sector – all need
management.

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Management Functions
• Planning
The process of setting goals and deciding how best to
achieve them.
• Organizing
The process of allocating human and non-human resources
so that plans can be carried out successfully.
• Leading
The process of influencing others to engage in the work
behaviours necessary to reach organizational goals.
• Controlling
The process of regulating organisational activities so that
actual performance conforms to expected organizational
standards and goals.

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Management Overview
Achievement of organizational goals via:

1. Planning

2. Organizing

3. Leading

4. Controlling

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The Management Process
To be successful, the functions of planning,
leading, organizing and controlling need to be
linked to:
• work agenda…
• work methods and roles…
relying upon an organizational pool of
knowledge and management skills, which leads to:
• organizational performance.

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What managers actually do…
work methods
Henry Mintzberg’s study of managers
concluded:
• They perform great quantity of
work at unrelenting pace.
• Work is typically varied,
fragmented, brief.
• Prefer to deal with current,
specific, ad hoc issues.

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What managers actually do:

• Effective managers are at the centre of a

network of contacts.
• Prefer verbal communication—especially
via phone.
• Control of own activities—good information
essential for this control.

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Mintzberg’s Managerial
Roles
• Interpersonal
• Informational
• Decisional

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Interpersonal roles
• Figurehead: Symbolic duties - projecting a set of
values, communicating an image.

• Leader: Builds relationships, communicates,

coaches, motivates. Leadership skills commonly
lacking in managers.

• Liaison role: Maintains a network of contacts

outside the work unit

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Informational roles
• Monitor: Sifting, sorting, selecting information (to
help set the agenda)—phone, meetings, memos,
social functions, mail, public gatherings.

• Disseminator: Transmitting relevant information

to subordinates or others inside the organization.

• Spokesperson: Transmitting information outside

the organisation - has to be able to express it,
have solid verbal skills—right message at right
time.

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Decisional roles
• Entrepreneur: Ability to identify opportunities and
threats—able to do this in diverse situations—
work or leisure. Initiator and encourager.

• Disturbance handler: Takes corrective action

when necessary.

• Resource allocator: Distributes staff, time,

money, equipment within the organization
according to relative priorities.

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Decisional roles (cont’d)
Negotiator: Represents the organization in
major contract and agreement
negotiations.
Uses networking skills in this.
Usually has assistants, secretaries,
subordinates to help.

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Managerial work agendas
• Kotter’s study of managers suggested that
managers focus their efforts through work
agendas:
“A loosely connected set of tentative goals and
tasks that a manager is attempting to accomplish”.
• Agendas address immediate and long-term job
responsibilities supported by formal organizational
plans.
• Influenced by
Job demands (MUST do)
Job constraints (CAN do)
Job choices (MIGHT or might not do)

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Managerial Knowledge, Skills
and Performance
Knowledge base
Managers need a relevant, fairly extensive
knowledge base for their particular managerial job.
This may be in several areas e.g.:
• Knowledge of industry
• Knowledge of product or service
• Knowledge of market
• Knowledge of technology
• Knowledge of organisation (policies, personalities)

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Managerial Knowledge, Skills
and Performance
Skills base
Managers also need particular skills in order to
function effectively in achieving their objectives.
Key skills include:
• Technical skills
• Human skills
• Conceptual skills

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Managerial Knowledge, Skills
and Performance
Performance goals
Managers must also be able to function in two key
ways:
• Effectively
– an ability to choose and achieve appropriate goals
• Efficiently
– an ability to make the best use of resources

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 Managerial job types: the
vertical dimension

Top managers—planning, conceptual skills

Middle managers—mixed skill needs

First line managers/supervisors—leading, technical skills

Operational level staff

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Promoting innovation:
The entrepreneur role
• Innovation involves a new idea to
initiate or improve a process, product
or service
• Intrapreneurs
• Idea champions
• Sponsors
• Orchestrators

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Horizontal dimension:
Responsibility areas
• Functional managers
Specific, technical focus
• General managers
Broad, whole of organization/unit responsibilities
• Project managers
Integrative, team focus

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Managing in the twenty-first
century
• Change and innovation/technology
• Diversity: markets, products and staff
• Developing a global perspective
• Quality (TQM) and reengineering
(BPR)

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Managing in the twenty-first
century (continued)

• Internet applications
• Knowledge management
• Learning organizations

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LECTURE SUMMARY
• Overview of management
– Management functions (PLOC)
• What managers actually do (Mintzberg)
– Roles: interpersonal, decisional, informational
– Work agendas and methods (Kotter)
– Efficiency v Effectiveness

• Managerial knowledge, skills and performance

– Skills: Technical, Human, Conceptual
– Management job types
– Vertical and horizontal differences in management roles

• Managing in the 21st century

– Change, innovation, diversity, globalization, technology, quality
and knowledge management.

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