CHAPTER 1 :
MANAGING AND PERFORMINGa
Managing
In the New Competitive Landscape
Management
is a challenge requiring constant adaptation to new circumstances.
Globalization
globalization has changed the face
of the workforce. management in this new competitive landscape will need to
attract and effectively manage a talent pool from all over the globe.
Technological
Change
The Internet’s impact on
globalization is only one of the ways that technology is vitally important in
the business world. Technology both complicates things and creates new
opportunities. The challenges come from the rapid rate at which
communication,transportation,information,and other technology change.
Knowledge
Management
Companies and managers need good new
ideas. Because companies advanced economie have become so efficient at
producing physical goods,most workers have been freed up to provide services or
“abstract goods” such software,entertainment,data,and advertising. Knowledge
management is the set of practices aimed at discovering and harnessing an
organization’s intellectual resources.
Collaborating
across “Boundaries”
Collaborating across “boundaries”
occurs even beyond the boundaries of organization itself. Companies today must
motivate and capitalize on the ideas of people outside the organization.
Managing
for Competitive Advantage
Good
managers know that they are in a competitive struggle to survive and win.
Innovation
Innovation
is the introduction of new goods and services. Your firm must adapt to changes
in consumer demands and to new competitors. The need for innovation is driven
in part of globalization.
Quality
Quality is the excellence of your
product. The importance of quality and standards for acceptable quality have
increased dramatically in recent years. Customers now demand high-quality goods
and services,and often they will accept nothing less.
Service
Service means giving customers what
they want or need,when they want it. So service is focused on continually
meeting the needs of customers to establish mutually beneficial long-term
relatoships.
Speed
Speed isn’t everything-you can’t get
sloppy in your quest to be first. But other things being equl, faster companies
are more likely to be winners ,slow ones
the losers.Speed is no longer just a goals of some companies; it is a strategic
imperative.
Cost
Competitiveness
Cost competitiveness means keeping
costs low enough so that the company cn realize profits and price its product
(goods and sevices) at levels that are attractive to consumers.
Sustainability
Sustainability is the effort to
minimize the use of resources, especially those that are polluting and
nonrenewable.
Delivering
All Types of Performance
Don’t assume that you can settle for
delivering just one of six competitive advantages. The best managers and
companies perform on all of these criteria.
The Functions of Management
Management is the process of
working with people and resources to accomplish organizational goals. Good
managers do those things both effectively and efficiently. In the business
world today, great executives not only adapt changing conditions but also
apply-fanatically,rigorously,consistently,and with discipline-the fundamental
management principle (planning,organizing,leading, and controlling).
Planning:
Delivering Strategic Value
Planning
is specifying the goals to be achieved and deciding in advance the appropriate
actions needed to achieve those goals. Planning is the management function of
systematically making decisions about the goals and activities that an
individual, a group, a work unit, or the overall organization will pursue.Value
is a complex concept,it describes the monetary amount associated with how well
a job, task, good, or serice meets users needs.
Organizing:
Building a Dynamic Organization
Organizing
is assembling and coordinating the human, financial, physical, informational,
and other resources needed to achieve goals. Effective managers will be using
new forms of organizing and viewing their people as perhaps their most valuable
resources.
Leading:
Mobilizing People
Leading
is stimulating people to behigh performers. It includes motivating and
communicating with employees, individually and in groups.
Controlling:
Learning and Changing
Performing
All Four Management Functions
Management Levels and Skills
Organizations-particularly
large organizations-have many levels. The types of managers found at three
different organizational levels:
1) Top-Level Managers
Top-level managers are the senior
executives of an organization and are responsible for its overall management.
Top-level managers,often referred to as strategic managers,are supposed to
focus on long-term issues and emphasize the survival,growth,and overall
effectiveness of the organization.
2)
Middle-Level
Mangers
Middle-level managers are located
in the organization’s hierarchy below top-level management and above the frontline
managers. Sometimes called tactical managers,they are responsible for
translating the general goals and plans developed by strategic managers into
more specific objectives and activities.
3)
Frontline
Managers
Frontline managers or operational
managers, are lower-level managers who supervise the operations of the
organization. They are directly involved with nonmanagement employess,
implementing the specific plans developed with middle managers.
Working Leaders
with Broad Responsibilities
In small firms-and in those large
companies that hve adapted to the times-managers hve strategic,tactical,and
operational responsibilities. Best managers can do it all; they are “working
leaders”. They focus on relationship with other people and on achieving
results.
Management
Skills
Pefrorming management functions and
roles,and achieving competitive advantage,are the cornerstones of a manager’s
job. Managers need a variety of skills to do these things well. Skills are
specific that result from knowledge ,information,practice, and aptitude.A
technical is the ability to peform a specialized task that involves a certain
method or process. Conceptual and decision skills involve the ability to
identify and resolve problems for the benefit of the organization and everyone
concerned. Interpersonal and communication skills is people skills means the
ability to lead, motivate, and communicate effectively with others.
You and Your Career
Emotional intelligence is the skills of
understanding yourself, managing yourself, and dealing effectively with others.
Be
Both a Specialist and a Generalist
If
you think your career will be as specialist,hink again. Chances are, you will
not want to stay forever in strictly technical jobs with no managerial
responsibilities.
Be
Self-Reliant
To be self-reliant means to take
full responsibility for yourself,your action, and your career. To be
self-reliant,find new ways to make your overall performance better.
Be
Connected
Being connected means having many
good working relationships and interpersonal contacts and being a team player
with strong interpersonal skills. Social capital is the goodwill stemming from
your social relationship,and it can mobilized on your behalf.
Actively
Manage Your Relationship with Your Organization
Relationship is one which you view
yourself as an employee and passively expect your employer to tell you what to
do and give you pay and benefits. Relationship is a two-way relationship in
which you and your organization both benefit from one another.
Survive
and Thrive
Career succsess is most likely if
you are flexible, creative, and ambitious. You will need to learn how to think strategically, discern and convey
your business vision, make decisions,and work in teams.
