Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Good leadership depends on the use of power, influence, vision, persuasion, and communication skills to coordinate the behaviors of individuals and groups so that their activities and efforts are in harmony and to encourage employees to perform at a high level (Jones & George 2006, p. 12). Not all managers are good leaders and vice versa, but to truly excel in management, a manager must train to be a leader. Being able to lead people enables a manager to achieve organizational objectives at a better rate and with excellent results. A fine example of leadership is illustrated with a look into practices at Flight Centre, a Brisbane-based travel company with strong and sustained growth. The company is 'highly decentralised,' (McShane & Travaglione 2005, p. 501) meaning that employees within the hierarchy are empowered. Their belief in themselves as stakeholders is amplified. Good leadership, then, is not totalitarian rule, but a skill set that draws the best performance from others.
To ensure the organization is functioning at optimal capacity, a good manager needs control. Control is the function of management that monitors inputs, processes, and outputs. By being able to monitor operations, the manager ensures that actions are focused on attaining organizational goals. Control also enables managers to evaluate how well they themselves are performing the other three functions of management -- planning, organizing, and leading -- and to take corrective action (Jones & George 2006, p. 12). The success of mortgage lender John Symond shows the value of control as defined in this way. Over the last number of years, the company 'has experienced a series of near-changes, each of them canny attempts to broaden the brand...
27). Management looked at the market and altered its course in response. Managers would have had to take stock of their functioning in the areas of planning, organizing, and leading and take the actions needed to expand company influence and provide more and greater services to customers.
The four management functions discussed in this paper are complementary and dependent. An effective manager is able to balance them in order to achieve the objectives of the organization. As the brief case study of Ponsonby Pies illustrates, different managers bring different skills to the table. At Ponsonby, manager Katrina Cole is the academic, with the ability to see the big picture and formulate strategies. Co-manager Anthony Cole has been able to effectively implement Katrina's strategies on the factory floor (Twiname 1999, p. 525, cited in McShane & Travaglione). Together, they provide strong management for a small company that has enjoyed tremendous success, even when competitors charged that Ponsonby would not succeed.
Within their individual skill sets, good managers realize where their strengths lay and use them to their best advantage. They must bring industry expertise together with interpersonal skills to effectively plan, organize, control and lead their organizations in the pursuit of current and future objectives.
Bibliography
DeBruyn, S. 2007, 'Mortgage Master,' BRW, vol. 29, no. 11, pp. 26-28.
Jones, G.R. & George, J.M. 2006, Contemporary Management, 4th ed, McGrawHill/Irwin, Boston, MA.
McShane, S.L. & Travaglione, T. 2005, Organisational behaviour on the Pacific Rim, McGraw-Hill, North Ryde, N.S.W.
Bibliography
DeBruyn, S. 2007, 'Mortgage Master,' BRW, vol. 29, no. 11, pp. 26-28.
Jones, G.R. & George, J.M. 2006, Contemporary Management, 4th ed, McGrawHill/Irwin, Boston, MA.
McShane, S.L. & Travaglione, T. 2005, Organisational behaviour on the Pacific Rim, McGraw-Hill, North Ryde, N.S.W.
In terms of human relations skills, some examples in this sense include the ability to understand human behavior or the abilities to communicate and motivate. c) Organizing Similar to control, the organizing function is addressed through the gradual completion of four distinct processes: identification of activities, departmentally organizing the activities, classifying the authority and coordinating authority and responsibility. In the case of organizing the resources for instance, it would be necessary
Functions of Management The four functions of management are planning, organizing, directing and controlling. Planning is the process of anticipating future events of action for achieving organizational goals. An effective plan aids in the crystallization of an organization's vision, works to avoid costly mistakes, and allows companies to seize opportunities. Effective planning requires an evaluation of the business environment and a well designed strategic plan of actions that are needed to
They doubted that enough PCs would be sold to make MS-DOS successful. Bill Gates begged to differ, bought out the rights to MS-DOS, which he had originally written for IBM, and Microsoft was born. Mr. Gates has tremendous passion for his visions and that passion is contagious, and that is a critical skill for any manager to make planning work as part of their management style. Planning as a management
It is the totality of a company's identity: the quality of its people, the value of its brand, its standing in the community and its performance in the marketplace. Building reputation, in this broad sense of the term, is what great companies are all about" ("Message from Verizon's Chairman and CEO," 2006, About Verizon). Notice how this rhetoric makes every employee at the company feel involved in a commitment to
Regardless of which side of the debate a person is on, the truth is that transformational leaders far outdistance those that are authoritarian or transactional in mindset and approach (Eisenbeiss, Boerner, 2010). There are many factors for this but the traits that relate to excellence in leadership are as follows. First, transformational leaders have gained the trust and respect of their peers and subordinates by being transparent, or doing
Microsoft Management The Four Functions of Management at Microsoft The ability of any organization to stay agile and responsive to market conditions is in large part determined by how balanced their management structure is, and how effective their management practices are. At Microsoft the four functions of management are used to create a scalable foundation of future market growth while aligning their internal resources to each opportunity. The intent of this analysis