Modern senior manager roles and responsibilities

¶ … Senior Management

Modern Senior Manager

It is without any doubt that the senior managers of an entity represent its backbone. They are the ones envisioning the company's future and uniting the people so as to achieve the organizational goals. The modern day literature presents the reader with descriptions of various managerial styles. Belker and Topchik (2005) for instance forward the managerial types of the autocrat and the diplomat leaders. Mullins (2007) on the other hand offers a more complex approach and argues the existence of five managerial styles, which lead to the creation of five types of leaders -- the impoverished manager, the authority-compliance manager, the country club manager, the middle-of-the-road manager and the team manager.

Despite the large diversity in perceiving the different leadership figures and their different leadership styles, fact remains that there are some sources which will forward a necessity to create and implement a universal model of the senior manager. This individual would meet specific criteria in terms of education, professional background or personal skills and abilities. The process is best known as competency modeling, and it involves a situation in which the human resource team at a specific organization assesses its needs. Otherwise put, it creates the profile of the future manager based on the specific characteristics of the company's needs. At Baker Foods, Ann Baxter, the head of the Human Resource Division, viewed this process as a next step in the "ongoing leadership development project" and argued that the company "need[ed] to define exactly what we're looking for from our people at the top." Virtually, the leadership competency modeling program would on the one hand establish the criteria that has to be met by the senior manager, and on the other hand establish the functions with which he would have to comply. The "framework […] would not only highlight the critical values, knowledge, and skills necessary to lead any of the divisions of the consumer-packed-goods company but also identify the corresponding tasks, behaviors and measures of success" (Morrison, 2007).

As it can be expected, the response from the individuals employed by Baker Foods was diversified, with some parties defending the benefits of the competency models, others putting it down, and a third category of people not fully understanding the concept. This situation is in fact common within most organizations. A 2000 study conducted by Arthur Anderson and Schoonover Associates on the levels of integration and perception of competency models stands evidence of the diverse standpoints relative to the issue. The most significant findings of the study include the following:

Competency models are used in virtually all business sectors, regardless of organizational size or industry sector

Competency models are most efficiently used in selection and recruitment, development of job descriptions, training, performance management, planning and career development

The levels of satisfaction after using competency models vary from one institution to the other; sophisticated organizations generally retrieve superior levels of satisfaction

The most common factors which reduce the success rates of competency models include insufficiency of the allocated resources, lack of managerial support, lack of previous expertise with competency models or an organizational focus on consolidating the competitive position in the detriment of internal matters (LaRocca)

Given this situation, it becomes obvious that the implementation of the competency modeling concept is both encouraged as well as impeded. The factors which support the implementation of the framework refer to the following:

The competency models would help with the process of selection as they would substantially reduce the workloads of the HR Department, reduce the adherent costs and stand increased chances of hiring the manager who is best able to serve the needs of the organization

An important characteristic of the modern day organization is that it values its human resources as its most important asset. This is true as managers recognize the ability of employees to serve customers needs and as such generate revenue stability (Boyd, 2003). In this context, Baker Foods could use competency models to create competitive advantages (LaRocca), in the form of better skilled managerial teams, that will be better able develop competitive strategies

Another plus to implementing competency models is given by the possibility for the managerial team to be better integrated within the context of the company's needs and characteristics. This would materialize in the formation of a unified managerial team, which would collaborate better, develop better strategies and as such exponentially increase Baker's chances of success. As Dough put it: "There's simply too many senior managers operating on their own agendas. The cowboy mentality might have worked ten years ago, but we've grown exponentially since then and the market is much more competitive. There's just no room for rogue leaders" (Morrison)

There are nevertheless elements which lead to the belief that the implementation of competency models is not the best course of action for Baker Foods. The most relevant arguments in this direction include the following:

The individual hired based on his ability to meet the criteria demanded by the competency model might not prove a fruitful addition on the long-term; the competency model will only state the Baker Food's current needs, but these could easily change in the future and the manager hired would no longer be suited for the position (based on the competency model)

The usage of the model will significantly reduce the numbers of suitable candidates, materialized as such in the company's reduced access to prospective managers. Taking one step forward, this could materialize in a situation in which a candidate that would be perfect for the position of senior manager at Baker is overlooked as he/she does not meet all criteria portrayed by the competency model

Finally, the last downside to the implementation of competency models is given by the fact that the new leadership framework will interfere with some aspects of business operations. For instance, it will generate the necessity to allocate more resources to the HR department to develop and implement the model; then, it is possible for the response to be less positive, in the meaning that the change implemented could be received with reticence from some current managers, meaning that the team would be divided between the supporters and disclaimers of competency models