Introduction
Management is an important part of any business. Many success stories in the business world have been due to effective management practices. This paper is an analysis of the concept of management and how it relates to business. It embarks on a series of research questions into the most crucial part of management which is leadership.
Main text
Management is a term that is used to broadly mean the:
“process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected goals” (Koontz & Weihrich 2004).
It involves the processes of planning, organizing (co-coordinating), leading, and controlling. Management is also responsible for such activities as listed below:
- Infrastructural development which includes: accounting, finance, strategic planning;
- human resource management which includes recruiting, training, and development of existing competencies, compensation management such as pension and welfare benefits;
- technology development which includes: product and process improvement through new innovations, and lastly procurement (material acquisition of the necessary raw materials for the organization (What does management mean, n.d.).
Let us look at the functions of management in detail.
Planning. It involves making a blueprint for the organization as to how to achieve objectives and the future plans of the company in the short and long term. It is the first step in a business management model.
Organizing. It involves the marshaling of resources and works force to implement the objectives set out in the plan. It involves co-coordinating the various departments by assigning certain tasks to individuals and departments in the company.
Leading. It is the most crucial part and it entails directing and influencing individuals to perform tasks. It calls for effective communication and use of power as well as motivation to ensure that subordinates effectively carry out organizational tasks.
Controlling. This is the function that calls for ensuring that the company does not deviate from the main objectives of the organization by ensuring that performance standards that have been established are in sync with those standards which are being met. It also calls for taking corrective measures upon the realization that these standards are not being met or achieved.
According to Mintzberg as quoted by Koontz and Weihrich (2004, p.16), a manager has the following ten roles:
Interpersonal roles
Under this, he identified these key roles:
- The figurehead role is the ceremonial role of being the social representative of the organization.
- The leader of the organization has been discussed above.
- The liaison role to other companies in the market.
Informational roles
Under this, we have the roles of:
- The recipient role involves receiving information about the organization with regards to the market, competition, products, and the subordinates.
- The disseminator role involves the communication of information to the subordinates such as training ideas, business objectives as well to the shareholders.
- The spokesperson role entails disseminating information about the organization to outsiders like the media on recent stock turnovers and profit margins.
Decision roles
Under this, we have these roles:
- The entrepreneurial role involves making decisive decisions about which direction to lead the company in and the possible benefits of taking different risks to develop the organization.
- Disturbance-handler role of taking responsibility for the mistakes made and taking corrective measures.
- Resource allocator role involving making decisions on how to use the various resources available and in which proportions.
- Negotiator role of dealing with various people and mediating or arbitrating where necessary.
This next section will deal with the leadership aspect of management as the overall basis for this research paper. This paper is interested in solving the question of leadership inefficiencies. The research question that directed my analysis of leadership is as follows: What factors account for the effectiveness of some leaders and perpetual growth in their companies while others get side-tracked and less effective in the senior levels of management?
The research methodology undertaken in this paper is in form of questionnaires. Some of these questions are listed below:
What are the personal attributes that interact or combine with the organization’s day-to-day activities? This question seeks to establish the qualities of an effective leader in making a company successful with a look at how these work well for the leader in promoting and sustaining growth.
Is good or bad leadership a different qualitative phenomenon? According to Sternberg (2007), good leaders exercise a degree of intelligence, creativity, and knowledge in managing organizations. Bad leaders however show a lack of wisdom and cognitive irrationalities that inhibit their efficiency in their leadership roles.
How do leaders adapt to changes in the business environment during the course of their professional careers so as to continually advance their organization’s agenda into positive growth? This question seeks to answer the age-old question “what makes them different” This question seeks to understand why do some leaders lag behind in the face of change while others soldier on exploring new things to achieve success (Lindberg & Craig 2006, pp.12-30).
How can leaders be helped to learn from past experiences? This question looks at the specific aspect of seeing failures and mistakes as slip-ups that should be inspected in order to prevent their recurrence. This question seeks to establish why good leaders will not blame external forces or others for errors but will instead enlist a collaborative approach to push the organization forward. This may involve raising anxiety arousing questions that call for a chronological reflection of the mistakes maybe and making a collaborative effort in preventing these errors from recurring (Hackman & Wageman 2007, pp.43-47).
The data needed to answer these questions is mostly from respondents of questionnaires, statistical records of leading business companies as well as articles related to successful leaders, and lastly, interviews conducted with selected company executives who have excelled in their organizations and with those who may not have had such luck.
The expected challenges in carrying out this research include:
- Unresponsive respondents may feel ashamed of their failures as leaders in their respective organizations.
- Some respondents may not wish to divulge their “secrets of success”.
- It may also prove to be difficult to get a one-on-one audience with some multinational executives.
I find this research particularly fascinating and challenging as it forms the most crucial part of management in my opinion. People are ready to work harder in their organizations under effective and efficient leadership that motivates and works together with the subordinates and not at in abdication. The leader should work in collaboration with the subordinates and not in an authoritarian or laissez-faire manner. This, I think, is what makes for a substantive effect on good management and effective leadership.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this research paper summarizes the topic of leadership through analysis and formulation of the basic question of what makes for good leadership and how leaders can embrace change in order to enhance their leadership skills and in turn the affect the growth of the organization. It establishes what sort of data can be used to collect information on this topic and it relates it to management as a whole. Lastly, it looks at the challenges or limitations in conducting this research study.
References
Hackman, J R & Wageman R 2007, Asking the right questions about leadership, American Psychologist, pp. 43-47, Web.
Koontz, H & Weihrich, H 2004, Essentials of Management, (5th ed.), McGraw-Hill, New Delhi.
Sternberg, R J 2007, A Systems Model of Leadership: WICS, American Psychologist, no. 62, pp.34-42, Web.
Lindberg, J T & Craig B S 2006, The Qualitative Study of Leadership: research methods and Substantive Findings, Center for Creative Leadership, pp.12-30, Web.
What Does Management Mean (n.d.), Universal teacher Publications, 2010. Web.