Key Management Roles

Question 1

Planning

Answer 1

Planning is the process of defining objectives and determining methods or strategies that will be used to achieve those objectives. It is often referred to as the primary management role.

Question 2

3 levels of planning

Answer 2

Strategic
Tactical
Operational

Question 3

Strategic planning

Answer 3

Strategic (long-term) planning is planning for the following two to five years. This level of planning will help determine where the organisation wants to be in the market, and what the organisation wants to achieve in relation to its competitors.

Question 4

Tactical planning

Answer 4

Tactical (medium-term) planning is flexible, adaptable planning, usually over one to two years. It helps implement the strategic plan and allows the organisation to respond quickly to changes.

Question 5

Operational planning

Answer 5

Operational (short-term) planning provides specific details of the way the organisation will operate in the short term. Management controls the day-to-day operations that contribute to achieving short-term actions and objectives. Examples of operational plans are daily and weekly production schedules.

Question 6

Examples of the levels of planning

Answer 6

Strategic - Vision statement
Tactical - How objectives will be achieved through the allocation of resources
Operational - Day to day operations such as production schedules

Question 7

4 Key Management Roles

Answer 7

POLC
Planning
Organising
Leading
Controlling

Question 8

The five steps of the planning process

Answer 8

Step 1 Define the objective -
Step 2 Analyse the environment 
Step 3 Develop alternate strategies 
Step 4 Implement an alternative
Step 5 Monitor and seek feedback on the implemented strategy

Question 9

Define the objective

Answer 9

Management begins the planning process by considering where they believe the organisation is headed.

Question 10

Analyse the environment

Answer 10

Managers attempt to work out exactly wherethe organisation currently stands. A common analysis technique is known as a SWOT analysis (an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). This identifies and analyses the organisation’s internal strengths and weaknesses, and also opportunities in, and threats from, its external environment.

Question 11

Develop alternate strategies

Answer 11

Managers develop several strategies and then agree to put one into action.

Question 12

Implement an alternative

Answer 12

The strategy that has been agreed upon needs to be put into place.

Question 13

Monitor and seek feedback on the implemented strategy

Answer 13

Management must set targets and check whether they are met. If objectives are not met, the planning process would have to be repeated. Any plan formed should be a living document, regularly reviewed and revised if necessary.

Question 14

What is organising and why is it done

Answer 14

Organising is the process management goes through when it attempts to arrange resources, including staff, assets and finances, so that they are matched with tasks or work activities. Management does this to achieve the objectives of a large organisation.

Question 15

What can be completed using an organising process?

Answer 15

Resource and task allocation

Question 16

3 steps of the organising process

Answer 16

1. Determining the tasks
2. Classifying and grouping the tasks
3. Assigning work and delegating authority

Question 17

Determine the tasks

Answer 17

The tasks required to achieve objectives must be deter-
mined. Tasks are then usually broken down into smaller steps.

Question 18

Classifying and grouping tasks

Answer 18

Once the tasks of a business have been broken down into smaller steps, similar ones can be grouped together. This improves efficiency by enabling the most appropriate allocation of resources. It is common practice, for example, to group tasks into departments or sections, and to allocate employees and supervisors to each section or department.

Question 19

Assigning work and delegating authority

Answer 19

The next step in the organising process is to determine who is to carry out the work and who has the responsibility to ensure the work is done. Delegation also involves ensuring the person who has been given responsibility carries out the processes. Effective delegation can increase productivity and efficiency, and increases job satisfaction for the employee.

Question 20

Leading

Answer 20

Leading occurs when managers endeavour to influence or motivate people in the organisation to work to achieve the organisation’s objectives. Effective leadership is vital to the success of an organisation.

Question 21

3 leadership qualities

Answer 21

Interpersonal
Informational
Decision making

Question 22

Interpersonal

Answer 22

This quality involves management’s capacity to deal or liaise with people and build positive relationships with staff.

Question 23

Informational

Answer 23

Informational refers to obtaining the required knowledge and being effective in the communication of this knowledge. For example, being able to communicate an appropriate answer to an employee if they have a question.

Question 24

Decision making

Answer 24

Decision-Making is the ability to identify and evaluate possible available options in response to a situation, and choose the course of action that is the most appropriate and effective.

Question 25

Controlling

Answer 25

Controlling is the process that management goes through when it evaluates performance and takes corrective action to ensure that objectives are being achieved. A control process is used to compare what was intended to happen with what has actually occurred. If there is a discrepancy between performance and objectives, changes and improvements can be made.

Question 26

The three steps of the control process

Answer 26

1. Establishing financial and non financial standards in line with objectives. 2. Measuring performance against standards. 3. Making changes to ensure objectives are being met.

Question 27

Identify two indicators of corporate culture and explain how each reflects the shared values and beliefs of an organisation.

Answer 27

Corporate culture refers to the shared values, ideas and beliefs of an organisation and is characterised by its traditions and heroes (rewarded/ideal employees). An indicator of corporate culture within an organisation is the organisation’s slogan or motto. This is an indicator of the formal corporate culture, meaning what is officially written down and presented to the public. A business slogan indicates their focus and therefore, what they value and believe. For example Hungry Jacks slogan is the burgers are better at Hungry Jacks, indicating that they value product quality. A second indicator is the uniform policy of employees, or how well that uniform policy is enforced. This is an indicator of an organisation’s real corporate culture, meaning what they actually value and believe, not just what they claim to. The enforcement of a uniform policy can indicate how professional or strict an organisation is, and their treatment of employees. For example, employees at Hungry Jacks are expected to wear a uniform that is safe in the kitchen, and holds the company’s logo. If this is enforced, it is an indication that the organisation values their employees safety, and is not overly laid back, lazy or unproductive.

Question 28

Alice Smith has read the biographies of many great business leaders. She would like to follow in the footsteps of these successful leaders. Alice has just taken over as the CEO of The Traveller’s Helpmate, a business that publishes print and online travel guides. Her observation is that her staff are professional, highly educated and independent. In private conversations, some staff have said that they felt underappreciated by the previous CEO as positive feedback was rarely provided. Alice wants The Traveller’s Helpmate to be seen as ethical and socially responsible. To meet this goal, she is reviewing the key elements of her operations system. Describe one ethical and social responsibility issue that Alice may consider from each of the three elements of the operations system.

Answer 28

Ethical management refers to abiding by morals and standards and doing the right thing in the interests of the stakeholders. Social responsibility refers to the obligations of the LSO over and above its legal requirements to benefit the community and environment. The elements of the operations system are inputs, processes and outputs. Alice could be ethically and socially responsible in terms of inputs by sourcing her materials from an ethical and socially responsible supplier. This would mean that the supplier would not exploit labour and would be environmentally friendly. Processes refer to the activities undertaken in turning inputs into outputs. An ethical and socially responsible issue which Alice may consider from the processes element would be to conduct all production of the books at the organisations’ own factory. This is being ethical and socially responsible as it means that Alice may be able to offer more employment opportunities to the community, or to provide variation in employees’ tasks due to the organisation not outsourcing production. Outputs refer to the final product/service at the end of the transformation process. In order to be socially responsible and ethical here, Alice may ensure that the final output is fit for purpose, and contains only truthful information regarding travelling, ensuring that she is applying moral standards and is not misleading customers.

Question 29

Alice Smith has read the biographies of many great business leaders. She would like to follow in the footsteps of these successful leaders. Alice has just taken over as the CEO of The Traveller’s Helpmate, a business that publishes print and online travel guides. Her observation is that her staff are professional, highly educated and independent. In private conversations, some staff have said that they felt underappreciated by the previous CEO as positive feedback was rarely provided. Alice is choosing between two approaches to staff motivation – Herzberg or Locke. Evaluate the key aspects of both of these theories of motivation and recommend which theory she should adopt.

Answer 29

Herzberg’s two factor theory stipulates humans have two levels of needs, which are personal requirements that need to be met if motivation is to be achieved. The first set of factors are hygiene factors which include a safe work environment, adequate levels of pay and their food and shelter needs being met. These factors can either provide dissatisfaction or no dissatisfaction, but they cannot motivate. Motivation can be achieved thorough meeting the motivation factors which include stimulating work, opportunities for advancement and responsibility. In order for employees to be motivated both hygiene and motivation factors must be met. Locke’s theory is based on goal setting. Locke believed employees needed to be set clear but challenging goals, then they need to receive feedback on them and acknowledgement for their effort. Finally employees need to be rewarded if they meet their goal or discuss with management why they didn’t, usually resulting in further training. Herzberg’s theory may be harder to motivate employees as lots of factors need to be met, as Locke’s theory focuses on achievable short term goals, motivation may be more easily accessible. Alice should use Locke’s goal setting theory, as staff expressed to her that they felt underappreciated as they received no feedback for their efforts. As Locke’s theory focuses on acknowledgement of effort it would be the best suited approach for Alice to implement in order to motivate staff.

Question 30

Many large-scale organisations use a multistage planning process in order to achieve their objectives. Explain each of the steps in this process.

Answer 30

Planning refers to defining objectives and determining strategies to achieve these objectives. The planning process consists of 5 steps. The first step is to define objectives, which involves outlining what the organisation wants to achieve compared to competitors and where in the market it wants to be. The next step is to outline the facts. This is done by analysing the environment and can be done using a SWOT analysis. This consists of determining and examining the organisations internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. Step three is develop alternative strategies, which means determine possible ways of achieving the objectives, for example new policies, rewards or training. Then it requires management to select and implement one strategy. This involves identifying the most appropriate strategy that is most effective and putting it into action. Finally, the last step is to monitor and evaluate the strategy deciding if objectives are being met and taking corrective action if not.

Question 31

Identify, describe and justify a facilities design and layout strategy that Freda could use for manufacturing the furniture.

Answer 31

Freda’s furniture manufacturing company would be best suited to the Process layout. The process layout is where similar functions are grouped together in work cells and products move from cell to cell as each stage of production is completed. This enhances cooperation and communication between departments and allows flexibility to adjust products to suit customer needs. For example, there could be work cells in Freda’s company such as the measuring and cutting cell, the assembling cell, the rendering cell and the painting cell. Each item of furniture would be transported between cells after each stage is complete. The reason why the process layout would be best suited for manufacturing furniture is so that each specific item can easily be customised to meet customer demands because furniture is not a standardised product. This process therefore increases productivity and allows for better communication and cooperation between cells. Also, the whole production line does not need to be shut down if there are problems in one cell, increasing productivity.

Question 32

Planning is a management role. Explain planning and describe how GTA could use planning in the process of wanting to expand into Asia.

Answer 32

Planning involves determining objectives and coming up with strategies to achieve those objectives, there are 3 different levels of planning. One level is strategic which is planning for 3-5 years in the future and involves determining where the organisation wants to be. GTA might use strategic planning to create a vision statement that says "We want to provide high quality tours in multiple countries around the world." Putting expanding into the vision statement ensures that this remains a focus and that the objectives created involve expanding. Tactical planning is 2-3 years ahead planning that involves putting the strategic plan into place. GTA could start allocating resources to the expanding to Asia such as employees and money. This allows the business to invest into research into the type of tours they could implement in Asia and start preparing to expand. Operational planning is up to one year ahead planning for the businesses day to day operations. GTA could have started preparing rosters for the expansion into Asia that involve the times and dates of tours and what staff will be working at that tour.

Question 33

Describe the role of leading and explain the importance of the leadership qualities.

Answer 33

Leading is the ability of a manager to motivate and influence staff to work effectively towards objectives. There are 3 important qualities used in the role of leading. Interpersonal qualities are the ability of a manger to liaise with staff and build positive relationships. It is important as if relationships with staff are positive, then morale will be increased and employees will therefore be more motivated to work productively. Informational qualities are the ability to obtain the required information and be effective in the communication of this knowledge. It is important as managers need to have the required information to be able to answer any questions employees might and to ensure that employees know what is required from them. Decision making qualities are the ability to come up with a set of alternatives when faced with decisions and choosing the best alternative. It is important as managers face many decisions and problems each day and they need to ensure that a good decision is made so that the business will continue to work productively .

Question 34

'Fairhaven Aged Care' is an Australia-wide large-scale organisation that has facilities in all capital cities and many regional centres. The Board of Directors has decided to open new facilities in New Zealand, where they have gathered data that indicates there is increasing demand for aged care. Outline the management role of leading that 'Fairhaven Aged Care' could use when expanding operations into New Zealand.

Answer 34

Leading is the ability of a manager to motivate and influence staff to work effectively towards objectives. There are 3 important qualities used in the role of leading. Interpersonal qualities are the ability of a manger to liaise with staff and build positive relationships. It could involve maintaining positive relationships with employees when undergoing the changes required in expansion. Informational qualities are the ability to obtain the required information and be effective in the communication of this knowledge. Managers would have to use these qualities when explaining to employees what will be required from them when undergoing the expansion and being able to answer any questions employees might have about the expansion. Decision making qualities are the ability to come up with a set of alternatives when faced with decisions and choosing the best alternative. Managers will need to make good decisions such as the best way to expand and what specific locations to expand into to maximise productivity and effectiveness when expanding.