Unit 1: Learning Objectives Flashcards
The student will be able to describe the difference between supervision, leadership and management.
The difference is that leaders set direction, align people, motivate and inspire. Managers plan, budget, organize, staff, control and solve problems. While certainly not wrong, the distinctions may not be that clear.
One way to look at this question would be organizationally:
Supervisors: Tend to have authority over those actually doing the work—line employees.
Managers: Tend to have authority over those supervising line employees
Leaders: Can be found at all levels in the organization. Those with leadership positions are generally charged with setting the overall direction of the organization.
The student will be able to explain the difference between average, successful and effective managers, and what causes a manager to be one or the other.
An average manager is just that—average.
A “successful” manager is one who is upwardly mobile. This is the person who is being regularly promoted—perhaps even over your head. She seems to be in the middle of everything, and the favorite of the bosses.
An “effective” manager is one who gets the job done. He is probably not the most upwardly mobile, but when a task needs to be done, he’s your guy.
There are some people who always seem to be climbing to the top, and others who may not be getting the promotions, but who are the ones creating value for the company.
Successful and effective managers focus on people, not things
What is the Classical Administrative School?
organization needs to function on a set of rules, policies and procedures. The purpose of a business is to create value for the stakeholders. The underlying purpose of democratic governments is to provide equal treatment.
What is the Classical Scientific School
looks at the work itself. [Taylor] was the first to suggest “piece-meal pay”—payment for each unit a worker produces, rather than an hourly wage. It was Taylor who invented the production line. Taylor looked at how to maximize the output of human labor
What is the Behavioral School?
It is the interactions between management, workers and systems that maximized outputs.
Hawthorne Effect: example on the shop floor -> change light, add music, etc production went up with change. Watching something changes it
What is Quantitative School?
Much of this school’s work focuses on managerial decision making and uses mathematical models and methods to find the best way of doing something.
For example, let’s say a UPS truck has to make multiple deliveries. Data is available regarding distances, roads, conditions, etc. What is the best route for the truck to take? Where should it go first, and how should it proceed to follow-on delivery points?
What is the Humanistic School?
This approach to management sees people and their underlying motivation as the source of productivity
What is the Systems School?
This is an approach that attempts to look at all integrated systems and the ripple effects of their interactions.
For example, what happens if a plane does not take off at the scheduled time? There are impacts on other flights, the passengers, connecting flights, landing slots, baggage handling, and a wide variety of other issues. The systems school attempts to look at management in the context of an overall system.
What is the Contingency Management School?
This theory argues that managerial decisions should be based on the variables in each unique situation.
It may be best summarized as “it all depends.” This means the manager is to draw from all theories and potential solutions.
What is the Total Quality Management school?
This system suggests that quality is not something that is to be inspected after the product is made.
Rather, quality is a complete system of management, requiring the involvement of all people within the organization.
It requires “Kaizen” a Japanese word implying continual improvement of people products and processes.
The student will be able to explain the three periods of management focus, and describe the basic theory of each.
The Production Perspective (up to about 1960).
The Shareholder Perspective (1960-1980).
The Stakeholder Perspective (1980-Present).
What is the Production Perspective?
(up to about 1960). This perspective puts product first. It was about maximizing output and efficiency. This is also reflected in the way products were sold. The traditional view of marketing is that the sales force is to sell the product the company makes. This is seen as a constant. It is the job of the sales force to convince customers that the product being sold is the best one, no matter what it is.
What is the Shareholder Perspective?
(1960-1980). This perspective puts value to the stockholders first. It was seen as the job of the company to maximize profits to be paid out in dividends. Again, this is reflected in the way products were to be sold in this time. It was called “the marketing concept.” The idea of marketing was turned around in this period. Instead of putting production first, the marketing concept said to put the customer first. It was the duty of the production department to make products the customer wants to buy. The marketing people feed back to the production department what the customers want, and they must find a way to make it profitably. The overall goal was to maximize profits to the shareholders.
What is the Stakeholder Perspective?
(1980-Present). This perspective looks beyond the shareholders and owners of the company. It says that if the company is to thrive, it must take the needs of all stakeholders into account. These include, but are not limited to, the owners, the employees, the customers, the community, the suppliers, etc. This perspective argues that if any of the stakeholders are neglected it will have long term deleterious effects on all stakeholders. For example, what if we underpay the employees in order to increase the dividend paid to shareholders? While this may work for a brief time, ultimately the employees will either quit or reduce output. In the long run, this will reduce profits to the owners.
The student will be able to describe the five things managers do, and the skills required to do them.
Describe the 5 things
Planning: The purpose of planning is to create an environment for success in the future. This can take several forms, including strategic planning, tactical planning, human resource planning, etc. Planning is usually described as having multiple steps. Authors disagree on the number of steps, but all of them boil down to the following:
- Diagnosing the problem or issue
- Identifying alternative courses of action
- Projecting the results
- Selecting a course of action
Organizing: This is the process of creating structure to accomplish goals. One can organize a company structure, action to fulfill a purpose, resources to achieve objectives, etc. A manager drives this process.
Staffing: This is having the right people, at the right place, at the right time, with the right skills.
Leading: Leaders coach, counsel, inspire, provide direction and encouragement.
Controlling: Controlling is the husbandry of valuable resources. This can be money, equipment, plant, or people. Controlling means the careful and frugal deployment of assets to achieve the mission of the organization.
