The people employed to perform the assigned tasks alone or as a member of a team without managing the other people in the task completion are called the working people in non-managerial positions. The working people in non-managerial positions have the main responsibilities or duties in performing their specific task. But they do not have any responsibility in managing any part of the business.
Think of a usual day of any manager at any level of the organization. What |do they do during the day? When they arrive at the office, they read the daily newspapers to be informed about news of the day. They also look for special news directly related with the organization’s business sector. They read some [reports prepared by their subordinates on different business matters. They [make many phone calls and participate in meetings with their subordinates, customers, creditors, suppliers and many other people inside and outside of the organization. They handle conflicts that have occurred in the company, make negotiations, and allocate necessary resources for a department. These are ••several roles, or in other words, set of expected behavior of managers during a business day when they perform their managerial functions. These roles are subclassified into 10 different roles under three categories.
Managers are the ones who accomplish the tasks via other people in an effective and efficient way by utilizing the four functions of management. Their job is very complex and requires a range of skills. The necessary skills needed
A human skill relates to the manager’s ability to work with people. This skill is equally important for all management levels and should be present in all managers in the organizational hierarchy. A manager’s success in motivating, communicating, coordinating and resolving conflicts between employees Is very much dependent on this skill.
A technical skill is the ability of managers to perform specific tasks. This skill includes a mastery of methods, techniques and equipment involved in specific functions. It also requires specialized knowledge and an analytical problem-solving ability from the managers. In the lower levels of the management hierarchy this skill is very important in performing specific tasks. However its importance decreases as the manager moves up in the organizational hierarchy.
In every company there is one top person who manages the company and takes full responsibility. But that person at the top cannot perform all undertakings in the company. Therefore the manager hires other people who will work under the manager to accomplish the functional tasks and will be responsible to the manager in their duties. These people who have several skills and expertise in their functional field may also hire other people who will work in their departments to perform some assigned duties. That is, under the person at the top, there could be many other people with responsibilities who manage their assigned tasks.
The managers have different jobs and work at different levels in the company’s management pyramid. They work in different departments such as: marketing, manufacturing, finance, accounting, human resources, research and development. Their positions also differ in the hierarchy of the departments that they work in: marketing vice-president, marketing manager, marketing communications chief, advertisement chief, etc. These can be seen in management pyramid diagrams.
The owners of the company set the objectives to be accomplished. Then \ they select a person who will combine all the company’s resources to attain those goals. The company’s resources could be assets such as factories, machinery, tools, equipment, materials that are physical and tangible, or such as technology, knowledge, patents, brands, image that are intangible. Another important resource is human resources, that is, the people who work in that company.
A manager is the person who combines all these resources - tangible and/or intangible - for accomplishing the tasks. So there are two important issues that a manager should consider: the resources to be employed and the task to be completed.
Task completion is the primary responsibility of all managers. However the managers themselves do not generally get involved directly in performing the tasks. Although they technically know what and how to do the things and the tasks, they generally ask other people working under them to perform those tasks. They direct other working people’s efforts to accomplish the tasks.
How do they direct or manage other people as to what to do, how to do it, and when to do it? In those circumstances they first plan the things to be done and how they could be achieved. Then they organize the resources to achieve the goals set by the plans. After setting the plans and the structure, they hire qualified people and assign them their duties. Then they try to lead those people to accomplish their duties. The managers also monitor and control them in performing their duties and make corrective actions if needed. These four functions: planning, organizing, leading and controlling that all managers are involved in are called the managerial functions.
