The general environment consists of the elements in the broader community that can influence the industry and the companies within it. As mentionec earlier, we group these elements as political and legal, economic, demograph ic, socio-cultural, technological and international segments. None of the companies in any industry can control these segments. These segments Influence the companies and industries by providing both opportunities and threats of them
Jun
1
Business people do not manage their businesses focusing only on internal business undertakings. The external environment creates threats and opportunities for all businesses. Therefore as a result of the systems approach, business people should give utmost attention to the events occurring in the external environment. The business person’s art of coping with events occurring in the surroundings will probably influence success or failure in the private enterprise system.
Most of the managers have the tendency to focus on the internal activities and underestimate the effect of the external environment. That is because they have the power to change anything they want within their organizations. But they do not have the power to change events occurring in the external environment. The environment is not stable and predictable. Many things are rapidly changing. So the successful managers and business people should learn about the external environment and should adapt their organizations or influence the environment if they see that they can.
May
30
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.
May
29
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.
May
29
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.
