MNGT – Course Notes Unit 1
Topics:
•What Management is/why it’s needed — descriptions of management, main roles/functions of a manager, importance of perception to a manager.
•Adding value to the organization — efficiency, effectiveness, and delegation
•Management as a system; Ethics and Social Responsibilities — how action in one part of an organization impact the whole organization & society.
•How the Environment Affects Managers — external factors that have substantial influences on organizational success/failure;
how managers can work with the external environments.
Chapter 1: •Nenshi: worked for international consulting firm McKinsey, started a business called Ascend Group (to assist public, private, and NP organizations grow their businesses), was Canada’s first professor in the field of non-profit management, his
main focus is to make cities run more smoothly, he’s a good example of a successful manager today.
•The reality faced by today’s managers : New technologies and new ways of organizing work are altering old approaches. Must blend tied-and-true management styles with new ideas.
•The Value of Studying Management can be explained by looking at the universality of management, the reality of work, and how management applies to anyone wanting to be self-employed.
•Universality of Management : the reality that management is needed in all types and sizes of organizations, at all organizational levels, in all organizational work areas, and in organizations in all countries around the globe.
•So, we have a vested interest in improving the way organizations are managed.
•The differences between managers are a matter of degree and emphasis, not of function. Both are managers, HOW they plan, organize, lead, and control will differ.
•Problems Created by Poor Management: Getting put on hold for 15 mins, when attempting to get IT help by phone.
•Organizations that are well managed develop a loyal customer base, grow, and prosper. Studying management will enable you to recognize poor management and work to correct it, while also recognizing and encouraging good management.
•The Reality of Work: all people will manage or be managed. Studying management will help non-managers work more efficiently.
•The single most important variable in employee productivity and loyalty is the quality of relationship with
employees and their direct supervisors. Watson Wyatt Worldwide gathered that how a company manages its people CAN significantly affect its financial performance. Thus, Managers DO Matter!
•Used to be simple to define managers from non-managerial employees.
•Manager : someone who works with and through other people by coordinating their work activities in order to accomplish organizational goals. The job is about helping others do their work/achieve their goals, NOT about personal achievement.
•Lower-Level Managers : managers at the lowest level of the organization who manager the work of nonmanagerial employees directly or indirectly involved with the production or creation of the organization’s products. ( Shift Manager, District Manager, Department Manager, Office Manager)
•Middle-Level Managers : Managers between the first-line level and the top level of the organization who manage the work of first- line managers. (Regional Manager, Project Leader, Plant Manager, Division Manager ) •Top-Level Managers : Managers at or near the top level of the organization who are responsible
for making organization-wide decisions and establishing the plans and goals that affect the entire organization. (Executive Vice-President, President, Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Executive Officer, Chair of the Board).
•What do Managers DO?
•Management: coordinating work activities so that they’re completed efficiently and effectively with and through other people. Management is a learned talent.
•Efficiency: getting the most output for the least amount of inputs. Effectiveness: completing activities so that organizational goals are achieved. The best students are both efficient and effective, though 4 combinations exist in performance.
•Management Functions :
•Planning — involves defining goals, establishing a strategy for achieving those goals, and developing plans to integrate and coordinate activities.
•Organizing — involves determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made.
•Authority Relationships are defined (a.k.a. who reports to whom)
•Leading — involves motivating subordinates, directing the work of individuals or teams, selecting the most effective communication channels, and resolving employee behaviour issues.
•Controlling — involves monitoring actual performance, comparing actual performance to a standard, and taking corrective action when necessary. It’s the final management function, where actual performance is compared with previously set goals . Budget is the most common example.
•Management Roles: specific categories of managerial behaviour, divided into: Interpersonal (figurehead, leader,
liaison) Informational (monitor, disseminator, spokesperson), and Decisional (entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, negotiator). Grouped around interpersonal relationships, the transfer of information, and decision making. P.8
•Organization: a deliberate arrangement of people who act together to accomplish some specific purpose.
•3 Common Characteristics:
MNGT – Course Notes
•(1) Distinct purpose – expressed as a goal or set of goals that the organization hopes to accomplish.
•(2) People – an organization requires people (more than 1) to perform he work necessary to achieve its
goals.
•(3) Deliberate structure – open and flexible, or traditional and clearly defined; it defines members’ work relationships.
•The concept of what an organization is is currently changing; can’t assume all organizations are traditionally structed like Air Canada. Characteristics of modern organizations: more open, flexible, and responsive to change.
•Small businesses represent 98% of all Canadian companies. SMEs are small and Medium-sized enterprises, with fewer than 500 employees.
•Types of Organizations: •Private Sector: the part of the economy run by organizations that are free from direct government control; enterprises in this sector operate to make a profit.
•Publicly Held Organization: a company whose shares are available on the stock exchange for public trading by brokers/dealers. Responsible to shareholders (stockholders). •Privately Held Organizations : companies whose shares are not available on the stock exchange but are privately held. Both large and small; individually, family, or group owned.
•Non-profit Sector: the part of the economy run by organizations that operate for purposes other than making
a profit (that is, providing charity or services).
•Nongovernmental Organization (NGO): a nongovernmental organization that emphasizes humanitarian issues, development, and sustainability.
•Public Sector: the part of the economy directly controlled by government.
•Civil Servants: people who work in a local, provincial, or federal government department.
•Crown Corporations: commercial companies owned by the government but independently managed. Structured like private sector corporations and have boards of directors, CEOs, etc, but are owned by governments rather than shareholders. Employees in CCs are not civil servants and the managers are more independent than the senior bureaucrats who manage government departments.
•Critics argue that working for governments is less demanding, because there are fewer measurable performance objectives, allowing employees to feel less accountable for their actions.
•Many larger Canadian organizations are subsidiaries of American parent organizations (Safeway, GM, Ford Motor Company). Conflicts arise when Canadian/American managers can’t agree.
•Entrepreneurship — Personal traits include optimism and dedication. Entrepreneurs need access to capital (human, financial, and technological), a solid business plan, timing/luck, and “sweat equity”.
•Matt Lawn Troopers — MUST create a detailed action plan aimed at achieving some organizational goal, get organized (allocate resources to the new venture, identify roles and assign/hire employees, delegate authority, create job descriptions, and provide direction), then he connects with employees on an interpersonal level to strength the bond. LEADING employees, rather than simply managing them. A Pilot Project enabled him to exercise control over the business.
•Not all managers can be effective leaders , but by: communicating, motivating, inspiring, and encouraging his employees, greater productivity is attainable.
Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Decision Making (p. 92-97) •Managers in all areas will face dilemmas and consider ethical dimensions.
•Ethics : rules and principles that define right and wrong behaviour.
•Laws often develop because people did not act responsibly when they had a choice.
•4 Views of Ethics
•Utilitarian View of Ethic s : a view of ethics maintaining that ethical decisions are made solely on the basis of their outcomes or consequences.
•Quantitative method, computes the aggregate greatest good for the greatest number of people.
•Encourages efficiency, productivity, and profit maximization. Can overlook some stakeholders’ rights.
•Laying off 20% of workers, to secure jobs for remaining 80% and increase shareholder profits.
•Most Followed Approach! Since it’s consistent with business goals of efficiency, productivity, and profits.
•The perspective needs to change, since managers face a changing world . The nonutilitarian demand creates an obvious challenge for managers.
•Rights View of Ethics : a view of ethics concerned with respecting and protecting individual liberties and privileges. •Right to privacy, freedom of conscience, free speech, life and safety, and due process.
•Protecting the right of free speech for employees who report legal violations by their employers.
•GOOD since protecting basic rights, BAD since hinders productivity and efficiency due to a protective (rather than productive) mentality.
•Theory of Justice View of Ethics : managers impose and enforce rules fairly and impartially and do so by following all legal rules and regulations.
•Rate of pay based on individuals of similar skills/performance/responsibility, rather than arbitrary factors such as race, gender, personality, or personal favourites.
MNGT – Course Notes
•PLUS – it protects the interest of underrepresented/power-lacking stakeholders. MINUS – it can encourage entitlement, which may reduce risk-taking, innovation, and productivity.
•Integrative Social Contracts Theory : a view of ethics proposing that ethical decisions be based on existing ethical norms in industries and communities in order to determine what constitutes right and wrong.
•Based on the integration of two contracts : (1) General Social Contract – allows businesses to grow/operate and defines acceptable ground rules. (2) Specific Contract – among members of a community, addressing acceptable behaviour.
•Focuses on looking at existing practices, NOT Fair Wage.
•Many managerial decisions require them to consider who may be affected—in terms or result and process.
•How to improve ethical behaviour in organizations : (Potential) hire individuals with high ethical standards, establish codes
of ethics and decision rules, lead by example, delineate job goals and performance appraisal mechanisms, provide ethics
training, conduct independent social audits, and provide support to ethical- dilemma facing individuals.
•Are there societal or organizational rules that apply? Identify alternative solutions from Multiple Stakeholder
Perspective, apply the “best” and “most ethical” solution.
•Code of Ethics : a formal statement of an organization’s primary values and the ethical rules it expects its employees to follow. A popular choice for reducing ethical ambiguity. Specific enough to show employees what they’re supposed to do, but loose enough to allow for freedom of judgement.
•3 Categories: (1) be a dependable organizational citizen; (2) don’t do anything unlawful or improper that will harm the organization; (3) be good to customers.
•Companies may not do enough monitoring, thus undermining their Code of Ethics. Less than 10% offer Whistle-Blower Protection.
•Managers SHOULD – (1) develop & clearly communicate a Code of Ethics to employees; (2) all management should reaffirm the importance of the Code of Ethics and organizational commitment to it frequently, and discipline those who break it; (3) design the code around 10 questions, which guide managers when they handle ethical dilemmas in decision making.
•(I) Have you defined the problem or issue correctly? (II) How much harm or benefit will occur to others as a result of this action? (III) Will
your decision be valid in a month or year from now? (IV) Would you view the situation differently from another party’s perspective? (V) How does this activity fit with your own beliefs, values and conscience? (VI) How long after the action will the consequences occur and what is the likelihood of the consequences being bad? (VII) How did this situation occur in the first place? (VIII) Can you discuss the problem with the
affected parties before you make the decision? (IX) How many people are affected by this action? (X) How would you feel if your actions were published in the newspaper for your mother to read?
•Corporate Social Responsibility : a business’s obligation, beyond that required by law and economics, to do the right things and act in ways that are good for society.
