General Management
In order to assess and explain what factors play a sensitive
role in a good manager’s behaviour, several scholars
have researched the subject including extensive studies involving
groups of managers.
In the beginning, following the studies developed by Henri
Fayol and Frederick Taylor, it was believed that the most
important activities of a good manager could be simply divided
into four groups: Organising, Co-ordination, Planning, and
Controlling.
In the 70’s, works by Henry Mintzberg, J.P. Kotter,
and Fred Luthans, have found that good managers traits could
be much more broad and complex than previous thought. In addition,
as proposed by Luthans, they can be divided into effective
managers or successful managers depending on their pattern
of behaviour, very rarely the case of being both.
Mintzberg, by his turn, found that a manager actually performs
a broad range of roles within the organisations classified
into 3 groups: Interpersonal Roles, Informational Roles, and
Decisional Roles.
Finally Kotter found that managers usually do not plan their
days. Instead they flexibly react to a flow of events. Also,
he highlighted the importance of the network in their goals
achievement.
From his research with a diverse group of managers Fred Luthans[1]
classified their activities into groups using the LOS framework.
Some important findings arisen from his research. Combining
the 12 descriptive categories into 4 Real Manager’s
activities – Communication, Traditional Management,
Networking and Human Resource Management, Luthans suggests
a striking difference between Effective and Successful managers.
The definition of Effectiveness is a measure of quantity and
quality standard performance and the level of commitment and
satisfaction of the manager’s peers and subordinates
while the measure of success is more related to an index calculated
by dividing the manager’s level in the organization
by his tenure there. According to his study, Effective managers
spend significant amount of time on Communication and Human
Resource Management while Successful managers spend more time
on Networking than in anything else.
In his classical article, “the Manager’s job:
Folklore and Fact”, Henry Mintzberg points out the difference
between Henri Fayol theoretical approach and what he calls
the factual managers job. Separating the Folklore from Facts,
Mintzberg suggests that managers are not systematic and long
term planners but rather individuals with activities characterized
much more by brevity, variety and discontinuity. In addition,
he demystified the belief that managers do not have routine
activities. In fact, he argues, managerial work involves dealing
with a couple of regular duties, including ceremonies and
negotiations. Finally he defends that managers do prefer verbal
communication instead of comprehensive MIS systems with tons
of data.
The John P Kotter research on 15 general managers clearly
drives the attention to the fact that they usually have agendas
much more detailed to the short term than to the medium long
term. In addition, he states that general managers typically
do not plan their days in detail. Instead, they tend to flexibly
react to the daily events as they occur. Finally, Kotter highlights
the importance of the networking activities in the observed
managers’ agenda.
- The Managers Job: Folklore and
Fact, H. Mintzberg, Harvard Business Review July-August
1975, March-April 1990[Return]
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