THE EXCEPTIONAL MANAGER

CHAPTER 1
1. Rewards, benefits and privileges managers might expect
2. 7 Challenges to managers today
3. 4 Principal functions of management planning, organizing, leading
and controlling
4. 3 Roles managers must play
5. Contributions of Entrepreneurship
6. 3 Skills required of a manager
Management is defined as the
1. pursuit of organizational goals efficiently and effectively
2. by integrating the work of people
3. through planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the
organizations resources.
OR
1. E E
2. I
3. POLC r
Organisations value managers because of the multiplier effect. Good managers
have an influence on the organization far beyond one person acting alone.
The ability to take risks to embrace change and to keep going forward despite
fears and internal criticism is important to any managers survival.
Management is the art of getting things done through people.

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Achievem
ent
Oriented
Task
Oriented

People
Oriented
Manage
rs

EE

Manageme
nt

POLC r

Efficiently and Effectively basically means doing things right

Efficiency the means.
-

Efficiency is the means of attaining the organizations goals.

To be efficient is to:
o Use resources
People
Money
Raw materials, and the like..
o Wisely and cost-effectively

Effectiveness the ends

-

Effectiveness is the organisations ends, the goals.

To be effective means to:
o Achieve results
o Make the right decisions
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Successfully carry them out so that they achieve the

organizations goals

The Multiplier Effect: The influence of a manager on an organisation is

multiplied far beyond the results that can be achieved by just one person acting
alone.

Studying
Manageme
nt

Practicing
Manageme
nt

understand how
to deal with
organizations
from the
outside

both you and

your employees
can experience
a sense of
accomplishmen
t

understand how
to relate to
supervisors

stretch your
abilities and
magnify your
range

understand how
to interact with
co-workers

build a catalog
of successful
products or
services

understand how
to manage
yourself in the
workplace

7 C HALLENGES AS A M ANAGER
C HALLENGE #1: M ANAGING
S TAYING A HEAD OF R IVALS

FOR

C OMPETITIVE A DVANTAGE -

Competitive advantage is the ability of an organization to

produce goods or services more effectively than competitors
do, thereby outperforming them.
I.
II.
III.
IV.

Being Responsive to Customers

Innovation (finding ways to deliver new or better
goods)
Quality
Efficiency

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C HALLENGE #2: M ANAGING

R ESEMBLE THE P AST

FOR

D IVERSITY -T HE F UTURE W ON ' T

Population demographics will never remain the same, and as

its constitution changes, so does diversity and variety in
organisation strength.

Challenge to the manager is to maximize the contributions

of employees diverse in
gender,
age,
race,
and ethnicity.

C HALLENGE #3: M ANAGING FOR G LOBALIZATION -T HE

E XPANDING M ANAGEMENT U NIVERSE
Gestures and symbols don't have the same meaning to
everyone throughout the world. Not understanding such
differences can affect how well organizations manage
globally.

C HALLENGE #4: M ANAGING

FOR I NFORMATION T ECHNOLOGY

Most important is the Internet, the global network of
independently operating but interconnected computers,
linking hundreds of thousands of smaller networks around the
world.
E-commerce, or electronic commerce - the buying and
selling of goods or services over computer networks - is
reshaping industries and revamping the very notion of what a
company is.
More important than e-commerce, the information technology
has facilitated e-business, using the Internet to facilitate
aspects of businesses.

Far-ranging e-management and e-communication.

e-mail - text messages and documents transmitted
over a computer network
project management software - programs for
planning and scheduling the people, costs, and
resources to complete a project on time
Accelerated decision making, conflict, and stress.
The Internet not only speeds everything up, it also,
with its huge, interconnected databases
computerized collections of interrelated files-can
overwhelm us with extra information.
Changes in organizational structure, jobs, goal setting,
and knowledge management.
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Employees, for instance, may telecommute, or

work from home or remote locations using a variety
of information technologies.
Meetings may be conducted via
videoconferencing, using video and audio links
along with computers to let people in different
locations see, hear, and talk with one another.
In addition, collaborative computing, using stateof-the-art computer software and hardware, helps
people work better together.
Increased emphasis on knowledge management-the
implementing of systems and practices to increase the
sharing of knowledge and information throughout an
organization.

C HALLENGE #5: M ANAGING

FOR E THICAL S TANDARDS

Ethical behavior is not just a nicety; it is a very important part
of doing business.
Businesses are responsible for upholding their own ethical
standards, by Moral Idealism.

C HALLENGE #6: M ANAGING

B USINESS OF G REEN

FOR

S US TAINABILITY - T HE

Our economic system has brought prosperity, but it has also

led to unsustainable business practices because it has
assumed that natural resources are limitless, which they are
not.
Sustainability is defined as economic development that
meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

C HALLENGE #7: M ANAGING

G OALS

FOR

Y OUR O WN H APPINESS & L IFE

The lesson of today is that you're working for yourself - that

employees should identify themselves with the job, not the
company.
Regardless of how well paid you are, then, you have to
consider whether in meeting the organization's challenges
you are also meeting the challenge of realizing your own
happiness.

T HE F OUR P RINCIPAL F UNCTIONS

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A S A MANAGER , YOU WILL PERFORM

M ANAGEMENT P ROCE SS :

WHAT IS KNOWN AS THE

Also known as the Four Management Functions:

1.
2.
3.
4.

Planning
Organising
Leading
Controlling

Planning
Set goals and decide how
to achieve them.

Controlling

Organizing

Monitor performance,
compare it with goals,
and take corrective action
as needed.

Arrange tasks, people

and other resources to
accomplish the work.

Leading
Motivate, direct, and
influence people to work
hard to achieve the
organisation's goals.

T HE T RADITIONAL M ANAGEMENT P YRAMID :

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3 L EVELS OF M ANAGEMENT :
T OP

MANAGERS , MIDDLE MANAGERS , FIRST - LINE MANAGERS .

1. Top managers
a. make long-term decisions about the
b. overall direction of the organization and
c. establish the objectives, policies, and strategies for it.
2. Middle managers
a. implement the policies and plans of their superiors
b. and supervise and coordinate the activities of the managers below
them.
3. First-line managers
a. make short-term operating decisions,
b. directing the daily tasks of non-management personnel.

A REAS OF M ANAGEMENT
F UNCTIONAL M ANAGERS VS G ENERAL M ANAGERS .
A functional manager is responsible for one organisational activity. E.g.
Director of Finance
A general manager is responsible for several organisational activities. E.g.
Executive Vice President

3 T YPES OF O RGANISATIONS

For-profit Organisation: for making money, by offering products or

services.
Non-profit Organisation: for offering services to some clients, not to
make a profit.
Mutual-benefit Organisation: for aiding members, voluntary
collections of members such as labour unions, trade associations
whose purpose is to advance members interests.

3 T YPES OF M ANAGERIAL R OLES

I NTERPERSONAL , I NFORMATIONAL , D ECISIONAL
Interpersonal roles Figurehead, Leader, and Liaison managers interact with
people inside and outside their work units.
Informational roles Monitor, Disseminator, and Spokesperson managers
receive and communicate information with people inside and outside the
organisation.

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Decisional roles Entrepreneur, Disturbance Handler, Resource Allocator, and

Negotiator managers use information to make decisions to solve problems or
take advantage of opportunities.

Broad Managerial
Roles
Interpersonal Managerial
Roles

Types of Roles

Description

Figurehead

Show visitors around the

company, attend
employee birthday
parties, present ethical
guidelines to employees.
Responsible for actions of
subordinates, as their
successes and failures
reflect on you. Training,
motivating, and
disciplining people.
Act like a politician,
working with people
outside your work unit
and organization, to
develop alliances that will
help you achieve your
organizations goals.
Constantly alert for
useful information,
newspaper stories about
competition, or
conversation with
subordinates.
Need to constantly
disseminate information
to employees, emails and
meetings are necessary.
Expected to put the best
face on the activities of
work unit or organization
to people outside it.
Initiate and encourage
change and innovation.
Fixing problems, due to
unforeseen
circumstances.
You will never have

Leadership

Liaison

Informational Managerial
Roles

Monitor

Disseminator

Spokesperson

Decisional Managerial
Roles

Entrepreneur
Disturbance handler

Resource allocator

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enough time, money, and

so we need to set
priorities.
Working with others
inside and outside the
organization to
accomplish your goals.

Negotiator

E NTREPRENEURSHIP is the process of taking risks to try to create a new

enterprise.
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is someone who sees
a new opportunity for a product or
service and launches a business to try
to realise it.

Intrapreneur
An intrapreneur is someone who works
inside an existing organization who
sees an opportunity for a product or
service and mobilizes the
organizations resources to try to
realise it.

Being an entrepreneur is what it takes to start a business.

Being a manager is what it takes to grow or maintain a business.
Entrepreneur

Manager

Both, but especially so for Entrepreneurs

Both
High
energy
level and action
orientation
risingtheir
to the
top
High
need
for achievement
pursue
goals through
own
for a to
manager
means
putting
long hours,
but for
efforts
realize their
ideas
and in
financial
rewards.
entrepreneurs, creating a new enterprise requires time and
Belief
in personal
control
of have
destiny
an of
internal
locus of
energy.
While managers
may
a sense
urgency,
control,
with a belief
that you control
your
own destiny,
thatto
entrepreneurs
are especially
apt to be
impatient
and want
external
forces
have
little
influence.
get things done as quickly as possible, making them action
oriented.
High tolerance for ambiguity Every manager needs to
make decisions based on ambiguous information. However,
entrepreneurs have higher tolerance as they are trying to do
things they havent done before.
Self-confidence and tolerance for risk Managers must

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In general, both have a high need for achievement, high energy level and action
orientation, and tolerance for ambiguity. Entrepreneurs are more self-confident
and have higher tolerance for risk.

T HE S KILLS E XCEPTIONAL M ANAGERS N EED

T ECHNICAL

Skills
The Ability to Perform
a Specific Job
Technical skills consist
of the job-specific
knowledge needed to
perform well in a
specialised field.
Having the requisite
skills seems to be the
most important at the
lower levels of
management among
employees in their
first professional job,
and first-line
managers.

C ONCEPTUAL

Skills
The Ability to Think
Analytically
Conceptual skills consist
of the ability to think
analytically, to visualize
the organization as a
whole and understand
how the parts work
together.
Such skills are more
important as you move
up the management
ladder, and particularly
for top managers who
must deal with problems
that are ambiguous but
could have far reaching
consequences.

H UMAN

Skills The
Ability to Interact Well
with People
Human skills consist of
the ability to work well in
cooperation with other
people to get things
done.
Such soft skills are
necessary to motivate,
inspire trust, and
communicate with
others.
Because of the range of
people, tasks, and
problems in an
organisation, developing
human-interacting skills
may turn out to be an
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ongoing, lifelong effort.

T HE M OST V ALUED T RAITS IN M ANAGERS

The ability to motivate and engage others

The ability to communicate
Work experience outside of the country
High energy levels to meet the demands of global travel and a 24/7 world

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