Being A Manager Is A Tough Task Essay

As a Naval Officer I had the opportunity to experience both leadership and management. Today's Navy operates with fewer people and resources than before. Therefore, leadership and management are more important than ever. Very early in my career I was taught leadership and as I advanced through the ranks I experienced management.

Throughout this assignment a discussion will take place into the theories of leadership, whilst examining the role of managers within the context of the early years. A series of management competences will be evaluated, whilst investigating the notions of leadership and collaboration.

Management by exception can be a useful tool for keeping budgets from spiraling out of control. Companies benefit when managers implement cost-saving and efficiency measures as a result of investigating variances.

Within this assignment I will describe my understanding of the links between management and leadership, the skills and styles of management and leadership, the application of management and leadership theories in an organisational context and planning for the development of management and leadership skills.

I chose to interview Regina Geis, who holds the administrative role as acting supervisor for the County Mental Health adult day program, which provides services for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Ms. Geis has held this position for 15 months. This is her first managerial position within a human service agency. Her style of management has changed over this short period of time. She feels that she is now more direct with her direction with staff. She stated, “Maybe now I come across as a little bit cold. But I have learned that I now have to use the least amount of words to get my point across.”

One Minute Manager is a short story written by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. The story is about a young man who is in search of an effective manager because not only did he want to work for one but he is also wanted to become one. His search for this ideal manager took him to many places and made him interact with a lot of different individuals. He wasn’t pleased with what he encountered and he began to notice that most of the people he interviewed would fall into two categories: those who were interested in results and those were interested in people meaning their employees. He continued his search until he began to hear amazing stories about a manager that lived nearby. The young man met with this

Managers perform many functions and play many roles. They are responsible for handling many situations and these situations are usually different from one another.

Managers make many decisions every day. Thankfully there are many tools available to a manager as they make these decisions. Tiffany is a General Manager of a franchise in the quick service restaurant industry. She is faced with decisions dozens of times in one day. A large portion of the decisions that she is faced with are made to solve structured problems, however, sometimes an unstructured problem does arise that she needs to address. As well as solving problems Tiffany must also make plans to in order to have structure and organization to achieve the goals set forth by herself and the company that she works for. Looking at some of the decisions that Tiffany has had to make recently it can been seen how she goes about solving

Many organizations and establishments have philosophies in how an organization is to be functioning and which positions are necessary to execute the plan. One of the crucial positions that make the establishment function is that of a Supervisor. The term supervisor is a word with Latin roots which means “to look over,” however, a supervisor is viewed as a person who is an immediate overseer to an employee at a workplace. The supervisor is the person an employee would directly report to for any work related situation. A supervisor plays an essential part of the management team that gives an organization purpose and leadership by being responsible for employees’ progress and productivity (Bittel & Newstrom, 1992).

Management is about the day to day running of a function and getting the right people and resources in the right place with a focus upon implementation.

     The manager interviewed for this assignment was Chief Warrant 3 Linwood Bowers, the Chief of the Personnel Support Directorate of the White House Communications Agency (WHCA). Chief Bowers has held his present position for four years. The focus of the interview was the unique challenges of good communication.

Successful organizations have strong leaders and managers that develop, support and encourage employee longevity within a company. There is a significant difference between leadership and management however both skills have to be used collectively and both are important to a profitable organization. Leadership is a notion of communicating an organization’s vision, whereas management is more of the implementation of the organization’s vision. The manager typically carries out the responsibilities written by the organization and has a good team underneath them to carry out the duties and meet the goals. Most companies have a mission statement that mirrors and supports a company’s vision. When referring leadership and management, the two

Management and leadership skills in nursing and other healthcare professions are becoming a more and more widely spoken of subject, as they are essential skills for everyday practice in delivering care (Gopee and Galloway, 2009). Effective management requires the nurse to be able to draw on evidence based knowledge and experience to develop the ability to manage competently during practice. Skills without knowledge, appropriate attitude and understanding will not equate to competency (Watson, 2002).

The New One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson is the new edition business classic on managing your work and life. The book explores the same underlying principles as its original, however, updated in response to the rapidly changing world of business. Today’s organizations are required to respond faster, but with fewer resources and the challenge of advancing technology. In contrast to the old top-down management style, effective leadership is currently defined by more of a side-by-side relationship. Today, people are looking for a balance between their work and home lives, something the New One Minute Manager recognizes, and treats his employees accordingly.

Management skills can be sub-divided into numerous skills, the combination of which would lead to efficient management of an organization and faithful development of true management and leadership skills. The chart below provides an overview of these various skills: