Essay about Manager's Work, Roles And Skills

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.

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 in today’s world are important assets to the multicultural organisations. Leadership styles of managers are highly important in terms of managing the team of followers, which has a correlation to the productivity and results that the team would achieve in the future. By having good management, it contributes to the success of the organisation. Hence, it is vital to identify the different leadership styles especially in different cultures to suit the working environment and culture of the organization. In the present multicultural global business industry, cultural differences can come in the way of the success of project completion (Anbari, Khilkhanova, Romanova, & Umpleby , 2009) . It has been claimed that rigid leadership does not promote motivation and creativity, therefore, managers should lead by flexible leadership and be culturally sensitive, adapting to different cultures, for the team to be able to move forward and reach their goals (Anabri et al. 2009). The way a manager’s leadership takes place also affect’s the experience of the employees at work and the relationship between the manager and the employee. Jariya (2012, p66) states that ‘different cultures differ in the values they endorse, people from these cultures often interpret the same managerial practices

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).

The four functions of management, planning, organizing, leading, and controlling, are very essential in building strong organizations and even stronger more effective teams. Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling are the functions of management. These function activities must be preformed by all managers regardless of their industry level, title, or the task they have at hand. These four management skill are used when ever a project or a task is at hand. Even in the field we are working in, many of us may have been using the four management functions and not noticed what they were, or we may have been a part of a team that was lead by the functions of management and not noticed what was

Cultural differences between countries have strong effects on individual personality and behavior, as well as on organizational culture (Hofstede 2001). These differences can be a significant barrier for an international business leader. Failure to understand and adapt to these differences may

     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.

Management involves the tactical aspect of day to day functions and who keeps control of the work environment to make sure the organization is moving forward and in the same direction of the company’s vision. Managers are faced with many responsibilities each day, one of which is managing people. The goal of a successful manager is to achieve the highest productivity of the organization by way of the people he/she manages. A manager is more of a problem solver and takes care of work areas relating to people management, time management, decision making etc.

The act of directing and controlling a group of people for the purpose of coordinating and harmonizing the group towards accomplishing a goal beyond the scope of individual effort. Management encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources.

Mismanaging cultural differences can render otherwise successful managers and organisations ineffective when working across cultures. As stated byOsland (1990, p. 4) ``The single greatest barrier to business success is the one erected by culture''. Hofstede (1983) defines culture as "the mental programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another" (Hofstede 1983 p. 25). Through the comparison of Chinese culture and Australian culture using Hofstedes five cross-cultural dimensions: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism, and long-term orientation an insightful view into the differences and similarities of the cultures can be obtained (Chong & Park 2003). Human Resource Management

Diversity is a “set of innate and social characteristics that differentiate and link individuals and groups”. Race mixture categories are race and ethnicity; gender/sex; sexual orientation; religion; culture and language; class, equity and welfare. Thus, a management has to be open mind and flexible; these qualities are extremely important in the workplace. A leader has the abilities of hiring the right people for specific jobs, they are responsible to build up commitment and fidelity to the organization; they provide learning and refueling activates

Management can also refer to the person or people who perform the act(s) of management.

Management can be defined as the art or act of doing things or activities through the efforts of other people to accomplish desired goals. It deals with the organising and coordination of people, activities, materials, machines and money.