Management

Management is the coordination and control of a group of people to achieve common goals and objectives. In business settings, it's often referred to as organisational management. Organisational management is the task carried out by managers to organise, lead, and control resource allocation within a company.

Management and Managers

Management of organisational activities is the main job of managers. Managers do not carry out the tasks themselves but delegate them to their subordinates.

While some managers prefer to make decisions themselves, others allow the staff a degree of participation in decision-making. This gives rise to a number of management styles.

Despite their differences in management styles, all managers undertake three main roles:

• Interpersonal roles - Motivate staff to deliver the best work

• Information roles - Monitor and disseminate information within the organisation

• Decisional roles - Make decisions and delegate tasks to staff to meet the organisation's objectives.

Management Skills

There are a variety of management skills that allow managers to manage a workforce effectively. These include technical skills, conceptual skills, and interpersonal skills.

Technical skills

Also called hard skills. These management skills are usually specific to the industry or manager's role.

These skills allow the manager to manage employees by training them on specific technical skills. These skills are usually important for the lower-level managers and lose their importance at the senior level.

Conceptual skills

Managers with conceptual management skills can see the whole company's picture, predict occurring problems and find creative ways to solve them. These skills are more relevant to top-level managers, as they are responsible for making strategic decisions that impact the whole organisation. Conceptual skills are the combination of communication skills, creative thinking, problem-solving, etc.

Interpersonal skills

Interpersonal skills are required for managers regardless of their managerial level, as all managers' top responsibility is to manage people. Interpersonal skills mean that managers can understand their employees and tailor the best-fitted management styles according to employees' needs. Managers should use their interpersonal skills to build good relationships with the workforce and motivate them along the way.

Management Styles

Management style (or leadership style) is the method used by the manager to manage an organisation or a group of people.

There are four main management styles:

• Autocratic
• Democratic
• Paternalistic
• Laissez-faire

1. Autocratic Management

Autocratic management is a one-way management style. Managers can make decisions and staff follow. Employees have little say in the decision-making process.

This management style is characterised by:

• One-way communication.

• Close employee supervision.

• Limited information is given to the staff.

Autocratic management demotivates staff since they can't contribute to the decision-making of the company. The decisions made are also rigid and lack innovation without input from employees.

Areas that require quick decisions will make the most use of this leadership style, e.g. the military and the police force.

2. Democratic Management

Democratic management encourages the participation of staff in decision-making. Staff input is highly valued and can lead to innovative ideas or solutions.

This kind of management is characterised by:

• Two-way communication.

• Instant feedback from staff.

• More exchange of business information.

The main disadvantage of democratic management is that discussion with staff can be time-consuming. In addition, too much involvement of staff can lead to interpersonal conflicts or disclosure of secret information.

This leadership style is most useful for businesses that require constant innovation such as tech companies. Input from different employees can give rise to a new way of thinking and novel solutions.

3. Paternalistic Management

As the name suggests, paternalistic managers are like father figures. They will consult the staff and take in their opinions but will make decisions independently.

Main features of paternalistic management:

• Managers do what they think is best for the organisation.

• Decisions are made by managers, not employees.

• Managers are concerned about the happiness of the employees.

This leadership style may cause disappointment among experienced staff since they have no real power or influence in the company. However, in work environments dominated by unskilled or low-experienced workers, paternalistic management can be extremely helpful.

4. Laissez-Faire Management

Laissez-faire is the French phrase for "allow to do". When this approach is adopted, managers give workers the full right to make decisions and carry out the tasks.

With laissez-faire management:

• Management delegates full decision-making to employees.

• there are very broad criteria to what is expected from the staff.

The lack of structure may cause confusion to the staff. Some employees may feel dissatisfied with the lack of feedback from their managers.

This kind of leadership is adopted when the managers are too busy to engage in the decision-making or want to give experts more space to arrive at the solution.

How to choose a suitable management style

Management style can be determined via two methods:

• Tannenbaum and Schmidt's continuum

• The Blake Mouton grid

The range of actions are chosen based on:

• The degree of authority used by the manager.

• The area of freedom available to subordinates.

The combinations of these two elements give us five leadership styles:

• Impoverished management – Low results/Low people - This management style emphasises getting the job done with little concern for employee satisfaction

• Produce-or-perish management – High results/Low people - This management approach is adopted by autocratic leaders who care more about the results and people. Team members are only a means to an end. They come after productivity.

• Country-club management – Low results/High people - This management style put people before anything else. The work environment is fun and relaxed, though there might be a lack of control or direction.

• Team management – High results/High people - This is the most effective management style where managers are concerned about both their team and work performance. They will do their best to motivate team members to stretch their limits to deliver the best results.

• Middle-of-the-road management – This management style tries to achieve a balance of results and people. However, it may not be the best approach since both people and results are not the best as they could be.

Principles of Management

There are five different principles of management which are also named management functions. These are the principles that a manager follows to manage employees effectively.

Planning

Firstly, managers need to make an action plan of how organisational objectives can be achieved. The action plan could involve strategic decisions such as hiring new staff, changing or adjusting management techniques or increasing the marketing budget. Planning helps business managers realise the organisation's vision, plan the budget, be aware of required resources and avoid costly mistakes.

Organising

Once the planning is done, managers should organise their staff and resources to allocated positions. The organisational structure must be arranged as it will help managers identify gaps and any additional resources required.

Commanding

Once the planning and organising are carried out, managers should assign roles to individual employees. Managers should treat employees with respect and ensure that they are happy to undertake the assigned role. This process of assigning tasks is also called delegation.

Coordinating

Managers need to coordinate the employees. Managers should assist or explain a certain task if needed. Managers should encourage and motivate employees to achieve their organisational goals. The coordination and communication should flow between employees and functional departments.

Controlling

The manager should set the standard for expected performance in the organisation and employees' activities. Managers should assess employees' performance regularly and ensure that they are meeting set targets. If a target is not met, managers must analyse the reasons for it and give additional support to employees if necessary.

Figure 3. The Five Principles of Management

Project Management

Managers can apply their skills, knowledge, and experience in management to manage a project. This is called project management. The goal of project management is to reach the set objectives within the agreed timescale and budget.

Projects managers should have a range of project management skills that are technical and transferable. They should be great problem solvers, have high adaptivity and interpersonal skills to adapt to different project needs.

What are the Stages of Project Management?

There are five stages of project management from the beginning to the completion of the project.

Initiation of the project

This is the beginning stage of the project management process. At this stage, the project and its goals are defined. Additionally, the stakeholders that will be involved in the project are identified.

Project planning

At this stage, the execution will be planned carefully. That includes budgets, timelines, resources needed and clear goals that could be defined using SMART analysis. This step should also make sure the stakeholders are aware of their duties and deadlines. Moreover, any risks and their possible solutions should be identified at this project management stage.

Project execution

This is the stage where the team is working on the project and aiming to meet the set timely deadlines. The project manager must ensure that all stakeholders are on the same page with the project to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

Project monitoring and controlling

At this project management stage, the manager should frequently monitor whether the project has met its set timely goals; goals can refer to timelines, budgets to revenue. Additionally, project managers should ensure that stakeholders are happy and satisfied with how the project is going. Crucially, the project manager should ensure that the project is coming along within the set budget.

Project completion

In this stage, the project is completed. The project manager should organise a meeting with all the stakeholders that were involved in the project. In this meeting, the project should be reflected on at each stage, so the team understands what parts of the project went well and what required improvements. This reflection is crucial for future references as project managers can learn from it and deliver more effective projects in the future.