The Profile of Effective Manager
The Profile of Effective Manager
- The
manager
Managers work in an organization. Therefore, before we can identify
who managers are, it is important to clarify the term organization. Robbins
S.P. (1991) defines an organization as: “a systematic arrangement of people to
accomplish some specific purpose”. We can divide organizational members into
two categories[1]:
operatives or managers. Managers differ from operatives, by the fact that they
direct the activities of others.
There are two big classifications of managers[2]: the horizontal classification
only looks at the responsibilities. We can distinguish the functional manager
and the general manager. The functional manager is responsible for a whole of
similar activities, for example, financial director, commercial director… While
the general manager is responsible for different functional areas, he is often
concentrated on one business activity and acts as a product manager or a
division manager. In the vertical classification, we need to differentiate
first-line managers, middle managers, and top managers. The difference between
these three groups is based on the statute of subordinates.
Furthermore, we should pay attention to the difference between a
successful and an effective manager. As Luthans F. (1988) proved, a successful
manager is not necessary an effective manager. The former is a manager, who has
been promoted relatively quickly, while the latter has satisfied, committed
subordinates and high performing units. In general, we could say that an
effective manager is one who attains the organizational goals.
1.1.
Manager’s job
It was Henry Fayol, in the early part of this century, who was the
first to give a global view about the job of manager. He observed that managers
performed 5 management functions: they plan, organize, command, coordinate and
control. In the mid-1950s, these management functions were reduced to the basic
four known as the management process.
Figure 1 shows that the tasks of a manager consists of planning,
organizing, leading and controlling.
Figure 1: Management Functions
Source: Management, By:
Robbins, S.P., 1991, , Prentice-Hall, Inc, p. 4
The planning component encompasses defining the goals, establishing
appropriate strategies, and developing different plans to coordinate the
activities. Furthermore, managers are responsible for designing an
organization’s structure, which clarifies what must be done and by whom. As the
job of manager implies directing activities of others, the leading function is very
important. It consists of motivating subordinates, resolving conflicts and
selecting effective communication channels. Eventually, a manager has a
controlling function. He has to ensure that the assumed goals will be achieved.
Therefore the manager has to monitor the different activities. Also keep in
mind that an effective manager must be able to perform all four activities
simultaneously.
Only recently has this classical view of managers been challenged
based on the observations of five CEO’s. Mintzberg H. (1971) concluded that
the manager’s job consisted of many brief and disjointed episodes with people
inside and outside the organization. In addition to these insights, Mintzberg
provided a categorization scheme for defining what managers do based on actual
managers on the job. Mintzberg shows that managers play different but highly
interrelated roles[3].
Formal authority gives rise to the three interpersonal roles
(figurehead, leader, and liaison), which in turn gives rise to the three
informational roles (monitor, disseminator, spokesman). These two sets of roles
enable the manager to play the four decisional roles. We should also mention
that the importance of managerial roles varies depending on the manager’s level
in the organization.
Another best known modern view of managerial work is provided by
John Kotter which is based on his observatory[4]
of 15 successful general managers. Kotter stated that managers spend most of
their time interacting with others and concluded that managers spent
considerable time in meetings getting and giving information. By obtaining
relevant and needed information from his network, the effective manager is able
to implement his or her agenda.
1.2.
Critical skills related to managerial
competence
In the ‘70s, researcher Robert Katz tried to find an answer to the
question: What are the critical skills that are related to managerial
competence? He discovered that managers should possess 4 critical management
skills. Those skills can be categorized in two big groups[5]: general skills and specific
skills. There seems to be overall agreement that effective managers must be
proficient in four general skills areas[6]:
- Conceptual skills: the ability to analyse complex situations
and to provide the necessary knowledge to facilitate the decision-making.
- Interpersonal skill: as a manager you should be able to direct
others, so motivation, communication and delegation skills are absolutely
needed.
- Technical skills: the ability to apply specialized knowledge or
expertise
- Political skills: the ability to build the right relationships
with the right persons. Those connections result in higher chances of
getting additional resources and power.
The proportions in which those skills are necessary vary with the
manager’s level in the organization. Conceptual skills become more and more
important as we grow in the hierarchy of the organization, while technical
skills become less important. Interpersonal skills are necessary on every
level, because a manager always works with people.
Research has also identified six sets of specific skills that
explain 50% of manager effectiveness:
- Controlling the organization’s environment and its resources
- Organizing and coordinating
- Handling information
- Providing for growth and development
- Motivating employees and handling conflicts
- Strategic problem solving
In ‘The General Managers” (1983), John Kotter, concluded that
effective managers have strong specialised interest, skills, knowledge and
relationships. These specialised personal assets allow them to behave in ways
that fit the demands of their specific situations. Such specialization seems to
have been central to their ability to cope with the often huge demands placed
upon them by their jobs.
The many personal characteristics that helped contribute to good
performance were developed over the entire period of the manager’s life. In
terms of basic personality we can observe[7]:
·
Needs/motives: like power, need for achievement,
very ambitious
·
Temperament: emotionally stable and even,
optimistic
·
Cognitive orientation: above average
intelligence, moderately strong analytically, strong intuitively
·
Interpersonal orientation: personable and good
at developing relationships with people, unusual set of interest that allows
them to relate easily to a broad set of business specialist.
·
Information: very good knowledge about the
business and organization
·
Relationships: cooperative relationships with a
large number of people in the organization
Kotter concluded that in the stipulation for being an effective
manager, there should be a match between the demands of the job and the
individual characteristics. So for organizations it is a challenge to put the
right man on the right place. Depending on the role a manager has to play in
an organization, we need an individual with other characteristics. For
example, Kotter found that in jobs where the relationships were more demanding
and accomplishing things more difficult, the general manager was someone with a
strong personable style, skill at developing relationships, a liking of power,
an emotionally even temperament, an ability to relate to a diverse group of
business specialist, and extensive relationships in their organization and
industry.
- The main characteristics of
the effective manager
In the following part we will
discuss some of the main manager’s characteristics based on the theories which
were discussed in the first part of our paper. We have summarized different
visions and found out that all theories named the following important characteristics:
·
Decision making skills
·
Conflict Management skills
·
Flexibility and creativity
·
Developing of managerial knowledge and manager’s teaching role
·
Motivation of employees
·
Communication skills
·
Developing trust inside the organization
We will give a description of each
characteristic including some important theories.
2.1.
Decision Making Skills
Mangers
are at the same time the decisions makers. It is easy to make decisions, but
making the right one is difficult. What criteria should an effective manager
have upon the decision-making aspect? Let’s start with a simple review of the
decision making process.
Decision-making
is formally defined as the process of identifying and solving problems. The
process containing 2 major stages: problem identification and problem solution.
According to the rational approach, there are 8 steps for each stage:[8]
Figure 2: Decision-making process
The
point of rational approach is that manager should try to use systematic
procedures to arrive at good decisions. Actually in practice, there are many
uncertainties when applying this model to make decisions due to the following
type of information constraints imposed up people:[9]
·
Limited attention
·
Limited memory
·
Limited comprehension
·
Limits to
communication
These,
plus other factors, have given rise to the notion that rational process
indecision is bounded. Herbert Simon, in this regard, has proposed that,
“within bounded rationality, individuals and groups often base their decisions
on satisfying the search for what is good enough in the circumstances, rather
than optimizing.”[10]Often,
managers have to face vast number of information and required to make a
decision in a short time, it is impossible for him to analysis each problem and
weigh each alternatives from the limited mental capacity. [11]
Therefore there is a limit to how rational a manager can be.
Many
models are built upon the uncertainty of the solution searching steps, while in
all actuality managers are not making the decision in a vacuum. They can use
formulas or models to aid their decision making process. Therefore, it is
important for an effective manager to pay attention to the following points
when making the decisions:
The
intuitive decision-making process always plays an important role in combination
with the rational process.
Managers build up long experience with organizational issues, which provides
them with a gut feeling or hunch about the correct response. The large
organizational decisions are not only complex, but also ambiguous. In such a
situation; previous experience and judgment are needed to incorporate
intangible elements. Most of the time, without solid proof that problems exist,
the intuition will tell the managers that there is or could be a problem that
requires him to act before he is able to sit down and analyze the problem.
An
effective manager knows how to cooperate with the internal and external
resources. Of course, as
decision-makers, the manager should not become an “autocrat”. Voice from
internal will be listened, and sharing the opinions and having joint
discussions to reach the interpretation of the goals and problems accordingly
the agreement will be easier to reach and find solutions to the problem.
External comments or reactions have great impact on decisions makers. On one
hand, managers are easily misled by the hypothesis given from the external
environment and can forget to look broader and further. On the other hand,
proactively utilizing the external resource can help managers to see better and
further; therefore, objective evaluation of those opinions will be helpful to
generate wide range of the problem solving approach.
Creativity
is vital to search for more alternatives during the crisis moment. When there are few possibilities to solve
the problem, people can easily stick to the first seeming possible solution and
start to convince themselves that there is no other better ones. Therefore they
are stuck in the corner and forget to look for the other alternative. Dynamic
thinking and radioactive mentality will help the manager to look the situation
from a different view, there fore create the new approach.
An
effective manager will not only look to the short-term profit. He sees further. He must be able to
judge where the future business will be lead to from the decision made today.
Those decisions, which bring profits today but will undermine business
tomorrow, will be dropped.
The difficult decisions are
always accompanied by the ethical issues. The best solution for the
company’s profit might not be the right ones according to the laws or
regulations. On making decisions, the ethical dilemmas cannot be neglected, and
the outcomes of unethical behavior can affect reputations, trust and career
path. Results have been as severe as loss of employment, physical harm to
individuals, corporate bankruptcy and even impacts to the economy.
The scandals of 2002, including
Enron and WorldCom, resulted in regulations having created a cultural shift
particularly in financial fields that has renewed emphasis on ethical business
behavior. What distinguishes mediocre level managers from the truly effective
managerial leader is an ethical dimension. There exists different moral stages
that guide people in their everyday decision-making. Those people in the
“principled level…make a clear effort to define moral principles apart from the
authority of the groups to which they belong or society in general”[12]
Learn
from the formal fail experience is very important. Managers are apt to stumble down the
same failure-prone path over and over again without learning. Learning is
thwarted when leaders do not tolerate mistakes. In such an environment, people
conceal bad out comes. Consequently, people in the same company, or the same
person in different period will repeat the similar mistake. A good manager will
see the mistakes as an education and correct himself constantly according to
the new situations. Generally speaking, to be an effective decision maker,
managers need to work closely with their team and “integrate their faith,
values and business practices”. [13]
In the presentation we will use the case from “Nestle Company” to show why bad
decisions had been made and what the consequences are. [14]
2.2. Conflict
Management Skills
According to Jean Miller from TIG
(Taking It Global) “Conflict is the source of all growth and is an absolute
necessity if one is to be alive.”[15]
An effective manager must be able to manage conflict and also learn from it to
help the organization to grow and be challenged. Conflict is not always negative
but can prove to have some positive outcomes as well. The effective manager
can balance this delicate relationship and works hard to handle conflict with
care.
As further stated in the article,
conflict can be viewed as something to manage or something to resolve. John
Burton, one of the world’s leading scholars in the field of conflict resolution
commented “…resolution means terminating conflict by methods that are
analytical and that get to the root of the problem.” Miller explains that
“conflict management is a multi-disciplinary, analytical, problem-solving
approach to conflict that seeks to enable participants to work collaborately
towards its management.”[16]
Conflict is not easily avoided in
any organization; therefore, an effective manager is prepared by knowing how he
will approach certain issues before they happen. There are many books and
articles written that address this topic in great detail. An effective manager
will consult these items and use his or her own judgment in taking the advice
of these publications.
According to James Cribbin, there
are three basic kinds of conflict as follows: Approach-Approach,
Avoidance-Avoidance, and Approach-Avoidance.[17]
Approach-Approach would seem to be the most straight forward type of conflict
as there are two alternatives that are equally feasible. If an employee is not
being productive in the company this affects how the manager’s boss views that
department. The manager wants to please his boss but also stay on good terms
with his employee. In each case the manager needs to approach the other person
with open communication and deal with the situation.
Avoidance-Avoidance is very
difficult because whatever decision is made to have negative consequences. If
a manager knows that his boss is cheating the company financially, he must make
a decision. Tell on his boss and suffer the wrath, or stay quiet and sacrifice
his ethics. He would like to avoid the conflict on either side, but staying
quiet may not be an option.
The last type of conflict according
to Cribbin is Approach-Avoidance. He gives a clear example of a manager put in
a situation in which he must make a decision that will affect himself and his
family. He wants to approach the situation but also avoid it completely. He
is given a great promotion in the company but must move his family from his
nice comfortable town to a large metropolis city. Cribbin has outlined the
options he has and portrays what a difficult situation this could really be:
- Accept the position and move
- Accept the position, leave the
family in the small town and visit them on the weekends.
- Bribe the family to make the
move.
- Ask the family to try to the new
city for a year and then assess the situation.
- He can refuse the promotion.
- He can try to stall in making the
decision and hope that something different will turn up.
- He can try to convince his
superiors that he can take the promotion and contribute more from where he
already is.
- He can get another job.[18]
While this is a personal conflict
for this manager, the skills a manager uses to deal with personal conflict must
be transferable to the workplace environment involving other employees as well
as superiors. If a manager knows that there are always several options in
dealing with a situation, he will be more open to choosing one that will work
for that unique conflict.
As mentioned earlier, consistency
is an important part of an effective manager and can be applied to conflict as
well. A good manager is consistent in executing rules and regulations with
his employees. He will not let close relationships with employees cloud his
judgment and rationale for making a decision. When conflict arises, the
employees will know that each person will receive the same treatment regardless
of who they are.
According to Robbins, “Consistency
can relate to an individual’s reliability, predictability, and good judgment in
handling situations. Inconsistencies between words and actions decrease
trust. Nothing is noticed more quickly… than a discrepancy between what executives
preach and what they expect their associates to practice.” People want to be
able to “predict what you are going to do.”[19]
In order for a manager to improve
their effectiveness in a conflict situation they can also use “The Five A’s of
Improving Your Personal Effectiveness” Model from Kerns. The A’s are assess,
analyze, action plan, act, and adjust – then repeat.[20]
A good manager will always assess the situation in order to gather all of the
details. Once he has all of the information, he will analyze it and develop an
action plan. After implementation of the plan, he will be able to be flexible
with that plan if something needs to be adjusted. Effective managers use the
Five A’s constantly without even realizing it. This helps a manager approach
conflict with confidence knowing there is a steady process he can rely upon.
2.3. Flexibility and Creativity
“Managers exist in a
state of steady uncertainly and their success rests upon constant exploration
of uncharted waters.”
Barry Munitz,
President of Federated
Development Company
Houston, Texas
Today
changes in the business environment become more rapid and more complex and of
course each manager must solve more problems in a limited period of time. As Dr. Abraham Zaleznik of Harvard University mentioned: "No matter
how much you plan, when you get to the work place there are unanticipated
problems: And the added constant challenge is that most of these problems
cannot be solved effectively in old, familiar, or straightforward manners.
Hence the quality most necessary for business and career success these days,
and increasingly so in the future, is flexibility.”[21] But our group consider also
creativity to be important today. These two aspects help manager not to be lost
and not to lose in the modern business world and of course to be effective.
According to the
dictionary flexibility is “the ability to change or to be changed easily to
suit a different situation”[22].
What factors made this aspect so important? Thirst of all the growing volumes
of information a manager should deal with. Second, environment and technologies
which changed quicker and quicker every year and the third point will be
internationalization. According to these three situations we can determine the
following characteristics of the flexible manager:
- A flexible
manager is able “to stay loose and to choose and
explore a wide variety of approaches to problems, without losing sight of
the overall goal or purpose”[23]
- Shows a
resourcefulness in their ability to adapt himself quickly and easily to
developing situation and changing environment
- He "does
not see the environment as something to which they should passively
respond, but as something they should actively shape."[24]
Some authors also
associated flexibility with personal openness of the manager[25]. They pointed out that if
managers are open then they can be influenced by what is happening around them
and as a result they react more flexible to all the changes around them. The
one thing is obvious that flexibility is a key feature of personal growth and
an indispensable condition for being an effective manager.
Let’s now go back
to the second aspect – creativity, and let’s see what it means: “Creativity –
producing or using new and effective ideas, results, etc”[26]. When we think about
creativity, we imagine people who are gifted, talented, and different from
others, whose ideas, decisions, and actions are situated out of the every day’s
life borders. In culture, creativity is associated with such a people like
Bach, Van Gogh, and Einstein; in business with Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple
Computers), Jack Welch (General Electric), and Anita Rodick (The Body Shop).[27] Today creativity is a way of
thinking, the way to integrate you visions and ideas into relationships and
business. This process can be presented as following:
Figure 3: Critical thinking
Generate
numerous possibilities
|
|
Brainstorming
processes
Free association, etc.
Source: Becoming a Master Manager, By:Robert E.Qiunn,Sue
R.Faerman,Michel P. Thomson, Michael R. McGrath; USA,2003
The use of
creativity in the decision making process or in problem solving allows manager
to increase the effectiveness and encourage creative thinking among employees.
An effective manager will use creativity as a tool of motivation. When
employees are encouraged to use creativity in their problem solving and in
everyday work, they are more likely to feel unique, valued and important for
their organization[28].
In this way a manager can not only develop effectiveness but also create a
group of like-minded employees.
For an effective
manager of the future creativity or creative thinking should become the natural
way to think. But to reach this ideal situation each manager should avoid the
following barriers:
- “A negative
value of fantasy and reflection as a waste of time, a sign of laziness, or
even a bit crazy”[29]
- the ideas that
only children may play and fantasise but adults must be serious
- the idea that
problem solving is a very serious an responsible process and you must
forget about creativity and humour
- a negative image
of feeling and intuition, which are regarded as illogical an impractical
Although it is very difficult sometimes to change the society’s
cultural barriers and to change the image of creativity, each manager should
try to overcome pragmatic influences and think individually.
2.4. Developing
of managerial knowledge and manager’s teaching role
Every manager must be sure that he or she will develop the competence
and knowledge of those they supervise. Every employee has a potential for
personal and professional development, and a good manager should discover and
develop this potential. We will start with the idea that each person wants to
know more. When a young employee comes to the company he has a lot of
theoretical knowledge, personal ideas and visions. He has read a lot of books
and articles, but he is still asking himself a lot of different questions. In
that moment he needs someone to teach him how to become successful.
When
you are a small child your parents teach you how to walk, and when you make
your first steps in your career you also need a “parent” to teach, to give
support, to empower and whatever else necessary. The effective manager is always
ready to become such a “parent”. He is always open to his employees and
colleagues, he shares his knowledge, and he inspires others with his own
experience and example. During the process of teaching he always remains
patient and supports everyone in every step of the way. And of course leaders take
the time to thank employees for a job well done.
But
teaching doesn’t mean only sharing manager’s knowledge with someone; it also
means that the manager takes a role of mentor. The
term "mentor" has been used quite often in recent years. Jacqueline
D. Heads, academic advisor for the Rutgers University College of Pharmacy in
New Jersey defines this term as the following “A true mentor motivates you and
impels you to move to the next level, mobilizes you by advising you on how to
get there, and finally, like a guide, a mentor informally monitors your
progress to make sure you are moving in the right direction,"[30]
But why should we pay so much attention to teaching role of
manager or his mentoring role? The answer is obvious: teaching is a core
competency the effective manger should have. The idea of effectiveness changed
the vision of teaching and today more authors speak not only about teaching or
mentoring but about a developmental manager.[31] That means that instead of
taskmasters and evaluators, managers are most effective as coaches, motivators,
symphony conductors and employee developers”[32]
We will pay more attention to this idea.
Developing
happened not at home but mostly at the work place during the work itself or
during the special classes. That is why it will be useful for each manager to
create and to follow a development plan to avoid pointless talks and wasting of
time. The idea of “A+ employees takes A+ managers”[33] seems to our group to be a very
interesting and future oriented idea of cooperation between manager and
employees. According to this idea you should follow these rules while
developing people:
·
Appreciate
uniqueness of the people
·
Assess
capability of their team members
·
Anticipate
the future (leads others in the future)
·
Align
aspirations (create win/win partnerships built on trust and loyalty)
·
Accelerate
learning
But
in practice the theory is always confronted with reality. One of the main
problems of teaching or developing people is that a lot of managers are afraid
of teaching other people. The main reason for such an attitude is idea, that if
you as a manager will teach someone everything you know and after that he may
become better and smarter then you, and take your place. Of course it can
happen. But then manager should turn back to his main values and decide what is
most important to him: his own career or his company’s success.
At the same time, if you are going to share your knowledge with
someone, to teach, to develop and to become a mentor you must broaden your own
knowledge. The individual becomes a manager because he
was chosen to get results and to use his knowledge, not because he won a
popularity contest. Employees are not going to listen to a person who
has no knowledge in what he is talking about or gives out false information.
People need to believe that a manager has the proper skills and abilities to
carry out what he claims to be experienced in. Only then a manager will earn a
respect and employees will become his like-minded team. How will you be able to
do this?
Some authors[34]
say that as a manager and especially as an executive manager you are
responsible for all fields of business in your company: for marketing and
sales, for finance, for information technology etc. You should understand how
things works (the IKEA-case and Kamprad’s attention to all details can
illustrate this statement) and also how employees work whose knowledge in one
particular field are deeper then yours. These are two main corner stones of
success. How to reach them? The best solution can be continuous replacing
inside organization. As a result manager receives
variety of experiences and knowledge in different functions, business units,
companies, and even countries. The positive effect of such a “moving” results
in understanding, how the whole business operates; of the impact of managerial
decisions on the rest of the organization. Managers can also transfer best
practices to new areas while moving; he learns how to lead in a variety of
situations and he develops strong networks inside and outside the organization[35].
Some other authors[36], especially from
the business world, used to think that an effective manager must not be
satisfied with his education degree and training, but must always be ready to
catch advanced education opportunities. The advanced degree is MBA-program; if
this level was reached then never avoid additional seminars, courses and
workshops. In contrast to the thirst group of authors who are speaking about
continuous replacement, these theories accept the idea of receiving deep
knowledge in one particular area.
These two approaches and also all theories about
teaching show us how important is for every manager to develop himself and his
employees. Continuous self-development, learning and teaching are the best ways
to success and effectiveness.
2.5. Motivation of employees
Like the previous
characteristics, the ability to motivate your employees to work is also an
indispensable one if you want to be effective as a manager. The psychology of
motivation is tremendously complex, and what has been unravelled so far with
any degree of assurance is very small. What I will do here is (1) give a
definition of what motivation is, (2) very briefly going across the major
theories, classical and contemporary ones, and (3) address some possibilities
how an affective manager can implement the ideas the theories offered in
reality, which is of most importance. But first some theory.
Stephen P. Robbins
gives us the following definition of motivation in his book Organizational
Behavior (2001, p. 155)[37]:
“[…] the processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction,
and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal”. Thus intensity (1)
is concerned with “how hard a person tries”, with direction (2) we mean “toward
attaining the organizational goals“and persistence refers to “how long a person
can maintain his or her effort”.
In the past,
especially in the 50’s, a lot has been written about how managers can motivate
their employees. We can classify these theories in 5 categories.[38] These are:
1. Need theories:
- Hierarchy of Needs Theory (A.
Maslow) / ERG Theory (C. Alderfer)
-
Two Factor Theory (F. Herzberg)
-
Theory X and Theory Y (D. McGregor)
These theories all depart from the thought that to motivate your
employees, you have to satisfy certain needs. Maslow’s hierarchical model, a
classical one, says that you first have to satisfy physiological needs
(i.e. hunger, thirst, …), then you have to offer them safety (from
physical and emotional harm), consequently you must satisfy them socially
(affection, acceptance, …), after that you can motivate them by
satisfying their esteem (internal as well as external), and only then, when all
the previous needs are satisfied, you can motivate them by letting your
employees actualize themselves through their work (i.e. self-fulfilment). So if
you want to motivate someone, according to Maslow, you need to understand what
level of hierarchy that person is currently on and focus on satisfying those
needs at or above that level.
Maslow’s theory has received wide recognition, but unfortunately
research does not validate the theory. A theory that contests Maslow’s theory
is Alderfer’s ERG Theory, where E stands for existence (cfr. the
physiological and safety needs), R for relatedness (cfr. the social
needs and the external component of the esteem need) and G for growth
needs (cfr. the internal esteem component and the self-actualization need).
This theory differs from Maslow’s in that (1) more than one need may be
operative at the same time and (2), if the gratification of a higher level need
is stifled, the desire to satisfy a lower-level need increases. In opposite to
Maslow’s theory, several studies do have supported this theory. It takes into
account that in different cultures the categories can be ranked in another way,
for example Japan, where the social needs are placed under the physiological
ones.
Another classical need theory is the Theory X and Theory Y of
Douglas McGregor. These two theories represent two distinct views of human
beings: Theory X makes the assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy,
dislike responsibility, and must be coerced to perform, where Theory Y
stipulates that employees like work, are creative, seek responsibility and can
exercise self-direction. Research suggests that these theories may be
applicable but only in particular situations.
Maybe the most important contribution to the motivation
question comes from the psychologist Frederick Herzberg with his Two-Factor
Theory. The insight Herzberg brought to the matter meant a u-turn in previously
thinking. He stated as first that the opposite of satisfaction is not
dissatisfaction, as was traditionally believed, but that both are distinct and
separate. Intrinsic factors such as the work itself, responsibility, and
achievement seem to be related with satisfaction (motivators), while extrinsic factors such as supervision,
pay, company policies and working conditions are associated with dissatisfaction (hygiene
factors). This theory has had a major impact on management in the last 30 years
and the fact that managers nowadays allow workers greater responsibility in
planning and controlling their work can probably be attributed largely to
Herzberg’s findings and recommendations
2. Goal-Setting Theory (E. Locke):
The
primary idea of this theory is that specific and difficult goals, with goal/
feedback, lead to a higher performance. This means that, for example, to
motivate someone, you don’t say “Just do your best”, but you say specific what
has to be obtained, for example “You should strive for 85 percent or higher on
all your work in English”. Research supports this theory in that this do can
lead to a higher performance, although it may not lead to job satisfaction
(cfr. supra).
3. Reinforcement Theory:
This theory states that reinforcement conditions behaviour.
Behaviour is thereby environmentally caused. What controls behaviour are
reinforcers – any consequence that , when immediately following a response,
increases the probability that the behaviour will be repeated. The theory
ignores the inner state of the individual and concentrates solely on what
happens to a person when he or she takes some action. Because it does not
concern with what initiates behaviour, it is not, strictly speaking, a theory of
motivation. But it does provide a powerful means of analysing of what controls
behaviour, and it is for this reason that it is typically considered in
discussions on motivation.
4. Equity Theory (J. S. Adams):
This
theory poses that individuals compare their job inputs (i.e. effort, experience
…) and outcomes (i.e. salary, recognition …) with those of others and then
respond so as to eliminate any inequities. For example a person who does the
same job as another employee but gets paid less will be motivated to perform
better in order to eliminate the existing inequities.
5. Expectancy Theory (V. Vroom):
This is currently one of the most accepted explanations of
motivation. Most of the research evidence is supportive of this theory.
Concrete, this theory says that an employee will be motivated to exert a high
level of effort when he or she believes that effort will lead to a good
performance appraisal; that a good performance appraisal will lead to
organizational rewards such as a bonus, a salary increase, or a promotion; and
that the rewards will satisfy the employee’s goals.
The major theories briefly presented, we can now look at how in
reality a manager can implement these. Robbins mentions 6 applications. These
are:
1. Management by objectives (MBO) (cfr. Goal-Setting Theory):
This means in realty, as a manager, you make sure that the
organization’s overall objectives are translated into specific objectives for
each succeeding level (divisional, departmental, and individual) in the
organization. You develop a program that encompasses specific goals,
participatively set with the employees, for an explicit time period, with
feedback on goal progress. MBO programs are used in many business, health care,
educational, government and non-profit organizations.
2. Employee Recognition Programs (cfr. Reinforcement Theory)
Consistent with reinforcement theory, rewarding a behaviour with
recognition immediately following that behaviour is likely to encourage its
repetition. For example: personally congratulating an employee, or sending a
letter or an e-mail, having a celebration because of good achievement, or
publicly recognizing, such as organizing a prize “Best Employee of the Month”
(he/she then gets a plaque on the wall). These programs are widely used because
it costs no money and according to research bears effective.
3.
Employee Involvement Programs (cfr. Theory X and Theory Y, Two-Factor Theory,
Hierarchy of Needs Theory & ERG Theory):
The idea here is that by involving workers in those
decisions that affect them and by increasing their autonomy and control over
their work lives, employees will become more motivated, more committed to the
organization, more productive, and more satisfied with their jobs. Examples:
-
participative management: subordinates share a significant degree of decision-making power
with their immediate superiors.
-
representative participation: rather than participate directly in decisions, workers are
represented by a small group of employees who actually participate
-
quality circles:
a work group of 8 to 10 employees and supervisors meet regularly to discuss
their quality problems, investigate causes, recommend solutions, and take
corrective actions.
-
employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs): these are company-established
benefit plans in which employees acquire stock as part of their benefits.
4.
Variable Pay Programs (cfr. Expectancy Theory):
Here a portion of an employee’s pay is based on some
individual and/or organizational measure of performance. Examples:
-
Piece-rate pay plans: you are paid a fixed sum for each unit of production completed.
-
Bonuses: extra
payment because of certain achievement.
-
Profit-sharing plans: compensations based on some established formula designed around a
company’s profitability (direct cash outlays or stock options).
-
gainsharing: an
incentive plan in which improvements in group productivity determine the
total amount of money that is allocated.
5. Skill Based Pay Plans (cfr. ERG Theory, Reinforcement Theory,
Equity Theory):
These plans set pay levels on the basis of how many skills employees
have or how many jobs they can do. For example, if you are a machine operator
in a certain company, you earn 14$/hour, but because of the skill based pay
plan, you can earn up to a 10 percent premium if you broaden your skills to for
example material accounting. Several studies have confirmed that skill based
pay generally leads to higher performance and satisfaction. These plans are expanding
and already widely used with success.
6.
Flexible Benefits (cfr. Expectancy Theory):
These allow employees to pick and choose from among a menu
of benefit options that exceeds the traditional benefit programs. The options
might include hearing, dental and eye coverage; life insurance; extended
vacation time; …. This way the different needs of the employees can be met.
The major theories and their applications were provided; we want to conclude
here with some general guidelines:
Recognize
Individual Differences
Use Goals
and Feedback
Allow
Employees to Participate in Decisions that Affect Them
Link Rewards
to Performance
Check the
System for Equity
The conclusion then is that íf you have the skill as
a manager to tailor the perfect motivation method for each of your employees,
you will be more effective.
2.6. Communication skills
With
Rees (1991, p. 159), we can say that this characteristic is probably the most
important of all the characteristics an effective manager needs to possess.
Everything a manager does involves communication, his verbal and nonverbal
behaviour. Communication between managers and employees is important in the
sense that it provides the information necessary to get work done effectively
and efficient in organizations. Effective communication is the critical factor
that moves a team toward a resolution or consensus (“How to be an effective
manager”, 2000, p. 14).
Robbins
& Coulter provide us with the following communication model (see attachment
1). As we can notice by looking at this model, there are seven factors involved
in communication: (1) the communication source, (2) encoding, (3) the message,
(4) the channel, (5) decoding, (6) the receiver and (7) feedback. The
definition of communication is then “the transfer and understanding of meaning”
(Robbins & Coulter, 2002, p. 282). This means that (1) the message
has to reach the receiver ( for example a speaker who isn’t heard does
not communicate) and (2), more important, the message has also to be understood
in the way it was meant by the sender. Interesting to note is that
communication can be affected by noise, by which we mean any disturbance
that interferes with the transmission, receipt or feedback of a message, for
example a phone ringing in the background.
Robbins
and Coulter (2002, pp. 288-291) distinguish 7 different barriers to effective
communication. These are (Robbins & Coulter, 2002, pp. 288-291):
1.
Filtering: this is the deliberate
manipulation of information to make it appear more favorable to the receiver.
For example when a manager tells his boss what his boss wants to hear.
2.
Selective
perception:
when people selectively interpret what they see or hear on the basis of their
interests, background, experience and attitudes. For example an employment
interviewer who expects a female job applicant to put her family ahead of her
career is likely to see that in female applicants, regardless of the fact that
it is true or not.
3.
Emotions: how a receiver feels when a
message is received influences how he or she interprets it.
4.
Information
overload:
when the information we have to work with exceeds our processing capacity. For
example tons of e-mails. You are bound to select and this way information gets
lost.
5.
Defensiveness: when individuals interpret
another’s message as threatening, they often respond in ways that hinder
effective communication.
6.
Language: words mean different things
to different people. Age, education and cultural background are three of the
more obvious variables that influence the language a person uses and the
definitions he or she gives to words. The use of jargon, a specialized
terminology or technical language that members of a group use to communicate
among themselves, can be a barrier to effective communication.
7.
National
culture:
cultural differences and consequently different values (cfr. the problems of
intercultural communication).[39]
To
these we can also add gender differences[40],
status differences (for example boss vs. subordinate) and interference of
nonverbal communication factors (for example smell as a personal physical
characteristic).
Now
what can a manager do to overcome these and as such be effective in his
communication? If we know that an average manager spends 80% of his or her time
communicating in one form or another (10% writing, 15% reading, 25% listening
and 30% speaking), communication is affecting a company in every possible way
(“How to be an effective manager”, 2000, p. 14). Therefore effective
communication is of extreme importance.
Robbins
(2001, pp. 302-304) mentions 8 rules by which the barriers can be bridged:
1.
Use
feedback:
question the receiver to know if he understood the message in the way it was
intended.
2.
Simplify
language:
choose words and structure your messages in ways that will make those messages
clear and understandable to the receiver.
3.
Listen
actively:
this means an active search for meaning, in opposite to passively hearing
4.
Contrain
emotions:
when emotionally upset, refrain from communication until u have regained
composure.
5.
Watch
nonverbal cues:
to ensure that the receiver conveys the desired message.
6.
Empathize
with others:
put yourself in the shoes of your listeners. This way you’re more likely to see
things from their perspective. Then you can choose the proper channel and the
right words to transfer your message (cfr. infra).
7.
Use
multiple channels:
this increases clarity because (1) it stimulates different senses and (2) it
takes into account that people have different abilities to absorb
communication.
8.
Match
your words and actions: actions
speak louder than words. When nonverbal messages contradict official messages
as conveyed in formal communications, people become confused and the official
message loses its focus.
9.
Tailor
the message to the audience: different people in the organization have different
information needs. Individuals in organizations vary in the type of information
they need to know, their preferred channel for receiving the information, and
their understanding of language, so you should take this into account and
tailor your message to your audience.
10.
Remember
the value of face-to-face communication when dealing with change: as we shall see immediately,
some channels are more rich than others. Especially in times of uncertainty, it
is appropriate to use a rich channel to convey ambiguous and nonroutine
messages.
11.
Channels: understand that some
channels have different effects on different audiences.
To conclude, I want to give some additional information to these
last two. As a manager in the 21st century, you can make use of a wide variety
of communication methods thanks to the rapid progression in information
technology. These include: face-to-face, telephone, group meetings, formal
presentations, memos, traditional mail, employee publications, bulletin boards,
audio and videotapes, hot lines, electronic mail, computer conferencing, voice-mail,
teleconferences, and videoconferences. As a manager, it is of crucial
importance that you select the appropriate method/channel to communicate a
specific message. Recent research has found that channels differ in their
capacity to convey information. Some are rich in that they have the ability to
(1) handle multiple cues simultaneously, (2) facilitate rapid feedback, and (3)
be very personal. Attachment 2 shows us the hierarchy of channel richness. The
rule to choose one channel above another depends then on the fact of whether
the message is routine or nonroutine. For example firing a person by sending
him/her an e-mail isn’t quite effective. Instead, sending an e-mail to let him
know that he/she’s invited for a personnel party this Saturday do is so.
As
a conclusion we can say that effective communication is of extreme importance
if you want to be an effective manager. However, this doesn’t mean that good
communication skills alone make succesfull managers. We do can say that
íf the suggestions made here to communicate effective are applied in a
correct manner, then a lot of problems for a manager can be avoided and surely
the company as a whole will benefit from this.
2.7. Decveloping
Trust inside the organization
Ethics and values have always been
an important part of business, but they are now looked at more closely as there
have been many instances where they were not adequately defined. According to
Szwajkowksi in “The Myths and Realities of Research on Organizational
Misconduct”, managerial ethics are “principles that guide the decisions and
behaviors of managers with regard to whether they are right or wrong in a moral
sense.”[41]
Because not every manager and individual follows the same principles, ethical
dilemmas occur. It is crucial for a manager to first develop a list of core
values for himself in order to be consistent in his business practices. As a
manager handles each situation with these values, trust is built.
It is difficult to decide which
values a manager should pay more attention to. According to Stephen Robbins’s
in “The Essentials of Organizational Behavior” trust is defined as a “positive
expectation that another will not – through words, actions or decision -- act
opportunistically”.[42]
He goes on to present that trust is multi-dimensional and therefore encompasses
a vast range of values within it. The Five Dimensions of trust that he
mentions are as follows:
- Integrity: honesty and
truthfulness
- Competence: Technical and
interpersonal knowledge and skills
- Consistency: Reliability,
predictability, and good judgement
- Loyalty; Willingness to protect
and save face for a person
- Openness: Willingness to share
ideas and information freely[43]
By developing each of these
qualities, a manager will encourage a trustworthy environment in his
relationships with his employees as well as his superiors.
As Robbins
suggests, trust is something that we expect as the outcome from a person
through our experiences with them. Over time, we get a sense of how that
person behaves and acts accordingly to our behavior. Trust is a rather
sensitive issue to most people and requires that managers act appropriately to
gain the trust needed to lead effectively. It is dangerous to lose trust of an
employee as they may not respect your judgment without it.
Managers who
want to engage in trustworthy relationships with their workers, according to
Robbins’s guidelines, must follow certain practices that show integrity,
competence and consistency.[44]
Without these three characteristics, all aspect of trust becomes meaningless.
The normal day to day actions of a manager affect the level of trust that each
employee will have in him/her.
Managers of
different levels and cultures prioritize trust differently. This is evident
when evaluating how managerial decisions can build trust through the Managerial
Linkage System. In “Managerial Leadership at Twelve O’Clock” Charles Kerns,
describes that on one end of the managerial scale is an untrustworthy manager
who accomplishes his goals with lies and deception to obtain the numbers. On
the other end of the scale is a manager who uses the trust of his workers to
accomplish the same numbers. It is clear that the untrusting manager is taking
a shortcut through the managerial system from 12-9 and the trusting manager has
taken the time and effort to move along from 12-3-6-9 as shown in the figure
below.[45]
The untrusting manager’s shortcut
disregards the concerns of the workers and in turn ignores the quality of
output to the customers. This will effect worker retention times and create
poor customer satisfaction. Though this manager may achieve sales targets the
first time around it will not last. The second time through the cycle the
results will begin to drop off due to poor management and a lack of trust.
Conversely, the trusting manager gains the trust of the workers and forms a
great relationship with them. Worker retention is much longer and they tend to
do a much better job caring for the customers. With happier customers will
come the increased sales. The second time around the cycle, the trustworthy
manager will have an easier time achieving the same or improved sales. The
Managerial Linkage System demonstrates that having employee trust will cause
business performance to increase.
- Can we learn how to become an
effective manager?
Last decades, many visions thought that we could learn how to become
an effective manager. We could refer to the success of many institutions where
MBA programs are offered. Many young high intelligent business men are taught
how to become successful. Nevertheless the success of these business schools,
there is a lack of correlation between scholastic standing and the success in
business. Clearly, what a student learns about management in graduate school,
does not equip him to build a successful career in business.
For Livingstone S. (1971) the reason for this failure could be found
in the fact that[46]:”they
don’t learn from their formal education what they need to know to perform their
job effectively. The tasks that are the most important in getting results
usually are left to be learned on the job, where few managers ever master them
simply because no one teaches them how.”
Formal management education programs typically emphasize the
development of skills which enables the future manager to solve problems and to
make decisions (‘respondent behaviour). But little attention is given to the
development of skills required to find the problems that need to be solved
(‘operant behaviour’). Furthermore, the problem solving in the classroom is seen
as an entirely rational process, while in reality human emotions make it hard
to deal with the problems objectively.
As the research of Norman H. Mackworth revealed[47], the distinction between the
problem-solver and the problem-finder s vital. He concluded that managers not
only should be able to analyze data of financial statements or other written
reports, but even more important they should be able to scan the business environment
for less concrete clues that a problem exist. These perceptual skills are
extremely difficult to develop in the classroom and must be developed on the
job.
We should ask our self the question: Are there people who have more
managerial skills than others, because they are able to learn from their
experience what they need to know to manage effectively. Livingstone S (1971)
found three characteristics of men who learned to manage effectively.
- Need to manage: to be able to
manage effectively, you should have a strong desire and satisfaction to
influence the performance of others. Many of those who aspires high- level
positions are driven by the expectations of high salaries or high status,
but are not motivated to get effective results through others. Those
managers don’t learn how to develop an effective managerial career,
because there is a lack of willingness to manage. They are not able to
devote enough time and energy to find a suitable way to manage. So the
need to manage is a crucial factor in determining whether a person will
learn and apply in practice what is necessary to get effective results on
the job. For example, managers who are outstanding individual performers,
but with a lack to motivate others or to delegate tasks to subordinates, rarely
advance far up the organizational hierarchy because they will be blocked
by low performances of a large number of subordinates.
- Need for power: Since managers are
primarily concerned with directing and influencing subordinates, they
should be characterized by a high need for power. We could refer to the
above chapter about leadership and power.
- Capacity for empathy: The capacity
for empathy is ”the ability to cope with the emotional reactions that
inevitably occur when people work together in an organization” (Livingstone S. 1971). Managers who are
perfectly capable to learn from their job experience, or who are able to
apply management techniques successfully, often fail because their
affinity with others is entirely intellectual or cognitive. They are
emotionally blind. They are not capable to deal with the emotional
reactions that are crucial in gaining the willing cooperation of
subordinates. It is very difficult to teach people how to cope with human
emotions.
So we could conclude that there should be a combination of inborn
characteristics and acquired knowledge and experience to become an effective
manager. There are people wit a higher needs for managing and power and having
a bigger capacity for empathy than others. But these features are no guarantee
for success. They should be combined with technical and conceptual skills
acquired during management education and job experience.
But the effective manger is one, who is able to adapt his
personality, skills, knowledge and relationships in such a way that it fits the
demands of their specific situation.
3. Can we learn how to become an
effective manager?
Last decades, many visions thought that we could learn how to become
an effective manager. We could refer to the success of many institutions where
MBA programs are offered. Many young high intelligent business men are taught
how to become successful. Nevertheless the success of these business schools,
there is a lack of correlation between scholastic standing and the success in
business. Clearly, what a student learns about management in graduate school,
does not equip him to build a successful career in business.
For Livingstone S. (1971) the reason for this failure could be found
in the fact that[48]:”they
don’t learn from their formal education what they need to know to perform their
job effectively. The tasks that are the most important in getting results
usually are left to be learned on the job, where few managers ever master them
simply because no one teaches them how.”
Formal management education programs typically emphasize the
development of skills which enables the future manager to solve problems and to
make decisions (‘respondent behaviour). But little attention is given to the
development of skills required to find the problems that need to be solved
(‘operant behaviour’). Furthermore, the problem solving in the classroom is
seen as an entirely rational process, while in reality human emotions make it
hard to deal with the problems objectively.
As the research of Norman H. Mackworth revealed[49], the distinction between the
problem-solver and the problem-finder s vital. He concluded that managers not
only should be able to analyze data of financial statements or other written
reports, but even more important they should be able to scan the business
environment for less concrete clues that a problem exist. These perceptual
skills are extremely difficult to develop in the classroom and must be
developed on the job.
We should ask our self the question: Are there people who have more
managerial skills than others, because they are able to learn from their
experience what they need to know to manage effectively. Livingstone S (1971)
found three characteristics of men who learned to manage effectively.
- Need to manage: to be able to
manage effectively, you should have a strong desire and satisfaction to
influence the performance of others. Many of those who aspires high- level
positions are driven by the expectations of high salaries or high status,
but are not motivated to get effective results through others. Those
managers don’t learn how to develop an effective managerial career,
because there is a lack of willingness to manage. They are not able to
devote enough time and energy to find a suitable way to manage. So the
need to manage is a crucial factor in determining whether a person will
learn and apply in practice what is necessary to get effective results on
the job. For example, managers who are outstanding individual performers,
but with a lack to motivate others or to delegate tasks to subordinates,
rarely advance far up the organizational hierarchy because they will be
blocked by low performances of a large number of subordinates.
- Need for power: Since managers are
primarily concerned with directing and influencing subordinates, they
should be characterized by a high need for power. We could refer to the
above chapter about leadership and power.
- Capacity for empathy: The capacity
for empathy is ”the ability to cope with the emotional reactions that
inevitably occur when people work together in an organization” (Livingstone S. 1971). Managers who are
perfectly capable to learn from their job experience, or who are able to
apply management techniques successfully, often fail because their
affinity with others is entirely intellectual or cognitive. They are
emotionally blind. They are not capable to deal with the emotional
reactions that are crucial in gaining the willing cooperation of
subordinates. It is very difficult to teach people how to cope with human
emotions.
So we could conclude that there should be a combination of inborn characteristics
and acquired knowledge and experience to become an effective manager. There are
people wit a higher needs for managing and power and having a bigger capacity
for empathy than others. But these features are no guarantee for success. They
should be combined with technical and conceptual skills acquired during
management education and job experience.
But the effective manger is one, who is able to adapt his
personality, skills, knowledge and relationships in such a way that it fits the
demands of their specific situation.
Attachment 1 [50]
Message
Medium Receiver
Encoding
Decoding
Sender
Noise Message
Feedback
1. Message: a purpose to be conveyed
2. Encoding: converting a message into
symbols
3. Channel: the medium a message
travels along
4. Decoding: retranslating a sender’s
message. Difficulties may occur here, especially in intercultural
communication.
5. Feedback: returns the message to the
sender and provides a check on whether understanding has been achieved.
Noise: any
disturbance that interferes with the transmission, receipt or feedback of a
message
Attachment 2 [51]
HIERARCHY OF CHANNEL RICHNESS
Channel Type of message Information
medium
Richness
Richest Nonroutine, ambiguous
Face-to-face
talk
Telephone
Electronic mail
Memos, letters
Flyers, bulletins, general
reports
Leanest Routine, clear
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[24]
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[37] I will use this book as a lead to
construct the rest of this section: Robbins, Stephen P. (2001). Organizational
Behavior. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, pp. 154-216
[38] This classification is subjective and
doesn’t claim at all to be exhaustive.
[39] A remarkable effort to explain these
problems was provided by Hofstede, who placed cultures on a continuum of
high-context vs. low-context cultures. In the former, the context is of extreme
importance; what not is said may be more significant than what is said
(for example Japan). In the latter, words are more important to transfer
meaning than the context in which communication takes place (for example North
America). It is then your task as a manager to take these in consideration.
[40] Here I would like to refer to the
interesting theories Deborah Tannen developed in the ‘90’s. One of her
conclusions was that men use talk to emphasize status, whereas women use it to
create connection. She even states that the two sexes belong to two different
cultures and speak as such different genderlects (Tannen, 1991, p. 37).
As such, intergender communication can be a barrier to effective communication.
It is then your task as a manager to take these in consideration.
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