Management. Work and Motivation
Terms to Remember (26)
Nouns and noun-phrases: Chief Executive Officer (CEO), co-founder, flexible working hours, health insurance, innovation, market value, not-for-profit organization, perk, promotion, public authorities, public sector, remuneration, salary, subordinate, supplier, wages (pl.)
Verbs and verb-phrases: (to) fire, (to) resign, (to) convert debts into profits, (to) deal with crises, (to) perform tasks, (to) allocate resources, (to) set/achieve/attain objectives/targets, (to) supervise the work, (to) measure the performance of the staff, (to) make decisions
| What is management? Management is important. The success or failure of companies, public sector institutions and services, not-for-profit organizations, sports teams, and so on, often depends on the quality of their managers. But what do managers do? One well-known classification of the tasks of a manager comes from Peter Drucker. Drucker was an American business professor and consultant who is often called things like "The Father of Modern Management". Drucker suggested that the work of a manager can be divided into five tasks: planning (setting objectives), organizing, integrating (motivating and communicating), measuring of performance, and developing people. First of all, senior managers and directors set objectives and decide how their organization can achieve or accomplish them. This involves developing strategies, plans and precise tactics, and allocating resources of people and money. |
Secondly, managers organize. They analyze and classify the activities of the organization and the relations among them. They divide the work into manageable activities and then into individual tasks. They select people to perform these tasks.
Thirdly, managers practise the social skills of motivation and communication. They also have to communicate objectives to the people responsible for attaining them. They have to make the people who are responsible for performing individual tasks form teams. They make decisions about pay and promotion. As well as organizing and supervising the work of their subordinates, they have to work with people in other areas and functions.
Fourthly, managers have to measure the performance of their staff, to see whether the objectives or targets set for the organization as a whole and for each individual member of it are being achieved.
Lastly, managers develop people − both their subordinates and themselves.
A company's top managers also have to consider the future, and modify or change the organization's objectives when necessary, and introduce the innovations that will allow the business to continue. Top managers also have to manage a business's relations with customers, suppliers, distributors, bankers, investors, neighboring communities, public authorities, and so on, as well as deal with any crisis that arises.
Although the tasks of a manager can be analyzed and classified in this fashion, management is not entirely scientific. There are management skills that have to be learnt, but management is also a human skill. Some people are good at it, and others are not. Some people will be unable to put management techniques into practice. Others will have lots of technique, but few good ideas. Excellent managers are quite rare.
Tasks and Exercises
1. Match up the following nouns with their definitions:
| innovation market value promotion public sector subordinate | the section of the economy under government control a person with a less important position in an organization a new idea or method when someone is raised to a higher or more important position the price an asset would fetch in the marketplace, or the price that the investment community gives to a particular business | 
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2. Use the verb-noun combinations in the box to complete the sentences. Not that there is one extra phrase:
| allocate resources deal with crises make decisions measure performance perform tasks set objectives supervise the work | ||
| 1) After an organization has......, it has to make sure that it achieves them. 2) Managers have to find the best way to... all the human, physical and capital... available to them. 3) Some people...... better on their own while others work better in teams. 4) Managers... the... of their staff to see whether they are reaching their targets. 5) Top managers have to be prepared to......... if they occur and then have to... quick.... 3.Consider your answers to the following: 1) What classification of the tasks of a manager comes from an American business professor and consultant Mr. Drucker? 2) What does the stage of setting objectives involve? 3) How do managers organize the work of the staff? 4) How do managers measure the performance of their staff? 5) What other parameters does the work of a company's top manager include? |
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| 4. Listen to two MBA (Master of Business Administration) students at the Judge Business School at Cambridge University talking about management. ü Who says the things about managers in the table below − Carlo (the first speaker) or Olga (the second)? ü Are there any qualities or characteristics you would add to the ones mentioned by the MBA students? | ||
Which of the five famous managers do you find the most interesting and impressive?
| Akito Morito co-founded a company in Tokyo in 1946, and later changed its name to Sony. He moved to the US, where he had the original ideas for the Walkman and the video cassette recorder. Sony acquired music and film companies, and developed video games. | While Jack Welch was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of General Electric in the 1980s and 1990s, its market value increased from $14 billion to more than $410 billion. He fired 10% of the companies' managers each year. | Steve Jobs was first the co-founder and later the CEO of Apple. He was fired from his own company (!) in 1985, and co-founded Pixar Animation Studios, but rejoined Apple in 1997, and helped develop the iPod and iPhone. | In 1998, Meg Whitman joined a start-up company called eBay in Silicon Valley as President and CEO. She resigned ten years later, when it was a hugely successful business, planning to run for Governor of California. | Carlos Ghosn, born in Brazil, but a French and Lebanese citizen, became the CEO of the Nissan car company in 2001. In 2005s, he converted huge debts into enormous profits. |
What is important to you in choosing a job? What offers the greatest/the least job satisfaction in your opinion? Consider the points below and put them in order of importance. Add anything else that is important to you. Explain your answers to the rest of the group.
| 1) Good remuneration (salary, commission, bonuses, perks) 2) Challenge. 3) Job security. 4) Respect of colleagues. 5) Comfortable working conditions. 6) Social status. 7) Learning something new. | 8) Personal freedom. 9) Being part of a team. 10) Exercising power. 11) Helping other people. 12) Being promoted. 13) Opportunity to travel (business class!) 14) Interesting work. 15) Flexible working hours. | 16) Supportive boss. 17) Friendly colleagues. 18) Proximity to your house. 19) Long holidays. 20) Good pension. 21) Health insurance. 22) Responsibility. |
7. Read about Theory X and Theory Y suggested by Douglas McGregor, an American expert on the psychology of work, and answer the following question:
ü What would you do to try to motivate subordinates who did not want to take responsibilities at work?
