For Phyllis Young only

 

• To help you prepare your essay and to give me an opportunity to provide you with some critical feedback, you must prepare an outline of your essay.Your outline must include the 5 Functions of Management and the topics you plan to address under each.  Be sure to include a reference to appropriate journal entries in your outline. The report and the outline must be cohesive please and flow well together.

Week 2

How would you rate the managers in your company based on the 5 functions of Management. How would you rate yourself on these Functions?

As I think of my direct manager I would love to give him a high rating, I simply cannot due to stated functions of manager. I would rate him below average at best.

Planning: We have never been given goals to accomplish from him for our current position. We have always come up with own objective and goals and we are required to follow and complete those. We are not checked up throughout the year to see if we have met or not met these said objective or goals.

Organizing, Leading, Staffing, Controlling: I think that since our manager does not have any means of creating a concrete foundation to manage his staff, these other functions will never work or be accomplished since the planning stages were neglected from the beginning. His current staff has little to no respect for him and only sees him as the “cool” manager to chit chat with. He has been with the company for 20 years and only speak of retiring and hoping we get “One more good contract so he that he can ride it out”.

I would rate myself rather low as well, due to not knowing the correct way to even begin advising or leading a team. I have not been encouraged to initiate, plan or engage in any process to build a more cohesive team. We work independently and are only responsible for what we are given by our District Manager who is based in San Diego.

 

What management skills do you now possess and which skills do you need to study and understand?

I think that I currently possess excellent Human Skills. I can speak well and confidently to anyone. I have always felt the need to encourage and develop others which is what I would like to start doing. If someone does a good job, I am the first one to let them know. I also can constructively critique others when they are going down the wrong path or need someone to guide them. I would live to improve upon my conceptual and technical skills.

Week 3

What are the Social Responsibilities of a company and the management? Do they conflict with the responsibilities the organization has to the owners (in corporations the stockholders), their employees, and their business partners such as suppliers and marketing intermediaries? 

The three approaches by businesses to social responsibility are resistance, being reactive, and being proactive. In the resistance approach, an organization fights to eliminate, delay, or fend off the demands being made on it. In the reactive approach, organizations wait for demands to be made and then respond to them by evaluating their alternatives. The proactive approach leads organizations to actively seek ways to be socially responsible. They continually look at their operations for ways in which to make them more environmentally friendly. They encourage their employees to be active in community causes. They look at the needs of constituents constantly staying in touch, sensing their needs, and trying to find ways to meet them. An emerging trend, called strategic philanthropy or financially sound goodwill, encourages businesses to get something in return for what they give.  

Organizational qualities that promote “change” are important. Think of the ways “change” has affected your personal and professional life and how you handled it. Also, have you managed “change” to improve yourself or your organization, or to eliminate undesirable consequences? 

Ways in which my personal life has been affected due to a change is when I made the decision to divorce my husband. I just moved to an area in which I was not familiar with anything and had no family nearby. I could have went back home to live with my parents, but I decided to stay strong and to make it on my own. I refused to be seen as a failure. I was able to establish myself within a year and believe me it was hard but my growth from that situation made me so much stronger and willing and able to take on different situations. Recently my company SAIC decided to split into two companies (The New SAIC and Leidos). There were major downsizing and I feared that I would be one of them. Thankfully I was not. This changed, made me aware that things happen daily for no reason and that you have to be prepared for whatever life has in store for you.

Week 4

My responsibilities as a sender when communicating is to ensure that what is being stated is to be clear of the intent of the message. I must also be cognizant of the intended received and construct the message accordingly. The sender will need to know the receivers experience, perceptions and needs. The sender must be aware of the barriers of different cultures, native languages, etc. The sender must be conscience in selecting the proper medium to carry out the message. If it contains confidential information or require praise, in person would be the best way to communicate this. If the receiver is remote or if a paper trail needs to be established then sending via an electronic medium would be appropriate. The send has primary responsibility to make certain that his or her message is has been received and understood. Seeking and giving feedback is the one way to ensure everyone is on the same page. Engage the receiver to ensure they have received the data sent to them. If the sender is uneasy, it would be best for them to ask questions of the receiver to ensure they are on the right page.

My best encounter with motivating supervisor was at a part time job in which I had to make a decision regarding a missing order for customer. It was a cupcake order for a wedding reception and it was misplaced in a different order folder and was forgotten. I came to work that day and was the only cake decorator and was greeted with this missing order and disgruntled employee. I rushed to ensure it was done properly and even made extra cupcakes to appease the customer for her having to wait. The customer was excited by the effort that was taken she wrote an astounding thank you letter to our corporate office and I in turn received a letter from our Owner-Danny Wegmans and cash reward. I was encouraged to continue going over and beyond for our customers and to do it to the best of my abilities.

Week 5

My greatest strengths as a leader are the ability to make quick insightful decisions. I feel that a leader is put in that role because they are willing to make sound decisions and stick by them to ensure they are executed properly. I also feel that I am a motivator. I think that motivating other ensures that they do their best for you as they do not want to let you down. It lets them know that you are there to support them and encourage them to their best. 

Initially I thought that I was a task oriented leader but bur realize by reading that my manager is more of the task oriented person on our team. He is focused on getting tasks completed by using the autocratic style of leadership and ensures that guidelines and instructions are clearly followed. I tend to focus on what employees need succeed. I ensure that they know that they are needed and valuable assets to the team.

Running head: MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHIES 1

Management philosophies

6

Management philosophies

Name

Institutional Affiliation

Management philosophies

Chapters

1. Introduction 3

2. Motivational philosophy 3

3. Organizational philosophy 4

4. Crisis management philosophy 5

5. Customer philosophy 6

6. How management functions fit into the philosophies 6

6.1 Planning 7

6.2 Organizing 7

6.3 Directing 8

6.4 Staffing 8

6.5 Controlling 8

7. Conclusion 9

1. Introduction

Every organization in the world today is looking for a manager who can set a positive working climate and this implies that ever manager ought to showcase his management philosophies which will influence his/her approach towards work. This study will carry out an explicit analysis on some of the management philosophies that are vital for the success of a manager in any organization and how the five functions of management fit into these philosophies.

Drawing from McGregor’s X and Y theory, managers have the ability to determine the destiny of their businesses based on how they treat their customers (Davis, 2010). Another renowned scholar in management by the name Chris Argyis came up with a theory that stretches on the need of laying emphasis on the capabilities and needs of the mature adult personality. McGregor’s emphasis on the fact that the productivity of employees will largely be determined by how managers treat them brings us to the first philosophy that is one of the greatest strengths that should be exhibited by any manager anywhere on earth, the motivational philosophy.

2. Motivational philosophy

The motivational philosophy is a management philosophy that aims at increasing the employees productivity, enable them to be enthusiastic about their jobs and give their best while working in an organization which ultimately augurs positively to an organization’s success. This philosophy aims at creating an environment where employees can be self motivated and give their all for an organization.

As McGregor postulated, employees have a great chance of increasing their productivity and spurring an organization to greatness through their own excellent performances when high goals are set for them, given an effective room to operate and when they are provided with sufficient knowledge on how to achieve those goals. This is because of the basic fact that they will be free from stress and boredom once they are provided with the said conditions which will also reduce alienation, apathy and absenteeism in the long run. They will become more mature in their places of work after being provided with the opportunity to participate in decisions which will increase their desire for more tasks and thus increase the overall success in an organization.

3. Organizational philosophy

The second philosophy is the organization philosophy that lays its primary focus on how a particular business is organized which also another key determinant of success in any organization. One of the most profound things to consider in this philosophy is the nature in which power is structured between the employees and the top management level.

This organizational philosophy should also focus on how labor is divided within an organization to ensure that all employees are comfortable in their places of work. Every manager should have the ability to know how to subdivide his/her employees so that they can give their best and achieve maximum efficiency as postulated by Borden (2007). This philosophy should aim at providing the organization with a specific clear chain of how tasks and responsibilities should be carried out within the organization.

One of the most commonly used styles of management is the bureaucratic management style that organizes responsibilities in a clear cut manner that will be easily identifiable with every employee in the organization. It is also efficient in the division of responsibilities among managers, so that each division of managers can have its own set of employees who will act as the subordinate to its managers.

This organizational philosophy is one of the most profound philosophies as it sets the tone and way of life in the management. It is an integral philosophy that should be practiced by every manager around the world as it bridges the gap between employees and managers and prevents an autocratic type of leadership that may harm employees and in turn reduce their productivity.

4. Crisis management philosophy

The other philosophy is the crisis management philosophy that should provide the way forward when something goes wrong in an organization. This philosophy should focus on the potential dangers can augur negatively to an organization and it is the managers responsibility to ensure that they plan amicably for such dangers and they should also exhibit great skills and abilities to come up with an amicable solution to any predicaments that may face a company.

This philosophy should begin with a careful analysis of the potential threats that may face a company which will provide a lucid understanding of the matter and in turn, coming up with more viable solutions will be made easier to reduce the negative impact that may be triggered by these problems in the future (Madu, 2006). It provides strategies for averting any crisis and responds swiftly to dangers and in turn ensure that everything in the organization move smoothly. One of the key strengths of this philosophy is the fact that it provides techniques that can be used to evaluate dangers that may potentially harm your organization and enables managers to come up with solutions before the problems become a real danger to the organization.

5. Consumer philosophy

We culminate our philosophies with another profound philosophy that is known as the consumer philosophy that focuses on how customers should relate to employees and managers at large. Some of the most known philosophies in this sector include relationship marketing, mixed marketing and transactional marketing philosophy.

Transactional marketing philosophy would mainly focus on those large items that may seem expensive for most customers to purchase frequently and thus the aim of this philosophy would be to identify these goods and how they can be made available to each and every consumer in the market to necessitate the upward growth of the organization.

Relationship marketing on the other hand focuses on the goods that are less expensive and frequently purchased by customers for instance household items, groceries and clothes. The aim of this philosophy is to ensure that this continues in the company and that the relationship between customers and the store is maintained (Davis, 2010). This would be made possible by considering the employee presentation, cost of purchasing merchandises to ensure that the prices do not escalate to heights where the customers can no longer purchase them.

6. How the five management functions fit into the management philosophies

The five key functions of management are the foundation of any management procedure and management cannot exist without any of these functions. In addition, the philosophies emphasized here cannot also be successful if they are void of the five functions that will be analyzed herein and this part of the study is thus aimed at analyzing how these functions fit into the philosophies depicted in this research.

Management cannot exist without involving all those people who play a part in the organization due to the essence of the decision making process that acts as a backbone in every level of organization that ensures that things and activities move as planned. These five functions include planning, staffing, organizing, directing and controlling.

6.1 Planning

To begin with, the organizational philosophy cannot be made possible without the existence of proper planning. This is because of the fact that a good manager must have an efficient plan on how power will be subdivided or structured between employees and the organization (Madu, 2006). In addition, a manager must also plan how he/she will divide labor within a company to ensure that the organization achieves maximum efficiency.

Crisis management also requires planning since a manager must plan how he/she will respond to the identified dangers and threats. Without proper planning, a manager may fail to achieve his/her goal of averting these dangers or problems in the future. The process of formulating solutions to counter these problems is all planning and it is thus an indispensable component in every management and crisis management philosophy.

6.2 Organizing

Organizing is another imperative function that must fit into the philosophies analyzed in our study. Organizing basically involves sub-dividing functions and activities in an organization in way related to their nature. This is in fact an integral function in organizational philosophy since it requires the delegation of authorities and assigning of duties to each employee or group in an organization. This organizational function thus ensures every manager and employee discharge their duties in a way that will is easily identifiable to ensure that there is a smooth flow in the organization.

6.3 Directing

Directing is also another integral function that aligns well with the motivational philosophy. This is because of the fact that it underscores the three key components that are necessary for motivation to be made possible, this include communication, supervision and leadership. The motivational philosophy largely involves communication and leadership by providing employees with the incentives that will ensure that they are motivated to increase their productivity in the organization.

6.4 Staffing

Staffing is another management function that aligns with the organizational philosophy since it involves the key components of staffing for instance the assessment, evaluation and appointment of managers and employees. The organizational philosophy involves the dissemination of roles within an organization where the key job characteristics are determined something that is necessitated by the function of staffing.

6.5 Controlling

Lastly the function of controlling ensures that there is effective utilization of resources in order to achieve the organizational goals. This function is closely interrelated to the planning function since it involves assessing whether the planned performances are achieved or not (Burger, 2008). It thus aligns with the customer philosophy where it ensures that resources are utilized effectively to avert an unprecedented rise in prices of goods as a result of mismanaged resources that may drive customers away.

7. Conclusion

To culminate this research this study argues therefore, that management philosophies enable a manager to organize a business around various goals and functions that govern a company and provide a way forward for the different aspects of any business and every potential manager ought to formulate feasible philosophies that will spur an organization to greatness.

References

Borden, K. (2007). Myth of relationship marketing. Journal of Consumer Marketing 4, 876-879.

Burger, B. (2008). Cross-cultural management philosophies. Journal of Business Research 7, 28-32.

Davis, H. (2010). Toward a stewardship theory of management. Journal of management studies 8, 643-647.

Madu, C. (2006). Adoption of strategic total quality management philosophies Multi-criteria decision analysis model. Journal of Management 6, 75-80.