Keys to Management

P.D. emphasized that an organization and its staff must have clear goals. Each individual must understand the goals of the enterprise he works for, and make contribution to them. It is also vital / significant that the individual knows what his manager expects of him.

If the organization uses the MBO approach, it must pay careful attention to planning. This is because each individual has cl

early defined objectives. With MBO, individual and org. obj. are linked.

A special feature of MBO is that the subordinate participates with his manager in developing objectives.

MBO, therefore, focuses on results. The subordinate’s performance is judged in terms of how well or badly he has achieved his goals.

Various kinds of MBO system is used in organizations. The MBO programme consists of several stages:

1. At the first stage subordinate and his manager define the job separately. Both parties then meet and discuss the statements they have made in writing. They also discuss their differences of opinion. In the end, they both have a clear idea of what the job involves.

2. At stage two they examine each task, and sub. performance is evaluated. They try to decide how well or badly it is being performed. They do evaluation separately again, and then meet and discuss their assessment. The manager here will have the chance to praise the sub. for some of his work. On the other hand, both parties may point out areas where there are problems.

3. Developing new objectives comes next. The subordinate and manager try to develop goals which are challenging but realistic. There will be dates by which the subordinate must achieve his goals.

4. The sub. and the manager discuss the objectives and make plans for achieving them. The programme is put into action.

5. Finally, there are periodic reviews of the person’s performance and his progress is checked. It is vital that the manager receives feedback from the sub.

‘+’There are many benefits of MBO. The system helps the subordinates to see clearly his role in the organization and the tasks he must carry out. As the result subordinate feels more responsible, more motivated and more committed to the objectives of the organization. MBO is good technique for assessing an individual’s performance. Sub. is judged on results, rather than on the personal feelings or prejudices of the manager. It leads to better coordination and communication within an enterprise. The sub. must liaise closely with his manager. The manager acts as teacher and guide. Most important of all, MBO makes the individual think of results, of the contribution he is making to the enterprise.

‘-’ The main limitation of the system are that it is time-consuming and may create a lot of paperwork. In practice , MBO programmes are often not fully supported by management, due to the fact that managers are not always skilled at interviewing and giving guidance.

7. The management of time

In any business it is important that managers should be effective. They must be able to achieve their objectives and to get things done. But it is easier said than done –the problem is that there are many pressures on managers, reducing their efficiency. Their work is fragmented and most days they are doing a number of tasks, some fairly trivial, other highly important. Than managers find that they do not have enough time to devote to the really important jobs and sometimes they forget which jobs are important.

Managers also find that other people take up a lot of their time, so he has little time on his own. He must constantly respond to the demands that other make on his time. The higher he goes, the more demands will be made upon his time.

Because of the nature of the manager’s work, it is not easy for manager to be effective. He will have difficulty distinguishing between important and less important tasks. He will often feel that he has too many demands on his precious time and at times will find it quite difficult to turn people away. There will always be someone or something to divert him from what he should really be doing.

Effective manager learn how to manage their time. They cut out unproductive activities and never forget that time cannot be replaced.

The usual / common method for manager to find out how he is actually using his time, is to log the tasks he performs. Manager should not rely on memory when logging time. Manager should note down all the activities and indicate how long they took. The logging of time should be done once or twice a year. It shows how the executive actually spends his time at work, not how he thinks he spends it.

Once the manager has an accurate picture of how he uses time, he can analyze the time log. This will help him to re-think and re-plan his work schedule. He can find out some of the wasteful activities and cut them out.

As a result of his analysis the effective manager will start getting rid of unproductive, time wasting activities. Manager will learn to say ‘No’ more often to people demanding his time. He will also get rid of some activities which can be done just a well by someone else. Knowing how to delegate is an essential skill of a manager. He will, in short, be more discriminating in using time.

Having recorded and analysed time, the manager can now re-shape his schedule: he can set aside certain times for important tasks; create more time so that he can attend to essential activities. He can also earmark certain days of the week for particular activities, management meetings, staff appraisals etc. The manager works out all the jobs he must do and lists the tasks in order of priority. Manager also set deadlines for carrying out the most important functions.

Peter Drucker believes that effective manager work systematically to manage time. He must acquire this ‘habit of mind’, this ability to use time efficiently.

8. Motivation

The work of managers is to ensure that staff work efficiently in an organization. To achieve this, it is clear that managers must know what motivates people. By understanding the factors influencing motivation, they can create the conditions in which employees will perform to their maximum potential.

One of the best known theories of motivation was put forward by an American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist. In his theory, he presents a hierarchy of needs. He identified certain basic human needs and classified them in an ascending order of importance. Basic needs were at the bottom of the hierarchy, higher needs at the top. His classification is shown below:

1. Physiological needs: These were things required to sustain life like food, water, air, sleep etc. Until these needs are satisfied, Maslow believed, other needs will not motivate people.

2. Security needs: They are the needs to be free from danger, physical pain and loss of a job. They include the need for clothing and shelter.

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