Knowledge and Skills for Managers - Essay Example

Business   Why do managers in not-for-profit organizations need management knowledge and skills like their counterparts in the private sector? Managers in a not-for-profit organization need similar management knowledge and skills like their counterparts in the private sector because of the reasons identified in the succeeding paragraphs. First, because in both situations, managers head an organization that needs to exercise problem solving, logical thinking, technical knowledge, effective communication, reasonableness and understanding. Joane Fritz explains in an article entitled “What are the key characteristics of a non-profit organization” published in About.com in 2011, that non-profit organizations and private organizations may differ in their purpose when it comes to income distribution, but in either way, managers in both organizations are directly responsible to their stakeholders. Non-profit organizations are sometimes referred to as “non-stock” corporations and most often registered as a corporation, an individual enterprise, association, partnership or foundations. WEX article, entitled “Non-profit Organizations” published in Legal Information Institute of Cornell University Law School cited churches, public charities, public schools, public clinics and hospitals labor unions, professional associations, research institutes, museums, and some governmental agencies as good examples of a non-profit organization. As compared to private organizations? the non-profit organization belongs to the public as no one person controls the organization. Its assets are assigned to the charitable, educational, literary, scientific or religious purposes of the organizations. Thus, a manager under this set up is guided by the principles of non -profit organization in pursuance of his duties. What makes the non-profit organization distinct from private organizations is their treatment of profit in the operation. Non-profit organization also derives profit from its operations but the profit does not go to the members of the board not even to its founders. In this manner, managers see to it that this policy is followed as he becomes accountable to donors of the organization. As a manner of control, managers are required to render financial accounting report to the Federal State and government as non-profit organizations are entrusted with funds in accomplishing their mission. Working for a non-profit organization takes a lot of sacrifice. Fritz, in the same article previously cited, said the law requires that board of directors should not be compensated except for expenses for travel and for attending board meetings. Salaries of the five highest paid officers of the non-profit organization are also required to be declared, and that includes salaries of the manager. The manager, too, has to do a lot of corporate reporting aside from the Federal State through its annual income tax return. He is also controlled by the State Attorney’s General Office that makes it a point that non- profit organization follows the laws (Fritz, Joane. 2010). The “Basic Business Principles of Management” as explained by Raul Thadani in an article in Buzzle.com remain the same whether one is managing a big corporation, a small one and a non-profit organization. These basic principles do not isolate usage for non-profit organization and same rules and concepts are universally applied in every situation wherein management is deemed necessary. (Thadani, 2010) The managerial task Thadani of Buzzle.com in same article of Basic Management Principles outlined five basic management principles a manager should follow which I have explained below (Thadani 2010). The first step a manager does in a non-profit organization is to set the goals of the company or the activity to be done. Most often, this is expressed in the mission and vision statements established by the company and the realistic targets set by the managers. The duty of the manager here is to convey these goals to the employees so that they will have a clear idea of the work to be done. Next thing that follows is the staffing and recruitment. Manager must know exactly how to recruit the right people for the positions since it is important that skills matches the position in order to have a smooth operation and avoid confusion and delay. We now come to organizing. Once the goals are set and people are hired, the next thing a manager should do is to establish job descriptions and to define responsibilities so that everyone’s job is clear. This will assure the manager that there is no duplication of work. The manager makes a division of labor, delegation of authority and departmentalization. This step is followed by control. By control, it means the manager measures the performance of what is expected (target) and what has been done, and if the manager notices a difference, he institutes measures to correct it. Managers also provides a reward system if the performance is better than target. This is one way of motivating the employees to continue with better performance. The last process is directing. When the manager sees a problem in performance level of employees, it will be his duty to find out the reasons and should work to iron out the problems seen in the employee performance the positive way. As shown above, the task of a manager is not only complex but filled with frequent interaction with people from within and out. It could be observed that a manager’s task is filled with details as well as grand strategies, failures as well as successes, and the demands on his physical, mental and emotional energies are just enormous. I view the manager as a dynamic component of the system, the creator and the implementer. A manager becomes in part a deviser and controller and in part its tool. In this observation, a manager emerges as a person whose capabilities are determined by his knowledge in political and social skills as well as knowledge and skills in management. He assumes an extremely heavy responsibility in the non-profit organization wherein the weight of his decisions is great, and always needing accurate and timely information. As such, Dalton MacFarland, in his presentation of “An overview of executives and Managers” in his book, Management and Principles, finds an executive as a rational analyst, a synthesizer capable to extracting useful information from the vast flow available and of generalizing its significance for basic decision. He sifts, collects, and relates integrating conflicting streams of knowledge. To me, this kind of manager does not differ much from executives of big corporations who tend to have similar organizational behavior because this is what is expected of them. MacFarland contends that the most fundamental responsibility of a manager is the possession of administrative leadership because he learns to think conceptually and analytically in order to identify and solve problems. Thus his administrative skills go beyond management skills and knowledge because he must be personally effective in managing his own affairs and then in relating to the needs of the organization. He must possess the skills in dealing with people and must have the ability to be surrounded with a display of assorted talents. He must learn to balance all the personality traits with ambition, patience, modesty, enjoyment of work and integrity. Above all, MacFarland adds, a manager must be able to know how to benefit from the experiences he encounters in the workplace within the organization and in various others (MacFarland, p. 53-55) Conclusion. As what has been presented, the duties and responsibilities of a manager in the private sector and that of non-profit organization are almost similar with each other. The only difference that matters is the profit treatment wherein in the private sector; profit goes to the incorporators and stockholders, while profit for non-profit organization goes to the organization and to the purpose within which it has been created. Managers are accountable to the public in a non-profit organization while managers in the private sector look after the interests of its owners. Read More