Entrepreneur, Manager and Owner - Assignment Example

Explain the difference between an entrepreneur, a manager and an owner? The terms entrepreneur, manager and owner are very much in meaning yet exhibit different representations of business people who are present at the top management. To start with we will define each one of these and then establish comparisons amongst all three as we describe them along. Entrepreneur is a person who sets up a new organization or enterprise and accounts for accountability on his part of the risks that could come onto his shoulders for one reason or the other. When the discussion is of the for-profit organizations, the entrepreneur term replaces itself with founder. This person is responsible for establishing a new entity or unit so that the establishment could provide an existing product or service into the form of a single new market, which could have a profit or non-profit result. The entrepreneurs have strong insights as regards to the opportunities that exist within the market and the threats that come as a result of the very same. The risks that could arise in the wake of these include personal, financial or professional ones so that opportunity could be grabbed with both hands. (Martin, Routledge, 1997) "The entrepreneur is essentially a visualizer and an actualizer... He can visualize something, and when he visualizes it he sees exactly how to make it happen." (Robert L. Schwartz, http://www.quoteland.com/author.asp?AUTHOR_ID=632) In societies found within United Kingdom, the business entrepreneurs are regarded as the pivotal components of a social order. (Covin, 1999) Entrepreneur manages and runs an organization and manages the different undertakings of the enterprise. This enterprise could be a business which is normally associated with peculiar initiatives and foreseeable risks. An entrepreneur is also an employer of productive work or in other words of labor. He is also the contractor who deals with or initiates the process of entrepreneurship. The entrepreneur is the person who is responsible for running the system which is in place in a normal process. He is the one who organizes the whole process. Entrepreneur creates or sells a product and/or service so that he could earn a considerable profit/benefit. The entrepreneur is the risk bearer and an organizer within the business enterprise. More than anything else, an entrepreneur is a leader by sheer definition. An entrepreneur wants to achieve high since his ambitions are always at the top. He is a person who believes in dedication and hard work. These people like to work for their own selves rather than working for some other business. They believe in quality of work and take acceptance for responsibility which is a hallmark of a true leader. These entrepreneurs believe in a positive approach and give rewards whenever they deem fit. Their thinking is more on the lines of providing excellence towards work and they are good organizers as far as work ethics are concerned. They want to make a profit and this profit helps them to accomplish more and more in their passage towards success and achievements. Some of the well known entrepreneurs have included names like Ben Cohen of the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, Elisha Otis related with elevators, Ted Turner with the media field, Sam Walton concerned with the departmental stores and lastly Alan Sugar with the science of computers. (Watkins, Routledge, 1998) On the other hand managers are in a position where they can help their employees with their family responsibilities. Whether the personal affairs of an employee’s family is the government’s job or not is a debatable issue however we are noticing a responsive attitude on the part of the Manager. In human resource management related workplaces, Manager’s specifically cater to the needs of their employees. The role of a Manager is a difficult one. This person has to take with him the whole company and mesh the different processes so that he could get instant results. He is a team leader right from the onset of his job. He needs to get work done from the different people who are working under him. The end result has to be a single goal, one that drives their efforts towards the financial success of the said organization. In doing so, the manager encounters a lot of hindrances, difficulties and hurdles. He has to face a lot of pressure from the top most management, the people who are senior to him even. He has to be accountable to the publics of the organization, which could include the customers and the stakeholders as well since the latter are the people who have invested within the company’s shares and they want a quick buck out of the whole investment drive. "There is an enormous number of managers who have retired on the job." (Peter Drucker, http://www.quoteland.com/author.asp?AUTHOR_ID=379) We need to define further how a job of a manager is made even more troublesome and how he copes up with the very same. With that, we will also touch subjects that bring attraction to the post of a manager in the first place. (Author Unknown, 2005) These could include his leadership traits, his team building tactics, getting the work done out of individuals who might have pretty different backgrounds and diverse educational capabilities, smoothening of the whole process of business management within several units spread across the company’s horizon, motivating the employees and being accountable for their tasks and activities, living up to the values of the organization and doing all that could be done in the honor of the very same and lastly, the manner in which he copes with the external factors which could come out of the blue and haunt the manager like anything. (Author Unknown, 2005) To start with, team building is one of the most significant aspects that come under the functions of a manager and he needs to make sure that he is the leader for all the activities and tasks that are happening under his vigilant eyes. Team building is all the more important because the manager needs to take decisions in line with the knowledge that his team can deliver under crunch situations and also because he has to take the company forward all this while. (Birley, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice Vol. 26, 2001) Thus it is imperative on his part to understand that the strengths and weaknesses of the team members are equally crucial and his requirement takes more ground in this whole equation when a difficult situation crops up. Thus a good team is only built when the leader knows his team members pretty well and turns the weaknesses of different individuals within the team into their strengths and not only that but also in the strength of the team overall. A manager can only be termed an effective one when he understands his resources and what his team members can possibly do to their maximum in those available resources. Only then there is a sense of empathy and understanding amongst the team members and consideration towards the leader of the team which in this case is the manager himself. Thus, a good team is developed when there is complete harmony in the activities of the team members and there is basically a synergy amongst all of them. This synergy can only be encouraged by the team leader, which in this case is through an effective and considerate manager. An owner is a person who has exclusive possession and control of some kind of business and property. Ownership is the fundamental ingredient of the capitalist society and it helps develop the economic basis of the capitalist socio-economic system in place. Ownership gives rise to other concepts which are part of the old age as well as modern day societies that include money, the trade linkages, the debt procedures and bankruptcy to state a few. Ownership could be in the form of a personal business or an ownership that is controlled by corporations and legal entities. The communal ownership is another kind that comes under the heading of ownership. (Rosa, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice Vol. 18, 1994) "If a man has the right to self-ownership, to the control of his life, then in the real world he must also have the right to sustain his life by grappling with and transforming resources; he must be able to own the ground and the resources on which he stands and which he must use. In short, to sustain his "human right" — or his property rights in his own person—he must also have the property right in the material world, in the objects which he produces." (Murray N. Rothbard, http://www.quoteland.com/author.asp?AUTHOR_ID=1946) Being labeled as an owner is a social stigma, more so in the West where the same is attached with social injustice and immoral etiquettes. Also being called as an owner of some business or corporation asks for the person to be termed as a tyrannical ruler who is ruling the lives of the employees and workers working under him. (Logue, 2001) Oppression and ownership thus end up being each other’s synonyms. On the other hand, being called as an owner of an enterprise would be looked upon at in a very esteemed and reputable manner within a third world nation. There are differences in the cultural mechanisms so as to speak. (Ram, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 29, 2003) BIBLIOGRAPHY Author Unknown. (2005). BUSINESS OPTIONS; When Is a Manager a Manager? Manila Bulletin 7 July Author Unknown. (2005). Hilton’s Manager is the Best in UK. Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales) 17 November BIRLEY, Sue. (2001). Owner-Manager Attitudes to Family and Business Issues: A 16 Country Study. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice Vol. 26 COVIN, Jeffrey G. (1999). Corporate Entrepreneurship and the Pursuit of Competitive Advantage. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice Vol. 23 LOGUE, John. (2001). The Real World of Employee Ownership. Cornell University Press Martin, Stephen. (1997). The Impact of Privatization: Ownership and Corporate Performance in the UK. Routledge Ram, Monder. (2003). South Asian Businesses in Retreat? the Case of the UK. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 29 ROSA, Peter. (1994). Gender and Ownership in UK Small Firms. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice Vol. 18 Watkins, Jeff. (1998). Information Technology, Organisations, and People: Transformations in the UK Retail Financial Services Sector. Routledge Word Count: 1,552 Read More