Role of Managers in the Last Five Years - Essay Example

Role of Managers in the Last Five Years The nature of management is defined as the effective and efficient process of achieving organizational goal. The major functions of management are planning, organizing, leading and controlling. (Daft & Marcic 2008, p. 184) In association to the definition, managers have the traditional roles as planners, organizers, leaders and controllers. However, the role of managers change as the environment they work in changes. The Internet age and the explosion of knowledge workers have created an environment that is highly connected, very competitive, and meticulously flatter. Advances in technology, especially in the sector of information and communication, force organizations to re-think their core competencies and re-evaluate their strategic goals and objectives. Technology has become the driving cause in organizational change and development. In order to preserve an organization's existence or to sustain its profitable growth, management must adopt and react to the changing world. Managerial roles evolved from traditional specific functions to a more cross-functional role and having cross-business knowledge with higher expectations from stakeholders and better performance in the organization. Today's information age organizations operate in an integrated and complex business processes that goes beyond traditional functions like manufacturing, purchasing, distribution and marketing (Kaplan & Norton 2001, Chapter 1). Technology has combined the specialization benefits from these functional skills with the speed, efficiency and quality of an integrated business processes. Andrew S. Grove, CEO of Intel, attributes much of his success to a terminology he called strategic inflection points. These are moments when massive change occurs in the company, the industrial environment they compete in, and the market they played at. Strategic inflection points are results of different factors, may it be, mega-competition, entry of a better substitute, or a change in technology. (Grove 1996, p. 126) There exist unrelenting pressures to managers these days. These managerial pressures may include compelling needs of organizations to become leaner, to be good citizens, and to grow profits at double-digit rates. Managers become navigators through these pressures and strategic inflection points that threaten their organization and turn them into positive forces to win in the marketplace and emerge stronger than ever. They stop being passive spectators and hesitant observers. As the organization changes to adopt to the forces of the market, the managerial role changes in order to adopt to the demands of the organization. The demand for change and innovation is enormous. Fiercer competition arises from traditional companies and brand new entrants while the boundaries of markets and industries are increasingly colliding. The demanding environment has created a shortage of skilled employees and knowledge workers. The changes also strain the relationships between employers and employees. People work at an organization as long as it is beneficial to them where there are still a lot of milk in the cow, so to speak. Once it no longer gave them the advantage, they move on to greener pastures, to fatter cows, to other companies. The traditional autocratic managers have become extinct. Managers nowadays value the importance of individual employees and are accountable in attracting and keeping good people.(Chopra 1999, p. 40) With these shortage of good workers, the managers are enormously pressured to challenge their team to continuously improve and to stay on top of the competitive game. Effective managers go beyond managing change, they become champions of change, innovation and continuous improvement in the organization. The organization's survival and success depends on how management responds to change with the right value equation by coming up with original, creative and innovative solutions while being resourceful through taking what is available and making it better. (Gebelein et al, 2000, p. 24) Motorola's success story with its implementation of Six Sigma programs illustrates how managers champion change and innovation. When the U.S. electronics industry experience fierce competition with international manufacturers, managers at Motorola changed the company's culture and work practices in order to survive. They painstakingly conducted benchmarking studies, analyzed problems, and reviewed customer feedback. They realized that customers expected better products. They discovered that problems that recur with the use of their finish products were propagated from internally observed problems. Six Sigma principles offered a measure of goodness and a methodology of improving performance. It was a new paradigm that required passionate commitment from managers to set high standards and expectations. Without their knowledge, they had created a trend-setting practice in manufacturing in the communications industry. Six Sigma was the result of championing change and innovation in the company. Today, Motorola creates a business atmosphere where managers are accountable for improvement. Every month, the top 25 managers gather together for a forum. One manager is designated as the main speaker and presents the best idea to improve quality in his or her area of responsibility. In this meeting, the manager becomes a teacher who shares his or her idea to colleagues and counterparts. (Gupta 2004, p. xviii-xix) Senior managers know that in order for any organization to survive, they must prepare for anything that would affect the existence and performance of the organization. They believe in the importance of an effective strategy. They know that strategy is not a stand-still statement. It is not stagnant. Strategic planning is an emergent and continuous process that focuses on competitive advantage, competitive differentiation, sustainable advantage, and barriers to entry. Managers learns to create strategic advantage and understand the critical success factors of their organization and their competitors. They learn to identify current and future customers while defining strategies that capitalizes on strengths and market opportunities. Managers become learners instead of being know-it-alls. (Gebelein et al, 2000, p. 4) Nokia is one of the mobile phone companies with global presence. It has created a competitive advantage of entering emerging markets and niche segments. According to one of the members of its top management, Nokia aims to make strategy a daily part of a manager's activities.(Hindle 2003, p. 211) The traditional role of middle managers especially in the industrial organizations has drastically changed. Middle managers were primarily concern on the day-to-day operations of the organization and management of resources especially on technology and human resource. The main focus of these managers were on the operational and tactical functions of the company while creating their own strategies to cope up with expectations from top management. Recently, the roles they played on the company have evolved to one that is increasingly involved in the participation of strategic management planning and processes. Creating strategic and competitive advantage used to be the core competence of executives and reserved for the top management. Now, this perspective has changed. Operating from a strategic perspective has also become an essential skill for most middle managers. As most companies become globally competitive with world-wide presence, managers learn to think globally while acting locally. They become global persons. (Gebelein et al, 2000, p. 72) Globalization in an organization is defined as an occurence when an organization increases its business and widens its activities to other parts of the world. The company has an active role and participation in other market in different countries. The nature of globalization requires new organizational structures. Different forms of communications between managers of international teams are essential and it emphasizes the need of managers to recognize different cultures. (McShane 2001, p. 7) Nestle is a holding company that consists of more than 200 companies world-wide. It operates in a policy of decentralization and distribution of activities. Managers at Nestle are trained in the global business strategies. These global managers rotate around the world to experience different cultures and various assignments. Nestle relies on these managers to knit its diverse worldwide operations together and prevent conflicts of the corporate strategy. (Inkpen & Ramaswamy 2006, p. 164) In the past, managers could simply demand performance. This is no longer the case in a complex workforce. The existence of an organizational structure described as matrix structure caused by sophisticated technology and stiff competition has prompted managers to quickly respond and adopt their styles in decision-making to the situation at hand. The matrix structure is a work environment where one must work with a multitude of people to do one's job and report to different persons to provide different views of information analysis. (Daft 2008, Chapter 15) Influencing people on different levels in the organization has become a critical skill. Managers who influence effectively create a win/win situation, are proactive and are very skilled at soliciting support for their ideas. The 21st century business environment and industries demand sophisticated skills from managers in order to gain other people's trust and belief in the endorsement of the managers initiatives and action plans. Managers have become negotiators instead of being controllers. (Gebelein et al, 2000, p. 332) Managers are faced with a multitude of issues and challenges each day where some may be simple and straightforward, yet others may be complex and require systematic and dedicated analysis. Managers improve their analytical skills using different tools and benchmark on industry's best practices in diagnosing the root cause, gathering and integrating critical information for analysis and detecting flaws in reasoning. In today's fast-paced environment, managerial roles have become very active and fully equipped to address pressing issues and concerns. They become jugglers who deals with increasing workload and manages various day-to-day demands while balancing their planning efforts for the success of their organizations and become masters of time management. (Gebelein et al, 2000, p. 586) Hand-in-hand, as managers evolve, the teams they are leading also evolve. The evolution of high performance teams was a result of the internal pressures of an organization to grow and the motivation of managers to cope up with a very demanding work environment.(Hanlan 2004, p. 10), This means that companies can solve problems and achieve their goals through a collective intelligence and mental capacity with a dedicated focus than that of any single manager. The emergence of high performance teams in a company creates a flatter organizational structure with lesser middle managers in the hierarchy. Managers of these teams are called coaches or mentors that guide the teams to perform well with less supervision and more autonomy in terms of decision-making. (Gebelein et al, 2000, p. 371) In conclusion, the needs of an effective manager today is very different from the past. Today, managerial roles include the capacity to lead complex organizations with global economies of scope and scale. They are required to demonstrate visionary thinking as well as the ability to navigate, execute and improve. They must have the capacity and capability to understand the business environment as a whole. And most importantly, managers must build influential relationships with customers, stakeholders and the community. Breeding these multifaceted roles and capabilities, an emerging manager must possess dedicated focus, passion and commitment. (Fleming 2007, p. 278-280) Furthermore, it is the natural function of managers to make people add value to the organization. Effective managers not just produce growth and create profit in a successful organization but must also establish an environment for its employees to be fulfilled and satisfied. People are important assets in an organization. It should not be treated as a liability or cost-driver. It remains the role of managers to lead its people. References Chopra, A 1999, Managing the People Side of Innovation: 8 Rules for Engaging Minds and Hearts, Kumerian Press, Inc, West Hartford, CT. Daft, R & Marcic, D, Management: The New Workplace. 6th ed. Cengage Learning, Australia 2008. Fleming, J & Asplund J 2007, Human Sigma, Gallup Press, New York. Gebelein, S, Stevens, L, Skube, C, Lee, D, Davis, B, Hellervik, L 2000, Successful Manager's Handbook, 6th ed. Personnel Decisions International, Minnesota. Grove, A 1996, Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points that Challenge Every Company and Career, Currency Doubleday, New York. Gupta, P 2004, Six Sigma Business Scorecard: Ensuring Performance for Profit, McGraw-Hill, New York. Hanlan, M 2004. High Performance Teams: How to Make them Work. Praeger Press, Westport, CT. Hindle, T 2003, Guide to Management Ideas, The Economist, London. Inkpen A & Ramaswamy K 2006, Global Strategy: Creating and Sustaining Advantage Across Borders, Oxford University Press US, New York. Kaplan R & Norton D, 2001, The Strategy-Focused Organization . Harvard Business School Press, Boston. McShane, S 2001, Organizational Behavior. McGraw-Hill, New York. Read More