A Human Resources Perspective - Essay Example

What Makes a Good Manager? – A Human Resources Perspective A strategic plan is necessary for a company to succeed because, without it, the business is likely to meander from decision to decision without any sense of priorities or goals as to where it is going. Good management involves having a good strategic plan. An analogy would be that a company without a strategic plan is like an explorer without a map: the explorer may get somewhere interesting, but it will be an accident. With a map the likelihood of finding his way, and perhaps of discovering new places of interest increases. Similarly, a company without a strategic plan may become accidentally successful, but it much more likely to achieve success, and to maintain its profitability, if it has a plan in place. A company with a strategic plan will know how it has got to current success and thus may be able to continue on this path in the future. This essay will consider aspects of good management and planning through the consideration of one of the most successful companies of recent years: McDonald’s Corporation. A company such as McDonalds, involved in planning first needs to be aware of what exactly is happening at the given moment within the business, and then needs to be able to extrapolate possible outcomes based upon that awareness. The first premise of planning is having as much knowledge as possible. The type of planning which is now occurring has changed radically from that envisioned in the traditional business model. As John Byrne puts it, “gone are the abstraction, sterility, and top-down arrogance of the old model.” (Byrne, 1) Now managers in the most successful corporations (such as McDonalds) are part of a system in which “today’s gurus of strategy urge companies to democratize the process”, and they do this “by handing strategic planning over to teams of line and staff managers from different disciplines.” (Byrne, 1) Often young, junior managers who are noted for their creative thinking are teamed with near-retirement, senior managers who essentially have nothing to lose and so can tell it like it is. So from the most junior to the most senior manager there is a role, both for planning within their own specific area of the business, but also for constant consideration of how that may effect longer-term and more far-reaching plans. Planning is perhaps the central role of all managers, because all the other functions flow from it and must always consider their relationship to it. A business without a plan has no future, and so all the other functions will be redundant. Organization within a business is essential to the process of planning: in one sense it is one of the tools that may be used to realize a plan. Organization is divided into two basic areas: control/co-ordination of tasks, and the management of information flow within the company. Management of tasks and deciding what information needs to be collated and to whom it should go is essential for business growth, particularly for the vital task of leadership development. A case-study approach as to how McDonalds has been successful in the last decade within a difficult environment will suit management planning best. It has recently been attacked both by rivals and by consumer organizations as deliberately serving unhealthy food to its customers, getting children hooked on junk food and generally being a bad corporate citizen. As one recent book suggested of the company, “it bombards them with adverts, seduces them with merchandise and then fills them with additives” (Schlosser, 2006) In order to counter such claims McDonalds has very aggressively pursed a marketing campaign and also been sure to choose the right employees for the right positions. Human resource management is a key tool for a company that is massive, very visible and yet also increasingly criticized. The staff that are within each McDonalds, as well as employees higher up the hierarchy, are essential in the attempt to counter the claims made against McDonalds, which have become more vitriolic with each passing year. As McDonald’s shows, planning is perhaps the central role of all managers, because all the other functions flow from it and must always consider their relationship to it. A business without a plan has no future, and so all the other functions will be redundant. Organization within a business is essential to planning: in one sense it is one of the tools that may be used to realize a plan. Organization is divided into two basic areas: control/co-ordination of tasks, and the management of information flow within the company. Management of tasks and deciding what information needs to be collated and to whom it should go is essential for business growth, particularly for the vital task of leadership development. Organization involves investing in “human capital, the most important asset inside of organizations today.” (Carter, 2005) Managers, especially at the highest level, must organize the tasks of their employees so they meet with current expectations of productivity and contribute to the goals of the overall planning that is constantly occurring. Tasks must be clearly defined, and yet managers must also allow for individual talent and creativity (which be necessity may create new “tasks” previously not considered) to come to the fore. One of the most important facets of influencing is managing the delicate balance between giving employees specific, clearly defined tasks and enabling them to use their own imaginations. MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) report that they were much more likely to become enthusiastic about their work if they felt they were part of an organization that actively sought out learning opportunities. (Carter, 2005) Such an organization is always ready to change when the opportunity arises: it is not stuck in a paradigm paralysis in which change is virtually impossible (Schlosser, 2006). All of these management functions revolve around the concept of planning. While at times a somewhat ambiguous concept to define, as a Supreme Court Justice once said of a very different subject, one may not be able to define leadership, but one knows it when one sees it. The manager must be seen to plan and thus to lead, that is perhaps the most important characteristic to display. One aspect of management planning that is too often neglected is the idea that a manager should both require ethical behavior among his employees as well as mirroring such behavior himself. With the numerous corporate scandals at the highest levels of many corporations in the last few years a key component in modern management has become ethical business practices. Beyond the strictures of new laws such as Sarbanes-Oxley, managers need to stress that employees should act ethically even when the act being considered is not strictly against the law. Unethical should not necessarily imply just the illegal. Managers need to plan for training programs and an ongoing attempt to inculcate a culture of honesty within their company at all levels. For example, when the highest echelons of McDonald’s claimed that they agreed with the implications of the documentary Supersize Me, in which a man nearly killed himself by eating just McDonald’s food for several months they stretched credulity. Once management is seen to be dishonest in one matter it may be assumed (whether correctly or not) that it is being dishonest in all matters. The selling of the idea that McDonald’s offers a healthy diet may perhaps be considered an impossible task, but the attempt to change the menu to make it more healthy is not. Thus a degree of vision is required within management that is able to see what is possible and what it is impossible. The ideal business environment does not exist, so there is a constant need to compromise between various choices, none of which are the ideal. Along with vision goes a practical ability to react to day-to-day changes within the market. This might be regarded as a tactical skill while the long-term, overall vision is the strategic skill. No company can have one without the other as they are both interdependent upon one another. Indeed, they act in a kind of dynamic equilibrium with one another. Strategy is fed by what is possible tactically and tactics are informed by that the overall strategy will be. Good management involves an overarching skill to balance both these kinds of activity; to be able to plan in the short term and the long term. According to Certo and Certo1 (p.8) there are four basic functions for management. These are planning, organizing, influencing and controlling. These four activities have been defined by Erven (1994) in the following manner. Planning is concerned with the future impact of today’s decisions. Organizing is the focus on division, co-ordination and control of tasks within the organization as well as the flow of information within it. Leadership is the way of influencing and directing people’s behavior through motivation, communication, group dynamics, leadership and discipline. Controlling is a four step process of establishing performance standards based on the firm’s objectives. It involves measuring and reporting actual performance. Decisions will need to be made as to how the merger between the two companies can best be implemented. It is this decision making that raises leadership to the most important level. Without leadership, choices necessitated by the other three components cannot be made. For example, long-term planning (as especially vis-à-vis downsizing of the workforce) may conflict with short-term objectives regarding group dynamics and the overall morale of employees. Managers must not only weigh and prioritize the activities of their employees, but also their own functions within the business. Recognizing which activity should have precedence over another is a vital part of management. A manager involved in planning first needs to be aware of what exactly is happening at the given moment within the business, and then needs to be able to extrapolate possible outcomes based upon that awareness. The first premise of planning is having as much knowledge as possible. The type of planning which is now occurring has changed radically from that envisioned in the traditional business model. As John Byrne puts it, “gone are the abstraction, sterility, and top-down arrogance of the old model.” (Byrne, 1) Now managers in the most successful corporations are part of a system in which “today’s gurus of strategy urge companies to democratize the process”, and they do this “by handing strategic planning over to teams of line and staff managers from different disciplines.” (Byrne, 1) Often young, junior managers who are noted for their creative thinking are teamed with near-retirement, senior managers who essentially have nothing to lose and so can tell it like it is. So from the most junior to the most senior manager there is a role, both for planning within their own specific area of the business, but also for constant consideration of how that may effect longer-term and more far-reaching plans. Planning is perhaps the central role of all managers, because all the other functions flow from it and must always consider their relationship to it. A business without a plan has no future, and so all the other functions will be redundant. Organization within a business is essential to planning: in one sense it is one of the tools that may be used to realize a plan. Organization is divided into two basic areas: control/co-ordination of tasks, and the management of information flow within the company. Management of tasks and deciding what information needs to be collated and to whom it should go is essential for business growth, particularly for the vital task of leadership development. To conclude, the planning function within management is multifaceted and involves the perfection of several different management functions simultaneously. Human resources must be sure that managers are aware of their obligations in this manner and also ensure that the correct personnel are placed within the correct roles in order for leadership to occur. The manager must be seen to be planning, and thus to be in control of the situation, at all times. This is the most basic requirement for any manager. _____________________________________________ Works Cited Byrne, John. “Strategic Planning Back in Business Thought”. www.htstrategy.com/articles Carter, Louis et al. Best Practices in Leadership Development and Organization Change: How the Best Companies Ensure Meaningful Change and Sustainable Leadership. Wiley, San Francisco: 2005. Miller, Brian. Keeping Employees Accountable for Results. Amacom Books, New York: 2005. Schlosser, Eric. Chew on This. Puffin, London: 2006. www.businessplans.org Read More