Happy New Year 2014

 

As we say goodbye to 2013 and welcome 2014...let us not forget to take the time to reflect upon ourselves and make the necessary changes to face the challenges of 2014. Think positive, stay positive!

MANAGEMENT AND MEASURING MANAGERIAL PERFORMANCE

What is Management and how do we measure Managerial Performance? This is one of the favorite question in tests and final exams.

There are many definitions discussed by scholars and experts in the field of management. The most famous is the definition coined by Mary Parker Follet, a lecturer and management theory writer from UK. She defined management as the "art of getting things done through other people".  From her definition, we can conclude to say that management is convincing people to towards achieving goals and objectives set by the organization. Another broader definition of management is mentioned by Stoner, Freeman and Gilbert (1995) stating that management is “the process of planning, organizing, leading and controlling the efforts of organization members using all other organizational resources to achieve stated organizational goals”. Organizational resources refer to land, labor, capital, technology, raw materials and process. Goodman and Fandt (2004) described management as “the process of administering and coordination resources effectively, efficiently, and in an effort to achieve organizational goals”. Based in the above definitions, the key words most commonly use here is influencing people, utilizing resources and achieving organizational goals.

 

A manager’s performance can be measured by looking at two criteria i.e., effectiveness and efficiency.  Effectiveness is achieved when the organization pursues the appropriate goals while efficiency is achieved by using the fewest inputs to generate a given output in other words minimizing cost of resources needed to achieve goals. Effectiveness can be seen as “Doing the right things” while efficiency can be said as “Doing things right”.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Its all about attitude. Well-said Captain Jack Sparrow!

QUOTE OF THE DAY

IMPORTANCE OF MANAGEMENT

Before we can understand why management is important to organization, we first need to understand what an organization is and why it exists? Look around you. What are the things you see, use, eat, wear? Who produces them or provides services for them?

Organization can be defined as a group of people working together to achieve organizational goals. Organization can be profit-oriented or non-profit oriented. Samsung, Apple, PETRONAS, Shell, Secret Recipe, McDonald’s are some examples of organizations that exists for the purpose of generation profit from products and services. A non-profit organization is a corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Examples of non-profit organizations are public schools, hospitals, churches, etc. No matter what kind of organization it is, it is made up of people and the efforts of these people must be coordinated properly if the organization is to accomplish its goal.

Management is important to organization because the existence and success of any organization depends on the kind of management it has.  Management is important for the achievement of organizational goals, the efficient utilization of resources, for the prosperity of society, for changes and development, and for the establishment of balance.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

QUOTE OF THE DAY

GETTING TO KNOW GENERATION Y

General Information:

- Generation Y are also known as Millennials
- They were born between 1980 to 2000
- Due to their proficiency with technology, they are also known as digital natives
- They are generally confident and embrace cultural diversity

Work-Related Information:

- Only one-third of Millennials say that their current job is their career
- Almost 60% of employed Millennials say they have switched careers at least once
- Millennials seek challenges, yet work life balance is of utmost importance to them

Differences of characteristics between generations:

 

Sources:
The Star newspaper dated February 2, 2013
http://mil1991.blogspot.com/

DECISION MAKING: AN IMPORTANT ROLE FOR MANAGERS

Managers play many roles in the organization that they work in depending on the situation. They may have to appear at community functions as representative of their organization, find and provide relevant information to appropriate members of their group, communicate with individuals outside their organization, cope with conflicts and resolve problems, determines how to allocate resources, negotiate for resources, and the lists goes on and on.

In all the roles that they play, it is almost certain that managers have to make decisions to choose the most suitable alternatives for their organization. The decision they make can have a critical impact on the organization. Making the wrong decision could have negative effects on the organization such as loss of profit, reputation and precious time.

There are several conditions in decision making which is decisions under risk condition, uncertainty, ambiguous and certainty. The following article from citeman.com discusses at length the conditions of decision making. Happy reading!!!

Decisions

by Sree Rama Rao on November 9, 2011

Decisions taken are with certainty, risk, uncertainty and ambiguity.

One primary difference between programmed and non-programmed decisions relates to the degree of certainty or uncertainty that managers deal with in making the decision. In a perfect world, managers would have all the information necessary for making decisions. In reality, however some decisions will fail to solve the problem or attain the desired outcome. Managers try to obtain information about decision alternatives that will reduce decision uncertainty. Every decision situation can be organized on a scale according to the availability of information and the possibility of failure. The four positions are certainty risk, uncertainty and ambiguity. Whereas programmed decisions can be made in situations involving certainty many situations that managers deal with every day involve at least some degree of uncertainty and require non-programmed decision making.

Certainty means that all the information the decision maker needs is fully available. Managers have information on operating conditions, resource costs or constraints, and each course of action and possible outcome. For example, if a company considers a Rs 1,000,000 investment in new equipment that it knows for certain will yield Rs 4,000 in cost savings per year over the next five years, managers can calculate a before tax rate of return of about 40 per cent. However, few decisions are certain in the real world. Most contain risk or uncertainty.

Risk means that a decision has clear cut goals and that good information is available but the future outcomes associated with each alternative are subject to chance. However, enough information is available to allow the probability of a successful outcome for each alternative to be estimated. Statistical analysis might be used to calculate the probabilities of success or failure. The measure of risk captures the possibility that future events will tender the alternative unsuccessful. For example, to make restaurant location decisions, a restaurant chain can analyse potential customer demographics, traffic patterns, supply logistics, and the local competition and come up with reasonably good forecasts of how successful a restaurant will be in each possible location. General Electric Aircraft Engines (GEAE) took a risk on the development of regional jet engines, the engines that power smaller planes with seating for up to 100 and ranges of up to 1,500 miles. Based on trends in the environment GEAE’s managers predicted that use of regional jets would grow, so they invested more than $1 billion in new engine technology at a time when no one else was paying attention to the regional jet market. The decision paid off as full service carriers have declined and smaller regional and low fare airlines have grown. GEAC finds itself in an enviable position, with a virtual lock on one of the few growing market segments in commercial aviation.

Uncertainty means that managers know which goals they wish to achieve, but information about alternatives and future events is incomplete. Managers do not have enough information to be clear about alternatives or to estimate their risk. Factors that may affect a decision, such as price, production costs, volume or future interest rates are difficult to analyse and predict. Managers may have to make assumptions from which to forge the decision even though it will be wrong if the assumptions are incorrect. Managers may have to come up with creative approaches to alternatives and use personal judgement to determine which alternative is best.

Many decisions made under uncertainty do not produce the desired results, but managers face uncertainty every day. They find creative ways to cope with uncertainty in order to make more effective decisions.

Ambiguity is by far the most difficult decision situation. Ambiguity means that the goals to be achieved or the problem to be solved is unclear, alternatives are difficult to define, and information about outcomes is unavailable. Ambiguity is what students would feel if an instructor created student groups, told each group to complete a project but gave the groups no topic, direction, or guidelines whatsoever. Ambiguity has been called a wicked decision problem. Managers have a difficult time coming to grips with the issues. Wicked problems are associated with manager conflicts over goals and decision alternatives rapidly, changing circumstances, fuzzy information and unclear linkages among decision elements. Sometimes managers will come up with a solution only to realize that they hadn’t clearly defined the real problem to begin with. Information was fuzzy and fast changing and managers were in conflict over how to handle the problem. Neither side has dealt with this decision situation very effectively, and the reputations of both companies have suffered as a result. Fortunately, most decisions are not characterized by ambiguity. But when they are, managers must conjure up goals and develop reasonable scenarios for decision alternatives in the absence of information.

more at http://www.citeman.com/17219-decisions.html#ixzz2FSzKJ5u0

WHY STUDY MANAGEMENT?

Many students wonder why they need to study management especially if they are not business students.  There are many reasons why students, irrespective of their field of study, need to understand the concepts of management. One of them is of course if you inspire to be a manager in your future career. But that’s not all. Even if you are a chef, a tour operator, a doctor, an engineer or an artist, or even an entrepreneur, you career will involve working in organizations. Organizations are very complex systems. Why they exist, how they exist, what are the activities surrounding them, how the people interact with each other and why every organization is different are interesting concepts of study. Therefore, understanding the concepts of management will be an added advantage and you will be more prepared to enter the organization after you graduate.
 

In studying management, you will be exposed to many models and theories concerning people’s behavior, leadership, and communication. Having skills and knowledge on these models and theories will help you to deal with people in a professional manner. Furthermore, it will give you more confidence to direct teams successfully.

Finally, management is needed in all types and sizes in organization and having an understanding in the concepts of management will greatly assist you in your future career.

                                                                                                                                                                             

WHY DO WE NEED A LEADER?

Moral of the Story: Every organization needs a leader. Without a leader, the employees have no one to provide them instruction, guidance and support. The organization will be disorganized and dysfunctional. The success of an organization depends on how the leader leads the group. Example of successful organizations includes APPLE, MICROSOFT, SAMSUNG to name a few.