Course Work for Business Administration St. Law University

8/6/2019 Course Work for Business Administration St. Law University

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ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

COURSE UNIT: BUSINESS

ADMINISTRATION

COURSE WORK: ONE.

NAME: TAVIAN RODNEY TAMALE

REG NO: BABA/07/D/004

LECTURER: DR.J.B BIRETWA

SEMESTER ONE

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Content

1. Management theorists and practitioners have beenattempting to define the term management for so

many years. This therefore resulted into what is

known as Evolution of management.

(a) Clearly illustrate the meaning of management.

(b) All organization do exist because they are formed

to achieve given purposes commonly known as

organizational goals. So what do managers do in an

organization?

(c) You have been appointed to a managerial

position and your first task is to analyze and adviceon how task should be performed, what managerial

skills do you need to enable you do that task?

6. Discuss in detail the various functions of

management.

3. Write notes on five of the following:

• Mission

• Strategy

• Project

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• Leadership

• Management Change.

1. Introduction

(a) Ever since man started living in organized groups, the need for

management was felt. It was management that enabled these groups to live

in an orderly manner and arrange for the basic fulfillment of their needs.

Without management, only “hit and trial” method would have helped man

sustains his life.

As mankind grew into civilization from mere groups, the touch of

management continued to be felt. The ancient civilizations of Harappa,

Mohanjodaro and Mesopotamia depicted the presence of management in

their functioning.

As the societies grew further, management started being practiced in all

business and non-business organizations like Government, Churches,

Temples and Hospitals etc. With the advent of Industrial

Revolution in 18th century, a new era of Industrialization came into existence.

The use of both the machines and the labor force increased. Therefore theneed for integrating the two arose and thus, the need for more

comprehensive management was increasingly felt. With the further

advancement in the arena of business, the business units became so large in

size that all their financial requirements could not be met with through the

owners themselves. Thus, the cooperate units started rising money from

outside sources (through issues of shares debentures). Since the ownership

became so diversified that it was not possible for the owner to manage the

business, there arose the need for appointing managers to look after the

affairs of the companies. There was thus, the separation of ownership and

management and it became evident that people had to undergo formaleducation and training programmers to become successful managers. By the

end of 19th century, management theory became to be recognized as a

formal of managing the business enterprises.

Much of the emphasis on developing management theories thus, grew out of

industrial revolution which was characterized by the growth of factories and

industrial units. The industrial houses brought together a number of people

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who collectively coordinated their efforts towards increasing the industrial

production and thought of new and innovative ways or running these

business enterprises. The techniques that they applied to solve various

organizational problems came to be reflected in various management

theories.

“Management thought refers to the theories and principles that guide the

management of people in organizations”.

“Management theories are explanations of why a particular practice is

effective or ineffective”. Theories guide managers towards action and also

analyze reasons for the success or failure of their actions. Managers having

knowledge of management theories are more likely to predict the future

environment and attain the organizational goals optimally.

These theories developed initially out of the experiences of managers while

they were actually practicing management. The management principles were

thus, based on the practical experiences of managers.

The management theories were developed by borrowing ideas from other

fields of study like; Science, Anthropology, Sociology, Economics, Philosophy

etc. Therefore by definition according to Henri Fayol: Management is

to forecast, to plan, to organize, to command, to coordinate and

control activities of others”.

(b) Managers need to perform the following roles in order to achieve given

organizational goals;

Role of Managers

The manager of the modern day times performs a complex task of unifying the

labor and other resources so as to achieve the overall organizational goals. In this

process, he has to deal with his superiors and subordinates and also with the factors

affecting the external and the internal organizational environment. He has to make

the best use of his position so that within the framework of managerial functions

that he performs. He can so train his subordinates that organizational adaptability

to environment increases and the organization is able to survive in this modern era

of competition.

The roles of managers differ from the functions of managers in that the functions

describe what managers should do while the roles describe what they actually do.

In 1973, Henry Mintzberg took up a study of the nature of managerial work. He

studied the activities of five practicing chief executives and identified 10 (ten) basic

roles categorized under three broad headings which the managers perform. These

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roles are: Interpersonal Roles

Informational Roles

Decisional Roles

1.0 Interpersonal Roles- The need for these roles arises because

of the constant interaction that a manager has to be in with his

superiors, peers, subordinates and the outside parties. Unless he is

a role model to each one of these parties, he cannot be called a

successful manager. The three main interpersonal roles are:

Manager as the figurehead

Manager as the leader

Manager as the liaison

1.1 Manager as the figurehead – The manager occupies an official

position whereby he performs the duties of signing certain

documents, making speeches, receiving official visitors and other

duties of legal and social nature.

1.2 Manager as the leader – The manager looks after the interests of

his subordinates and also tries to solve their psychological and

work-related problems. He lays down the goals for his followers, co-

ordinates the individual goals with the organizational goals,

motivates his followers to accomplish those goals and also create a

feeling of enthusiasm, loyalty and confidence amongst them for the

purpose of achieving the said goals.

1.3 Manager as the liaison – The manager act as an integrating force

for different groups (superiors and subordinates and people working

at the same level) within the organization and for the organization

with the outside world (such as society, consumers, government,

trade unions etc.).

2.0 Informational roles – Any organization to effectively achieve its goals, has to

deal with people within and outside the organization. For this, the manager has to

keep himself continuously informed about the activities and happenings in the

internal and the external environment. In this context, the managers perform thefollowing three roles:

Managers as monitors

Managers as disseminators

Managers as spokespersons

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2.1 Managers as monitors – So that the managers keep themselves well

informed of internal and external organizational environment, they have to monitor

all the activities of the organization by reading various journals and periodicals and

incase of any problems, solve it according to the situation. They have also to collect

information about their environment through liaison work and conducting tours so

that the organization works effectively within the overall environment of theeconomy.

2.2 Managers as disseminators – The information that the managers collect as

monitors has to be transmitted by them to other members of the organization. This

is done through formal and informal interaction of managers with their

subordinates; by holding meetings or circulating notices and circulars to them.

2.3 Managers as spokespersons – The managers act as a link between their

superiors and subordinates as also between the external and the internal

organizational environment. The instructions and ordinances issued by superiors are

passed on to their subordinates while the reactions and problems of subordinatesare communicated to their superiors.

Any change in the plans, policies and procedures of the organization is also

intimated to the outside world. Thus a communication network is created by

managers between the different sections of society (environment) and the

organization.

3.0 Decisional roles – After collecting the information from internal and external

sources, the managers use this information for problem-solving in different

situations. The main decisional roles performed by managers are:

Managers asentrepreneurs Managers as

disturbance handlers Managers as

resource allocators Managers as

negotiators

3.1 Managers as entrepreneurs – The managers keep thinking of new ideas for

the development of the organization. They try to implement these ideas within the

given framework of resources. It may be required, at times, to bring certain changes

in products, processes, technology etc. These changes, howsoever minor they may

be, are not always easy to be made. It is possible for the managers to do so only

through innovations.

Business houses are the creations of man and are expected to continue for a long

period of time. It is only as entrepreneurs that managers make an effort to ensure

that the business which exists today continues to exist tomorrow and that

successful businesses today continue to be successful even tomorrow or become

even more successful.

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3.2 Managers as disturbance handlers – The managers try to solve the

unexpected disturbances arising in and outside the organization by

reviewing the situation and making proper strategies to solve them.

There might be problems such as firing of employees by the superiors

or demanding of a higher wage by the employees or facing of a tough

situation with the customers or suppliers of materials which need theactive role of a manager as a disturbance handler to solve them.

3.3 Manager as resource allocators – The managers allocate the monetary and

non-monetary resources to various departmental activities carried on

by the organization, in the order of their priority so that the

organizational goals can be achieved with utmost efficiency.

3.4 Managers as negotiators – They mediate between the organization and the

employees. In case of any conflict, they work in the interests of both

organizations its work force so that the organizational goals are not at

stake.

(c) As you are appointed to a managerial position, you need to perform the

following task.Managerial skills - Technical, Human and Conceptual .

Robert L. Katz, while he took up his work on “Skills of an effective Administrator”

advocated that successful managers are those who possess the

technical, human and conceptual skills, though their degree may vary

from top level to lower levels down the organizational hierarchy. The

need to exercise these skills in varying degrees, depending on theorganizational levels, can be understood through the following:

Top level

Middle level

Lower level

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Technical Human Conceptu

al

Technical Human Conceptual

Technical Human Conceptu

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As we move down the organizational hierarchy, there is of technical skills required

by the managers and less of conceptual skills. At higher levels, the

need for analyzing the organization as a whole and coordinating the

various organizational activities is more (conceptual skills) than

possessing the technical skills to operationally perform a job. At the

lower levels it is just the opposite. Human skill is equally important atall levels of organization. This is because managers at all levels have to

deal with the work- force and unless they possess the required human

skills, the workers would not effectively contribute to the overall

organizational goals.

1. Conceptual skills - It is the mental ability of managers to co-ordinate and

integrates the organizations’ interests and activities. It is the ability to

foresee the opportunities that must be exploited so that the organization can

make the best use of them and co-ordinate them with its internal system. It

involves broad knowledge and imagination on the part of managers to use

these skills so that the overall objectives and policies can be framed and also

implemented effectively. Adding a new product in existing product line (in the

national market), entering the international market and innovations are

examples of application of the conceptual skills.

2. Human skills – A manager is the one who performs the function of

management. These functions have to be performed by managers at all the

organizational levels. Managers at the top level pass orders to the workers

through the middle and the lower level managers for achieving theorganizational goals. Unless these orders or instructions are passed keeping

in mind the abilities of the workers to actually carry them out, it will not be

possible for the managers to gain the confidence of their subordinates. The

knowledge and application of human and behavioral skills is therefore, very

important for the managers to get the work done through their subordinates.

Human skill is the ability to work with, understand and motivate other people,

either as individuals or as groups.

3. Technical skill – It is the ability to use the tools and techniques in area thata person is specialized in. It requires specialized knowledge to perform the

work in that specialized area. These areas may be manufacturing operations,

public administration, industrial management or business management.

Introduction to question number 6:

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According to Urwick and Brech, ”directing is the guidance, the inspiration, the

leadership of those men and women that constitutes the real core of responsibility

of management.”

Directing is thus activating. It is bringing plans in to action by the process of

motivation, communication, leadership, supervision and team building of all theorganizational members.

Staffing – Staffing requires identifying human resource needs, filling the

organizational structure and keeping it filled with competent people.

According to Massie, “the staffing function includes the process by which the right

person is placed in the right organizational position.”

Staffing is, thus, a managerial function of hiring people and placing them in the

right jobs as per their competence; training them and developing them so that they

can strive for the accomplishment of goals of the organization. Staffing is, in fact,the pre-requisite to direction.

Controlling - “Control is the process that measures current performance and

guides it towards some pre-determined goal. The essence of control lies in checking

existing actions against some desired results determined in the planning process.”

“Controlling is determining what is being accomplished, that is, evaluating the

performance and, if necessary applying corrective measures so that the

performance takes place according to plans.”

Controlling is, thus, ensuring that plans have been adhered to and in case of anydiscrepancy between the desired and the actual results, taking necessary action to

correct the discrepancy.

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Purpose/mission: The entire process of planning is directed towards setting

goals and deciding about how best to attain them. To understand the concept

of goals, one must know the terms:

• Purpose, and

• Mission

Purpose is a broader term that applies to all organizations of similar type

operating in a society. The purpose of any educational institution, for

example, is to provide quality education to society. Similarly, the purpose of abusiness organization is to provide quality goods and services to society at

the right time and the right price.

Mission: meaning, mission is a specific term that explains the organization’s

reason for existence. “A mission statement is a broad declaration of the

basic, unique purpose and scope of operations that distinguishes the

organization from others of its type.” The mission of an educational

institution, for example may be to provide education to only women or for

that matter, men. The mission of a business organization is to produce

specific goods for the society. The mission of a Food Products Company may

be to provide milk products to consumers located in a given geographicalarea. Mission defines the specific reason/purpose for the existence of an

organization.

Purposes of Mission

• It provides reason to an organization’s existence.

• It furthers creativity and innovativeness on the part of organizational

members.

• It helps outsiders (government, suppliers, creditors etc.) to develop an insight

into the organization’s internal functioning.

Components of mission statements – A study revealed the following

components of the mission statements (all or some):

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As per the first viewpoint, strategy has been defined as ”the broad program for

defining and achieving an organization’s objectives and implementing its mission.”

This view, thus, aims at setting the objectives/goals for the organizations and also

preparing plans to achieve them. According to Koontz and Weihrich,”Strategy refers

to the determination of the purpose (or mission) and the basic long-term objectives

of an enterprise and the adoption of courses of action and allocation of resourcesnecessary to achieve these aims.”

The second viewpoint defines a strategy as, “the pattern of the organizations'

responses to its environment over time.” The objectives, once framed, cannot

remain static for all times to come. In the light of the changing circumstances, firms

have to devise means to respond to environmental changes. Strategies, in this

context have been defined as “large-scale action plans for interacting with the

environment in order to achieve long-term goals.”

Robinson and Pearce define a strategy as, “large-scale future-oriented plans for

competing in designated products and markets to achieve organization'sobjectives.” According to Stoner and Wankel, “A strategy creates a unified direction

for the organization in terms of its many objectives, and it guides the deployment of

the resources used to move the organization towards those objectives.” “While

strategy is a comprehensive plan that accomplishes an organization's goals,

effective strategies are those that promote a superior alignment between the

organization and its environment and the achievement of strategic goals.” The

process of formulation of such a strategy where the organization is capable of

competing with other competitors in the wake of changing environment is called as

strategic planning.

Features of a Strategy:

In the light of above definitions, Robert H. Hayes and Steven C. Wheelwright

highlight the following features of a strategy:

(1) Time – strategies are normally related to a long period of time. The discount

the future and study its impact on the present organizational activities.

(2) Impact – The impact of strategies can be known only after a long period of

time. The non-achievement of goals in the immediate future should not

render the strategies ineffective.

(3) Concentration of effort – Since any organization works with limited amount

of resources which have to be diverted to different types of activities, the

managers must concentrate all their efforts towards framing those strategies

which aim at optimum utilization of limited resources.

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(4) Decisions – The implementation of strategies require lot of decision making

on the part of managers at different levels and in the different functional

areas. Due care should be given to the fact that one decision does not

negatively affect the other decision.

(5) Pervasiveness – Strategies prevail in all organizations, in all areas and at alllevels. This requires effective coordination at each step so that consistency

and smoothness are maintained in the organizational activities.

(c) Project: A project is a discrete set of activities that must coordinate and be

managed to achieve a specified objective. A project is time bound and is designed

to deliver measurable benefits to a specified target group. Projects are the practical

interventions at district level that are designed to link the policy and program

objectives to the unique problems faced by a particular group of beneficiaries at the

grass root level.

The purpose of development projects is to solve the problems that are not solvableby existing means. However, experience over the past twenty years has indicated

that the achievements of many development projects have not matched

expectations. Recent analysis has identified the inappropriateness of many of the

tools and methods used in project design and management. Many of these methods

were borrowed from the private sector or from government departments where

they had been specifically designed for those bodies and the particular

management structures they use.

(d) Leadership: We are all charged with one responsibility as managers, to

achieve the bottom line. This means getting results, getting things done, moving

the organization and ultimately giving a profit to the owners of the money we use.

This is the primary role of managers.

Leadership is the process of influencing people in the organization to make them

achieve desired goals.

Leadership is what essentially gets done in organizations. It is a guiding force,

something that causes things to happen, something that shows the way forwards.

Leadership is that very important function of manager that welds together the

different and at times opposing forces of organizational members with a view to

achieving organizational goals. It involves influencing people, directing them,

inspiring them, commanding them, mobilizing them, guiding them and at times

coercing them so that they can work towards the achievement of organizational

goals.

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Geneen and Moscow in their book define leadership as “the ability to inspire other

people to work together as a team following your lead in order to attain common

objectives.”

Legendary management King, Peter Drucker, who rejects the idea of influence,

calling it salesmanship says, it is “the lifting of a man’s vision to higher sights, theraising of a man’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a man’s

personality beyond its normal limitation the turning of common men into

uncommon men.”

And his Crown Prince, Thomas Peters along with his co-author of the famous “In

search of excellence”(1982) Robert Waterman say it involves “coalition building

purposeful seeding of cabals, shifting the attention of the institution and altering the

agendas so that new priorities receive attention, listening carefully, building a team

of loyal followers and sometimes use of naked powers.”

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Reference

Principles of management by Dr. Neeru Vasishth, 2nd

Edition: Reprint 2007, published by: Taxman Allied

Services (P.) Ltd.

Modern Business Administration sixth edition 1994 by

Robert C. Appleby. Published by British Library

cataloguing in publication data.

Business Administration fourth edition by Waswa

Balunywa, BCOM, MBA 2006. Published by the Rising Sun

Publishers.

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Documents

Course Work for Business Administration St. Law University