1
DIRECTING
Definition
Directing is function consists of issuing instructions, exercising supervision,
providing leadership and securing motivation from the workers.
Principles of Direction
1. Harmony of Objectives
2. Maximum individual contribution
3. Unity of direction or command
4. Efficiency
5. Direct Supervision
6. Feed back information
7. Effective Communication
8. Appropriateness of direction techniques
9. Efficient Control
10. Comprehension understanding by subordinates
11. Follow through
Characteristics of a Good Order
1. An Order should be reasonable and enforceable over subordinates.
2. A Clearly defined order should be easily understandable.
3. It has to facilitate the achievement of the Objectives of an Orgn.
4. It should be Complete in all respects.
5. An Order should exhort willingness and acceptance from the subordinates.
6. A Writer order is preferable to oral Order.
7. Appropriate tone is used by the superior while issuing an Order.
8. It should specify the time within which a job should be completed.
Techniques of Direction
Three Techniques
1. Consultative Direction
(Consultation with Superior , Supervisor or subordinates)
2. Free – Rein direction
The Subordinate is encouraged to solve the Problem independently.
2
3. Autocratic direction
Opposite to free- Rein
Importance of Direction
1. It initiates action
2. It Co-ordinates the group effort
3. It ensures minimum individual contribution.
4. It reduces the reluctance to out up with changes in organization
5. It provides stability and balance in the organization
6. It helps to achieve the objectives of an organization
Characteristics of Direction
1. It is also one of the managerial function, performed by all levels.
2. Management initiates action through direction.
3. Direction is continuous throughout the lite of the organization.
4. Direction is started at top level.
5. Subordinates do the things as per the original plan.
6. It creates link between preparatory functions and control function.
7.
LEADERSHIP
Leadership is the process where a person exerts influence over others and inspires, motivates and
directs their activities to achieve goals. Effective leadership increases the firm’s ability to meet new challenges.
Leader: The person exerting the influence.
Personal Leadership Style: the ways leaders choose to influence others.
Some leader delegate and support subordinates, others are very authoritarian.
Managers at all levels have their own leadership style.
Leadership Across Cultures
Creativity: It is the ability to produce large number of ideas quickly
Innovation: It is the use of these ideas i.e. innovation requires creativity
Types of Leadership
1) Autocratic Leadership
2) Democratic Leadership
3) Free-Rein Leadership
3
Leadership styles may vary over different cultures.
European managers tend to be more people-oriented than American or
Japanese managers.
Japanese culture is very collective oriented, while American focuses more on
profitability.
Time horizons also are affected by cultures.
U.S. firms often focus on short-run efforts.
Japanese firms take a longer-term outlook.
Sources of Power
Following power is used to affect other’s behavior and get them to act in given ways.
Legitimate Power: manager’s authority resulting by their management position in the firm.
Can be power to hire/fire workers, assign work.
Reward Power: based on the manager’s ability to give or withhold rewards.
Pay raises, bonuses, verbal praise.
Effective managers use reward power to signal employees they are doing a good
job.
Following power is used to affect other’s behavior and get them to act in given ways.
Legitimate Power: manager’s authority resulting by their management position in the firm.
Can be power to hire/fire workers, assign work.
Reward Power: based on the manager’s ability to give or withhold rewards.
4
Pay raises, bonuses, verbal praise.
Effective managers use reward power to signal employees they are doing a good
job.
Coercive Power: based in ability to punish others.
Ranges from verbal reprimand to pay cuts to firing.
Can have serious negative side effects.
Expert Power: based on special skills of leader.
First & middle managers have most expert power.
Often found in technical ability.
Referent Power: results from personal characteristics of the leader which earn worker’s respect, loyalty
and admiration.
Usually held by likable managers who are concerned about their workers.
Empowerment
Process of giving workers at all levels authority to make decisions and the responsibility for
their outcomes. Empowerment helps managers:
Get workers involved in the decisions.
Increase worker commitment and motivation.
To focus on other issues.
Effective managers usually empower substantial authority to workers.
LEADERSHIP MODELS/THEORY
1) Trait Model: sought to identify personal characteristics responsible for effective leadership.
i) Research shows that traits do appear to be connected to effective leadership.
(a) Many “traits” are the result of skills and knowledge.
(b) Not all effective leaders possess all these traits.
2) Behavioral Model: Identifies types of behavior.
i) Consideration: leaders show care toward workers.
(a) Employee-centered.
5
ii) Initiating Structure: managers take steps to make sure work is done.
(a) Done by assigning work, setting goals, etc.
(b) Job-oriented.
Consideration & Initiating Structure
3) Contingency Models
Fiedler’s Model: effective leadership is contingent on both the characteristics of the leader and the
situation.
Leader style: the enduring, characteristic approach to leadership a manager uses.
Relationship-oriented: concerned with developing good relations with workers.
Task-oriented: concerned that workers perform so the job gets done.
Fiedler’s Model
Situation characteristic: how favorable a given situation is for leading to occur.
Leader-member relations: determines how much workers like and trust their
leader.
Task structure: extent to which workers tasks are clear-cut.
Clear issues make a situation favorable for leadership.
Position Power: amount of legitimate, reward, & coercive power a leader has
due to their position.
6
When positional power is strong, leadership opportunity becomes more
favorable.
By Using Fiedler’s Model we Can combine leader-member relations, task structure, and position power
to identify leadership situations.
Identifies situations where given types of managers might perform best.
Seen in above Figure
Leader style is a characteristic managers cannot change. Thus, managers will be most effective
when:
They are placed in leadership situations that suit their style.
The situation can be changed to fit the manager.
4) House’s Path-Goal Model
Model suggests that effective leaders motivate workers to achieve by:
1) Clearly identifying the outcomes workers are trying to achieve.
2) Reward workers for high-performance and attainment.
3) Clarifying the paths to the attainment of the goals.
Path-Goal is a contingency model since it proposes the steps managers should
take to motivate their workers.
7
Based on Expectancy Theory.
Steps to Path-Goal
1) Determine the outcomes your subordinates are trying to obtain.
Can range from pay to job security or interesting work.
Once outcomes determined, manager needs to be sure they have the
reward power to provide these.
2) Reward subordinates for high-performance and goal attainment with the desired outcomes.
3) Clarify the paths to goal attainment for workers, remove obstacles to performance, and express
confidence in worker’s ability.
Motivating with Path-goal
Path-goal identifies four behaviors leaders can use:
1) Directive behaviors: set goals, assign tasks, show how to do things.
2) Supportive behavior: look out for the worker’s best interest.
3) Participative behavior: give subordinates a say in matters that affect them.
4) Achievement-oriented behavior: Setting very challenging goals, believing in worker’s abilities.
Which behavior should be used depends on the worker and the tasks.
5) Leader-Substitute Model
Leadership substitute: acts in the place of a leader and makes leadership unnecessary.
Possible substitutes can be found:
Characteristics of Subordinates: their skills, experience, motivation.
Characteristics of context: the extent to which work is interesting and fun.
Worker empowerment or Self-managed work teams reduce leadership needs.
Managers need to be aware that they do not always need to directly exert influence
over workers.
6) Transformational Leadership Model
Started with von Pierer, CEO of Siemens, and allows dramatic improvements in
management effectiveness.
8
Transformational managers:
Make subordinates aware of how important their jobs are by providing
feedback to the worker.
Make subordinates aware of their own need for personal growth and
development.
Empowerment of workers, added training help.
Motivate workers to work for the good of the organization, not just themselves.
Transformational leaders are charismatic and have a vision of how good things can be.
They are excited and clearly communicate this to subordinates.
Transformational leaders openly share information with workers.
Everyone is aware of problems and the need for change.
Empowers workers to help with solutions.
Transformational leaders engage in development of workers.
Manager works hard to help them build skills.
7) Transactional Leadership
Involves managers using the reward and coercive power to encourage high performance.
Managers who push subordinates to change but do not seem to change themselves are
transactional.
The transactional manager does not have the “vision” of the Transformational leader.
8) Gender and Leadership
The number of women managers is rising but still relatively low in top levels.
Stereotypes suggest women are supportive and concerned with interpersonal relations.
Similarly, men are seen as task-focused.
Research indicates that actually there is no gender-based difference in leadership
effectiveness.
9
However, women are seen to be more participative than men.
COMMUNICATION
Importance of Good Communication
Good Communication allows a firm to
Learn new skills and technologies.
Become more responsive to customers.
Improve Quality of their product or service.
Foster innovation
Effective communication is needed by all Managers.
The Communication Process
Communication consists of two phases:
1. Transmission phase: information is shared by 2 or more people.
2. Feedback phase: a common understanding is assured.
Starts with the Sender who wants to share information.
Sender must decide on a message to share
Sender also puts the message into symbols or language, a process called
encoding.
Noise: anything harming the communication process.
10
Messages are transmitted over a medium to a receiver.
Medium: pathway the message is transmitted on (phone, letter).
Receiver: person getting the message.
Receiver next decodes the message.
Decoding allows the receiver to understand the message.
This is a critical point, can lead to mis-understanding.
Feedback is started by receiver and states that the message is understood or that it
must be re-sent.
Communication Issues
Encoding of messages can be done verbally or non-verbally
Verbal: spoken or written communication.
Nonverbal: facial gestures, body language, dress.
Sender and receiver communicate based on their perception.
Subjective perception can lead to biases and stereotypes that hurt
communication.
Effective Managers avoid communicating based on a pre-set belief.
11
Dangers of Ineffective Communication
Managers spend most of their time communicating so both they and the subordinates
must be effective communicators. To be effective:
Select an appropriate medium for each message.
There is no one “best” medium.
Consider information richness: the amount of information a medium can carry.
Medium with high richness can carry much information to aid
understanding.
Is there a need for a paper/electronic trail to provide documentation?
Information Richness and Media Type
Communication Media
1) Face-to-Face: highest information richness.
i) Can take advantage of verbal and nonverbal signals.
ii) Provides for instant feedback.
iii) Management by wandering around takes advantage of this with informal talks to workers.
iv) Video Conferences: provide much of this richness.
v) Reduce travel costs and meeting times.
12
2) Verbal Communication electronically transmitted: has next highest richness.
i) Phone conversations, but no visual nonverbal cues.
ii) Do have tone of voice, sender’s emphasis and quick feedback.
3) Personally Addressed Written Communication: lower richness than the verbal forms, but still is
directed at a given person.
i) Personal addressing helps ensure receiver reads it.
ii) Letters and e-mail are common forms.
iii) Cannot provide instant feedback to sender but can get feedback later.
iv) Excellent for complex messages needing follow-up.
4) Impersonal Written Communication: lowest richness.
i) Good for messages to many receivers. Little feedback is expected.
ii) Newsletters, reports are examples.
E-Mail Trends
E-mail use is growing rapidly in large firms, and there are even special e-mail etiquette:
Words in all CAPITALS are seen as “screaming” at the receiver.
Punctuate your messages for easy reading and don’t ramble on.
Pay attention to spelling and treat like a written letter.
E-mail has allowed telecommuting, where workers can work from home and be in touch
with e-mail.
Communication Networks
Networks show information flows in an organization.
Wheel Network: information flow to and from one central member.
Chain Network: members communicate with people next to them in sequence.
Wheel and Chain networks provide for little interaction.
Circle Network: members communicate with others close to them in terms of
expertise, office location, etc.
All-Channel Network: found in teams, with high levels of communications
between each member and all others.
Communication Networks in Groups & Teams
13
Organization chart depicts formal reporting channels.
Communication is informal and flows around issues, goals, and projects.
Vertical Communication: goes up and down the corporate hierarchy.
Horizontal Communication: between employees of the same level.
Informal communications can span levels and departments.
Grapevine: informal network carrying unofficial information through the firm.
Organizational Communications Network
14
Technological Advances
Internet: global system of computer networks
Many firms use it to communicate with suppliers.
World Wide Web (WWW): provides multimedia access to the Internet.
Intranets: use the same information concepts as the Internet, but keep the network inside the
firm.
Groupware: software designed to let workers share information and improve communication.
Best for team oriented support
Communication Skills for Managers as Senders
Send clear and complete messages.
Encode messages in symbols the receiver understands.
Select a medium appropriate for the message AND monitored by the receiver.
Avoid filtering (holding back information) and distortion as the message passes through other
workers.
Ensure a feedback mechanism is included in the message.
Provide accurate information to avoid rumors.
15
Communication Skills for Managers as Receivers
Pay Attention to what is sent as a message.
Be a good listener: don’t interrupt.
Ask questions to clarify your understanding.
Be empathetic: try to understand what the sender feels.
Understand linguistic styles: different people speak differently.
Speed, tone, pausing all impact communication.
This is particularly true across cultures.
Managers should expect and plan for this.
Barriers in Communication
1) Lack of planning
2) Semantic Distortion( Inadequacy of the words carrying words)
3) Selective perception or filtering
4) Fear and Emotions
5) Distrust and Threat
6) Timing of communication
7) Overloading of communication
8) Loss by transmission and poor retention
9) Status differences
10) Poor Listening
11) Poorly expressed message
12) Unclarified assumptions
13) Faulty organization
MOTIVATION
Process of inspiring and actuating the workers to accomplish the objectives
of an organization.
Motivation Theories
1. Mc Gregor’s Theory X & Y
2. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory
3. Herzberg’s motivation – hygiene theory
4. Mcclelland’s needs theory
5. Expectancy theory
16
6. Equity theory
7. Skinners behaviouralist- Reinforcement theory
8. Alderter’s ERG Theory
1. Mc Gregort Theory X & Y
Theory based on assumptions about human behavior.
Theory X assumption
1. Employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can .
2. They lack ambition and dislike responsibility.
3. They must be controlled directed and threatened with punishment to
achieve organizational objectives.
4. They are by nature resistant to change and they are not very bright.
Theory Y assumptions
1. People like Working.
2. They do not have to be controlled or directed so long as they are commited
to the Organizational Objectives.
3. Under proper conditions, they will not only accept but also have
responsibility.
4. People are able to exercise imagination and creativity in the solution of
organizational problems.
5. The degree of commitment to objectives is in proportion to the size of the
rewards associated with their achievement.
17
2. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory
3. Herzberg’s Motivation – Hygiene Theory
It is concentrated on satisfaction at Work.
The most common motivators or Satisfiers
1. Achievement
2. Recognition
3. Advancement
4. Personal growth
5. The Work itself
6. Challenging Work
18
Hygiene factors
1. Salary
2. Working condition
3. Company policy & administration
4. Job Security
5. Status
6. Interpersonal relations-Supervision
4. McClelland’s Needs Theory of Motivation
People are motivated to obtain outcomes at work to satisfy their needs.
A need is a requirement for survival.
To motivate a person:
1)Managers must determine what needs worker wants satisfied.
2)Ensure that a person receives the outcomes when performing well.
Several needs theories exist.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Alderfer’s ERG.
Motivating needs Classified into 3 types
1. Need for Power
2. Need for affiliation
3. Need for achievement
5. Expectancy Theory of Motivation
Three factors based on individual’s Perception
1) Expectancy
Perception that effort will lead to effective performance.
2) Instumentality
Perception that effective performance will lead to rewards.
19
3) Valence
Perception that attractive rewards are available
6. Equity Theory
Considers worker’s perceptions of the fairness of work outcomes in proportion to their inputs.
Adams notes it is the relative rather than the absolute level of outcomes a person receives.
The Outcome/input ratio is compared by worker with another person called a referent. The referent is perceived as similar to the worker.
Equity exists when a person perceives their outcome/input ratio to be equal to the referent’s ratio.
If the referent receives more outcomes, they should also give more inputs to achieve equity.
20
7. Skinners Behavioralist – Reinforcement Theory
Or
Or
Or
8. Alderfer’s ERG Theory of Motivation
A situation
experience
by
employee
Response
of
employee
Behaviour
Negative
behavior
Employee
experiences no
consequence
(extinction)
Employee
experiences a
negative
consequence
(punishment)
Employee avoid
negative
consequence ( -ve
reinforcement
Employee
experiences a
reward ( +ve
reinforcement
Likelihood of
behavior
21
Morale It is an attitude of satisfaction, a feeling of happiness or conditions of zeal, hope and confidence.