The Managerial Job

The efficient manager is an enterprise possession whose value is incalculable. He can make even poor organization structure operate effectively. Some one or a few managers within a firm are often responsible for successful operations over long periods of time; when these men are gone, these same firms have started down the long road to bankruptcy. It is abundantly clear that the quality of the manager makes most of the difference between success and failure. Consequently, it is of crucial importance to every enterprise to achieve success in stuffing management positions.

Before selecting a person for a position, as much as possible must be known about its nature. Management is a most difficult activity, and men in these positions must be effective decision makers. They are often called upon to decide issues on short notice, and management issues tend normally to be very complex in terms of all the factors which affect them. The manager must recognize these elements, weigh them correctly, formulate sets of simultaneous equations, and often solve them while the person who requests the decision awaits the answer.

The managerial job is complex even in small firms. The quality of executives needed is effected by the social responsibility of the enterprise. It is a premise of great importance that no firm will exist in the long run unless it contributes positively to the general welfare. Private enterprise contributes its share to the general welfare by providing goods and services to improve the standard of living, by adopting approved employee-relation practices, and by facilitating the purposes of the community.

Staffing is the executive function which encompasses the recruitment, selection, training, promotion, and retirement of subordinate managers. Only the front-line supervisors, among all managers, do not select subordinate managers, for, by definition, they compose the first link between enterprise management and the non-managers who work for them – the work force.

Since staffing is one of the functions which all managers undertake, the immediate responsibility for its efficient execution rests upon every manager at all levels. But it is much too common for managers to neglect their staffing function. Such neglect is compensated for in some enterprises by permitting the personnel department to select managers. But neither the personnel department nor any other service group is the proper place for this function. The development of future executives cannot be routinized. There is a need for direction from top policy makers.

The responsibility for staffing rests upon the chief executive officer and those of his immediate subordinates who compose the internal policy-making group of executives. They also have the duty of developing policy, assigning its execution to subordinates, and making certain that it is being properly carried out.

Topic #5

Date: 2015-02-16; view: 849