Selection of Managers. The Recruitment Process.

The Functions of the Manager

The functions of managers vary according to the size of the enterprise. The manager plans the operations of his subordinates, selects and trains them, directs their work, and measures actual results.

The most useful method of classifying managerial functions is to group them around the activities of planning, organizing, stuffing, direction, and control.

Planning involves selecting the objectives and the policies, programs, and procedures for achieving them. Planning is, of course, decision making, since it involves selecting among many choices.

Organizing involves determination and enumeration of the activities required to achieve the objectives of the enterprise, the grouping of these activities, the assignment of such groups of activities to a manager, the delegation of authority to carry them out, and provision for coordination of authority relationships horizontally and vertically in the organization structure.

The organization structure is, of course, not an end in itself but a tool for accomplishing enterprise objectives.

Staffing involves manning, and keeping manned, the positions provided for by the organization structure.

Direction involves guiding and supervising subordinates.

Control measures performance, corrects negative deviations, and assures the accomplishment of plans. Although planning must precede control, plans are not self-achieving.

Things are controlled by controlling people.

Topic #2

The Nature and Purpose of Planning

The most basic of management functions is planning, the selection from among alternatives of future courses of action for the enterprise as a whole and each department within it. Plans involve selecting enterprise objectives and departments goals and programs, and determining ways of reaching them. Planning is deciding in advance what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and who is to do it. Planning is an intellectual process, the conscious determination of courses of action, the basing of decisions on purpose, facts, and considered estimates.

Enterprises of all kinds plan further into the future, plan more aspects of their operations, plan less by intuition or hunch, and lean more heavily on forecasts and studies.

Change and economic growth bring opportunities, but they also bring risk, particularly in an era of world-wide rivalry for markets, resources, and influence. Every plan and its derivatives must contribute in some positive way to the accomplishment of group objectives. Plans alone cannot make an enterprise successful. Action is required; the enterprise must operate.

Topic #3

Committees

Whether referred to as a committee, board, commission, task group, or team, its essential nature is the same, for the committee is a group of persons to whom, as a group, some matter is committed.

Some committees undertake managerial functions, and others not. Some make decisions, and others merely deliberate on problems without authority to decide. Some have authority to make recommendations to a manager, who may or may not accept them.

A committee may be either line or staff, depending upon its authority. Committees may also be formal or informal. A manager may have a problem on which he needs advice from other managers or specialists outside his department and call a special meeting for the purpose.

Moreover, committees may be relatively permanent, or they may be temporary.

The board of directors is a committee, as are its various constituent groups such as the executive committee, the finance committee, the audit committee, and the bonus committee.

One of the advantages of group deliberation and judgment, not to be obtained without an actual meeting, is the stimulation resulting from oral interchange of ideas and the cross-examination techniques of the committee meeting.

Topic#4

The Managerial Job

The efficient manager is an enterprise possession whose value is incalculable. He can make even poor organization structure operate effectively. 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.

The managerial job is complex even in small firms. Private enterprise contributes its share to the general welfare by providing goods and services to improve the standard of living.

Staffing is the executive function which encompasses the recruitment, selection, training, promotion, and retirement of subordinate managers.

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.

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.

Topic #5

Selection of Managers. The Recruitment Process.

When outside personnel are sought it may be for several reasons. In most cases, college graduates are recruited for their technical abilities. On the other hand, some firms recruit college men in the hope that their broad educational background will serve them in becoming good managers

There are three steps in this activity. First, the discovery for potential candidates involves initial screening for intelligence, age, and maturity. Secondly, persuading the potential managers to become candidates sometimes involves selling (рекламирование) the firm to them. Thirdly, each candidate receives an extended guided interview.

Since the need for men with fairly high intelligence is pressing, the candidate is usually given a standard intelligence test by the personnel department.

Men found eligible in terms of intelligence, age, and maturity may need to be sold on the firm, and the recruiting officer should pursue the objective with the same vigor and imagination that the salesman employs in selling the firm’s products to customers.

Candidates who qualify on the basis of the screening process and the information carried on the application form are ready to be interviewed preferably at the plant site, both intensively and extensively.

Topic #6

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 690