ROLE AND FUNCTIONS OF MANAGEMENT

Pre-reading tasks

I. Before you read the text make sure that you know the meanings of the following words. Suggest their Ukrainian equivalents:

· objective, n. an aim, especially one that must be worked towards over a long period of time

· subordinate, n someone of lower rank in a job who takes orders from a superior staff n the group of workers who do the work of an organization

· promotion, n an advancement in rank or position

· contribute, v to help in causing a situation, event or condition

· empower, v to give someone the power or legal right to do something

· remote, adj distant in space or time

· attain, v to gain or arrive at after long effort; reach

· board of directors a committee of the directors of a company, which is responsible for the management of the company

· obviously, adv. plainly, it can be easily seen.

II. Suggest the situation where you would use the words from the Ex. I.

Reading

Read the text and do the tasks that follow it:

¹ The work of a manager can be divided into planning (setting objectives), organizing, integrating (motivation and communicating), measuring and developing people. First of all, managers (especially senior managers such as company chairmen - and women - and directors) set objectives, and decide how their organization can achieve them. This involves developing strategies, plans and precise tactics and allocating resources of people and money.

Secondly, managers organize. They analyze and classify the activities of the organization and the relation among them. They divide the work into manageable tasks and then into individual jobs. They select people to manage these units and perform the jobs.

Thirdly, managers practice the social skills of motivation and communication. They also have to communicate objectives to the people who are responsible for attaining them. They have to make the people who are responsible for performing individual jobs form teams. They make decisions about pay and promotion. As well as organizing and supervising the work of their subordinates, they have to work with people in other areas and functions.

Fourthly, managers have to measure the performance of their staff, to see whether the objectives set for the organization as a whole and for each individual member of it are being achieved. Lastly, managers develop people - both their subordinates and themselves.

² Obviously, objectives occasionally have to be modified or changed. It is generally the job of a company's top manager to consider the needs of the future, and to take responsibility for innovation, without which any organization can only expect a limited life. Top managers also have to manage a business's relation with customers, suppliers, distributors, bankers, investors, neighboring communities, public authorities, and so on, as well as deal with any major crisis which arise. Top managers are appointed and supervised and advised (and dismissed) by a company's board of directors.

³ Although the task of a manager can be analyzed and classified in this fashion, management is not entirely scientific. It is a human skill. Some people are good at management, and others are not. Some people will be unable to put management techniques into practice. Others will have lots of technique, but few good ideas. Business professors obviously believe that intuition and "instinct" are not enough; there are management skills that have to be learned. Managers may be sent on leadership courses to develop their leadership skills, their ability to lead.

⁴ Before leaders were distant and remote, not easy to get to know or communicate with. Today, managers are more open and approachable: you can talk to them easily. There is more management by consensus, where decisions are not imposed from above in a top-down approach, but arrived at by asking employees to contribute in a process of consultation. Decision-making becomes more decentralized and less bureaucratic by means of empowerment. To empower employees managers need the ability to delegate, to give other people the responsibility for work rather than doing it all themselves. Of course, with empowerment and delegation, the problem, is keeping control of your operations: a key issue of modern management.

(Peter Drucker: An Introductory View of Management)

Comprehension check

I. Look through the first part of the text and answer the following questions:

1. What are five responsibilities of the work of a manager?

2. What does setting objectives involve?

3. What does the process of organizing mean?

4. What social skills does the work of manager require? Why?

5. What does the job of measuring and developing activities include?

II. The second part of the text determines the position and responsibilities of top managers. Define them.

III. Using the information of the third part of the text prove that management is not entirely scientific but involves some human skills.

IV. In the forth part of the text find answers to the questions:

1. How have the management styles changed in the last years?

2. What are the new strategies that help managers operate the task?

Date: 2015-01-12; view: 1497