The task of management

Chapter 3
Learning Outcomes
This chapter should enable you to:
• define management and manager
• understand what the management tasks involve
• distinguish between the different types of organisations in which managers work
• identify the different levels of managers
• explain the various tasks performed by managers
• distinguish between the different areas of management
• describe the various management skills
• consider a number of important management competencies
• explain the various management roles and sub-roles
• understand and explain the importance of change and the management of change in an
organisation.
Introduction
• Various factors contribute to the need for management to be actively
involved on all levels in the organisation.
• Dynamic change, innovation in general, as well as ever increasing
developments in the interactive relationship between technology and
innovation – characterised by disruption, artificial intelligence, and
biotechnology within the context of the presence of the fourth industrial
revolution, a greater urgency for sustainable business practices, products
and services, and flatter adaptable organisational structures are just some
of the reasons why the role of management increasingly requires the
participation of all levels of employees in the organisation.
• Managers fulfil the various management tasks and also provide leadership,
while employees should be responsible and accountable for managing
themselves.
What is management?

Management can be defined as the process of co-ordinating work-related tasks and

activities so that the people performing them complete them effectively and efficiently

In each management function the specialised manager needs to apply all the
management tasks

However, while ‘management’ can refer to a combination of managerial tasks, it can also
be seen as a specific function (e.g. marketing or finance) in an organisation.

‘Management’ can also be the term used to refer to the people with formal power in an
organisation, better known as legitimate power.
What is a manager?
• A manager is a person who has been appointed in a managerial position in
an organisation, and who has certain responsibilities to carry out
management tasks.
• Managers have authority and should provide leadership to the employees
reporting to them in their team or department.
• Management is a continuous and active process that obtains, organises
and utilises resources, in order to reach certain goals.
• Managers and other employees need to work together to:
• develop plans and objectives
• structure tasks in a sensible way
• act in organised structures while considering authority
• motivate each other
• communicate clearly
• develop and act according to set performance standards.
High-performing organisations require
managers who are efficient and effective:
An effective manager is a person who can develop and select appropriate
goals and objectives for the team, department or organisation, and then
ensure that these goals and objectives are optimally achieved.

An efficient manager is a person who can optimally (productively and

cost-efficiently) use the resources available to achieve set goals and
objectives.

A high-performing, successful organisation has efficient and effective

managers, using resources to satisfy their customer’s needs and thereby
achieve the organisation’s goals and objectives
Organisations in which managers work
• Commercial organisation: an organisation that manufactures goods,
provides services, or retails [sells products directly to consumers]
• Governmental organisation: a tax-funded department or unit that is
formalised by the government, to ensure a framework of support and
the application of legislation according to the country’s bill of rights
• Voluntary organisation: an organisation that focuses on a specific
agenda and creates income not for profit but to ensure funding of this
agenda
Levels of management

FIGURE 3.1 Management levels and interaction with non-managerial employees

(p. 61)
Top management
• responsible for the overall direction of an organisation.
• must develop and communicate the organisation’s vision, its mission statement, core values and its
long-term goals, plans and strategies.
• ensure the development of overall organisational policies.
Middle management
• made up of department heads, functional managers, branch managers or project managers
• must have a good understanding of the overall organisational strategy.
• create the link between top management and first-level management.
• receive broad, general strategies and policies from top managers, and they change them into
specific goals, objectives, and action plans to be implemented by first-level managers.
First-level management
• implement all the strategic plans sent through to them via middle managers from top managers.
• takes responsibility for operational planning, which means that these managers are responsible for
the production of goods or the provision of services
• responsible for controlling activities to monitor the performance of employees.
Management tasks
Planning
• Planning is deciding in advance what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and
who is supposed to do it.
• Planning involves choosing different strategies and actions for every individual,
team and department in an organisation, and for the organisation as a whole.
• Planning allows the business to define its overall short-term objectives,
together with the long-term goals for each part of the business.
• Planning allows members of an organisation to achieve their vision, mission,
and purpose, as stated in their goals and objectives.
• During the process of planning, managers must make various decisions.
• Decision making does not only happen during the planning process, but also
when any of the other management tasks are conducted.
Organising
• Organising is the structuring (arranging), co-ordinating and directing of an organisation’s
resources in order to achieve its objectives.
• When involved in the task of organising, managers structure and oversee resources such
as people, materials, equipment, money and time.
• This task involves delegating (passing on) work to other employees working in teams (or
departments/divisions) so that they can carry out the necessary activities effectively, and
act according to their set authority and responsibilities.

Leading
• Leading in organisational context refers to a person such as a manager directing, guiding,
and motivating other employees.
• Leaders play an important role in organisations and are not only associated with the
position of CEO. Leadership is needed at all levels of the organisation.
• Managers need to act as leaders to influence other employees to achieve set objectives.
Leaders use motivation and communication to influence employees
Motivating
• Motivating people is the act of influencing them to cause, channel and sustain certain
goal-directed behaviours.
• Managers need to motivate them to perform in such a way as to maximise (enlarge to its
biggest) their objectives as well as the objectives of their team and the whole
organisation.
• Motivation is not only the duty of a manager; every employee should ensure self-
motivation.

Controlling
• Controlling is the process of developing performance standards according to the set
objectives developed during the planning process.
• Management must determine at what level all employees need to perform to reach the
goals set out for the organisation.
• This is followed by measuring the actual performance of employees and teams, to find out
if they are performing according to the set standards. The outcome shows whether
employees perform acceptably or not, and if corrective action is needed
Areas of management
Production & operations management
• Managers develop and administer (supervise) all activities in transforming the
organisation’s resources into final goods or services. This transformation process, which is
managed, includes activities relating to manufacturing, retailing and/ or service
rendering, depending on the type of business.

Logistics management
• A logistics manager is responsible for the management tasks connected with inbound/
incoming logistics (purchasing) and outbound/outgoing logistics (distribution). This
includes the collection of resources as well as the packing, storage, transportation,
distribution, and sales of completed goods.
 IT/Technology management
• Responsible for implementing, maintaining, and controlling technology (systematic
application of knowledge) in the organisation. Information technology managers ensure the
effective flow of information for effective management decision making.

Financial management
• Managers focus on getting the money needed to operate the organisation as well as
managing these funds in the best interests of the organisation. These funds are used to
achieve the organisational goals and the financial manager and team need to optimise the
economic principle

HR management
• Managers handle staffing and people-related aspects in the organisation. They establish the
human resource needs of the organisation and manage the finding and hiring of suitable new
employees, their training and development, and also their performance evaluation and all
other relevant (connected) administrative applications.
 Marketing management
• Managers are responsible for the establishment of need-satisfying goods or services for the
organisation’s customers. They must then consider pricing, marketing communications, and
how to make the products and services available to existing and potential new customers.

PR management
• Managers are involved in communicating and keeping in touch with internal and external
groups (stakeholders) in order to start or maintain a good relationship with all stakeholders

Administrative management
• Managers are responsible for an entire business or a major division in the organisation. They
are not specialists in the way that the other types of functional managers
Management skills
Conceptual → understand abstract ideas

skills
→ allows managers to analyse a business situation and to differentiate
clearly between cause and effect

Human → understand, influence, lead and change the attitudes and behaviour of
individuals and teams.
skills
→ needed to manage change and conflict among employees as well as
workforce diversity (differences) and inclusion

Technical → need job-specific knowledge and techniques to perform an

organisational role.
skills
→ reflect a manager’s understanding of the business’s methods.
Management roles
• A management role is a set of specific tasks or behaviours that a
person is expected to perform because of the position he or she holds
in an organisation.
• In the 1970s, Henry Mintzberg identified ten roles indicating the
specific tasks that managers need to perform.
• These managerial roles, which still have value today, can be grouped
into three categories, as follows:
1. Decisional roles
2. Interpersonal roles
3. Informational roles
Decisional roles
Entrepreneur → The manager must make decisions involving the creative use
of organisational resources and think of alternative (other) possibilities.

Disturbance handler → The manager must deal with conflict situations quickly.
These situations could be expected or unexpected, and internal or external.

Negotiator → The manager must create an acceptable solution in a negotiating

situation

Resource allocator → The manager must establish the best possible ways to
allocate (give and assign) and use resources.
Interpersonal roles
Figurehead → The manager must act as a representative of the organisation,
team or division.

Leader → The manager must give direction and motivate employees.

Liaison person → The manager must establish a working agreement between

two business units, or co-ordinate tasks or link resources between different
parts of a business.
Informational roles
Monitor → The manager must collect useful information.

Disseminator → The manager must focus on distributing

useful information inside or outside the organisation.

Spokesperson → The manager must communicate on

behalf of the organisation, division or team.
Change and change management
• Change refers to an act or response or process through which something
becomes different.
• Change can be either:
• Planned
• is a proactive notion in dealing with a problem or opportunity
• Unplanned
• is a reactive response to the occurrence of a problem or an opportunity
• Change, whether planned or unplanned, requires some form of
transformation, alteration, or modification, to make something or
someone different. In an organisational context we note that change can
be seen as an initiative, a solution or even a project, with a specified
objective to solve a problem, take advantage of an opportunity and/or
improve the way we do something in that organisation
Types of planned change
Developmental change
• requires a change management process aimed at improving what already exists

Transitional change
• requires a change management process aimed at implementing a completely new
course of action which leads to the replacement of what already exists with
something different that is regarded as ‘new’ by the people involved.

Transformational change
• requires a change management process aimed at handling a much more
challenging situation as this change is unpredictable, drastic, complex and
requires a fundamental rethink of the known
Summary
• A manager can work in commercial organisations, governmental organisations or
voluntary organisations. A manager can be part of top-level management, middle
management or first-level management.
• Each manager fulfils five main management tasks: planning, organising, leading,
motivating and controlling. Each manager will, however, also have a special focus,
depending on which area of the organisation he or she is working in
• All managers need conceptual skills, human skills and technical skills, and
managers also benefit from having a specific range of competencies. In each
position that they hold, managers must play a variety of roles, which can be
classified (divided) into decisional, interpersonal, and informational roles.
• As managers develop their management skills and fulfil their different roles as
managers, they need to facilitate and embrace change.