Figure 1.6 in the text illustrates the manager’s challenge fulfilling performance accountability while depending on others to do the work
CHANGING NATURE OF MANAGERIAL WORK
The upside‐down pyramid places customers at the top of organizations and being served by workers supported by team leaders and higher managers.
Figure 1.7 in the text shows the organization viewed as an upside-down pyramid.
THE MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Learning Objective: Explain the functions, roles, and activities of managers, and the skills needed to perform them well.
The ultimate “bottom line” in every manager’s job is to help an organization achieve high performance by best utilizing its human and material resources.
FUNCTIONS OF MANAGEMENT
FIGURE 1.8 in the text illustrates the four functions of management
The management process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling is the use of resources to accomplish performance goals.
• Planning is the process of setting objectives and determining what should be done to accomplish them.
• Organizing is the process of assigning tasks, allocating resources, and coordinating work activities.
• Leading is the process of arousing enthusiasm and inspiring efforts to achieve goals.
• Controlling is the process of measuring performance and taking action to ensure desired results.
MANAGERIAL ROLES AND ACTIVITIES
As illustrated in FIGURE 1.9 in the text, Henry Mintzberg’s ten different managerial roles are organized as:
• Interpersonal roles (i.e., figurehead, leader, and liaison) involve interactions with people inside and outside the work unit.
• Informational roles (i.e., monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson) involve giving, receiving, and analyzing information.
• Decisional roles (i.e., entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator) involve using information to make decisions in order to solve problems or address opportunities.
There is no doubt that managerial work is a busy, demanding, and stressful type of work.
MANAGERIAL AGENDAS, NETWORKING, AND SOCIAL CAPITAL
• Agenda setting develops action priorities for accomplishing specific goals and plans.
• Networking is the process of creating positive relationships with people who can help advance agendas.
• Social capital is a capacity to get things done with the support and help of others.
MANAGERIAL
LEARNING
• A skill is the ability to translate knowledge into action leading to performance.
• Learning is changing behavior through experience.
• Self‐awareness is having a real, unbiased understanding of our strength and weaknesses.
• Lifelong learning is continuous learning from daily experiences.
• Learning agility is being curious and always seeking new knowledge, experiences, and skills.
ESSENTIAL MANAGERIAL SKILLS
Figure 1.10 in the text shows Katz’s essential managerial skills technical, human, and conceptual.
According to Harvard scholar Robert L. Katz, all managers need a combination of three essential skills to be successful: technical, human, and conceptual. Technical skills, which involve using a specific expertise to perform tasks, are most critical early in a career. Human skills, or the ability to work well with others and maintain positive relationships, are consistently important at all levels of management. Conceptual skills, which enable managers to think analytically and break down complex problems, become increasingly vital at higher levels of management. A manager's mastery of these three skill sets determines their effectiveness and career progression.
• Technical skill is the ability to use a special proficiency or expertise to perform useful tasks.
• Human skill is the ability to work well in cooperation with other people.
• Conceptual skill is the ability to think analytically, to diagnose, and to solve complex problems.
• Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage our emotions in social relationships.
DISCUSSION TOPIC
To illustrate the differences among different levels management, ask students to identify people they know who have been or are now managers. Have these students describe the nature of the work done by the managers they know. Then have the students analyze these descriptions and classify them according to top managers, middle managers, and team leaders and supervisors.
Summary
Learning Objective 1.1 Summarize the challenges of career readiness in a complex and changing economy.
• Career success requires personal initiative to build and maintain skill portfolios and personal brands that are always up-to-date and valuable in competitive job markets.
• Work in the today’s economy is increasingly knowledge-based, and intellectual capital is the foundation of individual and organizational performance.
• Organizations thrive on the talents of a workforce whose members are increasingly diverse with respect to a variety of individual differences and characteristics.
• Developments in technology are reshaping organizations, changing the nature of work, and increasing the demands for high Tech IQ, analytical competencies, and AIQ.
• Society has high expectations for organizations, their leaders, and their members to perform in ethical standards and socially responsible ways.
FOR DISCUSSION: What career risks and opportunities does artificial intelligence create for today’s college graduates?
Learning Objective 1.2 Describe organizations as work settings, what it means to be a manager, and how managerial work is changing.
• As open systems, organizations interact with their environments to create value by transforming resource inputs into product and service outputs.
• Performance efficiency is an input measure of resource cost associated with goal accomplishment, while performance effectiveness is an output measure of task or goal accomplishment.
• Managers directly lead, support, and help activate the work efforts and performance of others; an effective manager helps others achieve high performance and job satisfaction.
• Top managers scan the environment, create strategies, and emphasize long-term goals; middle managers coordinate activities in large departments or divisions; team leaders and supervisors support performance of frontline workers at the team or work-unit level.
• The changing nature of managerial work emphasizes being good at “coaching” and “supporting” others, rather than simply “directing” and “order-giving.”
• The upside-down pyramid view puts customers at the top of organizations and being served by nonmanagerial workers supported by team leaders and higher-level managers.
FOR DISCUSSION: What is the difference between a managerial mindset driven by the upside-down pyramid view of organizations as contrasted with the traditional top-down pyramid?
Learning Objective 1.3 Explain the functions, roles, and activities of managers, and the skills needed to perform them well.
• In the four functions of the management process planning sets the direction, organizing assembles the human and material resources, leading provides the enthusiasm and direction, and controlling ensures results.
• Managers implement the four functions simultaneously in daily work that is often intense and stressful, involving long hours, unexpected problems, and continuous performance pressures.
• Managers perform interpersonal, informational, and decision-making roles, and must be good at building networks and using them to accomplish task agendas.
• Self-awareness, lifelong learning, and learning agility are the foundations of skills development.
• Managers need technical skills the ability to use expertise; human skills the ability to work well with other people and demonstrate emotional intelligence; and conceptual skills the ability to analyze and solve complex problems with critical thinking.
FOR DISCUSSION: Which of the essential management skills is most difficult for you at present to demonstrate to a potential employer, and what can you do to strengthen it?
Key Terms
Accountability: the requirement of one person to answer to a higher authority for performance results in his or her area of work responsibility.
Agenda setting: develops action priorities for accomplishing goals and plans.
Analytical competency: ability to evaluate, analyze, and interpret information to make good decisions and solve problems
Career readiness: a living portfolio of skills, competencies, aspirations, and goals that can advance your career success, even in a rapidly changing environment.
Class ceiling: an advancement barrier faced within organizations and in society at large by persons who grow up poor and underprivileged
Commitment: represents how hard you work to apply your talents and capabilities to goals, tasks, problem-solving, and opportunities.
Competency: represents your personal talents or job-related capabilities
Conceptual skill: the ability to think analytically to diagnose and solve complex problems.
Controlling: the process of measuring performance and taking action to ensure desired results.
Corporate governance: the active oversight of management decisions and performance by an organization’s governing board.
Discrimination: occurs when someone or some group is treated unfairly.
Effective manager: a manager who helps others achieve high performance and satisfaction at work.
Emotional intelligence: the ability to manage our emotions in social relationships.
Ethics: a code of moral principles that sets standards of what is “good” and “right” as opposed to “bad” or “wrong” in the conduct of a person or group.
Glass ceiling effect: an invisible barrier or “ceiling” that prevents women and minorities from rising above a certain level of organizational responsibility.
Human skill: the ability to work well in cooperation with other people
Implicit or unconscious bias: embedded prejudices that an individual isn’t aware they have and that affect decisions and behaviors in unrealized ways
Inclusion: a commitment to fairness where everyone is given an equal chance to perform and achieve to the best of their abilities.
Intellectual capital: the collective brainpower or shared knowledge of a workforce that can be used to create value.
Intellectual Capital Equation: Intellectual Capital = Competency X Commitment.
Knowledge worker: someone whose mind is a critical asset to employers.
Leading: the process of arousing enthusiasm and inspiring efforts to achieve goals.
Learning: a change in behavior that results from experience.
Lifelong learning: continuous learning from daily experiences.
Management process: the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the use of resources to accomplish performance goals.
Manager: a person who creates value by supporting, leading, and activating the work performance of others.
Middle managers: managers who oversee the work of large departments or divisions.
Networking: the process of creating positive relationships with people who can help advance agendas.
Open system: a system that interacts with its environment, transforming resource inputs from the environment into product outputs.
Organization: a collection of people working together to achieve a common purpose.
Organizing: the process of assigning tasks, allocating resources, and coordinating work activities.
Performance effectiveness: an output measure of task or goal accomplishment.
Performance efficiency: an input measure of the resource cost associated with goal accomplishment.
Personal brand: skill set, reputation, integrity, and career potential as seen through the eyes of others
Planning: the process of setting objectives and making action plans to accomplish them.
Prejudice: the holding of negative, irrational attitudes regarding people who are different from us.
Productivity: achieved when performance is both effective and efficient
Quality of work life: the overall quality of human experiences in the workplace.
Self-awareness: having a real, unbiased understanding of your strengths and weaknesses
Self-management: the ability to understand oneself, exercise initiative, accept responsibility, and learn from experience.
Skill: the ability to translate knowledge into action leading to performance.
Smart Workforce: Members possess both “hard” technical skills and “soft” human skills
Social capital: a capacity to get things done with the support and help of others
SWOT analysis: identifies individual strengths and weaknesses, as well as environmental opportunities and threats
Team leader: someone who reports to middle managers and supervise nonmanagerial workers.
Tech IQ: is the ability to use technology and to stay updated as technology continues to evolve
Technical skill: the ability to use a special proficiency or expertise to perform useful tasks.
Top managers: guide the performance of the organization as a whole or of one of its major parts.
Transferable skills: apply across job types and occupations
Upside-down pyramid: places customers at the top of organizations and being served by workers supported by team leaders and higher managers.
Upskilling: continually updating skills to keep them aligned with emerging job markets and new ways of working.
Workforce diversity: describes differences among workers in gender, race, age, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and able-bodiedness.
Quick Quiz
Short-Response Questions
1. Discuss the importance of ethics in the relationship between managers and the people they supervise.
2. Explain how “accountability” operates in the relationship between (a) a team leader and their team members, and (b) the same team leader and their boss.
3. Explain how the “glass ceiling effect” may disadvantage newly hired college graduates in large corporations.
4. Take and defend a position on whether the Davos Manifesto is an adequate framework for business leadership in the fourth industrial age.
Essay Question
5. You have just been hired as the new head of an audit team for a national accounting firm. With four years of experience, you feel technically well prepared, but this is your first formal job as a “manager.” The team has 12 members with a mix of individual differences, skills, and work experiences. The workload is intense, and you face lots of performance pressure from higher-ups. How can you use essential managerial skills to create a high performing audit team?
Find Quick-Quiz 1 answers at the end of the book.
Career Skills & Competencies: Make Yourself Valuable!
Manage a Critical Incident – Team Lead Faces Test
Students’ answers will vary based on their individual experiences
Contribute to a Class Exercise – My Best Manager
Students’ answers will vary, but try to find common themes for best, worst, and “Believe it or not!” stories to share with the class.
Collaborate on a Team Project – “Back to Work Five
Days… or Else”
Students’ answers will vary, based on their individual experiences
Put AI to Work – Identifying Career Challenges
Students’ answers will vary based on their individual experiences
Analyze and Update a Case: Lego Thrives on Ideas/Spin Master Sells Imagination
Build Background
Founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Christiansen, The LEGO Group began as a Danish company making wooden toys before pioneering the now-iconic interlocking plastic brick in 1958. This invention laid the groundwork for the "LEGO System in Play," a concept that fostered unlimited building possibilities and led to the creation of popular products like the LEGO Minifigure and various themed sets, solidifying its place as a global leader in the toy industry. By contrast, Spin Master was established in 1994 by three friends in Toronto and quickly made a name for itself through innovative products like the "Earth Buddy" and "Air Hogs Sky Shark," building a diverse portfolio of toys and entertainment properties. The company's strategy of combining internal innovation with strategic acquisitions has resulted in the creation of global franchises such as Bakugan and PAW Patrol, cementing its reputation as a major player in children's entertainment. Recent news for The LEGO Group has highlighted new product releases and sustainability efforts, while Spin Master has focused on the success of new toys, the expansion of its entertainment franchises, and significant corporate leadership changes.
Background provided by Google Gemini AI
Summarize Learning Insights
A. New Managers
New managers in the toy industry need to be experts in product development and supply chain management. They must also have strong soft skills like communication and problem-solving. Staying on top of market trends and brand protection is essential for a successful career.
B. Consultants
Consultants should advise senior managers to create a diversified portfolio of products to reduce risk. They should also recommend leveraging omnichannel marketing and creating immersive experiences through technology like augmented reality. Finally, pushing a strong sustainability strategy is key to improving a firm's long-term competitive position.
C. Researchers
Researchers can learn a key management insight by comparing the two companies: sustainable success is achieved through either cultivating a single, timeless brand (LEGO's model) or by building a flexible and diverse portfolio of brands (Spin Master's model). Both strategies have strengths and weaknesses, but the most successful firms often find a way to combine elements of both.
Insights provided by Google Gemini AI
Back to Chapter Questions
A. Planning & Controlling
Both companies benefit from planning and controlling. LEGO's long-term planning, focused on sustainable growth and investments, leads to stable revenue. Spin Master's planning, centered on innovation and acquisitions, allows it to be agile and responsive to market trends, though it faces challenges with managing a fast-paced market.
B. Organizing & Leading
Effective leadership positively influences both firms. LEGO's move toward a more empowered, bottomup leadership style fosters a culture of creativity. Spin Master's entrepreneurial leadership encourages risk-taking and rapid growth through new brands and acquisitions.
C. Upside-Down Pyramid
The upside-down pyramid model helps attract talent by empowering frontline employees. This approach allows designers and engineers to have more autonomy, making the company more responsive to customer desires and a more appealing workplace for creative individuals.
D. Human & Conceptual Skills
Senior managers need strong human skills to build a positive culture, resolve conflicts, and collaborate effectively. They also need strong conceptual skills to analyze complex market data and make strategic decisions that ensure the company's long-term success.
E. AI Ethics Issues
As AI becomes more integrated, both companies face ethical issues related to data privacy and child safety, particularly with AI-powered toys that collect data. They must also address the potential for bias in AI-generated content and questions of intellectual property and accountability for AI-created designs.
F. Personal SWOT Analysis
My personal SWOT analysis reveals a fit in areas like market research, marketing, and digital entertainment due to my analytical and communication skills. However, I have a weakness in direct industry experience, which could be a threat in a competitive market. I see an opportunity to apply my skills in the growing AI and digital sectors of the toy industry.