The

Managerial
Functions
 Difficulties supervisors face in fulfilling
managerial roles:
◦ Employees see their supervisors as being
management, but supervisors are subordinates to
their own managers at higher levels.
◦ To supervisors of other departments, supervisors
are colleagues who must cooperate with each other.
◦ Supervisors must have both good working
knowledge of the jobs being performed in their
departments and the ability to manage.

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 Effective supervisors must:
◦ Have technical, human relations, administrative,
conceptual, and political skills.
◦ Be able to intelligently use their emotions.
◦ Must understand the technical aspects of the work
being performed.
◦ Understand employee needs when attempting to
manage job performance.
◦ Must have “people skills” help them accomplish
objectives with and through people.
◦ Understand the dynamics of the organization and
to recognize organizational politics.
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 Target Organizational Goals

Focus on Employees

• Get commitment to goals • Get acquainted with your team • Learn what top
• Ask questions and listen - practice MBWA,
• Uncover and build on SKAs management expects
• Establish routine to manage your workload,
• Trust your people plan your work then work the plan • Set high but realistic goals
• Be an enabler • Maintain a Positive Mental Attitude (PMA), see Chapter 4 • Ask for help
• Stay neutral - don’t be drawn into political disputes • Manage up as necessary
• Carefully analyze the situation - look for opportunities to make a difference
• Put others interests ahead of your own - be a servant leader, see Chapter 12
• Start small - make the easiest changes first
• Be innovative: Balance risks with rewards
• Celebrate successes
• Reward behavior that contributes to the department success, see Chapter 4
• Pause periodically to check on progress, see Chapter 15

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 Technical skills
◦ The ability to do the job.
 Human relations skills
◦ The ability to work with and through people.
 Administrative skills
◦ The ability to plan, organize, and coordinate activities.
 Conceptual skills
◦ The ability to obtain, interpret, and apply information.
 Political skills
◦ The ability to understand how things get done outside of formal
channels.
 Emotional intelligence skills
◦ The ability to intelligently use your emotions.

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 Managerial skills are learnable:
◦ It takes time, effort, and determination for a
supervisor to develop managerial skills.
 Management is practiced on the job:
◦ Supervisors go through a learning curve that offers
very little ground for trial and error.
 Management requires constant practice:
◦ Managers must stay on the path of continuous
improvement to sharpen their skills.

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 Management Defined
◦ Getting objectives accomplished with and through
people.
 Enabler
◦ The person who does the things necessary to
enable employees to do the best possible job.
 All managers perform essentially the same
managerial functions.
◦ The five managerial functions can be viewed as a
circular, continuous movement in which the
functions flow into each other and that each affects
the others.

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 The Managerial Functions:
◦ Planning
 Determining what should be done.
◦ Organizing
 Arranging and distributing work among members of the work
group to accomplish the organization’s goals.
◦ Staffing
 Recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, appraising, promoting,
and compensating employees.
◦ Leading
 Guiding employees toward accomplishing organizational
objectives.
◦ Controlling
 Ensuring that actual performance is in line with intended
performance and taking corrective action.

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 Reasons for the increasing use of teams:
◦ Increasing in the complexity of jobs and the
amount of information.
◦ Stronger focus on quality and customer
satisfaction.
◦ The shift from a homogeneous to a diverse
workforce.
◦ Growing realization that an autocratic, coercive
management style does not necessarily result in
productive, loyal employees.
◦ Demand for strong employee voices in their work
lives, as well as meaningful work, respect, and
dignity.

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 Leaders do the right things.
 Managers do things right.
 Management is how fast you climb the ladder.
 Leadership is knowing it’s on the right wall.
 Management is about maintaining the organization.
 Leadership is about vision, strategy, and aligning the
organization’s human resources behind the strategy.
 Neither managers nor leaders are good or bad—they
serve different purposes in and for the organization.

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• The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.
• The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
• The manager focuses on systems and structures; the leader
focuses on people.
• The manager administers; the leader innovates.
• The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
• The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

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 Authority
◦ The legitimate right to direct and lead others in the
use of the resources of the organization.
◦ The limited power invested in a position by the
organization.
◦ Includes the right and duty to delegate authority.
 Acceptance Theory of Authority
◦ That a manager only possesses authority when the
employee accepts it.

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 Avoiding Reliance on Managerial Authority
◦ Positional (formal ) authority has its limits.
◦ Fostering mutual trust and respect help avoid
showing the “club” of authority.
 Delegating Authority
◦ Delegation—the process of entrusting duties and
related authority to subordinates.
◦ When authority is delegated, responsibility for
results becomes shared.

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 Position Power
◦ Power derived from the formal rank a person holds
in the chain of command; the limited power
attached to a position within the organization.
 Personal Power
◦ Power derived from a person’s SKAs and how others
perceive that person in the relationship a supervisor
has with other people
 Thought Question:
◦ Which form of power is an effective manager likely
to rely on the most?

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 Sources of Power
◦ Reward power: The granting of rewards to foster and
control organizationally-valued behaviors.
◦ Coercive power: The use of threat of punishment and
discipline to influence others.
◦ Legitimate power: Relying on position or rank to gain
compliance by others.
◦ Expert power: Possessing knowledge or valuable
information gives a person expert power over those who
need that information.
◦ Referent or charismatic power: The influence of some
tangible or intangible aspect of one person’s personality
upon another person.
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 Coordination
◦ The synchronization of employees’ efforts and the
organization’s resources toward achieving goals.
 Applying the right amount of effort at the right place at
the right time.
 Synergistic effect of coordinated efforts:
2 + 2 = 5 (bad math, good results)
 Cooperation as Related to Coordination
◦ Cooperation—the willingness of individuals to work
with and help one another.

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 Attaining Coordination
◦ Networking— Individuals or groups linked by a
commitment to shared purpose.
 Coordination as Part of the Managerial
Functions
◦ Coordination is a desired result of effective
management.
 When and where will who do what and how?
 Coordination with Other Departments
◦ Achieving coordination is an essential component
of the supervisory management position.

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 Cooperation and Coordination—Easier Said
Than Done
◦ The move toward increased employee participation,
broader spans of control, and fewer managerial
levels causes a greater need for coordination skills.
◦ However, competition among supervisors may
impede cooperation.

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 Acceptance theory of  Leading
authority  Management
 Administrative skills  Networking
 Authority  Organizing
 Conceptual skills  Personal power
 Controlling  Planning
 Cooperation  Political skills
 Coordination  Position power
 Delegation  Staffing
 Emotional intelligence skills  Technical skills
 Enabler
 Human relations skills

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