Compared with other professions, management is a relatively new specialty. It is not a secret that a good organization of this or that company is one of the most essential elements of a successful job. Today we may observe growing attention to the sphere of human resources. That is why more and more young people see their career future in the field of management and administration. The thing is that companies would be nothing without people. The aim of managers is to organize people properly in order to make their work filled with the sense of goal and to provide a company with good staff. Managers are “responsible for supervising and making the most of an organization’s human and other resources to achieve its goal” (Jones and George 5). In such aspects, the most important terms are efficiency and effectiveness. Still, the correlation between these two notions is not so simple. To be a successful manager does not only mean to increase efficiency. For example, if a manager chooses wrong goals, but is successful in the process of pursuing them, the effectiveness of a manager’s work would be low (Jones and George 6).
By the end of the course of management, a student should develop skills in different aspects to be an expert in the field of management. They can be subdivided into several groups. The first group is skills that reflect knowledge and understanding of the necessary elements of management. In other words, a student should understand the main issues connected with the sphere of management and business. Moreover, a student should know the main theories of business and understand their benefits for the field. The second group of skills a student should develop is cognitive skills. This is a complex of knowledge that would be used during the work in the sphere of management and business. So, such skills as the ability to analyze synthesize the key concept of a company, to demonstrate not only theoretical knowledge in the sphere of administration and management but also practical skills, to evaluate threats in the sphere of management, etc. of course, practical skills are the most necessary ones in the system of management learning outcomes. They include such skills: identification and development of management plan; effective communication with staff in different spheres of business; general management of work; enhancing professional competence in the sphere of management, etc. Of course, there are some particular skills that every manager should obtain and develop. First of all, a manager should know how to analyze the effectiveness of a business. Secondly, a manager should know how to use data effectively. The part form that a manager should be a perfect communicator because he/she deals with people, and communication plays a great role in the aspect of work. A manager’s work presupposes work in a group; still, he/she should be ready to work individually. Only on the assumption of a balanced combination of these outcomes a manager’s work will be successful (Capon 345).
All of the outcomes enumerated above are the keys to successful management. They are on the basis of a company’s control systems. If they would be implemented in a proper way one may speak about functional control systems. There are lots of spheres of this or that company that should be controlled (Yilmaz 3). Still, the specific character of a company’s direction causes the application of different skills. For example, I work for an electronic company. I am a customer service representative: I have to answer phones, grant extensions, and help customers with their billing questions. That is why techniques and methods I use in my work to maintain the control system are specified by the essence of my work. Control “can be exercised by:
- supervision;
- leadership;
- an ad hoc collection of control mechanisms which have not designed explicitly to articulate with one another for the purpose of control” (Flamholtz 8).
Taking into account the fact that the organization I work in is not a beginner in its sphere I should say that the last type of control would be ineffective. I work under the control of two supervisors. Consequently, my company chose the first type of control system, supervision. It is the most common type of control: my supervisors control the work of the company staff during the course of a day they interact with the managerial staff, observe and review their work, and offer different suggestions which would be beneficial in the aspect of work (Flamholtz 9). To my mind, this kind of control system is rather functional compared with other types. The supervisors evaluate the work of the staff and find aspects in work which became worse and vice versa. If anything goes wrong, they analyze the reason and offer the way out. Of course, my supervisors have high levels of communication skills; they arrange the work of the staff properly and follow the principle of cooperation.
Motivation is one of the most important aspects of successful work. The supervisors realize that without motivation there is no great desire to work successfully, which definitely may affect the success of a company. That is why the income I receive in the company is not the only motivation. It is not a secret that there are two main types of motivation: the first is intrinsic motivation which means that an employee is interested in the field he/she works in. Extrinsic motivation means the work to earn money and nothing more (Frey and Osterloh 5). It is obvious that intrinsic motivation is the basis for success. The supervisors of my company follow the individual approach for each member of the staff. It means that all workers are perceived as personalities, but not only as elements of a big machine. In other words, the emotional condition within the organization is also a key point in its successful operation. “Informal relationships among the employees play a very important role” (Business Management 59).
The sphere of management is a highly important factor in the aspect of a company’s success. Although management is a relatively young sphere there are lots of theories that describe different methods and techniques of successful managerial work (Gupta 189). Due to the rapid development of different organization types, there is an increasing interest in the sphere. More and more new specialists come to the management field. As a result, new approaches are introduced to the discipline. For example, for some time formal style of communication with the staff was considered the only appropriate type of management. Nowadays, experts admit that the emotions of employees and their positive interrelation are the key to a successful business.
References
Business Management. (2008). New York: FK Publications.
Capon, C. (2008).Understanding Strategic Management. New York: Pearson Education.
Flamholtz, E. (1998).Effective Management Control: Theory and Practice. New York: Springer.
Frey, B. S., Osterloh M. (2002). Successful Management by Motivation: Balancing Intrinsic and Extrinsic Incentives. New York: Springer.
Gupta, C. B. (1992). Contemporary Management. New Delhi: APH Publishing.
Jones, G., and George, J. (2004). Essentials of Contemporary Management. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Yilmaz, K. (2009).Manual for a Risk Management System for a Company: Risk and Contract Management. Berlin: GRIN Verlag.