Interviewing a Manager Jamie Ysrael About Organization Goals Essay

Introduction

Whether it involves managing an office, a work team, a small store or a large retail outlet, the processes all remain the same, wherein a manager must be able to balance the needs of the business, take into account current business trends, the culture of the organization he works for as well as set specific goals for himself/herself in order to create positive end goal outcomes.

In order to investigate the impact of goal setting in management styles, the researcher for this paper contacted Jamie Ysrael, a Marketing Lead for Asus Corp, in order to ascertain the importance of goal setting in:

1. managing the people under her
2. implementing practices to increase performance
3. meeting performance metrics and ensure a stable work environment.

Relevant data

Person Interviewed: Jamie Ysrael, Marketing Lead

Graph references:

• Category 1: I have clear, specific goals in several areas.
• Category 2: I have a definite outcome in life that I want to achieve.
• Category 3: I prefer general to specific goals.
• Category 4: I work better without specific deadlines.
• Category 5: I set aside enough time each day or week to plan my work.
• Category 6: I am clear about the measures that indicate when I have achieved a goal.
• Category 7: I work better when I set more challenging goals for myself.
• Category 8: I help other people clarify and define their goals.

How important is it to set specific/general goals within an Organization?

Ms. Ysrael: “What you have to understand is that there are two ways in which you can get an employee to do a certain task: you can either have them do it via your position as their boss or you can have them willingly do it through a shared specific/general goal.

It is usually the case that when asked to do something under the perspective of shared/specific goal in mind I have come to realize that employees become more willing and adept at completing an assigned task as compared to merely ordering to them to do it in my position as their boss”

As Ms. Ysrael explains, at times managers need employees to do certain tasks which are outside of their normal tasks at the company.

In such instances, the likelihood of them refusing to do so is quite high; however, should a manager have a certain degree of influence over that employee in terms of having a good relationship as well as indicating that the task being given is part of a shared goal by the company the end result is a greater likelihood of that employee being more than willing to help out.

The reasoning behind this particular type of behavior can be seen in the work of Gardner, Staats & Gino (2012) which examined methods of improving organization performance within companies (Gardner, Staats & Gino, 2012).

As Gardner, Staats & Gino (2012) explains, establishing shared goals within a company, whether specific or general in nature, creates a work mentality where employees feel that they are actually doing something of notable worth for the company.

This feeling of worth often translates into better organizational performance in the long run since people no longer feel that they are merely numbers on a company’s system of metric examination.

How important is proper organizational planning in your role as manager?

When asked this particular question Ms. Ysrael, via a metaphor, said the following statement “if a building does not have girders, platforms, steel beams and a foundation, how is it suppose to stand?” Based on this reasoning, as well as asking her to elaborate further, it was determined that proper organizational planning is the cornerstone of any managerial practice since it is often necessary to be able to do things:

1. One step at a time.
2. Arrange tasks to be done in a certain order.
3. Method.
4. And by a particular person

Lastly, it creates a structure from which managers can determine how to improve performance levels.

What is the most important factor in proper management planning?

In this question, Ms. Ysrael indicated that data and metrics are the most important factors since through them you can analyze the performance of the business. All business decisions need to be based on factual data obtained through credible sources.

This means that before actions related to expansion to new markets, the removal of a particular product line or the creation of a new product, a manager must base such decisions on data obtained from customer data, market analysis (SWOT, Porter 5 forces etc.) and finally financial data in order to make accurate decisions.

When asked if setting specific goals or deadlines are important for her current line of work Ms. Ysrael stated the following: “while I do know that having a specific set of goals and deadlines in mind is important for other managers I happen to work in marketing and as such there are times when specific goals and deadlines simply do not work in my opinion.

In my opinion, focusing on the general goals of a marketing campaign and utilizing data and metrics in order to determine its overall effectiveness is the best way a manger can perform. Not only that, a marketing campaign sometimes does not have a specific end date and can continue for quite some time”.

Do you believe in helping other people clarify and define their goals?

The topic of helping others for Ms. Ysrael was rather contentious in that she indicated that a proper manager should help her employees set particular goals for themselves, rather, what is necessary is that a manager should guide them into fulfilling their roles and make them more independent. Such actions, she states, enables a manager to do their job properly without constantly having to look at whether her employees are doing the right thing.

What is the most important trait needed by a manager when making decisions?

When asked this particular question, Ms. Ysrael, elaborated on the concept of showing measures that indicate when I have achieved a goal. For her, it is important to show a certain degree of achievement when accomplishing a particular task or marketing campaign.

This means that when a task is completed it must be logical (meaning that it makes sense), results in positive effects for the company (creates profit, reduces costs, etc.) and finally conforms to ethical practices (meaning that it is not illegal in the least).

Note: Questions pertaining to specific life outcomes, creating goals for herself or setting aside enough time each day to plan her work was asked by the researcher, however, Ms. Ysrael indicated that such questions were in her opinion nonsensical since she prefers to handle things as they come rather than meticulously plan everything single thing.

Discussing the Manager’s Goal Setting and Organizational Skills

When examining the results of the interview I have come to the realization that while Ms. Ysrael’s goal setting and organizational skills are good for the company they seem to be insufficient in terms of actually helping out lower level employees.

The concept of setting and defining specific goals as a means of ensuring continued job satisfaction involves creating a mindset wherein employees see their current task as a means to an end within the organization wherein it could potentially lead to newer and better things while at the same time continues to keep them interested in their job (Boumgarden, Nickerson & Zenger, 2012).

When it comes to setting and defining specific goal, it is interesting to note that various researchers indicate that by continuing to develop employees in order for them to accomplish multiple tasks, create defined goals for themselves and clarify their role in the company this actually results in a greater degree of job satisfaction since it takes away factors related to repetitious actions that actually cause job dissatisfaction (Soda & Zaheer, 2012).

It is based on this that I believe Ms. Ysrael is not doing her job properly in terms of creating an effective work environment which helps to create a mindset involving employees thinking that the job they are doing is part of a general goal of the company while at the same time entailing a specific goal for themselves.

Evidence justifying this particular point of view can be seen in the sheer amount of public relations assistants, creative artists and marketing assistants that keep on leaving Asus who were under Ms. Ysrael. This is opposed to the relatively low churn rate seen in other departments within the company.

Reference List

Boumgarden, P., Nickerson, J., & Zenger, T. R. (2012). Sailing into the wind: Exploring the relationships among ambidexterity, vacillation, and organizational performance. Strategic Management Journal, 33(6), 587-610.

Gardner, H. K., Staats, B. R., & Gino, F. (2012). Dynamically integrating knowledge in teams: transforming resources into performance. Academy Of Management Journal, 55(4), 998-1022.

Soda, G., & Zaheer, A. (2012). A network perspective on organizational architecture: performance effects of the interplay of formal and informal organization. Strategic Management Journal, 33(6), 751-771.