Managerial Effectiveness Managing the Self and Others

Chapter 1 : Managerial Effectiveness

+Managerial Effectiveness

+Characteristics of an Effective Manager

Chapter Summary

Effective management is about doing the right things at the right time. In the face of downsizing, mergers, etc., organizations need managers who are not only efficient but also effective. The responsibilities of managers and the competitive pressures on them have increased their need to be effective. Efficient people do things right whereas an effective person does the right things. Effective managers, on the other hand, are both effective and efficient.

The basic responsibility of managers is to manage people. To be effective at managing people, they must be good managers of themselves.
Some managers believe that effectiveness is something a person is born with and cannot be inculcated. However, effectiveness can be taught and mastered with practice. The training for effectiveness involves identifying the importance of knowledge and people for an organization. Five characteristics are common to effective managers.

Effective managers prepare plans after taking into account the knowledge and information they have acquired from various experiences or from various reports. They organize activities based on plans and organizational objectives. Effective managers know where their time goes and how it is spent. They focus on how they can contribute to the organization. Effective managers focus on the results that can be achieved rather than the tools or techniques to be used.

They make use of their own strengths and the strengths of their superiors, subordinates, and colleagues for productive purposes in the organization. They recruit people based on their strengths and use the strengths optimally. Managers need to perform many activities. However, effective managers prioritize activities and perform one activity at a time.

This helps them to focus their resources on one task at a time and so, to produce quality results. In the process, they also minimize the possibility of making mistakes. In addition to prioritizing activities, effective managers posterioritize unimportant or less important activities. Posterioritizing means postponing unimportant activities to a later date.

Effective managers make decisions in a systematic manner. They collect all the information about available alternatives and weigh their effect on the decision. They make a decision after identifying the cause and try to avoid its recurrence. Managers must also be effective in communication. Since they deal with other people, improper communication can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts.

Effective managers need to communicate at two levels, namely, the organizational level and individual level. They need to be effective at both levels. Effective managers allow their subordinates to participate in the decision-making process. This encourages the subordinates to contribute to the organizational productivity. Finally, effective managers take ethical decisions in their work life.

They give importance to ethics and value commitment to an organization. They inculcate ethics in subordinates and the environment as well. In addition to these characteristics, managers need to learn about stress management, time management, creativity, interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, leadership skills, and multicultural skills to become more effective.

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