managerial roles

Question 1

1. a)
2. i) The managerial role that Calvin is fulfilling is the entrepreneur, which is categorized under decisional roles. An entrepreneur seeks fresh opportunities and designs and introduces projects that help the company achieve organizational goals. In this situation, we see that Calvin is always pursuing new opportunities and concepts to create a business plan that has the potential to assist the company in outlining its goals and then achieving them. Therefore, this explains that Calvin is accomplishing the managerial role of an entrepreneur.

1. ii) There is a total of four managerial roles under the decisional category. The first other managerial role under the same category as the entrepreneur is the disturbance handler. Commotion and disruption happen all the time in organizations, and when it does happen, this is where the role of a disturbance handle is vital. This is because disturbance handlers are required to seek for approaches to correct and handle these unforeseen yet critical issues.

The other managerial role is the resource allocator. Resources needed in an organization include raw materials, human resources, capital, and financial resources. Resource allocators play the part of allotting and dealing with all these organizational resources. These also include activities like budgeting, which is vital in ensuring the company remains out of debt, and the scheduling of resources and activities.

The negotiator is the last managerial role in this category. A negotiator in an organization is needed to participate, or even direct crucial negotiations. At key negotiations, the negotiator must then represent the organization and bring about his/her discussion. Negotiating would require fine decision-making skills, effective communication skills, and more. They are important in an organization as they are the representative of the organization at negotiations.

b)

1. i) The managerial role being fulfilled by Fred, the football coach, is the spokesperson, under the informational category. A spokesperson acts as a one-way bridge, delivering information on the organization to interested parties outside the organization. It is also essential for a spokesperson to be knowledgeable and well-informed on the organization. This is evident in this situation as it reads that Fred must meet with the media and answer questions, and therefore, needs to be an expert to do so. Answering questions also implies that Fred shares organizational information. Hence, Fred displays the managerial role as the spokesperson of the football team.

1. ii) There are two other managerial roles in the informational category, and one of them is the monitor. A monitor acts as the core of the organization’s information, be it internal or external. Monitors pursue and obtain information to acquire comprehensive information and material to understand both the company and the environment better. They handle and manage everything linked and associated with receiving and obtaining information, such as mails and connections.

The disseminator would be the last managerial role in this category. Unlike the spokesperson, a disseminator delivers information from the outsiders to the organization. Any information acquired from the parties outside of an organization is delivered to the company by the disseminator. They execute this by forwarding emails and messages to the company.

c)

1. i) At events and ceremonies, figureheads, the managerial role categorized under interpersonal roles, play a part in representing the organization. Here, we see that Rita is fulfilling her role as the figurehead in the organization as every time a new store opens, she attends the ribbon-cutting ceremony. A figurehead acts as a representative and is required to execute customary tasks such as this ribbon-cutting ceremony. They are also obliged to be present at events and gatherings to attend to requests and socialize with others.

1. ii) Under the informational category, there are two other managerial roles – leader and liaison. A leader takes up the responsibility of his/her subordinates, and the role of a leader is to motivate, guide and train them in working towards the achievement of organizational goals. A leader is required to lead, direct and walkthrough with his/her subordinates all managerial activities concerning them. A leader is vital in an organization because not everyone can be a good and effective leader as a leader requires patience, problem-solving skills, communication skills and many more.

The third managerial role in this category, the liaison, deals with the outside contacts and connections. An organization not only gets their information internally but externally too. This external information is obtained as favours done by external informers. Since they are doing the organization a favour, it is then a liaison’s job to maintain this network and relationship with them. This can be done by responding to their emails and more.

Question 2

1. a) The first barrier to effective planning is the inability to plan. Not everything works out the way we plan it to be, some plans fail, some plans have to be made redundant. Therefore, planning demands for patience and perseverance from the planner. Because plans fail at times, planners need experience and practice as well to learn from past mistakes and become a better and more effective planner. Furthermore, planners need creativity, positivity, good prioritization and many more. Because of all these qualities that is required to make a successful and effective planner, some just do not have the ability to plan, acting as a barrier to effect planning.

Over-emphasis on the controllable variables acts as a barrier to effective planning as well. This is when all the focus and concentration of the managers are set on issues and matters that are already within their control. When the managers give all their attention to the controllable variables, they tend to fail to give sufficient consideration on the issues beyond their reach. Especially in an extremely volatile environment, managers need to focus on the company’s surroundings and the economy as well.

The lack of commitment to the process of planning is another barrier to effective planning. Nobody likes failing, some can overcome failure, but some fear the possibility of failure. As mentioned above, plans can fail at times, therefore, the fear of this possibility becomes a barrier to effective planning. This fear can grow to an even larger scale if the organization punishes the employees when they fail to create successful plans or opposes fresh and creative ideas.

Inferior information can pose as a barrier to effective planning too. High quality and accurate information increase the probability of producing successful plans. Information obtained must be continually updated, and planners must ensure that they are up to date and reliable. Inferior information is considered a barrier because it can have huge and overwhelming consequences on the plans created.

The fifth barrier to effective planning is the over-reliance or over-dependence on the planning department. Employees outside the planning department usually tend to depend on the planning department to do their job, especially when the planning department uses the most advanced technology, systems and procedures to analyze and produce reports. The ideas from a knowledgeable and experienced manager has that could potentially be better than that of the planning department may be ignored and overlooked, making it a barrier to effective planning.

1. b) There are a number of factors of effective planning and one of them is the quality of the planner. There are many traits that make an effective planner but generally, most agree that they most importantly must possess a broad understanding and work experience and a good educational background that is relevant and beneficial to the organization. These planners must also possess the ability to analyze and take into account the aspects that inspire successful planning. Even in an extremely volatile environment where the business environment is constantly shifting, as long as the quality of planners are high, they will be able to create plans to adjust to the changing environment. For example, the planners can come up with contingency plans that focus on the unpredictable and uncontrollable variables, knowing that their investment firm is operating in a volatile environment.

The second factor of effective planning is the quality of the information. Planning is essential for a company’s success, and the higher the quality of the information an organization possesses, the higher the chance of designing successful plans, which in the long run, helps the organization achieve its goals. Information should be obtained internally and externally, and then made sure that they are reliable and updated details and facts. Having various informants and using different sources to attain information can increase the accuracy of the information obtained by comparing them. For example, even though White Forest Financial operates in an extremely volatile environment which is not straightforward or simple, as long as the planners or information managers continually update and check their information on the economy, the environment and the competitors, and forecasts are generated, the company can be ready for the changes and adjust to new environments.

Question 3

1. a) The first of three variables in the situational leadership theory concerns the leader-member relations. This variable involves the measure to which the members accept and trust the leader, and involves confidence and faith between the two parties. This leader-member relation is considered good when the leader has the power to influence and guide the employees towards the desired goal. On the other hand, it is considered poor when the leader has to bargain with them instead by providing benefits for the employees in exchange for performance. For example, a leader provides employees with more vacation days, and in return, asks for their cooperation in the current project due to poor leader-member relations.

The second variable in this theory is the task structure – structured or unstructured. The task structure describes how clear and simple a task is in terms of task goals, methods, and occurrences. The more well-defined the task structure is, the higher the chance of employees performing well. A task is deemed as structured when it has been occurring repeatedly, is a routine or has a specific procedure to complete it, for example, replacing an air conditioner’s compressor. A task that requires creativity or processing because it is new and complex is an unstructured task.

The last variable is the leader position power, which depicts the position the leader functions in the organization. The position the leader is in in an organization will portray the leader’s capacity and formal authority to punish or reward subordinates or employees. The connection or association this leader has are established by the legitimate and expert power the leader possesses due to his/her position in the organization. For instance, a leader at a higher position in the organizational hierarchy has greater perceived power.

1. b) The University of Iowa explored three different leadership styles in an organization and the first is the autocratic leadership style. The autocratic style takes on an ‘I’ approach as everything is done by one person only – the leader. A leader that uses the autocratic leadership style centralizes authority and power, does all the decision-making and acquires little to no output from his/her subordinates, limiting the participation of the employees. An autocratic leader is independent, he/she dictates the work approaches and expects each employee to abide by instructions and obey each command. An example of an autocratic leadership style at work would be when there is an expansion project at hand, and Chris, the leader makes all decisions, and ends the meeting straightaway after delegating tasks to each member without asking for their opinions or thoughts.

The democratic style is the opposite of the autocratic style. This style takes on the ‘we’ approach as things are done as a group. A democratic leader involves the employees in the decision-making process, encouraging employee contribution, while an autocratic leader may obtain feedback without changing the decision. Having a leader with a democratic leadership style is an effective way of motivating employees. In contrast, most employees find the autocratic style demotivating, because unlike the democratic style, employees do not have the sense of ownership over the work. This leadership style also demands for mutual trust between the leader and the members. For example, Joon has known his members for years and has grown very close to them and therefore, holds a meeting to discuss each member’s opinions and decisions for a new project.

The last leadership style explored by this university is the laissez-faire leadership style. The laissez-faire leadership style has a ‘they’ approach as the group members are granted absolute freedom to make decisions, without any direct involvement or inclusion from the leader. The laissez-faire approach, unlike the autocratic approach which involves the leader making every single decision, and the democratic approach which involves the leader including the members in the decision making, allows the group members to complete the task as they see fit freely. The leader may set the boundaries and limits and stays available for consultations, but everything else is conducted by the members and they are held accountable for their performance and decisions. This leadership style is usually used when the leader deems the task to be rather simple and knows that the members are able to handle it. For example, Jess is busy with a lot of work and a new task has to be handled, she reviews the task and entrusts her group members with it as she knows that her members are capable of completing the task. However, she still remains available for consultation whenever her members need to discuss related matters with her.

Question 4

1. a)
2. i) The type of control Donald uses is the feedback control.

1. ii) The feedback control, sometimes known as the output control, concentrates on and spotlights the results or the outputs of a production. It is a process done at the end of an operation or production process for managers to assess and evaluate how effectively the final product meets the set goals. By comparing the final product to the expectations, managers can check for deviations that previously went unnoticed. This type of control is vital and very important as managers have the tendency to miss out on critical mistakes at times, and when these mistakes are accidentally overlooked, it can cause serious issues and problems. So, feedback control helps to ensure that the final product is flawless and that they match up to the expectations and goals.

b)

1. i) The type of control that Contours, Inc. is using is the feedforward control.

1. ii) Feedforward control, which seems similar to feedback control, in a sense that it’s related to defects and deviations, is actually fairly different. Feedforward control is also considered a preventive control because it prevents these defects and deviations from the set standards and goals. Unlike feedback control, feedforward control concentrates on the operations before it has been set on motion. This allows the company to cut costs because mistakes are costly to businesses. This type of control emphasizes and regulates the inputs, making sure that the required standards are met for the whole procedure. These inputs not only include the materials used for the transformation process, but other resources needed for production, such as money, time, employees and many more. Feedforward control is a preventive measure taken to avoid and prevent potential critical issues that may occur in the process.

c)

1. i) The type of control used in this context by Contours, Inc is the concurrent control.

1. ii) The concurrent control, or sometimes known as the “screening or yes-no control” is the process of controlling as the production is ongoing, in between feedforward control and feedback control. While feedforward control regulates the inputs before the production starts, concurrent control regulates the ongoing activities that are part of the production, also to ensure that they meet the required standards and expectations. As mentioned above, problems and mistakes can be costly; therefore, the management should use concurrent control and regulate these activities while the production is ongoing before things get out of hand. Often times, it is easier if checkpoints are made so that the management can decide whether to put the production on hold, to continue, or to make amendments and changes to it.

1. d) There are four steps in the controlling process and the first step is to establish performance standards. In every production, a performance standard or a goal has to be set in order to measure the productivity or effectiveness. To establish the performance standards, some critical questions such as what has to be monitored or where the monitoring efforts are to take place have to be asked. An example of this step would be Min determines that Layla will work with Tim to design the packaging, and the packaging has to ensure the safety of the contents while remaining attractive.

The second step is to measure the performance. After the goals and standards are established, managers must then measure the actual performance against these standards, making sure all criteria are met. An efficient way of measuring performance is by using computerized systems that store data and monitor the process. For example, the computer detects flaws in the packaging when measured against the standards set by Min.

The next step involves comparing measured performance to established standards, which similar to the second step, requires the managers to compare performance to the set standards. If variations do exist, the manager must then determine if they are major and if they need to be modified. For instance, the manager then has to determine whether the flaws detected in the packaging by the computer is major and whether changes are to be made.

The final step of the controlling process involves taking corrective actions. After the differences are identified, solutions and changes should be made to prevent the same problem from occurring again. Taking corrective actions is best to help amend and rectify the problems before they get too serious or costly. For example, the manager takes corrective action and decides to redo the packaging process.