The performance of individual managers is vital to
the success of an organization
By M. SHAFIQ
Associate Professor
AMI-Iqra University
Oct 29 - Nov 04, 2001
In this era of globalization, the nations whose
industrial and business organizations are managed effectively and
efficiently dominate the world. Mr. Ahsan Iqbal, former Deputy
Chairman, Planning Commission in his article entitled 'Challenges of
Knowledge Economy' (daily Dawn, May 25, 2001), has referred to Michael
Porter who has gone as far as to suggest "that it is incorrect to
ask why certain nations succeed while others fail. It is not a nation,
but its firms, companies and industries that really compete in
international market place. Therefore the question is why in a
particular nation firms are able to create and sustain competitive
advantage against the world's best in a particular field?"
A nation thus draws its strength, influence and
prestige in the international business arena on the basis of how well
its organizations are managed. If we include the management
performance of public organizations to Porter's penetrating
observation, the issue of organizational performance assumes critical
importance. It should be noted that the penalty for low organizational
performance is very high. This maybe appreciated from the fact that
out of the first list of Fortune 500 companies published in 1954
two-thirds do not make it anymore.
The next logical question is as to who manages all
these organizations all over the world? Obviously, it is the
managerial class at various levels who in one way or the other
contribute to the development of various strategies, policies and
processes and implement the same. The performance of individual
managers at various levels therefore is vital to the success of an
organization. What then determines the performance of individual
managers? This is a complex question, which has been intriguing the
minds of most management students, writers and practitioners.
Peter Drucker was the first to seriously focus on
this point in his first of the many great books entitled 'Effective
Executive' published in early sixties. Since then the importance and
popularity of the query has been increasing at an exponential rate
over the years. This development has been responsible for the creation
of the new genre of management literature emphasizing personal and
managerial improvement. Writers in the USA have been leading this
trend. One Minute Manager series, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
and the new best seller entitled Who Moved My Cheese? are some of the
prominent examples of this literature.
In view of its tremendous importance, the issue of
enhancing managerial performance has been a perennial challenge for
all concerned in the leading organizations of the world. Each
organization develops its own response for maintaining its competitive
edge through managerial excellence. It is a bit unnerving to note the
casual disregard to the quality of performance of individual managers
in various private and public organizations, despite its enormous
impact on their success. This is exhibited by the lack of appreciation
for the need of training and development of the managers to enhance
their contribution to the success of organization, particularly in the
developing countries.
Essential Requirements
Essential managerial skills and qualities are many
and varied. A suggested spread of these essential requirements is
specified in the three broad areas as under:
•Managerial Skills: Planning, Organizing,
Leading, Controlling, Communication, Conceptual Abilities, Decision
Making, Delegation, Resource Economy, Strategic Thinking, Time
Management and Quality Consciousness
•People Management: Empathy, Humanistic
Values, Leadership, Motivation and Networking
•Readiness To Change: Acquiring new
Knowledge & skills, Adapting, Improving and Proactive Thinking
The above listing may seem formidable. But a close
look will justify the need for all the skills and attitudes for giving
a first rate managerial performance. Also the mix of these
requirements will differ depending on the hierarchical position of the
manager.
Classification
All managers are required to achieve certain goals
with the given resources, limitations and situations. All of them
initiate, activate and energize the required management processes in
their individual styles, based on their understanding of the
managerial skills, peoples management, readiness to change,
priorities, communication abilities, motivating powers etc. Based on
the interplay of these factors, they achieve varied levels of success.
Ordinary managers achieve goals without any
distinction and qualify to continue as managers. Others achieve their
goals very efficiently and also succeed to generate a fair amount of
job satisfaction among their subordinates. These can be classed as
excellent or super managers. Rarely one encounters a manager who is
effective and efficient and also genuinely believes in humanistic
values. These are the real managers who are precious asset for the
organizations they serve.
Work environments
Managers, Super managers and real managers referred
above create distinct work environment through their different styles
which is a product of their knowledge and proficiency in managerial
skills, attitude towards human beings particularly to their
subordinates and behavior patterns exhibited under various degrees of
stress. Their classification into a manager, super manager and a real
manager depends on the quality of their performance in the three broad
areas of essential requirements.
The following table is an attempt to differentiate
among Managers, Super managers and Real managers, based on their
performance in the three broad areas of essential requirements
comprising various skills, attitudes and behaviour patterns.
|
MANAGERS
CLASSIFICATION/PERFORMANCE |
|
CLASSIFICATION |
ESSENTIAL
REQUIREMENTS |
|
Managerial
Skills |
People
Management |
Readiness
To Change |
|
MANAGERS |
Average |
Average |
Below
Average |
|
SUPER
MANAGERS |
High Average |
Average to
High Average |
Average |
|
REAL
MANAGERS |
High Average to Outstanding
|
Outstanding |
Outstanding |
The performance of a Manager in all the specified
areas is usually average and below average as shown in the table
above. They barely manage to achieve their goals. The work environment
created by their style and practice is drab, inflexible, repressive,
dubious and prejudiced. The people work for them because they have to.
They obey but do not respect. A Super manager's performance is mostly
high average particularly in the area of managerial skills. They are
mostly effective and resource efficient. They usually meet schedule
limitations and budget criteria and are adept in networking especially
outside their departments and organizations. Their performance in
people's management and their readiness to change and adapt are
however average. Super managers are mostly benevolent autocrats. They
listen or pretend to listen to their subordinates patiently but make
all decisions themselves. The work environment created by the Super
managers is productive but psychologically deficient. Their
subordinates do not feel valued and respected. They do not feel
repressed but neither are they fully comfortable.
On the top are Real managers. Their knowledge and
performance of managerial skills is above average. They are
outstanding in their handling of people's management and always ready
to learn, change and adapt. They meet all goals and targets without
any fuss. Real managers consciously and deliberately create a work
environment that is supportive, participative, creative, inspiring and
ethically healthy. Real managers are not all that sold on
relationships and welfare of the subordinates at the expense of
productivity and discipline. They fully appreciate the importance of
priorities, productivity, time management and accountability. They
manage through their expertise and moral authority and not through
command and control structure. Their real strength lies in their moral
authority and conviction in great potential of others and their own
motivational powers to help their subordinates realize that. The Real
managers acquire total commitment and support of their team members
through sincere efforts for developing and empowering them.
Glyn Macken, Deputy Director General, The Institute
of Management in his article 'Taking An Holistic Approach'
(Professional Manager, May 1997) has effectively highlighted the
importance of harnessing full potential of people in the emerging
model of management as quoted below:
"Management has become more about managing
people than managing operations; unless we have harnessed the full
potential of our people even the best plans are likely to be less than
successful. Furthermore, it has also become evident that releasing the
potential of our people involves more than simply providing them with
the best training and a clear company strategy. We have to gain their
support and commitment by providing an environment in which they will
thrive as individuals".
All managers need to improve their ability to
contribute towards their personal, organizational and national
interests. In the existing competitive world of corporate and public
management, only those managers can survive and excel who make
continuous and determined efforts to upgrade themselves from Managers
to Super managers and from Super managers to Real managers.
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