BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
A1
Session 1-2
September 30, 2014
What is management about … ?
• Game .. Homework
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What does it take to be a manager? Good manager? At what level?
refer to email and file posted in IS by Thursday Oct 2nd, 2014
Self-assessment test
Looking for core competencies of a manager inside of you
What is management about … ?
• Getting things done through people …
• In an organizational setting …
• Doing things now to get things done in the future …
But how?
• By planning and administering (example) (planning &
administration competency)
– A factory … logistics dept manager … gathers info from sales dept.
about times and dates when goods are to be shipped -> learns about
who has what shifts -> analyzes who is best for what trucks’
destinations (language competencies of logistics HR) -> sets up a
working schedule (shifts) for employees
Getting work done …
• By communicating (communication competency)
– How does he best communicate the schedule? (in what form? Formal?
Informal? Does he negotiate? Should he negotiate? Why/not?)
– To whom? All employees in the dept? Their team leader? Why?
– When? Next day? Why?
• By working together with others (teamwork competency)
– knowledge, time (mother cannot stay late at work every day as she
needs to pick up her child from kinder-garden … etc.)
– How do you create a supportive and dynamic team environment?
What if two workers hate each other?  Do you want them to load up
one truck together?
Getting work done …
• By setting a strategic path (strategic action competency)
– What if the goods must be delivered by Saturday every week because
the law prohibits its transportation on Sundays? -> do you have this
knowledge & understanding of this industry?
– => how do you plan the shipments? Will you not let employees stay at
home on Fridays? (organizational changes)=> sales strategy => sales
plans set accordingly => pricing strategy => marketing strategy …
• By being able to work with people of different cultures and
backgrounds (multicultural competency)
– Understanding and feeling other cultures, empathy -> employing
cheap yet educated labor from East may be insensitive and not proper
Getting work done …
• By being able to practice self-management (self-management
competency)
– Equality of treatment of all subordinates regardless of race, religion,
language, etc. -> ethics
– Keeping promises -> integrity?
– Daily life and work shall be balanced for all -> would you ask
subordinates to work 3 hours of overtime every day w/without
adequate compensation? (lifting heavy boxed goods)
– How do you encourage people to work more efficiently in a logistics
dept?
Cell-phone R&D project management example
– 1 observer per group
• How much $ do we have available? E.g. 100,000 EUR?
– What for?
– How many people involved? Who is paid? How much? When?
• Planning & organizing a project?
– What do we do ourselves? (knowledge, time, $ capacities)
– What do we outsource? (knowledge, time, $ capacities)
• Time management of the project?
– Deadlines? Why? -> e.g. Apple wants to present to the world a next
generation phone by a certain date
– Breakdown of deadlines for individual steps – operations … ?
Cell-phone R&D project management example
– 1 observer per group
• Who will work with whom? Why? How do you decide this? ->
team work?
• At what pace do you plan R&D projects? How often do you
plan the release of a new cell-phone? What kinds? Why?
• Who do you hire and why? Based on what criteria?
• How much of what are you willing and ready to invest in this
project? Why?
Terminology – home assignment
• Organization … define
• Manager … define all items below
– functional vs. general
– First-line vs. middle vs. top managers
• Managing … define all items below
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Planning
Organizing
Leading
Controlling
Evaluating
Taking corrective actions, changing plans, etc.
HISTORY OF MANAGEMENT
THOUGHT
Session 2
October 7, 2014
Traditional viewpoint of management – the
oldest concept
Bureaucratic management
– Belief – only one best way to manage an organization (business) – Max
Weber (Germany)
– A blueprint of how an org should operate – by implementing a formal
system of:
• fixed rules
• impersonal attitudes and behavior
• clear division of labor
• strict hierarchical structure, detailed authority structure
– Traditional – based on custom, ancestry, gender, birth-order
– Charismatic
– Rational-legal – using uniformly established and applied laws & rules
• long-lasting career commitment
• rationality of behavior
Traditional viewpoint of management – the
oldest concept
Bureaucratic management (continued) - Home assignment
– examples …?
– Advantages, disadvantages?
Traditional viewpoint of management – the
oldest concept
Scientific management
– US born concept – end of 1800s – production-based companies – need
to plan what and how much of what to manufacture and when,
planning the resources, HR, scheduling, etc. – Frederick W. Taylor
(USA)
– Based on observation and factual information
– Aim to increase efficiency of work -> lower unit costs, time utilization,
higher productivity, organization of tasks, etc.
• Time & motion studies – measuring physical motion of workers (no
robots, just tools)
• Specialization needed – authority thru specialized knowledge and
expertise of a narrow area
Traditional viewpoint of management – the
oldest concept
Scientific management (continued)
– Production scheduling – nowadays used for project planning – visual
plans and progress reports -> Gantt charts -> home assignment –
Henry Gantt
– examples for both …? (home assignment)
– Advantages, disadvantages? (home assignment)
Traditional viewpoint of management – the
oldest concept
Administrative management
– French born concept – early 1900s – successful managers must follow
formal structure and processes in an organization with a clearly
defined goals and tasks to meet these goals (Henri Fayol)
– E.g. unity of command principle – subordinate shall report to only one
supervisor (manager)
– examples …? (home assignment)
– Advantages, disadvantages? (home assignment)
Behavioral viewpoint of management
• Workers are no longer viewed as robots
– 1930s … managers began to realize that workers are human beings
with needs, values, and desire for respect
– i.e. workers do not perform up to their physiological capabilities
– i.e. focusing on human aspects of organizations
Hawthorne studies
– 1924 – 1933 … Western Electric Company Hawthorne plant
– Illumination tests …
– Results?
Systems viewpoint of management
• Systems types
• Quantitative techniques
Contingency viewpoint of management
• Variables
Quality viewpoint of management
• Quality control process
• Lessons learned