Chapter 2:
THE MANAGERIAL
FUNCTIONS
Leonard: Supervision 11e
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western.
All rights reserved.
AFTER STUDYING THIS CHAPTER,
YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:
1. Summarize the difficulties supervisors face in fulfilling
managerial roles.
2. Explain why effective supervisors should have a
variety of skills.
3. Define management and discuss how the primary
managerial functions are interrelated.
4. Discuss the important characteristics of the supervisor
as team leader.
5. Explain the difference between management and
leadership.
2–2
AFTER STUDYING THIS CHAPTER,
YOU WILL BE ABLE TO: (cont’d)
6. Discuss the concept of authority as a requirement of
any managerial position.
7. Describe the types of power potentially available to the
supervisor.
8. Explain the need for coordination and cooperation and
how they depend on the proper performance of the
managerial functions.
9. Explain how labor union’s affect the management
functions.
2–3
The Person In The Middle
• Difficulties supervisors face in fulfilling
managerial roles:
 Employees see their supervisors as being
management, but supervisors are subordinates to
their own managers at higher levels.
 To supervisors of other departments, supervisors are
colleagues who must cooperate with each other.
 Supervisors must have both good working knowledge
of the jobs being performed in their departments and
the ability to manage.
2–4
Managerial Skills Make The Difference
• Effective supervisors must:
 Have technical, human relations, administrative,
conceptual, and political skills.
 Be able to intelligently use their emotions.
 Must understand the technical aspects of the work
being performed.
 Understand employee needs when attempting to
manage job performance.
 Must have “people skills” to help them accomplish
objectives with and through people.
 Understand the dynamics of the organization and to
recognize organizational politics.
2–5
Critical Managerial Skills
• Technical skills
 The ability to do the job.
• Human relations skills
 The ability to work with and through people.
• Administrative skills
 The ability to plan, organize, and coordinate activities.
• Conceptual skills
 The ability to obtain, interpret, and apply information.
• Political skills
 The ability to understand how things get done outside of formal
channels.
• Emotional intelligence skills
 The ability to intelligently use your emotions.
2–6
Managerial Skills Can Be Learned
and Developed
• Managerial skills are learnable:
 It takes time, effort, and determination for a
supervisor to develop managerial skills.
• Management is practiced on the job:
 Supervisors go through a learning curve that offers
very little ground for trial and error.
• Management requires constant practice:
 Managers must stay on the path of continuous
improvement to sharpen their skills.
2–7
Functions of Management
• Management Defined
 Getting objectives accomplished with and through
people.
• Enabler
 The person who does the things necessary to enable
employees to do the best possible job.
• All managers perform essentially the same
managerial functions.
 The five managerial functions can be viewed as a
circular, continuous movement in which the functions
flow into each other; each affects the others.
2–8
FIGURE 2.4
The circular concept illustrates the close and continuous
relationship between the five management functions.
2–9
Functions of Management (cont’d)
• The Managerial Functions:
 Planning
 Determining what should be done.
 Organizing
 Arranging and distributing work among members of the work group
to accomplish the organization’s goals.
 Staffing
 Recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, appraising, promoting, and
compensating employees.
 Leading
 Guiding employees toward accomplishing organizational objectives.
 Controlling
 Ensuring that actual performance is in line with intended
performance and taking corrective action.
2–10
The Supervisor As Team Leader
• Reasons for the increasing use of teams:
 Increasing in the complexity of jobs and the amount of
information.
 Stronger focus on quality and customer satisfaction.
 The shift from a homogeneous to a diverse workforce.
 Growing realization that an autocratic, coercive
management style does not necessarily result in
productive, loyal employees.
 Demand for strong employee voices in their work
lives, as well as meaningful work, respect, and
dignity.
2–11
Managers And Leaders:
Are They Different?
• Leaders do the right things.
• Managers do things right.
• Management is how fast you climb the ladder.
• Leadership is knowing the ladder is on the right wall.
• Management is about maintaining the organization.
• Leadership is about vision, strategy, and aligning the
organization’s human resources behind the strategy.
• Neither managers nor leaders are good or bad—they
serve different purposes in and for the organization.
2–12
FIGURE 2.5
Who does what?
• The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.
• The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
• The manager focuses on systems and structures; the leader
focuses on people.
• The manager administers; the leader innovates.
• The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
• The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
Source: Adapted from Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader (Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, paperback edition 1994), pp. 44–45.
2–13
Managerial Authority
• Authority
 The legitimate right to direct and lead others in the
use of the resources of the organization.
 The limited power invested in a position by the
organization.
 Includes the right and duty to delegate authority.
• Acceptance Theory of Authority
 That a manager only possesses authority when the
employee accepts it.
2–14
Managerial Authority (cont’d)
• Avoiding Reliance on Managerial Authority
 Positional (formal ) authority has its limits.
 Fostering mutual trust and respect helps avoid
showing the “club” of authority.
• Delegating Authority
 Delegation—the process of entrusting duties and
related authority to subordinates.
 When authority is delegated, responsibility for results
becomes shared.
2–15
Power—the Ability To Influence Others
• Position Power
 Power derived from the formal rank a person holds in
the chain of command; the limited power attached to
a position within the organization.
• Personal Power
 Power derived from a person’s SKAs and how others
perceive that person in the relationship a supervisor
has with other people
• Thought Question:
 Which form of power is an effective manager likely to
rely on the most?
2–16
Power—the Ability To Influence Others
(cont’d)
• Sources of Power
 Reward power: The granting of rewards to foster and control
organizationally valued behaviors.
 Coercive power: The use of threat of punishment and discipline
to influence others.
 Legitimate power: Relying on position or rank to gain
compliance by others.
 Expert power: Possessing knowledge or valuable information
gives a person expert power over those who need that
information.
 Referent or charismatic power: The influence of some tangible
or intangible aspect of one person’s personality upon another
person.
2–17
Coordination
• Coordination
 The synchronization of employees’ efforts and the
organization’s resources toward achieving goals.
Applying the right amount of effort at the right place at the
right time.
 Synergistic effect of coordinated efforts:
2 + 2 = 5 (bad math, good results)

• Cooperation as Related to Coordination
 Cooperation—the willingness of individuals to work
with and help one another.
2–18
Coordination (cont’d)
• Attaining Coordination
 Networking— Individuals or groups linked by a
commitment to shared purpose.
• Coordination as Part of the Managerial
Functions
 Coordination is a desired result of effective
management.

When and where will who do what and how?
• Coordination with Other Departments
 Achieving coordination is an essential component of
the supervisory management position.
2–19
Coordination (cont’d)
• Cooperation and Coordination—Easier Said
Than Done
 The move toward increased employee participation,
broader spans of control, and fewer managerial levels
causes a greater need for coordination skills.
 However, competition among supervisors may
impede cooperation.
2–20
Labor Unions
Unions remain an important element of the
workforce!
• Labor union/labor organization
 Legally recognized organization that represents
employees and negotiates and administers a labor
agreement with an employer
• Labor agreement
 Negotiated document between union and employer
that covers the terms and conditions of employment
for represented employees
2–21
Labor Unions (cont’d)
• As members of management, supervisors have
the right and duty to make decisions. A labor
agreement does not take away that right.
However it does give the union a right to
challenge a supervisor’s decision that the union
believes to be a violation of the labor agreement.
• Just cause
 Standard for disciplinary action requiring tests of
fairness and elements of normal due process, such
as proper notification, investigation, sufficient
evidence, and a penalty commensurate with the
nature of the infraction.
2–22
Labor Unions (cont’d)
• Grievance
 Formal complaint presented by the union to
management that alleges violation of the labor
agreement
• Arbitrator
 Person selected by the union and management to
render a final and binding decision concerning a
grievance
2–23
KEY TERMS
• Acceptance theory of authority
• Labor agreement
• Administrative skills
• Labor agreement negotiation
• Arbitrator
• Labor union/Labor organization
• Authority
• Leadership skills
• Communication skills
• Leading
• Conceptual skills
• Management
• Controlling
• Networking
• Cooperation
• Organizing
• Coordination
• Personal power
• Delegation
• Planning
• Emotional intelligence skills
• Political skills
• Enabler
• Position power
• Grievance
• Servant leadership
• Human relations skills
• Staffing
• Just or proper cause
• Technical skills
2–24