Assessment Cover Sheet
Names of Students: Guilherme Steffen and Victor Ganea
Student Number: 10023576; 10050736
Module Name: Management
Module code: B7MN100
Title of Assignment: Management Functions in Action
Date due: 25th of March
Word Count: 6330 words
Management Function in Action
Table of Contents
PART I Introduction .......................................................................................................3
PART II Planning ............................................................................................................4
PART III Organizing ......................................................................................................7
PART IV Leadership and Motivation .........................................................................11
PART V Controlling......................................................................................................16
PART VI Conclusion .....................................................................................................18
Figures ............................................................................................................................21
References.......................................................................................................................23
Appendices (Meeting notes) ..........................................................................................24
Self-evaluation reports ..................................................................................................25
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Introduction
As students of management we were requested to conduct an interview with
questions based on the content studied throughout the academic year. This interview has
as its objective to analyse the difference between what we studied in the classroom and
the real life management. Primary and Secondary research was conducted for this
report. The functions of a manager could be numerous, the level of the manager also
implies on the activities he has to complete. In order to provide a better understanding
of the managerial functions, they were divided into four big categories. Planning,
Organizing, Leading and Controlling. We studied each of these categories separately
and in the end we linked the managerial functions that are related between the
categories.
The manager we chose is Cristiano Diefenthaeler a middle manager from Sick
Ltd. Sick was founded in 1946 and today is world leader producer of sensors and
sensors solutions for industrial application. The total group sales for 2013 was the
amount of EUR 1,009.5 million and the company employs over 6.500 people
worldwide. Sick Brazil initiated its activities recently with the acquisition or merge of
the company Cristiano used to work. The company in Brazil went through a recent
project of change and as a result Cristiano was able to tell us some of the strategies that
are being implied in order to complete targets set by the headquarters of the company
located in Germany.
As a middle manager of a company located in two distinct countries, we attempt
to illustrate the difference between the managerial style used in a undeveloped country
in comparison to the style used in a developed economy. We believe that this report
exemplify the culture impact when managing and taking decisions. Some of the theories
were again researched and analysed in a different point of view, we tried to bring into
the report real life examples and link the theory we learned in class with our research as
well as the answers of our interviewee.
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Planning
In modern organizations managers are often requested to, based on the company
strategy, achieve goals which are set in order for the organization to succeed. These
goals are often a hard challenge for managers who are responsible for not only set the
objectives but also determining a course of actions required to achieve these objectives.
This means managers should be concern on what is to be done and how it is to be done.
The manager that we interviewed is a middle manager who works in two units of
the organization, and respond to the headquarters of the company located in Germany.
He currently has 44 people under his span of control. Having to achieve goals which
were set for a whole unit of the organization located in a different country, Cristiano
claim that Planning is of extreme importance because it is the basis of all the other
managerial functions.
There are different types of plans and planning. In our course we defined that
strategic planning involves analysing opportunities and threats, as well as the strengths
and weaknesses of the entire organization. We learned that strategic planning has a
long-time frame, usually 3 years or more and it is often based in the organization
mission and values. Cristiano said that his company strategic plan is for at least two
years, on the other hand he affirmed that the company has plans and goals set up to
2020. To any manager be able to plan in long or short term, it is crucial that the
organization has a good method for data collection. One of the biggest challenge is to
find good data from reliable sources. The data of Cristiano Company is collected
through market research with customers, suppliers and also competitors. They also use
of specialised magazines and financial websites to increment the research. For analysis
of the data collected the company uses the SWOT methodology, which provides a
visual overview of the entire business and enables them to identify and understand key
issues and opportunities affecting the company.
In order to facilitate the understanding of the planning process and help managers
complete missions in a more effective way we learned the six steps of the strategic
management process. We strongly believe that the six steps are recommended but are
not a recipe for creating a strategic plan. According to Cristiano in practice you will
hardly review every step of the process but you will identify the steps that require more
attention and fix possible issues within the plan. We believe that the mission, objective
and strategy of the organization should be clear and the focus of any organization,
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additionally in day-to-day life all the others steps are modified and analysed constantly
in the course of the business because of changes in the market.
In order to collect data for this report we informally asked a few managers,
including Cristiano, which one was the hardest step of the managerial process. The
answers were similar between the managers, the decision making step. Digging into
research we could conclude that people have this desire to protect themselves from the
wrong decisions or, more properly, from the consequences of the wrong decisions.
Psychologists understands that the skill of decision making it is extremely important to
any person. As a result, there are numerous strategies available with the aim of assist in
this process. As business students we studied the 7 steps of the decision making which
were proposed by Pam Brown of Singleton Hospital in Swansea, Wales. Cristiano
affirmed he uses the 7 steps as a support on the decision making process but he believes
that what counts is the experience and evaluation of all factors involved.
We believe that all the decisions are based on the experience of the manager.
Important decisions should include more than one person, in order to compare
experiences and point of views related to the decision. Based on our research we found
that in cases where the manager needs to take action, they should trust their intuition
and use any of the strategies available to support the process.
In general there are three levels of strategy that organisations implement, which
are corporate-level, business level and functional level strategies. Corporate level
strategy occupies the highest level of strategic decision making and address the entire
strategic scope of the enterprise. The strategy covers actions dealing with the objectives
of the firm, which market to compete and in which geographical locations the firm will
operate. It is also the strategist responsibility for diversification, new products and even
retrenchment if it’s needed within the organization. As we previous stated, corporate
level strategists have a lot of responsibility in the results of the firm, this is often a
challenge due the complexity of the strategies. With the aim of reduce this complexity
the corporate level strategy can be divided into three categories, or three grand strategies
which are the growth strategies, renewal and stability strategies.
Cristiano briefly explained that the company he used to work was recently
acquired by Sick Ltd as a part of their growth strategy using the horizontal integration in
order to expand markets. Sick Ltd is a German company that wanted to enter in the
Brazilian market of sensors and in order to increase competitive strengths and lower
competitors among the industry decided to acquire a Brazilian firm which were
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operating in the market for the last decade. With the experience in the market and good
reputation the acquisition was a success and they have been focused in the growth
strategy to achieve annual targets until 2020. As the company is going through a
renovation process of its whole structure, they are planning to achieve growth by
reducing costs without reducing customer service and differentiating its products from
their competitors.
It is extremely important that all the company employees have knowledge of the
company strategies. Employees who understand the strategy are able to make day to day
decisions more efficiently and that supports the company vision and goals. We
discovered again that in practice this can be a very hard challenge. When we studied
visionary entrepreneurs like Ricardo Semler we may not had understood the importance
of having one sit reserved for anyone from any department to attend the company
meetings. This was strategically planned to equalize the power of employees and the
board and also to make them a bit more involved with the company management. In
Sick Ltd, Cristiano affirmed that when the strategies are being designed and planned
they have meetings which at least one person of each department it’s attending. In order
to inform their employees of the strategies they have an annually meeting which
happens right after the board meeting.
The company goals are set based on the means-end chain hierarchy. The goals are
integrated until you reach the base of the structure. As an example Cristiano stated that
the top manager set that the company needs to increase the sales by 20% by the end of
the year. Middle manager of a product states that they need to increase the amount of
market share of a product. Local Manager define that his team should increase the sale
in 20,000 units in the State of Rio Grande do Sul.
Planning it is one of the most important managerial tasks, it is the basis to all the
other functions. It is concerned with creating procedures, guidelines and rules for
achieving the goals and objectives of the enterprise. In the topic above we approached
different topics about planning, such as strategic planning, collection of data, the 6 steps
of strategic management process, the decision making process, the company goals and
its strategy of differentiation.
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Organizing
The basic concepts of organization design were formulated in the early 1990s by
management writers offered a set of principles for managers to follow. More than 20
years have passed since most of those principles were originally proposed. In this
section we will discuss about six basic elements of structure: work specialization, unity
of command, span of control, authority and responsibility, centralization and
decentralization, and departmentalization.
We did a research and figured out that nowadays almost all the companies use a
modern organizing model, using a work specialization and the unity of command. Work
specialization is a component of organization structure that first of all involves having
each discrete step of a job done by a different individual rather than having one
individual do the whole job and send increase the efficiency and the productivity of the
company. In fact, back in the 1700s when economist Adam Smith published Wealth of
Nations, he advocated that jobs should be divided into small parts. Overall, this
component of organization structure is alive and well in most organizations today, in
this case SICK Ltd. is not an exception. We have to recognize the economies it provides
in certain types of jobs, but we also have to recognize its limitations.
An employee who has to report to two or more bosses might have to cope with
conflicting demands or priorities. Accordingly, the early writers believed that each
employee should report to only one manager, a term called unity of command. As a
sample we can say the same about SICK Ltd. which is using this management principle
because in most instances, strict adherence to the unity of command creates a degree of
flexibility that hinders and organization's performance.
The span of control is the number of subordinates a manager can direct
efficiently and effectively manage. However, several writers argued that as a manager
rises in an organization, he/she has to deal with a greater number of ill-structured
problems, so top managers need a smaller span than do middle managers, and middle
managers require a smaller span than do supervisors. Our manager, Cristiano
Diefenthaeler, has the span of control of 44 people as we sad at the start, and there is no
limits in his opinion, he think that if the company has defined assets and processes and
if all the employees are well trained and know the processes, then a manager can get
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easily a bigger span of control. When you have a competent team that knows the
process is easier to work with large groups.
Authority refers to the right inherent in a managerial position to give orders and
expect the orders to be obeyed. Authority was a major tenet of the early management
writers; it was viewed as the glue that held the organization together. It was to be
delegated downward to lower-level managers, giving them certain rights while
providing certain prescribed limits within which to operate. The authority remains with
the position and its new incumbent. When managers delegate authority, they must
allocate commensurate responsibility. That is, when employees are given rights, they
also assume a corresponding obligation to perform. Our manager, Cristiano
Diefenthaeler like all managers nowadays delegate authority and responsibility to all
employees, first he delegate it and then practice the supervisors, through reports and
meetings, because meetings are a necessary part of operating in a professional
environment.
The terms authority and power are always confused nowadays. As we sad above
authority is a right, the legitimacy of which is based on the authority figure’s position in
the organization in addition to power refers to an individual’s capacity to influence
decisions. Authority is part of the larger concept of power. That is, formal rights that
come with an individual’s position in the organization are just one means by which an
individual can affect the decision process. There is five types of power that a manager
can use to his employees (see exhibit 2.1). As an example we have our manager
Cristiano who is using different models depending on the employee or department. Like
an example he gave us the commercial department that the methodology used in his
organization is the reward power. According to specialist it is important to learn how to
recognize each type, and how to use each type effectively in business situations, and
Cristiano is using all this types of power successfully and that is a great achievement for
him and for the organization.
When an organization is passing to decision-making process a good think to
decide at what level are decisions made in your organization. Centralization or
decentralization? However, is not an either-or concept. Rather, it's a degree
phenomenon. Centralization is a function of how much decision-making authority is
pushed down to lower levels in the organization, the higher the level at which decisions
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are made. Decentralization is a function of how decision-making authority pushed down
to the lowest level of the organization, to the closest level to the problems. According to
Cristiano’s experience, in practice he use a mix of both, like all modern managers, he
chosen the right amount of centralization and decentralization that will allow them to
best implement their decisions and achieve organizational goals, he also is working for
decision-making process with the levels of responsibility that allows him to achieve
company’s goals easier and on an organizational level the benefits are even great.
Early management writers argued that activities in the organization should be
specialized and grouped intro departments (called departmentalization). Work
specialization creates specialists who need coordination. This coordination is facilitated
by putting specialists together in departments under the direction of a manager/leader.
These departments are typically based on the work functions performed, the product or
service offered, the target customer or client, the geographic territory covered, or the
process used to turn inputs intro outputs. The method or methods used should reflect the
grouping that would best contribute to the attainment of the organization’s objectives
and the goals of individual units. Cristiano Diefenthaeler in his organization is using a
mix of all of them (ie. Product, geographic areas and customers help them to identify
what the best product for particular customer and region) that allow the company to
achieve economies of scale in that it can centralize all the resources it needs and locate
various experts in that area and is a good coordination within the function because the
top managers can easily direct and control various departments’ activities.
Organizational structure is a type of framework used in business. Its purpose is
to find the most effective way to delegate roles, power, and responsibilities to its
employees and departments. Based on an organizations goals and objectives it may be
structured in many different ways. Two important structures include Mechanistic and
Organic Structure (see exhibit 2.2). Mechanistic structure are mainly for companies that
operate in a stable environment, use a centralized approach of authority, and maintain
strong loyalty for management. In a nutshell we can say its bureaucracy, it’s a structure
that is high in specialization, formalization, and centralization. On the other hand, the
organic structure are used in organizations facing unstable environments and must
possess the ability to change accordingly. In brief we can say it’s a structure that is low
in specialization, formalization, and centralization. As an example we can say about
SICK Ltd. where our manager Cristiano is using the mechanistic structure, he think
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that’s the best type of structure that can fit his company’s needs. Cristiano is satisfied
using this structure because everything looks clear and it is structured. The benefits of
this structure also are that belief upper management is better capable of making
decisions and the employees are more jobs specialized and placed into certain
departments.
Change is a common thread that runs through all businesses regardless of size,
industry and age. Our world is changing fast, and, as such, organizations must change
quickly too. The concept of “change management” is a familiar one in most businesses
today. But, how businesses manage change and how successful they are at it varies
enormously depending on the nature of the organization. According to the specialist and
to Cristiano’s experience the main external factors that can create the need of changing
are the economy and the market (ie. competition). And the key part of changing process
depends on how far people within it understand the change process. We studied this
year that a good change process was developed by Kurt Lewin in 1950s and still holds
true today because is one of the cornerstone models for understanding organizational
change. The process is really easy to understand, consisting of 3 steps as UnfreezeChange-Refreeze (see exhibit 2.3). That’s just the theory, but according to our manager
Cristiano in practice is a bit different, in his organization he don’t use this change
process, he utilize methodology and feasibility studies for the discussions that this
change may result in the organization. At the moment SICK Ltd. is currently
undergoing a process of modelling, and in this organization the change process in going
on the lower level, working close to people and structure.
As a conclusion, we can say that Cristiano Diefenthaeler given today’s uncertain
economic environment he understand the basic principles of the structural change and
development in his organization. He use modern strategies and is evaluating the process
to the lowest level in organization and working close to people and to structure because
that’s the key part of changing process making all the people within organization to
understand the change process and its benefits. This organization is using a mechanistic
structure in the that make them better capable to make decisions and the employees are
more jobs specialized and placed into certain departments.
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Motivation and Leadership
Motivation can be described as the level of desire the employees feel to perform
efficiently towards the company objectives, simultaneously satisfying personal needs
and helping the organization attain its goals. According to Mithcell T.R (1982)
motivation, ability and environment are the major influencers over employee
performance, in other words, motivation on its own it is not sufficient to improve
employees productivity levels, but it is a major influence, that as involving human
beings becomes another challenge for managers. We studied a few theories that help us
to understand how we motivate people.
The very first theory most students and managers are familiar with it’s the theory of
needs created by Maslow in 1943. Maslow stated that we could divide a person needs
into five stages that are hierarchically ranked. As we satisfy the basic needs, we start
looking to satisfy higher needs. Once we satisfy the need, it no longer serve as a
motivator. Cristiano believes that motivation is key for achieving success, he studied the
Maslow theory in college but he affirmed that although the concept applies in real life, it
is a hard challenge to identify the employee need. The difficulty arise when we
understand that every employee is distinctive, and as a result applying the same
treatment as an attempt to fulfill their needs is often a useless movement. We also
identified that the theory changes in relation to the environment and the economy of the
country. Cristiano believes that in Brazil, as a result of the strong uncertainty of
employees, the majority of the population is concerned about Job Security, this means
that satisfying this need there, would imply in a stronger impact in the employee
motivation when compared to other countries.
Clayton Alderfer made a slight modification in Maslow theory and created the
ERG Motivation theory, which he divided the five human needs into three big
categories, existence needs, relatedness needs and growth needs. The main difference
between the two theories is that the ERG theory understands that at a given point of
time more than one need may be operational in a person. It also excludes the hierarchy
created by Maslow, this results on what is called frustration- regression aspect of ERG
theory.
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Douglas McGregor was an American social psychologist who proposed the XY
Theory. Basically what we need to cover is that the managerial style will depend and
have a strong influence on the manager believes and assumptions about its employees.
If the manager believes that his employees dislike work he will tend towards a classical
style of management. On the other hand, if the manager thinks his employees take pride
in doing a relevant job towards the company goal, the manager will tend towards a more
participative style. Cristiano commented saying that he believes that again this is
strongly related with the economy of the country. He believes that if the country is
developed the amount of Y employees would be greater than in an undeveloped
countries due to the level of education and training.
Herzberg researched and approached the question differently. He proposed the
two factor theory which says that the aspects that satisfy employees are very different
from the aspects that dissatisfy them. (See Figure 3.1) The Hygiene Factors does not
necessarily increase satisfaction among the employees. In contrast, the motivators or
satisfiers when these questions are solved it increases job satisfaction and performance.
Cristiano strongly believes that motivation is one of the manager key
responsibilities, he affirmed that Sick Ltd has frequent meetings and surveys along the
employees in order to identify the satisfaction of the employee in relation to the
company and environment of work. It is known that as human beings we compare
ourselves and our results with other people. As a sales manager Cristiano believes that
this comparison motivates employees when they have good leaders working among the
selling force. These selling people motivates towards growth, they are always trying to
reach success and meet sales target. We can classify these people as a high achiever,
from McClellands acquired needs theory, which states that these people are strongly
motivated by job situations with responsibility and an intermediate level of risk.
Cristiano affirmed that in Sick Ltd all their employees has a chance to be
promoted and they are all rewarded based in their production. He strongly believes in
the meritocracy used by the company. When asked about the equity theory, he agreed
that we compare ourselves and stated that this theory explains why giving one person a
promotion or a pay rise can demotivate the rest of the staff. We discovered that when
setting the goals and targets for the sales force, a higher target not necessarily will imply
a higher level of motivation, in fact he believes that a target that wasn’t planned
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accordingly would demotivate the staff. Today Sick Ltd has a profit sharing programme
and the sales targets are well rewarded when reached.
Behind a successful organization there is a good leader, and the leader plays one
of the main roles in the success of the company. Leadership is the action of leading
people in an organization towards achieving goals. Leaders do this by influencing
employee behaviours in several ways. A leader sets a clear vision for the organization,
motivates employees, guide employees through the work process and builds.
Nowadays the terms manager and leader are always confused. Managers are
appointed, they have legitimate power that allows them to reward and punish. On the
other hand, leaders may either be appointed or may emerge from within a group.
Leaders can influence others to perform beyond the actions dictated by formal authority.
Every manager should be a leader as well because this two are interactive to each other.
In our case we can show as an example Cristiano Diefenthaeler who is a leader
according to his experience and knowledge. He considers himself a good leader who
possess main characteristics of a leader: honesty and integrity, focused, self-reliance,
great communicative skills, hold relevant knowledge to work, enthusiastic and
intelligent. In his opinion the team should possess credibility in their work and truly
trust their manager and should be a good relationship of trust and reciprocity. Because
trust appears to be primary attribute associated with leadership, is a positive expectation
that another will not act opportunistically that can be manifested through words, actions,
and decisions. This is what Cristiano means by his experience a successful leader.
One of the first studies of leadership behaviour was done by Kurt Lewin and his
associates at the University of Iowa. In their studies, the researchers explored three
leadership behaviours or styled: autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. An autocratic
style is that of a leader who is typically tends to centralize authority, dictate work
methods, makes unilateral decisions, and limits employee participation. A leader with a
democratic style tends to involve employees in decision making, delegates authority,
encourages participation in deciding work methods and goals, and uses feedback as an
opportunity to coach employees. This technique totally describe our manager’s
leadership style who really take care of his employees. And finally, the laissez-faire
leader generally gives his or her employees complete freedom to make decisions and to
complete their work in whatever way they see fit. According to Cristiano, he is using
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the democratic leadership technique because it creates a positive work environment and
a result employees will do a better job it also creates job satisfaction that stimulates a
sense of participation, control and autonomy among the employees. As a manager Mr
Diefenthaeler emphasis on human and personal aspects of his team as well as technical
skills and goals, he believes that the last two should be the focus of the company to
maximize production and profitability.
Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard’s leadership model has gained a strong
recognition among management students and specialists. Called Situational Leadership,
it shows how a leader should adjust his or her behaviour in order to successfully guide
his staff towards the company goals and objectives. They identified four specific
behaviours.
(See Figure 3.2)
Our manager Cristiano defines himself as a selling style of leader, this means
that he put as priority both, the high relationship and the high focus on the tasks. This
allows him to provide both the path to be traced and the support along the walk. In his
opinion this model is the best one that allows you to lead your team in a friendly
environment and to achieve company’s goals successfully. Situational Leadership has
an intuitive appeal. It acknowledges the importance of follower and builds on the idea
that leaders can compensate for lack of ability and motivation of their followers.
Numerous of leading theories have been studied in the United States. It is known
that leaders are distinctive in different parts of the world. For example, in Japan, the
leaders are seen as very humble and communicative people. In Germany, the leaders are
characterized by higher productivity, little understanding and minimal staff participation
in decision-making. We attempt to identify the profile of a Brazilian leader in our
interview and according to our manager Cristiano, it is really hard to find a good leader
in Brazil as a result of the lack of technical preparation, poor education among the
population and also due their culture. Honesty and integrity are skills which are really
hard to find in undeveloped economies and we often see scandals related to corruption
in the government and also in private companies. Corruption is a part of the history of
Brazil, according to our research we could find corruption issues even when Brazil was
a Portuguese cologne. Nowadays Brazil is still in top rank of the 50 most corrupt
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countries, this causes a negative impact in investors who often need qualified people to
starting operating in a new market. We believe that this is the reason why in Brazil it is
hard to find good managers and leaders. In countries where corruption is high most of
the managers are false leaders, people for who the only interests are to benefit
themselves.
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Controlling
Planning can be done; an organizational structure can be created to efficiently
facilitate the achievement of objectives; and employees can be directed and motivated.
Yet, an organization has no assurance that activities are going as planned and that the
goals are, in fact, being attained. Control is the final link in functional chain of
management. Control is the management function that involves monitoring activities to
ensure that they are being accomplished as planned and correcting any significant
deviations.
The managerial function of controlling should not be confused with control in the
behavioral or manipulative sense. This function does not imply that managers should
attempt to control or to manipulate the personalities, values, attitudes, or emotions of
their subordinates. Instead, this function of management concerns the manager’s role in
taking necessary actions to ensure that the work-related activities of subordinates are
consistent with and contributing toward the accomplishment of organizational and
departmental objectives.
Before any manager start controlling an organization, he must have access to data
to compare outcomes or standards established. There are different ways and
management systems to do it and everyone are choosing the system that can fix its
organization’s needs. Sick Ltd. collect the relevant data for the achieving goals they
operate through statistical reports and management systems like SAP (Systems,
Applications and Products in Data Processing) is a German multinational software
corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer
relations. According to our manager’s experience this system combines all business
processes and makes them a complete functional chain in which all departments have
access to relevant company information in real time to take respective business
decisions. The system also documents all business transactions in the process and
approvals or controls can be established through authorisations and accessibility.
Every manager should compare the organizational performance to plan the
company’s goals. The range of variation is the acceptable parameter of variance
between actual performance and the standard. Sick Ltd. is an organization orientated by
productivity, and defining a range of variation is a vital step. The production sector of
the company works with variations in the performance, they are defined twice yearly in
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company meetings but Cristiano affirmed that for a more accurate control, they study
each case separately. In emergency cases the management team would interview and fix
the issue quickly, in all the other cases where the issue does not affect production, the
management team analyse the situation prior perform some action to fix it. Cristiano
commented that Sick Ltd. based its production system according to the Toyota
production system, this system was created between 1948 and 1975 by Toyota in order
to reduce production costs and maximize output efficiently.
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Conclusion
There is no one best way to implement those 4 managerial functions for all the
organizations. Every company is unique in his way and is using that strategy that can
better fit organization’s needs.
Our manager is Cristiano Diefenthaeler, who working as a middle manager in a
international company called Sick Ltd. Through the interview with Cristiano we
understood the managerial principles of the SICK Ltd. We believed that through this
report to show the culture, the structure, the managerial strategy of this organization.
We started with planning being one of the most important managerial task, it is
the basis to all the other functions. According to Cristiano’s experience in this
organization everything is well planned, organized and structured. Every strategic plan
and goal has a long-time frame, in this company is planned for at least two years, and
on the other hand he affirmed that the company has plans and goals set up to 2020. To
any manager be able to plan it is crucial that the organization has a good method for
data collection. One of the biggest challenge is to find data from reliable sources. The
data of Cristiano Company is collected through market research with customer,
suppliers and also competitors. For analysis of data collected the company uses the
SWOT methodology, which provides a visual overview of the entire business and
enables them to identify and understand key issues and opportunities affecting the
company. Cristiano briefly explained that the company he used to work was recently
acquired by Sick Ltd. as a part of their growth strategy using the horizontal integration
in order to expand markets. When the strategies are being designed and planned they
have meetings which at least one person of each department it’s attending because it is
extremely important that all the company employees have knowledge of the company
strategies.
The basic concepts of organization design were formulated in the early 1990s by
management writers offered a set of principles for managers to follow. All together
there are six basic elements of structure. Sick Ltd. is using a modern organizing model,
that include the unity of command, work specialization and departmentalization that
increase the efficiency and the productivity in the organization, help employees to be
more focus on their tasks. The span of control in each company depends on the
managers and on his experience. According to Cristiano’s experience (that have a span
of control of 44 people) the span of control more depends on employees, if the team is
well trained and know the processes then a manager can get easily a bigger span of
control. As all modern managers, Cristiano is using authority and responsibility in his
organization to all employees, first he delegate it and then practice the supervisors,
through reports and meetings. He is using different types of power depending on the
employee or department, and that a great achievement for him and for the organization
because it is really important to learn how to recognize each type of power and how to
use each type effectively in business situations. Cristiano is his organization is using the
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Management Function in Action
mechanistic structure (bureaucracy) because this structure can better fit his organization
needs and help them to work on the lowest level in the organization during change
process and decision making process that allows them to be closer to people and
structure.
Motivation and leadership can be described as the level of desire the employees
feel to perform efficiently towards the company objective, simultaneously satisfying
personal needs and at the same time influencing employee behaviours to achieve the
company’s goals. Our manager
affirmed that in Brazil, as a result of the strong
uncertainty of employees, the majority of the population is concerned about Job
Security, this means that satisfying this need there, would imply in a stronger impact in
the employee motivation when compared to other countries. Cristiano strongly believes
that motivation is one of the manager key responsibilities, he affirmed that Sick Ltd has
frequent meetings and surveys along the employees in order to identify the satisfaction
of the employee in relation to the company and environment of work. He consider
himself a good leader who possess main characteristics of a leader like honesty and
integrity, self-reliance, focused, enthusiastic and intelligent, hold relevant knowledge to
work and great communicative skills. Our manager, Cristiano is using a democratic
leadership style who tends to involve employees in decision making, delegates
authority, encouraged participation in deciding work methods and goals, and uses
feedback as an opportunity to coach employees.
Control is the final link in functional chain of management. Control is the
management function that involves monitoring activities to ensure that they are being
accomplished as planned and correcting any significant deviations.
Before any manager start controlling an organization, he must have access to
data to compare outcomes or standards established. Sick Ltd. collect the relevant data
for the achieving goals they operate through statistical reports and management systems
like SAP (Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing). According to our
Cristiano’s experience this system combines all business processes and makes them a
complete functional chain in which all departments have access to relevant company
information in real time to take respective business decisions. The system also
documents all business transactions in the process and approvals or controls can be
established through authorisations and accessibility.
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Management Function in Action
Sick Ltd. is an organization orientated by productivity, and defining a range of
variation is a vital step. The production sector of the company works with variations in
the performance, they are defined twice yearly in company meetings but Cristiano
affirmed that for a more accurate control, they study each case separately. Cristiano
commented that Sick Ltd. based its production system according to the Toyota
production system, this system was created between 1948 and 1975 by Toyota in order
to reduce production costs and maximize output efficiently.
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Management Function in Action
Figures
2.1 Types of power
Source: Based on Stephen P Robbins and David A. Decenzo (2008). Fundamentals of
Management pp.139
2.2 Mechanistic Vs. Organic Organizations
Source: Based on Stephen P Robbins and David A. Decenzo (2008). Fundamentals of
Management pp.143
2.2 Three Step Change Process by Kurt Lewin
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Management Function in Action
Source: Based on Stephen P Robbins and David A. Decenzo (2008). Fundamentals of Management
pp.148
3.1 Two-Factor Theory of Motivation
Source: Based on Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. (1959). The motivation to work.
New York: Wiley; Herzberg, F. (1965).
3.2 Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Model
Models of leader
Telling
(Focus on task/Low relationship)
The leader defines functions and tells people what, how, when and
where to do various tasks.
Selling
(Focus on task/high relationship)
The leader provides both the path to be traced as support along the
walk.
Participating
(Focus on relationship/Low focus on task)
The leader and followers talk and agree on decision-making; the main
role of the leader is to facilitate and communicate
Delegate
(low focus on relationship/Low focus on task)
The leader provides little guidance or support
Source: Based on Stephen P Robbins and David A. Decenzo (2008). Fundamentals of
Management pp.304
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References





Stephen P Robbins and David A. Decenzo (2008). Fundamentals of
Management (6th and 9th edition)
Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. (1959). The motivation to work.
New York: Wiley; Herzberg, F. (1965).
http://www.managementstudyguide.com/management-basics-articles.htm
http://study.com/academy/lesson/four-functions-of-management-planningorganizing-leading-controlling.html
http://www.slideshare.net/agarwalcards/principle-and-practices-of-management
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Appendices (Meeting notes)
Date
Attendance
Issues Discussed
Action Points
Feb 26th
Full Attendance
Find a manager and start
preparing for interview
We found a manager and start preparing the
question for the interview. We split the task
equally, and start doing it individually.
Mar 2nd
Full Attendance
The interview
We found a perfect time that fit our manager's
schedule and the skype-interview took part.
Mar 4th
Full Attendance
Discuss the interview
We discussed the interview and analysed the
answers.
Mar 9th
Full Attendance
Start working on the report
We start working on the report, decided our
report style. We split the tasks equally and start
working on individually.
Mar 11th
Full Attendance
Working on the report
We had already the introduction, Planning and
Organizing part done. Moved on next 2 parts.
Mar 16th
Full Attendance
Finishing the report
We finished all 4 managerial functions. Start
working on the conclusion.
Mar 18th
Full Attendance
Formatting the report
We start working on the conclusion and
references.
Mar 23rd
Full Attendance
Review
We met to finish the report. Worked on
correcting spelling, punctuation, grammar,
formatting.
Mar 25th
Full Attendance
Final review
We met last time to submit the assignment.
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Self-Evaluation Report – Guilherme Steffen 10023576
As students of management we were requested to, in groups, elaborate a list of
questions based on the content of the module. The fundamentals of management divide
the whole content of the course into four topics: Planning, Organizing,
Leadership/Motivation and Controlling.
During classes we studied these four topics going through all the material from
the book as well as analyzing cases studies to support a better understanding of the
subject. I found the module very good structured and planned and the lecture always
supported our learning process by bringing real life examples into the class room.
The final assignment, which was made in group, was also dived into the four areas
studied. Our group was made of the total of two people, and even though most of the
groups were made of three or four members we believe that dividing the assignment
between two people facilitated the process of understanding the content and made it a
lot easier to organize group meetings.
The manager we chose was Cristiano, a middle manager from a multinational
company that produces sensors for industrial use. We divided the work load fairly and
evenly. The interview was conducted in Portuguese, as a result it caused a lot more
work for our group in order to translate all the information into English. I was
responsible for the areas of Planning and Leadership, and also responsible to make
changes into the other two areas which were Victor’s responsibility. To support our
research we used diverse editions of the Fundamentals of management book, we also
researched in specific websites and in order to give the project a different point of view
we read articles from Peter Drucker released by Harvard Business Review. We also had
to study the Toyota system of production which were commented by our interviewee as
their company studied and implemented it. To conclude our research we had to cover
technological aspects that weren’t covered by the course, such as the SAP system and
its benefits to the modern organization.
We had diverse meetings along the process, we believed that the hours worked
was as follows:
Research for Interview Questions and elaborate the questions – 14 hours
Conducting the Interview and translating material – 7 Hours
Analyzing data, researching and producing the Report – 38 Hours
Review of Report, conclusion and introduction – 8 Hours
Planning Presentation and Poster Design – 6 Hours
I believe that the final assignment became of an extreme importance for my better
understanding of the four areas of management. The size of the report as well as the
way it was organized fit up perfectly in our schedule, making the research easy and
pleasurable to conduct. In the future the report could include more than one organization
or manager, in order to compare points of views and industries.
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Self-Evaluation Report – Victor Ganea 10050736
As management student we were requested to conduct an interview with
questions on the content studied throughout the academic year. This interview has as its
objective to analyse the difference between what we studied in the classroom and the
real life management.
The functions of a manager could be numerous, the level of the manager also
implies on the activities he has to complete. In order to provide a better understanding
of the managerial functions, they were divided into four big categories. Planning,
Organizing, Leading and Controlling. We studied each of these categories separately
during the academic year.
The final assignment, which was made in group, was also divided into the four
areas studied. My group was made of just two persons, and even though most of the
groups were made of more members we believe that splitting the assignment in half will
be easier to take decisions, to organize meeting and to increase the productivity.
We divided the assignment equally, and we both worked hard and believed we
did our best in this report. The hours we worked on this assignment was as follows:
Research for Interview Questions and elaborate the questions – 14 hours
Conducting the Interview and translating material – 7 Hours
Analyzing data, researching and producing the Report – 38 Hours
Review of Report, conclusion and introduction – 8 Hours
Planning Presentation and Poster Design – 6 Hours
As my favorite subject for this year, through this assignment I believed I earned
good experience and helped me for better understanding of the four areas of
management.
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