Essay: A managers role

The list of skills and qualities that a manager must possess to succeed is long and not exhaustive. Different managers have different skill sets and are better equipped at dealing with different types of problems. This then means that a manager cannot have skills that encompass everything that is needed for a company to succeed, this is where good hiring makes a major impact. Realising your drawbacks and weaknesses makes the manager able to isolate the things that he is lacking in and thus hire employees that complement his skill set and fill those gaps. However, hiring more employees means that a manager has to be able to manage different cultures and people, this is true especially for an international manager. A manager is not only expected to manage the people working for him, he also has to manage his bosses and all of the expectations that are put on him. As an aspiring manager I must draw on the theories discussed and determine what I am good at and I am lacking in, improving on my weaknesses is an key task for me as a future manager. The skills that I deem to be the most important for a manager and the most relevant for me are the ability to communicate efficiently using Mintzberg’s theory, the understanding of what is necessary to motivate employees using Maslow’s theory and creative and analytical problem solving using once again Mintzberg’s theory. A manager must be self aware and recognise what he excels at and what his drawbacks are, thus he must be able to rectify his weaknesses through constant personal betterment and capable hiring practices.

 

Communication and being able to network are very important skills that a manager could possess. We can see this in Mintzberg’s theory, especially the three roles of disseminator, liaison and negotiator. The role of a disseminator is being able to effectively communicate and delegate tasks to employees so that there is minimal misunderstanding. Liaison refers to the ability of a manager to be able to network both within the company and with external contacts. Being able to effectively network is a huge benefit, companies rely heavily on connections to be able to expand and hire employees. Negotiation is self explanatory however, it is of utmost importance to a manager. Whether the negotiation is inside the department, the company or with another company a manager must be able to negotiate to achieve his goals (Mintzberg, 1990)

Communication is a strength of mine and a tool that I believe I would be able to effectively use as a future manager. Out of the three roles mentioned in Mintzberg’s theory my best strength would be liaison. I believe that networking is a strength of mine even now. Coming to an international university has given me the ability to network with potential future business leaders, this is something that I can only improve on during the coming years. For disseminator I think that this is also a strength of mine however, it does not mean that there is no room for improvement. Having the ability to efficiently delegate tasks would benefit me and give me time to focus on things such as long-term strategy as opposed to technical problems. Negotiation would probably be the weakest of the three for me. This mainly derives from the fact that I do not have the necessary experience in high level negotiation. This ought to change with me gaining more and more experience throughout my career.

Motivation is the second skill that I highlighted as important and it is complementary to communication. Motivation is the ability for a manager to effectively communicate to his employees and provide them with inspiration to drive them to perform better. The greatest entrepreneurs and managers have been able to motivate others and themselves, increasing the performance standards of the company. For motivation I applied Maslow’s theory of needs that has been used in business for years now. According to Maslow’s theory actualisation of the needs of employees motivates the workers to give back to the company by means of hard work and productivity. Making employees feel valued and fulfilled is a key ingredient to maximise productivity (Maslow and Frager, 1987). McClelland also stated three needs that employees have are the need for achievement, need for affiliation and the need for power (Zurbriggen and Sturman, 2002). These are all things that are completely in the power of the manager to provide to the employee.

Motivation would be something that I would hopefully be able to master. I feel like I understand what it takes to motivate people, this stemming from sports and me being an employee. I very well understand the need for power and need for achievement and how it is a must for employees for them to feel actualised. I understand this because I too have similar needs that need to be actualised or I would not be motivated to carry on, deeming that the task is pointless. However, motivation is an extremely complex skill to master with many factors playing a role such as culture and different personality types, but motivation is something that I want to get good at so I would persevere and do my best to improve.

The third and last skill that I will be focusing on is problem solving, more specifically creative and analytical problem solving. A manager is faced with a variety of problems on a daily basis so being able to solve those problems well and effectively constitutes a competent manager. The problems that arise range from long term strategy solutions to problems with the software on the computer, two very different types of problems but problems that managers must be able to resolve nonetheless. Analytical problem solving is a more logical style of thinking through the task and it involves a more step by step approach to a problem. With analytical problem solving the goal is to produce a multitude of solutions by all participants and then decide on the one that seems to be the most suitable solution. This style of problem solving would be more effective for department managers such as for example a chief financial officer that has to deal with problems such as how to efficiently separate up a task so that it takes the least amount of time. Creative problem solving however, is used for complex problems with no clear solution, it requires for the manager to have more fluency and flexibility of thought such as thinking outside of the box. Similar to analytical problem solving other people may have an input but in creative problem solving a manager must not become dependent on others. This type of problem solving is used more for problems such as deciding on a long-term strategy, tasks usually completed by chief executive officers or non-executive directors (Craig, n.d.). Problem solving links directly with Mintzberg’s theory. The role “disturbance handler” is the main link (Mindtools.com, n.d.).

Personally, I think that I am more of a creative problem solver rather than an analytical problem solver. This derives from my interests which are politics and history and my tendency to ponder over difficult problems for no particular reason other than a mental exercise. Wrangling with such questions requires creative thinking. However, on the other hand analytical problem solving is not my strong suit. This is a problem as managers must be able to indulge in both types of problem solving and not be much superior in one over the other. My inability or weakness to engage in analytical problem solving would plague me for the entirety of my career as an aspiring manager and this is something I would definitely be attempting to rectify either by engaging in more analytical problems and trying to solve them myself or by experience and tutelage of an experienced manager

A manager is not only defined by his good qualities, he is also defined by his weaknesses and the steps he takes to deal with them. As I mentioned earlier is is of utmost importance that a manager hires well and fills the gaps in his skill set with good and able employees that more than pick up the slack. Without the ability to hire well a manager is immediately at a disadvantage compared to others. In my opinion communication, motivation and problem solving are the most important qualities a manager can have. These are not exclusive to one culture, they just vary in method and practice. As an aspiring manager I must demand of myself to excel at these three skills in particular and shore up the weaknesses that i have identified in my skill repertoire.