What General Managers Really Do Essay Example

What General Managers Really Do Essay Assessment 1:Essay by Louisa Cindy General managers are top of employee, who hold major problems and play a big role behind the organization or business. Being a manager takes a great deal of hard work, leadership, and dedication. They have responsibilities to take control, motivate, and monitoring each part of the organization. The pressure of being a manager is not as easy as what people think, they tend to be efficient and effective in the same time. In an article in the Harvard Business Review, â€Å"What effective general managers really do†, (Kotter, 2000) examined the reality of what many managers really do that seems inefficient and contrasting what Henry Mintzberg has pointed out. He found out that their activities are mostly unplanned, sometimes seems to be unimportant and they do lots of conversations that unconnected with work and they do a lot of joking. They also seldom to tell people what to do, they prefer asking or suggesting. This article also indicate that in the actual behavior manager â€Å"looks less systematic, more informal, less reflective, more reactive, less well organized, and more frivolous than a student of strategic planning systems, MIS, or organizational design would ever expect†, (Kotter, 20000, p. 156). In the key points of this article Kotter shows the reader what manager responsibilities and how they working out with uncertainty, great diversity, and also how to getting works done through a large and diverse set of people. We will write a custom essay sample on What General Managers Really Do specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on What General Managers Really Do specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on What General Managers Really Do specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In simple form, manager need to develop networking, it is one of the processes that will establish the mutually beneficial relationship with people or potential customers or employee. They also need to work based on agenda, agenda it self is what activities to accomplish the organizational goals. In this essay the writer think that the most essential tasks of a manager is to identify weakness, then set plans and try to achieve them in efficient and effective way while also being flexible with the changes happen in the society. When a manager can identify the organization weakness, manager nows the work field better so the manager can define the objective of the organizational goals and priorities. On the other hand, it is also help the manager to bring the company into the right direction. The writer also think that manager suppose to be a role model for the employee and they also need to comes with new ideas and concepts that will improve the quality of the organization or business. When a manager comes as an inspirational model, manager has power to affect the environment, it would help the manager easier to allocate the right resources and develop the employee’s work into optimum performance. There are four major functions in the management process, planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. First of all, planning is the base function of management; all managers at all levels should take part in planning. From the experts planning is defined as â€Å"Choosing a goal and developing a method of strategy to achieve that goal† (Williams McWilliams, 2010, p. 85). Planning is important because managers plan future ways where the organization or business will go, and what needs to be accomplished from the members to achieve the organizational goals and priorities. Planning helps the manager to analyze the environment and understanding better. There are few activities that indicate planning, such as making schedule and priorities of the day, think about what should organization do in the short or long term as what Richardson did. These examples of activities do not just affect the organization but also have affect on the whole society and environment. Managers need to prepare agenda for their job, â€Å"During their six months to a year in a new job, GMs usually spend considerable time establishing their agendas† (Kotter,2000,p. 60). The agenda includes financing, product and market and also the organization completed with the goals priorities, strategies, and the development planning for the business in the future. Kotter (2000) explained agendas tend to be less detailed in financial objectives and more detailed in strategies and plans for the business or organization. â€Å"Formal plans usually focus entirely on the short or moderate run (3months-5years), while GM’s agendas tend to focus on a broader time frame which includes the immediate future (1 to 30 days) and the longer run 5 to 20 years)† (Kotter, 2000, p. 160-161). The next thing is agendas often contain lists of goals or plans that are not directly connected. However, being consistent with plan has disadvantages. First, the company might be in the wrong direction, so the company needs changes in planning. On the other hand, changes may happen unexpectedly and affect the environment; in this case plan should be flexible because the plan may not fit again with the changes happen. Organizing is one of the managerial functions in addition to planning. In the process of organizing manager needs to decide where decisions will be made, making sure the right resources, decide who will do the job and what tasks. Manager needs to make sure that plans are implemented precisely and try to accomplish it effectively and efficiently in the same time. It also involves the communication skill for facing the large number of people with diversity, inside or outside the organization that will help to accomplish the tasks. Network building is one of the most essential elements in organizing. It involves good communication skill and blend of knowledge. In network building, manager will face great diversity, very large number of people or different formal organization structure so it is essential for manager to be flexible and fair. With network building manager easier to allocate the right resources and coordinate the efforts into optimum performance. The next element is staffing, staffing is where manager decide who will do what job and what tasks. Manager needs to have smart vision where to put the employee’s skills and abilities into the right job. These elements will help the manager to develop the effectiveness and efficiency of the work. Leading in management has its function to inspiring and motivating people. Inspiring or motivating can be one of the key successes in the business today. Effective general manager can inspiring the employees simply by asking questions, suggesting, intimidate, or persuade instead of telling people what to do or give orders in a traditional sense. As Richardson did, he prefers asking question or suggesting rather than exactly telling what to do. Usually manager create meeting to influence the employees and makes them feel involve and clearly know the organizational goals. In reality there is not one day in business life without change, if the business doesn’t follow the trend or not take the step forward, the business may not successful. Creativity helps to increase productivity and attract the customer. Change it’s not what the company should afraid, because change leads to improvement. Company doesn’t deal with machine but people, people can get bored so they like changes. Controlling is one of the managerial functions besides planning, organizing, and leading. Controlling is where the manager monitoring the progress, measure the actual performance of the organization toward goal achievement. It is important because it helps manager to check errors and take corrective action. In short, effective general managers have many responsibilities in the organization and mostly involved in every action organization take. Managers handle their challenges by developing agendas and building network rather than using the formal systematic management system. On the other hand the four managerial functions, planning, organizing, leading, and controlling will also helpful for manager to work efficiently and effectively. The four essential managerial functions is like a chain, every process affect the next process, management involves planning, organizing involves setting direction, leading involves managing people in the right such as the manager need to know who will do the job and what tasks, then last but not least is controlling. The author determines the role of managers in organization and what factors to develop the organization. Kotter found effective general managers focus on agenda setting and network building. He also defined the challenges being a manager. First, â€Å"figuring out what to do to despite uncertainty, great diversity, and enormous amount of potentially relevant information† (Kotter, 2000,p. 160). And last but not least is to â€Å"getting things done through a large and diverse set of people despite while having little control over most of them† (Kotter, 2000, p. 160). In short, Kotter draws that managers use agenda setting and network building to accomplish the two challenges. Kotter also explained how manager use their network to implement their agendas. This article also shown the disconnect between the way that effective general managers actually spent their time and what experts recommend and many time management systems. In my opinion, there are no absolute measures of managerial effectiveness. Because every manager has it own way to do their job. â€Å"It is hard to fit the behavior into categories like â€Å"planning†, â€Å"organizing†, â€Å"directing†, â€Å"staffing†, (Kotter, 2000, p. 159). And managing effectiveness is not only comes from the manager but also the employees and people around them. Managers are limited by abilities and willingness of the employees so they need to have a blend of knowledge, skills, and good communication to inspiring people and coordinate their efforts to achieve optimum performance. In conclusion, after reading this article, the managerial theory shows as a guideline but doesn’t reflect the actual behavior of a manager â€Å"it seems rather hit or miss† (Kotter, 2000, p. 160). References. Kotter, J. P. (1982). What Effective General Managers Really Do. Harvard Business Review.

52 Essays (908 words) - Branches Of Biology, Biology, Life Sciences

52 Essays (908 words) - Branches Of Biology, Biology, Life Sciences Cloning Cloning Cloning opens many doors of opportunities in the agricultural aspect of the United States of America. It has already been a major factor in saving the lives of many humans. I feel the society as a whole can not and should not degrade this scientifical finding. I feel that human cloning should not be done and that this subject raises too many ethical questions. I would like to focus on an agricultural aspect if I may. People raised hell when animal parts were put into humans to save lives and today it is an accepted part of medicinal science. I feel that cloning in an agricultural and medicinal aspect will become the same as transplanted animal parts. It will go through much debate, but ten years from now it will be accepted scientifically, socially, and morally. In an article in Newsweek called A Cloned Chop, Anyone? They take a somewhat neutral, but also somewhat negative viewpoint of cloning in an agricultural and medicinal sense. They admit some good aspects of this genetic engineering, but they still seem pessimistic of the future of cloning in animals excluding humans. The first thing the article states is the Wall Street opportunities for the biotech field. Instead of phone calls from eager investors only phone calls from reporters were coming in asking about this market. I feel that now would be a great time to invest in biotechnical companies specializing in agricultural and medicinal cloning. This article says nothing about the great potentials of long term investment. Long term investment especially in the medicinal field is incredibly profitable. Just as in other controversial investing opportunities I feel that investors will find they could have made a lot of money if they invested in this area. Ten to fifteen years from now this agricultural cloning will be a commonly routine thing and price wars will begin for the products produced by them which means many great investment opportunities will be available. But one must remember that Wall Street is extremely short term investing so this is a good explanation for not many investors being interested in this because it is still many years before tangible and profitable products are made from cloning. The article goes on to say the Scottish scientists have a lot of good ideas, but they seem to be only a sci-fi adventure. Once again I disagree. Scottish scientists are trying to help the human race, not be lucrative mad scientists looking for another way to manipulate the human race. The following are some things that have already been done with genetic engineering and they are helpful to us, the human race. They plan on genetically engineering cows that produce altered milk formulas for premature infants. This is great I do not know how anyone can go against this because if their infant's life were on the line they would do everything in their power to save their child's life. Also they are genetically engineering animal organs to be more similar to those of humans. So just like we have been trying to do we can take organs from animals and successfully transplant them into humans. Again this will save many lives of people with terminal diseases that can be saved by organ transplant. Cloning is referred in the genetics area as transgenics. Some companies have been altering genes of animals with genes of humans to produce proteins needed to fight cancer and other diseases. Cloning may further enhance this procedure witch will help catalyst this treatment easily past the human testing stage into curing these horrible diseases. One company has already bred cows that may produce milk containing a protein essential for infants who can not nurse. Again I see no down side to this product and cloning will help speed this research along so we can save lives. The article next talks about some positives. It tells how sheep with proteins necessary for saving human lives can be breed more efficiently with cloning. Right now only one or two out of every ten sheep produce the proteins needed. However with cloning these "good" sheep can be cloned. Then they breed with other clones to make a whole generation of sheep with the desired protein. One company in the biotech field PPL is hoping to genetically engineer animals that will produce a tissue glue for use in surgery and a drug for cystic fibrosis. Finally the article states at the end that does anyone want to eat a cloned chop. Well the major restaurant chains did not seem interested. But first

Pornai - The Prostitutes of Ancient Greece

Pornai - The Prostitutes of Ancient Greece Pornai is the Ancient Greek word for prostitute (porne, in the singular). It may also be translated as a â€Å"buyable woman.† From the Greek word pornai, we get the English word pornography. Ancient Greek society was fairly open to the practice of the world’s oldest profession. Prostitution was legal in Athens, for example, as long as the workers were slaves, freed women or Metics (foreigners in Ancient Greece who had limited rights, not unlike legal residents in the U.S.) These women had to register and were required to pay taxes on their earnings. The Sex Workers of Ancient Greece Pornai were generally the ordinary sex workers, from those who worked in brothels to streetwalkers who advertised their services out in the open. How open? In one innovative marketing strategy some pornai wore special shoes that imprinted a message in soft ground saying, follow me   Male prostitutes were called pornoi. These sex workers were typically clean-shaven, and though they did sleep with women, they primarily serviced older men. Sex work had its own social hierarchy in Greek society. At the top were hetaerai, which means â€Å"female companion.† These were beautiful, often educated and artistic women who were essentially high-class courtesans. Greek literature has numerous references to famous hetaerai who cast their spells. One reason for the prevalence of sex worker aside from the existence of slavery, which meant women could be forced into prostitution was that Greek men married comparatively late in life, often in their thirties. This created a demand, as younger men sought sexual experience before marriage. Another factor was the fact that adultery with a married Greek woman was considered a high crime. So it was far safer to hire a pornai or a heaerai than sleep with a married woman.   Source: The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek law, by Michael Gagarin, David J. Cohen.

CW4 - Peter Drucker Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

CW4 - Peter Drucker - Essay Example Peter’s era was the twentieth century where his career regarding management consultant grew from 1942.Peter Drucker had led a bright career in teaching phycology, sociology and management. Ultimately he pioneered in offering an executive MBA program for working professionals in Claremont Graduate University. His writing and critical thinking regarding the improvement of the organization as to adopt the human resource and benefit the human race urged him to write several books and articles. Although being the management consultant he was not much inspired by the numbers but he was focused upon improving the organizational cultures and relations so that the human resource management can be done more effectively and beneficially. Peter Drucker’s writing regarding society and politics led him to work in the high level management of one of the biggest company around the world at that time, General Motors. Peter taught the management of liberal art where the relation regardin g the suppliers, customers, employees and other companies were given much value than crunching of the numbers. With his workings and phycology Peter earned links in the top management of the many of the big bulls of that time including General Electric, IBM, Sears and many more especially in Japan as Japanese where really inspired with his works. Main Thought From the start Peter Drucker was more inspired and exaggerated the relationship between the people then from the valuation of numbers. The main focus of Peter was upon improving the relation between the employees and enhancing the capabilities of the human resource. He was much inspired by those who work with minds rather than those who work with hands. Most of the works of Peter Drucker is upon the betterment of the management in the organizations as he believed that private organizations play a vital role for the betterment of the society. Peter’s belief of making organization better to better serve the society led to many ideas in reforming the organizational cultures and norms so that the private sectors serve the economy and enhance the human lives. The Wall Street Journal called Drucker â€Å"the most influential management thinker of the past century,† who â€Å"developed a loyal following among many of the world’s most-famous corporate chieftains, and became the model of the modern management guru, a craft he plied far more modestly than many of his successors† (Thurm & Lublin, 2005). Peter believed that the human resource is one of the most important assets to the company and the management should value the employees and train them accordingly so that the employees would bring out their talent and benefit the organization and the society. it is this thought of Peter Drucker that realized the worth of human resource in the organizations and ultimately leaded to the enhancements in the human capabilities. Peter Drucker idealized the importance of the private sector as th e organizations and their relation with the better society by providing human resource that are more benefiting for the society as a whole. According to him the works of the workers should be appraised and appreciated. By appreciation the motivation level of the individuals increase and thus improves the potential of the individual ultimately resulting in the enhancement of knowledge within the individual and then spreading in the social circle and thus benefiting for the whole society. The appreciations of the works of the workforce is the main reason that the workforce devotion

Social Work with couples and families Reflective paper Article

Social Work with couples and families Reflective paper - Article Example The author in this case starts by pointing out that in the contemporary American society this sort of family setup is one, which is associated with the middleclass families in most cases. It is of the essence to note that in such a family setting, several generations of individuals may find themselves living together in the same house. Say a grandmother and a child may end up under the same roof. This is something, which brings about the question of parenting. In the aforementioned example, when the grandmother lives with the child and at the same time the child’s parents are also there, who is parenting the child? It is important to note that with this revelation, the child may grow up facing various situations, which are influenced by the person who was around it when it was growing up. There are also families that are associated with a stepparent, a single parent and what not. All these are issues, which are of significant influence on the individuals who are in the family itself. A person who is looking into the happenings in families that take up such a setting may take great interest in knowing how the various members of the family are handling the situations that are being exhibited by such families. The author of this article is of the opinion that the various family environments have far-reaching effects on the parties involved. To a greater extent some of these may be negative. I do believe that some of the members of these families might have foreseen such happenings. For this reason, they might have come up with measures to cushion the effects when they happen. Take a case example of psychosomatic families. These are the families, which are highlighted as those where the people get involved with each other only during certain times say when one is sick. This is not to say that this is always the case. Such families might have identified that this is a problem when it happens once or twice. After this, they might find probable ways of addressi ng the issue and prevent it from happening again. There are various tools, which therapists use when it comes to seeking deeper understanding of families. One of the ways through which this is achieved is through the use of genograms which are meant to depict the members of the families and some of the characteristics which are prevalent in the family. The information, which is collected for the genogram, is one, which is achieved through assessments of the members of the various members of the family involved, and once it is complete, it helps the therapist get significantly understanding of the family, which is in question. It is also of importance to look at some of the ways that are used to examine the various members of the family. The information of the family is scanned vertically and horizontally on the genogram. Examining the horizontal aspect of the genogram enables the therapist to get an understanding of how the members of the family are connected to each other. Through such an assessment, the strengths and the weaknesses that are exhibited by the family can be highlighted. After the analysis of the genogram, there are some probable predictions and conclusions, which can be reached by the person who is analyzing them. This is then what will be used to advise the members of the family accordingly. The author of the article points out that this information is what can be used to model some probable patterns of the family and provide any relevant information

Eating Disorders Essay -- Anorexia Bulimia

Eating Disorders Eating disorders are sweeping this country and are rampant on junior high, high school, and college campuses. These disorders are often referred to as the Deadly Diet, but are often known by their more popular names: anorexia or bulimia. They affect more than 20% of females between the age of thirteen and forty. It is very rare for a young female not to know of someone with an eating disorder. Statistics show that at least one in five young women have a serious problem with eating and weight (Bruch, 25). The Deadly Diet appears to be a mostly female problem. Eating disorders are most common in the middle to upper middle class families. Currently, the incidence is much lower in females from the â€Å"blue collar† families. The Deadly Diet can begin anywhere from the ages of ten to thirty. The peak age for the beginning of the Deadly Diet in females is eleven to fifteen; the peak for males is between fifteen and eighteen (Bauer, 89). Most of the information on the Deadly Diet says that it is a problem of teenage girls, but as clinics have found, most of the people who come to get therapy are in their twenties and thirties. This may be because younger people are less likely to seek professional help. Most often it is the parent who brings the patient for help. Adults who have left home and had to deal with managing their lives usually tend to realize more clearly the need to seek help and make changes. Everywhere one looks today, one will notice that our culture places a very high value on women being thin. Many will argue that today’s fashion models have â€Å"filled out† compared to the times past; however the evidence of this is really hard to see. Our society admires men for what they accomplish and what they achieve. Women are usually evaluated by and accepted for how they look, regardless of what they do. A woman can be incredibly successful and still find that her beauty or lack of it will have more to do with her acceptance than what she is able to accomplish. â€Å"From the time they are tiny children, most females are taught that beauty is the supreme objective in life† (Claude-Pierre, p18). The peer pressure for girls in school to be skinny is often far greater than for boys to make a team. When it is spring, young girls begin thinking â€Å"How am I going to look in my bathing suit? I better take off a few more pounds.† Another reason t... ...than men, our society is evolving. Men can act more sensitively. â€Å"We are finally a more humanistic culture rather than a culture of warriors.† (Claude-Pierre, p.70) Eating disorders among men are on the rise-at least one million men number among the eight million people who suffer from them in the United States. The Deadly Diet affects many people, but it can be cured. Works Cited Ardell, Maureen and Corry-Ann Ardell. Portrait of an Anorexic; A Mother Daughter’s Story. Vancouver, B.C., Canada: Flight Press, 1985. Bauer, Barbara G. Ph.D., Wayne Anderson, Ph.D., and Robert W. Hyatt, M.D. Bulimia, Book for Therapist and Client. Indianapolis: Accelerated Development Inc., 1986. Bruch, Hilde M.D. The Golden Cage: The Enigma of Anorexia Nervosa. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1978. Claude-Pierre. The Secret Language of Eating Disorders. New York: Random House, 1997. Hall, Lindsey and Leigh Cohn. Bulimia: A Guide to Recovery. San Francisco: Guize Books, 1986. Simpson, Carolyn. Coping with Compulsive Eating. New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 1997. Trum, Beatrice. â€Å"Bulimia.† Homer’s Consumer’s Research Magazine. September 1997: p.10.

A socialist called J. B Priestley Essay

‘An Inspector Calls’ was written by a socialist called J. B Priestley. The play was set in1912 but was written in 1945. The play is a mixture of detective/thriller and a moral mystery play. Priestley was a very strong socialist who believed that community and society were very important: ‘We are responsible for each other’. He wanted people to live equally in a welfare state together. If we don’t we will realise this in ‘fire, blood and anguish’. He made us believe this quote because two world wars had already happened by the time he had written the play. The play was set in 1912 in and Edwardian era many things were happening around this time, The sinking of the Titanic, many strikes, the suffragettes and the build up to World War 1. Priestley uses a lot of dramatic irony most of which comes from Birling’s lines when he says that ‘war is impossible’ we know that he is wrong because war has already happened. In Stephen Daldry’s National Theatre Production the set symbolises the two different aspects of the play: The Edwardian townhouse in Brumley and 1945 in the background. A scene was shown from the Blitz (when Germany kept bombing England continuously). There are sirens going off and there are people dressed in 1940’s clothes and there is the Birling’s Townhouse in the background. When they show 1912 and 1945 it gives a better perspective on the irony for a modern audience. Priestley makes people understand what the world was like before we came. Priestley puts his aim across through the characters especially the inspector because his words and speeches are very dramatic and leaves the other characters thinking about what he said because his lines have a very big impact on them. He also makes the audience feel involved because he makes it relate to something that could happen in real life. His lines also builds up tension between the characters within the family he turns them against one another by making them all believe that each and every one of them are involved with Eva Smith’s death and that they all knew who Eva Smith was. For instance when Sheila finds out the Gerald was having an affair with Eva Smith behind her back because he lies to Sheila and tells her he was working she decides that she doesn’t want to get married to him any more ‘But just in case you forget – or decide not to come back Gerald, I think you’d better take this with you’ Sheila decides to give the ring back to Gerald. The inspectors closing speech makes the characters speechless abut what he has said. Sheila, Gerald and Eric are the only ones who are affected about what the inspector has said. Mr and Mrs Birling are worried about their status and about what people would think of them if they found out what had happened they don’t learn anything at the end of the play even though Sheila tries to explain to them ‘I tell you whoever that inspector was. It was anything but a joke. You knew it then. You began to learn something then. And now you’ve stopped. You’re ready to go on in the same old way’. Mr and Mrs Birling just think that Sheila is being silly.