Page 284 - Business Principles and Management

Chapter 11 • Management Functions and Decision Making

mine what a company will do and how well it will
perform.
Managers make up only a very small percentage of
all employees in a company. Employees are respon-
sible for completing the day-to-day work of busi-
nesses. There are often several levels of managers
in an organization. Some managers will be directly
responsible for the operation of a part of the business
and the work of the employees who complete those
operations. Even those managers will usually not be
active in that work.
Higher-level managers are not directly involved in
day-to-day operations. Instead, they will spend their
time planning, problem solving, and making decisions
about how to make the business more successful. Be-
cause most managers do not perform the same type of
work that most employees do, employees often do not
recognize the contributions that managers make to the PHOTO: © DIGITAL VISION.
business or the difficult work they do. The daily work
of managers is quite different from the work employees
do. Yet both types of work are necessary for the busi-
ness to succeed. Managers must understand and appre-
ciate the work of employees. Employees will be more Employees perform the impor-
motivated to cooperate with managers if they understand what managers do tant day-to-day work of a busi-
and why management is important to business success. ness. In what ways can they
The nature of management and employee relations has changed a great deal work with managers to ensure
in the past 20 years. In the past, many managers exerted a great deal of authority the business’s success?
and control, expected employees to follow orders without question, and shared
little information about the company with employees. Employees and managers
did not always share the same views and attitudes about the company and the
work that needed to be done. Relationships between managers and employees
were very formal and sometimes antagonistic.
Modern managers work more closely with employees, keep employees
informed about company performance and upcoming changes, and involve
them in important decision making. Employees have greater responsibilities
in many companies, and employee teams now complete some work previously
done by managers. Businesses in which managers and employees have respect
for each other, communicate effectively, and work well together are usually
more successful than older-style businesses.
Teamwork tip
MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

Because there are so many types of managers, it is difficult to identify exactly
what managers do. However, there are a number of activities that all managers Today, businesses expect
must perform no matter what the type or size of the company or in what part employees to be able to
of the business they work. The president of a large international corporation work effectively in teams.
made up of several companies and thousands of employees is a manager, but Depending on your assign-
so is the owner of a small service business with one location and only a few ment, you may need to
employees. The people who are responsible for human resources departments be an effective leader on
and for purchasing departments, for a company’s salespeople, or for its infor- some projects and a good
mation management activities are all managers. So are supervisors of people follower on others. Find
working on an assembly line, in a warehouse, or at data-entry terminals. Though opportunities in and out
each of these jobs involves many unique activities, each is also concerned with of school to build your
management. team skills.

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