Managers

Question 1

What are the types of managers?

Answer 1

Top managers, middle managers, first line managers, team leaders

Question 2

What do top managers do?

Answer 2

• Oversee the overall direction of the organisation
• Create a context of change by forming a long-range vision or mission for the company
• Develop employees’ commitment to and ownership of the company’s performance.
• Create a positive organisational culture
• Monitor their business environments
• Plan 3-5 years out

Question 3

What do middle managers do?

Answer 3

• Set objectives consistent with the top management’s goals and plan and implementing subunit strategies for achieving those objectives
• Coorordinate and link groups, departments and divisions within a company
• Monitor and manage the performance of the subunits and individual managers who report to them
• Implement changes or strategies dictated by top management
• Plan 6-18 months out

Question 4

What do first-line managers do?

Answer 4

• Manage the performance of entry-level employees
• Encourage, monitor and reward the performance of their workers
• Make detailed schedules and operating plans based on middle management’s intermediate-range plans
• Plan 2-4 weeks out

Question 5

What do team leaders do?

Answer 5

• Facilitate team activities towards goal accomplishment
• Facilitate team performance. This doesn’t mean they
  are responsible for team performance.
• Manage external relationships. Act as a bridge
  between their teams and other teams, departments and divisions in a company
• Responsible for internal team relationships.

Question 6

What are the types of managerial roles?

Answer 6

Interpersonal, Informational and decisional

Question 7

What are the interpersonal managerial roles?

Answer 7

Figurehead and leader and liaison roles

Question 8

What are the informational managerial roles?

Answer 8

Monitor, disseminator and spokesperson roles

Question 9

What are the decisional managerial roles?

Answer 9

Entrepreneur, Disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator roles

Question 10

What is the figurehead role?

Answer 10

An interpersonal role when managers perform ceremonial duties

Question 11

What is the leader role?

Answer 11

An interpersonal role when managers motivate and encourage workers to accomplish organisational objectives

Question 12

What is the liaison role?

Answer 12

An interpersonal role when managers deal with people outside their units

Question 13

What is the monitor role?

Answer 13

An informational role when managers scan their environment for information

Question 14

What is the spokesperson role?

Answer 14

An informational role when managers share information with people outside their departments or companies

Question 15

What is the entrepreneur role?

Answer 15

A decisional role when managers adapt themselves, their subordinates and their units to change

Question 16

What is the negotiator role?

Answer 16

A decisional role when managers negotiate schedules, projects, goals, outcomes, resources and employee raises

Question 17

What are the managerial attributes?

Answer 17

Technical skills, human skills, conceptual skills & motivation to manage

Question 18

What are technical skills and who are they most important for?

Answer 18

• The ability to apply the specialised procedures, techniques and knowledge to get the job done
• Most important for team leaders and lower level managers

Question 19

What are human skills and who are they most important for?

Answer 19

• The ability to work well with others

- Important to all levels of management

Question 20

What are conceptual skills and who are they most important for?

Answer 20

• The ability to see the organisation as a whole, understand how the different parts affect each other and recognise how the company fits into or is affected by its environment
• More important to higher level managers

Question 21

What is motivation to manage and who is it most important for?

Answer 21

• The motivation to manage the work of others

- Most important to higher level managers

Question 22

What are derailer attributes?

Answer 22

Insensititvity to others
Cold,aloof, arrogant
Trust betrayal
Overly ambitious
Specific performance problems
Overmanaging: unable to delegate or build a team
Inability to staff effectively
Inability to think strategically
Inability to adapt to boss with different style
Overdependence on advocate or mentor

Question 23

What are management practices in top performing companies?

Answer 23

• Employment security
• Selective hiring
• Self-managed teams and decentralisation
• High wages contingent on organisational performance •Training and skill development
• Reduction of status differences
• Sharing information