Effectiveness of a Manager
In any business, it is important that managers should be effective. They
must be able to achieve their objectives, and get the right things done. For most
executives, being effective is easier said than done. The problem is that there are
so many pressures on managers, reducing their efficiency.
For one thing, their work is fragmented. Most days, they are doing a
number of tasks, some fairly trivial, others highly important. They find that they
do not have enough time to devote to the really important jobs. Besides,
sometimes they are under such pressure that they forget which jobs are
important. The manager also faces another difficulty. Just as he is ready to
tackle that report, a customer will ring up unexpectedly. No sooner has he hung
up than Bill, from Sales, drops by his office for a chat. He works on the report
for a few minutes, and then the personnel manager calls him. Could he
interview someone tomorrow afternoon? And so it goes on.
The manger must constantly respond to the demands that others make on
his time. Things do not get better as he climbs higher in the organisation. In fact,
they get worse. The higher he goes, the more demands will be made upon his
time. Because of the nature of the manager’s work, it is not easy for him to be
effective. There will always be someone – or something – to divert him from
what he should really be doing. Effective managers learn how to manage their
time. They cut out unproductive activities. They never forget that time cannot be
replaced. Before being able to control his time, the manager must find out how
he is actually using it. He must know where it goes. The best way to do this is to
record how he uses time. The usual method is to log the tasks he performs.
Exercises
1. Answer the following questions:
1. Provide a definition of the term “management”.
2. What does marketing management refer to?
3. What does strategic planning include?
4. Explain what the Product Life Cycle means.
5. In what way can managers become effective?
6. Do managers face any difficulties?
7. Tell how to learn to manage time.
8. Give an example of wrong decision-making in marketing planning.
9. Comment on the phrase “being effective is easier said than done”.
10. Discuss the main problems in management.
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