The profile of an effective manager

wide variety of approaches to problems, without losing sight of the

overall goal or purpose”[23]

2. Shows a resourcefulness in their ability to adapt himself quickly and

easily to developing situation and changing environment

3. He "does not see the environment as something to which they should

passively respond, but as something they should actively shape."[24]

Some authors also associated flexibility with personal openness of the

manager[25]. They pointed out that if managers are open then they can be

influenced by what is happening around them and as a result they react more

flexible to all the changes around them. The one thing is obvious that

flexibility is a key feature of personal growth and an indispensable

condition for being an effective manager.

Let’s now go back to the second aspect – creativity, and let’s see what it

means: “Creativity – producing or using new and effective ideas, results,

etc”[26]. When we think about creativity, we imagine people who are gifted,

talented, and different from others, whose ideas, decisions, and actions

are situated out of the every day’s life borders. In culture, creativity

is associated with such a people like Bach, Van Gogh, and Einstein; in

business with Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple Computers), Jack Welch

(General Electric), and Anita Rodick (The Body Shop).[27] Today creativity

is a way of thinking, the way to integrate you visions and ideas into

relationships and business. This process can be presented as following:

Figure 3: Critical thinking

Brainstorming processes

Free association, etc.

Source: Becoming a Master Manager, By:Robert E.Qiunn,Sue R.Faerman,Michel

P. Thomson, Michael R. McGrath; USA,2003

The use of creativity in the decision making process or in problem solving

allows manager to increase the effectiveness and encourage creative

thinking among employees. An effective manager will use creativity as a

tool of motivation. When employees are encouraged to use creativity in

their problem solving and in everyday work, they are more likely to feel

unique, valued and important for their organization[28]. In this way a

manager can not only develop effectiveness but also create a group of like-

minded employees.

For an effective manager of the future creativity or creative thinking

should become the natural way to think. But to reach this ideal situation

each manager should avoid the following barriers:

1. “A negative value of fantasy and reflection as a waste of time, a sign

of laziness, or even a bit crazy”[29]

2. the ideas that only children may play and fantasise but adults must be

serious

3. the idea that problem solving is a very serious an responsible process

and you must forget about creativity and humour

4. a negative image of feeling and intuition, which are regarded as

illogical an impractical

Although it is very difficult sometimes to change the society’s cultural

barriers and to change the image of creativity, each manager should try

to overcome pragmatic influences and think individually.

4. Developing of managerial knowledge and manager’s teaching role

Every manager must be sure that he or she will develop the competence and

knowledge of those they supervise. Every employee has a potential for

personal and professional development, and a good manager should discover

and develop this potential. We will start with the idea that each person

wants to know more. When a young employee comes to the company he has a

lot of theoretical knowledge, personal ideas and visions. He has read a

lot of books and articles, but he is still asking himself a lot of

different questions. In that moment he needs someone to teach him how to

become successful.

When you are a small child your parents teach you how to walk, and when you

make your first steps in your career you also need a “parent” to teach, to

give support, to empower and whatever else necessary. The effective manager

is always ready to become such a “parent”. He is always open to his

employees and colleagues, he shares his knowledge, and he inspires others

with his own experience and example. During the process of teaching he

always remains patient and supports everyone in every step of the way. And

of course leaders take the time to thank employees for a job well done.

But teaching doesn’t mean only sharing manager’s knowledge with someone; it

also means that the manager takes a role of mentor. The term "mentor" has

been used quite often in recent years. Jacqueline D. Heads, academic

advisor for the Rutgers University College of Pharmacy in New Jersey

defines this term as the following “A true mentor motivates you and impels

you to move to the next level, mobilizes you by advising you on how to get

there, and finally, like a guide, a mentor informally monitors your

progress to make sure you are moving in the right direction,"[30]

But why should we pay so much attention to teaching role of manager or his

mentoring role? The answer is obvious: teaching is a core competency the

effective manger should have. The idea of effectiveness changed the vision

of teaching and today more authors speak not only about teaching or

mentoring but about a developmental manager.[31] That means that instead

of taskmasters and evaluators, managers are most effective as coaches,

motivators, symphony conductors and employee developers”[32] We will pay

more attention to this idea.

Developing happened not at home but mostly at the work place during the

work itself or during the special classes. That is why it will be useful

for each manager to create and to follow a development plan to avoid

pointless talks and wasting of time. The idea of “A+ employees takes A+

managers”[33] seems to our group to be a very interesting and future

oriented idea of cooperation between manager and employees. According to

this idea you should follow these rules while developing people:

. Appreciate uniqueness of the people

. Assess capability of their team members

. Anticipate the future (leads others in the future)

. Align aspirations (create win/win partnerships built on trust and

loyalty)

. Accelerate learning

But in practice the theory is always confronted with reality. One of the

main problems of teaching or developing people is that a lot of managers

are afraid of teaching other people. The main reason for such an attitude

is idea, that if you as a manager will teach someone everything you know

and after that he may become better and smarter then you, and take your

place. Of course it can happen. But then manager should turn back to his

main values and decide what is most important to him: his own career or his

company’s success.

At the same time, if you are going to share your knowledge with someone, to

teach, to develop and to become a mentor you must broaden your own

knowledge. The individual becomes a manager because he was chosen to get

results and to use his knowledge, not because he won a popularity contest.

Employees are not going to listen to a person who has no knowledge in what

he is talking about or gives out false information. People need to believe

that a manager has the proper skills and abilities to carry out what he

claims to be experienced in. Only then a manager will earn a respect and

employees will become his like-minded team. How will you be able to do

this?

Some authors[34] say that as a manager and especially as an executive

manager you are responsible for all fields of business in your company: for

marketing and sales, for finance, for information technology etc. You

should understand how things works (the IKEA-case and Kamprad’s attention

to all details can illustrate this statement) and also how employees work

whose knowledge in one particular field are deeper then yours. These are

two main corner stones of success. How to reach them? The best solution can

be continuous replacing inside organization. As a result manager receives

variety of experiences and knowledge in different functions, business

units, companies, and even countries. The positive effect of such a

“moving” results in understanding, how the whole business operates; of the

impact of managerial decisions on the rest of the organization. Managers

can also transfer best practices to new areas while moving; he learns how

to lead in a variety of situations and he develops strong networks inside

and outside the organization[35].

Some other authors[36], especially from the business world, used to think

that an effective manager must not be satisfied with his education degree

and training, but must always be ready to catch advanced education

opportunities. The advanced degree is MBA-program; if this level was

reached then never avoid additional seminars, courses and workshops. In

contrast to the thirst group of authors who are speaking about continuous

replacement, these theories accept the idea of receiving deep knowledge in

one particular area.

These two approaches and also all theories about teaching show us how

important is for every manager to develop himself and his employees.

Continuous self-development, learning and teaching are the best ways to

success and effectiveness.

1 Motivation of employees

Like the previous characteristics, the ability to motivate your employees

to work is also an indispensable one if you want to be effective as a

manager. The psychology of motivation is tremendously complex, and what has

been unravelled so far with any degree of assurance is very small. What I

will do here is (1) give a definition of what motivation is, (2) very

briefly going across the major theories, classical and contemporary ones,

and (3) address some possibilities how an affective manager can implement

the ideas the theories offered in reality, which is of most importance. But

first some theory.

Stephen P. Robbins gives us the following definition of motivation in his

book Organizational Behavior (2001, p. 155)[37]: “[…] the processes that

account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort

toward attaining a goal”. Thus intensity (1) is concerned with “how hard a

person tries”, with direction (2) we mean “toward attaining the

organizational goals“and persistence refers to “how long a person can

maintain his or her effort”.

In the past, especially in the 50’s, a lot has been written about how

managers can motivate their employees. We can classify these theories in 5

categories.[38] These are:

1. Need theories:

- Hierarchy of Needs Theory (A. Maslow) / ERG Theory (C.

Alderfer)

- Two Factor Theory (F. Herzberg)

- Theory X and Theory Y (D. McGregor)

These theories all depart from the thought that to motivate your employees,

you have to satisfy certain needs. Maslow’s hierarchical model, a classical

one, says that you first have to satisfy physiological needs (i.e. hunger,

thirst, …), then you have to offer them safety (from physical and emotional

harm), consequently you must satisfy them socially (affection, acceptance,

…), after that you can motivate them by satisfying their esteem (internal

as well as external), and only then, when all the previous needs are

satisfied, you can motivate them by letting your employees actualize

themselves through their work (i.e. self-fulfilment). So if you want to

motivate someone, according to Maslow, you need to understand what level of

hierarchy that person is currently on and focus on satisfying those needs

at or above that level.

Maslow’s theory has received wide recognition, but unfortunately research

does not validate the theory. A theory that contests Maslow’s theory is

Alderfer’s ERG Theory, where E stands for existence (cfr. the physiological

and safety needs), R for relatedness (cfr. the social needs and the

external component of the esteem need) and G for growth needs (cfr. the

internal esteem component and the self-actualization need). This theory

differs from Maslow’s in that (1) more than one need may be operative at

the same time and (2), if the gratification of a higher level need is

stifled, the desire to satisfy a lower-level need increases. In opposite to

Maslow’s theory, several studies do have supported this theory. It takes

into account that in different cultures the categories can be ranked in

another way, for example Japan, where the social needs are placed under the

physiological ones.

Another classical need theory is the Theory X and Theory Y of Douglas

McGregor. These two theories represent two distinct views of human beings:

Theory X makes the assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy,

dislike responsibility, and must be coerced to perform, where Theory Y

stipulates that employees like work, are creative, seek responsibility and

can exercise self-direction. Research suggests that these theories may be

applicable but only in particular situations.

Maybe the most important contribution to the motivation question comes from

the psychologist Frederick Herzberg with his Two-Factor Theory. The insight

Herzberg brought to the matter meant a u-turn in previously thinking. He

stated as first that the opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction,

as was traditionally believed, but that both are distinct and separate.

Intrinsic factors such as the work itself, responsibility, and achievement

seem to be related with satisfaction (motivators), while extrinsic factors

such as supervision, pay, company policies and working conditions are

associated with dissatisfaction (hygiene factors). This theory has had a

major impact on management in the last 30 years and the fact that managers

nowadays allow workers greater responsibility in planning and controlling

their work can probably be attributed largely to Herzberg’s findings and

recommendations

2. Goal-Setting Theory (E. Locke):

The primary idea of this theory is that specific and difficult goals, with

goal/ feedback, lead to a higher performance. This means that, for example,

to motivate someone, you don’t say “Just do your best”, but you say

specific what has to be obtained, for example “You should strive for 85

percent or higher on all your work in English”. Research supports this

theory in that this do can lead to a higher performance, although it may

not lead to job satisfaction (cfr. supra).

3. Reinforcement Theory:

This theory states that reinforcement conditions behaviour. Behaviour is

thereby environmentally caused. What controls behaviour are reinforcers –

any consequence that , when immediately following a response, increases the

probability that the behaviour will be repeated. The theory ignores the

inner state of the individual and concentrates solely on what happens to a

person when he or she takes some action. Because it does not concern with

what initiates behaviour, it is not, strictly speaking, a theory of

motivation. But it does provide a powerful means of analysing of what

controls behaviour, and it is for this reason that it is typically

considered in discussions on motivation.

4. Equity Theory (J. S. Adams):

This theory poses that individuals compare their job inputs (i.e. effort,

experience …) and outcomes (i.e. salary, recognition …) with those of

others and then respond so as to eliminate any inequities. For example a

person who does the same job as another employee but gets paid less will be

motivated to perform better in order to eliminate the existing inequities.

5. Expectancy Theory (V. Vroom):

This is currently one of the most accepted explanations of motivation. Most

of the research evidence is supportive of this theory. Concrete, this

theory says that an employee will be motivated to exert a high level of

effort when he or she believes that effort will lead to a good performance

appraisal; that a good performance appraisal will lead to organizational

rewards such as a bonus, a salary increase, or a promotion; and that the

rewards will satisfy the employee’s goals.

The major theories briefly presented, we can now look at how in reality a

manager can implement these. Robbins mentions 6 applications. These are:

1. Management by objectives (MBO) (cfr. Goal-Setting Theory):

This means in realty, as a manager, you make sure that the organization’s

overall objectives are translated into specific objectives for each

succeeding level (divisional, departmental, and individual) in the

organization. You develop a program that encompasses specific goals,

participatively set with the employees, for an explicit time period, with

feedback on goal progress. MBO programs are used in many business, health

care, educational, government and non-profit organizations.

2. Employee Recognition Programs (cfr. Reinforcement Theory)

Consistent with reinforcement theory, rewarding a behaviour with

recognition immediately following that behaviour is likely to encourage its

repetition. For example: personally congratulating an employee, or sending

a letter or an e-mail, having a celebration because of good achievement, or

publicly recognizing, such as organizing a prize “Best Employee of the

Month” (he/she then gets a plaque on the wall). These programs are widely

used because it costs no money and according to research bears effective.

3. Employee Involvement Programs (cfr. Theory X and Theory Y, Two-Factor

Theory, Hierarchy of Needs Theory & ERG Theory):

The idea here is that by involving workers in those decisions that affect

them and by increasing their autonomy and control over their work lives,

employees will become more motivated, more committed to the organization,

more productive, and more satisfied with their jobs. Examples:

- participative management: subordinates share a significant

degree of decision-making power with their immediate superiors.

- representative participation: rather than participate directly

in decisions, workers are represented by a small group of

employees who actually participate

- quality circles: a work group of 8 to 10 employees and

supervisors meet regularly to discuss their quality problems,

investigate causes, recommend solutions, and take corrective

actions.

- employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs): these are company-

established benefit plans in which employees acquire stock as

part of their benefits.

4. Variable Pay Programs (cfr. Expectancy Theory):

Here a portion of an employee’s pay is based on some individual and/or

organizational measure of performance. Examples:

- Piece-rate pay plans: you are paid a fixed sum for each unit of

production completed.

- Bonuses: extra payment because of certain achievement.

- Profit-sharing plans: compensations based on some established

formula designed around a company’s profitability (direct cash

outlays or stock options).

- gainsharing: an incentive plan in which improvements in group

productivity determine the total amount of money that is

allocated.

5. Skill Based Pay Plans (cfr. ERG Theory, Reinforcement Theory, Equity

Theory):

These plans set pay levels on the basis of how many skills employees have

or how many jobs they can do. For example, if you are a machine operator in

a certain company, you earn 14$/hour, but because of the skill based pay

plan, you can earn up to a 10 percent premium if you broaden your skills to

for example material accounting. Several studies have confirmed that skill

based pay generally leads to higher performance and satisfaction. These

plans are expanding and already widely used with success.

6. Flexible Benefits (cfr. Expectancy Theory):

These allow employees to pick and choose from among a menu of benefit

options that exceeds the traditional benefit programs. The options might

include hearing, dental and eye coverage; life insurance; extended vacation

time; …. This way the different needs of the employees can be met. The

major theories and their applications were provided; we want to conclude

here with some general guidelines:

Recognize Individual Differences

Use Goals and Feedback

Allow Employees to Participate in Decisions that Affect

Them

Link Rewards to Performance

Check the System for Equity

The conclusion then is that нf you have the skill as a manager to tailor

the perfect motivation method for each of your employees, you will be more

effective.

2 Communication skills

With Rees (1991, p. 159), we can say that this characteristic is probably

the most important of all the characteristics an effective manager needs to

possess. Everything a manager does involves communication, his verbal and

nonverbal behaviour. Communication between managers and employees is

important in the sense that it provides the information necessary to get

work done effectively and efficient in organizations. Effective

communication is the critical factor that moves a team toward a resolution

or consensus (“How to be an effective manager”, 2000, p. 14).

Robbins & Coulter provide us with the following communication model (see

attachment 1). As we can notice by looking at this model, there are seven

factors involved in communication: (1) the communication source, (2)

encoding, (3) the message, (4) the channel, (5) decoding, (6) the receiver

and (7) feedback. The definition of communication is then “the transfer and

understanding of meaning” (Robbins & Coulter, 2002, p. 282). This means

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