Man-Management Tools

PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT

Chapter 10 – Man-Management Tools

          This part focuses on man-management tools designed to make the subordinates more productive and creative.

1. Management by Objectives (MBO)

          Management by objectives is a tool which measures performance against objectives set. This tool can be summed in threes steps:

a. the manager and subordinate jointly identify and work out realistic performance objectives;

b. they agree on the means for achieving the aforementioned objectives; and

c. They compare actual results to expected results at the end of the agreed-on period.

2. Contingency Leadership

          Leadership is the process of directing others to achieve personal or organizational goals. The best accepted theory of leadership is that it depends on the situation.

          Different situations require different management styles:

· Autocratic – The manager directs his secretary to make a report.

· Democratic – The manager consults his employees on the best way to introduce a new product in the market.

· Free-rein – The manager suggests to his assistant that it would be a good idea to look into the recent cost-cutting strategies the organization has instituted.

          Contingency leadership suggests the mastery lies in knowing when to use this method. Some findings for the manager’s consideration:

a. The hostile subordinate is best dealt with in an autocratic fashion. Studies have revealed that the autocratic approach has the effect of confining a hostile person’s energy to constructive ends.

b. The group-minded individual usually works best if led by democratic means.

c. The individualist has been found to thrive best under the free-rein type of leadership.

d. For a subordinate or group working on a routine lines or well-established goals, the autocratic method is generally used.

e. For securing cooperation, the democratic technique is generally appropriate.

f. Productivity can be stimulated slightly by autocratic means and considerably by democratic technique.

g. When new ideas are sought, the free-rein approach has been found to be most effective.

3. Zero Defect

          This tools tries to develop cost consciousness among employees and to get them to want to achieve high standards of work excellence.

          It aims at the elimination of defective operations or a reject rate of 0. The emphasis is not to zero-in on errors but on the prevention of mistakes at the outset of any operation. Its slogan “Do it right, the first time.”

          This technique includes the re-examination of all work instruction for clarity, and a period per week when the manager gets together with his subordinates to discuss suggestions on ways on cutting down rejects. Often, the nonessentials are identified and removed.

          The zero defect scheme is usually launched with speeches from top executives and managers, slogans, posters, pamphlets, and contests designed to reward employees who achieve error free production.

4. Brainstorming

          Brainstorming is a tool applied to problem solving by evaluating ideas freely but forward by groups of people convened specifically for the purpose.

          Its proponents believe that several heads are better than one with problems being seen from different points of view. The accountant views a problem from a financial viewpoint while an engineer appraises the problem from an engineering standpoint. The usual procedure follows:

a. Get a conference leader and a group of conferees in a conference room.

b. Pick a specific problem.

c. Once the problem has been defined, the conferees are told to speak up as soon as an idea comes to mind. The idea is to opt for quantity as quantity helps to breed quality, and to avoid critical judgment and signs of disapproval.

d. Isolate quality ideas and use these as the bases for a decision.

5. Think Tank

          Think tank is a tool similar to brainstorming with the exception that in think tank, only experts from a number of fields are convened for the purpose of combining their knowledge and experience in order to solve complex problems.

6. One-Minute Managing

          One-minute managing is called so because it takes very little time for managers to get big results from their subordinates. This tool has been proven to be very popular with American and Japanese managers who seek t improve productivity, profitability, and performance.

          Behind this scheme lies three one-minute secrets:

a. One-minute goal setting – The manager and the subordinate agree on 3 to 6 goals on the subordinate’s area of responsibility. The subordinate identifies what he desires to happen in observable and measurable behavioral terms. In this regard, “a problem exists only if there’s a difference between what is actually happening and what one desires to happen”. He writes out his goals on a single sheet of paper using less than 250 words. Anyone should be able to read it within a minute. The subordinate reads and rereads the one-minute goal and takes a minute every once in a while out his day to look at his performance and checks whether or not his performance marches his goal.

b. One-minute praising – The manager tells the subordinate right from the start that he’s going to let him know how he is doing. He praises the subordinate immediately when he catches the subordinate “doing right” and tells him what he did right in specific terms. He tells his subordinate how good he feels about what he did right and how it helps the organization and the other people who work there. He stops for a moment of silence and let the subordinate feel how he feels. He encourages the subordinate to do more of the same and shake hands or touches the subordinate in a way that makes it clear that he supports his success in the organization.

c. One-minute reprimand – The manager tells the subordinate that he is going to let him know how he is doing in no uncertain terms. He reprimands immediately and tells the subordinate where he did wrong in specific terms. He tells the subordinate how he feels about the wrong thing he did in no uncertain terms. H observes silence for a few seconds to let the subordinate know how he feels. He shakes or touches in a way that makes him feel that he is on his side. He reminds the subordinate how he values him. He reaffirms that he thinks well of him, but not his performance in this situation. He gives the subordinate the feeling that when the reprimand is over, it’s over and both are ready to start over a clean slate.

7. Quality Control Circle

          This tool involves workers in quality analysis and quality improvement. The idea is to let a small group of perhaps ten workers doing similar work to meet, to discuss and to solve work-related problems. The group is first taught group communication process, quality control strategies, and measurement and problem analysis techniques. Then they meet together weekly to discuss, analyze, and propose solutions to quality problems. The manager is the leader in the circle and is trained to work as a group member and not as a “boss”.

8. Job Rotation

          Job rotation is used by some companies to provide an opportunity for employees to become familiar with a variety of operations in the firm. It can increase job interest due to changes in environment, skill requirement and job content. It is advantageous from a management’s point of view because it increases the employee’s skill and flexibility.

9. Networking

          Networking is a managerial tool which involves getting people to talk to each other through conferences, phone calls, air travel, books, papers, pamphlets, lectures, workshops, parties, mutual friends, tapes, newsletters, etc. It exists to foster self-help, to exchange information, to change society, to improve productivity and work life, and to share resources. The most important thing about networking is that each individual is at its center. The important part is not the network, but the communication that creates linkages between people and clusters of people.

10. Job Enrichment

          An employee motivational tool which uses job redesign strategies aimed at providing employees with some responsibility, more autonomy, and a greater sense of accomplishment. This scheme lead to a multi-skilled work force which can do number of jobs, so there is no real problem if key people are absent.

11. Job Enlargement

          In job management, the manager expands the job content of the subordinate with a view of making it less specialized and presumably more interesting and challenging. The tool is used to alleviate problems of fatigue, frustration, low morale, and feeling of apathy created by specialization. An operator who may previously have merely fitted wheels to the car in an assembly line may be required to fit the tires, attach the windshield, install seats, etc.

12. Autonomous Work Groupings

          This tool is used for result-oriented groups of workers. They are freed from external controls or influences for substantial periods. For example, a group is made responsible for the assembly of a complete unit or sub-unit, for moving of certain equipment or for a complete area of work.

13. Flexible Working Schedule

          This allows an employee some degree of freedom is selecting his starting and quitting time. It consists of a core time during which all employees are to be present and a flexible band which is determined by the employee. The net effect of this scheme is a reduction of absences and an increase in productivity. Overtime hours are often reduced with flexitime, resulting in savings for the organization, In general flexitime improves labor relations because an employee is given a large role in determining his own time schedules.

14. Career Development Program

          This program offers the employee the opportunity to assess his skills and capabilities, evaluate his career progress and make plans for furthering his personal career goals.

15. Stress Management Program

          The aim of this program is to attain individual health and organizational well-being through applications from medicine, psychology, organization development, and public administration. Stress is the body’s response to demands that are too high or too low. The primary significance of stress management is that major disruptions and changes can be anticipated and their negative effects minimized by the individual. This can be done doing things one enjoys, taking time to relax, thinking about what is really important, thinking positively, managing time, setting goals, planning for the future, daily exercise, eating regularly and moderately, avoid excess drinking and drug taking, and taking enough sleep.

16. Assertive Communication Training

 

          This enables the managers and employees to deal with one another and with customers and clients when necessary in straightforward ways that recognize the rights and needs of all individuals involved. This training provides certain specific verbal skills that a person can use to avoid being intimidated and manipulated by others.

17. Transaction Analysis Training

          This attempts to elevate communication to a higher plane. Each person can adopt one of the distinct personality patterns or ego states according to the situation and his own personal make-up.

18. Behavior Modification

          This tool is designed to change behavior by rewarding or reinforcing correct conduct and punishing or ignoring an incorrect one. There are many reports of successes with behavior modification in changing on-the-job behavior.

          The tools considered here can be said to represent the Art of Management. The achievement of the organization’s goals depends to a great extent on how the manager wields these tools.