Principles and Functions of Management - Henri FayolThis is a well-known classification of functions that those in a managerial role will perform - whether they have a group of staff to organise or whether they have some other coordinating and controlling role. The classification merely offers a framework for discussion. It is simple enough to ask the question,
"In what way are these functions evident in my job role?".
Scientific Management - F. W. Taylor Taylor is often referred to as the so called founder of a rational, "lets work with data to design and control work performances, apply method study (systems of work), measure work performance against declared standards and select and train workers to do a job by the best method" approach to work organisation. Taylor's ideas are very practical and mechanical - albeit that they tend to take too much for granted when it comes to the variability and the sensibilities of employees. However the techniques were known before Taylor published his 1911 " Principles of Scientific Management".
This book synthesised this managerial recipe - collection of engineering ideas - and made recommendations for management practice which are taken up with enthusiam in the early 20th century.
They are still evident today in modern computer controlled systems of production and service delivery.
Power and Authority The position and processes of management cannot be understood properly without an examination of managerial power, the role of managers as agents of those who own the business and the scope for exercising power and authority in organisational roles (not just managerial ones).
Henry Mintzberg Mintzberg offers a more contemporary view of senior managerial work/roles and co-ordination mechanisms which (he suggests) hold organisations together enabling them to be controlled through structures of adjustment, supervision, centralisation and decentralisation. These are useful in relation to understanding organisational policies and procedures and how managerial staff - at various levels - organise and control.
Mintzberg offers some very useful perspectives also on the processes of strategy formation and management across different types of organisation.
Action-centred Leadership: John Adair This is a simple account of leadership functions - useful for junior management training to enable people to examine the task initiation and structuring aspects of their job role and their relationships with the individuals they supervise and the work group (team) as a whole.
The Motivation-Performance Obsession Much is written about the manager's task of motivating his/her staff. What is seldom said is that those who managers may supervise and/or seek to influence - are already motivated. Jerry Harvey's Abilene Paradox 1 Paradox
NVQ Standards for Managerial Competence at Level 4 (Foundation Manager) These are the original competence statements that came out of the Management Chater Initiative group in the UK in the 1980's - they have been updated since and illustrate the difficulties and impracticalities of trying to define every twist and turn of "variable managerial roles". It makes you wonder whether the definitional effort is and was really worth it. Can such prescription and guidance at a national level - ever see worthwhile
At best, the lone manager can try to interact with others in ways that do not undermine the positive aspects of their motivation (to enjoy their job and perform it to the best of their talents). The manager's own behaviour may be significant in terms of how they are received by others (who may be cantankerous and ill-disposed towards them and others anyway!). The manager is urged to create and maintain - certainly not undermine- conditions that are best suited to enable others to be motivated - in employer-centred and/or self-centred ways.
This is a tall order considering the variability of individual personalities - the situation may change of course just because it is Tuesday or the member of staff is angry with someone in another department.
The "http://www.geoscopies.net/infoproaction/managinter/management/manager" then bears this assumed responsibility: to be aware of and maintain their own positive motivational drives - positive in the sense of organisational performance orientation- and be skilled in supporting the motivational state and potential of others. This is of course difficult if you do not like the person you are working with!
Management
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