Mullins L.J. Management and organisational behaviour, Seventh edition

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CHAPTER 5 ORGANISATIONAL GOALS, STRATEGY AND RESPONSIBILITIES

185

47. Ansoff, H. I. (ed.) Business Strategy, Penguin (1969).

48. Levine, S. R. ‘The Value-Based Edu-Leader’, in

Chowdhury, S. Management 21C, Financial Times

Prentice Hall (2000), p. 90.

49. Drucker, P. F. Managing for Results, Heinemann

Professional (1989). See also: Drucker, P. F. Managing in

Turbulent Times, Heinemann (1980).

50. Earl, M. ‘IT Strategy in The New Economy’, in

Pickford, J. (ed), Financial Times Mastering Management

2.0, Financial Times Prentice Hall (2001), p. 109.

51. Kermally, S. ‘E-strategy is Key to Future Success’,

Professional Manager, July 2001, pp. 28–9.

52. BG Group plc, Annual Review 2002.

53. See, for example: Piggott, G. ‘Open Relationships’,

Holland Herald, January 2003, pp. 54–64

54. Harris, J. ‘EU Acts to Promote More Socially

Responsible Companies’, Social Agenda, October 2002,

pp. 3–4.

55. Shortland, F. ‘Putting Human Rights on the Business

Agenda’, Professional Manager, July 1998, p. 18.

56. HRH The Prince of Wales, Foreword to Grayson, D.

and Hodges, A. Everybody’s Business: Managing Global

Risks and Opportunities in Today’s Global Society,

Financial Times (2001), pp. 8–9.

57. Code of Professional Management Practice, Chartered

Management Institute, July 2002.

58. Dobson, N. ‘Prejudicial Interests?’, Chartered Secretary,

May 2003, pp. 22–4.

59. Tam, H. ‘Recognise Your Responsibilities’, Professional

Manager, March 1995, p. 16.

60. Altman, W., Cooper, C. and Garner, A. ‘In Search of a

New Work Ethic’, Professional Manager, November

1999, p. 15.

61. Allen, A. ‘Up the Moral Mountain’, Chartered Secretary,

May 2001, pp. 21–2.

62. Cook, S. ‘Who Cares Wins’, Management Today,

January 2003, pp. 40–7.

63. See, for example: Worthington, I. and Britton, C. The

Business Environment, Fourth edition, Financial Times

Prentice Hall (2003).

64. Drucker, P. F. The Practice of Management, Heinemann

Professional (1989), p. 380.

65. Kay, J. The Truth About Markets, Allen Lane Penguin

Press (2003) p. 343.

66. De George, R. T. Business Ethics, Fifth edition, Prentice

Hall (1999).

67. Friedman, M. ‘The Social Responsibility of Business is

to Increase Its Profits’, New York Times Magazine, 13

September 1970, pp. 32, 122–6.

68. Sternberg, E. Just Business, Little Brown (1994).

69. Cannon, T. Corporate Responsibility, Pitman (1994),

pp. 32–3.

70. Sternberg, E. Just Business, Little Brown (1994).

71. RSA, Tomorrow’s Company – The Role of Business in a

Changing World, Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures

and Commerce (1995).

72. For a discussion, see: De George, R. T. Business Ethics,

Fifth edition, Prentice Hall (1999).

73. McEwan, T. Managing Values and Beliefs in

Organisations, Financial Times Prentice Hall (2001).

Use the Financial Times to enhance your understanding of the context and practice of management and

organisational behaviour. Refer to articles 2, 4, 5, 17 and 20 in the BUSINESS PRESS section at the end of

the book for relevant reports on the issues explored in this chapter.

THE ROLE OF THE

MANAGER

Part 3

Part 2

THE

ORGANISATIONAL

SETTING

Part 6

ORGANISATIONAL

STRUCTURES

Part 7

MANAGEMENT

OF HUMAN

RESOURCES

Part 8

IMPROVING

ORGANISATIONAL

PERFORMANCE

Part 5

GROUPS AND

TEAMWORK

Part 1

MANAGEMENT AND

ORGANISATIONAL

BEHAVIOUR

Part 4

THE

INDIVIDUAL

Part 3

THE ROLE OF

THE MANAGER

What motivates managers

Managerial work is enormously complex, far more

so than a reading of traditional literature would

suggest. There is a need to study it systematically

and to avoid the temptation to seek simple

prescriptions for its difficulties.

Henry Mintzberg

The Nature of Managerial Work, Harper & Row (1973)

While the nature of managerial work changes

constantly, the fundamental truth remains

unchanged: management continues to represent a

huge challenge to those who put it into practice

every day throughout the world.

Stuart Crainer

Key Management Ideas, Financial Times Prentice Hall (1998)

Organisations can only achieve their goals and

objectives by the co-ordinated efforts of their

members and it is the task of management to get

work done through other people. Management is

fundamental to the effective operation of work

organisations. It is by the process of management

and execution of work that the activities of the

organisation are carried out. Management is an

integral part of the people–organisation

relationship. It is essentially an integrating

activity which permeates every facet of the

operations of an organisation.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After completing this chapter you should be able to:

 explain the meaning of management and main

activities, or functions, of management;

 analyse the essential nature of managerial work;

 contrast management in service and production

industries, and in private and public sector organisations;

 outline empirical studies on the nature of managerial

work and behaviour;

 detail the attributes and qualities of a successful

manager;

 debate the nature of management and managers of

the future;

 evaluate the importance of management to the

effective performance of work organisations.

THE NATURE OF

MANAGEMENT

Photo: Anthony Blake

Management is a generic term and subject to many interpretations. A number of different

ideas are attributed to the meaning of management and to the work of a manager.

Schneider

and Barsoux also contend that trying to define the meaning of management shows up differ-

ences in beliefs and values.

Cultural influences are a significant feature of management.

In certain respects everyone could be regarded as a manager to some extent. We all

manage our own time and everyone has some choice whether or not to do something, and

some control, however slight, over the planning and organisation of their work. However,

we are concerned with management as involving people looking beyond themselves and

exercising formal authority over the activities and performance of other people.

At its most basic, management may be viewed as ‘making things happen’.

Management is active, not theoretical. It is about changing behaviour and making things

happen. It is about developing people, working with them, reaching objectives and achieving

results. Indeed, all the research into how managers spend their time reveals that they are crea-

turesof the moment, perpetually immersed in the nitty-gritty of making things happen.

An added dimension to the study and understanding of management is provided by

Knights and Willmott. They refer to managing as an everyday activity that involves

interactions between people that are not unrelated or entirely dissimilar to other

spheres of life, except perhaps in the rhetoric and hype that surround management.

Knights and Willmott contend that most established textbooks about management

and organisation provide little that enables practising managers to make sense of their

particular problem or dilemma, and in order to appreciate the living of management

draw on a number of contemporary novels.

Since most management textbooks do not make the connection between managing and everyday

life, and indeed envelop the activity of management within an academic and professional mys-

tique, we have drawn to alternative sources (e.g. novels) that might enable students to relate

accounts of management to their own experience ... [This book] is concerned to illuminate the

lives of people who, in different ways, are involved or affected by management.

Peter Drucker, who is widely regarded as the guru of management gurus, has written

about the significance in social history of the emergence of management:

The emergence of management as an essential, a distinct and a leading institution is a pivotal

event in social history. Rarely, if ever, has a new basic institution, a new leading group, emerged

as fast as has management since the turn of this [twentieth] century. Rarely in human history has

a new institution proven indispensable so quickly; and even less often has a new institution

arrived with so little opposition, so little disturbance, so little controversy.

Drucker sees management as denoting a function as well as the people who discharge

it, a social position and authority, and also a discipline and field of study.

Management is tasks. Management is a discipline. But management is also people. Every achieve-

ment of management is the achievement of a manager. Every failure is a failure of a manager.

190

PART 3 THE ROLE OF THE MANAGER

THE MEANING OF MANAGEMENT

While there is undoubted value in this approach, every textbook must have a clear focus

and is obviously limited in potential content. For our purposes, therefore, we can regard

management as:

■ taking place within a structured organisational setting and with prescribed roles;

■ directed towards the attainment of aims and objectives;

■ achieved through the efforts of other people; and

■ using systems and procedures.

The emergence

of management

Other writers, however, take the view that management is not a separate discipline. The

problem is identifying a single discipline which encompasses the work of a manager, or

agreeing the disciplines that a manager needs in order effectively to carry out this work.

Note, however, the discussion on ‘Managers of the Future?’ at the end of this chapter.

Even within a work organisation you cannot identify a manager necessarily by what a

person is called or by his or her job title. In some organisations there is a liberal use of

the title ‘manager’ in an apparent attempt to enhance the status and morale of staff. As

a result there are a number of people whose job title includes the term manager but

who, in reality, are not performing the full activities of a manager.

CHAPTER 6 THE NATURE OF MANAGEMENT

191

Manager as a

job title

When considering the tasks involved in the role of the infant

headteacher, two words automatically spring to mind – many

and varied. I now might add ‘vast’ and ‘ever-changing’ to

this statement. The traditional role of the headteacher as

‘master teacher’ is now being superseded by that of ‘school

improvement manager’. Within this come the roles of finance

and personnel manager, both under the umbrella of school

improvement. And, at the centre of everything are the chil-

dren and parents whom the headteacher strives to serve.

The headteacher will work to effectively manage the

best interests of the children not only through pastoral care

and support, but also through the effective management of

school resources. Some tasks will be delegated to the

deputy headteacher and members of staff who are respon-

sible for areas of the curriculum. However, a staffing

structure needs to be in place which can sustain this level

of delegation. This is often a major issue in smaller infant

schools where each member of the teaching staff must

teach a class of children and manage a subject or several

subjects alongside their teaching commitments. Individual

tasks are delegated to subject managers and are moni-

tored by the headteacher through action plans, which in

turn are linked to the School Improvement Plan.

The School Improvement Plan is the major management

tool within the school. The headteacher will manage both the

improvement and maintenance sections of this plan by regu-

lar review and evaluation. Clear, quantifiable improvement

targets will head this plan. These should reflect the whole

school’s perceived view of those things that the school

should do to bring it closer to its overall vision. Target set-

ting, and the headteacher’s management of this process, will

play a large part in moving a school forward, for a school

that stands still is one that is moving backwards.

When thinking about school improvement, we must also

consider the roles played by both central government and

the Local Education Authority. The central government

monitoring body takes the form of OFSTED. Teams of

inspectors working within schools on a regular cycle are

required to produce inspection reports on individual

schools intended to highlight achievements and to identify

areas for future developments. There are many issues for a

headteacher to consider arising from OFSTED and perhaps

none greater than the maintenance of staff morale at what

is often a stressful time. The collection and use of data is

becoming of prime importance. Headteachers must be

able to interpret statistics and use the wide range of data

available at both county and national level.

The headteacher is also finance manager. A large propor-

tion of any school’s budget is for staffing costs with the next

major cost being educational supplies and resources. Part of

the formula for the allocation of budgets to schools is based

on the number of children on a school’s roll. Every school has

a standard number of children which it cannot exceed. Some

schools’ number of children on roll may fall below this stan-

dard number, while other schools may be oversubscribed.

The headteacher will strive to maintain an optimum number of

children on roll. This is often achieved through promotion of a

school’s reputation and the quality of education it provides. If

this is successful, the school’s number on roll will remain

healthy and the budget relatively stable. It is part of the head-

teacher role to manage this, often through an informative

school brochure and prospectus, open days for prospective

parents and other events. Test results alone will not give the

whole picture.

The headteacher is also personnel manager, using the

management tools of clear target-related job descriptions

and appraisal to monitor staff performance. The headteacher

must create a climate in which all staff feel motivated to suc-

ceed, and an atmosphere in which they are able to work as a

team towards shared goals which will ultimately improve the

quality of education that children receive. Headteachers will

The infant school headteacher as a manager

EXHIBIT 6.1



Photo: John Warmsley

On the other hand, there are many people whose job title does not include the term

manager (for example, group accountant, head chef, chief inspector, captain, head-

teacher, production controller, district nursing officer, company secretary), but who, in

terms of the activities they undertake and the authority and responsibility they exer-

cise, may be very much a manager.

There is frequent debate about whether managers are born or made; or whether man-

agement is an art or a science. Briefly, the important point is that neither of these is a

mutually exclusive alternative. The answer to either question is surely a combination

of both. Even if there are certain innate qualities which make for a potentially good

192

PART 3 THE ROLE OF THE MANAGER

strive to use Performance Management as a process by

which teachers can best demonstrate their strengths and

feel happy to address future areas of development.

The headteacher is a manager in the fullest sense,

but is also a visionary and essentially a leader. Strong lead-

ership and direction is vital for all headteachers at this time

of great change. We are urged to take control and lead our

schools and staff into the brave new world of the new mil-

lennium. None would doubt the importance of this but

against a background of some stability – please!

(I am grateful to Alison Pratt, Headteacher, Orchard Lea Infant School, Fareham

for providing the above information.)

Exhibit 6.1 continued

Unlikely managers

Mother General

Tyburn Convent, Bayswater, London

Name Mother Mary Xavier

When did you become a manager? In 1973, when the

community elected me Mother General.

What does management mean to you? I think of my

position as a service to the group. That service is to ani-

mate and give advice to the various communities and

individual members. We have six communities in differ-

ent countries so it’s a kind of service for the unity of the

whole group, keeping us on course in our tradition in the

service of the church and the whole human family.

There is a quite a lot of visiting different monasteries in

various countries and sharing the daily life of each com-

munity as animator and encourager.

I also oversee the admission and training of new mem-

bers during their five-year attainment period and I am

responsible for the appointment of posts such as pri-

oresses and their councils in other communities.

Then there are community affairs and the financial

administration of the whole Tyburn order that must be

monitored and approved.

What do you love/hate about it? I love knowing and

encouraging the nuns.

I don’t find anything disagreeable, though sometimes

there can be a bit of pressure when everything happens

at once.

Unlikely managers

Senior vet

Tilehurst Veterinary Centre, Reading

Name Sharmila Nikapota

When did you become a manager? I suppose the

moment I started practising as a vet in 1994, as right

from the start you have to manage nurses. Managing the

practice started in 1996, when I became senior vet.

What does management mean to you? It means run-

ning an efficient practice, keeping the staff content and

working together as a team to provide an efficient service

to our clients and manage their pets’needs. For example,

you might have a client with limited finances so you have

to try to work out a plan balancing their emotional stress

with whatever treatment the pet needs.

Time management is very important: I consult in the

morning and do operations in the afternoon (we have to

do a certain number of operations each day). I have to

allocate tasks (such as premed) in order to waste as little

time as possible. It can be a bit like a production line.

What do you love/hate about it? My personal interests

are surgery and diagnostic imaging, so I love operating.

I don’t like putting a price on treatment; people don’t

always insure their pets and I dislike it when you can’t

take a case the way of your clinical judgment because

of cost constraints.

(Reproduced with permission from Management Today, July 1999, p. 22 and February 2000, p. 22.)

Managers born

or made?

Management an

art or science?

CHAPTER 6 THE NATURE OF MANAGEMENT

193

manager, these natural talents must be encouraged and developed through proper

guidance, education and training, and planned experience.

Clearly, management must always be something of an art, especially in so far as it

involves practice, personal judgement and dealing with people. However, it still

requires knowledge of the fundamentals of management, and competence in the appli-

cation of specific skills and techniques – as illustrated, for example, with developments

in information technology.

The trouble is that, for all the techniques at their disposal, managers generally act at a very intu-

itive level. Managers may have absorbed the latest thinking on core competencies, but are more

likely to base a decision on prejudice or personal opinion rather than a neat theory.

The discussion of management as an art or a science is developed by Watson who sug-

gests that in order to make sense of the complex and highly ambiguous situations in

which managers find themselves, management can be viewed as both art and science

but also magic and politics.

(See Figure 6.1.)

Management as art

Successful managers

are those bor n with

appropriate intuition,

intelligence and

personality which

they develop through

the practice of

leadership.

Management as art

Successful managers

are those bor n with

appropriate intuition,

intelligence and

personality which

they develop through

the practice of

leadership.

Management as magic

Successful managers

are those who

recognise that

nobody really knows

what is going on and

who persuade others

of their own powers

by calling up the

appropriate gods and

by engaging in the

expected rituals.

Management as science

Successful managers

are those who have

learned the

appropriate body of

knowledge and have

developed an ability

to apply acquired

skills and techniques.

Management as politics

Successful managers

are those who can

work out the

unwritten laws of life

in the organisational

jungle and are able

to play the game so

that they win.

Figure 6.1 Management as art, science, magic and politics

(Reproduced with permission from Watson, T. J. Management, Organisation and Employment Strategy Routledge & Kegan Paul (1986), p. 29,

with permission from Routledge/ITBP.)

There is often confusion over different interpretations of the two terms ‘management’

and ‘administration’. One of the main reasons for this confusion would seem to result

from the translation of

Fayol’s book Administration industrielle et générale from the French

into English. In the original (1929) English edition there was a direct translation of

‘administration’, but in the wider re-publication of the book in 1949 the term ‘manage-

ment’ replaced ‘administration’ in the title. In the introduction to the revised edition

Urwick indicates regret at this change.

He refers to Fayol’s use of the word administra-

tion as indicating a specific function which enters all tasks involving supervision of the

work of others. It is not concerned with the status of those who exercise this function.

Urwick also expresses concern at the possible division between management being

seen to apply only to business organisations, and (public) administration as applying

to the same functions in public service organisations.

Dictionary definitions tend to see the two words as synonymous. Management is

sometimes referred to as ‘administration of business concerns’ and administration as

‘management of public affairs’. There is clearly an overlap between the two terms and

they tend to be used, therefore, in accordance with the convenience of individual

writers. This confirms the feeling that although most people perceive a difference

between the two terms, this difference is not easy to describe.

A traditional perception is that private sector organisations are managed and the use

of the term ‘administration’ is associated with public sector organisations. However,

the term ‘management’ is now used far more widely within the public sector. There is

also an increasing number of books which examine management in the public sector.

(A comparison of management in private enterprise and public sector organisations is

to be found later in this chapter.)

Administration part of management

There appears, therefore, to be growing acceptance of the term management as the

general descriptive label and administration as relating to the more specific function of

the implementation of systems and procedures instigated by management.

Administration can be seen as taking place in accordance with some form of rules or

procedures, whereas management implies a greater degree of discretion.

For our purposes, management is viewed as applying to both private and public

sector organisations; and administration is interpreted as part of the management

process, and concerned with the design and implementation of systems and pro-

cedures to help meet stated objectives. Systems of communication and procedures

relating to information technology are particularly important today.

On behalf of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, Bailey-Scudamore

undertook the most comprehensive survey ever in the United Kingdom on the chang-

ing role of administration within organisations. The research found that administration

is seen as an important activity, but not such an important function. There remains

much scope for improvement to administrative activity and it should be on the high-

level agenda in all organisations. Certain areas of the administrator’s work will demand

high degrees of detail, planning and analysis, and demand exacting timescales and

highly regulated treatment, but, as a result of organisational and environmental change,

administration is becoming much less rigid and rule-oriented. Many more people are

taking on aspects of administrative work as an essential component of their own func-

tion or specialism and organisations are turning to administration as an indirect means

of improving business performance.

194

PART 3 THE ROLE OF THE MANAGER

The role and

importance of

administration

MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION