8 Mart 2009 Pazar

Management

"...with respect to management, the family business requires its own and very different rules. These rules have to be stringently observed. Otherwise, the family-managed business will not survive, let alone prosper".

The first rule is that family members do not work in the business unless they are at least as able as any nonfamily employee, and work at least as hard. It is much cheaper to pay a lazy nephew not to come to work than to keep him on the payroll. In a family-managed company family members are always “top management” whatever their official job or title.” “Mediocre or, worse, lazy family members allowed to work in the family-managed business are therefore—rightly—resented by nonfamily coworkers. They are an affront to their self-respect. If mediocre or lazy family members are kept on the payroll, respect for top management and for the business altogether rapidly erodes within the entire workforce.

Capable nonfamily people will not stay.” “Most CEOs of family businesses know this, of course. But still, far too many try to be “clever”. For example, the mediocre or lazy family member gets the title “Director of Research”. And a highly competent, nonfamily professional is brought in at a lush salary as “Deputy Director of Research”, and is told by the CEO, “My cousin Jim’s title is a mere formality, and only meant to keep his mother off our backs—she’s our second-largest shareholder, after all.

Everybody else, including Jim, knows that you are in charge of research. And you’ll work directly with me and need not pay attention to Jim”. But this only makes things worse. With a mediocre Jim actually in charge, the company might still get mediocre research. With a deeply resentful and jealous Jim having the official authority but no real responsibility, and an equally resentful and totally cynical outsider having the responsibility but no real authority, the company will get no research at all. All it will get are intrigues and politicking".

“The second rule is equally simple: No matter how many family members are in the company’s management, and how effective they are, one top job is always filled by an outsider who is not a member of the family. Typically, this is either the financial executive or the head of research—the two positions in which technical qualifications are most important.”

Peter Drucker– Managing the Family Business (Ch.4, Managing in a Time of Great Change 1995).

Management is about the art of managing business and people activities... Management in business and human organization activity is simply the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals- managing people and business activities to achieve desired goals.

Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources.

Functions of Management:

Management consists of six functions which are the following: planning, organizing, leading, co-ordinating, controlling.

Planning: Deciding what needs to happen in the future (today, next week, next month, next year, over the next 5 years, etc.) and generating plans for action.

Organizing: (Implementation) making optimum use of the resources required to enable the successful carrying out of plans.

Staffing: Job Analyzing, recruitment, and hiring individuals for appropriate jobs.

Leading/Motivating: Exhibiting leadership and motivational skills in order to encourage others to play an effective part in achieving plans and ensure willing participation in the organization on the parts of workers.

Controlling: Monitoring, checking progress against plans, which may need modification based on feedback.

Formation of the Business Policy:

  • Mission: the mission of the business is its most obvious purpose -- which may be, for example, to make car.
  • Vision: the vision of the business reflects its aspirations and specifies its intended direction or future destination.
  • Business Objectives: the objectives of the business refers to the ends or activity at which a certain task is aimed.
  • Business Policy: the business's policy is a guide that stipulates rules, regulations and objectives, and may be used in the managers' decision-making. It must be flexible and easily interpreted and understood by all employees.
  • Business Strategy: the business's strategy refers to the coordinated plan of action that it is going to take, as well as the resources that it will use, to realize its vision and long-term objectives. It is a guideline to managers, stipulating how they ought to allocate and utilize the factors of production to the business's advantage. Initially, it could help the managers decide on what type of business they want to form.

Implementation of Management Policies and Strategies:

1. All policies and strategies must be discussed with all managerial personnel and staff.
2. Managers must understand where and how they can implement their policies and strategies.
3. A plan of action must be devised for each department.
4. Policies and strategies must be reviewed regularly.
5. Contingency plans must be devised in case the environment changes.
6. Assessments of progress ought to be carried out regularly by top-level managers.
7. A good environment is required within the business.

Development of Management Policies and Strategies:

  • The missions, objectives, strengths and weaknesses of each department must be analysed to determine their roles in achieving the business's mission.
  • The forecasting method develops a reliable picture of the business's future environment.
  • A planning unit must be created to ensure that all plans are consistent and that policies and strategies are aimed at achieving the same mission and objectives.
  • Contingency plans must be developed, just in case of the emergency.

All policies must be discussed with all managerial personnel and staff that is required in the execution of any departmental policy.