The Qualities of the Capable Manager

This paper talks about management and the role of efficient management in getting things done, dealing with resources effectively, and contributing productively to the overall processes in an organization. This paper highlights what a capable manager is and how he or she functions in an organization, to bring about positive trickle-down effects on the organization. The paper also talks about the three core characteristics that a manager has and how these are so important in running a company effectively and efficiently, to classify its human resources firstly as gaining a competitive edge.

Introduction

Human resource management is an area of expertise in the developing world. It formulates a proper set of theories to manage the most important resource that any company or organization, big or small, has; this being its human resource. This paper focuses its attention on team building however by choosing this topic from the vast field of human resource management (Mathis, R., and Jackson, J., 2007).

The concepts of team building and empowerment are deeply rooted in the ‘social action’ ideology of the 1960s and the self-help perspective of the 1970s. Empowerment is the giving of power and authority, ‘giving the ability to, or enabling’. (Gibson, C., 1991) Mueller, F. (1994) says that a manager’s job is to have teambuilding which refers to the sharing of rewards, information, and power with employees so that they become able to take initiative and improve upon performance as a result and this can be done with a combination of team building and empowerment. Teambuilding, with the help of a capable manager, makes an employee feel responsible and accountable, as a result, motivated to the actions that are done by them. (Pedler, M Boydell, T and Burgoyne, J., 2006) Hence, from a learning perspective, the reader can describe the theoretical and methodological construct from individual, collectivistic, as well as organizational and societal perspectives. (Frobel and Marchington, 2005) Mueller, F. (1994) says that teambuilding as a process is about enabling people to gain mastery over the situation they are in or the kind of environment they are functioning in while working together.

All businesses’ main goal is to create value through corporate governance, value-based management, profitability, aligning strategic goals with managerial goals, planning, operating effectively, and developing market niche. A business model hence is the framework that companies adopt to deal with social, psychological, technological, political, economic, and cultural factors to amalgamate their vision well. This is all there to create a competitive advantage which is gaining an edge over one’s competitors. However, when there is a team at work, and that too efficiently, it is said that success comes eventually. Here, overall the role of an efficient manager cannot be overlooked as it is one of the reasons that the company is said to have performed well (Belenger, J., Edwards, P.K. and Wright, M., 2003).

Constituents of a capable, performing manager

One thing is clear, good managers are made. Along with the interplay of nature and nurture, nurturing a person makes him an effective manager. The basic equation needs desire and willpower to be able to learn through experience and institutional knowledge about the processes revolving around an effective, capable manager, to incorporate these in the daily workings at the workplace formally. Inspiration is the key to get to the higher levels in the hierarchy of an organization. Through continual study and hard work can only be achieved to give oneself a round-up of that of a capable manager. (Selden, B., 2007)

When a manager embarks upon or wants to adopt the role of a leader, he or she needs to take the following steps to be successful. These are:

1. Continuous improvement and self-appraisal: this means strengthening the person’s positive points and eliminating or minimizing the negative ones.
2. Know the workings and functionality of the job that the person possesses. (Blencoe, G., 2002).
3. Be responsible: by making sure that a leader adopts a responsible attitude he is less prone to criticism and takes into account all his actions and mistakes etc. ‘Learning from mistakes’, is a part of this strategy. (Clark D. R., 2008).
4. Logical decisions should be made keeping an important factor- time into account.
5. Lead by example: a component of being a leader is that you make others follow you through your actions and inspire them. This can only be done by setting a good example in front of everyone. (Blencoe, G., 2002).
6. A leader should also practice ethics of care towards his or her subordinates or employees at large because this also helps the leader gain followers through inspiration. Sincerely caring for one’s workers makes them feel more wanting of accepting work and finishing chores. (Blencoe, G., 2002).
7. An open environment, that of information sharing makes employees feel important and they do not feel isolated from the workings of the jobs that they are responsible for. It also gives them a feeling of closeness and attachment to the work that they are doing and the person at the top responsible for it, that is the leader. (Clark D. R., 2008).
8. A capable manager should also ensure that the personal characteristics of his or her employees are developed also through regular meetings and training sessions. This helps in the development of peoples’ capacities, which also is a responsibility to be partaken by a leader so that the door to success for him as well as the entire organization is opened. (Blencoe, G., 2002).
9. Communication should be as effective as possible to leave no room for doubts or loopholes in the understanding of goals, tasks, procedures, etc.
10. A very important factor to meet with success through display and exercising of capable manager-ship is the fact that all leaders should understand that they work in groups and not teams or departments etc. The main notion hence should be and is that a group is present that is responsible for the takes that they do, and hence training and guidance by the leader should also be given that way. (Quinn, R Faerman, S Thompson, M, McGrath and St Clair, LM., 2007).
11. Team spirit should be developed to instill in everyone that they are a prominent part of it and without them the team/group is incomplete. This can only be done by a capable manager. (Clark D. R., 2008).

Benefits to the company by having a capable manager performing

Research has shown that yes there is a link between productivity and motivated employees and the existence of a capable manager. (Urichuck, B., n.d.) Employee motivation is in other words positive reinforcement that an employee receives. It helps the employee gaining self-esteem and makes him feel important and in control. When these things are combined it results in motivation, thereby an increase in productivity since the person feels appreciated for his or her work and wants to do it willingly, properly, and on time. (Urichuck, B., n.d.)

Specifically, the many different ways how this can be done and thereby the motivation level of employees can be raised are as follows; capable managers need to understand what employees want from work; they should show respect for employees at work to them; capable managers should give comments in the form of constructive criticism and provide feedback that the employees can make use of positively; capable managers need to show employees that their work is liked when it is. Praise in the form of open regard, open usage of positive adjectives for the employee and his or her work, and even a pat on the back can result in a feeling of motivation inside the employee (Heathfield, S., n.d.) capable managers and the company can set out proper criteria for performance, which can be then used as a basis of judging and analyzing an employee’s work. Since it forms a consistent standard and allows for transparency in praising standard, and then we can surely say that employee work’s recognition will look and will in actuality be relevant and truthful to the employee. (Heathfield, S., n.d.)

This will again raise the motivation level inside the employee; developing and retaining a good trustworthy environment and a relationship based on trust between the manager and his or her employee, can result in motivation again. This can be established a capable manager makes sure that effective communication is being done, and employees have a say in the matters of the business; recognizing each employee for his contribution to the work that he is responsible for and to the company or organization that he is in is another way to make him feel motivated and to retain that feeling inside him; delegating tasks to employees and empowering them is another step whereby employees feel good since they feel they are in charge; equal opportunity for all employees needs to be set explicitly. Also, a culture of mentoring one’s followers or subordinates is a good way to motivating them since by guiding them they feel like someone cares for them in a medium-sized manufacturing company. (Blencoe, G., 2002).

Three critical capabilities in a manager

A capable manager needs to understand what employees want from work; they should show respect for employees at work to them; managers should give comments in the form of constructive criticism and provide feedback that the employees can make use of positively; managers need to show employees that their work is liked when it is. Praise in the form of open regard, open usage of positive adjectives for the employee and his or her work, and even a pat on the back can result in a feeling of motivation inside the employee. Kaiser is a company in Germany that keeps its employees first. (Greenwood, I. and Randle, H., 2007); managers and the company can set out proper criteria for performance, which can be then used as a basis for judging and analyzing an employee’s work. Since it forms a consistent standard and allows for transparency in praising standard, and then we can surely say that employee work’s recognition will look and will in actuality be relevant and truthful to the employee. (Bacon, N. Blyton, and P., 2000)

The two main things about being an effective, capable manager revolve around building trust and confidence level in the subordinates or employees; and effective communication and deliverance of work-related messages well. (McKee A. and Boyatzis R., 2004) These two concepts have gained a lot of popularity since the continual growth in the desire to be effective, capable managers. These two broad criteria encompass the following pointers, which form the three most important things that every capable manager needs to have (Clark D. R., 2008):

– Assisting employees in gaining an insight into the company’s objectives by having an open work policy and open information sharing. This calls for also a greater sense of responsibility in the employees as they feel that their manager respects them and feels that they are trustworthy. (Goleman, D, Boyatzis, R and McKee, A., 2002).

– Helping employees out in gaining knowledge about what their roles are and will be in achieving those goals for the organization results in the employees feeling respected and helped out since they feel that their manager cares about them. This results in achieving goals strategically efficiently since the alignment of personal/individual with collectivistic goals take place, resulting in achieving the mission. (Goleman, D, Boyatzis, R and McKee, A., 2002).

– Having an open environment concerning information sharing so that employees feel connected with the workings of the organization and others around them. This way the employees know what it is that they are working for, and what is the bigger picture. (Clark D. R., 2008).

Conclusion

Management is all about coping with daily work and coordinating work matters. The setting up and promotion of large organizations in the corporate world today is a challenge that needs to be met. Without the use of effective management, chaos is the result, and productivity is affected, depriving the organization of its edge over other organizations, if it had any in the first place. (Kotter J., 2001)

Mobilizing an organization to make it fit better in a competitive environment is hence paid a lot of attention to. Without such adaptability to changes, an organization will falter. But when this change is met with a lot of resistance by the employees, then distress is created within them. This is where again the role of a capable manager carries utmost importance as capable managers make their employees feel more secure about their whereabouts and their jobs and instill in them confidence. (Heifetz R. and Laurie D., 2001)

A capable manager needs to understand what employees want from work; they should show respect for employees at work to them; capable managers should give comments in the form of constructive criticism and provide feedback that the employees can make use of positively; managers need to show employees that their work is liked when it is. (Greenwood, I. and Randle, H., 2007); managers and the company can set out proper criteria for performance, which can be then used as a basis for judging and analyzing an employee’s work. Since it forms a consistent standard and allows for transparency in praising standard, and then we can surely say that employee work’s recognition will look and will in actuality be relevant and truthful to the employee. (Bacon, N. Blyton, and P., 2000).

The two main things about being an effective, capable manager revolve around building trust and confidence level in the subordinates or employees; and effective communication and deliverance of work-related messages well. (McKee A. and Boyatzis R., 2004) These two concepts have gained a lot of popularity since the continual growth in the desire to be effective, capable managers.

All in all, maintaining a sharp focus on effective strategy making and implementation carries a lot of importance. Research has shown that strategy, execution, culture, and structure carry a lot of importance and are stated to be the fundamentals of business. (Carlopio, J and Andrewartha, G., 2008) These are called primary management practices, which are techniques to excel in the workplace (resulting in capable managers). These are the tactics that capable managers need to adopt and practice so that they meet with success. (Nohria N., Joyce W., Roberson B., 2003).

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