Custom «Perspectives of Management» Essay Paper Sample

Background Information on Manager

Working at River Court Company has been a great privilege because I have been able to acquire skills and add on to my knowledge. This has been contributed by the company's manager since he has demonstrated good leadership skills. Harold Smith has been the manager of the Company for the past five years. During this time the company has seemed to emerge successful despite the challenges it has faced. This is attributed to the effort that the manager has put in the company. Harold Smith grew up in the state of Ohio and after completing his high school education, he wished to study a business related course. This he pursued at Fontys University of professional education, where he got a Bachelor's degree in business management. He achieved this by studying International Business and management, which is one of the majors offered at the university. The knowledge one acquires from the course covers the main objectives one needs to know in the international marketing and management.

Smith had worked for three major companies before joining Red Court Company in 2005, where he assumed the position of assistant manager. Here he took care of activities such; searching for fresh market for the products of the company. This helped the company improve its status and have an advantage over its competitors. In 2007, he was promoted to manager of the company assuming a greater role and responsibility. The company had been aiming at hitting the international market for quite a while and Mr. Smith helped achieve that objective. In 2008, the company expanded its trading capabilities t other international countries such as Japan and Korea. There have been several agreements ever since that allow the company to deal with other countries. The main function of the company is to manufacture organic foods and drinks; the motto is to promote health among the people.

The main functions assumed by the manager are; to make sure that the launch of a new product is received well in the market. This is a major task as it takes a lot of effort to satisfy the customer and maintain the cycle of the product in the market. Maintain the international ties that the company has, this can be done by consistently producing satisfactory results. Create a stable position for the company inn the economic market. Technology has been a major facilitator in most businesses and the manager should be able to be thoroughly informed on E- business. Financial resources of the company are to be well taken care of by the manager. In general, the manager should be able to keep tabs of all the major activities being carried out in the company.

Manufacturing organic foods is important since it promotes good health but it is not an easy task. The market has many competitors and one has to come up with good strategies to attract consumers and fight off competition. Consumers dislike monotony and are always looking for something new and satisfactory in the market. Hence, innovation is a key factor as a manager. This can be easily contributed through technology. Business is easily adapting to the new technology known as E- business since it is easier to handle. The installation of information systems makes work much faster and manageable for the manager. The skill and knowledge that the manager Harold Smith has acquired at school and other businesses has helped improve the company in various ways. His leadership skills have been evident ever since he joined the company through the successful results acquired with time. Maintaining this has been part of his duty as well.

Manager's Skill in Planning

Planning is one of the functions of good management. Planning is a skill that every manager is a supposed to posses in order to lead a good company. Planning policy in a company involves the manager creating a suitable plan and making sure it is organized so as to emerge successful. Creating a plan is one task as it requires innovation and maintaining it to make sure it meets the required objectives is another task. The manager of the Company, Harold Smith has been able to exercise good planning skills for the company. He has been doing this by following the data collected to make future plans. Forecasting has also played a big role in the decisions made in the company. This is the predicting of the expectations or future using the data collected in the past. This helped the manager make plans based on facts that will help satisfy the consumers and benefit the company at the same time.

Mr. Smith made sure to prepare the plan effectively before presenting it to the company. Preparation is very important as it will give the company an opportunity to correct any mistakes. The main objective is to make sure that the plan is a success and it meets the objectives of the company. Lack of preparation may place the company at a risk incase the plan is executed. Therefore, Smith carried out good preparation plans running them across other board members for advice and their opinion. This made a big difference since sharing the plan with the people made the people more involved with the plan. This was bound to make the plan more successful. Planning made the members understand the development process of the company and made them more focused. Planning helped create a course which the company would follow for a specified period of time.

Red Court Company needed to follow a different strategy to help fight competition. Companies dealing with food are quite many and they re always coming up with new ways to approach the market and attract consumers. This had been the method followed for quite a while. Harold Smith felt it was better if the company tried a new approach. This would be trying the international market with their products. This was not an easy task since there are other companies that had already tried utilizing the international market but had emerged rather unsuccessful.

The goal set by the manager was realistic and seemed possible. He ran it by the other board members so that they can evaluate the risk involved. The main issues that needed to be addressed were carefully deliberated on. Companies that had earlier attempted to hit the international market and failed were also carefully observed. The strategies they used were also looked at carefully. This was to make sure that the company would not make the same mistakes that the other companies had made. Assessing the international market was also a major part of the planning as it would help the company tailor the products according to consumers' expectations. The company did this by carefully studying the country they aimed to invest in and forecasting to determine demand.

The plan was to invest in Japan since they were very keen in observing good eating habits. Their foods are mainly organic and healthy but they did not have all the organic foods and supplying to them was a good plan. At first most people were skeptical about it and said the risk was too high. After careful planning and deliberation for months, the company finally decided to settle for Japan. Good execution of the plan helped it emerge successful.

Manager's Skill in Organizing

Organizing also plays an important role in effective management and is a skill every manager is supposed to exercise. The effect of organizing is mainly felt in the resources department which includes; human and natural resources as well as technology and financial management. This includes the implementation process where the resources in the company are used to execute the plans successfully. Planning is the first process and then making sure that everything is an orderly manner to enable the plan to be carried out successfully is the second part. Managers are faced with the task of making this process successful in a company or organization. Harold Smith has been able to exercise his organizing skills effectively over the period of time that he has been acting as manager in the company. He made sure to follow important steps in the organizing process. Whenever a plan had been presented to the members of the organization and the company had started to view it as the future, then the following steps were followed.

Defining the tasks that are to be accomplished is one of the steps followed. This would set common goals for every individual and the process would be much easier. The second step is to assign every individual different activity from the tasks involved. Every individual has their own specialty and once they are allocated to the areas that suit them best, they will be able to produce the desired results. Making sure that all the resources required are available was the third step. This made sure that everybody is comfortable in their stations and that they will be bale to work effectively. Finally the manager makes sure that the organizational relationships are in order.

In order to keep tabs of all these activities, Harold Smith makes sure that he designs a structure that will guide everyone. The structure is created in form of a chart that is done in an orderly manner. This chart shows work to be done and time it should be done. It assigns specific duties to various individuals and the time schedule to be followed. This helps avoid time wastage and gives a clear indication of who is in control in specific stations. In general, the chart helps create an organized atmosphere in the company.

Time management is an important aspect when implementation of a plan is in progress. Time wasted may not be easily recovered and may even lead to losses in a bad scenario. Our manager was aware of this and made sure that during the implementation of a plan everybody paid attention to time. He did this by making sure everyone knew what to do, when to do it and how it should be done. During the implementation of the plan of hitting the international market, an organizational chart was used. Following the chart proved to be a hard task for several people but with time people were able to adapt to the routine. Every individual was assigned a post where they were supposed to produce the desired results. As much as the chart helped the manager, it also helped the employees. Following the chart helped them produce results that the company expected and helped the company achieve its goals.

The manager also assigned various senior members command positions where they would be able to supervise the work conducted. As a manger supervising every employee is nearly impossible especially if the company is large. Therefore, our manager selected various senior employees and assigned them, posts of command where they would help in the supervision process. This made work much easier and improved the level of understanding among the employees.

Manager's Skill in Leading People

Leadership is a skill that not everyone posses but every manger has to have. The manager assumes the role of leading his employees and good leadership skills are required. All the employees look up to the manager as their leader and source of motivation. As a leader, one should be able to meet the expectations of the employees. This is not an easy task considering that people are diverse and not everyone is bound to agree with the leadership skills offered. At Red Court Company, our manager Harold Smith has been trying really hard to exercise good leadership skills that will satisfy all the employees.

Integrity has been one of the strong skills that Mr. Smith has been able to reflect as a leader. He understands that as a leader he should lead by example and he has been working hard at making sure his actions are inspiring to all the employees. He has been making sure to lead by the principles he believes in that will inspire honesty and other related features. This quality mainly focuses on the actions that the manager does and how they are perceived by the rest of the employees. The manager makes sure that he treats his employees in a manner that he would like to be treated but at the same time maintain authority. In case he acts in manner that does not reflect integrity, he is quick to correct his mistakes and explain himself to the employees. This has made most of the employees respect him immensely.

As a leader one is always supposed to have a vision for his company and his employees. This involves him coming up with a strategy that will help attain this vision. Every company wishes to attain certain goals, the goals are set by the leaders and are meant to improve the situation of the company and the lives of the employees. Working towards certain objectives is not easy as it will mean change and most people do not respond well to the effects of change. Therefore, the best way a leader can approach such a situation is to lead by example. This will not only help start a journey of achieving the objectives, but will also act as motivation to the rest of the employees. Always referring to the vision will help the employees work towards achieving it. Mr. Smith always refers to the vision of the company and has already started achieving it slowly.

Communication has always played an important role in every situation and as a leader one should be a good communicator. Creating good communication lines between employees and their leaders is a good approach since there will be a sense of understanding between them. Harold Smith always makes sure he can communicate with his employees. This way, he will be able to know if there are any problems and rectify them in time. This will also encourage teamwork among the employees, which will be rather advantageous to the company and all the individuals involved.

When Red Court Company was struggling to achieve its objectives, it faced various challenges such as rejection. This increased the risk of failure and some of the employees were starting to lose faith and seem rather rebellious. Throughout this time Harold Smith maintained a positive attitude and led by example. He worked overtime and headed the negotiation process. This rather encouraged most of the workers and they seemed more determined that ever. With time everything changed for the better and Red Court Company started achieving its vision and accomplishing their set objectives.

Manager's Skill in Controlling

Controlling in management is important as it gives the opportunity for one to recognize errors and have time to correct them. Every organization has goals set and they aim to achieve them. With the controlling factor in hand then the objectives will be met and the desired results will be achieved. With time the role of control has been modernized in a manner that the mistakes are noted beforehand while before errors were corrected if only they had been committed. As a manager it is important that you produce desired results as it would give the company a good reputation and image to the public.

Information is a major contributor when the function of controlling is in session. A manager may tend to discover an error before it is even committed. This is always very advantageous since the correcting process will take a short while. When a manger is well informed concerning the working progress of the company, then they are bound to keep all errors at bay. As a manager, Smith makes sure that he is fully informed of all the activities taking place in the office. He makes sure this is possible by assigning senior employees command posts. They make reports at the end of the day and deliver them to him. This way he is able to keep tabs of all the activities taking place and if there are areas that are not quite clear, he corrects them. Constant communication with his employees also keeps him informed.

Some people may view control as a form of bureaucratic measure to limit the privacy of the employees. Control means maintaining authority before the employees and making sure working is being conducted accordingly. This may make some of the employees appear rebellious as they would like to exercise their freedom to their own advantage. This however can be solved by constant communication with the employees. Our manager Smith does this all the time and it has helped people understand some of the rules set in the company. Letting the employees be involved in the implementation of the rules will help them adhere to them more often.

During some time last year, the work load seemed to be increasing and the employees were started to drag behind. The root cause of the problem was discovered to be that most of the employees were busy doing other activities during working hours. Spending time on the internet on chatting sites or social connecting sites with friends was a major contributor. Most of the employees were using the internet for their own benefit rather than for working purposes. Monitoring employees during work is not easy because as a supervisor one has other activities to take care of as well. Using the company's phone for private matters was also becoming a major issue. Solving the problem was quite difficult as most of the employees complained of lack of privacy. Therefore, the manager had to approach the problem differently.

The manager deployed a system that controlled the services offered by the internet. This limited the use of internet by the employees but it also helped them catch up on their work. It took time for the employees to adjust tot his system but eventually it all worked out for the greater good. The internet sites that distracted the employees were blocked from the company's system and the internet has been utilized properly from then on. The telephone was being monitored although under terms that every employee agreed with. Time that would have been spent chatting on the phone was now being spent in productive activities.

Management Characteristics I Would Like to Develop

Working at Red Court Company has really helped improve my skills of associating with people and observing our manager has helped me acquires kills as well. The management skills reflected by our manager have been very admirable and very inspiring. There is some management skills that I would love to develop as individual. The skill of leading would be the most important skill I would love to acquire. Being a leader involves immense responsibility and dedication. Leaders are seen as special human beings but they are just normal individuals who have skills that enable them to assume such a position.

When assumes the role of a leader they are forced to learn a lot of things along the way. Leadership is a skill that involves other characteristics as well and is bound to be very beneficial in life. As a leader one is expected to produce positive results as it will make one earn respect. Innovation is also a key aspect when one is a leader as it will help achieve success in a company. A leader is also supposed to act as a role model and this helps one better themselves as a person. When one is acting in a manner that will attract people they are bound to act in an orderly manner, this will help mould me into a respectable person.

Planning is another management characteristic that I would love to develop as an individual. Planning is not an easy task as it involves a lot of thinking and input from everyone. Coming up with an idea might be easy but making it acceptable to everyone despite fear of failure is very challenging. If one can be able to accomplish this challenge, then it is very possible that they can be able to overcome other challenges as well.

Presenting a plan to people is like presenting an idea that indicates change. People will respond differently to change as they are diverse. Hence, it is the responsibility of the person presenting the change, to convince everyone to accept it. Developing such a characteristic as individual will me help fight for what I believe in. This is not a common characteristic as most people tend to shy away from their ideas at the first sign of criticism. The characteristic of planning will help build courage in me as in individual professionally and in other situations.

The other characteristic as a manger that I would like to develop would be organizing. Organizing is more like planning only, it completes the process. When a plan has been presented to a company and it is accepted, it has to be executed properly. The organizing section helps this be successful. If I can be able to be a good organizer then I can be able to handle pressure perfectly. The work involved in organizing is quite a lot as one has to be responsible for the execution of the plan. If presenting the plan was successful then the execution should also be successful.

Organizing involves taking responsibility of how the execution process will be carried out. This involves assigning people different posts thus; one will have to understand the employees and their strengths. Interaction with people is not one of my strong traits and if I learn this then I will be able to learn how to interact with people better. One may come up with a great plan but poor execution may cost the company a lot. Therefore, good judgment is required while executing the plan and cooperation from the individuals involved as well. If one masters the skill of organizing, then they are bound to turn successful.