Key Elements of Management
The responsibility of managing and administering staff members and distinctive departments within a company or an organisation requires years of experience and qualified skills. This responsibility falls on the shoulder of manager in any organisation. During his or her job role, it is evident that he or she may come across many challenges. The approach and strategies that the managers apply in case of such challenges and in order to operate within the organisation in general, is what differentiates them from one another.
The following report discusses the distinctive challenges that the manager of Telecommunications Company named Optus have faced over the period of his experience in the job role of a manager. The various strategic planning and application of these strategies in coping with the challenges gives an insight what managers in general have to deal in their job role. The aim of this report is to find out the various concepts and strategies that the managers abide and execute which helps them in their specific job role. In addition to this, the following report also aims in finding out the changes or probable changes that may occur in future in management practice.
In order to fulfil the aim of this report, an interview is conducted upon the Human Resource Manager (HRM) of Optus Telecommunications Company. The interview comprises of eight questions that is related to the topic of the report. In consecutive steps, the data collected from the interview is interpreted and analysed in order to understand and fulfil the aim of the report.
Optus is regarded as one of the significant telecommunications company in Australia. The services delivered by the company are owned and operated by the company within its own network base (Optus, 2018). The company was established in the year 1981 and since then it has flourished to be a successful telecommunications company of Australia. The company has a clear set of objectives that drives them to deliver a quality service. One of the key aims of the company is to create a better connected future for Australia and thus helping the distinctive people, communities around the world (Optus, 2018). The company aims to fulfil this by investing upon networks and sustainable future (Optus, 2018).
In order to manage and govern the company towards a successful position, the HRM of any organisation plays a significant role. Management is considered to be one of the essential element of any organisation (Rosemann & vom Brocke, 2015). It is the job role of management that it organises the current organisational activities and plan for achieving future goals. Now there are a number of procedures that are involved in the job role of management. According to Bolden (2016), the nature of management comprises of seven significant elements to it. These elements are the ground mechanism of management upon which it functions. The first element of management is to measure and analyse the performance of the employees working in the organisation. The second element is to examine the future scope or environment that would benefit the company to a significant level. Thirdly, developing concrete objectives for the company is one of the essential element in management. According to Strauß & Zecher (2013), setting objectives within an organisation helps construct a guideline and clear aims that upon which the staff members shall abide by.
Role of Management in Organizations
In addition to the elements of management, the fourth element comprises of developing business strategies in order to fulfil the objectives set up. Consecutively, the strategies are converted into operational tactics. The sixth element of management is to prepare budget and action plan that would help to initiate the strategies that was set up by the management. Lastly, the final element is to implement the constructed plan that would affect the organisation in a significant way.
The elements of management are dependent upon each other for the purpose of directing the company towards a better scope or platform (Rosemann & vom Brocke, 2015). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.). According to Lawrence & Lee (2013), management is not merely governing the current activities of the company instead have a much deeper role to play within any organisation. Management is a continuous planning, organising, controlling and implementation of appropriate approaches and strategies that would guide the company towards a successful and profitable route (Lawrence & Lee, 2013).
The significance of management is accepted universally and henceforth, each and every organisation or company have an establishment of management department of its own (Schaltegger & Wagner, 2017). It has been observed that the management contributes heavily upon the successful functioning of any organisation and is responsible for maintaining and creating a cooperative working environment for the workers (Roper & Payant, 2014). Now, the job role of management is segregated in distinctive levels and its purpose are differentiated accordingly. From quality management to risk management, there are various criteria where the skills and role of management are established.
The interview conducted upon the manager of the telecommunication company Optus highlighted some new elements that the current management practices are going through at the moment. Following the eight elements of Thought model the following interpretation of the interview has been constructed –
The main goal of this interview that was conducted upon the HRM of Optus was to find out the major challenges that are frequently faced in the job role and to analyse the approach and strategies that is practiced in the job role of management. In addition to this, the current management practice along with probable changes in the field of management is also discussed from this interview.
The questions that were constructed for this interview were more in-depth in nature (Appendix 1). The questions ranged from personal management experience to the overall discussion in the field of management. The questions of the interview comprises of discussion of the current management practices. Furthermore, the probable changes that may occur in the management field is also discussed. These questions shall give an insight to field of management and how distinctive approach in management affects the organisations differently.
Findings from the Interview with HRM of Optus Telecommunications Company
The information gathered as a result of the interview gave an insight and helped in finding out the key challenges that the management department of the organisation faces generally. The strategies of motivating the employees despite of extreme work pressure is one of the extreme challenges that most of the management department come across during their job role. Employees being one of the key asset of the company have a major contribution in achieving company’s goals and objectives. Therefore, motivating them and increasing their engagement level towards their work is a significant role that the management has to look upon.
There are a number of concepts that have been established on the practice of management of any organisation. The nature of management and its key functioning is the universally accepted theory. Management is not merely a strategic process of administering the organisation instead have a much deeper interpretation than that (). The process of management includes the steps of an in-depth analysing the various activities of organisation and developing the most appropriate plan or strategy for the organisation. The management department not only take into account the current activities but also think of the future scope for the organisation.
It was assumed from the interview that the manager of the company have a positive experience in the job role of manager. However, it can be assumed that management is not an easy task to be initiated and require a lot of experience and skills. The individual that takes on the responsibility and job role of management have a dynamic role to play within the organisation. The interview furthermore, helped to put an insight towards the probable changes that the management field may go through. For instance, the increasing competitive nature of the market have given rise to more complex practice of management and have in fact have expanded the job role of management.
It has been observed from the interview that even though the job role of management is significant for the organisation. The dynamic role that it plays within the organisation can influence the functioning of the organisation to a significant level. The continuous process that are involved in management may affect the individual that has acquired the job role of management.
The interview conducted upon the HRM of Optus have raised some factors. The dynamic responsibilities that comprises in the job role of management may sometimes affect the functioning of it and this may ultimately affect upon organisations performance. Henceforth, it is necessary that the role of management is equally divided and segregated upon distinctive individuals so that a proper balance can be maintained throughout the department.
Probable Changes in Management Field
The interview have brought out many factors that may affect the role of management to a significant level. Management is one of the most essential element within an organisation. However, the vast responsibilities attached with this job role may give rise to increased consequences upon the individual health and ultimately influence the decision making procedure of the organisation.
Managers are becoming smarter with each passing day in the telecommunications sector. The increased roles and responsibilities of the mangers have made it very difficult to become a manager. The managers are selected on the basis of effective capabilities rather than merit. This makes sure that the larger number of managers are better performing in regards to team handling and team performances. Based on the findings managers have been seen to be greatly interactive with their team members. The managers have been seen to have generally good opinions about the capabilities and competencies of their team members. It is also found that despite the regular disappointments and demotivation most of the teams have generally good opinions about their managers. This points towards the fact that team bonding and team coordination levels have risen over the years. Generally this could be attributed to the fact that modern organizational performance has become almost completely dependent on the effectiveness of the various teams.
The contingency theory of management greatly provides managerial decision making outlooks that can determine the progress of teams and organizations (Cairns, Beech & Montuori, 2016). According to this theory managerial decisions are based on real time situations rather than singularly applicable decision making methods. Thus, decisions that are taken by managers across various organizations depend greatly on the business requirements. Optus being a large company, the same decision making theories are applied to the managerial situations that are present. Managers of the company were seen to be quite flexible with their decision making. However, this can hamper employee motivation in many cases. It was found that the contingency theory cannot be equally productive under all circumstances. The applications of systems theory was also evident from the findings concerning the managerial aspects of Optus. Systems theory provides a decision making framework where all the members within the team are deemed to be part of a whole (Williams et al., 2014). Thus, the systems theory stresses on the integration of roles towards creating better productivity. The findings make it very clear that the two theories are most commonly used by the managers in the company.
Challenges Faced by Managers and Their Strategies
The major identified challenges were employee motivation. The interview pointed to the fact that the managers were responsible for improving the motivation of their team members. However, according to the manager this was the most challenging aspect of his work. Another significant challenge that can also be said to be related to the motivational factors is growing work pressure. Market competition was also found to be among the principal challenges being faced by Optus in the present corporate situations. Employee motivation can be said to one of the biggest issues that organizations operating in the current corporate scenarios regularly face. It has been found that the current corporate functions of large enterprises are complicated and much tiresome for employees and managers across all the operational levels of the organizations. The problems become much severe when competition increases forcing the company to implement rigorous work schedules for their employees. This results in the increasing workload of the employees. Naturally, the employees get much demotivated in the face of such extreme pressure situations. The main issue is in regards to keeping the workforce motivated despite the rising levels of work. Despite the fact that incentives are in place to motivate the employees. It becomes much difficult for the employees to actually be motivated as they are psychologically affected due to the extreme pressure situations. This was found to be a significant challenge that affected the managers at the Optus group. At times managers are unable to cope with the situations and cannot maintain the effectiveness of motivational aspects of their teams. This creates further problems for the teams as lack of coordination can end up the total failure of productivity of teams. The attitude of the manager was found to be greatly tested at these situations. This is mainly because majority of the times even if demotivated, the employees have to provide performance towards the project being handled. Thus, it becomes necessary for an effective manager to keep up an attitude that can atleast ensure that the employees are relatively satisfied to work in the team.
Rising competition levels are causing significant issues among the organizations. This was the greater understanding that was gathered through the experience. The ground level impact of pressure creates situations within an organizations that cannot be realized by people that are not part of the operational process (Kim, Asada & Hirai, 2016). It was realized that the approach and outlook of the leadership of an organization can be the determining factor behind the productive performance of organizations. The competitive factors of the market that are increasing with the advent of new technological innovations have also been found through the study of Optus. Learning about the significant aspects of a large company like Optus helped towards understanding the major operational aspects that organizations functioning in the telecommunications sector have to consider. Hence, he effective significance of the major operational factors were evaluated and understood.
Conclusion
Conclusion and Recommendations
The main aspects that were focused in the essay was organizational behavior, organizational leadership and productive performances of organizations. The interview helped in the discussion of the ground level managerial issues that affected the functioning of the teams that in turn helped in increasing organizational productivity. Moreover, the organizations as effective functional entities that depend on various essential units were discussed. The findings pointed out towards the theories and practical application of managerial aspects and the challenge factors that affect the efficiency of organizational leaderships.
The specific job roles that managers have been effectively discussed and it has been found that motivation of the employees in the face of extreme pressure situations is an essential challenge that managers have to effectively tackle. Thus, it can be said that efficient leadership and effective tackling of challenges is the most important factor that helps towards organizational progress.
The recommendations that can be made for Optus is to increase their employee base. Extreme pressure situations can be avoided through larger number of employees. Moreover, the competitive forces need to be essentially considered before taking any major market decisions. In the end it can be said that Optus have been able to maintain its productive functions due to its long standing market presence. The leadership of the organization can be said to be satisfactory but needs to improve further as the future conditions can be more challenging.
References
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Williams, G. C., Halvari, H., Niemiec, C. P., Sørebø, Ø., Olafsen, A. H., & Westbye, C. (2014). Managerial support for basic psychological needs, somatic symptom burden and work-related correlates: A self-determination theory perspective. Work & Stress, 28(4), 404-419.
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