Literature Review
The writing of this report has been inspired by a desire to equip the future managers and students in the field of management with skills and knowledge of managing organizations effectively. The report seeks to achieve this by exploring the roles of a manager and the challenges they face and possible ways of addressing the challenges. The main aim of this report is to provide insight on business management issues to the students as future team members and managers. This will be achieved through systematic discussion and explaining in detail the roles of managers and the challenges they face as per the information collected from interview and literature review.
The paper will begin by discussing the roles of the managers, then the challenges facing the managers and also other lessons learned through experience. After that, it shall provide a conclusion concerning the discussion and recommendations to the issues encountered. The paper majorly focuses on the roles of the managers and the challenges they face because they are crucial to effective management. There are other issues which are relevant for managers to put them into consideration and they are covered as the lessons learned from experience. Only affairs of managers are the major concern in this report.
To begin with, it is helpful to consider the concepts of leadership and management and the deliberation on how managers are linked to the activities of management. Management refers to activities that are associated with the running of a company (Wilkinson et al., 2015). Such activities include controlling, leading, monitoring, organizing, and planning. These activities are exercised by an individual who has the authority to oversee the operations of an organization. A manager is an expert in a given field of an organization and supports system of employees (Voigt et al., 2017). The manager delegates responsibilities to employees and assists them to achieve them. The goal of management is for managers to attain high performance from oneself and employees. It is essential for managers to make sure that the workers are doing what it takes to achieve a company’s goals.
A manager assumes many roles. He is a team leader, but again he also involved in business planning, organizing activities, solving problems and a decision maker. These roles are classified into three categories. The first one is interpersonal roles which involve human interaction. Then there is an informational role which consists of sharing and analyzing of information (Viitala et al., 2017). Lastly is decisional role category that is dealing with decision making. Management educators suggest that it is necessary for individuals to acquire technical, human as well as conceptual skills such that they can develop competencies or expertise that can lead to excellent performance in management.
Firm Background
In the 1980’s it was argued that poor organizational performance was attributed to a poor educational background of managers and inadequate training and development. Scholars contend that considerable attempts should be made to convince employers to systematically train their managers (Uvhagen et al., 2018) properly. This is because investment in human resource managers gives rise to increased business performance and flexibility.
Researchers argue that organization management development has been relatively neglected and continue to state that organizations would gain from receiving their formal responsible managers, focusing on the abilities of managers to manage the activities of their operations. Related research by management educator found that managers who display higher standards and more advanced process and systems of management also exhibit higher business performance against competitors (Riccucci, 2018). Many organizations put emphasize on people management skills.
The role of the managers is not limited to basic operations in their current jobs. Some authors argue that they are responsible for providing information required to employees to manage their development effectively (Radomska, 2015). Effective career discussions between managers and employees usually lead to practical actions and can highly motivate for employees. Scholars argue that high performing organizations retain their competitive advantage by the way in which they balance the management of the people.
The importance of the competency in exercising managerial role is not a new proposition. The competency is highlighted in many established management skills. A manager is required to have technical skills whereby special knowledge is utilized to perform a particular task (Panwar & Bansal, 2016). The other two necessary skills are human and conceptual skills which are essential for interpersonal interaction and how to get along with others and problem-solving analysis respectively at a workplace.
This report has been prepared successfully with the help of information collected from interviewing a resource manager at Aldi Company. Aldi is a privately owned company and leading retailer of supermarkets with over 8000 shops and store across Europe, United States and over 104, 400 employees worldwide. Its stores provide customers with a range of products. Their objective is to provide customers with the products they buy regularly and ensure that those products are of the highest possible quality at guaranteed low prices. Aldi traces its origin back in 1941 when Anna Albrecht opened a small store in Germany. It has an average of number 7 to 8 employees occupying each store.
Managers exercise the figurehead role. They are responsible for performing ceremonial and symbolic nature of duties (Oh et al., 2017). Example of such obligations of such nature is signing legal documents and welcoming visitors as the head of strategic business unit or organization. The interpersonal role is also the duty of a manager. It involves activities such as routine which demands less severe communication and minor decisions. However, they are crucial for convenient running and functioning of an organization or department.
Operations
A manager of any company or firm has a leadership role. Managers are responsible for coordinating the work of others and lead the subordinate staff of their respective departments. The leadership roles done by a manager include the hiring of employees, training them, giving them motivation and maintaining discipline (Lotz, 2014). Formal and functional authority builds power to exercise and get tasks accomplished.
Liaison is another role performed by managers. As a leader of the firm or organization, the manager is mandated to perform functions of communication, motivation such as encouraging team spirit and the like. Further, the manager has to coordinate the activities of the subordinate staffs which involves the activity of liaison (Junior, & Silva, 2017). The role also demands an organization manager to interact with managers from other organizations to secure favors and useful information. In this role, managers represent their companies or organizations in all matters of formalities which are necessary to get things done.
Managers are also in charge of monitoring the activities of the firm. The network of contacts provides the manager with information through observing his or her environment, employees, peers, and superiors. The manager seeks and gets information to do with internal and external activities and events so that he or she gains the understanding of the organization and its environment (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). This is typically done through reading newspaper and magazines and talking with other people to learn the changes in market tastes for products, the plans of competitors and the like.
Managers also perform an entrepreneurial role. As an entrepreneur, the manager is responsible for the creation of business ideas and innovation. They initiate new products that will improve the performance of the organization (Gill, 2018). They seek to improve their departments where they are in charge of and adapt to the changing environmental factors. The managers generate new ideas, initiate new projects and establish developmental projects.
Managers also carry out the role of resource allocation. The manager allocates time to his subordinate staff which is a crucial resource. They are responsible for allocating physical, human and monetary resources (Gatenby et al., 2014). Accordingly, they schedule time for completion of the operation is one of the functions of a manager in the role of a resource allocator. Also, a manager delegates his authority and power towards empowering his subordinate.
A manager again performs the task of a negotiator. In this role, the manager bargains and negotiates with outsiders and insiders for the advantage of his department or unit. The managers negotiate with their subordinates to improve their commitment and loyalty (Collings et al., 2018). They negotiate with their equals for cooperation, coordination, and integration, with the government about providing resources for business growth and alike. These negotiations are part and parcel of manager’s tasks for he has the authority to commit organizational resources and has the primary source of information.
Roles of Managers
One of the significant challenges facing managers is managing the funds and maintaining profit margins. It is difficult to identify the loopholes that cause loses incurred in the firm. A manager may find himself or herself in trouble with his superiors when mismanagement of funds and financial theft is realized (Carter & Tamayo, 2017). This happens primarily when the firm is operating with huge funds and generating huge profits. A manager has to account for all the funds spent in the firm (Chiu et al., 2017). Therefore, it demands the manager to maintain close financial supervision to avoid the occurrence of thefts or financial fraud.
Expectations from managers are on ever increasing in their effort to compete in the diverse, complex, and dynamic business environment that they are facing today (Carnall, 2018). They have to accept the changes that confront them every day. This is because firms which do not change their operations with the changing business atmosphere may be forced to close their operations.
Workforce diversity generates problems which have to be tackled by managers. Diversity with respect to workforce refers to members’ differences regarding race, color, nationality, gender and the like. Firms usually hire people from diverse sets of cultural, social, economic and ethical backgrounds. Diversity offers many competitive advantages, but again it is also a source of conflict in many organizations (Bratto & Gold, 2017). Individuals from one background may not readily agree to work with people of other cultural backgrounds. Even in the case where they agree to, there is always fear or prejudices in the workplace. The managers, therefore, are faced with the challenge to tackle opportunities and problems as a result of the diverse workforce.
Strategy formulation can be a challenge for managers. The business world is continuously changing, and the business firms must formulate and adjust their strategies and strategic management accordingly (Brandes & Brandes, 2015). It is a challenge for managers to adjust their strategy according to environmental changes. It demands managers to continually involve and promote healthy interaction between the organization and the environment. Managers who succeed in framing effective strategy will continue to remain in the market while the one who fails to formulate productive strategy will lose the market.
Quality and productivity and is the primary concern of the managers, but it has its challenges that one has to overcome to make it successful. Firms are competing with other local and international competitors regarding the quality and productivity of goods and services. Managers are compelled to concentrate on more production and excellent products using limited resources (Bolden, 2016). This is because productivity and quality are essential functions of business that determine its success.
Challenges Faced by Managers
Another challenge facing managers in their organizations is high staff turnover. In the present world, retaining talent is a challenge. Failure to mitigate staff turnover implies massive costs, and it takes almost 33% of an employee’s annual salary to replace them (Riccucci, 2018). Every time an employee leaves a company, they go with their ideas and company knowledge. Therefore, attracting and maintaining talent is one of the top priority of the managers regardless of the challenges.
The number one lesson learned from the experience is that one should be hardworking to get things done. Hard work outdoes talent and intelligence and is a requirement for one to succeed. One should work hard at times of difficulties and at a time of little or no challenges. One should be willing to embrace calculated risks and abide by them regardless of the challenges. No one is perfect, and everyone has his or her shortcomings. It is vital to be modesty, accept your faults without making excuses. One should not waste time covering up his or her mistakes. Instead, accept them and face reality and that way you develop problem-solving skills. In the business world, it is okay for managers to take risks. However, this must be a calculated risk. Taking risks without considering weighing one’s option is a reckless move, but calculated risks have a high chance of success and lead to the most significant rewards.
Conclusion and Recommendation
Even though various roles of a manager are discussed separately from another, it is important to realize that they are inseparable. The manager has to exercise these roles concurrently by integrating every one of them all. The manager’s major role is to integrate all these roles while performing the managerial role and other tasks.
Retaining skilled employees and reducing burnout is not a matter of offering money and promotions. One should reduce the turnover by embracing meaningful development opportunities and training that is geared towards their personal goals. Creativity and innovation are not all about big ideas or new inventions. Instead, it is important to encourage workers to share their practices and inspiring experiences.
It is important to identify and reinforce the team values as it is the best way to avoid team conflicts. If conflicts emerge, there should not be delays in dealing with them. The moment one identifies a problem it is essential to engage in constructive feedback as soon as possible to facilitate positive change. Cover-ups should be avoided, and they are worse than even mistakes. Learn from your mistakes and move on.
Lessons Learned from Experience
Generally, to survive and as well succeed in every business one will need to transform the business into a change agent. With the right tools and decisions for the job, a manager and his team can take on challenges in business.
References
Bolden, R. (2016). Leadership, management, and organizational development. In Gower handbook of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158). Routledge.
Brandes, D., & Brandes, N. (2015). Bare Essentials: The Aldi Success Story. Linde Verlag GmbH.
Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human reStone, D. L., & Deadrick, D. L. (2015). Challenges and opportunities affecting the future of human resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 25(2), 139-145.
Carnall, C. (2018). Managing change. Routledge.
Carter, M., & Tamayo, A. (2017). Entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial skills of managers as the determinant of organizational performance of small and medium enterprises in the Davao region, Philippines.
Chiu, C. Y. C., Balkundi, P., & Weinberg, F. J. (2017). When managers become leaders: The role of manager network centralities, social power, and followers’ perception of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 28(2), 334-348.
Collings, D. G., Wood, G. T., & Szamosi, L. T. (2018). Human resource management: A critical approach. In Human Resource Management (pp. 1-23). Routledge.
Dawson, P., & Andriopoulos, C. (2014). Managing change, creativity, and innovation. Sage.
Gatenby, M., Truss, K., Rees, C., Soane, E., & Alfes, K. (2014). Managing change, or changing managers? Challenging the role of line management in UK public services. Public Management Review.
Gill, M. (2018). The Challenges to Preventing Losses in Retailing: Views from Retail Loss Prevention Managers and Directors. In Retail Crime (pp. 357-378). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Junior, A. C. P., & da Silva, A. L. (2017). Functional managers in the role of project managers in small and medium enterprises SMEs-the challenges of that approach in project management. Iberoamerican journal of project management, 8(1), 87-102.
Lotz, A. (2014). Building theories of creative industry managers: challenges, perspectives, and future directions. Making Media Work: Cultures of Management in the Entertainment Industries, 25-38.
Oh, I. S., Blau, G., Han, J. H., & Kim, S. (2017). Human capital factors affecting human resource (HR) managers’ commitment to HR and the mediating role of perceived organizational value on HR. Human Resource Management, 56(2), 353-368.
Panwar, S., & Bansal, D. M. (2016). Study of self-efficacy in organizational managers working in different environments. International Journal in Management & Social Science, 4(2), 106-112.
Radomska, J. (2015). The Role of Managers in Effective Strategy Implementation. International Journal of Contemporary Management, 13(3).
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Viitala, R., Kultalahti, S., & Kangas, H. (2017). Does strategic leadership development feature in managers’ responses to future HRM challenges? Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 38(4), 576-587.
Voigt, K. I., Buliga, O., & Michl, K. (2017). Striving for Customer Benefit: The Case of Aldi. In Business Model Pioneers (pp. 11-24). Springer, Cham.
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