Interview With Manager Essay

by dint ofout the essay, the animal trainers impart be referred to as Mr X and Mr Y and their companys leave be referred to as Company X and Company Y respectively ascribable(p) to confidential reasons. The first conductor that was interviewed in order to fulfil this travail was Mr X. He carrys for Company X, which is, a boastfully helper based organisation at the position of Head of Corporate point of reference Administration. His key responsibility at this commit is to provide credit administration book to Corporate, Investment banking and SME business. Within Company Xs hi agerchy Mr X appears to be a middle train double-decker at he is pass judgment to newspaper publisher to the CEO of the company duration he too supervises. The second interview that was conducted for this reap was with Mr Y. He is a Creative selling Director at Company Y which is a marketing consultancy and IT development endeavor located in Malaysia. His organisation is also service based however, it is a speciality sized one. As a retain take aim manager, Mr Ys labour is to direct and oversee the over all projects and master that they be carried out as plotted and atomic number 18 successful. Management is the process of set up and overseeing the pretend activities of separates so that their activities atomic number 18 accomplished efficiently and effectively (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & deoxyadenosine monophosphate Coulter, 2012).In the subsequent essay, the universality of anxiety leave behind be discussed in light of Fayols tetrad-spot economic consumptions and Katzs three skills and how relevant these theories appear piece of music analysing the information gathered from the interviews. Henri Fayol proposed that that all managers get along five functions grooming, organising, commanding, organize and controlling (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & axerophthol Coulter, 2012). During the course of the essay, however, the idiom will remain on the four functions intend, organising, leading and controlling. A skill is the power either to perform most peculiar(prenominal) behavioral task or the talent to perform some specialize cognitive process that is utilitarianly colligate to some particular task (Peterson, 2004). For the purpose of this task Katzs skills will be denoted to the interviews collected. Namely these atomic number 18 Conceptual, Human and adept foul skills. Mr. X is touch in a moderate aggregate of planning as he defines the credit policies for the corporate portfolio. Moreover, he has to cascade the defined goals to individual handicraft aims and monitors them closely for accomplishment.In his organic law, high achievers be often rewarded with awards and cash bonuses which serve as a motivation. Reports are also compiled oft periods to monitor portfolio behavior and to make accredited that customers expectations at various(a) occasions are fulfilled. At the alike(p) time, he is also evalua te to be able to work with various other departments to ensure smooth trans pull throughal processing. These tasks of Mr. X relate to the organizing function of Fayol, that is, the providing of everything essential in performing a particular task i.e. the set equipment and tools with right citizenry and right list of capital (Fayol, 1949, as cited in Lamond, 1998). It is not enough to just organize the employees and point them jobs to perform. But what is to a greater extent important is to cope that which employee is specialized in which job (best desirable for a particular task) and assign them jobs harmonisely (Fayol, 1949, as cited in Lamond, 1998). Mr. Xs interview conveys that he is the most twisty in leading, organizing and controlling with a moderate amount of planning. All this is in overseas telegram with the existing theories of what a middle level manager ought to do.However, he has rated controlling as 4 which is rather high for a middle level manager. possib leness says that a middle-level manager is only when judge to contribute 14% of his tasks to controlling (Stephen Robbins, 2012, p.19). Mr. X rated the need of gentlemans gentleman skills as 5. These skills are important for managers at all levels (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & angstrom unit Coulter, 2012).  Hence, it falls in line and confirms Katzs theory. However, Mr. Xs rating of the other two skills and the theory connect to those count to be contradicting as he rates adept skills and abstract skills as very much while according to Katz, a middle level manager is expected to possess moderate amounts of each. Thus, in Mr. Xs case, Fayols four functions seem to be evident while Katzs theory appears to not be relevant to his job description and tasks expected out of him. Managers fundament manage action directly, they clear manage people to move on then to take required actions, and they can manage information to influence the people in turn to take their necessary acti ons (Mintzberg, 1994).Being a part of a board member, Mr. Y claims that he is involved in a moderate amount of planning (rating of 3), along with, employing the justly skilled people for a task that is most suitable for them. Mr. Y feels that it is his responsibility, macrocosm a senior, to inspire his subordinates and provide them with the experience that they require to be able to go ultimo in their respective fields. A each week reporting system is used in Company Y to check through the companys progress and its employees efficiency and effectiveness. Thus, there is quite a lot of leading and controlling, followed by organising and planning is the least of them all. Fayols four functions seem to be in accordance with Mr. Ys job description yet for the function of controlling which, for a direct level manager, should be the lowest and in this case it is rated as a 5 (very much). Technical skills are defined as the understanding of, or proficiency in, specific activitie s that require the use of specialized tools, methods, processes, procedures, techniques, or knowledge (Peterson, 2004). Relating back to Katzs theory, a nip level manager is expected to possess very little of technical skills which contradicts with Mr. Ys rating of 3 for technical skills.The real performance of the manager is the knowledge base of the manager (Carroll & Gillen, 1987). Being a top level manager, it is largely assumed that Mr. Y should stick out very much of conceptual skills which will enable him to think outside the stripe as he also claims that it super hard to be creative on demand, which is something that his job requires of him. Conceptual skills are globally thought to be needed more as the level of managing gets higher(prenominal). Along with this, gracious skills are also vital for a manager at all levels. These skills leave behind the manager to train, direct, and evaluate subordinates performing specialized tasks (Peterson, 2004). However, Mr. Y has overrated technical skills and underrated conceptual skills in relation to his job. Hence, this contradicts with the outlined theory and Katzs skills come across as unsuitable while analyzing Mr. Ys job.Hence, it can be concluded that Fayols functions are more relevant and evident in Mr. Ys descriptions of his job, as compared to Katzs theory which is mostly contradicting with the information provided by Mr. Y. Although there is some empirical take for the influence of hierarchical level and functional specialty on managerial intent requirements, the influence of these factors on required skills, knowledge, and abilities system more speculative in disposition (Pavett & Lau, 1983). If trouble is truly a generic principle, then what managers do should be essentially the same whether they are top level executives or low-level supervisors, in a business firm or a non-profit arts organization(Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & Coulter, 2012). With advancements in technology and ch anging ideologies, the traditionalistic definition of an organization is changing along with the traditional definitions of a manager. The roles that managers play and the expectations that others countenance of them are evolving to reflect new forms of organization (Chapman, 2001).During the past ten years or so, the usefulness of the classical functions for classifying managerial work activities has been questioned by a number of writers (Carroll & Gillen, 1987). Similarities can be observed in the midst of the two managers with reference to moderate amounts of planning and organising involved. Both managers also recognized human skills as highly important. These similarities could be due to both the managers being linked with the service heavens. On the other hand, there are some evident differences that cannot be ignored. Mr. X requires very much of technical skills and conceptual skills, while Mr. Y needs only a moderate amount of both. No significant difference can be obtained in light of Fayols functions. Mintzberg (1980) proposed that differences in managerial work involve the sexual congress richness of the roles across hierarchical level and functional specialty (Lachman, 1985). Hence, these differences are belike due Mr. X being a middle level manager while Mr. Y is a top level one. Also, Mr. X comes from a public sector while Mr. Y relates to a tete-a-tete one.Furthermore, Mr. Y works for a strength sized organization where the need for technical and conceptual skills rises very seldom which is why he rates it so low. On the other hand, Mr. X, working in a large organization rates them higher as the circumstances are different. Managers in both small and large organisations perform essentially the same activities, but how they go about them and the proportion of time they expend on each one are different (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & Coulter, 2012). Regardless of their level, all managers make decisions and all managers are viewed to be performing the four functions of planning, organising, leading and controlling.However, the time dedicated to any particular function cannot be merely give tongue to as a fact as it tends to take off from manager to manager. After analyzing the interviews, it can be concluded that Fayols four functions are found to be relevant in the light of the managers interviewed, but at a varied degree. How relevamt are Katzs skills? Examining the interviews separately, the skills stated do not seem to realise the theory, except for the human skills. Although these skills are defined and explained separately, they will be interrelated when implement to managerial problems. Therefore, looking at the general overview of the functions and skills, they appear to be the universal signpost for managers even though the level of importance for each individual function or skills may be different.Reference tendCarroll, S., & Gillen, D,. (1987). Are the classical management functions us eful in describing managerial work? academy of Management Review, 12(1), 38-51. Chapman, J.A., (2001). The work of managers in new organisational contexts. Journal of management development, 20(1), 55-68. Hales, C,. (1999). wherefore do Managers Do What They Do? reconciling Evidence and Theory in Accounts of managerial Work. British Journal of Management, 10, 335350 Lachman, R,. (1985). Public and semiprivate sector differences CEOSs Perceptions of their Role Evironments. honorary society of Management Journal, 28(3), 671-680.Lamond, D,. (1998). Back to the future Lessons from the past for a new management era in G. Griffin (Ed.) Management Theory and Practice Moving to a late Era. MacMillan Melbourne. 3-14. Lau, A.W., & Pavett, C.M,. (1983). Managerial Work The knead of Hierarchical Level and Functional Specialty. Academy of Management Journal, 26(1), 170-177 Peterson, T. (2004). Ongoing legacy of R.L. Katz an updated typology of management skills, Management Decision. 42(1 0), 1297-1308.Robbins, S., Bergman, R., Stagg, I. & Coulter, M. (2012), Management, (6th ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia Pearson Education.