HR1027 Management and Practice Assignment Sample 2023
a. Introduction to own background
When I was doing my undergraduate course I was always fond of doing post-graduation management degree as I have potential skills of being a manager. Presently, I am working as an assistant manager in as mid-size firm in UK. Since last 3 years. While applying for this job it was mentioned those people only be hired who has got good managerial skills. And talking about having good managerial skills I have some of the below mentioned potential skills of being a senior manager:
- Good listening skills
- Good communication skills
- Can handle a big team
- Have got confidence in whatever task if given
- Readiness to share and receive ideas
- Readiness to share and receive feedback and work upon them to make myself a better person
- Good skills in problem solving
- Last but not the least good skills in decision making process
- Can handle any kinds of conflicts
For me the term management does not only mean managing things in a proper way rather the scope of management is huge. According to my viewpoint management is an explicit technique of arranging, coordinating, inciting and controlling, performed to decide and achieve expressed targets with the utilization of people and different assets. The board is characterized as the cycle by which a co-employable gathering coordinates activities towards shared objectives. The main rationale behind studying the course of management is to gain more knowledge about this domain so that I can get a good in any field of management. Also studying the management will bring a lot of scope for the future development not just only professionally but personally I can get a chance to grow more. Overall the study of management course will help in gaining confidence and will also help in developing my inner skills too.
b. Evaluating management and important historical influences on current management
In this part of the essay, the definition of management along with a brief discussion on management as a discipline as well as concept is focused on in the beginning. Then we have gone to the area of the historical development of management by choosing a historical era that has the most significant impact on the modern system of management.
What is management: Definition and Development as a Discipline and Concept
Management in business involves formulation of policies and plans, recruitment of teams for execution of the plan, assessing the potential loopholes of the plans and making contingency plans to overcome those, estimation of a budget, supervision of the entire procedure through coordination, guidance and instructions. The most desirable traits of the people involved in management should involve extracting maximum output from minimum human resources and finding out the most efficient solution of a problem most quickly and easily with minimum impact on the company resources and finance. Management also includes monitoring operations from different domains, coordinating and hosting meetings, conferences, social and charitable events, problem-solving in real-life situations and accounting for the defaults, malpractice, misappropriation of company resources, quality and performance etc.( Prasad, 2020). Usually, management teams are organized in a vertical hierarchy in an organization, where the top tier consists of the people from executive ranks, shareholders and managing directors, middle tier(s) has(have) heads from different departments and divisions and there are usually single division heads, project supervisors and forepersons in the lower tier(s).
Though management is part of vocational training and technical skill, it is also treated as a serious academic discipline with concepts, theories, universally acknowledged and accepted regulations and practical application and variation. The discipline is application based and highly specific to the domain where it functions. The theories of management usually deal with the general conceptualization and development of universal traits in the management system approved all over the world.
The Historical Era with Most Significant Development of Management its impact on Modern Management System
The historical era with which I shall deal is between mid-18th century and early 20th century. The period is known as the time of the Industrial Revolution in world history and contributed significantly to the development of the modern trend of management.
There were two phases of the Industrial Revolution during the aforementioned time: the first phase started only in England and the second one in the UK, Continental Europe, United States, and Japan. The technological innovations and scientific discoveries during the 17th and 18th centuries contributed to the increase of industrial production and necessitated the recruitment of a large workforce and labor to the industrial sectors. However, this also entailed a sound management system free from corruption, conventional drawbacks and prior loopholes (Golensky, Hager, 2020).
Hence, new theories on management and business entrepreneurship were generated and they were applied to the practice fields. Sometimes, a hands-on approach from the managers and supervisors resulted in innovative methods in management systems applied to the domains of industrial production, manufacturing, distribution and commercial links. Furthermore, the excess goods manufactured in bulk due to the Industrial Revolution were exported to the markets of the colonies all over the world. So the management system had to be geographically expanded and tailored according to the local needs and preferences in different geographical locations. The socio-economic background of the people coming into management also affected its growth and transformation.
The structure of the elite class was changing as landed gentry were replaced by a group of newly emerging venture capitalists and the middle class was being consisted of the bourgeoisie and people from the poor socio-economic background with liquid cash at hand and competencies in finance, accounting, planning, management and other corporate works. The management teams in the factories, firms, trade marts and commercial organizations included members from the middle class and erstwhile poor backgrounds that were not afraid to take risks, start experimentation, maintain consistency and do long hours of corporate supervision.
Due to the socio-economic factors and new industrial and commercial developments, management became flexible and adaptable to different conditions in different geographical regions, the supervision of different industries interconnected with each other, such as main industry and auxiliary industries in a single cluster, the recruitment of competent employees into management team from all around the world without partial preference to people from higher classes and castes, considering candidates from disciplines outside management, such as psychology, sociology, business accounting for diverse and multifaceted perspectives etc. (Dzwigol et al, 2020). Thus the era of the Industrial Revolution, from mid-18th century to the beginning of the 20th century contributed to the development of the modern management system to a large extent.
c. Overview of management challenges and the importance of becoming a skilled manager
Most pertinent changes in the business environment creating challenge for manager
Changes in the business environment are one of constant aspects that have contributed to the fluctuations in the economic factors along with the alterations of the business activities in which they operate. Advanced technologies and its adoption in the business environment, the development of products and innovation in the business activities have led to changing the business environment. There are significant changes in the business environment that have posed a challenge for the managers and constantly demand them to upgrade themselves in terms of skills and knowledge (Puspasari et al., 2017). Most of the traditional activities of the companies have been transformed into digital platforms which require digital solutions. Most of the companies have more or less shifted to digital channels in payments which have continued inviting the cross-generational customer base. The working has become virtual post the pandemic period which has posed a huge challenge for the manager to keep a record of the activities and performance of all the employees. It has become necessary for the manager to provide training to the employees to increase their digital skills. Post the covid-19 scenario, the goal of the companies is to create a demand sensing supply chain that is less vulnerable to the crisis and can deliver certain products and services to the customers in accordance to their needs. With the recent outbreak of the pandemic, the workplace culture has shifted and the various activities have transformed which have posed a huge challenge for the managers in terms of keeping up with the changing environment of the business (Calabrese et al., 2018).
Outline the theoretically established skills needed for management and how they may be classified
While hard skills are the basic components of completing specific tasks, it is very mandatory to develop soft skills in terms of directing people overseeing the projects in making decisions that are highly informed. The most effective skills of management that an individual should develop regardless of the department and industry can be grouped into four primary categories: Communication skills, organisational skills, people management skills and planning and strategy skills (Bak et al., 2019).
Leadership Skills: As a manager, one needs to be responsible for monitoring the performance of the other employees along with motivating the team to attain the organisational goals. An individual with well-developed leadership skills will help in coordinating tasks along with ensuring that the work is completed (Tatham et al., 2017).
Planning and strategy skills: Manager needs to have planning and strategy skills for the purpose of preparing a vision for the company along with setting goals so that the employees can obtain it. A strategic manager has the capability of watching the inefficiencies of the employees and quickly identify and solutions to such challenges. They are also capable of recognising the steps that their employees can take in order to overcome such obstacles.
Communication skills: Communication skill is very much crucial in terms of understanding the needs and goals of the business along with conveying it to the other employees so that they can work towards attaining the same goals and objectives. Having well developed communication skills will ensure that the manager is capable of translating the most accurate information to the right set of employees.
Organisational skills: As a manager, it is very important that they have the capabilities of overseeing multiple projects along with the deadlines and attending calendar events that touch conferences, presentations and meetings (Kumar et al., 2015). Staying organised will help in improving the workflow and ensuring that the tasks are completed at the stipulated deadline.
Why management skills are important by evaluating skills gaps research
Management skills are important for the purpose of organising and handling various activities within the company along with increasing the competitive advantage of the workplace. Having an analysis of the skill gap helps the individuals identify their strengths and weaknesses along with providing an insight of the entire workplace (Royle and Laing, 2014). This helps the manager in understanding which employee needs better training for development of their skills. This has also helped in boosting the learning and development procedure of the individuals along with helping one work with a strategic workforce which is planned and systematic in nature. Management skills are required to understand the activities that will bring about competitive advantage to the workplace along with the requirements of recruiting talented individuals to obtain the goals and objectives of the company. Having a proper understanding of the skills gap will help the managers take effective measures that will help them in optimising the performance of the employees and the organisations. Post doing a skills gap analysis, the managers can work on designing various forms of intervention to create the best strategy in order to fill these identified gaps (Cimatti, 2016). This would help the manager in understanding the importance of training and development of the employees along with recruiting critical skills for the purpose of contribution to the growth and success of the company
References
Bak, O., Jordan, C. and Midgley, J., (2019). The adoption of soft skills in supply chain and understanding their current role in supply chain management skills agenda: A UK perspective. Benchmarking: An International Journal.
Calabrese, M., Iandolo, F., Caputo, F. and Sarno, D., (2018). From mechanical to cognitive view: The changes of decision making in business environment. In Social Dynamics in a Systems Perspective (pp. 223-240). Springer, Cham.
Cimatti, B., (2016). Definition, development, assessment of soft skills and their role for the quality of organizations and enterprises. International Journal for quality research, 10(1).
Competitive Enterprise Environment Based on Industry 4.0 Concept. International Journal of Entrepreneurship, 24(1), pp.1-5.
Golensky, M. and Hager, M., 2020. Strategic leadership and management in nonprofit organizations: Theory and practice. Oxford University Press.
Kumar, S., Kumar, N., Deshmukh, V. and Adhish, V.S., (2015). Change management skills. Indian journal of community medicine: official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine, 40(2), p.85.
Puspasari, N., Sukmawati, A. and Sumertajaya, I.M., (2017). Leadership style, organizational Communication, and employee participation to increase employee readiness in facing changes in business environment. Jurnal Aplikasi Manajemen, 15(4), pp.651-658.
Prasad, L.M., 2020. Principles and practice of management. Sultan Chand & Sons.
Royle, J. and Laing, A., (2014). The digital marketing skills gap: Developing a Digital Marketer Model for the communication industries. International Journal of Information Management, 34(2), pp.65-73.
Silva, P., 2022. Historical Research on International Business, Management and Strategy: An Approach and Framework Development. Methodological Innovations in Research and Academic Writing, pp.179-201.
Tatham, P., Wu, Y., Kovács, G. and Butcher, T., (2017). Supply chain management skills to sense and seize opportunities. The International Journal of Logistics Management.
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