447

Managers‟ jobs are very varied, i.e. in fact managers are people who wear many hats.

How many functions do they perform? Specialists who study day- to-day managerial activities identify three groups of roles:

-interpersonal roles;

-informational roles and

-decisional roles.

Mangers play interpersonal roles when they engage in interpersonal relations. These interpersonal relations include

-figurehead;

-leader and

-liaison.

A figurehead performs duties of a ceremonial nature

(greets, congratulates, awards…) In the leader’s role the manager coordinates and controls the subordinates‟ work. In the liaison’s role the manager may contact individuals in other work groups when coordination between groups is necessary.

Informational roles. In these roles managers gather, receive and transmit information. He or she monitors information to spot activities and events that may present opportunities or threats to the organization (e.g. reads about new technology to make the work more efficient).Then the manager passes information to appropriate groups of people and discusses it with work groups. Sometimes the manager is a spokesperson when he or she represents the group of people inside or outside the organization.

Mangers are key elements in the decision-making system of the organization, that is he or she must adopt decisional roles. What do these decisional roles involve? Mangers in these roles are

22

-entrepreneurs,

-conflict handlers,

-resource allocators and

-negotiators.

As an entrepreneur the manager innovates to improve the operation of the organization and adapt it to the changing business environment. As a conflict handler or disturbance handler the manager responds to the conflict situation and restores equilibrium. Resource allocators determines the placement of resources (how much budget to allocate to what activities, what equipment and what people).The final role of a negotiator is vital in all kinds of activities (hiring new employees with specialized skills, agreeing upon the terms of contract for raw materials and new equipment).

Task 3

A.According to this classification managers in different roles have different responsibilities. Match the role and the description of the duties.

B.Let’s have some fun. Choose a literary character and select the most suitable managing role for him/her.

C.Imagine some of your friends in certain managing roles. Tell how good they could be.

Task 4Study the text and reproduce this scheme in Russian.

24

Text 3

Decision-making

(The algorithm of successful decision-making)

Vocabulary

Decision-making is present in all areas of economics: marketing, finance and accounting. Some decisions are of great importance and involve risk, others are small, but all make up the fabric of organization.

Decision-making is never easy, because we seldom have all the information we need; the information may be distorted; the memory and quantitative abilities of human beings are limited.

25

Nevertheless there are good chances of making a good decision. The successful decision-making has the following five steps:

1.Define a problem.

2.Identify alternatives.

3.Evaluate and choose an alternative.

4.Implement the decision.

5.Monitor and control the decision outcome.

1.Define a problem. This step is very often skipped because managers are very confident about defining the right problem. What happens in practice: they define symptoms instead of the problem, like seeing employee‟s apathy as a problem while the real problem is the unfair reward system.

2.Alternatives or options are different approaches to solve the problem. At this stage the problem solver should generate as many possible alternatives as they can. The emphasis at this stage is on generating alternatives, not on evaluating them. (When Caterpillar, a large manufacturer of construction equipment, started producing farm machinery, a major manufacturer of farm implements had to invent some strategy in order to survive. Then managers of Deere & Company generated the following alternatives:

-Undercutting Caterpillar on price;

-increasing the number of models;

-changing the models design frequently;

-force farm machinery retailers to sell Deere’s equipment and so on.

So, top managers of Deere identified several courses of actions).

3.Evaluation of alternatives and choosing the best one. There are two techniques of evaluation: screening and scoring. In screening approach each alternative is categorized as

satisfactory and unsatisfactory, the latter are screened out. The

26

survived alternatives are those which clear all the hurdles. If more than one alternative survives, the hurdles may be raised until only one alternative remains.

In scoring approach a score is assigned to each alternative. The alternative with the best score is the one that should be chosen. (in the competition between Caterpillar and Deere & Company the Deere managers decided to move into construction equipment business and compete with Caterpillar on their own field. It was a wise decision, for Caterpillar eventually left the farm equipment business because construction machinery business was more profitable for them).

4.Implementing the decision. Decisions don‟t implement themselves, so managers must make sure resources are available and people who are involved in the implementation process understand and accept the solution. Implementing the solution means additional planning, allocation of resources, training and motivation of employees.

5.Monitoring and controlling of the decision outcome. Monitoring the decision outcome is a must. If the decision is not working out as it was planned corrective actions may be necessary, the most radical of which is switching to the other

alternative.

What affects each step in the decision-making is information gathering. Information gathering is a continuous process.

Task 5

Look through the text and answer the questions.

1.How many steps does the algorithm of successful decisionmaking have?

2.Can we skip a few steps and come to a good outcome faster?

3.Can some steps be performed on an intuitive level?

27

4.What is the main difficulty in defining a problem?

5.Is it always good to have a large number of alternatives?

6.What are the two recommended technique of choosing the best solution?

7.Which step demands the largest amount of resources and the highest responsibility?

8.What is necessary to implement the decision?

9.What should mangers do if the result of implementing the decision is poor?

10.What fields of economics demand management?

11.What successful decision have managers of Deer found in the competition with Caterpillar?

Task 6

Insert the right modal verb or its equivalent (can, should or must or have to or may or ought to). Note: the modals may be in the negative form.

1.When a smart manager plans to find and implement a successful decision of the problem, he or she …..follow an algorithm of five standard steps.

2.If as the result of the brainstorm, there are too many options, you ….. need raise the hurdles (make the requirements to meet more strict).

3.The first step is very significant and it …..be skipped. Defining the wrong problem is a bad beginning which will take to the wrong outcome that will not help to solve the actual problem.

4.When after generating a few options, managers have to choose the best, they ….. employ different techniques.

5.To implement the decision, one …..be sure there are sufficient resources and motivated people.

6.Not to monitor the outcome of the decision implementation is a

grave mistake. The outcome …..be monitored.

28

7.Implementing the decision is a lot of work. It …..include additional planning, allocation of resources and motivation of employees.

Text 4

Sam Walton and Wal-Mart Stores

(A story of success)

Glossary

In 1962 Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, state Arkansas. His strategy was to concentrate on small towns in the South of the USA and give customers the lowest prices and the widest selection of brands possible.

Walton‟s plan was to let major retailers have big city market. He realized that people in small towns have tastes different from tastes of the big city dwellers. He also realized that migration to large cities after the WWII would not continue

29

indefinitely, and he was willing to become a big fish in thousands of small ponds.

In 1970 Wal-Mart offered its shares on the stock-exchange market. By the early 1990s there were approximately 1.700 discount stores, more than one hundred whole sale clubs and other innovative outlets.

Unlike many corporate executives Sam Walton did not live a life of luxury. When he was in his early seventies (he died at the age of 74) he often visited his stores and served as a cheerleader when new store were opened.

In 1990s Wal-Mart was the largest retailer in the country. It had a long history of success growing by 25-35 percent a year. One of the keys to Wal-Mart‟s success is frugality. According to Sam Walton‟s philosophy, if you want to become a successful retail operation, you learn to control your costs with highly efficient management and then put benefits to your customers.

Task 7

A.What steps of successful decision-making can you see in Sam

Walton’s strategy? Name and give the proof of it from the text.

Use the following models:

I think this business succeeded because of …

The key to the success was …

It was possible because …

The founder of the retail chain … that is why …

B.- Do you agree that people in small towns and those who live in metropolitan cities have different tastes?

-Is Walton‟s philosophy a universal tool in economics?

-Do you know anything about Wal-Mart stores today?

30