Introduction
Management is as complex and easy as you make it. According to Steve Jobs, "Simple can be harder than complex." "You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple." Simplifying something is harder than a complex task. In the age of business schools, startups, scaleups, and MNCs, great management professionals are crucial parts of the business. Great managers are always in demand and hard to find at the same time. Modern companies need managers who are great at managing people, resources, and time, along with their personal and team leadership capabilities.
Though companies around the world offer management workshops, training programs, and mentorship to management aspirants, if the aspirants do not build upon these strong management principles, they will likely be stuck in their future. Along with the above-mentioned professionalism and personality development programs, understanding and building upon these principles will certainly help you in your management career. In this article, we will discuss the five important principles of great management practice.
The 5 Principles of Great Management
Principle No. 1: The Functions of Management
When we look at management, it is easy to confuse it with supervising others and their work. However, this is only an illusion. A manager must also be a great leader, both personally and at the team level. The manager must be able to take initiative and lead the team as well as himself or herself. They must be great at time management, task management, and a range of other soft and hard skills. Being great at the functions of a management role is the first principle of great management. According to the University of Arizona Global Campus, the functions of management then fall into these five categories. They are planning, organising, staffing, leading, and controlling. These five functions create a successful manager if they continue to practise the theory. Understanding, implementing, and mastering these five functions will help you focus your efforts and gain great results.
The five functions of a manager
1. Planning
At a managerial level, you will be an authority figure. You will control the team, tasks, and projects and plan the way your team works on these tasks and projects. This makes you the primary planner for everything from simple day-to-day activities to complex projects. You are the authority who plans everything from the bottom to the top level. Not only the planning but also the action steps required to execute those plans are your job to identify and implement.
2. Organising
Some workplaces can be quite chaotic if there is no management. As there will be several employees working together on several different tasks, without the proper organisation of tasks and priorities set by an authority figure, work can be unproductive. Though they strive to achieve common organisational goals, organising the tasks is challenging without proper management.
3. Leading
Managers are expected to undertake leadership roles. You are expected to have a great vision, inspire your employees, and drive the employees to achieve the vision. To achieve these goals, you must use effective communication, persuasion, or inspiration. A manager must lead people to work together towards a common goal.
4. Staffing.
It is the manager's duty to hire employees based on the requirements of the organisation. Recruiting for vacant roles requires thought and analysis. Hiring the right people and training them to work efficiently is also expected of a great manager.
5. Controlling
To become a great manager, you must try to achieve your personal and organisational goals. You must constantly improve your performance and your team's performance. A great manager must standardise the day-to-day tasks of the team. You should be able to take control of any situation and resolve issues with your authority, experience, and expertise.
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Principle No. 2: The Types and Roles of Managers within the Organization
Management roles are spread across different administrative levels. There are several types of managers across different industries. There are frontline, middle-level, and senior management levels, as well as CEO and board of directors levels above them. This is like a ladder or pyramid that represents the organisation's management hierarchy. This is why it is known as the corporate ladder. However, as you move up the corporate ladder, there will be fewer and fewer managers with increasingly higher levels of authority, seniority, and expertise.
These management roles will have specific or generalist duties according to the structure of the organisation. All levels of management are necessary for the smooth functioning of the corporate system. As the higher management levels are filled with experienced and expert management professionals, the lower management levels are occupied by less experienced management professionals. According to research conducted by Henry Mintzberg, each management role can be classified as decisional, interpersonal, or informational. The decision-making roles are managed by experienced senior professionals. These roles are similar to those of an entrepreneur. They make key decisions regarding the structural, operational, and managerial aspects of the smooth running of the company.
The interpersonal role Managers are the leaders who maintain the company's relationships with employees, stakeholders, customers, suppliers, distributors, and end users. Finally, the management professionals in the informational roles are those who monitor the progress of everyday tasks and are the primary communicators of the company. They can be media spokespersons or employee relationship managers. In most cases, they are the mediators between employees and higher management.
Principle No. 3: Effective Management of Organisational Resources
A manager is also expected to manage the organisation's resources. Most importantly, it includes time. Managers must be responsible for managing the time resources of both their employees and themselves. A great manager can use the available manpower to get things done, which is why managing human resources is crucial for management. They are also responsible for the allocation of time and resources between different teams and departments. These resources can be people's time, money, software, raw materials, assets, or talents.
To be a great manager, it is important to determine the number of resources required to complete a project or task. You must understand your team's productivity and behavioural patterns so that you can put together a strong team and put the resources in the right hands. Completing a task within a scheduled time constraint within a budget without sacrificing the quality of work is a major challenge for becoming a great manager. This is what differentiates you from average managers and sets you on the path to great management.
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Principle No. 4: Understanding the Four Dimensions of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and applying it in your organisation to maximise employee potential
Emotional intelligence is the most important aspect of becoming a great manager. There are four dimensions of emotional intelligence. You must have all four dimensions of emotional intelligence. The four dimensions are high self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and good social skills. All four aspects of emotional intelligence make you a better and stronger manager, communicator, and overall developed person. It is your duty to find your team members' talents and weaknesses. As the manager, you must understand your team at a deeper level. This is how you increase your team's potential, enable smooth operation among your team members, and get things done.
Working with a team requires you to have an eye for social skills like communication so that you will be effective in your jobs. Having high self-awareness will help you understand yourself. It will help you understand your limits and compensate with your resources accordingly. Knowing what you can do and what you cannot do will make a world of difference in management. Just because you know something doesn't mean you should do it. As a manager, it is your duty to use your team rather than do it all by yourself. Such an attitude will only result in high stress and burnout.
Having high social awareness will help with your team management. As a manager, you will be required to resolve office conflicts and personal conflicts and give constructive criticism regularly. Having high social awareness will help you minimise conflict and emotional damage to your employees. Even with a great team, automation, and technology, it is possible to fall into the trap of high stress and burnout. Self-management will help you manage your time, resources, and authority to make the office a better place for your team members. Thus, you will earn great respect from your team and boost your professional reputation.
Principle No. 5: Know the Business
It is easy to confuse management professionals into thinking that they can maintain or manage any business. But this is not always true. Managers can become great managers only if they have acquired specialisation in their industries. You cannot expect a human resources manager to become a great management professional in the risk management field overnight. Before they enter the risk management field, they must have a solid understanding of the field. Although it helps to have transferable skills like communication and people management in the human resources industry, it is not possible to become a great manager in a short period.
Most successful managers become great managers only with time; they have mastered team management and worked in different departments, divisions, and companies to become experts in the whole management of their respective industries. Only through years of experience in managing a large aspect of business can we be considered as such. Therefore, it is important for manager aspirants to first learn all the different aspects of business by working in the field. They must discover and learn everything in the corporate world, like technology, software, team management, raw material supply, distribution, the manufacturing process, human resources, marketing investment patterns, etc.
Only by becoming familiar with all these areas of a company can they become prepared to manage the challenges and intellectual demands of senior management positions. This is how a manager can become whole with all these little pieces joined together to lead a company across any area of the operational structure of the business. This is why working in the same role for years will not help you become a great manager. seek out different roles, take risks, face challenges, and learn through every opportunity. Be a quick and deep learner. This is how you will move up the corporate ladder. Those in higher management roles have a larger understanding of the industry and every nook and cranny of it. You must also follow these learning processes before you become a great manager.
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Conclusion
To become a great manager and have greater job satisfaction and career success, aligning your personal values with your organisation's vision and operational strategies is important. The five principles of management will help you become a great manager. Understanding the five functions of management and the roles and types of managers will help you become more competent in management. Utilising all the resources and having a high level of emotional intelligence will make you a model authority in your workplace. Especially, knowledge of the four dimensions of emotional intelligence helps you in team management and conflict resolution in your workplace. Finally, thoroughly understanding your industry from top to bottom will make you a highly effective manager. This in turn will prepare you for senior management roles.
Along with these principles, understanding and adapting to the company culture, its time-tested structures, systems, and higher management, or your company's hierarchy, will help you become an effective manager. Treating your employees, senior professionals, and others with respect while working honestly will make you a name that will go before you. Always be aware that everyone around you will be watching you closely because you are the authority figure. Your every move must be calculated to give the right impression and motivation to your colleagues. Give your best to your hands, companies, and customers. Be an effective manager to achieve your organisation's performance goals and cultivate relationships of trust and positivity with your staff.
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Citations
Davis, Bill, and Michael Reilly. "5 Principles of Great Management." University of Arizona Global Campus, 8 Dec. 2021, www.uagc.edu/blog/5-principles-of-great-management.