What Makes a Good Manager?

(10 Tips for a Successful Manager by Bill Gates)

There isn’t a magic formula for good management, of course, but if you’re a manager perhaps these tips will help you be more effective.

1. Choose a field thoughtfully. Make it one you enjoy. It’s hard to be productive without genuine enthusiasm.

2. Hire carefully and be willing to fire. You need a strong team, because a mediocre team gives mediocre results, no matter how well managed it is.

3. Create a productive environment. This is a particular challenge because it requires different approaches depending on the context.

4. Define success. Make it clear to your employees what constitutes success and how they should measure up their achievements.

Goals must be realistic. Project schedules, for example, must be set up by the people who do the work. People will accept a “bottoms-up” deadline they helped to set but they’ll be cynical about a schedule imposed from the top that doesn’t map to reality. Unachievable goals undermine an organization.

5. To be a good manager, you have to like people and be good at communicating. This is hard to fake. If you don’t genuinely enjoy interacting with people, it’ll be hard to manage them well.

6. Develop your people to do there jobs better than you can. Transfer your skills to them.

7. Give people a sense of the importance of what they’re working on – its importance to the company, its importance to the customers.

When you achieve great results, everybody involved should share in the credit and feel good about it.

8. Take on projects yourself. You need to do more than communicate.

The last thing people want is a boss who just doles out stuff. From time to time prove you can be hands-on by taking on one of the less attractive tasks and using it as an example of how your employees should meet challenges.

9. Don’t make the same decision twice. People hate indecisive leadership so you have to make choices.

10. Let people know whom to please. Maybe it’s you, maybe it’s your boss and maybe it’s somebody who works for you.

B. Translate from Russian into English.

Семь заповедей бизнесмена

Давать обещания и не выполнять их стало у нас просто нормой жизни. В этой связи полезно вспомнить 1912 год, когда российскими предпринимателями было выработано семь основных принципов ведения дел:

Первый принцип – «Уважай власть». Власть – необходимое условие для эффективного ведения дел. Во всём должен быть порядок. В связи с этим проявляй уважение к блюстителям порядка в узаконенных эшелонах власти.

Второй принцип – «Будь честен и правдив». Это – фундамент предпринимательства, предпосылка здоровой прибыли и нормальных отношений в делах. Российский предприниматель должен быть безупречным носителем добродетелей, честности и правдивости.

Третий принцип – «Уважай право частной собственности». Свободное предпринимательство – основа благополучия государства. Российский предприниматель обязан в поте лица своего трудиться на благо своей отчизны. Такое рвение можно проявить только при опоре на частную собственность.

Четвертый принцип – «Люби и уважай человека». Любовь и уважение к человеку труда со стороны предпринимателя порождает ответную любовь и уважение. В таких условиях возникает гармония интересов, что создаёт атмосферу для развития у людей самых разнообразных способностей, побуждает их проявлять себя во всём блеске.

Пятый принцип – «Будь верен своему слову». Успех в деле во многом зависит от того, в какой степени окружающие доверяют тебе.

Шестой принцип – «Живи по средствам». Не зарывайся. Выбирай дело по плечу. Всегда оценивай свои возможности. Действуй сообразно своим средствам.

Седьмой принцип – «Будь целеустремленным». Всегда имей перед собой ясную цель. Предпринимателю такая цель нужна как воздух. Не отвлекайся на другие цели. Служение двум господам противоестественно. В стремлении достичь своей заветной цели не переходи грани дозволенного. Никакая цель не может затмить моральные ценности.

LISTENING

You will hear part of an interview with Steve Moody, the manager of the Marks & Spencer store in Cambridge, England. What do you know about Marks & Spencer? What do they sell?

A. Listen to Part One, in which Steve Moody describes the role and responsibility of a store manager. Which of the following tasks is he responsible for?

1. designing the store and its layout

2. displaying the merchandise

3. employing the sales staff

4. insuring the safety of staff and customers

5. establishing the company’s principles

6. getting commitment from the staff

7. increasing profits

8. maintaining a pleasant working environment

9. motivating staff

10. organizing the day-to day logistics

11. pricing the merchandise

12. running 40 out of 280 stores

13. selecting the merchandise

14. supervising the day-to-day running of the store

15. training staff

B. Listen to Part Two, and answer these questions:

1. Why are Marks & Spencer’s store managers limited in giving accountability to their staff and delegating responsibility?

2. What do they concentrate on instead?

C. Listen to Part Three, and answer the following questions:

1. Steve Moody mentions two kinds of regular meetings. The first is weekly meetings for management and supervisory staff. What is the second kind of meetings called?

2. Who attends them?

3. What are they designed to achieve?

4. What kind of problems cannot be dealt with by meetings?

5. How are such problems dealt with?

SPEAKING

A.

As the President of the company you would like to know about the results of negotiations with distributors held by your executive manager.You would like to know the answers to the following questions:

• Do the sales depend on the distributors?

• Have the company signed a new contract with the distributors or amended the existing one?

• Were negotiations tough?

• How long did it take to make any solutions?

• Does your manager consider the improvement of sales possible?

You may use the dialogue below as a model.

Janet:	Were you able to work everything out with our distributors? Did you get the reason of our poor sales performance?
David:	All in all, it went pretty well. We had an in-depth discussion about the importance of working hand in hand. Since our success hinges on their efforts to push our products, we renegotiated our contract. After a lot of give-and-take, and back-and-forth, we reached an agreement. It only took an hour or so to thrash it all out and while there are still some loose ends, I think it’ll work out in the long run.
Janet:	They certainly do know the ins and outs of distribution. It sounds like all systems will work.
David:	Everything should run smoothly now. I predict that sales will pick up in a month.

B.

Summarize the information of the Unit to be ready to speak on Management. Use the following prompts as a plan.

• definition of management;

• the four functions of management;

• the four kinds of resources;

• management objectives;

• changing environment;

• managerial skills;

• information processing;

• decision-making.

C.

Dwell on the following issues:

After acquiring information from the unit do you think you have the right skills to be a manager?

Would you be able, for example, to set objectives, motivate and coordinate the staff, and manage a department store, or a computer manufacturer?