Vocabulary
skill - умение, навык, мастерство, способность
interpersonal - межличностный
technical – (зд) специальный, профессиональный
conceptual – концептуальный
negotiate – вести переговоры, договариваться
foster – поощрять, способствовать развитию чего-либо
communication – общение, обмен информацией, коммуникация
interrelate - взаимодействовать
environment – окружение, окружающая среда
guide – вести, направлять
implement – приводить в исполнение, осуществлять
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
1. Identify the most important skills managers must possess.
2. Characterize interpersonal skills. What business activities require such skills?
3. What does the term communication mean? Why is communication
considered the most important interpersonal skill?
4. What are technical skills? At what levels of organization are technical skills
most important?
5. Differentiate between technical and administrative skills.
6. Why are conceptual skills especially important to top managers?
7. What is a key managerial activity requiring conceptual skills? Define its
five distinct steps.
C. Organization Structure
A company’s strategy is supported by its organization. Strategic planning defines a company’s goals and how it will accomplish them; organization structure helps the company achieve its goals by providing a framework through which managers can divide responsibilities, hold employees accountable for their work, and effectively distribute the authority to make decisions. First it’s important to understand how management is structured. In all but the smallest organizations, more than one manager is necessary to guide the organization’s activity. That’s why most companies form a management pyramid with top, middle, and bottom management levels. More managers are at the bottom level than at the top, as illustrated in Exhibit 3 1.
Exhibit 3.1. The Management Pyramid
Top managers are the upper-level managers who have the most power and who take overall responsibility for the organization. An example is the chief executive officer (CEO). Top managers set strategic goals, which focus on broad issues, apply to the company as a whole, and aim to enhance the company’s performance. They also make long-range plans, establish major policies, and represent the company to the outside world. Middle managers report to top-level managers. They develop plans for implementing the broad goals set by top managers, and they coordinate the work of first-line managers. To accomplish this, middle managers set tactical objectives, which focus on departmental issues and describe the results necessary to achieve the organization’s strategic goals. At the middle level are plant managers, division managers, branch managers, and other similar positions. At the bottom of the management pyramid are first-line managers (or supervisory managers). These managers oversee the work of operating employees, and they put into action the plans developed at higher levels. First-line managers set operational objectives, which focus on short-term issues and define the results necessary to achieve both the tactical objectives and the strategic goals. Positions at this level include supervisor, department head, and office manager.
Regardless of how an organization divides its tasks, it will function more smoothly if employees are clear about two things: who is responsible for each task, and who has the authority to make official decisions. All employees have a certain amount of responsibility – the obligation to perform the duties and achieve the goals and objectives associated with their job. As they work toward the organization’s goals, employees must also maintain their accountability, the obligation both to report the results of their work to supervisors and to justify any outcomes that fall below expectations. Authority is the power to make decisions, issue orders, carry out actions, and allocate resources to achieve the organization’s goals. Authority is vested in the positions that managers hold, and it flows down through the management pyramid. Thus, the vertical structure helps managers delegate authority to positions throughout the organization’s hierarchy. Delegation is the assignment of work and the transfer of authority and responsibility to complete that work.
When managers design the organization’s structure, they use an organization chart to provide a visual representation of how employees and tasks are grouped and how the lines of communication and authority flow. Exhibit 3 2. shows the organization chart for a large consumer-products company. Look at this chart. The sales manager delegates responsibilities to both the head of dealer sales and the head of direct sales. These department heads have the authority to make certain decisions necessary to fulfill their roles, and they are accountable to the sales manager for the performance of their respective divisions. In turn, the sales manager is responsible for total sales performance and is accountable to the vice president of marketing. The number of people a manager directly supervises is called the span of management or span of control.
The chart in Exhibit 3.2. is a line organization – the simplest and the most common chain-of-command system, because it establishes a clear line of authority flowing from the top down. All employees know who their superior or boss is, to whom they report, and who their immediate subordinates are, to whom they can give instructions. However, line organization sometimes fall short because the technical complexity of a firm’s activities may require specialized knowledge that individual managers don’t have and can’t easily acquire. A more elaborate system called line-and-staff organization was developed out of the need to combine specialization with management control. In such an organization, managers in the chain of command are supplemented by functional groupings of people known as staff, who provide advice and specialized services but who are not in the line organization’s chain of command (see Exhibit 3.3).
Managers rely on a formal organization structure to coordinate and control the organization’s work. In some organizations this structure is a relatively rigid, vertical hierarchy like the management pyramid. In other organizations, teams of employees and managers from across levels and functions work together to make decisions and achieve the organization’s goals. To design a company’s organization structure, managers have traditionally considered three phases: (1) vertical organization – defining individual jobs to complete the tasks necessary to achieve company goals; (2) departmentalization – grouping jobs into departments and larger units; and (3) horizontal coordination – aligning all tasks across departments and divisions. All three elements are needed for a company to achieve its goal.
Exhibit 3.2. Organization Chart for a Large Consumer-Products Company.
At first look, organization charts may appear very similar. In fact, the traditional model of an organization is a pyramid in which numerous boxes form the base and lead up to fewer and fewer boxes on higher levels, ultimately arriving at one box at the top. A glance at a company’s organization chart reveals who has authority over whom, who is responsible for whose work, and who is accountable to whom.
Exhibit 3.3. Simplified Line-and-Staff Structure
A line-and-staff organization divides employees into those who are in the direct line of command (from the top level of the hierarchy to the bottom) and those who provide staff (or support) services to line managers at various levels. Staff reports directly to top management.
