Топик: The profile of an effective manager

Creativity is vital to search for more alternatives during the crisis moment. When there are few possibilities to solve the problem, people can easily stick to the first seeming possible solution and start to convince themselves that there is no other better ones. Therefore they are stuck in the corner and forget to look for the other alternative. Dynamic thinking and radioactive mentality will help the manager to look the situation from a different view, there fore create the new approach.

An effective manager will not only look to the short-term profit. He sees further. He must be able to judge where the future business will be lead to from the decision made today. Those decisions, which bring profits today but will undermine business tomorrow, will be dropped.

The difficult decisions are always accompanied by the ethical issues. The best solution for the company’s profit might not be the right ones according to the laws or regulations. On making decisions, the ethical dilemmas cannot be neglected, and the outcomes of unethical behavior can affect reputations, trust and career path. Results have been as severe as loss of employment, physical harm to individuals, corporate bankruptcy and even impacts to the economy.

The scandals of 2002, including Enron and WorldCom, resulted in regulations having created a cultural shift particularly in financial fields that has renewed emphasis on ethical business behavior. What distinguishes mediocre level managers from the truly effective managerial leader is an ethical dimension. There exists different moral stages that guide people in their everyday decision-making. Those people in the “principled level…make a clear effort to define moral principles apart from the authority of the groups to which they belong or society in general”[12]

Learn from the formal fail experience is very important. Managers are apt to stumble down the same failure-prone path over and over again without learning. Learning is thwarted when leaders do not tolerate mistakes. In such an environment, people conceal bad out comes. Consequently, people in the same company, or the same person in different period will repeat the similar mistake. A good manager will see the mistakes as an education and correct himself constantly according to the new situations. Generally speaking, to be an effective decision maker, managers need to work closely with their team and “integrate their faith, values and business practices”. [13] In the presentation we will use the case from “Nestle Company” to show why bad decisions had been made and what the consequences are. [14]

2.2. Conflict Management Skills

According to Jean Miller from TIG (Taking It Global) “Conflict is the source of all growth and is an absolute necessity if one is to be alive.”[15] An effective manager must be able to manage conflict and also learn from it to help the organization to grow and be challenged. Conflict is not always negative but can prove to have some positive outcomes as well. The effective manager can balance this delicate relationship and works hard to handle conflict with care.

As further stated in the article, conflict can be viewed as something to manage or something to resolve. John Burton, one of the world’s leading scholars in the field of conflict resolution commented “…resolution means terminating conflict by methods that are analytical and that get to the root of the problem.” Miller explains that “conflict management is a multi-disciplinary, analytical, problem-solving approach to conflict that seeks to enable participants to work collaborately towards its management.”[16]

Conflict is not easily avoided in any organization; therefore, an effective manager is prepared by knowing how he will approach certain issues before they happen. There are many books and articles written that address this topic in great detail. An effective manager will consult these items and use his or her own judgment in taking the advice of these publications.

According to James Cribbin, there are three basic kinds of conflict as follows: Approach-Approach, Avoidance-Avoidance, and Approach-Avoidance.[17] Approach-Approach would seem to be the most straight forward type of conflict as there are two alternatives that are equally feasible. If an employee is not being productive in the company this affects how the manager’s boss views that department. The manager wants to please his boss but also stay on good terms with his employee. In each case the manager needs to approach the other person with open communication and deal with the situation.

Avoidance-Avoidance is very difficult because whatever decision is made to have negative consequences. If a manager knows that his boss is cheating the company financially, he must make a decision. Tell on his boss and suffer the wrath, or stay quiet and sacrifice his ethics. He would like to avoid the conflict on either side, but staying quiet may not be an option.

The last type of conflict according to Cribbin is Approach-Avoidance. He gives a clear example of a manager put in a situation in which he must make a decision that will affect himself and his family. He wants to approach the situation but also avoid it completely. He is given a great promotion in the company but must move his family from his nice comfortable town to a large metropolis city. Cribbin has outlined the options he has and portrays what a difficult situation this could really be:

1. Accept the position and move
2. Accept the position, leave the family in the small town and visit them on the weekends.
3. Bribe the family to make the move.
4. Ask the family to try to the new city for a year and then assess the situation.
5. He can refuse the promotion.
6. He can try to stall in making the decision and hope that something different will turn up.
7. He can try to convince his superiors that he can take the promotion and contribute more from where he already is.
8. He can get another job.[18]

While this is a personal conflict for this manager, the skills a manager uses to deal with personal conflict must be transferable to the workplace environment involving other employees as well as superiors. If a manager knows that there are always several options in dealing with a situation, he will be more open to choosing one that will work for that unique conflict.

As mentioned earlier, consistency is an important part of an effective manager and can be applied to conflict as well. A good manager is consistent in executing rules and regulations with his employees. He will not let close relationships with employees cloud his judgment and rationale for making a decision. When conflict arises, the employees will know that each person will receive the same treatment regardless of who they are.

According to Robbins, “Consistency can relate to an individual’s reliability, predictability, and good judgment in handling situations. Inconsistencies between words and actions decrease trust. Nothing is noticed more quickly… than a discrepancy between what executives preach and what they expect their associates to practice.” People want to be able to “predict what you are going to do.”[19]

In order for a manager to improve their effectiveness in a conflict situation they can also use “The Five A’s of Improving Your Personal Effectiveness” Model from Kerns. The A’s are assess, analyze, action plan, act, and adjust – then repeat.[20] A good manager will always assess the situation in order to gather all of the details. Once he has all of the information, he will analyze it and develop an action plan. After implementation of the plan, he will be able to be flexible with that plan if something needs to be adjusted. Effective managers use the Five A’s constantly without even realizing it. This helps a manager approach conflict with confidence knowing there is a steady process he can rely upon.

2.3. Flexibility and Creativity

“ Managers exist in a state of steady uncertainly and their success rests upon constant exploration of uncharted waters.”

Barry Munitz,

President of Federated Development Company

Houston , Texas

Today changes in the business environment become more rapid and more complex and of course each manager must solve more problems in a limited period of time. As Dr. Abraham Zaleznik of Harvard University mentioned: "No matter how much you plan, when you get to the work place there are unanticipated problems: And the added constant challenge is that most of these problems cannot be solved effectively in old, familiar, or straightforward manners. Hence the quality most necessary for business and career success these days, and increasingly so in the future, is flexibility.”[21] But our group consider also creativity to be important today. These two aspects help manager not to be lost and not to lose in the modern business world and of course to be effective.

According to the dictionary flexibility is “the ability to change or to be changed easily to suit a different situation”[22] . What factors made this aspect so important? Thirst of all the growing volumes of information a manager should deal with. Second, environment and technologies which changed quicker and quicker every year and the third point will be internationalization. According to these three situations we can determine the following characteristics of the flexible manager:

1. A flexible manager is able “to stay loose and to choose and explore a wide variety of approaches to problems, without losing sight of the overall goal or purpose”[23]
2. Shows a resourcefulness in their ability to adapt himself quickly and easily to developing situation and changing environment
3. He "does not see the environment as something to which they should passively respond, but as something they should actively shape."[24]

Some authors also associated flexibility with personal openness of the manager[25] . They pointed out that if managers are open then they can be influenced by what is happening around them and as a result they react more flexible to all the changes around them. The one thing is obvious that flexibility is a key feature of personal growth and an indispensable condition for being an effective manager.

Let’s now go back to the second aspect – creativity, and let’s see what it means: “Creativity – producing or using new and effective ideas, results, etc”[26] . When we think about creativity, we imagine people who are gifted, talented, and different from others, whose ideas, decisions, and actions are situated out of the every day’s life borders. In culture, creativity is associated with such a people like Bach, Van Gogh, and Einstein; in business with Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple Computers), Jack Welch (General Electric), and Anita Rodick (The Body Shop).[27] Today creativity is a way of thinking, the way to integrate you visions and ideas into relationships and business. This process can be presented as following:

Figure 3 : Critical thinking

Generate numerous possibilities

Brainstorming processes

Free association, etc.

Source: Becoming a Master Manager , By:Robert E.Qiunn,Sue R.Faerman,Michel P. Thomson, Michael R. McGrath; USA,2003

The use of creativity in the decision making process or in problem solving allows manager to increase the effectiveness and encourage creative thinking among employees. An effective manager will use creativity as a tool of motivation. When employees are encouraged to use creativity in their problem solving and in everyday work, they are more likely to feel unique, valued and important for their organization[28] . In this way a manager can not only develop effectiveness but also create a group of like-minded employees.

For an effective manager of the future creativity or creative thinking should become the natural way to think. But to reach this ideal situation each manager should avoid the following barriers:

1. “A negative value of fantasy and reflection as a waste of time, a sign of laziness, or even a bit crazy”[29]
2. the ideas that only children may play and fantasise but adults must be serious
3. the idea that problem solving is a very serious an responsible process and you must forget about creativity and humour
4. a negative image of feeling and intuition, which are regarded as illogical an impractical