What Do You Think Makes a Good Manager?
Kuznetsova Ksenia What do you think makes a good manager? What are the main functions of a manager according to Peter Drucker? Manager is the person who organizes and coordinates the activities of the rest of the staff. The importance of a good manager can’t be overestimated. First of all, a good manager is a leader, a respected, professional and strong-willed person who can motivate inspire and lead people. Great managers accept blame that means that they are fully responsible for their team.
They understand the importance of developing – both their subordinates and themselves. In that case I think that good managers make themselves redundant. They always learn something new and acquire useful information from the outside world so as to get the right experience. A good manager is competent: he knows the job perfectly as well as the work of subordinates. Most of the time manager works in a team, so it’s vital to be friendly and sociable and have good communication skills.
They have to be persuasive and to convince people to do things like forming teams even those who are responsible for performing individual jobs. Moreover good managers have empathy – the ability to step in someone else’s shoes – because they are good listeners. They are open and always ready to discuss and solve problems. As the managers have to measure the performance of the staff they should give praise if the objectives set for the organization as a whole and for each individual member of it are being achieved. A good manager judges on merit..
So managers who regularly give praise are in much stronger position to criticize or reprimand poor performance. In that case it won’t be taken as personal dislike. Good managers are not afraid of others people strengths. Furthermore, good managers encourage employees to use their own initiative, to take decisions on their own. This process is called empowerment. As the result decision making becomes more decentralized and less bureaucratic. However, managers should still keep the control of the operations, otherwise their authority could be undermined.
As a good manager is a good leader, one should be visible and accusable, provide a clear mission and show what the company’s values are. According to Peter Drucker there are 5 main functions of a manager. First of all, managers set objectives and decide how the organization can achieve them Secondly, managers organize. This involves allocating resources especially human resources so that the overall objectives can be attained. Thirdly, managers communicate objectives to the people responsible for attaining them and motivate the staff.
They coordinate and supervise the work of their subordinates. Fourthly, managers evaluate how well company’s objectives are being met. Lastly, managers develop people. Unfortunately not every manager can combine all these characteristics and skills. I consider that the management is more an art than a science. First of all a good manager have at least basic flair for leadership so that they can develop their skills. However, not all of them will be able to put management techniques into practice. Others will lack good ideas. Outstanding managers are rather rare.
