Question and Answer on Management - Paper Example

1)Diversity management might be seen as a necessary encumbrance something that managers do because they have to - or it may be seen as a source of competitive advantage. What do you think? Does it have your grudging acceptance; profit oriented approval, or ethical support? What difference does this make?

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Diversity management can be defined as the company's initiative to include all the company employees in company programs and informal social networks within the company. From my point of view, this is a strategy by the managers which helps increase the ability of problem-solving situations within the company, it increases innovation and also helps cultivate a diverse market which in return helps the company make more profits. Ethically this is also appropriate for the management to do so where it gives equal chances to all. It is realizable also that without this diversification managers and employees may act on prejudice and they may end up feeling threatened by the other employees. But with diversity management employees value each other distinctive ideas and are able to share them and in return fuel innovation in the company.

2)The global financial crisis provoked shareholder fury at corporate bosses taking bonuses when their companies were appealing for government bailout funding. Is there an ethical dimension to executive remuneration, or should companies and executives just pay whatever the market will bear?

The shareholders should just pay whatever the market will bear rather than ask for government bailout where the company will have to pay up with other costs incurred which is not right ethically.

3)What is the benefit of seeing an organization as a system? What differences would this view make to you as a manager?

A system can be explained as a collection of parts or subsystems which are integrated so as to accomplish the same goal. And in an organization, the people within the organization fall under the parts of the system. The main advantage of taking an organization as a system is that the organization is looked at as a single entity when it comes to problem-solving which makes it easy to rectify and improve the whole systems performance unlike the other perspective where the managers had to handle different parts of the organization independently in return affecting the entire organization. The main difference this makes for the managers is that they have to focus on structures that provoke behaviors that determine an event in the system rather than reacting to events which is the case if the manager does not look at the organization as a system.

4)Is the core of management just the same, irrespective of where you work, with the difference being the application of management in particular organizations and environments? Why or why not?

It is possibly right to say that the core management is just the same irrespective of where one works. This is because the functions of management do not differ from an organization to the other. The main functions of the management being planning, organizing, leading and controlling. The four functions are the basic functions of management in each organization. What may probably differ is the approaches to these functionalities of the core management but generally they perform the same functions from one company to the other.

5) The global financial crisis and subsequent economic downturn put so much pressure on companies to perform and survive that the niceties of HRM have been swept to one side. Is this a fair statement? Why or why not?

This is not a fair statement depending on how the organization works. For an organization operating as single system pushing a part of the system to one side means that the operation of the side is pulled down which will probably have an impact on the entire system, in this case, the HRM which happens to hold together the organization. This means the other subsystems have to work much harder to meet the financial crisis but in return since the HRM does not have their back this will probably not motivate them to reach their maximum potential which the need to be so as to face the subsequent economic downturn. Hence the statement is not fair.

6)If the environment is changing so quickly and unpredictable, is all planning a waste of time? How can we plan for an environment that we cannot predict? Is it reasonable to expect managers to produce a long term plan?

It is totally reasonable to make long-term plans by the managers with all the unpredictability nature of the environment as long as the management is ready to be flexible in decision making if the need arises so as to remain relevant in the market. The organization cannot run without a plan hence the need to have a plan in place but the ease of adapting to changes in the environment should be highly considered in the organization.

7)Are all good managers' also good leaders? Can you be a good leader and not a good manager? Are the functions of manager and leader fundamentally different?

These two words are used in most cases the same way but they do have a difference between them. For instance, a manger tells their employees what to do while a leader encourages them. Again for a manager, they accept the status quo while for a leader they do challenge the status quo. But a good leader can be a perfect manager if he/she possess both skills and position. It will make the manager handle the employees in a much better way in return having a positive impact on the organization. From the difference realized in the beginning, it is possible to be a good manager while you are not a good leader.

8)Why is the management of control systems so critical to good management? Are there risks in taking control beyond merely monitoring into areas of innovation? For example, does an emphasis on control act to stifle creativity? Why or why not- provide examples

Control systems in an organization determine the position the organization stands in meeting its overall goals hence the most crucial subsystem in the organization. With strict and perfect management this result to perfect performance in the company. In a company such as Apple if they do not come up with a new device such as iPhone 7 or 8, the management in control of the innovation department is failing and in return, the company is losing clients since it has no product in the market for the other responsible department to sell.

9)In what proportion do you think management is about knowledge, skills and abilities? Justify

In 8 out of 10 I think management is about knowledge, skill and abilities. For one to manage a group of programmers in software development company the person needs to have the knowledge of what programming is, skills on how to programme and also the ability to programme. This is a clear example to illustrate the three feature. How do you expect to manage a group of employees who you have no idea what they are doing? This is the basic concept of how I would take management.