Effective Management

Developing effective management skills to deal with specific challenges and

problems of each organization is the urgent needs of many businesses and

organizations in the global competitive environment, rapid changing of

technology and environment. The new tendency of training and development

of successful organizations over the world today is developing effective skills

in dealing with specific challenge of their own organization to reach their own

mission and objectives in the new organization that characterized by

networked, flat, flexible, diverse, global organization.

“Effective Management Skills” to help people and organization improving

their own effectiveness and efficiency.Globalisation and rapidly developing

technology shows we are in a period of intense competition. Proper

management is vital in these complex environments. The quality of

manager and effective management styles can determine the culture of the

organisation, the productivity of its staff, and, ultimately, success or failure. A

manager should have the ability to direct, supervise, encourage, inspire, and

co-ordinate, and in doing so facilitate action and guide change. Managers

develop their own leadership qualities and those of others. Management

utilises planning, organisational and communications skills. These skills are

important in leadership also, but even more so are qualities such as integrity,

honesty, courage, commitment, sincerity, passion, determination,

compassion and sensitivity.

An effective manager should have the following skills.

Creative Problem Solving Skills: Creative problem solving is a special

type of problem solving in which you create a solution yourself, as opposed

to just finding an answer that someone else generated. There are many

approaches to creative problem solving.

Step 1

The first step is called "Objective Finding" or "Mess Finding." Think of

everything you can relating to your problem, whether it's facts, feelings, or

things that don't even seem to fit the situation. It helps to write these things

down. Write as quickly as you can and don't evaluate what you write at this

point.

Step 2

Gather information about the problem. What do you know? What do you need

to find out? Ask Who, Why, What, Where, When, and How questions and

possible ways of learning the answers. Follow these up when you have

gathered some answers. Mind-mapping can help you sort through the

information (see Resources). Again, it helps to write everything down.

Step 3

Now that you have more information, you should be able to better define and

state your problem. Do this now.

Step 4
Now generate as many ideas as you can as to how to address the problem.

Again, don't evaluate these ideas just yet. Give yourself 10 to 15 minutes or

so to write your ideas down. Once you have done this, again you may want to

try a technique such as mind-mapping to sort through the ideas. You might

also try combining some ideas when possible, or just short-listing some of the

most promising ideas.

Step 5

Now you need to develop some criteria for judging the ideas generated in

Step 4. In doing so, you might ask yourself such questions as "Which idea(s)

are the most practical? Which have the greatest potential? Which best fit the

problem? Using your criteria, develop and/or combine short-listed ideas from

Step 4, as appropriate. Eventually you want to narrow it down to one idea

(which may be a combination of ideas) to try, though you may end up trying

some others later.

Step 6

Now decide how your idea can best be put into practice. What supplies do

you need? What is the cost? Who can help you? How long do you expect it

will take to implement your potential solution? How will you know if it is

working?
Communication Skills:

(1) Listening skills:

Listening skills are as important as feedback skills for the manager.

Listening involves being present and allowing communication to occur. You

do this through the use of open body language, friendly voice tone, and a

genuine respect for the other person’s concerns.

Example: Take the time to sit down in a quiet room, listen to the staff

member with a concern, and really attend to their needs. If now is not the

time when you can talk, let them know and schedule soon when you can

really listen.

It is also important to be an empathic listener. Conveying empathy involves

being aware of and acknowledging the feelings and experiences of the other

person. In an empathic response, the listener conveys to the speaker he

understands and accepts the speaker’s feelings and the reasons for those

feelings. It is possible to be empathic without necessarily agreeing.

Example: It sounds like the situation was frustrating.

You’re concerned because you need more time to run the tests.

Making use of effective feedback and listening skills can greatly enhance your

communication with your staff.

(2) Presentation skills:

Management is the art of getting things done. A Presentation is a fast and

potentially effective method of getting things done through other people. In

managing any project, presentations are used as a formal method for

bringing people together to plan, monitor and review its progress.

But let us look at this another way: what can a presentation do for you?

Firstly; it puts you on display. Your staff need to see evidence of decisive

planning and leadership so that they are confident in your position as their

manager. They need to be motivated and inspired to undertaking the tasks

which you are presenting. Project leaders from other sections need to be

persuaded of the merits of your project and to provide any necessary support.

Senior management should be impressed by your skill and ability so that they

provide the resources so that you and your team can get the job done.

Secondly; it allows you to ask questions and to initiate discussion. It may not

be suitable within the presentation formats of your company to hold a

discussion during the presentation itself but it does allow you to raise the

issues, present the problems and at least to establish who amongst the

audience could provide valuable input to your decision making.

Finally; presentations can be fun. They are your chance to speak your mind,

to strut your stuff and to tell the people what the world is really like. While you
hold the stage, the audience is bound by good manners to sit still and watch

the performance.

(3) Feedback Skills:

One of the areas where managers come are criticized is for not giving

employees regular and useful feedback. There might be a whole host of

reasons why feedback does not happen on a regular basis. For example:

• The manager is focused too much on task

• The manager has never had much feedback themselves so does not

recognize the value

• The manager quite simply does not set aside enough time for managing

Given the value of feedback, what are the top tips for giving feedback?

Tip 1: Do it as a matter of routine

One of the easiest ways of ensuring that you give effective feedback is to

make it something you do routinely. Build it into your schedule and make a

point of looking out for things on which to provide feedback.

Tip 2: Be specific

Whenever you give feedback, aim to be as specific as possible with your

feedback. Often, people say things like something was good. While this might
be nice to hear it is not very useful. On the other hand if you can point to the

specific action or behavior that was good, the recipient of the feedback can

use this strength in the future.

Tip 3: Know the preferences of the feedback recipient

People in the team have different preferences and part of your job as a

manager is to know them and respond to them appropriately. For example,

some will appreciate an e-mail; others will appreciate being praised verbally in

front of the whole team, while others will want to get praise one to one.

Tip 4: Be yourself

It is important to be yourself rather than putting on an act. People will see

through the latter and will value the feedback less.

Tip 5: Deal with all aspects of feedback

The chances are that you will be providing positive feedback to most people,

most of the time. There will on the other hand situations where you will have

to deal with feedback that is negative. It is important that you are as ready

and willing to deal with the difficult stuff as you are the good stuff.

Bottom Line- Giving feedback can be a huge source of motivation and

personal development for team members. So what do you need to be doing

differently to give more effective feedback?

(4) Report writing skills: Creating a well written business report is one of the

ways in which successful people establish their credibility and communicate

their ideas.

BENEFITS:

• Identify and meet the needs of your reader

• Research, gather and organize material effectively

• Write clearly and concisely using suitable language

• Get messages across and avoid common errors

• Bring reports to life with diagrams and examples

• Structure and lay out your reports professionally

Build a credible reputation by following the ten steps of report writing

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN?

• Reports from hell

• Improve your readability

• The planning stage: The Why? Who? and What?

• Organizing and writing the report

• Secrets of masterful writing

• Polishing your report

 • Make reports look interesting, attractive and readable

Producing the final produce

Conflict Management Skills:

Conflict is an inevitable part of effective work groups. When dealt with

constructively, conflict can push managers and employees to explore diversity,

differences of opinion, personality or style and to develop solutions that are more

effective than when only one solution is explored. If conflict is left unresolved, it can

unravel relationships and eventually effectiveness and productivity of the work group

suffers. People deal with conflict more or less effectively. Depending on their style,

they: Avoid, pretend things are OK, act too busy to deal with it or assume it

will pass with time. Placate-listens and empathizes with others, tells them

what they want to hear, rethinks decisions and procedures regularly.

Aggression-lays down the law, expects compliance more than independent

thinking, rarely listens to another’s point of view.

Proactive-listens, asks questions, states opinions and expectations clearly

and directly, looks for concerns, focusing on the conflict solutions that

address those concerns.

The Conflict Continuum

Conflict rarely starts at an extreme level; it grows over time if unaddressed.

What starts as differences, disagreements or irritations can grow to

observable tension with outward arguing or under the surface struggles.

Toward the other end of the continuum is aggression, explosiveness or

undermining. It is important to deal with conflict at the lowest possible level to

prevent the situation from worsening.

Relationship Issues

Just as conflict can increase over time, relationships with the people involved

in the conflict deteriorate over time. Stages of relationship deterioration

include:

Attempts to be nice and persuasive to solve the problem.

Frustration builds leading to blaming, threats and defensive reactions.

One issue becomes many issues with unrelated attacks to the person or

behind their backs. Labels related to personality characteristics can begin.

Conflict resolution is difficult at this stage.

Retaliation begins. Others in the unit are pulled in and begin to take sides.

The people involved begin doing things they normally would not, e.g.

exaggerating the truth, ‘tattling’, looking for mistakes and pointing them out.

Objectivity is lost. Resolution is extremely difficult at this point.

Anger and hostility spreads though out the workgroup. Scapegoat, bullying

and polarization are common. Relationships may be intolerable and

irreparable at this point.

The Managers Role and Resources

The manager or management team needs to be skilled in identifying early

stage conflict, create an environment where differences are accepted and

worked with rather than marginalized, able to model proactive responses to

disagreements or conflict, and be ready to mediate conflict amongst group

members. Again, a proactive response to conflict means first and foremost,

listening. It also means asking questions, stating opinions clearly and

directly, and looking for the concerns or underlying issues that might shed

light on potential solutions.

It is also very helpful for the manager to be clear about what types of issues

can be negotiated and which can be discussed, even debated but not

negotiated. Often manager/employee or employee/employee conflict

escalates because people are trying to negotiate things which can only be

debated. Or they don’t differentiate between a debate and a problem solving

session by ending with a clear agreed upon expectation about what will be

different after the discussion is concluded.

Issues that can be discussed not negotiated:

Beliefs

Anger

Trust

Blame or fault

Values or principles

Hurt feelings

Perceptions

Interpretations

Issues that can be negotiated:

How people treat each other (group norms)

Sharing space

Communicating about problems

Job responsibilities (if the manager is willing)

How decisions are made

The ways the work gets done

Appropriate noise levels

Types of conflicts:

Identifying sources of conflict – functional and dysfunctional conflicts, (2)

Understanding personal style of conflict resolution, (3) Choosing the best

strategy for dealing with a conflict, and (4) Developing skills in promoting

constructive conflicts in organization and teams.

Negotiation Skills:

Negotiation is a dialogue intended to resolve disputes, to produce an

agreement upon

courses of action or to bargain for individual or collective advantage. It is the

primary

Method of alternative dispute resolution:

(1)Distinguishing distributive and integrative negotiations, position and

principle negotiation

(2) Identifying common mistakes in negotiation and ways to avoid them

(3) Developing rational thinking in negotiation

(4) Developing effective skills in negotiation that benefits all parties involved.

Self-Awareness :

Self-awareness helps managers identify gaps in their management skills,

which promotes skill development. But self-awareness also helps managers

find situations in which they will be most effective, assists with intuitive
 decision making, and aids stress management and motivation of oneself and

others.

Skill development. Improvement projects should normally begin with an

assessment of the gap between the current situation and the desired future

situation. Having an accurate sense of who you are helps you decide what you

should do to improve. Often, self-awareness will reveal a skills gap that you

want to work on.

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses. Self-awareness helps you exploit

your strengths and cope with your weaknesses. For instance, if you are

someone who is good at "seeing the big picture" that surrounds decisions, but

not as good at focusing on the details, you might want to consult colleagues and

subordinates that are more detail-oriented when making major decisions.

Cooperation between big-picture-oriented decision makers and detail-oriented

decision makers can produce high quality decisions.

Developing intuitive decision-making skills. Leaders with well-developed

emotional self-awareness are more effective intuitive decision makers. In

complex situations, intuitive decision makers process large amounts of

sometimes unstructured and ambiguous data, and they choose a course of

action based on a "gut feeling" or a "sense" of what's best. This type of decision

making is becoming more important for managers as the rate of change and the

levels of uncertainty and complexity in their competitive environments increase.

Managers who are highly emotionally self-aware are better able to read their

"gut feelings" and use them to guide decisions.

Stress. Jobs that don't suit your personality tend to give you more stress than

jobs that are more compatible. This is not to say that you should never take a

job that conflicts with your personality. However, be aware that you will need to

work extra hard to develop the skills for that job, and there are jobs that would

be less stressful for you.

Motivation. It's very difficult to cope with poor results when you don't

understand what causes them. When you don't know what behaviors to change

to improve your performance, you just feel helpless. Self-awareness is

empowering because it can reveal where the performance problems are and

indicate what can be done to improve performance. In addition, awareness of

your psychological needs can increase your motivation by helping you

understand and seek out the rewards that you really desire such as a sense of

accomplishment, additional responsibility, an opportunity to help others, or a

flexible work schedule.

Leadership. When we understand "what make us tick"--what gets us excited,

why we behave the way we do, etc.--we also have insight into what makes

others tick. To the extent that other people are like you (and, of course, there

are limits to the similarity), knowing how to motivate yourself is tantamount to

knowing how to motivate others.

Process of self-awareness

(1)Understanding the concept of self-management

(2) Evaluate the effectiveness of self-management

(3) Developing creative and holistic thinking

(4) Understanding the importance of emotions in works as well in self-

development

(5) Understand of self-motivation

(6) Effectively managing self-learning and change.

There are certain other qualities required for a good

manager to manage his staff.

Planner

A Manager has to take a long-term view; while a team member will be

working towards known and established goals, the manager must look

further ahead so that these goals are selected wisely. By thinking about the

eventual consequences of different plans, the manager selects the optimal

plan for the team and implements it. The manager ensures that work is not

repeated nor problems tackled too late, and that the necessary resources

are allocated and arranged.

Provider

The Manager has access to information, which the team needs. The role of

a manager is important because authority, which the manager holds

uniquely within the team and the manager, must exercise the power for the

benefit of the team for the effective productivity.

Protector
In any company, there are problems, which can deflect the work force. The

manager should be there to guard against these and to protect the team. If a

new project emerges which not given an impossible deadline. If someone in

your team brings forward a good plan, you must ensure that it receives a fair

hearing and that your team knows and understands the outcome. If

someone is in your team has a problem at work, you have to deal with it.

Inspires a Shared Vision

An effective manager is often described as having a vision of where to go

and the ability to articulate it.

Qualities of a Manager

Good Communicator

The ability to communicate with people is the most important skill by

managers and team members. The Manager is also the team's link to the

larger organisation. He must have the ability to effectively negotiate and use

persuasion when necessary to ensure the success of the team and project.

Through effective communication, manager support individual and team

achievements by creating guidelines for accomplishing tasks and for the

career advancement of team members.

Enthusiasm

If Managers are negative - they bring staffs down. Manager with enthusiasm,

with a bounce in their step, with a can-do attitude. Many people tend to
follow people with a can-do attitude. Enthusiastic Managers are committed

to their goals and express this commitment through optimism.

Competence

Managers will be chosen based on their ability to successfully lead others

rather than on technical expertise, as in the past. Having a winning track

record is the surest way to be considered competent. Expertise in

management skills is another dimension in competence. The ability to

challenge, inspire, enable, model and encourage must be demonstrated if

managers are to be seen as capable and competent.

Ability to Delegate Tasks

Trust is an essential element in the relationship of manager and his or her

team. You demonstrate your trust in others through your actions - how much

you check and control their work, how much you delegate and how much

you allow people to participate.

Cool Under Pressure

In a perfect world, projects would be delivered on time, under budget and

with no major problems or obstacles to overcome. A leader with a hardy

attitude will take these problems in stride. When leaders encounter a

stressful event, they consider it interesting, they feel they can influence the

outcome and they see it as an opportunity.

Team-Building Skills
A team builder can best be defined as a strong person who provides the

substance that holds the team together in common purpose toward the right

objective. In order for a team to progress from a group of strangers to a

single cohesive unit, the leader must understand the process and dynamics

required for this transformation. He or she must also know the appropriate

leadership style to use during each stage of team development. The leader

must also have an understanding of the different team players styles and

how to capitalise on each at the proper time, for the problem at hand.

Communicate the big picture

If you want your employees to work hard and be committed to your

business, you have to keep them in the loop. Open communication helps

foster loyalty and gives employees a sense of pride. It helps them

understand how their work contributes to the company's success.

Delegate work and responsibilities

Some employees, share their workload with them and assign the work

according to people's strengths and weaknesses, and let employees develop

their own good work habits and abilities.

Help employees set goals

Setting deadlines and goals helps keep employees focused, busy and

motivates them to do their work. Talk to each of your employees about the

company's goals, and work with them to set individual goals directly linked to
your business's mission. Make sure employees understand their

professional growth path in the company.

Recognize problems

It is impossible to know about personality conflicts, lagging productivity or

other problems in the office if you have your head in the sand. If you notice a

change in an employee's work habits or attitude, try to get to the root of the

problem before it starts affecting the rest of your staff.

Effective dealing of Problems

The first step in dealing with a problem employee is to identify the trouble.

Many times, a simple, honest talk with an employee will dissolve issues such

as occasional tardiness or minor attitude problems. Coaching requires a

manager to work one-on-one with problem employees or to assign another

employee to work with the employee to overcome their shortcomings. The

mentor should provide the employee with feedback and solutions for

improving their performance. Coaching requires patience and a substantial

time investment, but it can help modify an employee's behavior.

Poor performance

Poor performance is not always due to a lack of skills; the employee may

simply be disorganized or sloppy. These habits can usually be corrected with

proper guidance. If performance difficulties relate to a lack of skills, consider

coaching or additional training.

Job incompatibility
In some cases an employee becomes a problem because their skills aren't

compatible with their assigned tasks or regular duties. In this case, offering

the employee additional training or assigning them a different set of tasks is

usually the most appropriate course of action.

Sloppy work

When you notice that, an employee has made some errors, point out the

mistakes to the employee and monitors their work more closely. If the

problem persists, speak with the employee and detail the most serious

examples of problems with their work. Remember to remain positive and

focus on how important the employee's contribution is to the company.

Create an effective message

Consider the specific informational needs of executives, middle managers,

supervisors and employees, and tailor your message to fit each audience.

An effective message should also explain how your employees´ day-to-day

duties directly affect the company's performance and should touch on the

values and pride of the employees. A direct, face-to-face interaction can help

reinforce positive attitudes inspire employees and help them adapt to the

change.

Listen to your employees

Employee feedback is critical in managing change. Holding focus groups

with employees is a great way to gauge reaction and monitor the progress of

change. You also can encourage employees to provide feedback through

email or the company intranet. Communication is the cornerstone to

successful change management. Talking to your employees is not a one-

time event, and you need to reinforce your message by communicating early

and often.

To be an effective manager you must know yourself, your strengths and your

weaknesses, and those of the people around you. You must know your

objectives and have a plan of how to achieve them. You must build a team

of people that share your commitment to achieve those objectives, and you

must help each team member to achieve their best which will be able to

attain a common goal.