Managers

What Managers Do?

An understanding of organizational behavior is important to managers, who have the responsibility of

improving organizational effectiveness, the ability of an organization to achieve goals. A goal is a desired

future outcome that an organization seeks to achieve.

A manager supervises one or more subordinates. Managers include CEOs, who head top-management teams

of high-ranking executives responsible for planning strategy to achieve top-level managers might be

responsible for thousands of workers. But managers are also found throughout the lower levels of

organizations and often are in charge of just a few subordinates. All managers face the challenge of helping

the organization achieve its goals. Knowledge of organizational behavior increases effectiveness by providing

managers with a set of tools. Managers can raise a worker’s self-esteem and increase worker productivity by

changing the reward system or the job design.

Top-level managers might be responsible for thousands of workers. But managers are also found throughout

the lower levels of organizations and often are in charge of just a few subordinates. All managers face the

challenge of helping the organization achieve its goals. Knowledge of organizational behavior increases

effectiveness by providing managers with a set of tools. Managers can raise a worker’s self-esteem and

increase worker productivity by changing the reward system or the job design.

Management Functions

Management is the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling an organization’s human,

financial, and material resources to increase its effectiveness.

In planning, managers establish their organization’s strategy, in other words, how best to allocate and use

resources to achieve organizational goals. Much uncertainty and risk surround the decisions of managers

during planning, and an understanding of organizational behavior can improve the quality of decision making,

increase success, and lower risk.

In organizing, managers establish a structure of relationships that dictate how members of an organization

work together to achieve organizational goals. Organizing involves grouping workers into departments,

groups, and teams based on the tasks they perform. Organizational behavior offers guidelines on how to

organize employees to make the best use of their capabilities and enhance communication and coordination.

When leading, managers encourage workers to do a good job and coordinate individual and groups so that all

organizational members are working toward organizational goals. The study of different leadership methods

and how to match leadership styles to the characteristics of the organization is a major concern of

organizational behavior.

When controlling, managers monitor and evaluate individual, group, and organizational performance to see

whether organizational goals are being achieved. Knowledge of organizational behavior allows managers to

understand and accurately diagnose work situations and pinpoint the need for corrective action or strive to

maintain and improve performance. Several processes at the individual or group levels (e.g., personality

conflicts, poor job design) may cause poor performance.

Managers perform their four functions by assuming a number of roles in organizations. A role is a set of

behaviors or tasks a person is expected to perform because of the position she or he holds in a group or

organization.