Effective leadership, management and supervision

Here,i will post down some of the summarised Q&A regarding Effective leadership, management and supervision which is relevant to CAT T5 Managing people and systems.As stated in the syllabus and study guide under the heading of management theory,principles and techniques which consists of 4 topics including the matters above,plus individual and group behaviour, team management, Motivation, concepts and models.As Dr Beverley Lee the examiner already tested theories of motivation of Abraham Maslow last sitting(Dec 06 Q.3),There is a low risk for such question to appear again until a few coming exam sitting,and of course the exam review taken place pin point that it was agreed by the majority that the questions overall in paper 5 were well structured and clear, achieving good syllabus coverage. The examiner also asked the student in June 2006 sitting Q.3 about "Robert Blake and Jane mouton" managerial grid,this question caught candidate by surprise,nevertheless; majority of them well answered.In December 2005,Q.3 on Delegation, examiner reports this question produced some excellent answers and was clearly a part of the syllabus with which many students were very familiar, both in terms of specific knowledge gained from course material texts and also from their own personal experiences.To make it interesting,till now,all question regarding this part of study guide appears in Question 3. Following are Q&A which some of it taken from past year paper relevant to P5 and other sources of External Q's that is in the context of P5.

1) Henry Mintzberg
Q: (a) Briefly describe Mintzberg view of the process of Management.
A: Mintzberg carried out research into how managers actually do their work.He found that:

-Managers do not spend scheduled period of time analysing formal reports and planning event.

- Managerial work includes routine duties, especially related to authority (i.e signing cheques)

- Managers prefer verbal and informal information to the formal output of management information systems.

-General management is a matter of judgement and intuition, gained from experience in particular situation.

Q:(b)From Mintzberg research, describe the three roles which management appears to fulfill.
A: 1) Interpersonal roles identified with leadership and arise from the manager formal authority within the organisation.They include the roles of:
Figurehead: a role which manager is identified with the organisation and its objectives, both internally and in the business environment.
Leader: manager is responsible for integrating individual and organisational objectives,motivation.
Liaison: manager is responsible for establishing and maintaning a networl of relationship within and outside the organisation.
2) Informational roles identified with administration and arise from managerial access to employees and contacts outside the organisation.They include the roles of:
Monitor: manager scans the environment,gather information.
Disseminator: manager spreads relevant information to those who require it.
Spokesperson: manager provides information to interested parties on behalf of organisation.
3) Decisional roles identified with problem-solving arise from the manager's formal authority and access information. These roles include:
Enterpreneur: managers mobilises information to initiate projects.
Disturbance handler: manager respond to unanticipated events.
Resource allocator: manager distributes the finite resources of department
Negotiator: manager negotiates for and with departmental resources.

** 2) Mintzberg research compare to Henri Fayol:-
Mintzberg saw his research in opposition to the work of classical theorists such as Fayol, writing that: "classical view says that the manager organises, co-ordinates, plans and controls". The main ways in which Mintzberg's work differs from classical writers' work as as:

-Mintzberg noted that traditional approaches to management education and training focus on classical assumptions, rather than encouraging active learning by experience.

-Fayol's classification of the functions of management does not explicitly include 'communicating':communication is rather,built through reporting channels embodied in the scalar chain of command. Mintzberg recognised a mangerial for informal, primarily verbal, communication and wider and environmental scanning.

-Mintzberg recognises that managerial work is reactive as well as proactive responding to incoming information, available resources and unplanned events. This is far more entrepreneurial model that the classic view of the manager within a functionally specialised, essentially bureaucratic organisation structure.

3) Charles Handy
a)(Q) Charles Handy’s classification identifies four distinct cultural types. Identify these four types and fully explain any two of these.

(A)The power/club culture, the role culture, the task culture, and the person culture.

1) The power/club culture is dependent on a central power source which controls the organisation. The organisation relies on interpersonal relationships and communications rather than hierarchy and power structures. It is typically found in small entrepreneurial firms, small family firms and small businesses controlled by the owner/manager. As the organisation increases in size this culture is less evident as influence cease to reach all members of the organisation.

2) The person culture exists to serve the individuals within the organisation and is one of the most unusual in Handy’s typology. All rules and procedures within the organisation exist to meet the needs of the individuals within it and can be changed as those needs change. A good example of a person culture would be that which might exist in a small professional business e.g. solicitors’ or dentists’ partnerships.