The Management Bible

Chapter 1. What Managers Do

IT'S A NEW WORLD OUT THERE ...

Functions and ...

• How they allow managers to get things done through others.

• The classic functions of management.

• Energizing employees and unleashing their potential.

• Empowerment rules!

• Your employees need your support.

• Communication makes the world go 'round.

WHAT MANAGERS ARE SUPPOSED TO DO

One of the first questions new managers ask—even if only themselves—is: What am I supposed to do now?

Traditionally, when new managers are provided with an answer to this question (often they aren't; they are simply hired or promoted to manager with no training or direction whatsoever), the answer has been the four classic functions of management that you may have learned in school—planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.

• Planning: Running an organization is kind of like steering a ship on the ocean; to get where you want to go, you've got to have a plan—a map—that tells you where you're headed. It's the job of managers to develop the plans that determine the goals an organization will pursue, the products and services it will provide, how it will manufacture and deliver them, to whom, and at what price. These plans include creating an organizational vision and mission and specific tactics for achieving the organization's goals.

• Organizing: After managers develop their plans, they have to build an organization that can put these plans into effect. Managers do this by designing organizational structures to execute their plans (often building ...