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Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources.

Because organizations can be viewed as systems, management can also be defined as human action, including design, to facilitate the production of useful outcomes from a system. This view opens the opportunity to 'manage' oneself, a pre-requisite to attempting to manage others.

Basic Functions

Management operates through various functions, often classified as planning, organizing, staffing, leading/directing, and controlling/monitoring .i.e

Planning: Deciding what needs to happen in the future (today, next week, next month, next year, over the next 5 years, etc.) and generating plans for action.
Organizing: (Implementation) making optimum use of the resources required to enable the successful carrying out of plans.
Staffing: Job Analyzing, recruitment, and hiring individuals for appropriate jobs.
Leading/Directing: Determining what needs to be done in a situation and getting people to do it.
Controlling/Monitoring: Checking progress against plans.
Motivation : Motivation is also a kind of basic function of management, because without motivation, employees cannot work effectively. If motivation doesn't take place in an organization, then employees may not contribute to the other functions (which are usually set by top level management).

Basic Roles

Interpersonal: roles that involve coordination and interaction with employees.
Informational: roles that involve handling, sharing, and analyzing information.
Decisional: roles that require decision-making.

Management Skills

Technical: used for specialized knowledge required for work.
Political: used to build a power base and establish connections.
Conceptual: used to analyze complex situations.
Interpersonal: used to communicate, motivate, mentor and delegate.

Formation of the business policy

The mission of the business is the most obvious purpose—which may be, for example, to make soap.
The vision of the business reflects its aspirations and specifies its intended direction or future destination.
The objectives of the business refers to the ends or activity at which a certain task is aimed.
The business's policy is a guide that stipulates rules, regulations and objectives, and may be used in the managers' decision-making. It must be flexible and easily interpreted and understood by all employees.
The business's strategy refers to the coordinated plan of action that it is going to take, as well as the resources that it will use, to realize its vision and long-term objectives. It is a guideline to managers, stipulating how they ought to allocate and utilize the factors of production to the business's advantage. Initially, it could help the managers decide on what type of business they want to form.

Implementation of policies and strategies

All policies and strategies must be discussed with all managerial personnel and staff.
Managers must understand where and how they can implement their policies and strategies.
A plan of action must be devised for each department.
Policies and strategies must be reviewed regularly.
Contingency plans must be devised in case the environment changes.
Assessments of progress ought to be carried out regularly by top-level managers.
A good environment and team spirit is required within the business.
The missions, objectives, strengths and weaknesses of each department must be analyzed to determine their roles in achieving the business's mission.
The forecasting method develops a reliable picture of the business's future environment.
A planning unit must be created to ensure that all plans are consistent and that policies and strategies are aimed at achieving the same mission and objectives.

All policies must be discussed with all managerial personnel and staff that is required in the execution of any departmental policy.

Organizational change is strategically achieved through the implementation of the eight-step plan of action established by John P. Kotter: Increase urgency, get the vision right, communicate the buy-in, empower action, create short-term wins, don't let up, and make change stick.

Policies and strategies in the planning process

They give mid- and lower-level managers a good idea of the future plans for each department in an organization.
A framework is created whereby plans and decisions are made.
Mid- and lower-level management may add their own plans to the business's strategic ones.

Levels of Management

In organizations, there are generally three different levels of managers: first-level managers, middle-level managers, and top-level managers. These levels of managers are classified in a hierarchy of importance and authority, and are also arranged by the different types of management tasks that each role does. In many organizations, the number of managers in every level resembles a pyramid, in which the first-level has many more managers than middle-level and top-level mangers, respectively. Each management level is explained below in specifications of their different responsibilities and likely job titles.

Top-Level Managers: typically consist of Board of Directors, President, Vice President, Chief Executive Officers etc. These individuals are mainly responsible for controlling and overseeing all the departments in the organization. They develop goals, strategic plans, and policies for the company, as well as make many decisions on the direction of the business. In addition, top-level managers play a significant role in the mobilization of outside resources and are for the most part responsible for the shareholders and general public. Top-level managers typically consist of Board of Directors, President, Vice President, Chief Executive Officers etc.

Middle-Level Managers: typically consist of General Managers, Branch Managers, Department Managers, etc. These individuals are mainly responsible to the top management for the functioning of their department. They devote more time to organizational and directional functions. Their roles can be emphasized as executing plans of the organization in conformance with the company's policies and the objectives of the top management, they define and discuss information and policies from top management to lower management, and most importantly they inspire and provide guidance to lower level managers towards better performance.

First-Level Managers: typically consist of Supervisors, Section Officers, Foreman, etc. These individuals focus more on the controlling and direction of management functions. For instance, they assign tasks and jobs to employees, guide and supervise employees on day-to-day activities, look after the quantity and quality of the production of the company, make recommendations, suggestions, and communicate employee problems to the higher level above, etc. In this level manager’s are the "image builders" of the company considering they are the only ones who have direct contact with employees.

Instructional Needs at Different Management Levels

First-Level Managers:

Basic supervision.
Motivation.
Career planning.
Performance feedback.

Middle-Level Managers:

Designing and implementing effective group and intergroup work and information systems.
Defining and monitoring group-level performance indicators.
Diagnosing and resolving problems within and among work groups.
Designing and implementing reward systems that support cooperative behavior.

Top-Level Managers:

Broadening their understanding of how factors such as competition, world economies, politics, and social trends influence the effectiveness of the organization.

Source: Wikipedia

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