What Makes a Manager?

What Makes a Manager?

  • Submitted By: punkybeans
  • Date Submitted: 10/20/2008 1:11 PM
  • Category: Business
  • Words: 351
  • Page: 2
  • Views: 1

Through my work in this course, I have come to the conclusion that managers are both sides of the coin: they are listeners and speakers, they ask questions and provide answers, they innovate and execute, they are planners and adapters, they are proactive problem-solvers, and they are decision makers that give employees autonomy to do their own work.
This view has changed slightly from when I first wrote the quiz and I now have a broader understanding of the scope of a manager’s work. Managers are not just givers of direction but they also listen to their employees for direction. They don’t just provide answers, but they are continually asking questions of themselves, of their employees and of their own managers to create new ideas for performing their jobs.
They don’t just carry out orders from their superiors. Managers give input, based on their creative thinking, in order to help develop and implement policies, procedures or other ideas to benefit the company.
A good manager must determine which kind of planning to use based on company goals, while always adapting to deviations in the plans, especially in organic organizations. Many companies today are changing every day and management must be able to plan for change, and adapt to it as it happens.
Management doesn’t just put out fires. They think proactively to try to avoid problems in the future. They use critical thinking to foresee roadblocks and then they plan accordingly. Eventually problems will occur so a manager must have keen problem solving skills to ensure things get back on track as soon as possible, and with little cost.
A manager directs the work of their employees while empowering them. Empowering employees can be done by giving them autonomy in their jobs or by delegating new tasks. When employees feel empowered they become happier and more productive.
In conclusion, a manager’s job is all encompassing: a manager is a leader, a decision maker, a delegator, an innovator, a...

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