What is Management? (A definition)

The act of sourcing (finding), procuring (getting/contracting) and utilising (using) resources to achieve a predetermined set of objectives (British Institute of Management)

I came across the following in "In search of excellence" by Thomas Peters: "..a leader's role is to harness the social forces in the organization, to shape and guide values. He described good managers as value shapers concerned with the informal social properties of organization. He contrasted them with mere manipulators of formal rewards and systems, who dealt only with the narrower concept of short-term efficiency."

This was published in 1982 but remains true to this day. Manager's manage systems whereas leaders influence social forces i.e. culture.

A personal thought: Any leader can manage but not all managers can lead.

Wessel

"A boss is someone who often dictates how things should be done. He gives the orders. Employees are expected to follow through rather than initiate and innovate. Either they fit the mould or they're out.

A leader inspires people to do more than they think they are capable of doing. A leader encourages prudent risk taking without severe penalty for occasional mistakes. He/she is a cheerleaderwho also participates, guides, and always ensures a positive enviroment."

Which kind of manager are you?

.... Michale D Drexter

Stephen

I put the same quote on the Leadership topic.

Are we reading the same book?

I also came across a statement which said that excellent individual performers often get promoted to management positions where they then continue their habits and drive to be excellent individuel performaers rather than being leaders that help their people to get their jobs done, well while still having fun.

I have personally worked under these sorts of managers in other construction companies. The best contracts manager ever turned out to be the worst MD ever as he could not change from a "getting it done at any cost" approach to "helping your people getting it done" approach.

Subject: THE "MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY" BOSS

Text: A question that has come up in some channels: How does one deal with the "it's my way or the highway" type boss? This is the type of person who tells you that you have the freedom to complete your tasks as you see fit, but then either overrules you while executing the task or is overly critical of the results (because he would have done it differently). This is typical of situations where responsibility is delegated but not authority (to do as you see fit).

Please keep in mind that these are uasually very autocratic type bosses which means they don't like to be criticised by anyone, let alone their subordinates. This means the poor people working under them are usually extremely unhappy but also too scared to say anything. This leads to low morale and high staff turnover.

Please post your suggestions