CONTENTS
Today's Manager Supervision: Overview The Industrial Revolution began in the eighteenth century and transformed the job of manager from owner-manager to professional, salaried manager. Prior to industrialization, the United States was predominantly an agricultural society. The production of manufactured goods was still in the handicraft stage and consisted of household manufacturing, small shops, and local mills. The inventions, machines, and processes of the Industrial Revolution transformed business and management (such as, the use of fossil fuels as sources of energy, the railroad, the improvement of steel and aluminum metallurgical processes, the development of electricity, and the discovery of the internal-combustion engine.) With the industrial innovations in factory-produced goods, transportation, and distribution, big business came into being. New ideas and techniques were required for managing these large-scale corporate enterprises.
Two large-scale institutions, the church and the military, served as examples of control for these new managers. Many of the management terms and techniques used today have their basis in ecclesiastical and military authority (for example, superior, subordinate, strategy, and mission). Military commanders need only give orders, and then discharge, penalize, and demote those who do not carry them out and reward those who do.
Today, business and management continue to be transformed by high technology. In order to keep pace with the increased speed and complexity of business, new means of calculating, sorting and processing information were invented. An interesting description of the modern era is the Information Age that describes the general use of technology to transmit information.
Managers realized that they could profit from immediate knowledge of relevant information. The telegraph was the first instrument to transform information into electrical form over long distances. The telephone, radio, television, and computer expanded instant information. Computers store and handle a vast amount of data, automate manufacturing, and enhance modern communication systems. The mainframe in the 1970s, the PC in the 1980s and the office network in the first part of the 1990s were the platforms that drove massive product development and growth for the technology industry.
Communication and processing technologies are an essential tool in almost every field of business. The Internet, with its interconnection of millions of computers, has evolved to potentially become one of the greatest resources available to businesses today. The World Wide Web (www) offers access to vast information resources and an immense number of sites on the Internet. Managers can access, store and move digital information (voice, sound, text and numbers). Private corporate intranets provide a universal interface for sharing company-wide information and work group level information. Employees can access information, collaborate, and distribute results anywhere, anytime.
The computer and telecommunications industries continue to converge and have resulted in advances in two-way pagers, digital cellular service, desktop video-conferencing, portable satellite phones, mini-dishes and high-speed Internet access. Business documents include graphics and text on computers around the world, sound, video and simultaneous voice communications. Thus, the Information Age implies a time for a revolution in the information environment for business and management. The changes that are taking place may be more significant to management than the Industrial Revolution.
Organizations are two or more people working together in a structured, formal environment to achieve common goals. Managers provide guidance, implementation, and coordination so those organizational goals can be reached. The modern manager coaches employees of the organization to develop teamwork, which effectively fulfills their needs and achieves organizational objectives. The traditional autocratic organization with its hierarchical system of management and an overbearing "boss" that forces performance out of people is no longer needed. The modern manager provides an atmosphere of empowerment by letting workers make decisions and inspiring people to boost productivity.
Today's Manager Managerial Functions Management Levels Managerial Roles Management Skills Management History Business Environment Supervision: Planning Planning Process Operating Guidelines Objective Setting Action Planning Problem Solving Supervision: Organizing Organizing Process Power and Authority Delegating Communicating Managing Time Supervision: Directing Teambuilding Agreeing Selecting Training Leading Motivating Supervision: Controlling Controlling Process Coaching Counseling Disciplining Evaluating Terminating
