Chapter 1 - Managers and Managing (3349)

Organizations

Collections of people who work together and coordinate their actions to achieve goals and desired future outcomes.

Social Economy

A bridging concept for organizations that have social objectives central to their mission and their practice, and either have explicit economic objectives or generate some economic value through the services they provide and purchases that they undertake.

Management

The planning, organizing, leading, and controlling of resources to achieve organizational goals effectively and efficiently.

Resources

Assets such as people, machinery, raw materials, information, skills, and financial capital.

Manager

A person who is responsible for supervising the use of an organization's resources to achieve its goals.

Organizational Performance

A measure of how efficiently and effectively a manager uses resources to satisfy customers and achieve organizational goals.

Effectiveness

A measure of the appropriateness of the goals an organization is pursuing and of the degree to which the organization achieves those goals.

Efficiency

A measure of how well or productively resources are used to achieve a goal.

Planning

Identifying and selecting appropriate goals and courses of action; one of the four principal functions of management.

Organizing

Structuring workplace relationships so organizational members work together to achieve organizational goals; one of the four principal functions of management.

Leading

Articulating a clear vision and energizing and empowering organizational members so that everyone understands his or her individual role in achieving organizational goals; one of the four principal functions of management.

Controlling

Evaluating how well an organization is achieving its goals and taking action to maintain or improve performance; one of the four principal functions of management.

Strategy

A cluster of decisions about what goals to pursue, what actions to take, and how to use resources to achieve goals.

Organizational Structure

A formal system of task and reporting relationships that coordinates and motivates organizational members so that they work together to achieve organizational goals.

Department

A group of people who work together and possess similar skills or use the same knowledge, tools, or techniques to per� form their jobs.

first-line Managers

Managers who are responsible for the daily supervision and coordination of nonmanagerial employees.

middle Managers

Managers who supervise first-line managers and are responsible for finding the best way to use resources to achieve organizational goals.

top managers

Managers who supervise first-line managers and are responsible for finding the best way to use resources to achieve organizational goals.

top-management team

A group composed of the CEO, the president, and the heads of the most important departments.

restructuring

Downsizing an organization by eliminating the jobs of large numbers of top, middle, and first-line managers and nonmana gerial employees.

outsourcing

Contracting with another company, usually abroad, to have it perform an activity the organization previously performed itself.

empowerment

The expansion of employees' knowledge, tasks, and decision-making responsibilities.

human skills

The ability to understand, alter, lead, and control the behaviour of other individuals and groups.

technical skills

Job specific knowledge and techniques that are required to perform an organizational

role

The specific tasks that a person is expected to perform because of the position he or she holds in an organization.

Figurehead

Outline future organizational goals to employees at company meetings; open a new corporate headquarters building; state the organization's ethical guidelines and the principles of behaviour employees are to follow in their dealings with customers and supp

Leader

Provide an example for employees to follow; give direct commands and orders to subordinates; make decisions concerning the use of human and technical resources; mobilize employee support for specific organizational goals. One of Mintzberg's Managerial Rol

Liason

Coordinate the work of managers in different departments; establish alliances between different organizations to share resources to produce new goods and services. One of Mintzberg's Managerial Roles.

Monitor

Evaluate the performance of managers in different functions and take corrective action to improve their performance; watch for changes occurring in the external and internal environment that may affect the organization in the future. One of Mintzberg's Ma

Disseminator

Inform employees about changes taking place in the external and internal environment that will affect them and the organization; communicate to employees the organization's vision and purpose. One of Mintzberg's Managerial Roles.

Spokesperson

Launch a national advertising campaign to promote new goods and services; give a speech to inform the local community about the organization's future intentions. One of Mintzberg's Managerial Roles.

Entrepreneur

Commit organizational resources to develop innovative goods and services; decide to expand internationally to obtain new customers for the organization's products. One of Mintzberg's Managerial Roles.

Disturbance Handler

Move quickly to take corrective action to deal with unexpected problems facing the organization from the external environment (e.g., a crisis such as an oil spill), or from the internal environment (e.g., producing faulty goods or services). One of Mintzb

Resource allocator

Allocate organizational resources among different functions and departments of the organization; set budgets and salaries of middle and first-level managers. One of Mintzberg's Managerial Roles.

Negotiator

Work with suppliers, distributors, and labour unions to reach agreements about the quality and price of input, technical, and human resources; work with other organi� zations to establish agreements to pool resources to work on joint projects. One of Mint