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The profile of an effective manager

and attitudes. For example an employment interviewer who expects a

female job applicant to put her family ahead of her career is

likely to see that in female applicants, regardless of the fact

that it is true or not.

3. Emotions: how a receiver feels when a message is received

influences how he or she interprets it.

4. Information overload: when the information we have to work with

exceeds our processing capacity. For example tons of e-mails. You

are bound to select and this way information gets lost.

5. Defensiveness: when individuals interpret another’s message as

threatening, they often respond in ways that hinder effective

communication.

6. Language: words mean different things to different people. Age,

education and cultural background are three of the more obvious

variables that influence the language a person uses and the

definitions he or she gives to words. The use of jargon, a

specialized terminology or technical language that members of a

group use to communicate among themselves, can be a barrier to

effective communication.

7. National culture: cultural differences and consequently different

values (cfr. the problems of intercultural communication).[39]

To these we can also add gender differences[40], status differences (for

example boss vs. subordinate) and interference of nonverbal communication

factors (for example smell as a personal physical characteristic).

Now what can a manager do to overcome these and as such be effective in his

communication? If we know that an average manager spends 80% of his or her

time communicating in one form or another (10% writing, 15% reading, 25%

listening and 30% speaking), communication is affecting a company in every

possible way (“How to be an effective manager”, 2000, p. 14). Therefore

effective communication is of extreme importance.

Robbins (2001, pp. 302-304) mentions 8 rules by which the barriers can be

bridged:

1. Use feedback: question the receiver to know if he understood the

message in the way it was intended.

2. Simplify language: choose words and structure your messages in ways

that will make those messages clear and understandable to the

receiver.

3. Listen actively: this means an active search for meaning, in

opposite to passively hearing

4. Contrain emotions: when emotionally upset, refrain from

communication until u have regained composure.

5. Watch nonverbal cues: to ensure that the receiver conveys the

desired message.

6. Empathize with others: put yourself in the shoes of your listeners.

This way you’re more likely to see things from their perspective.

Then you can choose the proper channel and the right words to

transfer your message (cfr. infra).

7. Use multiple channels: this increases clarity because (1) it

stimulates different senses and (2) it takes into account that

people have different abilities to absorb communication.

8. Match your words and actions: actions speak louder than words. When

nonverbal messages contradict official messages as conveyed in

formal communications, people become confused and the official

message loses its focus.

9. Tailor the message to the audience: different people in the

organization have different information needs. Individuals in

organizations vary in the type of information they need to know,

their preferred channel for receiving the information, and their

understanding of language, so you should take this into account and

tailor your message to your audience.

10. Remember the value of face-to-face communication when dealing with

change: as we shall see immediately, some channels are more rich

than others. Especially in times of uncertainty, it is appropriate

to use a rich channel to convey ambiguous and nonroutine messages.

11. Channels: understand that some channels have different effects on

different audiences.

To conclude, I want to give some additional information to these last two.

As a manager in the 21st century, you can make use of a wide variety of

communication methods thanks to the rapid progression in information

technology. These include: face-to-face, telephone, group meetings, formal

presentations, memos, traditional mail, employee publications, bulletin

boards, audio and videotapes, hot lines, electronic mail, computer

conferencing, voice-mail, teleconferences, and videoconferences. As a

manager, it is of crucial importance that you select the appropriate

method/channel to communicate a specific message. Recent research has found

that channels differ in their capacity to convey information. Some are rich

in that they have the ability to (1) handle multiple cues simultaneously,

(2) facilitate rapid feedback, and (3) be very personal. Attachment 2 shows

us the hierarchy of channel richness. The rule to choose one channel above

another depends then on the fact of whether the message is routine or

nonroutine. For example firing a person by sending him/her an e-mail isn’t

quite effective. Instead, sending an e-mail to let him know that he/she’s

invited for a personnel party this Saturday do is so.

As a conclusion we can say that effective communication is of extreme

importance if you want to be an effective manager. However, this doesn’t

mean that good communication skills alone make succesfull managers. We do

can say that нf the suggestions made here to communicate effective are

applied in a correct manner, then a lot of problems for a manager can be

avoided and surely the company as a whole will benefit from this.

5. Decveloping Trust inside the organization

Ethics and values have always been an important part of business, but they

are now looked at more closely as there have been many instances where they

were not adequately defined. According to Szwajkowksi in “The Myths and

Realities of Research on Organizational Misconduct”, managerial ethics are

“principles that guide the decisions and behaviors of managers with regard

to whether they are right or wrong in a moral sense.”[41] Because not

every manager and individual follows the same principles, ethical dilemmas

occur. It is crucial for a manager to first develop a list of core values

for himself in order to be consistent in his business practices. As a

manager handles each situation with these values, trust is built.

It is difficult to decide which values a manager should pay more attention

to. According to Stephen Robbins’s in “The Essentials of Organizational

Behavior” trust is defined as a “positive expectation that another will not

– through words, actions or decision -- act opportunistically”.[42] He

goes on to present that trust is multi-dimensional and therefore

encompasses a vast range of values within it. The Five Dimensions of trust

that he mentions are as follows:

. Integrity: honesty and truthfulness

. Competence: Technical and interpersonal knowledge and skills

. Consistency: Reliability, predictability, and good judgement

. Loyalty; Willingness to protect and save face for a person

. Openness: Willingness to share ideas and information freely[43]

By developing each of these qualities, a manager will encourage a

trustworthy environment in his relationships with his employees as well as

his superiors.

As Robbins suggests, trust is something that we expect as the outcome from

a person through our experiences with them. Over time, we get a sense of

how that person behaves and acts accordingly to our behavior. Trust is a

rather sensitive issue to most people and requires that managers act

appropriately to gain the trust needed to lead effectively. It is

dangerous to lose trust of an employee as they may not respect your

judgment without it.

Managers who want to engage in trustworthy relationships with their

workers, according to Robbins’s guidelines, must follow certain practices

that show integrity, competence and consistency.[44] Without these three

characteristics, all aspect of trust becomes meaningless. The normal day

to day actions of a manager affect the level of trust that each employee

will have in him/her.

Managers of different levels and cultures prioritize trust differently.

This is evident when evaluating how managerial decisions can build trust

through the Managerial Linkage System. In “Managerial Leadership at Twelve

O’Clock” Charles Kerns, describes that on one end of the managerial scale

is an untrustworthy manager who accomplishes his goals with lies and

deception to obtain the numbers. On the other end of the scale is a

manager who uses the trust of his workers to accomplish the same numbers.

It is clear that the untrusting manager is taking a shortcut through the

managerial system from 12-9 and the trusting manager has taken the time and

effort to move along from 12-3-6-9 as shown in the figure below.[45]

[pic]

The untrusting manager’s shortcut disregards the concerns of the workers

and in turn ignores the quality of output to the customers. This will

effect worker retention times and create poor customer satisfaction.

Though this manager may achieve sales targets the first time around it will

not last. The second time through the cycle the results will begin to drop

off due to poor management and a lack of trust. Conversely, the trusting

manager gains the trust of the workers and forms a great relationship with

them. Worker retention is much longer and they tend to do a much better

job caring for the customers. With happier customers will come the

increased sales. The second time around the cycle, the trustworthy manager

will have an easier time achieving the same or improved sales. The

Managerial Linkage System demonstrates that having employee trust will

cause business performance to increase.

2. Can we learn how to become an effective manager?

Last decades, many visions thought that we could learn how to become an

effective manager. We could refer to the success of many institutions where

MBA programs are offered. Many young high intelligent business men are

taught how to become successful. Nevertheless the success of these business

schools, there is a lack of correlation between scholastic standing and the

success in business. Clearly, what a student learns about management in

graduate school, does not equip him to build a successful career in

business.

For Livingstone S. (1971) the reason for this failure could be found in the

fact that[46]:”they don’t learn from their formal education what they need

to know to perform their job effectively. The tasks that are the most

important in getting results usually are left to be learned on the job,

where few managers ever master them simply because no one teaches them

how.”

Formal management education programs typically emphasize the development of

skills which enables the future manager to solve problems and to make

decisions (‘respondent behaviour). But little attention is given to the

development of skills required to find the problems that need to be solved

(‘operant behaviour’). Furthermore, the problem solving in the classroom is

seen as an entirely rational process, while in reality human emotions make

it hard to deal with the problems objectively.

As the research of Norman H. Mackworth revealed[47], the distinction

between the problem-solver and the problem-finder s vital. He concluded

that managers not only should be able to analyze data of financial

statements or other written reports, but even more important they should be

able to scan the business environment for less concrete clues that a

problem exist. These perceptual skills are extremely difficult to develop

in the classroom and must be developed on the job.

We should ask our self the question: Are there people who have more

managerial skills than others, because they are able to learn from their

experience what they need to know to manage effectively. Livingstone S

(1971) found three characteristics of men who learned to manage

effectively.

. Need to manage: to be able to manage effectively, you should have a

strong desire and satisfaction to influence the performance of others.

Many of those who aspires high- level positions are driven by the

expectations of high salaries or high status, but are not motivated to

get effective results through others. Those managers don’t learn how

to develop an effective managerial career, because there is a lack of

willingness to manage. They are not able to devote enough time and

energy to find a suitable way to manage. So the need to manage is a

crucial factor in determining whether a person will learn and apply in

practice what is necessary to get effective results on the job. For

example, managers who are outstanding individual performers, but with

a lack to motivate others or to delegate tasks to subordinates, rarely

advance far up the organizational hierarchy because they will be

blocked by low performances of a large number of subordinates.

. Need for power: Since managers are primarily concerned with directing

and influencing subordinates, they should be characterized by a high

need for power. We could refer to the above chapter about leadership

and power.

. Capacity for empathy: The capacity for empathy is ”the ability to cope

with the emotional reactions that inevitably occur when people work

together in an organization” (Livingstone S. 1971). Managers who are

perfectly capable to learn from their job experience, or who are able

to apply management techniques successfully, often fail because their

affinity with others is entirely intellectual or cognitive. They are

emotionally blind. They are not capable to deal with the emotional

reactions that are crucial in gaining the willing cooperation of

subordinates. It is very difficult to teach people how to cope with

human emotions.

So we could conclude that there should be a combination of inborn

characteristics and acquired knowledge and experience to become an

effective manager. There are people wit a higher needs for managing and

power and having a bigger capacity for empathy than others. But these

features are no guarantee for success. They should be combined with

technical and conceptual skills acquired during management education and

job experience.

But the effective manger is one, who is able to adapt his personality,

skills, knowledge and relationships in such a way that it fits the demands

of their specific situation.

3. Can we learn how to become an effective manager?