What is a manager? Who is a manager and what does he do: job responsibilities. How to learn to be a manager? What does the profession of a manager mean?

Who are managers and what do they do

So, all organizations have a number of characteristics in common, including the need for management. Not surprisingly, management itself has a set of common characteristics. Although organizations and areas of responsibility vary greatly, the activities of the President of the United States have much in common with the work of an assembly line foreman in a factory. Honda in Ohio.

General factors of management activity

The general aspects of management are much less obvious than the differences.

The nature of management

Here's a great way to prove how difficult it is to find common ground in the work of managers: Define what the day-to-day activities of different managers are. Most people, including practicing managers themselves, believe that the routine work of a shop manager is not too different from the work of his subordinates. This opinion is supported by the fact that in the work process these people constantly interact and receive almost the same salary. However, studies have shown that managerial activity is inherently very different from non-managerial activity. In fact, the job of a shop manager has much more to do with the job of a company president than with the hard work of his subordinates. In this regard, Mintzberg, summarizing the results of earlier studies and conducting a fundamental study of the nature of the work of five senior managers, in his book "The Nature of Managerial Labor" wrote:

Almost any work in society requires specialization and concentration. Locksmiths, having mastered the technique of manufacturing a particular part, can perform this operation for weeks; it takes months for engineers to design a bridge; sellers often sell the same assortment of goods all their lives. But the manager cannot count on this. His work activities are characterized by short duration, diversity and fragmentation. Guest, according to whom his foremen perform an average of 583 different managerial operations every day, notes: “It is curious that the characteristics of the foreman's work - variety, intermittency and inconstancy - are diametrically opposite to the characteristics of the work of an hourly mechanic, whose work is rationalized, constantly repeated, not interrupted and, as a rule, it is performed in a constant, steady rhythm of a moving conveyor. "

Manager roles

Describing the activities of a manager, Mintzberg points to another common area of ​​any managerial work - on roles of managers... By his definition, role - it is "a set of certain behavioral patterns operating in a particular institution or in a particular position." As actors have roles in the play that force them to act in one way or another, managers take a certain position as the head of a particular organizational unit, which determines their work behavior. “The individual can influence character performance of the role, but not on her content... As a result, actors, managers and other people play predetermined roles, but how individuals can interpret them in different ways. "

In the course of research, Mintzberg identified 10 roles that all managers play at different times and to varying degrees. He grouped them into three broad categories: interpersonal role attitudes, informational role attitudes, and decision-making role attitudes. Table 1.2 these role settings are categorized with examples for each.

Table 1.2. Role attitudes of management personnel according to G. Mintzberg.

A source. H. Mintzberg, (New York: Harper & Row, 1973), p. 93-94.

According to Mintzberg, roles cannot be independent of one another. They interdependent and are aimed at achieving an overall result. Interpersonal role attitudes are determined by the authority and status of the leader in the organization and relate to his interactions with others. They can make the manager a focus of information, which will enable him and at the same time force him to perform information role-setting and become the center of information processing. Fulfillment of interpersonal and informational roles allows the manager to play a role related to decision-making: allocate resources, resolve conflicts, seek new opportunities, negotiate. Taken together, these ten roles define the scope and essence of a manager's work in any organization.

For example, store department manager Sears regularly interacts with sellers. They receive instructions from him about the requests and needs of the client, solve work problems and just communicate. And he receives from them important information about the work of his department, which often cannot be obtained from formal sources, for example, from implementation reports. This helps him make informed decisions. Further, meeting with the manager of the entire store, the manager of the department transfers him the most important information, which becomes the basis for management decisions at higher levels.

Management functions: defining management

Mintzberg's generally accepted analysis of the essence of managerial work explains quite clearly what managers do. However, not all experts agree with its definitions and classifications. In fact, there are no definitions of the essence of work, roles and functions of a manager that would suit everyone. Even in such a seemingly simple question as the definition of management, there is no consensus. In fig. 1.2 clearly shows one of these options.

Rice. 1.2. Manager as an information processing system.

A source. Henry Mintzberg, The Nature of Managerial Work(New York: Harper & Row, 1973), p. 72. © 1973. Reproduced with permission of the publisher.

However, most researchers acknowledge the existence of an applicable any organization process management, including the functions to be performed any manager. In the modern management literature, management is generally defined in terms of these functions. As we discuss in more detail in Chapter 2, there is no consensus regarding the content of these functions, but the differences are mostly purely semantic in nature. Most management professionals agree with this definition.

Management- the process of planning, organizing, motivating and controlling necessary for the formulation and achievement of organizational goals.

The greatest theorist in management and organizations, Peter F. Drucker, offers a different definition of management (see box 1.1).

We will define the planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling functions in the next chapter, and then elaborate on them in Part II. It is very important that you understand the essence of these functions and how they interact, combined into a single process.

Box 1.1

Drucker on management

Management is a special kind of activity that transforms a disorganized crowd into an effective, focused and productive group. As such, management is both a driving force for social change and an object of serious social innovation.

Ultimately, it is management, more than anything else, that is responsible for the most incredible phenomenon of this century: the explosion of education. The more highly educated people in a society, the more they depend on the organization.

Almost all people with an education above secondary school, in all developed countries of the world - in the United States, this figure is more than 90% - their entire working life will be employees of managed organizations and will not be able to earn money outside of them. It can be added that this also applies to their teachers.

A source... Peter F. Drucker, "A New Discipline", Success! January - February 1987, p. eighteen

Control levels

All managers play specific roles and perform specific functions, but of course this does not mean that managers in a large company are doing the same thing. In organizations large enough to clearly distinguish between managerial and non-managerial activities, there is usually so much managerial work that it has to be distributed as well. This division can be horizontal - with a specific manager appointed as the head of each major unit. For example, many companies have heads of finance, production, and marketing. As with the horizontal division of labor at the level of production targets, the horizontally divided managerial labor also needs to be carefully coordinated. Some managers have to spend time coordinating the work of other managers, who, in turn, also coordinate the work of managers at the next level, and so on to the level of a manager coordinating the activities of non-managerial personnel, that is, workers who actually release a product. Based on this expansion of the vertical division of labor, management levels... In fig. 1.3 presents one of the ways to describe them clearly.

Usually, you can determine the level of one manager in comparison with others by his position. But job title is not a reliable indicator of a manager's true status. Let's compare, for example, the status of managers in different organizations. The captain in the army is the junior officer corps, and in the navy he is the senior leader. In some companies, salespeople are referred to as “regional sales managers,” although they do not manage anyone other than themselves.

In the following, we will discuss in more detail why the size of an organization is only one factor that determines the number of levels of management it needs for optimal performance. There are many examples of large, successful organizations with far fewer levels of management than much smaller organizations. For example, in the Roman Catholic Church (an organization with millions of members), the Pope and the parish priest share only four levels of government. The largest retailers - Sears and Mitzukoshi- also famous for a small number of control levels. But in another successful organization, in the US Army, the general is separated from the private by seven main levels and twenty ranks.

Rice. 1.3. Management levels.

The vertical division of labor leads to the formation of levels of management both in the army and in business. Job titles and titles are not a clear indicator of status in organizations. In a military organization, there are many levels above the brigadier general and below the captain, and in business there are much fewer levels of management. The chief executive officer reports only to the chairman of the board and the board of directors of the firm; and the organization often does not have a management level below that of the payroll administrator.

But regardless of the number of levels of management, managers are traditionally divided into three categories. Sociologist T. Parsons examines these three categories from the point of view of the functions performed by the manager. According to Parsons, managers technical level are mainly engaged in the routine operations and activities necessary for the efficient and continuous production of goods or services. Managers management level first of all, they are engaged in internal administration and coordination of various types of activities and divisions. Managers institutional level are mainly engaged in developing long-term plans, formulating goals, adapting the organization to change and managing the organization's relationship with the external environment and the local community.

But today a different approach to the description of management levels is more often used - management personnel are divided into managers at the bottom (or operational managers), middle and top levels. The correspondence of this approach to the Parsons concept is clearly shown in Fig. 1.4.

Rice. 1.4. Two approaches to describing management levels.

The pyramidal shape is intended to emphasize that at each subsequent level of management there are fewer managers than at the previous one.

Grassroots managers

Grassroots managers, or operations managers, refer to the organizational level directly above non-management personnel. These managers control the execution of production targets. They are usually responsible for managing resources such as raw materials and equipment. In organizations, they can be called foremen, foremen, sergeants, section heads, chief nurses, etc. Most managers work at this level, and most people start their careers in management from this level.

Research has shown that the job of a grassroots manager is stressful and varied. It is characterized by frequent transitions from one task to another. These tasks are usually short-term: according to research results, the master spends an average of 48 seconds for each type of activity. The same applies to the decision-making function: almost all of their decisions are implemented within no more than two weeks. In addition, studies have shown that foremen spend about half of their working time on communication: with subordinates, with other foremen and - quite a bit of time - with bosses.

Intermediate managers

The work of grassroots managers is coordinated and supervised middle level managers... In recent decades, the number and importance of this level of government has increased significantly. In a large organization, there are sometimes so many such managers that it becomes necessary to separate them. In this case, two links are formed: the upper and lower links of the middle level of management. Thus, the company is formed not three, but four main levels of management: the highest, upper middle, lower middle and lower.

It is difficult to make any generalizations about the activities of a middle-level manager, since its nature varies greatly in different organizations and even within the same organization. In some organizations, employees at this level are empowered with more authority, which makes their work similar to that of top-level managers. A study of 190 managers from 8 companies showed that middle managers are an integral part of the decision-making process. They identify problems, initiate discussions, recommend actions, and come up with innovative and creative suggestions.

Mid-level managers often lead large divisions in an organization. Moreover, the nature of their activities is determined rather by the essence of the work of this unit than by the organization as a whole. For example, a production manager in an industrial company is primarily concerned with coordinating and supervising the activities of grassroots managers, analyzing performance data for their unit, and liaising with engineers who develop new products. And the PR manager of the same firm devotes most of his time to paperwork, reading, talking and participating in various meetings.

But the main purpose of the middle management is to serve as a buffer between the upper and lower levels. Middle managers prepare information for the decisions of top managers and convey these decisions, already in the form of specific tasks, to operational managers. Basically, they communicate verbally with other middle managers and with grassroots managers. A study of middle management at one manufacturing firm showed that 89% of their time was spent verbally with other employees. Another study found that an average manager spends only 34% of his time alone and spends most of his working time on verbal communication.

Middle management was a group particularly affected by the economic and technological changes of the 1980s. The emergence of the PC led to the disappearance of some functions and to a change in others, because thanks to new technologies, top-level managers can receive information from the source without filtering it at the middle management level. In addition, corporate acquisitions and a general need to improve efficiency have led to large-scale reductions in middle management in a number of organizations, for example, in Chrysler- by 40%, in Crown Zellenbach and Firestone- by 20%.

Top-level managers

Top-level management in an organization is the smallest. Typical positions of this management level in business are chairman of the board, president, vice president, and treasurer of a corporation. Army generals, secretaries of state, and university heads also fall into this category. Exactly top-level managers make all the decisions that matter to organizations. So if the top management RCA decides to start producing computers, not being sure that he can compete with IBM, then middle and lower level managers are unlikely to be able to prevent the company from embarking on a "slippery" path. Top managers who are strong personalities often shape the face of their organizations. For example, with each new president, both the atmosphere in the federal government and the entire country usually change. Think of the stark differences between the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan administrations. The dramatic change in Chrysler under the direction of Lee Yacocchi. That is why the labor of effective employees of the highest management level of large organizations is valued and paid very highly.

However, the burden of this activity is also extremely high. After carefully examining the work of five senior managers, Mintzberg came to the following conclusion:

So, the activity associated with the management of a large organization can be described as very, very hard work. The amount of work a manager has to do during the day is enormous, and the pace is extremely high. After several hours of such activity, the head of the company (as, indeed, many managers), apparently, is no longer able to leave either his environment, in which his authority and the status of his position are recognized, or from his thoughts aimed at constant search new information.

The main reason for such a hectic pace and overwhelming workload is that the job of a top-level manager never has a clear point of completion. If the sales agent needs to make a certain number of calls, and the worker has to meet the production quota, then there is no moment when the top manager's work can be considered finished (except, of course, the termination of the company). In addition, such a manager can never be sure that his activities are successful. As long as the organization continues to operate and the external environment changes, there is always risk. If the surgeon, having completed the operation, can consider his task completed, the senior manager constantly feels the need to move on. A working week of 60–80 hours is not uncommon for him. In fig. 1.5 shows how his time is usually allocated.

Rice. 1.5. Distribution of working time of a senior manager.

A source... Henry Mintzberg, The Nature of Managerial Work(New York: Harper & Row, 1973), p. 39. © 1973. Reproduced with permission of the publisher.

Manager and entrepreneur

Term entrepreneur was proposed by the French economist R. Cantillon at the beginning of the 18th century. Since entrepreneur they call a person who assumes the risk associated with the creation of a new enterprise or the proposal to society of a new idea or product. It is very important to understand that the words "entrepreneur" and "manager" are not synonymous. The foundations of US industry were laid by a handful of daring entrepreneurs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: J.D. Rockefeller (oil), J.P. Morgan (steel and banking), E. Mellon (aluminum), E. Carnegie (steel) , G. Ford (automotive). Their names are familiar to every American. In recent decades, the names of such prominent entrepreneurs as J.P. Getty (oil), H.L. Hunt (food industry), A. Onassis (shipbuilding), E. H. Land ( Polaroid), J.D. McArthur (insurance).

The hundreds of thousands of people who start new companies every year are also entrepreneurs, although their names are unlikely to be mentioned in history books. These people play a key role in the economy. Small business enterprises are extremely important to the US economy. According to John Naisbitt, of the 11 million American companies, 10.8 million are just such enterprises. It employs 60% of the country's entire workforce. Moreover, from 1972 to 1979, the number of private entrepreneurs (self-employed) grew by 25%.

The concept of entrepreneurship is not limited to business. Suffice it to recall, for example, General W.L. Griech's innovative management techniques that transformed the US Air Force Tactical Command in just six and a half years from an ineffective and constantly malfunctioning service to a model of military excellence.

Entrepreneurs as managers

Since all entrepreneurs actively choose the goals of their organizations and manage them at the beginning of their activities, they can all be considered managers. Some of them have been outstanding managers for a long time. For example, thanks to the successful "management" of Mao Zedong, the DPRK has become a great power. Founder IBM T. Watson introduced into the practice of management methods that allowed the company to become the undisputed leader in the computer industry. F. Smith clearly demonstrated his managerial talent by implementing an idea that has ensured huge success Federal express.

However, characteristics such as the willingness to take risks, the ability to quickly respond to the emergence of new financial opportunities and the desire to work long and hard (that is, the traits traditionally distinguishing a good entrepreneur) do not always mean that such a person will be able to effectively to govern organization as it grows further. Some entrepreneurs are unable or not inclined to effectively perform basic management functions. For example, one study found the following:

Effective managers were able to bring order to an unstructured situation and see the implications for their organization. They were capable of making decisions. Among entrepreneurs, however, such a behavioral model was not identified ... In addition, successful business leaders showed a positive attitude towards the authorities. And an entrepreneur, by his personal characteristics, simply does not want to recognize power and obey it, is not able to work under someone else's command and in every possible way seeks to avoid this.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that a great entrepreneur is not always an effective manager. As a result, the organization he created may well fail in the future. Government research has shown that, in fact, this is the future for most new business ventures, and the root cause of their failure is not bad ideas, but poor management.

If successful, an effective manager will take over the reins before the organization falls apart. Sears, for example, did not become a retail giant as long as it was run by its creators. People who, through innovation in management and marketing, have transformed Sears in the industry leader, were J. Rosenwald, who bought it on the verge of bankruptcy, and General R. E. Wood. Apple also achieved a sharp increase in sales only after the post of chairman of the board passed from the founder of S. Jobs to J. Scully.

Entrepreneurial management

Organizations operating in an unstable environment cannot wait for changes and only then react to them. Their managers need to think and act like entrepreneurs. Entrepreneur manager actively seeks new opportunities and consciously takes risks by introducing changes and improvements.

Decisions regarding large-scale entrepreneurial actions associated with a serious risk to the organization are made at the highest management level, but they are based, as a rule, on the information and suggestions of middle managers. If these managers are unable or unwilling to risk proposing new ideas, the organization's entrepreneurial opportunities will be limited. Managers at all levels, including grassroots, must constantly look for ways to improve the effectiveness of their organization. The foreman who developed and implemented a new method of performing a work assignment is no less an entrepreneur in spirit than a company leader who invested $ 10 million in the development of a new product range.

Whether you are a self-employed person or work for an organization, being an entrepreneur is not easy. Organizations and societies alike tend to resist change, however beneficial it may be. In the following chapters, we will discuss the ways in which managers increase the ability of their organizations to respond to the changing needs of society and make it easier for their colleagues to make business decisions.

Not being entrepreneurial in nature, the company RCA failed in the computer business. Basic management approach RCA was tied to television technology, which has hardly changed since the advent of color television. Since highly skilled computer scientists did not have the same degree of creative freedom here as they did in IBM and other companies, RCA could not attract and keep them. Eventually RCA it was simply unable to develop and market its products fast enough to keep pace with the radical changes in the computer industry. She could not offer the level of service expected from her buyers of large systems, "spoiled" IBM. Apple Compaq and other companies have succeeded in this area in part because, without being constrained by the structural constraints of large organizations, they were able to quickly develop new products. According to many experts, success IBM in the field of management is due to the fact that, despite its enormous size succeeds stay entrepreneurial.

1. Management - what is it?

As your business grows, it becomes obvious that you can no longer manage the entire structure on your own. You just physically do not have enough time or energy. And you are faced with a choice whether to stop developing or hire a manager. First of all, hired managers are entrusted with repetitive business processes.

For example, if you have opened another store, then the order of goods and the management of sellers can be transferred to the management of the store manager. Thus, you will take off the routine work from yourself.

But what if there are dozens or hundreds of stores? Above several managers, you can put the director of a branch, and appoint a director of a department over several branches. With this management model, you can grow your business indefinitely, in this way you can create a worldwide trading network.

So the creation and management of such a structure - this will be called management.

The science of management (as about management) appeared and developed with the development of society. When people got together to do common work, the question of organizing and managing joint activities always arose. So the group was divided into performers (followers) and organizers (managers, leaders).

The modern concept of management includes the following functions:

• Organization;

The main and most common mistake of business owners is that they believe that no one else will do this job better. AND in 100% of cases, this leads to the collapse of the business, growth stops, and competitors simply devour it. Since it is a single store, it will never be able to compete with the retail chain.

This process of transferring your functions is called delegation. It is written in detail about this.

Thus, having such a profession as a manager is critically important in modern society. Otherwise, it is simply impossible to grow a business or any other structure. What kind of managers are there and what do they do?

2. Who is a manager, what does he do?

A manager is a hired professional manager. This is a qualified specialist who, depending on the direction of the company's activities, is engaged in a number of tasks in the field of personnel management.

There are the following types of managers:

The tasks of the manager are based on job descriptions and general management functions. This profession involves the performance of such work:

1. Organization and planning of personal work and activities of subordinates (development of plans, schedules);
2. Team building (setting goals and objectives for teamwork);
3. Staff training and rotation;
4. and stimulation of work (the use of various effective methods of stimulation and forms of remuneration, depending on the result achieved);
5. Coordination of joint work (information support, consulting, support);
6. Analysis of activities, comparison of intermediate results with planned ones, improvement of the quality of work;
7. Control of the achieved results.

The main task of a professional manager is to achieve maximum results with minimum costs.

An effective manager is a highly professional specialist with leadership qualities who is able to increase the performance of the subordinate team at the expense of.

This is achieved by reducing the costs of manufactured products, by improving the quality (product, service) and increasing the competitiveness of the enterprise as a whole.

The ideal leader competently combines general personality traits, with organizational skills, etc.

3. What does a manager do - examples of managerial functions

1. Receives a task from a superior manager, divides it into small tasks and distributes it among his subordinates;
2. Plans the work of his subordinates, draws up work schedules with reference to the time and place of their implementation;
3. Delegates tasks to his subordinates, that is, by phone, or at a meeting, explains what work, how, and by what date needs to be done;
4. Carries out intermediate and final control of the tasks performed by his subordinates;
5. Encourages outstanding employees, and punishes the guilty, both financially and morally;
6. Carries out control over the quantity and quality of labor in its division. Timely gets rid of weak employees and recruits new ones;
7. Monitors the qualifications of his subordinates, if necessary, directs them to study at educational institutions, or interns within the organization, with the help of more experienced employees;
8. Monitors the implementation of the legislation in its team: the labor code, labor protection, etc.

4. The psychology of an effective manager

Before deciding to build a managerial career and understand what is involved in the work of a manager, it is worth analyzing the set that he needs for successful work. Regardless of the level of management, a person who seeks to take the position of a leader must have a number of qualities:

1. General personality traits (sociability, practicality and depth of mind, initiative, perseverance, efficiency, self-control, activity, energy, intuition);
2. Personal characteristics (self-confidence, striving for success, authority);
3. Organizational skills;
4. Leadership skills;
5. Psychological features that allow a person to work as a leader.

The presence of the above qualities indicate a person's ability to occupy a leadership position. But they are not enough.

To become a successful professional manager, you need to get a basic education in the specialty "Management of the organization". Or independently study the theoretical foundations of management, gain knowledge and skills on how to:

• be a fair leader, treat subordinates;
• make management decisions correctly without emotional impact;
• work professionally, without going beyond the "social norms";
• not to assert oneself at the expense of humiliating subordinates;
• right ;
• be able to be (but not cruel) and deserve authority in the team.

Harmonious combination of personal characteristics, organizational qualities,

In the business sphere, the profession of a manager is on everyone's lips, but at the same time few people fully understand what the functions of this employee are and what skills he should have. Professionals of this profile are in great demand, and the demand for them is only growing every year. But contrary to popular belief, this is not a universal direction. According to workers in the field of vocational guidance, in order to become a demanded manager, it is not enough to get the relevant knowledge. You also need to have a certain mindset, type of character and communication skills.

A manager is a hired manager who oversees the production, turnover of goods or the provision of services. He manages an organization or department, works remotely or directly in the office.

Management as a direction implies the organization of the workflow at all its stages or individual segments. The higher the professionalism of the employee and the longer the list of skills, the broader his powers can be, the higher the salary and the likelihood of career growth.

Functions and job responsibilities of managers

To understand what kind of profession it is - a representative of the management sphere, it is recommended to study the list of requirements that apply to a manager. It is not so important whether we are talking about strategic, administrative or production management, the employee is obliged to distribute functions between employees, provide them with algorithms for performing tasks and control all processes in the enterprise.

Regardless of the direction of activity, the list of professional duties includes the following items:

• launch, maintenance and control of the organization's work in order to maintain its uninterrupted and effective functioning;
• defining strategic goals and drawing up plans for the implementation of tasks;
• assessment of the degree of risk of the concluded agreements, compliance with their clauses;
• analysis of the company's activities in the personnel sector, assessment of staff performance, drawing up plans for motivation and incentives for employees;
• maintaining fruitful communication with business partners;
• market analysis in order to identify the demand for specialized goods or services;
• involvement of third-party experts in solving the tasks set by the top management.

The profession of a manager involves working in different areas, regardless of whether he manages a small department or a huge enterprise. The main goal of this specialist is to increase the profits of a particular organization or reduce its costs.

Classification of management representatives

The description of the manager's profession and the list of his job responsibilities largely depend on the level of management at which the specialist is. There are three international levels of hierarchy in the direction. Moving up the career ladder is influenced by: education, experience and skills, the ability to apply theoretical knowledge in practice.

What are the managers:

• the lowest link. This category includes junior bosses who have at least one subordinate. You don't even need specialized education to start a career. A striking example of such an employee is a foreman, administrator of a store or service provider, sales manager, head of a department;
• middle link. In this case, higher education is indispensable. Management is carried out at the level of a department, workshop, faculty, one of the points of the network. Such a manager oversees the work of lower-level managers;
• top echelon. This is the smallest category. Even in large enterprises, such managers are represented by a group of only a few people. Often, these workers have diplomas in a number of areas, many years of experience in a specific profile. This includes directors of enterprises, shops, educational and other social institutions, industries.

Despite the similar principles of work of managers in all areas, it is better to initially decide on the preferred topic. The direction of career development will help establish vocational guidance. Using tests developed by psychologists and statisticians, they identify the industries that are most interesting to a particular person.

Advantages and disadvantages of working in the field of management

Before you go to study as a manager, it is recommended to evaluate the pros and cons of the profession. Some points can be viewed from two sides. For example, the mobility of a manager. For some, frequent business trips become a pleasant bonus, for others - an undesirable specifics of work.

David Zaslav - Top Manager of Discovery Communications. Salary $ 156 million

Pluses of the direction

As in many other specialties, in the field of management you can earn great money. At the same time, career prospects are almost endless. Even top managers often have room to grow, provided they have the right skills. Managers constantly communicate with people, which allows them to quickly acquire useful connections and, if desired, change the field of activity. Another advantage of this choice is the demand for qualified employees. An experienced and ambitious manager will always find a good job for himself.

Cons of the professional sphere

There are also negative aspects in the managerial profession. First, the level of competition in this area is constantly growing. This requires full dedication from employees, constant development, work to improve skills. Second, managers need to be prepared to deal with stress. They are responsible for making decisions, they are responsible for the result obtained. Most managers have low earnings early in their careers. But their growth depends entirely on the specialist himself.

Another important point - to work in management, you need to have a special character warehouse, or attend various trainings to develop the necessary qualities. The characteristics of a person who expects to be successful as a manager looks something like this. This is a bright and self-aware person with the habits of a leader and the ability to manage people. Additional advantages of a manager are communication skills, analytical mindset, attentiveness, good memory.

How to become a manager

Training in the direction of "management" today is carried out not only in large specialized institutions, but even in regional training organizations.

What subjects you need to take to enter a management university depends on the specifics of the direction. Today managers are trained by both humanitarian and technical faculties. In the second case, in addition to good knowledge of the Russian language, mathematics and social studies, high marks in physics or chemistry may be required. International management requires additional tests in foreign languages.

Upon leaving the educational institution, a qualified manager should know:

• fundamentals of law in the field of regulation of commercial and entrepreneurial activities;
• business strategy and market economy;
• specifics of work with personnel;
• technologies and rules for conducting marketing research, advertising campaigns;
• basics of taxation, workflow, office work, administration;
• principles of drawing up business plans, commercial and legal agreements;
• ethics of business communication, provisions of labor protection;
• basics of logistics and state certification.

An additional plus for a manager is the knowledge gained in courses in sociology, psychology, HR, the basics of advertising and marketing. It is desirable for a modern manager to speak at least one foreign language at a decent level. A person who constantly communicates with people must have correct speech and a high level of literacy.

Salary as of 11/30/2019

Russia
36000-200000 ₽

Moscow
40,000-300,000 ₽

Manager - a leader or manager responsible for a certain direction of the enterprise (HR manager, investment manager, PR manager, financial manager, risk manager, brand manager, account manager, sales manager), project manager (manager project) or the whole company (top manager).

The term "manager" comes from the English "manage", which means: "to manage, to be in charge, to be in charge, to cope."

Thus, a manager is a manager with professional knowledge of the organization and management of production. Based on this definition, a manager can be called any leader, director, head, administrator.

Just as the characters in the play have their own roles that force them to behave in a certain way, so managers occupy certain positions as heads of structural divisions of the company, which determines their official behavior.

The main function of managers is management, which includes the process of planning, organizing, motivating and controlling. Depending on the size and number of management objects, management levels are distinguished, and, consequently, managers.

A large company simultaneously sets and solves a complex of interrelated tasks, for which several subsystems are created in the management system:

Manufacturing control

Personnel Management

Marketing

Marketing management

Financial management

Project management

Strategic management

Innovation management

Environmental management

Quality control

Risk management

Investment management

Information management

It is generally accepted to distinguish lower-level managers (in world practice - operational managers), middle-level managers and top-level managers.

Grassroots managers are junior bosses who are directly above workers and other workers (not managers). These include foremen, heads of departments in stores, heads of departments, sales managers, who are subordinate to sales representatives (agents), etc. In general, most of the leaders are lower-level managers. Most people start their management careers in this capacity. Lower-level managers can be of any educational level.

Middle managers are bosses over lower managers. Depending on the size of the organization, there can be several levels of such managers. Middle managers are the head of the shop, the director of the branch, the dean of the faculty, the head of the sales department, etc. Most often, these managers have higher education diplomas.

Senior managers are the smallest group of managers. Even in the largest organizations, there are only a few people. Typical positions here would be plant director general, store director, university rector, chairman of the board of directors. This level of management requires higher education, sometimes more than one.

Obviously, the amount of wages depends on the level of management and can range from several thousand rubles to hundreds of thousands.

In Russian practice, anyone can be called managers, regardless of whether or not they have subordinates. Such situations give rise to plots for anecdotes, when, for example, a loader is called a weight transfer manager.

Every modern organization must have at least one manager. In extreme cases, the one who considers himself as such. Russians are so fond of this fashionable word borrowed from the English language that today the work of a manager is perhaps the most demanded profession in our country. But few can really explain what is hidden under this mysterious concept.

The word "management" comes from the Latin "manus" - hand. Initially, it denoted the art of controlling animals, and later spread to the sphere of human activity.

The modern concept of management work is defined by S. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary as "the art of managing intellectual, financial, material resources", and manager's vacancies - as "a specialist in managing production, enterprise work." Thus, the main job of a manager is management. And only in Russia, in almost every field of activity, people appeared who call themselves this beautiful foreign word. Thus, the vacancy of a seller has turned into a sales manager, a secretary - into an office manager, and the job of a janitor - into a territory cleaning manager.

So, if a manager is primarily a manager, then there are always employees in his subordination. Accordingly, he is the head of the middle management, the organizer of the work of the department. There is also the concept of "top manager", which means a senior manager - for example, a CEO.

Management is always aimed at improving work efficiency. Therefore, the vacancy of a manager who manages production processes is entrusted with a serious responsibility for their high-quality implementation. He must coordinate the work of subordinates in order to optimize work.

Any more or less large company consists of several departments, each of which is headed by a manager's job. He manages internal processes, coordinating them with external ones. In turn, some managers are subordinate to others, forming a kind of management hierarchy.

You cannot call a manager a person who single-handedly performs work related to management in one way or another. It is only possible to talk about work in management if the volume of work and the level of complexity of its implementation require the presence of employees who specialize in specific issues. After all, only then there is a need to manage their activities, which means that one cannot do without a manager's vacancy.

Specialists identify five main functions in the work of a manager:

Planning.
The vacancy of a manager defines the goals of the organization, as well as the tasks that need to be solved to achieve them.

Organization.
The manager systematizes the work of subordinates, seeking to improve its efficiency.

Stewardship.
The manager thoughtfully organizes the process of communicating his decisions to subordinates.

Motivation.
The manager strives to create conditions that encourage employees to do their job well.

Control.
Also, the manager's job is to closely monitor the work process, controlling the timing and timely correcting the mistakes of the organization's employees.

If we take into account the fact that the goal of a manager's work is to achieve a result, and management itself is only a means of achieving the main goal, then this position is very responsible and difficult. After all, management implies organizing the production process in such a way as to make it as efficient as possible - to increase sales, make the brand more recognizable, increase the authority of the company as a whole, etc. This is the main task of a sales manager vacancy. Depending on the specifics of the organization's activities in general and his department in particular, he seeks to achieve very specific results.

In order to finally understand what kind of job title is - a manager, let us turn to one of the most popular and demanded professions today. It's about vacancies, sales manager. This person liaises between buyers and a trading or manufacturing company. In no case should you confuse him with a regular salesperson, because a sales manager has much more work to do. As a rule, he leads the sales department, independently developing and ensuring the sale of the product. He builds relationships with consumers, trade enterprises, intermediaries, the manager also organizes pre-contractual work and concludes contracts, analyzes sales volumes and, on the basis of this analysis, looks for ways to increase them.

The seller simply offers the product to the buyer, advising him on issues related to the directly sold product. He can, only in the presence of motivation (usually material), strive to increase the volume of personal sales, without interfering in production processes or in relations with intermediaries, partners, etc.

Now, having felt the difference between a salesperson and a sales manager's vacancy, you understand that neither a secretary nor a janitor are managers, no matter how much they want to be. After all, the job of a manager is still management.

Even special education is not enough to become a good manager. A professional and successful manager must have certain qualities. This is not only communication skills, firmness of character and resistance to stress, but also excellent organizational skills, analytical thinking, flexibility of behavior and much more. Finally, the manager must love his job.

Management is serious work that requires complete dedication. You can become a great specialist only if you constantly work on yourself, improve your skills and be open to the continuous acquisition of new knowledge. Only then is it possible for management to succeed. But there is always an incentive for this. After all, it is for such employees that employers are ready to compete, offering the most favorable conditions.

Based on materials from TopTalent.ru