Principles, Styles, and Challenges of Management
The principles of management lay the foundation for effective accomplishment of a company’s goals. Managers exercise different management styles to fit various situations and cultures. However, managers often experience challenges when dealing with people from different cultures. Thus, every manager should endeavor to find the most appropriate methods and tactics of management to avoid any conflicts at work.
Principles of Management
Henri Fayol has developed fourteen principles of management, which indicate vital guidelines for successful management (Bagad, 2009). According to Fayol, managers should make proper use of available resources by sharing responsibilities among employees. Fayol demonstrates that employees tend to work effectively when they operate under a single authority; therefore, understanding one’s responsibility well facilitates the attainment of objectives.
All employees should be compensated equitably based on their responsibilities in order to avoid workers’ exploitation. Fayol suggests that hierarchical chain of authority should be able to define effective communication path. Employees should be stimulated to be imaginative and inventive in order to assist the management in the accomplishment of the organization’s goals.
Fayol explains that employees should adhere to the rules set by their organization in order to facilitate quality production. He recommends managers to be fair in order to enhance equality when handling employee’s issues. High turn-over is an indicator of a serious weakness, when it comes to management; hence, managers should avoid it by offering attractive compensation to the best talents. Lastly, Fayol insists that team spirit is essential for a successful organization, as it assists in accomplishing tasks on time.
Styles of Management
The key aspect of becoming a successful manager suggests employment of a broad range of management styles combined with an ability to utilize them effectively. Managers, who are flexible in their management tactics, often get the best results from their employees. According to Hay-McBer (as cited in Cardinal, 2015), there are six common management styles. They include:
a) Directive: This style demands immediate compliance from employees, and suggests that managers should motivate employees by sanctions and severe discipline, which is highly applicable during crisis in a company.
b) Authoritative: This is a visionary style that offers employees a clear direction of their responsibilities. Under this style, managers exercise persuasion and feedbacks in order to motivate employees to boost their performance.
c) Affiliative: This management style aims at creating harmony between a manager and employees. Under this style, overarching priority is given to people. The style can be used together with other management styles, and is appropriate for managing conflicts.
d) Participative: This is a democratic style of management, which suggests that managers should encourage employees by rewarding team efforts. The style enhances a stable working environment as it encourages teamwork.
e) Pacesetting: This style encourages employees to follow managers’ examples in order to attain the highest standard of excellence. The style requires less coordination as employees are perceived to be exceedingly motivated and autonomous in accomplishing team goals.
f) Coaching: This style is effective when managers intend to develop certain skills. The style motivates employees by giving them a chance to expand their professional knowledge.
Challenges of Managing Across Cultures. Communication is one of the major problems within the framework of management of employees across cultures. People from different cultural backgrounds may perceive same information in different ways. Accommodating different opinions could be restricted by communication barriers. Importantly, motivating cross-cultural workforce requires a particular sensitivity due to differences in their values and expectations.
To sum up, culture is a crucial factor when determining what management style should be applied within an organization. Disregarding this factor may lead to unwelcome consequences,
References
Bagad, V. S. (2009). Principles of management. Pune, India: Technical Publications.
Cardinal, R. (2015, March 15). 6 management styles and when to use them. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rosalind-cardinal/6-management-styles-and-when-to-use-them_b_6446960.html