After studying chapter 1, you will be able to: Summarize the major challenges of managing in the new competitive landscape, describe the sources of competitive advantage for a company, explain how the functions of management are evolving in todays business environment, compare how the nature of management varies at different organizational levels, define the skills you need to be an effective manager, understand the principles that will help you manage your career. | Managing and Performing Chapter One Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Learning Objectives LO 1 Summarize the major challenges of managing in the new competitive landscape LO 2 Describe the sources of competitive advantage for a company LO 3 Explain how the functions of management are evolving in today’s business environment LO 4 Compare how the nature of management varies at different organizational levels LO 5 Define the skills you need to be an effective manager LO 6 Discuss the principles that will help you manage your career Knowledge Management Knowledge management Practices aimed at discovering and harnessing an organization’s intellectual resources Knowledge management is about finding, unlocking, sharing, and altogether capitalizing on the most precious resources of an organization: people’s expertise, skills, wisdom, and relationships. 3 Managing for Competitive Advantage Quality The excellence of your product (goods or services) Historically, quality referred to attractiveness, lack of defects, reliability, and long-term dependability Managing for Competitive Advantage Service giving customers what they want or need, when they want it focused on continually meeting the needs of customers to establish mutually beneficial long-term relationships. Speed Fast and timely execution, response, and delivery of results. Managing for Competitive Advantage Cost competitiveness Keeping costs low to achieve profits and be able to offer prices that are attractive to consumers. Managing for Competitive Advantage Sustainability The effort to minimize the use of resources, especially those that are polluting and nonrenewable. The Functions of Management Planning Systematically making decisions about the goals and activities that an individual, a group, a work unit, or the overall organization will pursue analyzing current situations, anticipating the future, determining objectives, deciding in what types of activities the company will engage The Functions of Management Organizing assembling and coordinating the human, financial, physical, informational, and other resources needed to achieve goals specifying job responsibilities, grouping jobs into work units, marshaling and allocating resources, and creating conditions so that people and things work together to achieve maximum success The Functions of Management Leading stimulating people to be high performers Controlling monitoring performance and making needed changes. Management Levels and Skills Top-level managers Senior executives responsible for the overall management and effectiveness of the organization. Middle-level managers Managers located in the middle layers of the organizational hierarchy, reporting to top-level executives. Management Levels and Skills Frontline managers Lower-level managers who supervise the operational activities of the organization Management Skills Technical skill The ability to perform a specialized task involving a particular method or process Management Skills Conceptual and decision skills Skills pertaining to the ability to identify and resolve problems for the benefit of the organization and its members. Managerial Action Is Your Opportunity to Contribute Figure
