Managers

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What Managers Do

Managers are responsible for ensuring tasks are completed in the day-to-day.

Small businesses

In small businesses, leaders and managers are often the same people.

Larger businesses

As businesses grow, however, the role of leaders and managers can become distinct from one another.
- In a growing business, a focus on long-term vision and direction is often needed, and it is the role of a leader to provide this.
- Managers focus on ensuring tasks are completed, and deadlines are met, in such a way to support the long-term vision and direction of the leader.

The manager's role

The manager’s role, as a decision maker, includes many different roles:
- A manager must set objectives so that success criteria are available to later establish whether or not a task has been completed successfully.
- A manager must review and analyse data so that adaptations to current processes can be made if required.
- A manager must select strategies and implement these to ensure processes are working efficiently and are supporting overall objectives.
- A manager must review the impact of their decisions and use this review to inform the setting of future objectives.

Types of Leadership

Businesses are diverse in their size, structure, and approach. One management or leadership approach might be successful in one type of business and unsuccessful in another type of business.

Factors which influence styles of management and leadership

The external environment can affect the type of management or leadership style which is appropriate for a business.
The culture of a business can affect the type of management or leadership style which is best suited to the business’ needs.
- For example, in businesses with a very clear and well-defined culture, a change of leadership style may be difficult to introduce without resistance from the majority of employees.

Factors which influence styles of management and leadership

The skill level of the workforce can influence the type of management or leadership style used as managers may, or may not, want to involve employees in the decision making process.
- For example, managers and leaders often value the knowledge of skilled and qualified staff but less so when staff are unskilled or inexperienced.

Autocratic leadership

Autocratic leadership refers to an approach by leaders or managers to keep control of decision making and ensure that employees are closely supervised.
If a business has a largely unskilled workforce, a manager or leader may wish to maintain decision making powers and therefore adopt an autocratic approach.

Democratic leadership

Democratic leadership refers to an approach by leaders or managers to discuss and consult with employees, delegate decision making authority and empower employees through their involvement.
- For example, in businesses which employ highly skilled and highly qualified employees, such as universities, Google and Microsoft, a manager or leader may decide that the contributions of such staff could be highly valuable to the business; here, a democratic approach may be suitable so that employees can contribute their expertise to the decision making process.

1Exploring Business

2Marketing Campaigns

2.1Marketing

2.1.1Setting Marketing Objectives

2.1.2Customer Needs

2.1.3The Market

2.1.4Competition & The Market

2.1.5Consumer Behaviour

2.1.6Market Research

2.1.7Forms of Market Research

2.1.8Market Segmentation

2.1.9Cultural & Social Factors in Marketing

2.1.10Promotional Decisions 3

2.1.11Pricing Strategies

2.2Marketing Mix

2.2.1Marketing Mix

2.2.2Product Life Cycle

2.2.3Pricing Decisions & Price Skimming

2.2.4Pricing Decisions & Price Penetration

2.2.5Promotional Decisions

2.2.6Promotional Decisions 2

2.2.7Promotional Decisions 3

2.2.8Market Mapping

3Business Finance

3.1Sources of Finance

3.1.1Internal Finance

3.1.2External Finance

3.1.3External Finance 2

3.1.4Sources of Business Finance

3.2Financial Planning

3.2.1Revenue

3.2.2Costs

3.2.3Cash & Cash Flow

3.2.4Cash & Cash Flow 2

3.2.5Break-Even Analysis

3.2.6Profits

3.3Financial Statements

3.3.1Balance Sheets

3.3.2Income Statements

3.3.3Liquidity

4International Business

4.1Globalisation

4.1.1Growing Economies

4.1.2Specialisation & Trade

4.2International Business

4.2.1Internationalisation

4.2.2International Trade

4.2.3MNCS

4.2.4Conditions that Prompt Trade

4.2.5Assessment of a Country

4.3International Economic Environment

4.3.1Globalisation

4.3.2Factors Contributing to Globalisation

4.3.3Protectionism

4.3.4The EU & the WTO

4.3.5Trading Blocs

4.4Factors Affecting International Business

4.4.1Global Competitiveness

4.4.2Ethics of Global Business

4.4.3Controlling MNCs

4.4.4Cultural & Social Factors in Marketing

5Principles of Management

5.1Management & Leadership

5.1.1Managers

5.1.2Management Theories

5.1.3Managing Organisational Culture

5.1.4Management Style

5.2Theories of Motivation

5.2.1Motivating & Engaging Employees

5.2.2Taylor's Theory

5.2.3Mayo's Theory

5.2.4Maslow's Theory

5.2.5Herzberg's Theory

5.3Managing Change

5.3.1Change

5.3.2Key Factors in Change

5.3.3Scenario Planning

5.3.4Managing Change

5.3.5Managing Strategic Implementation

6Business Decision Making

6.1Business Principles & Practices

6.1.1Influences in External Environments

6.1.2Product Decisions

6.1.3Competitive Environment

6.1.4Corporate Strategy

6.1.5Quantitative Sales Forecasting

6.1.6Legislation

6.2Quality Management

6.2.1Importance of Quality

6.2.2Measuring Quality

6.2.3Total Quality Management

6.2.4Evaluating TQM

6.3Human Resources

6.3.1Contracts

6.3.2Recruitment

6.3.3Training a Workforce

6.4Documents & Business Decisions

6.4.1Sales Forecasts

6.4.2Managing Strategic Implementation

6.4.3Problems with Strategy

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