Communication

Communication is a human skill and the ability to communicate effectively is one of the major skills of a manager.  According to research, managers spend between 70% - 90% of their working hours in communication broken down as follows:  5% writing, 10% reading., 35% talking, 50% listening.  Such communication plays a vital role in managerial decision-making.  People often communicate through signals such as facial expressions, gestures etc.

Communication is a word derived from the Latin word ‘communis’, which literally means ‘common’, ‘to share’, ‘impart’, ‘convey’ or ‘transmit’.  It is the process through which two or more persons come to exchange ideas and understanding among themselves.

Communication is the sum of all the things one person does when he wants to create understanding in the mind of another.  It involves a continuous process of telling, listening and understanding.

The word communication describes the process of conveying messages (facts, ideas, attitudes and opinions) from one person to another so that they are understood.
Communication involves more than transmission and receipt of message.  Correct interpretation and understanding are more important.  Hence the greater the degree of understanding, in the communication, the more likelihood the human action intended will proceed in the desired direction.

Communication involves more than transmission and receipt of message.  Correct interpretation and understanding are more important.  Hence the greater the degree of understanding, in the communication, the more likelihood the human action intended will proceed in the desired direction.

The Communication Process
Communication process consists of some interrelated steps or parts through which messages are sent form sender to receiver. The process of communication begins when the sender wants to transmit a fact, idea, opinion or other information to the receiver and ends with receiver’s feedback to the sender. The main components of communication process are sender, message, channel, receiver and feedback. In the following, some definitions of the communication process are quoted:

Robert Kreitner defined, “Communication process is a chain made up of identifiable links. The chain includes sender, encoding, message, receiver, decoding, and feedback.”
In the opinion of S. K. Kapur, “The communication process is the method by which the sender transfers information and understanding to the receiver.”

According to Bovee, Thill and Schatzman, “The communication process consists of six phases linking sender and receiver.”

C. B. Mamoria has pointed out the parts of communication process by saying, “That communication process model is making up of seven steps or parts: a. the communication b. Encoding c. The message and the medium or channel, d. reception by the feceiver e. decoding f. Action and g. feedback.”

The following diagram represents the communication process

Thus, it is clear that communication process is the set of some sequential steps involved in transferring message as well as feedback. The process requires a sender who transmits message through a channel to the receiver. Then the receiver decodes the message and sends back some type of signal or feedback.

Steps or elements of communication process

The communication process refers to the steps through which communication takes place between the sender and the receiver. This process starts with conceptualizing an idea or message by the sender and ends with the feedback from the receiver. In details, communication process consists of the following eight steps:

1. Developing idea by the sender: In the first step, the communicator develops or conceptualizes an idea to be sent. It is also known as the planning stage since in this stage the communicator plans the subject matter of communication.
2. Encoding: Encoding means converting or translation the idea into a perceivable form that can be communicated to others.
3. Developing the message: After encoding the sender gets a message that can be transmitted to the receiver. The message can be oral, written, symbolic or nonverbal. For example, when people talk, speech is the message; when people write a letter, the words and sentences are the message; when people cries, the crying is the message.
4. Selecting the medium: Medium is the channel or means of transmitting the message to the receiver. Once the sender has encoded his into a message, the next step is to select a suitable medium for transmitting it to the receiver. The medium of communication can be speaking, writing, signaling, gesturing etc.
5. Transmission of message: In this step, the sender actually transmits the message through chosen medium. In the communication cycle, the tasks of the sender end with the transmission of the message.
6. Receiving the message by receiver: This stage simply involves the reception of sender’s message by the receiver. The message can be received in the form of hearing, seeing, feeling and so on.
7. Decoding: Decoding is the receiver’s interpretation of the sender’s message. Here the receiver converts the message into thoughts and tries to analyze and understand it. Effective communication can occur only when both the sender and the receiver assign the same or similar meanings to the message.
8. Feedback: The final step of communication process is feedback. Feedback means receiver’s response to sender’s message. It increases the effectiveness of communication. It ensures that the receiver has correctly understood the message. Feedback is the essence of two-way communication.

Importance and Growth of Communication
The importance of communication in organizations, is well recognized, - “it serves as the lubricant fostering the smooth operations of the management process”. Some of the important reasons are:

• Forms the basis for coordination: Increasingly large and complex organizations with high degree of specialization and division of labour with large number of employees require effective coordination which can only be achieved through communication.
• Smooth working of the enterprise: Process of communication makes cooperative action of people possible. Without communication organized activity ceases to exist.
• Basis for Decision-making: Communication is the primary requirement for decision-making.  In its absence, it may not be possible to take any meaningful decision, as information must be received before any decision can be made or implemented.
• Increases managerial efficiency: Communication is essential for quick and systematic performance of managerial functions. Management conveys the goals, targets, instructions, job allocations and responsibilities, and performance of subordinates through communication.
• Promotion of cooperation and industrial peace: High productivity is the aim of management.  This can only be achieved when there is industrial peace in the organizations and mutual cooperation between management and workers. Downward communication helps management tell workers their expectations while upward communication helps workers put their grievances, suggestions or reactions to management.
• Establishment of effective leadership: Communication is the basis of direction and leadership.  It is a process of influencing others behaviour.  By developing communications skills and using them, managers become effective leaders.
• Morale building and motivation: Communication is the basis of participative and democratic pattern of management.  It improves good human relations in industry. An efficient system of communication enables management to change attitudes, motivate and build morale – hence employee satisfaction.

Factors Responsible for Growing Importance of Communication

• Growth in size of organizations: Complex and large organizations have several levels in the hierarchy, and many employees.  Direct contact is not possible, hence a communication system to direct all their activities.
• Growth of trade unions: Cooperation between organizations and trade unions is essential for industrial peace.  This can only be achieved through an efficient communication system e.g. collective bargaining process, negotiations etc.
• Technological Developments: Rapid change in technology affects the composition of groups, relationships between managers and subordinates, and methods of work.  The necessary adjustments in the social, organizational and physical aspects of work can only be possible through communication.
• Emphasis of human relations in industry: The growing importance of human relations in industry and the desire of management to maintain it has necessitated communication. The change of employer relationship from master-servant to partnership or associates helps in the attitude change process.
• The work of research psychologists and sociologists: Their findings and conclusions have increased knowledge of the nature and process of communication.

CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION
Communication Channels
The major channels of communication are:
1. Words.
Words are like a map that purports to represent a certain territory.  The map is not the territory but the representation and so are words.  The meaning of a word is easy when it represents a tangible object e.g. cup or book but more difficult when it refers to abstract concepts such as management, labour, levels etc.  People will assign different meanings to the same word because they have different frames of reference due to background, culture, education, experience or associates.  Words constitute the most important symbols in the communication process.  They can be oral or written.  The important skills required are:  Reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Verbal/Oral Communication
Refers to exchange of ideas between sender and receiver through oral words – face to face or telephone, radio call e.t.c   In Organizations this can take the form of; personnel instructions, management conferences, interviews e.t.c.

Advantages.

1. Easy to clarify a point.
2. High degree of potential for speedy exchange of information – timely.
3. Effective as can be used together with non-verbal communication e.g. gestures, guttural sounds, tone of voice etc.
4. Popular – preferred by managers and supervisors.  Gives opportunity to employees to ask questions and participate in the discussion – boosts morale.

Disadvantages.

1. Absence of any permanent record of communication.
2. Not taken seriously by receiver hence objective of communication is not achieved.
3. Possibility of misquoting or misinterpretation especially where relations may be strained between superior and subordinate.

Written Communication
When communication is put in written form it becomes written communication.  In organizations, these appear in the form of; - letters, circulars newsletters, reports, budgets, rulers, orders, regulations, policies, schedules, manual, etc. Includes other symbols such pictures, graphs, charts etc

Advantages.

1. Stored as record for future reference.
2. Communication effort is minimized by simultaneous communication to various points e.g. a circular to all employees.
3. Enables communication between distantly placed parties without much cost.
4. Orderly and binding on subordinates.
5. Enable superiors to take suitable actions based on recorded communications.

Disadvantages.

1. Time consuming in preparation and understanding (reading and interpreting).
2. Chance of misunderstanding.
3. Can be more costly than oral communication.

2. Actions
Actions can be used as a non-verbal form of communication e.g. body language, facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice/pitch of voice, etc.  It can also take the form of physical actions such as location of one’s desk, removal of equipment or furniture, searching drawers/opening ones cabinet/office, delays etc

A manager is the center of attention to subordinates.  All observable acts communicate something to the observer whether intended or not by the supervisor. When unexplained actions by management occur, a vacuum of meaning is thereby created which is filled by the receiver’s own interpretation of the actions. If an action is not explained, the receiver will supply the missing signal by creating one of his own.

3. Pictures
Pictures are powerful means of conveying meaning and understanding to other people.  This is demonstrated by cartoons, films, TV, photographs etc.

Important, accurate and comprehensive reports, have been given little attention because of the complexities of reading, but the use of charts, graphs, posters etc. can convey more meaning sometimes than volumes of long, uninterrupted passages of writing. 

A chart or graph has the advantage of depicting many complex relationships in one picture, contrasts, trends, etc can be seen and grasped more clearly.

Common Pictures in Business are: curves, bar graphs, columns, circles, pie charts, pictorial, maps, organization charts, ranking and frequency distributions.

4. Numbers.
It has generally been found that people are impressed by numbers – figures and statistics.  Acceptance and belief – also confidence tend to rise for a report that has data statistics e.g. percentages, proportions, etc.   Numbers however can be misleading as they can be manipulated by unscrupulous people.  Skillful use of numbers can be applied to lead or mislead.

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
Several types of communication can be identified in a business organization.

According to organizational structure.

• Formal communication: Associated with the formal organizational structure.  Information travels through the officially recognized positions in the organization chart.  E.g. orders, instructions, decisions, rules, procedures, policies etc maybe written or oral.
• Informal communication: Also known as the ‘grapevine’.  They are free from all sorts of formalities.  Based on friendship, membership of a group/club, or origin of place, e.g. opinions, views, comments, suggestions, complaints, rumours, whispers, gossip etc may use symbols such as glance, gestures, nod or silence, anonymous letters etc.

According to direction of communication.

• Downward communication: Communications that flow from superiors to subordinates.  Include orders, instructions, ruled, policy directives etc.  They are directive in nature.
• Upward communication: Reverse of downward communication, flows form subordinates to superiors.  Includes reaction and suggestions from workers, grievances, and disputes.  They maybe in the form of reports, proposals, memorandums, etc.  Upward communication is now considered to be a main source of motivation.
• Horizontal communication: Refers to communication between persons at the same level in the management hierarchy.  Also known as lateral or cross-wise communication e.g. meeting of general managers, Divisional heads etc. can be oral or written.

According to way of expressions

• Oral/verbal communication: Exchange of ideas/information occurs through face to face conversation or mechanical media e.g. Telephone, loud speaker, radio call etc conferences, seminars, workshops, interviews, consultations are other media.
• Written communication: Takes the written form (black & white) includes written words, pictures, graphs, diagrams, maps, etc.  They may take the form of circulars, personal letters, memos, manuals, reports etc.
• Grapevine Communication: The informal channel of communication is also known as the grapevine.  It results from the operation of social forces at the workplace.  The term arose during the days of the American Civil war when intelligence telephone lines were strung loosely from tree to tree like grapevine plants and the message was usually distorted, hence any rumour was popularly referred to as the grapevine.  Today all types of informal communication are referred to as the grapevine.

Although the grapevine exists outside the official  network, it continuously interacts with it.


Advantages:

• Operates with much greater speed than the formal communication network.
• Appropriate for some subject matters which do not require the formal channel e.g. when management wants to sound out the feelings of employees before formalizing a rule or policy.
• Satisfies the needs of persons who like to mix up with others freely and ‘chat’.
• Can compensate for an inadequate or non-existent formal communication network.

Disadvantages.

• Disorderly and unreliable hence cannot be acted on.
• Difficult to assign responsibility for false information as it is hard to pinpoint the source.
• Negatively affect productivity as rumours can lower morale and much time is taken in “rumour mongering”.

Barriers to Communication

Communication does not always give the desired results due to certain barriers or obstacles. These are classified as follows:

• Semantic  Barriers: These arise from the linguistic capacity of the parties e.g.
• Badly expressed message – lack of clarity and precision, poorly chosen and empty words, phrases, careless omission, lack of coherence, bad organization of ideas, bad sentence structure, inadequate vocabulary, jargon, etc.
• Faculty Translation – managers often receive communications from superiors which must be translated into appropriate language suitable for lower levels of employees e.g. policy decisions etc.  If the translation is faulty or inaccurate, it is misunderstood.
• Unclarified  assumptions – uncommunicated  assumptions are common in most messages, so others have to “read between the lines”.
• Specialists language (jargon) – some groups eg. Legal, insurance or personnel develop a special, peculiar and technical language of their own.  This increases their isolation thus building a communication barrier.

Emotional/psychological barriers.
The meaning ascribed to a message depends upon the emotional or psychological status of the parties involved e.g.

• Premature Evaluation – the tendency to evaluate (judge) communications instead of being neutral during the interchange of ideas.  Such evaluation interferes with the transfer of information form the sender.
• Inattention – the pre-occupied mind of the receiver and resultant non-listening is a major chronic psychological barrier.  It is the reason why people fail to respond to notices, circulars, memos etc.
• Loss by transmission and retention – when communication passes through various levels in the organization, successive transmission of the same message decreases accuracy.  In oral communication about 30% of the message is lost.  Poor retention is also common.  Employees retain about 50% of information which superiors retain about 63%.
• Undue reliance on the written word – written word cannot substitute for face-to-face relationships.  Employees do not accept management’s views through publications unless level of trust and confidence is very high.
• Distrust of Communication – arises out of illogical decisions or frequent changes of the original communication by the communicator.  Repeated experience of this kind gradually conditions the receiver to delay action or to act unenthusiastically, hence making communication unsuccessful.
• Failure to communicate – managers may fail to transmit needed messages because of laziness, procrastination, hoarding information to embarrass, or assuming that everybody knows.

Organizational barriers.

• Organizational Policy – general organizational policy regarding communication acts as an overall guideline to all.  However if the policy is not supportive to the flow of communication in different directions, communication flow would not be smooth and adequate.
• Organizational rules regulations – These affact the flow of communication by prescribing the subject matter to be communicated, the channel of communication, restrictions on what and who to communicate, etc.  These specifications may cause delays and work against the willingness of persons to convey the message.
• Status Relationships – the superior – subordinate relationship may block particularly upward communication.  The greater the difference between hierachical positions, the greater the possibility of communication breakdown.

Organizational facilities/communication infrastructure.
Personal barriers.

Barriers in superior: e.g. 

• Attitude of superiors – this affects the flow of messages in different directions.  Unfavourable attitude means messages would not flow properly to and from superiors/subordinates.
• Fear of challenge to authority – superiors, when ambitious and want to maintain their power and authority may withhold information coming down the line or going up if it will expose their weaknesses.
• Insistence on proper channel – in exercise their authority superiors insist on communication passing through them. However, if by passed they may block other communication as they see this as thwarting of their authority.
• Lack of confidence in subordinates – generally, superiors perceive their subordinates as less competent and incapable, hence their suggestions, advice etc are ignored.  This works against upward communication.
• Ignoring communication – sometimes superiors consciously and deliberately ignore communication from their subordinates to maintain their importance.  This works against the willingness of subordinates to communicate.
• Lack of time – superiors feel whether correct or otherwise that their workload is heavy and have little time to talk to subordinates.
• Lack of awareness – superiors sometimes lack awareness about the significance and usefulness of communication in different directions in general, hence blocking the flow of communication.

Barriers in Subordinates: e.g.

• Unwillingness to communicate – subordinates may feel that the information may have adverse effect on their future relations with the superior, or there is no mutual trust and confidence with superior etc. He would not be willing to communicate.

McClelland's Theory of Needs

In his acquired-needs theory, David McClelland proposed that an individual's specific needs are acquired over time and are shaped by one's life experiences. Most of these needs can be classed as either achievement, affiliation, or power. A person's motivation and effectiveness in certain job functions are influenced by these three needs. McClelland's theory sometimes is referred to as the three need theory or as the learned needs theory.

Achievement
People with a high need for achievement (nAch) seek to excel and thus tend to avoid both low-risk and high-risk situations. Achievers avoid low-risk situations because the easily attained success is not a genuine achievement. In high-risk projects, achievers see the outcome as one of chance rather than one's own effort. High nAch individuals prefer work that has a moderate probability of success, ideally a 50% chance. Achievers need regular feedback in order to monitor the progress of their acheivements. They prefer either to work alone or with other high achievers.

Affiliation
Those with a high need for affiliation (nAff) need harmonious relationships with other people and need to feel accepted by other people. They tend to conform to the norms of their work group. High nAff individuals prefer work that provides significant personal interaction. They perform well in customer service and client interaction situations.

Power
A person's need for power (nPow) can be one of two types - personal and institutional. Those who need personal power want to direct others, and this need often is perceived as undesirable. Persons who need institutional power (also known as social power) want to organize the efforts of others to further the goals of the organization. Managers with a high need for institutional power tend to be more effective than those with a high need for personal power.

Thematic Apperception Test
McClelland used the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) as a tool to measure the individual needs of different people. The TAT is a test of imagination that presents the subject with a series of ambiguous pictures, and the subject is asked to develop a spontaneous story for each picture. The assumption is that the subject will project his or her own needs into the story.

Psychologists have developed fairly reliable scoring techniques for the Thematic Apperception Test. The test determines the individual's score for each of the needs of achievement, affiliation, and power. This score can be used to suggest the types of jobs for which the person might be well suited.

Implications for Management
People with different needs are motivated differently.

• High need for achievement - High achievers should be given challenging projects with reachable goals. They should be provided frequent feedback. While money is not an important motivator, it is an effective form of feedback.
• High need for affiliation - Employees with a high affiliation need perform best in a cooperative environment.
• High need for power - Management should provide power seekers the opportunity to manage others.

Note that McClelland's theory allows for the shaping of a person's needs; training programs can be used to modify one's need profile.

ERG Theory

ERG Theory
To address some of the limitations of Maslow's hierarchy as a theory of motivation, Clayton Alderfer proposed the ERG theory, which like Maslow's theory, describes needs as a hierarchy. The letters ERG stand for three levels of needs: Existence, Relatedness, and Growth. The ERG theory is based on the work of Maslow, so it has much in common with it but also differs in some important aspects.

Similarities to Maslow's Hierarchy
Studies had shown that the middle levels of Maslow's hierarchy have some overlap; Alderfer addressed this issue by reducing the number of levels to three. The ERG needs can be mapped to those of Maslow's theory as follows:

Motivation

What is Motivation?
Motivation is the word derived from the word ’motive’ which means needs, desires, wants or drives within the individuals. It is the process of stimulating people to actions to accomplish the goals. In the work goal context the psychological factors stimulating the people’s behaviour can be -
desire for money success recognition job-satisfaction team work, etc
One of the most important functions of management is to create willingness amongst the employees to perform in the best of their abilities. Therefore the role of a leader is to arouse interest in performance of employees in their jobs. The process of motivation consists of three stages:-
A felt need or drive A stimulus in which needs have to be aroused When needs are satisfied, the satisfaction or accomplishment of goals.
Therefore, we can say that motivation is a psychological phenomenon which means needs and wants of the individuals have to be tackled by framing an incentive plan.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
If motivation is driven by the existence of unsatisfied needs, then it is worthwhile for a manager to understand which needs are the more important for individual employees. In this regard, Abraham Maslow developed a model in which basic, low-level needs such as physiological requirements and safety must be satisfied before higher-level needs such as self-fulfillment are pursued. In this hierarchical model, when a need is mostly satisfied it no longer motivates and the next higher need takes its place. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is shown in the following diagram:

The Directing Function

The Directing Function
Introduction
The difference between successful and unsuccessful organizations is the presence or absence of dynamic and effective leadership. The function of management is being viewed as not simply a set of practices and policies, but a crucial component in the total organization strategy.  To play its role of enabling the organization gain and sustain competitive advantage, all managers have to play a leadership role especially in the present business environment which is getting increasingly flexible, innovative and dynamic. Leadership is a concept that has generated much interest among academics and practicing managers, politicians and sociologists among others.  In this lecture we shall examine some key aspects of leadership. To do so the following set of objectives will be the main focus

Functions of Controlling

Functions of Controlling

It implies measurement of accomplishment against the standards and correction of deviation if any to ensure achievement of organizational goals. The purpose of controlling is to ensure that everything occurs in conformities with the standards. An efficient system of control helps to predict deviations before they actually occur. According to Theo Haimann, “Controlling is the process of checking whether or not proper progress is being made towards the objectives and goals and acting if necessary, to correct any deviation”. According to Koontz & O’Donell “Controlling is the measurement & correction of performance activities of subordinates in order to make sure that the enterprise objectives and plans desired to obtain them as being accomplished”.

The managerial function controlling always maximise the use of scarce resources to achieve the purposeful behaviour of employees in an organisation. In planning stage, it is decided that how the resources would be utilised but where as in the controlling stage it is observed that whether the resources are being utilised in the same way as planned or not. Thus, control completes the whole sequence of management process.

Controlling consists of verifying whether everything occurs in confirmities with the plans adopted, instructions issued and principles established. Controlling ensures that there is effective and efficient utilization of organizational resources so as to achieve the planned goals. Controlling measures the deviation of actual performance from the standard performance, discovers the causes of such deviations and helps in taking corrective actions According to Brech, “Controlling is a systematic exercise which is called as a process of checking actual performance against the standards or plans with a view to ensure adequate progress and also recording such experience as is gained as a contribution to possible future needs.” According to Donnell, “Just as a navigator continually takes reading to ensure whether he is relative to a planned action, so should a business manager continually take reading to assure himself that his enterprise is on right course.”

Therefore controlling has following steps:

Establishment of standard performance. Measurement of actual performance. Comparison of actual performance with the standards and finding out deviation if any. Corrective action.

Features of Controlling Function Following are the characteristics of controlling function of management.

Controlling is an end function- A function which comes once the performances are made in confirmities with plans. Controlling is a pervasive function- which means it is performed by managers at all levels and in all type of concerns. Controlling is forward looking- because effective control is not possible without past being controlled. Controlling always look to future so that follow-up can be made whenever required. Controlling is a dynamic process- since controlling requires taking reviewal methods, changes have to be made wherever possible. Controlling is related with planning- Planning and Controlling are two inseperable functions of management. Without planning, controlling is a meaningless exercise and without controlling, planning is useless. Planning presupposescontrolling and controlling succeeds planning.

Roles of Manager

Henry Mintzberg identified ten different roles, separated into three categories. The categories he defined are as follows

Interpersonal Roles - The ones that, like the name suggests, involve people and other ceremonial duties. It can be further classified as follows Leader – Responsible for staffing, training, and associated duties. Figurehead – The symbolic head of the organization. Liaison – Maintains the communication between all contacts and informers that compose the organizational network.  Informational Roles - Related to collecting, receiving, and disseminating information. Monitor – Personally seek and receive information, to be able to understand the organization. Disseminator – Transmits all import information received from outsiders to the members of the organization. Spokesperson – On the contrary to the above role, here the manager transmits the organization’s plans, policies and actions to outsiders.  Decisional Roles - Roles that revolve around making choices. Entrepreneur – Seeks opportunities. Basically they search for change, respond to it, and exploit it. Negotiator – Represents the organization at major negotiations. Resource Allocator – Makes or approves all significant decisions related to the allocation of resources. Disturbance Handler – Responsible for corrective action when the organization faces disturbances.

A manager's job is never static, and is always in movement. At any given time, a manager may be carrying out some combination of these roles to varying degrees, from none of their time to 100 percent of their time. Over their working life, a person may hold different management positions that call upon different roles.

Top level managers consists of the board of directors, president, vice-president, CEOs and others. They are responsible for controlling and overseeing the entire organization. They develop goals, strategic plans, company policies and make decisions on the direction of the business. In addition, top-level managers play a significant role in the mobilization of outside resources and are accountable to shareholders and the general public.

Middle level managers consist of general managers, branch managers and department managers. They are accountable to the top management for the functions of their departments. They devote more time to organizational and directional concerns. Their roles can be emphasized as executing organizational plans in conformance with the company's policies and objectives. This includes being able to define and discuss information and top management policies with lower management and, most importantly, provide lower level managers with guidance and inspiration for high performance.

First level managers consist of supervisors, section leads, foremen, and the like. They focus on controlling and directing. They usually have the responsibility of assigning employees tasks, guiding and supervising employees on day-to-day activities, ensuring quality and quantity production, making recommendations, and solving employee problems.

Control Process

The basic control process involves mainly these steps:

The Establishment of Standards: Because plans are the yardsticks against which controls must be revised, it follows logically that the first step in the control process would be to accomplish plans. Plans can be considered as the criterion or the standards against which we compare the actual performance in order to figure out the deviations. Examples for the standards Profitability standards: In general, these standards indicate how much the company would like to make as profit over a given time period- that is, its return on investment. Market position standards: These standards indicate the share of total sales in a particular market that the company would like to have relative to its competitors. Productivity standards: How much that various segments of the organization should produce is the focus of these standards. Product leadership standards: These indicate what must be done to attain such a position. Employee attitude standards: These standards indicate what types of attitudes the company managers should strive to indicate in the company’s employees. Social responsibility standards: Such as making contribution to the society. Standards reflecting the relative balance between short and long range goals. Measurement of Performance: The measurement of performance against standards should be on a forward looking basis so that deviations may be detected in advance by appropriate actions. The degree of difficulty in measuring various types of organizational performance, of course, is determined primarily by the activity being measured. For example, it is far more difficult to measure the performance of highway maintenance worker than to measure the performance of a student enrolled in a college level management course. Comparing Measured Performance to Stated Standards: When managers have taken a measure of organizational performance, their next step in controlling is to compare this measure against some standard. A standard is the level of activity established to serve as a model for evaluating organizational performance. The performance evaluated can be for the organization as a whole or for some individuals working within the organization. In essence, standards are the yardsticks that determine whether organizational performance is adequate or inadequate. Taking Corrective Actions: After actual performance has been measured compared with established performance standards, the next step in the controlling process is to take corrective action, if necessary. Corrective action is managerial activity aimed at bringing organizational performance up to the level of performance standards. In other words, corrective action focuses on correcting organizational mistakes that hinder organizational performance. Before taking any corrective action, however, managers should make sure that the standards they are using were properly established and that their measurements of organizational performance are valid and reliable. At first glance, it seems a fairly simple proposition that managers should take corrective action to eliminate problems - the factors within an organization that are barriers to organizational goal attainment. In practice, however, it is often difficult to pinpoint the problem causing some undesirable organizational effect.

Barriers for Controlling

There are many barriers, among the most important of them: Control activities can create an undesirable overemphasis on short-term production as opposed to long- term production. Control activities can increase employees' frustration with their jobs and thereby reduce morale. This reaction tends to occur primarily where management exerts too much control. Control activities can encourage the falsification of reports. Control activities can cause the perspectives of organization members to be too narrow for the good of the organization. control process rather than the means by which corrective action is taken.

Requirements For Effective Control

The requirements for effective control are:

Control should be tailored to plans and positions. This means that, all control techniques and systems should reflect the plans they are designed to follow. This is because every plan and every kind and phase of an operation has its unique characteristics. Control must be tailored to individual managers and their responsibilities. This means that controls must be tailored to the personality of individual managers. This because control systems and information are intended to help individual managers carry out their function of control. If they are not of a type that a manager can or will understand, they will not be useful. Control should point up exceptions as critical points. This is because by concentration on exceptions from planned performance, controls based on the time honored exception principle allow managers to detect those places where their attention is required and should be given. However, it is not enough to look at exceptions, because some deviations from standards have little meaning and others have a great deal of significance. Control should be objective. This is because when controls are subjective, a manager’s personality may influence judgments of performance inaccuracy. Objective standards can be quantitative such as costs or man hours per unit or date of job completion. They can also be qualitative in the case of training programs that have specific characteristics or are designed to accomplish a specific kind of upgrading of the quality of personnel. Control should be flexible. This means that controls should remain workable in the case of changed plans, unforeseen circumstances, or outsight failures.Much flexibility in control can be provided by having alternative plans for various probable situations. Control should be economical. This means that control must worth their cost. Although this requirement is simple, its practice is often complex. This is because a manager may find it difficult to know what a particular system is worth, or to know what it costs. Control should lead to corrective actions. This is because a control system will be of little benefit if it does not lead to corrective action, control is justified only if the indicated or experienced deviations from plans are corrected through appropriate planning, organizing, directing, and leading.

Short Question and Answers

Short Question and Answers

1 Define Management? It is a process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals working together in groups efficiently accomplish selected aims. 2 Name the various managerial functions? Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Leading, Controlling. 3 What are the different managerial skills.? Technical skills,Human skills, conceptual skills, Design skills. 4 Define productivity? Productivity is defined as an output to input ratio within a time period with consideration for quality.

Essentials of Directing

Essentials of Directing

Directing is said to be a process in which the managers instruct, guide and oversee the performance of the workers to achieve predetermined goals. Directing is said to be the heart of management process. Planning, organizing, staffing have got no importance if direction function does not take place. Directing initiates action and it is from here actual work starts. Direction is said to be consisting of human factors. In simple words, it can be described as providing guidance to workers is doing work. In field of management, direction is said to be all those activities which are designed to encourage the subordinates to work effectively and efficiently. According to Human, “Directing consists of process or technique by which instruction can be issued and operations can be carried out as originally planned” Therefore, Directing is the function of guiding, inspiring, overseeing and instructing people towards accomplishment of organizational goals. Directing means giving instructions, guiding, counselling, motivating and leading the staff in an organisation in doing work to achieve Organisational goals. Directing is a key managerial function to be performed by the manager along with planning, organising, staffing and controlling. From top executive to supervisor performs the function of directing and it takes place accordingly wherever superior – subordinate relations exist. Directing is a continuous process initiated at top level and flows to the bottom through organisational hierarchy.

Decision Making Model

How to make good decisions If you want to lead effectively, you need to make good decisions. If you can learn to do this in a timely and well- considered way, then you can lead your term to spectacular and well deserved success. However, if you dither or make poor decisions, your team risks failure and your time as a leader will probably be brutally short. The techniques in this section help you to make the best decisions possible with the information you have available. They help you map out the likely consequences of decisions, work out the importance of individual factors, and choose the best courses of action. The section starts with some simple techniques that help you to make decisions where many factors are claiming your attention. It then moves on the explain more powerful techniques, such as use of decision trees, 6 thinking hats and cost/ benefit analysis, which are routinely used in commercial decision making.

Decision making The techniques in the section help you to make the best decisions possible with the available information. With these tools you will be able to map out the likely consequences of decisions, work out the importance of individual factors, and choose the best course of action to take. Selecting the most important change to make Evaluating the relative importance of different options Selecting between good options Choosing between options by projecting likely outcomes Weighing the pros and cons of decision Analyzing the pressures for and against change Looking at a decision from all points of view Seeing whether a change is worth making

Organizing Process

Delegation and decentralization Definitions According to Me Farland “delegation is the primary formal mechanism by which the net work authority relationship is established”. According to Hodge and Johnson “a process whereby a superior divides his total work assignment between himself and subordinate manager or operative personal in order to achieve other operative and management specialization". According to Terry “conferring authority from the executive or organizational unit to another in order to accomplish particular assignment”.

Elements of delegation Assignment of the duties and responsibilities - this work is being done only at the time when a superior has no time to accomplish all the work. The superior automatically assign the work to the subordinates. Delegation of authority - if the work is assigned to any subordinate, there will be a need for to accomplish it. Accountability - accountability means that the subordinate is answerable to his immediate superior. If the subordinate has not accomplished the work then the superior is answerable to the management.

Principles of delegation Delegation to go by results expected - the nature of this duty has equal rank with the extent of delegation of authority. The superior has to know what he expect from the subordinate before delegation of authority. Non delegation of responsibility - a superior can delegate authority but not his responsibility. The superior has to be in touch with the subordinate to know the duties are performed and the authority is exercised properly the ultimate responsibility for the performance of duties remains with the superior. Unity of command - the principle of unity of command insists that a subordinate should be assigned duties only by one superior and he is accountable to the concerned one.

Definition of limitation of authority - A person knows well that an authority alone can delegate the authority properly. There should be in written manuals which help the person to understand the authority in right direction.

Planning

What is Planning Planning is decidingvin advance what is to be done. It involves the selection of objectives, policies and programmes from among alternatives. What should a plan be? A plan should be a realistic view of the expectations. Depending upon the activites, a plan can be long range, intermediate range or short range. It is the framework within which it must operate. For management seeking external support, the plan is the most important document and key to growth. Preparation of a comprehensive plan will not gurantee success, but lack of a sound plan will almost certainly ensure failure. Purpose of Plan Just as no two organizations are alike, so also their plans. It is therefore important to prepare a plan keeping in view the necessities of the enterprise. A plan is an important aspect of business. It serves the following three critical functions: Helps management to clarify, focus, and research their businesses or project's development and prospects. Provides a considered and logical framework within which a business can develop and pursue business strategies over the next three to five years. Offers a benchmark against which actual performance can be measured and reviewed. Importance of the Planning Process A plain can play a vital role in helping to avoid mistakes or recognize hidden oppurtunities. Preparing a satisfactory plan of the organization is essential. The planning process enables management to understand more clearly what they want to achieve, and how and when they can do it. A well-prepared business plan demonstrates that the managers know the business and that they have thought through its development in terms of products, management, finances, and most importantly, markets and competition. Planning helps in forecasting the future, makes the future visible to some extent. It bridges between where we are and where we want to go. Planning is looking ahead.

Management Theory

MANAGEMENT THEORY Introduction
Classical Approach To Management
The history and theory of management are important to managers for various reasons:
They help managers understand current developments and avoid mistakes of the past They foster an understanding and appreciation of current situations and developments and facilitates the prediction of future conditions They help managers organize information and approach problems systematically. Without knowledge of theory, managers would be using guess work, hunches, intuition and hopes which may not be useful in the present complex and dynamic organization.
The practice of management can be traced to the beginning of man.  Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Chinese civilizations all have records indicating the importance of management. (The writings of Sun Tzu on the ‘Art of War’, written 2500 years ago are a lesson on strategic management) In Greece, Socrates the famous philosopher observed that “the management of private affairs such as households is not different from the conduct of public affairs except in magnitude”  The biblical Moses used the Principle of delegation and hierarchy of command to manage the Israelites during the exodus. (Exodus 18: 1-27). Joshua used the management techniques to recruit soldiers for war. The Roman Catholic Church over the centuries has effectively used the principles of division of labor and hierarchy of authority. The Roman empire colonized many parts of the world for many centuries by effectively using basic management ideas such as scalar principle and delegation of authority.  Niccolo Machiavelli in ‘The Prince’ gives relevant ideas on how to develop and use management skills.  He suggests to ‘The Prince’ ideas on – consent of the majority, inspiration of people to greater achievement, offer of rewards and incentives and taking advantage of all opportunities. The above early influences on management, however, do not give much insight into the principles of management as they are not organized and the relationships among various variables are not explained.  The knowledge is based on trial and error and experience rather than organized scientific knowledge. It was only in the late 19th century that large business organizations requiring systematic administration started to emerge.  We shall focus on two early schools of management.
Classical management theory Human  relations neo-classical theory

Introduction to Management

Using Ampersand Sign in Update Statement

update <table_name> set field_name = 'ABC' || chr(38) || 'DEF' where <where clause>


38 is the ASCII code for ampersand (&), and in this form it will be interpreted as a string, nothing else. I tried it and it worked.

PHP Connectivity with MS SQL Server (mssql) commands

<?php
$myServer = "server name";
$myUser = "user name";
$myPass = "password";
$myDB = "database name"; 

//connection to the database
$dbhandle = mssql_connect($myServer, $myUser, $myPass)
  or die("Couldn't connect to SQL Server on $myServer"); 

//select a database to work with
$selected = mssql_select_db($myDB, $dbhandle)
  or die("Couldn't open database $myDB"); 

//declare the SQL statement that will query the database
$query = "SELECT * from table-name";


//execute the SQL query and return records
$result = mssql_query($query);

$numRows = mssql_num_rows($result); 
echo "<h1>" . $numRows . " Row" . ($numRows == 1 ? "" : "s") . " Returned </h1>"; 

//display the results 
echo "<li>" . $row["ItemId"] . $row["ItemName"] . $row["SupplierId"] . "</li>";

}

//close the connection
mssql_close($dbhandle);
?>