Management Basics: A Short Prezi Video
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https://prezi.com/v/scinjvctqafk/management-basics/?preview=1
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Management Training of DC
Dear MGT 310 Leadership and Organization Students:
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This Prezi video takes you through Management Basics using Professor Yoest’s book, The Memo. Everyone that works for a company or business can be divided into two groups; either an individual contributor or the manager. The individual contributor is the one that performs the tasks and does what needs to be done. Managers are the ones that get work done through other people. Managers get things done through the active support of others. The thing that managers get paid to do is to make decisions. In management, there are four parts: plan, organize, lead, and control. The manager deals with planning in the sense that they make the plan and decides how they will operate. Organizing helps the manager outline and puts things into work. Leading deals with management in the sense of leadership. Employees want their managers to be leaders and show they have leadership. Control ties into management in the sense of measuring how well the plan worked. Control measures what was done compared to the original plan. According to Professor Yoest, management can be described in one word: relationships. Management deals with people and working with them as well as with things. As a manager, you have many points of accountability.
“The Memo,” by Professor Yoest, is based on a military doctrine of a completed staff work that was developed during the Second World War. This video was a summary that teaches us the difference between managers and staff and the four parts of management, which are plan, organized, leading, and control. Firstly, we learn that there is one thing that makes managers and staff different and that is managers get paid to make decisions and get work done through people. The individual contributors are the staffers or people that actually do the work (more hands on). Whereas, managers plan, organize, lead, and control in order to get things done. The planning is where the managers make decisions as to what direction the company or the group is heading towards. The organization is where the manager puts the amount of time it will take to actually do the job and who will do it. The third is leadership and that is where a manager exhibits authority in yer organization, where managers are able to persuade, motivate, and encourage staffers in order to get things done. Lastly, control is a simple evaluation of what the team got done compared to what was planned. By watching this effective video, we learn that there are many components to being a successful and effective leader. A manager’s role consist of relationships, accountability, and being functional in the world place in order to be lasting contributor.
One of the most common mistakes a businessperson can make is confusing the responsibilities of the individual contributor and the manager. The individual contributor is the one who does “work” in the conventional sense—he or she completes tasks and produces deliverables. The manager does NOT do work in this conventional sense. Instead, his job is really to facilitate individual contributions into the most positive and efficient way he can. This places the manager in the role of decision-maker first—he uses his knowledge to advise employee tasks rather than carry them out. If individual contributors bring him completed staff work, then he can use his time organizing and acting on that work rather than doing it himself.
This is tough, especially for managers who are naturally caring—one’s instinct is to get really granular with staff members. But this only hurts the manager and staff alike, robbing the manager of time and the contributor of learning experiences. Ultimately, the manager must balance this desire to be supportive with the necessity of being an evaluator. The leader must inspire, lead, and care for the human person of each worker while also bringing out their best business results.
Through the Prezi video Professor Yoest breaks down the two main roles within a work place; the manager and the contributor. The individual contributors are the employees or staff that work as a team under the manager, they are people who get the work done. Whereas the managers are the leaders, who get their work done through other people, they are the leaders. Managers are in charge of leading the contributors in a planned, organized, and efficient way. The key to a manager being able to get work done through others is through enthusiastic support to show their employees they have support and confidence in them. Their main job is to make decisions that are best for the company as well as for the staff. In order to execute their job correctly they follow a four step process. First wit creating a plan/direction they want to take it. Then they organize how the plan will be executed. Then they ensure to lead their staff through the plan. Lastly they control, they look at what was to be accomplished through the plan and then how much was actually done, in order to know what the strengths and weaknesses were and what to change in the future.
Through this video, Professor Yoest takes us through the basics of management based on his textbook The Memo. Every organization divides individuals into two parts, the individual contributors and the managers. Individual contributors are the ones getting the work done, while managers get the work done through them. Managers should not do the work themselves, or else they are not succeeding as managers. This is a very important point that Professor Yoest establishes throughout his book and his lectures, the importance of delegating. Managers only need to do one thing: decide. There are four vital components of management that Professor Yoest states, and they are to decide, plan, organize, and control. He makes a particular distinction between being efficient and effective. As individual contributors, our role is to be efficient in the work we are assigned to do. As managers, our role is to be effective, coming up with an organized plan that will generate the best results. Management focuses on the people side of the organization, people run the organization and a lot of effort must be put into managing the people effectively. Managers have a lot of responsibility under their shoulders because they have multiple points of accountability, in both managing the individual contributors and responding to those above them. Overall, this is a very valuable presentation because it touches on the essential points that make up management.
Professor Jack Yoest explains management basics through his book The Memo, based on the military doctrine of completed staff work. It is through this book that the US succeeded in winning WWII based on management doctrine. He divides employees into two groups: the individual contributors and the managers. Individual contributors are the doers of a company. They are the hands and feet of a company that do the work. Managers do not do their work in this sense but rather through other people. They plan, organize, lead, and control. Managers have the active enthusiasm of their staff. In my own experience in a management position, I was able to lead my staff of seven sailing instructors to a profitable and complete season through a perilous time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking back through this textbook, I notice areas in my career that I could have improved while there are other areas that I am proud of, evidencing my natural leadership qualities. Towards the end of the presentation I appreciated the multiple points of accountability. As a family of the youngest of four, I learned quickly how a family structure works and how it compares to a company or organization. The most important tool is communication, whether it be personal or professional.
In this Prezi video professor distinguishes two positions mentioned in his book, “The Memo”. Those positions are the manager and the contributor. The contributors are those who complete tasks and do the work that needs to be done. The manager’s job is to delegate said tasks. His or her real job is decision making. Professor Yoest splits a manager’s job into four parts: plan, organize, lead, and control. Starting with planning, the manager will take what is in front of him and make a decision on where he wants to go and how to get there. Then he or she organizes the tasks and puts his plan into action. When it comes to leadership, he or she is the person that the employees look to in order to understand the vision and what needs to be done. Finally, control come into effect when looking at what got done versus what they wanted to get done. A good manager will be able to handle all of these jobs and trust the contributors to complete the task given to them. I think that some people can take on the position of manager easily while others have to learn how to. But if the manager wants their company to run smoothly, they will need to learn how to execute the position in the best way possible.
One thing that you said in the presentation which struck me is that “management in one word is relationships,” In order for there to be effective and efficient work, there must be a working relationship between individual contributors and managers or else business will be neither effective or efficient. A large aspect of relationships between individual contributors and managers is based upon the managers ability to see workers as human capital and not as machines. The theme of the movie Modern Times by Charlie Chaplain is centered around the main character being sucked into the production line and being turned into a machine and his struggle with the savage times of the industrial revolution. In the scene described, Charlie is berated by his manager for not meeting the efficiency required for the production line, even when he tries to find a few minutes to catch his breath in the bathroom, he is caught by the manager again and told to return to the production line. Managers have a great deal of responsibility in that they are required to plan, organize, lead, and control while at the same time maintaining the dignity of their workers, the strive for effective work often drives managers to treat humans like machines or to simply replace them with machines.
This Prezi video reviews two types of people within the work force, the managers and the individual contributor. This is based on the textbook The Memo written by Professor Yoest. It then goes over what the responsibilities are for each person in the company. If the person is an individual contributor their responsible for actually getting the work done and meeting the requirements that are set by the company and the managers of the individual contributors. This is starkly different to the manager who has other responsibilities. These managers are hired to decide rather than get things done. Decisions can range from the amount of product completed in a set amount of time to what materials they are going to use. These managers are also responsible for encouraging the individual contributors to perform at their best. Managers should rely on the people under them and trust that they are able to get the job done rather than finding was to do it themselves or to hover over the workers as they do it. Therefore if a manager is preforming an individual contributor’s job then the manager is not doing their job. This then results in an ineffective workplace and will eventually result in a lower productivity rate as well as a less motivated individual contributor force. This shows the importance of each person doing their job and not taking over other people’s jobs.
After watching the prezi presentation, I learned more about Management Basics described throughout Professor Yoest’s textbook, the Memo. There are two positions described throughout this presentation and that is the manager and the contributor. The managers delegate certain tasks to the employees that are capable of performing the job. Therefore, the managers are capable of working through their employees and getting multiple tasks done at once. The contributors complete the tasks assigned to them by the managers. Managers are the people that actively support and “hype up” the contributors to meet the necessary monthly goals in order for the organization to grow. From here, the presentation offered four main parts to a leadership process: managers decide what the plan is, managers organize the business in order to maximize their organizational strengths and minimize their weaknesses, managers lead their team and learn to persuade their actions and productivity, and lastly, control which is the measurement to see how much we actually succeeded to get done towards the goal. If these goals do not all lead to their full potential, then the leadership power is not at the prime level it could be at. Each one of these steps offers more insight on being a great leader.
The following presentations goes in-depth of “The Memo” and management basics written by Professor Yoest. Before diving into the detailed content, there is one basic theme that is required to be understood. This is that there are two types of workers in an organization, an individual contributor and the manager. With these titles, come different responsibilities which can be often misinterpreted. The individual performs tasks required and does the work first-hand. The manager, on the contrary, get work done through other people and the active support of others. Although managers do perform tasks themselves, they are in charge of making decisions and plan ahead, with the vision of the company in mind. The manager must possess organization, in order to assess the completed tasks of the individual and align this work to the advancement of the company. The manager must also have leadership, so the manager may persuade, lead, and encourage the organization for efficiency. Finally, a manager must have control. This control comes in the form of a plan, and to be able to react to what was accomplished, compare this to what was planned, and adjust accordingly. From this video, it becomes clear the distinction of a contributing individual, and a manager. This goes hand in hand to the ideal leader, the intelligent yet “lazy”. A manager must be the captain of the ship overseeing activity, not the hardest worker on the ship’s deck.
In Management Basics, Professor Yoest efficiently explains the difference between a manager and an individual contributor. An individual contributor completes his work and the manager gets his work done through other people. Managers need to be effective while individual contributors need to be efficient. While individual contributors are necessary components of a business, becoming a manager becomes more complicated because managers have multiple points of accountability. Managers have four goals: to plan, organize, lead, and control. In planning, managers decide what needs to be done. Managers organize when they decide how, when, and who gets the job done. Leading is a subcomponent of management and the best managers are leaders by enthusiastically supporting their staff. Managers control by measuring the output against the plan and making adjustments when necessary. Management simplified to one word is relationships. Management is a people process with 75% of the work being communication. As individual contributors, having respect for and being able to communicate well with our managers is crucial to a successful and enjoyable work environment.
In Professor Yoest’s video on management basics, there are several great points regarding management and how it operates. This first point he mentions is how there are individual Contributors and managers. The individual contributors are the ones that do the work. The managers are the people who get work done through other people, the individual contributors. As a manager, you plan, organize, lead, and control. The boss decides what to do – they plan what to do – which is their work. They organize by seeing who can perform what job efficiency and effectively, by maximizing strengths and minimizing weaknesses. They lead by having authority and to influence and encourage the individual contributors. Managers control by measuring how much we have completed to what we should have completed. Motivation should be a large characteristic of a manager, as it helps the individual contributors get the work done within a team. To get work done, individual contributors should be guided by managers who are enthusiastic. Thinking about this, if you are told to do something and someone makes it sound exciting and is enthusiastic, but the other person explains it as just alright and apathetic, you will want to do the job of the person who was enthusiastic. Managers and individual contributors have a close relationship and benefit from one another in many ways.
In this video, Professor Yoest identifies the difference between an individual contributor and a manager, as well as explaining why understanding those differences can be so significant in the success of a business. As mentioned in the video, the individual contributors are the “hands on people that get the work done”, and while at first glance one might think that managers are not as important as IC’s since managers don’t play a direct part in creating the product. However, Prof. Yoest makes certain the fact that managers still play a large role in a business. Because of this, the professor points out that managers need be aware and admit that the work is achieved through others, but it is their job to motivate and guide the individual contributors. Based on how the professor described the manager’s role in a business, I began to compare them to a coach in any sport. Both the manager’s and the coach’s goal is to succeed, and their way of doing so is by maximizing the efforts of their team. A coach’s path to victory would usually consist of a solid playbook, an ability to motivate their players effectively and maximize each player’s potential, similarly to a manager, who should try to make the most out of everyone in their team through the methods discussed in the videos.
There was something which particularly struck me within this video. When Professor Yoest made the point of “an enthusiastic team as a necessity to success.” This phrase could easily be overlooked within the entire context of the video – but I want to do it some justice. The ability for a manager to assemble a team of enthusiastic individual contributors is not just vitally important to the day-to-day operations…it is the heart and soul of what will drive an organization to be successful. In my own experience, teams which are enthusiastic about their work not only drive productivity, but they passively create interpersonal relationships which make lasting impacts. Enthusiastic individual contributors cherish the ability to work amongst a team of people who genuinely care about what they are doing. When this is achieved, they move another step forward by sharing their positive experiences among within their micro communities. Take a look at this from 30,000 feet, and you will see a positive business network forming – both of customers and employees. I would consider this a managerial dream. However, it can only be achieved by a manager who understands the gravity which a team of enthusiastic individual contributors brings to the workplace.
The Prezi video posted by Professor Yoest talks about the book he wrote called “The Memo”. This book is a military doctrine about a staff working during the war. Throughout the video Professor Yoest discusses two groups associated in a business setting. The book talks about individual contributors and managers. These two groups take on different jobs and roles in the company. The managers are in charge of the team as a whole, they make the big decisions and are in charge of the company as a whole. The individual contributors are the employees in charge of getting the tasks set for them completed. The individual contributors have smaller jobs to contribute to the company, they are only in charge of themselves and the work that they do. The work and the role that the managers plays has to do with encouraging, strategizing and making decisions for the company as a whole. There is a very clear distinction between the two roles of manager and individual contributor. The individual contributor is responsible for themselves and the work that they complete for the company, the individual contributor completes the task set and decided on by the manager. Leadership is needed from the manager in order to exhibit the skills, organization and decisiveness that a manager must have. The manager is always in control and must be in control of any situation. In order to do this they must exhibit leadership, decisiveness, accountability and emotional intelligence with relationships amongst employees.
The Prezi Video above details Management Basics, a small portion of Professor Yoest experience that has crafted and curated over his years within his book, “The Memo.” Through his detailing of the management basics Professor describes that a company requires two different groups, the individual contributor and the manager. Both are two integral cogs in the machine we call business however they are graded on two entirely different methods of productivity; efficiency and effectiveness respectively. The individual contributor needs to be, in Yoest’s words, “faster, better, cheaper” whereas the manager needs to be effective in always having consistent and greater results. These two different goals in production helps separate and organize responsibilities in the work place but there is one key difference that separates the two, the need for relationships. Individual contributor may gain help from others however it is not a requirement, managers however need to control, organize, lead and plan to remain successful thus requiring well established and functioning relationships with others. Management, unlike most other kinds of work, is the art of interaction to remain productive thus without communication and accountability, management cannot be done by anyone.
“This class covers management and the management functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. It focuses on the application of management principles to realistic situations managers encounter as they attempt to achieve organizational objectives.” Professor Yoest does this by categorizing business employees into two categories, managers and contributors. The main job of the manager simply being to organize, lead, plan and make decisions. In order to do this effectively a manager must have the skills in order engage the contributors in their system. They must do this by establishing a certain level of leadership along with creating real relationships between themselves and the contributors. Establishing this sort of bond allows for a smooth workplace and will ultimately cause for better business!
This is the second time I watch this video, I remember watching it on the first week of school, without even knowing our Professor Yoest in person, and I was very impressed by The Memo. As we have seen in classes, in the business we have two kinds of people: the manager and the individual contributor. The manager needs to lead, motivate, and get work done through other people, supporting the staff. The individual contributor gets things done. I agree with the idea that managers get paid for cutting the things we have to do from the things we don´t have to do. Finally, as Professor Yoest mentioned, we have 4 parts of management. The first one is the plan, and managers decide on the plan. The second one is organizing, managers maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses. The third part is lead, where managers need to be able to persuade individual contributors. The last one is controlling, and the managers have the responsibility of checking that the outputs match the organization’s goals, being effective. This is another important concept, leaders and managers are seeking for effectiveness, while the individual contributors look for efficiency, and efficiency means doing things fast, but effectiveness looks for doing things right.
After watching this video I have fully grasped many new concepts that we have discussed both in class and throughout group discussions. This video discusses the relationship between the manager and the individual contributor while highlighting their roles in the bigger picture. Beginning with the manager, we learn that their role revolves around planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. With this role of management, comes a greater level of responsibility and accountability. This individual who leads a team or group in a business must demonstrate strong core values in order to establish a successful and well run unit. Following the introduction to the concepts discussed when talking about management, the idea of communication came to mind. In my opinion, one of the most important aspects of leadership is communication. The leader of a team must be able to effectively communicate the course of action, roles, and tasks so that those who follow will be able to contribute to the betterment of the team and company as a whole. One of the ideas discussed in this video that caught my attention is the fact that management happens through relationships and is not mechanical. Management comes through relationships where followers are able to trust their leader through knowledge and credibility. Following this idea, I was reminded of the six shortcuts to successful persuasion which we touched on a few classes ago. As a leader, you must be able to persuade those who follow using ideas such as authority, reciprocation, and consistency. Of the six, I believe these are the most effective when discussing the role of leadership. To wrap up, a manager will have to influence those they lead to create a positive environment when team members strive to make the team successful
Through the description in “The Memo” and the summary in the video, a good description of the role of the individual contributor as opposed to the manager. The individual contributor is an important part of businesses because they are the ones doing the work. The manager doesn’t do work in the same way as the individual contributor. Instead, they do work through others by planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. One aspect that I had not explicitly considered was that this dynamic only works if managers provide active and enthusiastic support of the staff. Managers get paid to make decisions and to do this, they need to decide on measurable performances, or plan. They also need to decide which human resources go to which area of need, or to organize. To lead requires making decisions about how they show and use their authority. Lastly, a manager decides how to move forward after evaluating and measuring outputs compared to the initial plan. The big picture decisions appear in every main function and responsibility of being a manager. A good manager limits their actions to these bigger decisions and recognizes that the team does the work.
In this Prezi video, Professor Yoest takes us through the basics of management based upon his book called The Memo. He divides company workers into two sectors: the individual contributor and the manager. The individual contributors are the ones doing the work and are members of the team directly working on the products. The managers are responsible for making decisions and inspiring the individual contributors to work hard and keep morale high. The managers are mainly shown as leaders. They are best used to be making decisions and completing their work through inspiring others and making sure that all operations run smoothly. The quality of managers is key because if managers and impatient or not focused upon their work, then the entire operation will not run smoothly. Managers do not “work” directly on products as they have much more responsibilities and have to oversee more than just one particular task (most of the time). Managers also are held accountable in many different ways. The most common way in which managers are held accountable is by their own boss who is responsible for acting as their manager. To summarize, managers have a lot of responsibility and are responsible for ensuring that the business always does what is best for the business.
In this Prezi, Professor Yoest explains the distinction between the individual contributor and the manager in a business organization. The individual contributor is the person performing an action: a surgeon, trucker, writer, chef, etc. Managers do not do work in the same way as individual contributors. They “get things done through other people.” The one thing managers are specifically paid to do is to decide/make decisions. They do this through planning, organizing, controlling, and leading. One big distinction between the individual contributor and the manager is that the individual contributor is paid to be efficient, while the manager is paid to be effective. The individual must perform their task, getting from point a to point b as fast and well as possible. Managers cannot do things efficiently, because management is not mechanical. It is relational. Managers get things done through people. So, the manager cannot do things efficiently, because their efforts are relational, and must effectively lead. At the base level, it’s easy to criticize the manager. It is easy to say that they do not do any real work. However, without a manager, there would be no specific goal to achieve, no way to effectively communicate strategy, and no way to encourage a group of individual contributors towards a common goal.
Throughout the prezi I found it to be very helpful and insightful on what goes into being a manager. According to the Memo which was written by Professor Yoest there is a lot that goes into being a manager and some things you wouldn’t expect to be most important. According to Professor Yoest, being the manager isn’t just the position to give out orders and tasks; it also is the role of creating and holding onto relationships during the process within the workplace. A manager has four main parts; plan, organize, lead and control. These four parts all come down to making decisions and being the right person to lead the organization/ company. The manager doesn’t get to the success they get to without a team; however, the team is controlled and made by the manager which is why decision making is so important. If you don’t lead and make the right decisions; success will be far more difficult to obtain. Managers must have many important qualities but when it comes down to it in the end; managers need to lead, control, delegate time and observe the people who they are in charge of controlling/ guiding.
The prezi video from Professor Yoest depicts the difference between an individual contributor and a manager in a business setting. An individual contributor is very important to the company, but they are the ones who must complete work on their own in an efficient manner. Whereas, the managers need to be effective in utilizing their work and being able to lead the company. Managers are accountable for several different individual contributors and all of their work. One of the main themes of the video was how managers need to lead, organize, plan and control. Managers must plan what needs to be done, and assign various tasks to the individual contributors, and they need to be efficient in getting them done. They organize who and which departments are responsible for the various tasks. And then the managers must lead by setting a good example and encouraging these individual contributors to complete their tasks in a timely manner. Being enthusiastic and making individual contributors happy and good at what they do is a key part in being a good manager. Managers are all about making relationships and being a quality communicator. Being able to communicate a vision and a plan for all those working for you, and executing them effectively is what makes a company thrive. Good managers impact how good a company can be. They must create happy and enthusiastic relationships with their employees and be able to lead them successfully.
In Professor Yoest’s video he discusses the basics of management. The main theme is that managers get work done through other people. They have a team and know that they get work done through other people. However, they need the enthusiastic support of their staff which they have to get. Managers plan, organize, lead, and control. Their talent, from the employees, must be reviewed in order to maximize strengths and control weaknesses.
No matter what level of management or what job this idea is applicable. I have worked as a sales associate but if I am the only manager in the store I have to review the tasks at hand and divide them between those who are there to help me get them done. If I want someone to do the task fully and not cheat it, I should build a relationship with them in order to find what motivates them. If I give multiple orders and do not see them as a person or have dignity then they will be discouraged as they feel I am not seeing them fully. Human dignity must be seen in every position in order to be able to succeed and care for others.
Management being a people process is obvious, it is so obvious that it needs to be said. Being in the business of people and relationships is almost the most important measure of a successful business. If managers do not have a good relationship with their patrons and employees they as a person will not succeed as well as the business. The most influential managers make it a point to plan, organize, lead, and control. A manager meticulously planning out will allow them to stay on top of their personal and professional goals and make sure they do not stray too far from either.
If you are organized as a person people will see you as a clean, clear-cut, confident. Being someone who seems to know what they want and what they are doing will have others trust and willing to follow you. This plays into the next trait, leadership. Leading is one of the most difficult things one can do, everyone in some way shape or form thinks they can lead. This may be true, but not in the right way, these are the kind of people who make better leaders than workers. Leading is more about delegation, it is about allowing your employees to think for themselves and put them in the right mindset to get things done. Motivation is all about bringing people up, it is about being enthusiastic. Enthusiastic about what you are doing and where you are going.
This is the most important points of MGT 310, “Leadership and Organization”, the most important job of a manager is to lead their team. As Professor Yoest says, “Managers get their work done through other people” and ‘a large portion of a managers job is to persuade.” One who wants to become a manager needs to understand this. Many of the failures of managers come from managers not understanding this important concept. For example, former CEO of HP Carly Fiorina, failed to understand this concept. She believed that she could just impose her will on employees and they would follow her. She was dishonest and tried to fundamentally alter the company through mergers and changes to company culture. She abandoned the famous “HP Way.” This backfired for HP, as the employees worked against Fiorina. During her tenure, HP’s stock price fell over 50%. This is an example about how managers cannot try to change culture or just impose their will on their employees. They must work with their employees, building high trust relationships, and providing support to them, when needed. With this model, managers will be successful and their leadership will greatly benefit their organization.
I enjoyed the prezi-video presentation, due to the fact that it seemed like a summary of management basics. I find that the video did a good job in breaking down the idea of completed staff work, allowing for others who have not read The Memo, to follow and understand the concept. Also, the video did a good job of explaining the role of managers; which is to plan, organize, lead and control. I find that this was an important thing to highlight because it perfectly summarizes what their role is in a nutshell. I also liked the emphasis on the fact that management is not mechanical, but it is a “people process.” I find that this is also important because it involves relationships, both internal and external people, and how you work with others; thus using the completed staff work concept mentioned earlier in the video. This distinction of managers getting things done through people further emphasizes completed staff work because it further demonstrates the manager’s role. The video also explains the fact that managers have multiple points of accountability, which is something that I had not really thought about before. This is important because managers have their specific role when it comes to managing their staff, but they also have their own responsibilities with regards to people within the business and those outside of the business.
Professor Yoest’s book, The Memo is a management doctrine based on a military doctrine from World War II. There are two groups in an organization: individual contributors and managers. Individual contributors are the people who do the tasks that get the work done. While managers do not do the work by themselves, they lead the contributors in an organized and professional manner. Managers actively and enthusiastically support their team of contributors. It may seem like managers get paid for doing nothing, but their job is to make decisions. The manager must understand the four parts of management to decide which direction to go to. The first is leading control. The second is organization, which is where most of their time is spent. The third is to lead, a subcomponent of management. It is easy to get confused about the difference between leaders and managers, but it is important that managers are good leaders and leaders are good managers. The final component is control. By accomplishing organizational goals, managers and contributors are effective. Management consists of both a people process and relationships. In order to transition from contributor to manager, it is important to understand that we cannot bark orders and expect compliance. The job of a manager is to inspire, influence and persuade.
After watching the video I learned how in a company the manager is a key person for the success of a company. In a company people are divided in two: the individual contributors and the managers. The individuals contributors are the employees and the staffers and the managers are the ones incharge of managing. There are four parts of the management and leadership process: plan, organize, lead and control. The manager is responsible for deciding what path to take, and the individual contributors are the ones that need to organize and get stuff done. Time is also very important since managers decide how much time do staffers need to take to complete the tasks. One of the main takeaways from the video was that the main goal for managers is that they need to persuade and influence his staffers. If he is able to influence his employees, it will become easier for them to control their output. It is very important for a manager to learn how to persuade and influence his employees, because employees have to stay motivated to obtain success. And lastly, as Professor Yoest said, managers have to make decisions,plans, and leads but also they have to be able to influence and persuade his staffers.
I found two points in the ‘Management Basics’ presentation to be especially important. The first point being Professor Yoest’s comments about control. I agree that the word ‘control’ generally can have a negative connotation around it because of abuse of control. So often, people will take advantage of the control they have and instead becoming controlling. Although, control is not a bad thing. As explained in the video, it is just measuring our results against the plan we had enacted. This allows us to observe our performance and then make any improvements we see fit. When done properly, control is particularly important within a business.
The second point I really enjoyed were the comments made about the importance of relationships in management. As explained, most jobs in a business will get things done through action, but management gets things done through people. For this reason, it is so important that our leaders in these management positions can create and maintain healthy relationships with those they oversee. This will enable managers to get the most out of their employees and create an efficient and successful business. This includes things like communication, problem-solving, and just general people skills. With the understanding of the two points about control and relationships, managers would be in a much better position to succeed.
While it is the manager’s job to manage, it is the employee’s job to help the manager manage. Completed staff work states the staff does the work and the manager makes the decisions. Effective managers do four main things: plan the direction, organize how the tasks will be done, lead by persuading, motivating, and encouraging staff, and finally control the plan by evaluating the results against the original plan. A key component of effective managing is knowing what and how much to delegate to the staff. This reminds me much of the HBR article, Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey. The article describes a scenario where the employer takes on his employees’ work rather than letting the employees do the work. While a manager can follow the completed staff work doctrine and embody the four main concepts of management, if the boss does not delegate effectively, he cannot effectively manage his staff. Employees should be motivated to ask for work not necessarily delegated. As mentioned, the boss gets paid based on effectiveness, but it is the team that will be rewarded for a job well done. Those that recognize helping the manager manage will be well placed for future career benefits.
One of the main points that I found interesting about this video was the fact that “managers get things done through the enthusiastic support of their staff.” The important part of this is the word enthusiastic. If the staff is not happy to be at work they are not going to do their work that the manager needs them to do. In order to get enthusiasm from the staff the manager should ask the opinions of the staff even though the manager will be the one making the final decision for the direction of the company. If the manager maximizes strengths and weaknesses so all of the staff is happy then they will be enthusiastic and want to do the work. A manager unlike an individual worker gets paid based on their effectiveness not efficiency. An effective manager will motivate their staff and assign the right staffers to the correct jobs that fit them best. Lastly, one of the most important aspects of a manager’s job is the relationships that they have. Relationships are important because people will be there to help you out when you need it. A manager that has good relationships with their staff and superiors will be the most effective that they can be at their job.
One of the most common mistakes a businessperson can make is confusing the responsibilities of the individual contributor and the manager. The individual contributor is the one who does “work” in the conventional sense—he or she completes tasks and produces deliverables. The manager does NOT do work in this conventional sense. Instead, his job is really to facilitate individual contributions into the most positive and efficient way he can. This places the manager in the role of decision-maker first—he uses his knowledge to advise employee tasks rather than carry them out. If individual contributors bring him completed staff work, then he can use his time organizing and acting on that work rather than doing it himself.
This is tough, especially for managers who are naturally caring—one’s instinct is to get really granular with staff members. But this only hurts the manager and staff alike, robbing the manager of time and the contributor of learning experiences. Ultimately, the manager must balance this desire to be supportive with the necessity of being an evaluator. The leader must inspire, lead, and care for the human person of each worker while also bringing out their best business results.
I was reading other comments to get an idea of the video before watching it. And after watching the video I feel I can relate with many of my classmates. This video was very pleasant and informative to watch since it gave a good summary of what management is and what it means in relation to the common good and human dignity. One of the things that got my attention is the fact that Managers depend on other people. Managers get the thing done through other people. Here is where human dignity plays a big role, respecting others, and valuing them an as important part of the organization will get more things done. As it was said in the video Management is about relationships.
Now when it comes to the Manager, his or her primary job is to decide, not to do. A manager has other people to the things for him or her. After deciding, a manager needs to organize the team and lead it in the right direction, and whenever things are not going according to plan the manager is responsible to put the team back in control.
A manager should be able to lead, plan, organize, and control. In order to do this, they must be able to persuade and influence their staff. Managers should not be the one doing all the work, instead they should be the one’s making the bigger decisions. For this reason managers should be able to influence their staff to be able to help the manager complete the work effectively and be aligned to the organizations’ purpose and goals. What I appreciated and most took from this video is that management is all about people. Managers should be able to communicate effectively, control their team but not abuse power, organize a plan that the team can align with. This was an introduction to the class and since the first video until now I have gained more knowledge about management and the different approaches.
From what I can see in the Prezi-Video the manager’s main form of labor is not labor in the traditional sense where the individual works with their hands. It is the labor of attempting to relate to the laborers in order to make them want to complete the tasks that the manager has. set for them. If the laborers relate to the manager, they are more inclined to complete the work and not complain or slack off. Some of the other duties that the manager has is to make the decisions for the firm he work for as well as for the laborers he is in charge of. The decisions he or she makes affect many people, so the manager has to be decisive in what the manager wants. The way that the manager should make these decisions is by using the four main actions of the manager. One action is to plan out what needs to get done and ho they are going to do it. A second action is to organize the laborers in the best possible way to be efficient. The third actin is to lead the laborers in what they are doing by showing them what they achieve and why they need to achieve it. The fourth actin is to control what gets done when but the trick to being a good manager is to not be overbearing and trust in the laborers that you have.
You mention in the video that the role of the manager is not to do things, instead you say that is largely the job of the team. The manager is there to energize and activate the team to get the necessary work done in a timely and effective manner. You say that the boss is there largely to decide. Do you think other more menial tasks that are often associated with managers that are not decision making should be delegated? Like scheduling, expense reports, and other administrative tasks. There is a claim that officers in the military spend much of their time doing paperwork. If that’s true how should they respond, by cutting paperwork or delegating?
How can one effectively plan, lead, organize and control if much of one’s time is spent on the menial tasks. I suppose that is the importance of ‘Completed Staff Work’ but how widely implemented is this solution? It seems many managers have not implemented completed staff work and are still bogged down with other less meaningful things. I know from experience that the day to day problems that arise can bog down managers and they can end up losing long term vision or direction. How do you implement this across industries into management practice?
I though that the Prezi was very helpful and insightful. Managing is a complicated role and it involves a number of working parts in order to produce success. The Prezi serves as a good layout for those who have not gotten the chance to read The Memo. According to Professor Yoest, being a manager isn’t simply handing out tasks and orders, but it also involves being a people person. Building relationships is key for a manager and it helps him better understand and relate to his team. The four main parts to a management and leadership process are plan, organize, lead, and control. All four of these steps serve a purpose in becoming a leader/manager. Manager’s are responsible for making decisions, but also have the responsibility of leading and guiding their team through it. A manager cannot succeed on there own and need a team to be successful. In order to have a successful team, the manager must understand how much work to delegate to his teammates. Manager’s must understand that they cannot oversee everything and it is a good thing to delegate work to his staff and let them take the reigns on certain things. While a manager must delegate, make decisions, and lead, arguably the most important quality according to Professor Yoest, is the ability to persuade. Manager’s must possess this quality because it is necessary in motivating the team to get the job done.
Listening to this Prezi presentation, it started off by first talking about the book The Memo, then going into two distinct groups of people one being individual contributor are people who do the work or the hands-on people that get the work done. The other group is Mangers who get work done through other people, they plan organize lead, and control, while the team actually does the work. Managers get things done through other people but also with enthusiastic support from their staff. Four parts of management, to plan, which the manager decides what the plan is, the second part is to organize where the managers put in how much time along with resources needed to maximize strength minimize weakness. The third is to lead, leadership is a sub-component of management where the managers are able to persuade, influence, and encourage. The last part is control, measuring the output of what we got done to the actual plan, similar to grading. If there is a gap between the plan and what was completed then you have to figure out what resources in needed to get to the plan goal made by the manager. One thing that Professor Yoest stated that management in one word is relationships. This is very important because it is not mechanical it is a people process, where we work with each other to reach a simial goal.
I really like this video because it is like a summary of management basics. The video explains how a manager does the work through other people. In an organization manager plan, organize, lead, and control, which is how they get things done. The video explains how managers get work done through other people; in other words, a manager delegates tasks to his team. This helps me understand that building relationships is really important for a manager because it is a better way to communicate with his team. The Prezi also explained the four parts of a management plan and leading process. The first part is to plan, the manager can get recommendations from his team, but they are the ones who plan and decide how they will operate. The second part is organization. This is where the manager decides how much time is going to take for the job and who is going to do it. The third part is leading; employees want their managers to be leaders and show they have leadership. A manager should be someone who is able to persuade and encourage, in other words, to motivate the employees to work. The last part of the process is control, and this an evaluation of what is done. In this final step, the manager evaluates what his team has done compared to what was planned
The differences between individual contributors and managers are articulated well in “The Memo.” Paramount of these discrepancies, from my point of view, is the way by which individuals engage with one another. Now this is a concept which is apparent when Prof. Yoest speaks about the need for managers to deal with individual people. This aspect of leadership, whether it be in your own company, or in a management position in another’s, requires a certain type of personality and certain set of skills. This coincides with what was discussed in the YouTube video outlining the power of persuasion. The fundamental concept which divides a leader from his/her followers, or employees, is his/her ability to communicate with others in a way which motivates them and allows them to perform at their highest level. This skillset is what defines a leader, and what draws others towards them. This positive aspect of interaction between individuals (contributors and managers) leads to strong relationships, cultivates trust and promotes business success.
This video effectively described the roles and duties of the manager. To reach a goal, managers cannot do all of the work. Their employees must effectively gather information, present and persuade, and see that plans are executed. I was interested in the fact that the best managers show active support. Successful managers are ones who get work done through other people. I was glad that this video mentioned that this reliance on employees must be “active support” and that managers must still be present and supportive in the work of their employees by checking in, hearing concerns, and being a voice of encouragement. Considering that much of the work of managers is done through others, it is essential that managers are there for their employees and that they are appreciated. To be an effective leader, you must have cooperative people under you to handle the completed staff work. Having cooperative, ready to work, and enthusiastic employees makes for more productive work and efficiency. Leaders gain this enthusiasm and willingness from their managers who foster positive relationships. The creation of effective operations and goal completing does not come through some sort of formula or mechanics, but rather through treating employees with respect.
From the article presented, the very first example I would say follows along exactly to what the professor say would be Alfred P Sloan’s guide to management, not only because his methods inspire collaboration amongst managers, subordinates, and superiors, but they help build independence. However, similar to what the Professor states in the Memo, especially in regards to teams, each team has a different goal, and each manager must answer those goals as well as their own. Managers need to utilize and understand the skills and assets they have at their disposal, as well as who they have at their disposal. This means being able to divvy resources amongst tasks in order to have a well operating team, and ensure goals get completed. It sounds easy writing it down, but when it comes to the actual action, there’s always the chance that something doesn’t go right. Managers must be able to change plans on the flip of a coin, and in order to do that, one has to be able to lead, predict, and be prepared for what may occur should there be an issue to suddenly arise, regardless of the plan.
This Prezi presentation gives the audience a great summary of Professor Yoest’s book The Memo. Professor Yoest first divides everyone who works in an organization to be a manager or individual contributor. Managers do not directly do the work at the firm, they instruct the individual contributors on how to do the work. Managers are paid to do the following things: decide, plan, organize, lead, and control. Deciding is to simply make all of the decisions in the organization. Planning is to make sure the organization is going in the right direction, this point shows how important it is for the manager to have vision. Organization is to make sure the firm’s strengths are maximized and the weaknesses are minimized, this shows how important it is for a manager to have a broad view of the firm. Leadership is another important attribute for a manager to have, they must be good leaders so they can command enthusiastic support from the individual contributors. Control is when the manager measures the success of the company and makes sure it meets the original plan. Another important distinction that Professor Yoest made about managers and individual contributors is managers need to be effective and individual contributors need to be efficient. Managers main goal is to maintain relationships in the firm and they do that by being an effective leader. When a manager is effective they will have no problem rallying enthusiastic support from their individual contributors.
This Prezi presentation is a fantastic synopsis of not only Professor Yoest’s textbook The Memo, but also delineate the roles of both the manager and the individual contributor. While both are absolute crucial for the overall function and success of the organization, they have incredibly different roles in that organization. While managers do not directly do any of the work, whether that be simple repetitive tasks on an assembly line or incredibly complex tasks in an office, they are invaluable. A manager’s job is multi-faceted in that they must decide, organize, lead plan and control. In this, their main task is to coordinate the efforts of the individual contributors and make decisions regarding what the individual contributors are meant to be doing at any given time. Without the individual contributor, no work is done, but without the manager, despite the work being done, it would be for naught as their is no direction for that work, and no one to decide on the larger picture in terms of what the individual contributors are working toward, and no one to coalesce the effort of that work into a single coherent vision.
This video takes you through the distinguishment of an individual contributor and a manager, which have two different roles. The Prezi goes through tactics of organization, leading, and control. Managers are like staff members, or contributors, but they are tasked with making the important decisions. Managers are responsible for having a plan of action, leading their staff in the right direction, and having the proper authority and control over them. Managers are basically getting their job done by other people getting their job done, managers work through the contributors. The contributors, who should be properly set up by the managers, are the hands-on actors in business. Contributors get paid to basically act with the consent of their manager, who should properly equip all contributors with the necessary plan of action. Managers are also responsible for leading team members through everyday actions. Sometimes things do not go as planned, and even if a manager successfully outlines what they want, they still area accountable if something goes wrong. A manager needs to effectively make decisions if anything goes wrong. Managers need to gain control over their contributors through good relationships. Working as a team is essential, and managers are responsible for fostering good teamwork communities that make management possible.
With Professor Yoest’s informative video entitled, Management Basics, we are given a quick runthrough of the differences between individual contributors, managers and how they are applied in the world of business. Yoest does a wonderful job as simplifying the two types of people by elaborating on what these two labels entail in actuality. Individual contributors are those who do the actual, hands on work as opposed to the manager, who, instead, oversees the workflow. Due to the fact that individual workers are usually labeled as the ones who do the grunt work, and naturally get paid far less than a manager position, it often becomes easy to fall into the pitfalls of overlooking the importance of individual contributors. Now, this can become a very serious issue, particularly when in the position of a manager. If a manager is not able to recognize the dignity of work that his contributors are owed, then he will fail to garner any active support from his subordinates. A manager who lacks the support of the very necessary individuals who help the company to run, makes it abundantly clear that he is no leader. While I have always had a firm understanding of these concepts – the relationships between management and leadership, dignity of work, etc. – it was very helpful to have a video that gave a streamline explanation of it.
Thank you for such an excellent Prezi presentation, professor. I found the most interesting about Management Basics: how the video demonstrates that management recognizes teamwork. As the video mentioned, management gets the job completed through other people identified as contributors. These individuals are given duties or specific assignments by leaders, and contributors have to complete these duties by the specified deadline. This helps managers specifically, considering they ultimately get compensated for making decisions and judgments. While teamwork is essential, it is also necessary to mention that managers benefit when they complete each duty. Overall, administrators or leaders establish and develop their organizations and support to prepare them for eventual changes. Leaders are also necessary for every organization since they clarify any existing issues and help identify solutions.
In this video, Professor Yoest highlights the prominent roles in a business; the manager and the individual contributor. The individual contributors are the individual staffers that do the work. They are the individuals that get the work done. Examples are the cashiers in the supermarket or individuals who lead guided tours throughout the museum. Managers are the individuals that get the work done through other people. Managers complete four main tasks: planning, organizing, leading, and control. Planning is where the manager decides what direction the company will go in. Managers must have a clear vision of what is needed for the company in order to be able to make the necessary decision for the company. Organizing is where the manager takes time to organize his staff and put in place all things necessary to achieve the plans he set out to accomplish in the planning stage. The manager completes a SWOT analysis and makes decisions to maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses. Leading is imperative to being a good leader. Managers need to be persuasive and positively influence/encourage their staff to keep them on track to attaining company goals. Control is merely measuring the output to their intended goals. It is comparing what was done to what the initial plan was. An effective leader with an efficient team should have achieved their vision and plans. While both staffers and managers perform different roles, they act as a team to successfully reach company goals.
This video by Professor Yoest focuses on ideas discussed in “The Memo” which is a book based on military doctrine of completed staff work during the Second World War. Professor Yoest is able to clearly establish the relationship and role between an individual contributor and a manager. Individual contributors are the ones who complete the work, while the manager gets work done through other people by planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. For a manager, the planning phase is when he or she decides what direction the company is heading towards. Next, a manager must organize how the company will operate the time, talent, and treasure. Leadership is a subcomponent of management. An individual contributor wants their manager to be a leader who persuades, influences and encourages their team. The last component is control, which measures if the output matched the plan. A manager gets paid to make decisions, so his or her success is measured based on how effective they are at making these decisions. On the other hand, active contributors get paid based on how efficiently they complete their work. For any team to be successful, it is important that each member of the team understands their role and actively participates. This culture within a team is created through relationships and communication which instills trust in every member.
As covered in The Memo and this presentation, there are many characteristics and attributes that make up an effective leader. This is also the case for individual contributors. For any kind of business or organizational structure to work efficiently, the leader/manager must be able to clearly and concisely communicate the organizational objectives. There must be a clear vision of the future otherwise there will be confusion amongst the individual contributors and nothing major will be accomplished. In order for leadership to establish a clear future target or goal, managers must be able to effectively persuade their followers and delegate tasks to staff members under them. By doing this, they are more likely to bring out the best in their individual contributors and as a result of this, there will be a higher level of efficiency when working towards that future vision. Communication and networking is key for leaders and managers. There is a common misconception that all a manager or leader has to do is to give orders and commands to their subordinates; however, this is not the case. Professor Yoest does a wonderful job in this short lecture to describe the importance of the manager, the individual contributor, as well as how these two kinds of people within an organization must work together as a team to be successful.
This video is a short discussion on management basics from the book, “The Memo”. Professor Yoest kicks off the video by describing two different roles, the manager and the individual contributor. The individual contributor is the person who does the work and is the subordinate to the manager. The manager is not the one doing the hard work but gets things done through active and enthusiastic support of their staff, to help them make decisions. Other than this, there are four parts of management: plan, organize, lead, and control. The planning part is where the manager decides what the team will be doing and how their performance will be measured. Managers then organize to find the right time, talent, and treasure to optimize the performance of their plan. Next is leadership, as it is a subcomponent of management, we want our executives to be a leader who can persuade, influence, and encourage to increase team motivation. lastly, a manager must have control to measure the plan versus what got done. The individual contributor gets graded on being efficient (faster, better, cheaper) while the manager gets graded on being effective and accomplishing organizational goals. The success of an organization comes from the relationship between the manager and individual contributor based on trust and communication to act in the likeness of the company.
Very interesting video, Professor Yoest covers the basics of management and its functions. He also talks about the most important aspects of it like to role of active support. He mentions how managers get jobs done through the enthusiastic support of their staff. something THat I found really interesting as management is teamwork. It is interesting how as staff we should learn to make recommendations as the job of the boss is to make the ultimate decisions. This is discussed further in the book we will be reading for class the memo where relationships between staff and their respective managers are established.
Two topics in the ‘Management Basics’ lecture stood out to me as very relevant. The first point is Professor Yoest’s remarks on control. I believe that the term “control” can have a negative connotation because of misuse of power. People frequently abuse the power they have by being controlling. Control, on the other hand, is not a terrible thing. As shown in the video, it is just comparing our results to the strategy we implemented. This allows us to monitor our performance and make any necessary adjustments. Control is very vital in business when done correctly. The second aspect that I found very interesting was the remarks made regarding the value of relationships in management. As previously said, most duties in a firm are carried out by action, but management is carried out through people. As a result, it is critical that our leaders in these positions of authority establish and maintain positive connections with the people they supervise. Managers will be able to get the most out of their staff as a result, resulting in a more efficient and profitable firm. This involves communication, problem-solving, and general interpersonal skills. Managers would be in a much better position to succeed if they understood the two ideas about control and relationships.
This video gives great insight on the basics of Management and how completed staff work plays into an effective business; breaking it down into the individual contributor and the manager shows how a great manager can use his staff in the most effective way. I really liked the quote “managers get things done through other people” because it demonstrates the point that managers plan and lead while the individual contributors carry out the managers orders. As we have discussed in our management class, managers are paid to do one thing: make important decisions for the company, but uses their staff’s recommendations and opinions to do so. The four parts of management include planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The manager must decide what direction the company is going and how they are going to move forward, while organizing the talent to get the jobs done. Leadership is another important component because they need to persuade, influence, and encourage their employees to get things done. Another interesting point made by professor Yoest is that while the individual contributors gets graded on efficiency, the managers get graded on effectiveness; this is a part of the last part of management which is controlling. Part of being an effective manager is establishing positive relationships with people in order to get tasks completed. Communication is a key aspect of managing because managers need to persuade and encourage their staff on a daily basis.
In this video Professor Yoest describes the difference between individual contributors and managers. Individual contributors are those who do the work in their specialized fields and who strive to be as efficient as possible. Their work is mechanical insofar as it concerns mainly things as opposed to people. Managers are those who get work done through other people (i.e. the individual contributors) by planning (deciding on a plan for the work that is to be done), organizing (deciding on matters pertaining to time and talent, always aiming to maximize the strengths and minimize the weaknesses of the individual contributors), leading (exercising one’s legitimate authority through persuasion, encouragement, and motivation), and controlling (evaluating efficiency by comparing the work that was actually done to the work that was planned to be done) their teams of people. Their work is personal insofar as it involves building and sustaining relationships with others, which involves constant and effective communication with others. Managers cannot treat people in the same way that individual contributors can manipulate things and data; rather, managers face the difficult task of influencing others through persuasion, while at the same time understanding and respecting the dignity of each human being they encounter.
This video by Professor Yoest discusses the relationship between individual contributors and their managers. Individual contributors complete their work on behalf of their manager. The manager gets work done through the individual contributors by planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The planning phase involves the manager deciding what direction to go in. For example, the manager will set a production goal for the individual contributors. Organizing involves the manager taking the time to determine the proper talent for specific positions. This ensures that the individual contributor’s strengths are maximized. The leadership phase calls out the manager’s ability to persuade, encourage, and motivate their team. Just as we have learned ethical persuasion is imperative. Managers must focus on reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency, liking, and consensus to persuade the individual contributors. Lastly, managers must be able to control their plans. For example, if the plan was to produce 100 t-shirts, the manager must be able to measure the actual number of t-shirts produced. One interesting point to note is that managers must be given special grace. Unlike individual contributors who only interact with their manager, managers interact with their staff, boss, and internal and external peers. Managers have multiple points of accountability and must focus on maintaining all these relationships while making decisions on behalf of the company.
The Management Basics video by Professor Yoest highlights and distinguishes the two essential roles in a business: the individual contributors and the managers. Managers rely on the individual contributors in the business which make up a team that completes their specified work. In order for the manager to effectively carry out his work, he needs the active support from his team of individual contributors. Managers are in a decision-making position, whereas the individual contributors carry out such decisions. Professor Yoest continues to define a managerial role by explaining the four crucial elements needed to be fulfilled in order to be a successful manager. These include the functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Additionally, managers need to build relationships, as their duties rely on sound communication and interpersonal skills. With the added responsibility of being a manager comes the added points of accountability. Managers make important decisions for both the growth of their team and the growth of their business.
Professor Yoest brings us through the basic process of management based on his book called The Memo in this very interesting video. In this book, it is stated that there are two types of people in the company, the individual contributors and the managers. These two different roles contribute different things to reach an overall goal of the company. The individual contributor works diligently to accomplish the goals set by the company. The people that are setting these goals and delegating the work to them are the managers. This is key as the managers should not be doing the work themselves but having the individual contributors doing the work as they will more than likely do it better and more efficiently. This shows great control by the managers and control is one of the four key components of management along with decide, plan, and organize. The managers need to create the best plan and give the individual contributors all the tools they need to accomplish this as efficiently as possible. This is how management focuses on the people and relationship side of the company while the individual contributors focus on the hard work and labor side of the company.
In this Prezi video, Professor Yoest does a great job of providing us with insight into the two different types of positions within an organization – the leader and the individual contributor. This video places great emphasis on the tasks of managers: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. It is important to recognize that the manager greatly depends on his/her team (contributors) to get the job done. Individual contributors hold a great amount of importance within the organization and the effectiveness of their work is not only dependent on how well their leaders guide their subordinates to success, but also on how enthusiastic the individual contributor is while completing their work. Ultimately, the manager gets graded on efficiency, while the individual contributor gets graded on effectiveness. One line that stood out to me in this video is that the manager gets work done through other people. Thus, management is people-process and is centered around relationships rather than mechanics. Managers must grasp that in order for their subordinates to comply, they must persuade and influence rather than simply demanding orders from them. Just as important as manager’s achievement of proper communication with staff is their ability to treat these individuals with complete human dignity and be aware of any challenges that they may face as individuals.
In the Prezi video Professor Jack Yoest distinguishes the two positions mentioned in his book the memo. The individual contributor is that of the majority of the workforce the everyday heroes that do the job and the work. These people are what Professor Yoest may say is the hands and feet of a company that keeps it going simply because they are the doers. The managers of the company are the ones who organize, lead, develop and control the individual contributors. The biggest part for a manager is to be enthusiastic and active. In order to help motivate these individual contributors they have to develop a relationship and make decisions to benefit all. At the end of the day a manager simply wants a company to run efficiently and smooth. Without them being able to motivate the contributors however then the factory doesn’t run essentially. The most difficult aspect of this is that these individual contributors for the most par are not machines. So, the manager has to be able to relate to these other human beings in a way that they understand and feel like they have importance. Not one job is greater than the other and a good manager makes sure everyone is on same page and valued.
This video by Professor Yoest draws attention to the roles of the individual contributors and managers within an organization and how they each play a part to achieve organizational goals. Mentioned in the book “The Memo”, the individual contributors are the workers that are making the operation happen (“doing the work”). An example that Professor Yoest points out is making widgets or performing heart surgeries every day. Therefore, individual contributes are graded on efficiency and how fast and cheap they are able to perform. On the other hand, there are the managers that Plan, Organize, Lead, and Control the operation and make the best decisions for the good of the company. In management, to plan deals with vision and what the goals are for the company. The next role of a manager is to organize which deals with putting the right talent in the right roles to be as efficient as possible. Next is lead which is the managers oversight over the operations and whether or not the job is done the right way. Lastly, control is the performance aspect and wether or not goals were met. If the goals were not met, then managers must be able to notice what went wrong and find solutions to those issues. As a result, managers are not graded on efficiency like individual contributors, but they are graded on effectiveness and wether or not they led the team towards success. When managers communicate company goals to the team, it leads the company in the right direction towards reaching their goals.
This style is which Professor Yoest wrote The Memo is very interesting because it is a military doctrine of completed staff work on management. I liked what Professor Yoest said ‘Managers get work done through other people’. I really like that quote because it is commonly thought that a manager does the heavy lifting for an organization but in all reality it is the staffers that the manager appoints that do the hard work, it is the manager’s job to decide what is done and determine how well it is being done, but everything goes through their subordinates. Having the active support of your staff is the best way to ensure success, a good manager will be able to motivate their team to be their best. Professor saying that management in one word, is a relationship is very accurate. In order to have the support and effort of people you have to have a healthy relationship with them or they will not care to work for you impactfully. A good manager has to earn the respect of their team, the best way to do this is to get to know them and build a lasting relationship with them, this will motivate them to try.
In this video, Professor Yoest gives a breakdown of what it means to be a manager, and how it is different from the work of an individual contributor. Something that I think is unique to Professor Yoest’s idea of management that I had not really heard of before taking this class is the idea of leading and controlling employees without doing the same work that they are doing; the manager is the organizer and decision maker who delegates the hardware operations to those under his responsibility. A good manager knows his people, the challenges they face, and how well they’re equipped to handle those challenges, and he works towards advocating on their behalf to make it possible to complete the tasks they need to accomplish, whether that’s by encouragement, ordering new equipment, helping them problem solve, etc. anything that the manager can do to boost the loyalty that his employees have for him and their other bosses helps the manager to be able to confidently guide his people in the long run. In turn, the employees will better understand the manager and learn how to make decisions in his stead, working with autonomy and critical thinking as often as possible.
Thank you Professor Yoest for this informative video. In “The Memo” we see the distinction between a leader and a contributor. When you’re in a situation like war, the tasks assigned to the contributor, as well as their actions, are extremely vital to survival. This is all dependent on the abilities of the leaders to effectively connect with contributors. This is something that is consistent in the workplace as well, as the most successful business leaders are those who can reach their contributors on an emotional level, motivate them to be efficient in their tasks, and remain accountable for their duties. A good leader or manager does not need to be present for all tasks, as their role is to plan for the entire group of contributors’ success. They will analyze the success and failures of the group, and work with the contributors to understand how they can improve in every way possible. This way, contributors know that they are actively working for a purpose and a goal. An example would be an assembly line, in which contributors work at their task to complete a job. The effective manager is able to ensure that they are as efficient and effective as possible, as well as continuously plan to help them even more.
In this video, Professor Yoest discusses what makes a good manager. The most important attribute of a manager is to be a people person. The manager must know how to properly address and communicate with each member of staff to get the best out of each person. “Seventy-five percent of management is communication”, said professor Yoest during his video “Management Basics”. The manager must communicate themself in a way to appear likable to the staff and their own bosses. Most good managers are able to have good relationships with everyone in the company no matter what their position. Once they have active support and respect from their counterparts, then they are able to begin performing the technical work that that is required of management. This technical work consists of decision making, planning, organizing, leading and controlling. As a leader, the manager must have the wisdom to make the right decision for others, as managers are the ones with deciding power. Managers always be thinking ahead, therefore it is crucial for managers to have a plan; along with that plan they must remain organized to make sure that the plan works effectively and efficiently. This being said, as mentioned previously, the most important aspect of a manager is to be a good communicator and someone who can gain the respect of his/her employees quickly. The individual contributors are the ones who are doing the real work, and, if they feel as though they are working under someone who deserves their best, will finish their job excellently.
In the Prezi video, Professor Yoest talks about managers and individual contributors and breaks down how each of their roles work. He talks about how the individual contributors are the ones working with some form of machine or product, so it is important that they know how to do those things, but the manager doesn’t work with things, they work with people. They become a leader who maintains control and create the quality of the workplace. The manager works with the whole of their team or group in an effort to ensure that everything is going according to plan. Another critical key difference between the manager and individual contributor that Professor Yoest brings up is how though with individual contributors you are looking for efficiency, the manager then is looked at to make sure all the products are up to a standard. Having this distinction means that work will get done fast, and it is then the manager’s job to ensure that it is done well. The manager looks at the work from a different angle than the individual contributor by looking at the big picture. This creates an environment where the individual contributor can do their work without fear of other parts of the group not meeting the standard. Having a manager that knows how to lead and take control can make any workplace into a success.
In this brief informative video, Professor Yoest lists the key takeaways from his book “The Memo”. Leaders, according to the Professor, “get paid to do one thing: decide”. While the adage “the buck stops here” is true, it’s true because that’s part and parcel of the definition of a leader, someone who gets paid to make decisions. If they did anything else, then they wouldn’t be doing the essential part of their job. In addition, the manager has four crucial pillars to his job: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Whereas planning is setting the vision for the team and saying “we’re going in this direction”, organizing means delegating who is responsible for the various parts of that vision. Only when each person on the team performs their job, can the whole team succeed and the vision is brought to actuality. In order to get the project off the ground and to keep it progressing, the manager must also be a leader, someone who inspires, motivates, and encourages those around and under him to work towards the common goal. The final element is control, which differs vastly from micromanagement. Simply put, the manager controls by checking to see if the project is on time and on budget. Measuring performance also differs between an individual contributor, who is based on efficiency (faster, better, cheaper), and a manager, who is graded on effectiveness. Ultimately, being a manager is not about barking orders, but about relationships. The best manager will be the one who is both respected by those under him and is the one whose team gets the job done. People will flock from all over to work for such a manager.
After watching the prezi I had a few key takeaways from the presentation. First was that in order to manage a successful team a manager must trust that his employees and coworkers are going to do their job to standard. Also a manager must constantly have good relationships with his employees because in order to get the best product out of your team there needs to be great relationships. I also realized watching the video that one person can ruin the success of the entire team. Hiring the right people is key to the success of the team if everyone is working together it will lead to success in general.
Watching this video, my attention was focused on the idea of management being rooted in relationships. Dealing with people is indeed a skill that many are not born with and have to work at daily in order to effectively motivate their peers and employees. Having worked in positions where I was required to lead assignments or events, I have experienced the power relationships have and their connection to motivation. I have coworkers or my own leaders who are able to get the most out of others and one of the biggest differences is that they are more involved with those people. They see them more regularly, they pay attention to their needs and desires and know when to either push them or pull back. That consistency and dedication to those on their team forms a relationship that allows them to push and get the full potential of their workers where others may not have that ability despite maybe being very capable in whatever task they are assigned to. At the end of the day, as Professor Yoest says, management is a people process. We are human and cannot deny these, seemingly, small details that can play a role in leadership.