HRM

HRM- HRM refers to the management of people in organizations. It is responsible for ensuring that the organization attracts, retains, and engages the diverse talent required to meet the business needs. They have the primary responsibility for managing the workforce that drives organizational performance and success. Organizations are increasingly viewing the HR dept. as an equal partner in the strategic planning and execution. (environmental scanning)

Internal & external environmental influences – Internal: organization culture, organization climate and management practice; External: economic factors, labour market issues, demographic trends and increasing workforce diversity, technology, government, and globalization.

Discrimination - Ground of Jurisdictions prohibit discrimination: race and colour, sexual orientation, religion/creed, physical and mental disability, sex, age, and marital status.

Harassment – abuse of authority that undermines somone’s performance or threatens his or her career; written or verbal abuse or threats; sexual harassment; practical jokes that embarrass or insult someone; vandalism of personal property

Employment Equity – It occurs in 4 groups, women, aboriginal people, persons with disabilities and visible minorities. They had been subjected to different treatment by employers, such as lower pay on average, occupational segregation, higher rates of unemployment, under-employment, and glass ceiling.

Diversity Management – Activities designed to integrate all members of an organization’s multicultural workforce and use their diversity to enhance the firm’s effectiveness.

Demographic trends and increasing workforce diversity – demographics refer to the characteristics of the workforce, which include age, sex, marital status, and education level. Canada’s labour force is becoming increasingly diverse.

Job description and job requirement – A job description is a written statement of what the jobholder actually does, how he or she does it, and under what conditions the job is performed. Based on it, we can get the job requirement.

Methods for collecting job analysis data –interviews , questionnaires, direct observation, and participant logs.

Internal & external recruitment- Advantage of internal recruitment: employees see that competence is rewarded, thus enhancing commitment, morale and performance; Insiders may be more committee to company’s goals; managers have long time to evaluate and make decision; be safer to promote from within; Advantage of external recruitment: generation of a large pool of qualified candidates and a more diverse applicant; aquisiin of skills or knowledge not currently available within the organization; elimination of rivalry and competition caused by employees; potenal cost savngs resulting from hiring individuals who already have the skills

Private employment agencies & executive search firms – Private empl. Agencies: to provide assistance to employers seeking clearical staff, functional specialists, and technical employee; Executive search firms: to fill critical positions in a firm, usually middle- to senior-level professional and managerial employees.

Interview – Situational interviews focus on future behavior and behavioural interviews focus on past behavior. The successful candidates must fit with the strategic direction of the organization.Reference checking is a very important source of information about job candidates.

Common interviewing mistakes – poor planning, snap judgments, negative emphasis, halo effect, poor knowledge of the job, contrast error, influence of nonverbal behavior, telegraphing, too much/too little talking, similar-to-me bias

Generation Y Behaviour

• Constantly on the moving striving for more
Yers are looking for meaningful and challenging work and may take longer finding a job than members of previous generations.Gen Yers don't expect to stay in a job, or even a career, for too long.
• Multi-taskers at all times
They don't like to stay too long on any one assignment. This is a generation of multi-taskers, and they can juggle e-mail on their BlackBerrys while talking on cell phones while trolling online.
And they believe in their own self worth and value enough that they're not shy about trying to change the companies they work for. That compares somewhat with Gen X—a generation born from the mid-1960s to the late-1970s, known for its independent thinking, addiction to change, and emphasis on family

• Need to be kept stimulated
http://www.princetonone.com/news/PrincetonOne%20White%20Paper2.pdf
Typically, companies have performance management plan review point has a 30-day, 90-day, and one-year reviews point for fro new employees. After a year has passed, a single review per year is standard. These timelines can be too infrequent for Generational Y, as they desire more immediate feedback. Generation Y wants to know why they are doing work and how it contributes.
Managers should give Gen Yers interesting work, lots of feedback, chances to advances and rewards for good performance. In doing so, they can became a company’s best and most loyal employees.
• The push the limits in all directions
Gen Yers want to progress as quickly as they deserve and be given clear goals to reach the next level. The standard performance management program, in many ways, creates an artificial and arbitrary time constraint. Leaders must challenge the performance management status quo and make time for regular feedback.

• Continuous training and upgrading
Generation Y looks for the “why” behind the tasks they are asked to perform and can lose interest in menial responsibilities. They want diverse and meaningful office tasks and are happy with lateral moves within their companies, as long as they are able to gain new experiences.
Managers should learn about Generation Y’s values and person goals and then incorporate them into assignments. Leadership needs to offer this group challengers, teach it new skills and enlist its fresh perspectives. Put another way, Generation Y wants to know why they are doing work and how it contributes. By taking just a few minutes to explain the big¬ger picture, a leader will not only experience a more productive result, but also keep the em¬ployee engaged and motivated.
Another adjustment management needs to make is to be open to suggestions about the tasks they assign. As Generation Y members tackle new tasks, they are constantly thinking about how to do them better and faster. Generation Y is not locked into the mentality of “it has always been done this way.” If there is a more produc¬tive solution, Gen Yers will find it and expect to both share their findings and help implement the improvement. Leaders must make time to listen to these sug¬gestions.
• Keep with the times
Gen Yers like to find new, better and faster ways to do things, which is an attractive attribute in today’s office environment. They use e-mail, not “snail mail.” They do not drive to the mall and visit multiple stores in order to comparison shop. They go online, visit multiple Web sites and often make purchases in the time it takes to back the car out of the garage. They have information instantly at their fingertips via the Internet. Cable and satellite television have made hundreds of television stations available. Cell phones have connected them instantly to an array of friends. Technology has made Gen¬eration Y accustomed to getting what it needs quickly and easily.
Additionally, Generation Y is ambitious. Its members can envision a good quality of life, which is something they aspire to. This makes Gen Yers hard-driving and motivated when they accept and believe in a goal. They look forward to challenges, which make them motivated and confident workers.

Conclusion
Generation Y brings advanced degrees, techni¬cal skills, diversity, experience as a consumer and an appreciation of the world market to the workplace. Its members are ambitious, competi¬tive and have high self-esteem. These attributes make them highly motivated, independent and optimistic workers.
Generation Y presents a unique and exciting leadership challenge. Gen Yers are indisputably bright and talented, yet they think differently, have unique needs and require new manage¬ment styles. Leadership will have less room for error, as Generation Y has more freedom and job options than any other group in history.
Organizations able to see beyond the some¬times negative hype surrounding Generation Y should be excited to tap into the many talents this group can offer the workplace today and in the future.

Three Main Characteristics of Services

Customization, unstorability, and intangibility are three main characteristics of services. Three services I picked from real life are watching the opening ceremony for 2010 Winter Olympic game, physical check or bill payment through a bank website.
The first characteristic of customization means customers usually highly participate in these service processes. It means customers judge the quality of the services as the services are provided. Different customers might have different judgment on the same service. The reason might be that different people have different expectation and requirements on the same service. For example, many audiences think the 2010 Winter Olympic opening ceremony is wonderful; however, some people don’t think so.
The second characteristic of unstorability means that services cannot be stored as physical inventory of goods. For example, the doctor will cancel the physical check if you are not in the clinic on time. You have to make another appointment for your medical examination.
The third characteristic is intangible. It means that services cannot be seen or touched, but they can be experienced. For example, when paying bills through a bank website, the service you can get is to pay your bill conveniently and quickly without going to the counter of bank by yourself.
These three characteristics influence the way of service delivery to customers by service companies. By understanding these characteristics, organizations can better select the appropriate mix of service and goods to meet customer needs and create most effective operating systems to deliver services and provide merchandises.

Smoking Ban in Public Areas

Some smokers say they have rights to smoke in the public areas because selling and buying cigarettes both are legally; however, as taxpayers, they are not only unable to enjoy the benefits of paying the extra tax but they are also deprived of the freedom of smoking in the public areas. They regard the legislation of smoking ban in public areas as a ridiculous law, and it should be abolished. It is true that the smokers were collected an extremely higher tax on cigarettes and they do have the rights to utilize cigarettes. Yet as a matter of fact that paying extra higher tax cannot be an efficient excuse to abuse cigarettes in the public areas, and smoking cigarettes in public areas has already been a social problem for a long time. Since 2005, the Alberta government began to implement the smoking ban law in public areas. Many non-smokers do not have to bear the second hand smoke produced by the smokers any more. A very interesting survey was conducted by the International Health Organization (IHO) in 2001 on smokers’ attitudes on smoking. It shows that when cigarette smokers were asked if they know the harm of the cigarette, almost all of them answered yes. Most of them had the experiences of trying to quit smoking but failed. After their failure to quit smoking, they continued their habit of smoking again. With the law to ban smoking in public areas, smokers may have a strong motive to quit this bad habit. I strongly support this law because this policy will help most of both smoker and non-smokers to improve their health and prolong their life.

First of all, an advantage of a smoking ban in public areas is this law leads to prolong the life-span of people. We have already known that there are many diseases which are caused by cigarette smoking. Cigarette contains over 4000 chemicals including more than 50 carcinogens, such as carbon monoxide, benzene, and hydrogen cyanide. One of the diseases is lung cancer. A published study (1) on cigarette smoking concluded that lung cancer kills more people each year than any other cancer. Around 4.6 million of people died of this disease in the world in 2002, among these, 64% were long time cigarette smokers. Furthermore, there are still many other diseases related to cigarette smoking, such as heart diseases, birth defects and a host of other disorder. All these diseases threaten the health and the life quality of human beings, and they cut people’s life-spans. Another research conducted by Beijing University on smoking had a very astonishing result. According to this research, each person was supposed to have an average life of 150 years, but the fact is almost none of us could live such a long time. There are many factors which could lead to our shortened life. It shows smoking is the most critical factor that could shorten our life-span. Each cigarette can cut two minutes of life-span. That is the reason why the nickname of cigarette smoking is “long term committing suicide”.

Secondly, another advantage of this law is it will also protect the health of non-smokers. The cigarette smokers might get extreme satisfaction in smoking, but they might not realize that the smoke they produce is threatening the health of other people who are staying in the same room with them. However, the non-smokers might feel not only annoyed by the smell of the horrible smog but their health would be damaged severely by this smoke as well. A research about second hand smoke told us second hand smoke is more harmful and dangerous than that of the first hand smoke. Second hand smoke is extremely dangerous to those who have never smoked before; moreover, second hand smoke would hurt the nervous system of a child and that would lower the mental capacity (IQ) of children. For example, a research shows 25% of children of smokers have showed a lower IQ level than their peers at the age of one, compared to 9% of non-smokers.

Thirdly, an additional benefit of a smoking ban in public areas is it will help some smokers to quit this bad habit more easily and more smoothly. It is not easy for smokers to quit the habit of cigarettes. Because to quit smoking cigarettes not only needs the endurance of smokers but a good environment is also required. We always hear some smokers talk about their own experiences on quitting smoking. At first, almost all of them had a good decision to quit smoking, but finally the result was most of them ended up their attempts with beginning to smoke again; furthermore, most of them smoked many more cigarettes than before. One critical reason that caused this failure was there was not a good environment around him during their smoke quitting periods, and once they smelled or saw someone was smoking a cigarette, they were lured to come back to smoke cigarettes again. Doubtless, the smoking ban policy will definitely help smokers to decrease their likelihood of smoking often, especially in forbidden public areas. Also, Alberta’s winter is very cold, and if a smoker is not allowed to smoke inside of the building, they would be far less likely to smoke. It would force them to quit this bad habit.

The smoking ban policy, however, decreases the provincial and federal tax dearly. It is estimated that this policy has already decreased the tax income for the government by about CA$200 million totally since 2005. But on the other hand, the research inventory on lung cancer and other cigarette related health costs has already decreased totally by CA$100 million after this policy was carried out. Moreover, the fire cases related to cigarette smoking has also showed a tendency of decreasing gradually yearly since 2005. Therefore, this policy is a worthwhile policy.

Looking around the world, a smoking ban policy has already been used in many countries, such as the UK, the USA, and even in many developing countries. I think the law of banning smoking in public areas embodies a kind of respect to human life, and I also believe that this policy would be beneficial for everyone no matter whether he is a smoker or non-smoker.

References
The Ten Top Causes of Death http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310.pdf
Alison Motluk Passive smoking dents children's IQ
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2251

Definitions

Metal
Metal are kinds of chemical elements that are composed of atoms. Atom is a particle that is considered to be an irreducible part of a specified system. Metal can be divided into two groups, pure metal and alloy. Pure metals, such as gold, sliver, are not often been used in engineering fields. Metal Alloy is most common used in engineering fields, such as steel alloy, aluminum or bronze and so on. Metals are widely used in many fields because of their specific characteristics can fit different requirements. For example, steel structures are widely used in architectures and buildings because of their strength and economic.

Welding
The technology of using heat, pressure, and fuse to form a permanent joint of different parts of materials is called welding process. Welding is used to create a solid and light joint between same or different materials, such as steel structure of automobile, or the structure of pressure vessels such as a ship or a petroleum tank. The strengths of welding process are its efficiency and it’s economic. For example, a 50 meters steel seam can be complete in 50 minutes by using welding process. The weaknesses of welding process are hazardous substances and radioactivity, such as, carbon monoxide and arc, which are created during the welding process. Welding is like forging because both of them need to heat material to or close to the temperature of melting point. Welding is a kind of heating process.

Who did create the crop circles on earth?

For many years, crop circles have being regarded as a mystery in the world, especially. Some people believe that these crop circles were created by human being, but others believe they were kinds of nature phenomena. Many scientists are trying to expose the truth who really on earth made these crop circles and what their purposes to make them. However, after many years’ investigation, there is still not have enough convincing evidences, which can prove that man create those crop circles. This mystery seemed solved with the claim of two Britain artists’ in 1991. They announced they created all these crop circles during the past several years, and they made those circles was for fun. Did they really make these crop circles? Is it possible for them to create so many circles in a large range area during the past 20 years, and without being found by anybody? Can men use existing technology to change the inter structure of grain?

First, it was hard to explain why no one found any clue about men made these crop circles. Actually, police and farmers offered a $14000 reward to catch any hoaxers who make crop circles in farmlands. Doctor Snow, an expert who has engaged in investigation on crop circles since 1978. According to one of his studies, on the night of August 2, 1998, six very complex crop circles have appeared across the area from Wiltshire to Hampshire. These are several dozens miles apart between these two places. Dr. Snow states “would take awfully determined, energetic pranksters to make so many in one night.” (Chet Snow). So it is hard to believe that men have the ability to make this over one night, and without leaving any clue.

Secondly, it was impossible for men to create very complicated circles at night. Since all these circles were made at the night, it is impossible for man to create very complicated circles at nights. Scientists have made many experiments try to find out the truth. Doctor Snow, pointes out that "given enough time, resources and help, a team of skilled human engineers can produce circles that, from the air at least, resemble genuine ones. But no one has ever been able to match the documented conditions under which incredibly complex circles have appeared.” (Chet Snow). In other words, at night, in isolated fields, with no lights, in less than three hours time, and without any human witnesses, a skilled team can not finish this task.

Thirdly, existing technology can not produce "microscope cellular changes" in grain cells. Many tests have already been done on the grain taken from crop circles areas, and scientists discovered "microscope cellular changes" in grain cells. However, changes have never happened on those grains taken from crop circles simply made by hoaxers. Doctor Snow states that more advantaged technology is required to make these changes happen. (Chet Snow). Nancy Talbott, a member of Cambridge, Massachusetts, also stated men need many years to invent this technology of changing cell structure. (Chet Snow). That means men cannot produce these crop circles in these days.

In sum, all the evidences have shown that men must not have created crop circles. Although some of them might have been made by men, but those crop circles have simple shapes and no “microscope cellular changes” happened in grain. On the other hand, those real circles not only have complicated shapes but also have “microscope cellular changes”, which needs much higher technology that current. These circles must not be made by human beings.

References:

Snow, C (N.A).Crop Circles: A Modern Mystery. Retried February 22, 2009. From http://www.lightparty.com/Spirituality/CropCircles.html.

Man Really Did Walk On the Moon

Did men really walk on the Moon? Some people argue NASA’s spacecraft had never launched the Moon because they do not believe the rocks brought from the moon are real. However, there are a lot of evidences could prove that men must have walked on the Moon.

Firstly, one of the most significant evidences is some astronauts can tell us their experience of walking on the Moon. Actually, there are 9 astronauts who are still living in the world, and they walked on the Moon from 1969 to 1971. They can tell us their real experience on the Moon; moreover, when Apollo astronauts came back to the Earth, they brought 841 pounds of Moon rock. (NASA 2001). These living astronauts and could be the most direct and powerful evidence to prove the truth: men landed on the Moon.

Secondly, another relevant evidence is the unique structure of Moon rock. After studying the Moon rock brought back by Apollo astronauts, scientists found the structure of Moon rock completely differ that of Earth rock. According to Dr. Marc Norman's discovery, a lunar geologist at the university of Tasmania, that “there are particles of fresh glass in Moon rock that were produced by explosive volcanic activity and by meteorite over 3 billion years ago, but the presence of water on Earth rapidly dissolve such volcanic glass in only a few million years.” (NASA 2001). It could be as an evidence to prove that men walked on the Moon and brought back this Moon rock.

Thirdly, it is almost impossible for scientists to fake a Moon rock. Due to the limits of current technology, scientists do not have powerful particle accelerators to produce a rock like a Moon rock. (NASA 2001). That also proves the rock was brought from the Moon, and men indeed walked on the Moon.

Finally, it is time to answer the question, all the evidences including the experience of living astronauts, the unique structure of Moon rock, and the current technology level of human beings’ show that men must have already landed on the Moon.


Reference
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2001). The Great Moon Hoax. Retrieved February 12, 2009, from http://science.nasa.gov//headlines/y2002/ast23Feb_2.htm

Memo

To: Ms. Jackie P
From: Jian Yu Zhu
Date: July 15, 2009
Subject: Movie Reviewing Presentation

As you know, I will make my presentation on movie reviewing on July 23. I have already finished watching the movie I chose, and the movie name is The Truth of 9/11. I also have prepared the layout for my presentation. Could I get some suggestion from you on my presentation?

After watching this movie, I was very surprised and confused because what it reveals is completely different from what we already have known. But I still would like to recommend it to others because it gives us a view on 9/11 attack in opposite way. Whether the real truth of 9/11attack might or might not be revealed in the future, the history will draw an objective conclusion. It is much more important to understand the dangerous of violence itself than to know the truth itself. My presentation will comprise 3 parts. In the first introduction part, I will explain the reason why I chose this movie, and in the next body part I will speak the main content of the movie. In the last part, I will show my view about the violence. I think that one problem I might encounter in my presentation is language, as English is my second language, to make a presentation in English might be a great challenge for me.

Finally, I wish I could get some of your valuable comment on this proposal of my presentation. It will be very helpful for me in preparing this presentation. I am looking forward to your reply at your earliest convenience.

4) Are you satisfied with government efforts for tobacco control?

Although it is hard to say whether satisfied or not, I think lots of people might think expect for the smokers, tobacco manufactories are the biggest victim of government’s The Tobacco Reduction Act. However, we are not. Our sales and profit increase gradually during these years. Canada Import and export Bureau has very strict regulation on tobacco importing. That makes us don’t have to worried about the completion from the other country.

3) What are your thoughts on increasing taxes on cigarettes?

Before asking your this question, I’d like to show you in Alberta how the price of cigarette are composed of.
Carton of 200 cigarettes
The manufacturers' price (as of October, 1997) is $9.69.
The federal excise duty is $5.50.
The federal excise tax is $5.36.
The provincial tobacco tax is $14.00.
The wholesale/retail margin is about 11%, or $3.80.
There is no provincial sales tax.
The federal G.S.T. adds 7%, or $2.68.
The total price is therefore $41.02.
It is very clear that manufactory cost is almost not changed, and wholesale or retail margin will also be kept in a certain level. That means increase tax on cigarette will cause smoker have to pay extremely high tax.

2) What are your individual thoughts on Banning smoking in public areas?

As a matter of fact, government uses all tax payers’ money to build lots public facilities. I talk with lots of smokers on this problem. pay extremely high tax on smoking. Most of smokers told me that also they are tax payers too, but they don’t have the right to they have rights to smoke in the public areas because of selling and buying cigarettes both are legally; however, as taxpayers, they are ot only unable to enjoy the benefits of paying the extra tax but they are also deprived of the freedom of smoking in the public areas. I think we should allow them to smoke in certain area. For example, certain area can be use for smoking purpose. Especially, during the winter time, they don’t have to smoke outside of the building, it is good for their health.

1) What is your point of view about the tobacco control measures in effect in the city of Edmonton?

As we know, Edmonton government legislated the smoking ban in public areas In July 2003. In the year of 2007, the The Tobacco Reduction Act prohibits the display, advertising and promotion of tobacco products at the retail level. As a representative from manufactory of tobacco, I bring with me a statistics from Alberta Finance. According to Alberta finance, annual gross sales volumes of cigarettes and cigarette equivalents increased gradually from 2003 to 2006. Although the rate of current smokers in Alberta decreased from 26% to 21%, and government had taken several actions to control the use of tobacco, the fact is ours sales was increasing gradually during the past several years. And smokers had to afford a higher tax.

Be Brave

It was happened in the last August. It was the fourth months we came to Edmonton. I decided to learn driving at a driving school. My friend reminded me that the reputation of the school is poor, but I still chose it. My later experience told me that my friend’s words were correct. However, at that time, I did not consider its reputation too much because I think they can speak Chinese. During the next several weeks, it seemed that the coach gave me a lot of instructions on driving skills and preparing the road test. On the day of road driving test, there were 9 persons that day. But only one person passed the test, and the other eight ones were all failed. What a pass ratio! Only at that time, I realized that how poor reputation the driving school has. Later, with the help from my friends, I passed the road driving test. From this thing, I realized that it is not completely necessary to go to a driving school, but it is a good idea to find a school with a good reputation, and it is also important to make enough research before making important decision.

How Parents Help Their Children to Overcome Jet Lag?

Lisa is a 6-year-old girl, and she lives with her parents in Eastern Canada in the city of Toronto. After flying to Edmonton with her parents two days ago, she becomes irritable and impatiently about a lot of things, and she also doesn’t like to eat. Lisa’s parents take Lisa to see their family doctor. Knowing Lisa’s symptoms and making a physical examination for Lisa, the doctor tells them that Lisa is healthy, but Lisa has the symptoms of Jet Lag. Since babies and young children always can not express their feeling of uncomfortable clearly, so it is very important for young parents to understand the children’ symptoms of Jet Lag and help them to deal with it. Understanding it will not only help them to travel smoothly but also it will help them to have a good life in a new country or in a new place.

Jet lag is a result of flying cross time zones. The reason is when traveling to a new time zone, our bodies’ circadian rhythms (Our body clock) remain on their original biological time schedule, and they are slow to adjust for several days. This results in that our bodies tell us it is time to sleep when it's actually the middle of the afternoon, or it makes us want to stay awake or when it is late at night. This also results in our bodies biological system is disrupted temporarily.

The symptoms of jet lag are easy to be recognized. Some symptoms are fatigue, loss of appetite, loss of concentration, and memory problems. (Bupa, n.d & Better health channel & Reilly T, 1998) “Although children and babies are less like to show symptoms because they can usually sleep at any time.” (Bupa. n.d) But for the children between the ages from 4 to12, irritable is the leading symptom for them. (No jet lag, n.d) It could be explained that children are not like adult who can control their own feeling easily. If children suffer from the tiredness, he or she will be irritable suddenly because they are not able to adjust themselves very quickly. The severity of symptoms of jet lag is based on the traveling direction and the traveling speed. This means flying in eastward direction and in low speed are easier to dealing with than in westward and in high speed. (Bupa n.d)

After knowing the jet lag symptoms of children’s, parents also should know how to help their children to deal with it. It is a good idea to let their children adopt body to the new time zone before two or three days of flying. After a long distance trip, one of the most effective ways is to have enough sleep. Another good way is to go outside in the sunlight whenever it is possible. Daylight is a powerful and effective stimulant for regulating the biological clock. (Bupa. n.d)

Having understanding Lisa’s symptoms are caused by jet lag, Lisa’s parents take advantage of the doctor’s suggestions. They take Lisa outside during the daytime, and they also make sure Lisa has enough sleep over the night. After 4 days, Lisa’s symptoms of jet lag disappear completely, and again she becomes a lively girl.

References

Better Health Channel. (n.d). Jet lag. Retrieved April 7, 2009, from

http://www.better health.vic.gov.au/bhartickles.nsf/pages/jet lag

Bupa. (n.d). Jet lag. Retrieved April 7, 2009, from http://www.hcd2.bupa.cd.uk/fact_sheets/html/jetlag.html

Reilly, T. (1998). Jet lag: Symptoms and Treatment. Retrieved April 7, 2009, from http://www.sportsci.org/encyc.jetlag.html

No Jet Lag. (n.d). No-Jet-Lag: Product Specification, Retrieved April 16, 2009, from http://www.nojetlag.com/jetlag7.html

How are the five basic management skills related to the four functions of management?

Five basic management skills are technical skills, human relations skills, conceptual skills, decision-making skills and time management skills. These five skills emphasize the skills that a manager should have in the workplace. The four management functions are planning, organizing, leading and controlling, and they focus on the process of work in an organization. Management skills help managers to establish a proper operation process for an organization, and new arising management functions in an organization also require managers to improve their management skills.

Managers use basic management skills to establish a proper operation process. Most of managers use five basic management skills to solve problems or to find out proper approach. In many organizations, managers have to achieve certain goals within certain period and with limited budget. It needs managers to use their basic management skills to deal with the complicated situation and find out the effective operation process. For example, Company B wants Company A to develop an ERP system for Company B in 6 months’ time, and the budget of Company B is $500,000. In this case, to develop a reliable and applied ERP system for Company B, Company A’s managers should not only have the strong IT technical skills but also need to have excellent conceptual skills. From the external side, they must also have the ability to find out and well understand in the shortest period how the operation process of Company B looks like. And from the internal side, Company A’s managers should decide which modules and functions should be applied on Company B‘s ERP system, and they also have to choose the appropriate person to take in charge of this specific task. It also need managers consider how to make a working plan to finish the task, including budgeting, timing, measuring, evaluating and controlling.

New arising management functions also require managers to improve their management skills. A proper designed work process ensures an organizations run smoothly. To achieving this, managers usually consider the functions of an organization. For example, what is a clear and objective goal? How to achieve? How to allocate the limited resources? How to find the right people? How to maximize the output while minimize the input? How to create an effective motivation system? And so on. Actually, after answering these questions, it becomes much easier for managers make a new work process for an organization.

Mangers’ management skills contribute a lot to organizations, including decreasing overall cost, increasing core competitive advantages and enhancing the value chain. And on the other hand, new management functions also demand and help mangers to improve their management skills.