What_Is_a_Manager_

What is a manager' It is difficult, if not impossible, to come up with a textbook answer to this question. Everyone has their own views and opinions. Much of these views come from their personal experience with management, either as a member of it or a subordinate. Every manager's job is unique. What a store manager’s duties are at one store may not be the same as what a store manager does at another store. The roles of a manager are many and at times can change from one second to the next. So, what exactly is a manager' Here are some examples of what a manager is and what they do. A manager is a person tasked with overseeing one or more employees or departments to ensure these employees or departments carry out assigned duties as required. A manager makes sure the lines are straight. A manager is an individual who delegates tasks to others so as to make sure it is easier for them as far as manual labor responsibilities go. A manager is someone who oversees everything inside and outside the business and the everyday working of each department as well as everyone who is scheduled to work. The manager has a bigger caseload to deal with than everybody else within the company. A manager is more of a boss who only manages—he does not want to be seen bending low. He works to put credit to his name. A manager is the one who develops a plan. A manager's role is to maintain a productive atmosphere while conserving cost. A manager is the communication link between the employees and upper management. They are the boss, the director, the paper pushers, the one’s who make the plans and then give the orders to those below them on the totem pole. A manager's role is to provide proper oversight and direction to a group that is trying to accomplish a certain task. They may also act as a mediator between those that are under them. Managers may need to be called upon at times to be disciplinarians or even morale boosters. In short, the manager’s biggest duty is to make sure that the business runs smoothly. Some of these are responses that I received from people that I asked this question to, while other examples are from my own personal experiences. Many people seem to see the manager as the person high in an organization, the one with the most power and authority because of that position. They have legitimate power based on their position, but the individual may not be respected. Some people think managers are overly bossy and show favoritism to their friend’s. The higher up the management food chain a person climbs, the more he/she is separated from their subordinates. These are the one’s people think of as “the managers”. So what makes a manager successful' This is another question that I asked people and I got many different responses. The success of a manager depends greatly on the willingness to adopt a leadership philosophy that calls for believing in people, their worth, their abilities, and their potential growth. A successful manager usually means a successful company, or store, or business. He or she must posses certain qualities in order to be successful. When a manager does his job right, it promotes a pleasant atmosphere to work in. Manager’s need to realize that there are people with different talents that can be used and directed to make the team function as a unit. In a nutshell, an effective manager has the ability to build a diverse group of people into a highly functional team. Does a manager have to be a leader' I asked this question because of a response that I received to the question: “what is a manager”' That response was: A manager is a leader. As a leader, the manager establishes and directs the vision and mission of the team. A leader demonstrates what should be done by example. He/she is the one who pulls the team together and motivates others to do what they are supposed to do. I found this response interesting because I never thought of a manager and leader as being one in the same. When I think about what a manager is, I think of somebody who hands out tasks and tells you what they expect to be done. When I think about what a leader is, my response would be: a leader is one who will not ask you to do anything they themselves are not willing to do. A leader demonstrates what should be done by example. He/she is the one who pulls the team together and motivates others to do what they are supposed to do. A leader doesn’t have to be a manager. So what is a manager' It is a question that I cannot answer any better now than I could before I asked other people for their input. I guess that the real answer to this question is that there is no right or wrong answer. A manager does so many things that their duties and responsibilities cannot be completely summed up. I also came to find that people are so quick to criticize a manager and think that they could do the job better, yet in reality do not know how hard managing really is. To sum it all up, a manager is a human being trying to make a living to support their families just like the people that work for them.