Posts Tagged ‘business’

The 3 Basic Managerial Skills For Effective Decision-Making

October 30th, 2011

Managerial skills are vital for an executive responsible for the performance of a major segment of an organization, or even of the whole organization itself. Not anybody can be in this top-level management post, by all means. The tasks involved in management are crucial and has to be handled by a competent and capable individual. A manager is basically a decision-maker, and being so, he or she must possess the necessary managerial skills.

The 3 Basic Managerial Skills

Technical skills – a manager has to be capable of using the techniques, method and equipment needed to perform and accomplish appropriate tasks within the organization. Specialized knowledge and analytical ability are part of effective technical skills. Technical managerial skills are largely developed by on- the- job training programs.

Human skills – a manager has to have the ability to foster positive business and interpersonal relationships. This of course includes being able to work effectively with others, not only in a business-like manner, but with a personal touch as well. A manager is a person in authority and high position, but he or she must have a sense of feeling for others and appreciate the rights of the subordinates. How a manager interacts with subordinates, equals and superiors signify their human skills. The ability to motivate others falls under the category of managerial human skills. Human skills entail a manager to be aware of his/her own attitudes, beliefs and assumptions about other individuals and groups. In the same way, he/she understands and fully utilizes the usefulness and limitations of these feelings.

Conceptual skills – this managerial skill is essential in decision-making wherein the manager is able to see the whole organization or enterprise as a distinct unit of operation. Conceptual skills of a manager enable him or her to clearly understand the nature of a problem before taking steps to finding solutions. Managerial conceptual skills allow a manager to recognize the relation and dependence of the various functions of the organization to one another. He or she realizes that one part affects all the others. The manager can visualize the relationship of the individual business to the concerned industry, to the community and the social, political and economic forces of the nation entirely.

Are managerial skills innate or learned? Education, training and experience enable a manager to develop the necessary skills for the job, but the significance of core values cannot be disregarded. A manager manages process, but to be fully effective, managerial skills need to be incorporated with leadership skills. Managerial skills are better implemented when powered by leadership skills.

Posted in Management Skills

Workforce Management Tips – Time and Attendance

October 23rd, 2011

Getting your workforce to work effectively is the job of any good manager. Here what you are doing is taking a group of people who have been thrown together and then transforming them into a well oiled machine that can pump out the maximum amount of work with the highest efficiency thereby getting you more output for the same amount of money and making your clients happy as possible as their products and services are completed to a good standard and in record time.

One aspect of your workforce management that will have a particularly large impact on the effectiveness of your team and the money that your company earns is your time and attendance system. You need to implement some method in order to make sure that your staff attend your premises when you have agreed, that they are efficient in arriving on time, and that they get paid for the hours that they do. How you do this will effect how much money you get from them and will effect their satisfaction also.

The main way to do this is with some kind of time clock. In the old days this worked by punching the time onto a small card that could be counted up at the end of the day, but technology has come on since then. By using digital time clocks it is possible to use a swipe card, PIN number or even biometric data (such as retinal scans or fingerprints) in order to identify workers when they arrive and then add their time to the system. This then is added up automatically which is the great news as it means that you are not paying anyone to count up lots of work times and as it means that you won’t make any mistakes.

When you are choosing time clocks it is a good idea to choose biometric time clocks as they will ensure that your staff don’t try and pull a fast one by getting anyone else to sign them in. You can also improve honesty and make sure that the machines are used as intended by employing CCTV around the premises. While you won’t often look this back, if ever there is a dispute as to the time someone signed in then you can use these records. Furthermore it will deter most people from trying to lie. At the same time it is a good idea to keep some kind of online element that allows your staff to log in from home. This is important as it allows them to signify that they have worked for you from home or from a business trip and this will ensure that they still get paid for that work without making your system more complicated.

Using some kind of flexible hours that allow your staff to work from home is a great option that will help to improve your time and attendance. As people can earn time at home or organize it, they will feel less inclined to call in sick or fake their attendance. This also helps to improve their work satisfaction as flexi time allows them to fit work around their lives.

For every growing business they have to be mindful of their workforce management skills. When staff numbers are growing, you also need to have a good time and attendance procedure.

Posted in Business Management