(iii)
The
capacity to rise above the minutiae
of day to day reality and formulate an overview of the general picture, to
ignore the trees and see the forest, as it were. Management experts in giant
international corporations have coined the term "helicopter
ability" to describe this capacity.
There
is no doubt that vision in this sense is an indispensable prerequisite for
both top- and medium-level managers.
3.
INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY:
Management
experts in advanced societies have noticed from their study of thousand of
annual reports on large numbers and sectors
of employees in various corporations and economic organization that
most people perform their work according to set patterns, without trying to
introduce variations from time to time. to their techniques of work or
to the idea behind these techniques. They
also noticed that, in marked contrast to the vast majority, a small
percentage of employees constantly reexamine their technique and performance,
making for a corresponding renewal in the form and substance of their work.
Constantly trying to break out of the mould in which most of
their colleagues are content to remain throughout their working life,
these employees seek always to
renew, create and innovate. Those who reach the pinnacles of power in the
biggest corporations come from this small group or innovative and creative
people who refuse to be typecast and who are driven by a compulsion to renew
and develop themselves continuously.
4.
BUSINESS SENSE:
People
in public employment, particularly in government departments. often lose sight
of the fact that the ultimate goal of any work is the realization of profits.
For economic corporations and establishments in advanced industrial societies,
on the other hand, the profit-making
ethic reigns supreme. As they see it, each and every employee, however humble
his position in the organizational structure, should focus his sights on that
ultimate goal of realizing profits and economic success.
Business
sense is one of those elusive attributes that separate effective managers from
less effective ones. As any economic unit in. advanced industrial societies is
appraised in terms of its commercial success, a manager's business
sense is constantly called into play as he strives to expand the horizons of
his unit's success. This should become the norm in a country like Egypt today,
where business sense is woefully lacking.
Managers of companies and establishments and key executives in these
units must be called to account for the
economic performance of their units according to standardised criteria.
Units which fail to meet these criteria should be subject to sanctions,
at the very least, salaries and bonuses should be linked to the degree of
economic success achieved by the unit. Moreover, the continued occupation of
positions of responsibility should be made conditional on the incumbent's
success in achieving targeted commercial results. If a company that is losing
annually, or even
showing profits below those protected, remains
under the same management year after year, this does not make for a healthy
climate of work. Quite the contrary, it dampens the enthusiasm and commitment
of most, if not all, the members of the company's work force and strips them
of all initiative.
5.
ABILITY TO DELEGATE:
Management
In underdeveloped societies differs from that In advanced societies In many
ways. One of the most important is that in underdeveloped societies management
tends to be highly centralized, often authorisation If not outright
autocratic. Power Is usually concentrated In the hands of the man at the top
of the organizational structure, the "boss", while subordinates are
relegated to carrying out orders without being involved at any stage of the
decision-making process. As a result, large numbers of
employees become so alienated that they are unfit for any but the most
undemanding work.
In
advanced societies, on the other hand, the concept of modern management has
greatly evolved in the direction of delegating authority to middle-level
managers. Today, delegation has become one of the fundamental principles of
successful management. It is a principle founded on the belief that delegation
is highly beneficial to all parties: manager, subordinates and organization.
The
more day-to-day responsibilities a manager can delegate, the more time he has
to pursue a strategic role, defined more in
terms of planning, visualizing long-term perspectives and following up
the attainment of organizational goals than of actual
execution. The scope of vision of a manager who applies the principle
of delegation in his organization Is definitely broader than that of the
manager who gets bogged down in details.
The
subordinate to whom some of the manager's
responsibilities are delegated develops strong loyalty to the organization,
becomes more effective and shows greater initiative. An organization run
according to the principle of delegation is one in which a harmonious spirit
of healthy cooperation, devoid of
in-fighting and power struggles, prevails.
Delegation
reflects self-confidence on the part
of the manager assigning part of his work-load to others, as well as
his confidence in the ability of others to carry out the tasks delegated to
them. By the same token, a manager who does not delegate authority is an
insecure man who lacks confidence in his own abilities, let alone in the
abilities of subordinates.
Extensive
research proves that a manager who does not believe In delegation ends up
running an organization that is fraught with internal tensions, between
himself and his subordinates on the one hand and among
these subordinates on the other.
6.
ABILITY TO MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES:
An
essential qualification of a successful manager or leader is his ability to
stimulate enthusiasm and dedication in the people
working with him. Employee motivation is of crucial importance to
managers, mainly because of the role it plays in performance. Basically, a
motivated employee is one who sees
organizational goals as part of his own goal
sets and works hard to achieve them.
Loyal and dedicated, he is eager to rise to the challenges of his job
and unstinting in his efforts to
maintain a high performance rate. An unmotivated employee, on the other hand,
is one who will do only the bare minimum
necessary to get by, and no more. A manager who demotivates his employees
ends up with a demoralized and inefficient staff, unwilling to make any
meaningful contribution to the organization. Motivating employees is thus
beneficial not only for the workers themselves, but also, and equally, for the
organization and the manager.
There
are several methods by which employees can be motivated, including financial
rewards and other benefits that reflect management's satisfaction with an
employee's performance.
However,
while the role of material incentives in the motivational factors have proved
equally effective:
a)
Future prospects, promotion
and advancement: An employee's will to work can be greatly stimulated
(especially during the first two-thirds of his working life) if he believes
that his efforts will result in his promotion and elevation to a higher level
within the organizational hierarchy.
b)
Moral appreciation: Motivation
can be greatly enhanced through job satisfaction, which is the employee's
feeling that management is satisfied with his performance and appreciates the
value of his input.
7.
ABILITY TO CREATE BELIEVERS, NOT FOLLOWERS:
One
of the main ideas put forward in contemporary management perspectives is that
an effective manager is one who succeeds in. making the people working for
him believe in what they are doing. rather than follow orders blindly.
A subordinate who is convinced of
the value of his work and of the aims of the organization by which
he is employed will strive to achieve those aims. The reverse is
equally true: a subordinate who does not identify with his organization's
goals will not perform effectively.
In the same way an army that believes in the justness of its cause will fight
better than an army whose soldiers are simply following orders, an
organization in which there is a high degree of belief and commitment among
the staff will operate at high
capacity to achieve its goals.
8.
CHARISMA:
The
term charisma has come to be widely used over the last two decades to describe
an intangible attribute in a person's personality that inspires loyalty and
enthusiasm in his peers or subordinates. As applied to leaders or managers, it
denotes the ability to influence the behaviour of others. Charisma-based
influence can be clearly discerned in the case of orators: the same speech
delivered by two different people can elicit very different responses. Where
one speaker can sway his audience through sheer force of personality, or
charisma, the other might leave them totally
unmoved. A necessary attribute in leaders, orators and preachers, a certain
measure of charisma is also an asset in organizational leadership or
management.
9.
ABILITY TO ACHIEVE THE DIFFICULT EQUATION OF HORIZONTAL & VERTICAL JOB-
ENRICHMENT:
A
significant contribution to management theory and practice came from a noted
professor of management at Harvard University,
who noticed that most top leadership positions in the United States are not
filled by technocrats. For
example, the current Defence Secretary, Dick Cheney, is not a military man,
the Health Secretary is not a doctor and the Education Secretary was never
pedagogue. After extensive
research, the author concluded that all cabinet ministers and top executives
of major corporations in the US (who are even more powerful in American
society than cabinet ministers) are drawn from a pool of public figures know
in contemporary management terminology as "generalists". The survey
conducted by the Harvard professor covered
the chief executives of such giant corporations as General Motors,
Esso, General Electric and Ford
as well as hundreds of top public
officials.
According
to the study, this is in direct contrast to the pattern prevailing in the
Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Third World countries - especially those
applying a command economy - where all ministerial and top economic and
managerial posts are filled by specialized technocrats.
For example, the Minister for Electrical Power in the Soviet Union is
an electrical engineer who began his career in a power plant thirty years ago
and moved up gradually to his present post. His case is a typical example of
how most of the leading administrative and economic posts are filled in these
countries.
Analyzing
this phenomenon. the author notes that only a free and effective management
climate such as that prevailing in advanced societies can produce the
generalist manager, whose dependence on his field of specialization ends some
ten years after graduation.
Following that period, he begins to learn new skills - managerial, economic
and technical - that broaden his horizons and enhance his job-enrichment
potential. It is the experience and skills he acquires at this time that
qualify him for leadership.
To
illustrate how the concept of management has evolved from that of the
specialized manager, or technocrat, to that of the
generalist breed of managers, the author points to the field or
hospital management in the United States. The exclusive province
of doctors in the past, has, over the last fifty years, come to be seen
more as a managerial than a medical function and hospitals are
now administered by managers drawn from outside the medical profession.
The author drives home the point that the
responsibilities of running a hospital are
more managerial than medical in nature by listing the functions of any
hospital administrator. These include, for example:
-
the supply and purchase of material and equipment, including furniture,
kitchens, generators, computers, etc.
-
personnel affairs: recruiting, hiring and training of hospital staff,
as well as dealing with doctors and surgeons.
-
administrative affairs: the organizational structure of the
hospital, departmentalization, spans of control, etc.
These
functions make it abundantly clear that hospital management is a specialty
that is quite separate and distinct from that of the medical profession.
What
applies to hospitals applies equally to any organization, where the scope of
management, especially at the highest levels, extends far beyond that of
narrow specialization. An
effective manager must be skilled in administrative, economic and commercial
matters, skills that can only be acquired after long years of training and
experience outside the area of narrow specialization. It is these general
qualifications which, together with predisposition and talent. create the
successful manager. Accordingly, one of the most important tasks of management
is to strike the appropriate
balance between horizontal and vertical job-enrichment in order to create a
small group of generalists capable of realizing effective, creative,
productive and developed management.
10.
ABILITY TO TEACH OTHERS:
The
ability to teach others is a vital component of the successful leader or
manager. It is impossible
for a person lacking this aptitude to lead large numbers of employees. The
transmission of experience, ideas and acquired skills to others within an
organization, and hence the continued development of that organization, can
only be achieved through the process of teaching.
III-
MANAGEMENT'S ROLE IN REFORMING SOCIETY.
An
enormous gap separates the developed industrial countries from those of the
Third World, as well as from those of what is
known as the Second World, which comprises the Soviet Union and the
countries of Eastern Europe. The gap arose as a result of the general
and comprehensive development of the former and the back-wardness and
regression of the latter. Even if the
countries of the Third World were to attain the same rates of productivity and
progress as those prevailing in the countries of the advanced world, this
would not narrow the gap between the two worlds, because the latter will also
continue to move forward. The
situation lends itself to one of three possibilities:
1-
Either that Third World
countries continue to move
forward at the same sluggish pace, while those of the advanced world maintain
their current rates of development.
2-
Or that they succeed in
achieving the same rate of progress as the advanced countries.
3-
Or that they succeed not only
in progressing at the same pace but in actually narrowing the gap separating
them from the advanced countries.
In
the first case, the gap between the two worlds will widen still further,
exposing Third World countries to acute social problems, which could take the
form of social upheavals or even civil war.
In
the second case, the gap between the two worlds will remain the same, with the
result that the Third World will continue to be dependent on the advanced
industrial world in the area of science and technology.
Should
the third scenario come to pass, then the Third World could approach the
Japanese model and, at a later stage, the South Korean model, both examples of
countries which, while not belonging to the advanced Western world, have
nevertheless caught up with and stand on an equal footing with the countries
of that world.
The
third scenario can only be achieve through creative and effective management.
In as much as the main challenge for Third World countries is to change
individual and group behavioural norms and to modify certain sets of values
hindering progress, the only tool capable of effecting the desired changes
within a reasonable time-frame is sound
management. It is impossible to effect changes in societal patterns of
behaviour through political and legislative tools, and
all attempts to do so in contemporary history have proved singularly
unsuccessful.
A
country like Egypt cannot hope to overcome
the multitude of problems besetting without a revolution in
management that would replace the civil servants currently occupying
top management posts by economic managers in
the contemporary sense of the word. The bureaucratic prototype of the
manager produced by Third world countries in the fifties and sixties under the
influence of socialist ideas has
become one of the main diseases plaguing these countries. Keeping glorified
civil servants in top management posts can only compound the economic problems
of Third World countries, which must rid themselves of these poor excuses for
managers without further delay.
IV-
FACTORS IMPEDING MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT.
1-
A strong sense of rights without a corresponding sense of obligations:
The
members of any society that has gone through a period of socialist rule are
highly conscious of their rights without developing
a sense of duty and obligation. Much of the blame can be traced to
labour legislations whose strong
bias in favour of employees and hostility to employers is reflected in the
respective scope of the rights granted to each. This makes for a sharp
discrepancy between the rights of employees on the one hand and those of
employers on the other.
In
Western societies on the other hand, where the spirit of competition is
pervasive and where an employee knows he will remain in
his job only as long as his performance is satisfactory, the sense of
obligation which employees feel towards their place of work is
as well-developed as their sense of rights.
2-
Perceiving employment as a social right:
In
advanced industrial societies, a job is regarded both as a component element
of the production process and as the means by which individuals can earn a
living through contributing to this process. In societies with a socialist
orientation, jobs are widely regarded as one of the rights of citizenship that
is the due of any citizen regardless of the value of his work or the manner of
its performance.
3-
A weak commitment to work:
Management
experts in advanced industrial societies talk of a special bond that should
exist in the relationship between the worker
and the place of work, referring to it
sometimes as loyalty and sometimes as commitment. Whatever the term
used, an employee who is highly committed to his work is a great asset. When
this intangible bond is absent, it is not the fault of the
employee alone, but the natural result of a disbalance in his
relationship with his place of work. Here management's responsibility
is undeniable.
4-
Eastern life-style hinders adoption
of work ethic
prevailing in advanced societies:
Life
in Eastern societies is characterised- by a high degree of social intercourse,
which represents an important value in people' lives and takes up a great deal
of their time The tempo of life
in these societies being what it is, it is difficult for work to be the focal
point of people's lives. While nobody wants our society to become a
replica of the West, where individualism has taker precedence
over the communal spirit and where social and family ties are
disintegrating, a middle course can surely be struck between the two
life-styles, one in which social life need not function a the expense
of dedication to work.
5-
Misconceptions concerning the prerogatives of management:
The
citizens of developed societies recognize that one of the prerogatives of
managers and employers is the right to decide, at their sole discretion, to
terminate an employee who fails to produce the required quantity or quality of
work. This is far from axiomatic in our society, where management's dismissal
of an employee for poor performance
invariably arouses furious hostility, that is further exacerbated by the
absence of a system of unemployment insurance
like that available in advanced societies. This immature understanding of the
prerogatives of management is yet another
constraint hampering the freedom of managers.
6-
Decline in general and technical education and in standards of crafts:
Egypt's
introduction to education in its contemporary sense dates back to the era of
Mohamed Aly, who sent the first of many missions of Egyptian students to
Europe in 1826. By the third decade of this century, general and university
education in Egypt was quite advanced. In fact, the Egyptian educational
system at the time was on a par with
the systems in the most advanced countries.
But with the political trend of the fifties and sixties to expand education
quantitatively, that is, to make it available to hundreds of thousands, rather
than tens of thousands, came a sharp decline in the quality of education and
in the standards of teachers and students.
The
decline in the standard of the teaching profession was further exacerbated by
the political and economic conditions prevailing in the fifties and sixties.
This was followed by a sharp rise in the demand for teachers, both internally
and in the Arab countries, a development that contributed to the deterioration
in standards of performance. As the demand for quantity grew, quality
declined. and teaching came to be seen more as a craft than a profession. The
decline in general and technical education and in
standards of crafts is naturally reflected in the quality of the labour
pool from which management is forced to recruit staff
members.
7-
Absence of a spirit of competition:
The
continued progress of Western industrial societies can be largely attributed
to the spirit of competition which pervades all walks of life. Starting from
primary school and on through all
stages of education, training and work, the citizens of these societies are
spurred on by their competitive drive. It is this mechanism which allows
advanced societies to constantly sift through their human resources for the
best and most efficient elements who can lead society and push the the wheel
of progress forward. The spirit of competition is sadly lacking in
Third World societies (as well as in those of
the Second World), with the result that mediocrity has become the
order of the day. Competing for excellence has been replaced
by rivalry in forming cliques and power groups and in fomenting
intrigues.
8-
Unfamiliarity with the Western model of the executive manager:
The
idea of the executive manager, or CEO, so
firmly established in the West, is unknown in Third World countries. In
Western industrial societies, the executive manager is a person who has proved
himself a generalist capable of achieving economic success for his
organization and possessed of all
the attributes of an effective manager.
In
Third World societies, on the other hand, those who go by the title of manager
are actually civil service staff
who are totally unversed in the science of management in its contemporary
sense. Advanced societies have turned their back on this model of the civil
servant manager who has proved incapable of achieving economic success.
9-
Weakness of professional training:
One
of the most effective formulae by which employee productivity can be maximised
is the development of work-related skills through training.
Most organizations in advanced industrial societies provide regular
training programmes for their staff, which are a key element in the progress
and development of these societies.
The importance of training
is poorly understood
in Third World countries, where the civil
servant mentality has give rise to such adverse side-effects as
promotion by seniority regardless of merit.
By developing the potentials of employees, training allows employers to
pick the best among them for assignment to special tasks.
The current state of the Egyptian labour force in general and of the
technical labour force in general and
of the technical labour force in particular makes it imperative to focus on
training as the means by which society's potential for development can be
unleashed.
10-
Prevalence of the autocratic model of manager:
In
Third World countries, the autocratic style of management is predominant.
Power is concentrated in the hands of the manager,
who relegates those immediately below him in the chain of command to
the status of lowly soldiers taking orders without question from their
general. There are many reasons for the prevalence of this phenomenon, the
most important being that in a society
dominated by the civil servant mentality, top positions are all too
often filled by incompetent
people who could never have risen to positions of responsibility if
advancement depended on competence. In fact, the refusal of the autocratic
manager to delegate any of his powers is more revealing of his lack of
confidence in his own abilities than it is of a lack of confidence in the
abilities of others.
11-
Tendency to personalize objective factors:
In
Eastern cultures, the lines of demarcation between the objective and the
personal are often blurred. This curious phenomenon can
be seen in any debate between people holding different viewpoints.
Instead of arguing their case on the basis of its objective merits, we find
them launching personal attacks against the proponent of the opposing point of
view. Mixing the objective with the personal is a negative characteristic of
tribal cultures which can only be overcome through raising the educational and
cultural level of society as a whole.
12-
The attitude to promotions:
Promotion
in our society proceeds according to outdated notions that
need to be totally revolutionized. In the advanced world, promotion and
leadership are no longer a function of seniority, age or chronological
sequence of graduation or employment, but
are based on ability and performance. In our society, on the other
hand, age is unduly venerated, perhaps because of our long
history. This perception of seniority must change if we are to
progress.
13-
Failure to differentiate between performance and potential:
Research
has clearly indicated that most managers in Third World countries do not
distinguish between performance and potential. In advanced industrial
societies a manager will try to appraise an employee's performance (that is
determine how effective he is in attaining the goals of his actual job)
separately from his potential (which is the possibilities of future
advancement). High performance merits such rewards as raises, bonuses and
moral appreciation but on its own is not grounds for promotion. What
determines an employee's promotion is management's judgement of his potential.
An employee with a high performance rating could lack the attributes necessary
for his promotion to a higher level of responsibility.
14-
Weakness of management system:
Lack
of discipline within an organizational framework is a major defect of Third
World societies. It falls to effective management
and the educational institution to remedy this defect and thereby
remove one of the main obstacles in the way of progress.
15-
Lack of assimilation of values governing Industrial societies:
The
transition of Western countries from an agricultural to an industrial system,
a process which began over two centuries ago, wrought radical changes in
society, especially in what sociologists call the system of values. The
industrial revolution brought with it a whole new set of values, headed by an
enhanced appreciation of time, precision and productivity, values which are
today firmly established in industrial societies.
One of the most pressing tasks of our educational institution is to implant
these values in society. The notion of time in an agricultural society, where
life revolves around the cycle of the seasons and the
vagaries of nature, is
much more fluid than it is in Western societies, where time is money
and schedules and deadlines must be strictly observed. Until we adopt
the values of industrial societies, we cannot effect the required changes in
individual and group patterns of behaviour.