The characteristics required by a good manager are well-documented and clearly definable. The person has to be, among other things, responsible communicative, supportive and approachable. These adjectives are not gender-based, and focus attention on interpersonal skills, but a fierce debate still rages as to who make the best managers – men or women. The implication is that, providing an individual has all the right traits, he or she will automatically become a successful manager.
Surveys have been carried out to find out why certain individuals become national leaders. After all, if a person occupies the leading position in a country, there ought to be some common identifiable qualities which have universal appeal. The facts discovered are bizarre. For example, some leaders have been above average height or were well below it. They have been intelligent, but not geniuses and have had great enthusiasm, courage, determination, energy and faith. But possession of all these traits would be unusual in any one person. So these are necessary, but not sufficient conditions; good leaders have these qualities, but their possession alone does not make a good leader.
In his book, Understanding Organisations, professor Charles Handy claims there is not right style of leadership. He says that leadership will be most effective when the requirements of the leader, the subordinates and the task fit together. This would seem to rather exclude personality from the equation. And yet, we can all recall managers whom we have liked or disliked, so there has to be more to the magic formula for a successful manager. Handy adds that managers need value systems which would acknowledge the desire for personal success and the planning and control of the actions of the people below them in the company hierarchy.
In his later theories, he defines managers as people who are responsible for making things happen. These are professionals who are accountable to the people who pay them and to the people working with and for them. Managers take responsibility for the actions of others. This is a popular modern definition of a manager, and while Handy accepts that personal characteristics like assertiveness, patience, loyalty and consistency are very important, he has added further vital statistics which he calls the four Ps: Projects (in which teams are involved), Professionalism, Passion and Pride.
1. In the first paragraph the writer says that managers:
a. can only be men
b. need a balance of people skills
c. are successful if they have strong, dominant personalities
2. What does the writer believe makes a successful national leader?
b. people who are tall
c. people who are intelligent and determined
d. research has been of little help
3. Charles Handy thinks:
b. the tendency to be subordinate is vital for a manager
c. managers should dominate the people below them
d. there is no single form of good managership
4. The modern definition of a manager is:
a. someone who is answerable to shareholders
b. a person who is ambitious
c. someone, who has a duty to both his or her subordinates and superiors
Writing
You have been asked by your Corporate Affairs Director to make hotel reservations for thirty people for a management conference during July or August. The following points are important.
The hotel must have a conference room with Power Point available.
All bedrooms must have private bathrooms.
The restaurant must be at least four-star, and there should be a swimming pool and gymnasium.
Your director has sent you the following hand-written note:
Please check if the hotel caters for handicapped people, as one delegate is in a wheelchair. And don’t forget to ask for a good discount!
