Mintzberg & Fayol

Robert Torino is a recent M.B.A. graduate who just accepted a management position at a small company (125 employees) in the Northeast. He has been reflecting on some of the things he learned in school regarding the complex responsibilities of contemporary managers, and is a little apprehensive about whether or not he will be able to apply this knowledge with excellence. What key managerial functions (Fayol) and roles (Mintzberg) must Robert master in order to do his job effectively? Do you see any similarities between Fayol's concepts and Mintzberg's concepts? If so, what are they? How are these two approaches to classifying managerial responsibilities different? Since control is a central managerial responsibility, tell Robert what the key components of a well designed control system are, and why each component is important. In evaluating his employees' performance (one component of the control system), what specific characteristics should Robert's performance measurement system have if he wished to motivate his employees to behave in organizationally-desirable ways? Why are these measurement characteristics necessary?

According to Fayol, there are four critical managerial functions in order for a manger to perform his job effectively: planning, organizing, leading and controlling. He identifies the planning function as the process of setting objectives and establishing a course of action to achieve those objectives. This function is not as easy as it appears; it requires subordinate participation this way objectives will be accepted. It also requires setting specific and challenging goals as supposed to unclear ones. Goals setting process may be impacted by politics within the organization.

The second function identified by Fayol is organizing. This requires the development of an organizational structure and allocation of human resources to accomplish the objective set during the planning phase. Organization, however, needs to take into consideration various...