Smart Management for Rough Times
Introduction
Smart Management for Tough Times. Is an article by Jena McGregor that focuses on some of the priorities adopted by businesses mainly for maintaining profitability, improving management within the organisation and creating a satisfied client environment. Some of the strategies adopted by companies after the recession to improve their performance include lying off employees, reducing the salaries of the higher rank managers among other things. By implementing some of the measures discussed in the article, the companies realise more profitability.
On management, there is the re-evaluation of some of the management practices. This includes a more democratic management structure adopted by some companies, differing with the command and control hierarchy in the past. Through conducting a research on the market trends, companies are now at a better position to make informed decisions. By conducting the market research, the businesses are able to keep track of the technological developments, which would enable them to assess consumer behaviour, leading them to making an informed decision on business development.
Is a devolved management system in a company the best way to manage a company effectively?
The article shows some of the methods adopted by a business to improve their performance after the economic recession. The article shows a change or transformation of leadership in businesses before and after the economic recession. There are practices adopted by the managers in a company that help in making more informed decisions, practices like conducting research on the market trends and technological changes.
Examples of biasness or faulty reasoning in the article include the following:
- The number of employees determines the size of a company. The article shows that layoffs can alter the company size, which might not be true.
- The article shows that companies in the past did not solve the problems of their customers. This is an information bias because there are some companies, especially in the service sector that solved the problems of their customers.
The article favours a more democratic management system as opposed to a command and control management. In a command and control hierarchy, there are fewer management levels, which ensure that the cost of running the business is lower as compared to a more democratic management. The close supervision in this kind of management provides immediate feedback for more effectiveness. In the command and control management, there is a high degree of control. This ensures that there is a slim chance of misappropriation of company resources and ensures more effectiveness (McGregor, 2009).
The article also shows that companies are involving themselves in solving problems that customers go through so that they can ensure a productive business. Solving the customer problems also ensures that they are happy and appreciative of the products they get form the business. This might not be entirely true for monopolistic companies. Monopolies tend to use their business position in any industry to make maximum profits. Customers might demand a lower price on an inflated commodity price from a monopolistic company. The monopoly might not take care of the price and ends up not solving the customers’ needs (Bassett 2009).
Reference
Bassett, G. A. (2009). Operations management for service industries: Competing in the service era. Westport, Conn: Quorum Books.
Jena McGregor (2009).Smart Management for Tough Times.
