Assignment on Developing the executive manager

Job description: I am working at TK Maxx as a team leader of the women department. I have to do many tasks like leading team on women department, task allocation between shop floor staffs, organizing logistic support, communication, team work, conflict management (problem solving), time management and customer service. There are four staffs who are working under my supervision. In my department there are various women apparels like tops, trousers, jackets, knitwear (jumper, cardigan), active wear (sports dress), under garments and so on. I have to decide job allocation between my subordinates.
All those staffs are busy in tidy up the premises and merchandising until shop closing. I help customers to choose best options. Customers like to give a trial in fitting room; if they like products they take those with them to pay in counter but if they don’t like they put those in fitting room. I have to check fitting rooms frequently and ask staffs to collect those apparels from fittings room and display those products in their proper places. Meanwhile I have to do some paper works like list out number of  tag on log book and manager signs log books hourly. Manager comes and checks the health and safety issues regularly and monitors our works. I work as a communicator between top management and other staffs. I pass the higher authorities order to my subordinates and needs and demands of subordinates to higher authority. My main tasks are helping my manager and monitoring my subordinates. I try to promote our products among the customers and give various offers to them. If any customer has any quarry I try my best to give the answer and if it is beyond my capacity then I refer him to my manager. The main target of our team is to satisfy our customers by providing excellent customer service and to increase our sell as much as we can. We help each other in the team and it is a team work, so we help each other at our level best. If any staffs need extra training, I informed my manager to provide him the opportunity to improve his/her skills and caliber. I monitor my subordinate’s tasks and if they do any mistake I told them to rectify those immediately. If any conflict arises among the staffs I try to solve the problem but if I can’t I refer it to my manager. We always keep our working place nice and tidy. I close my shift on time.      

  

Performance target:

SMART performance target: increase annual sales volume of women department by 5 percent while maintaining excellent customer service  

1.1    collect and analyze feedback from appraisal/performance management systems and from colleagues about own management practice, and operational data about own managerial effectiveness

I collect the feedback from appraisal/ performance management systems, colleagues and customers.( 4 managers, 10 colleagues, 6 customers) about own management practice and operational data about own managerial effectiveness. I collect this feedback by making my questionnaire which is attached as appendix. It was very difficult get managers and customers feedback because managers are always busy with their job and regular customers were not always available. Sometimes I have to go my store early morning, off days which day I was not working. Also to catch customer’s I have to take supporting help from my colleagues. But it was very easy to collect colleague’s feedback on my break time I was getting easily their answers. I make questionnaire about leadership skills, task allocation between shop floor staffs, organizing logistic support, communication, team work, conflict management (problem solving), time management and customer service. For each area there are three questions and I average those answers and show those in the graphs. Here I am analyzing my overall performance feedback:

Feedback from managers

         

      

Questionnaire and the result of the survey are provided in Appendix. Here the result is represented in graph. I ask every participant to rate me 1 to 5 according to my performance. In survey most of the managers mark my average is just above the average performance. My scores in leadership skills, task allocation skills, time management skills, logistic support, communication skills, team work, conflict management and customer service are 3.41, 4.08, 3.58, 4.08, 3.58, 4.16, 4 and 4.08 respectively. My average score is 3.87. From the data it is found that managers are very much satisfied about my task allocation, logistic support, and team work and customer service. They point out that I have some problems in leadership skills, time management skills and communication skills. I have to take immediate steps to improve those skills.    

Feed-back from colleagues:

            

From the graph it is found that colleagues are satisfied about my performance but not that much. They marked my leadership skills, task allocation, time management skills, communication skills, team work, conflict management and customer service as 3.36, 4.1, 3.33, 3.36, 4.1, 4.13 and 4.2 respectively. They give me good points in task allocation, team work, conflict management and customer service but mentioned my lacking in leadership skills, communication skills and time management skills. My average score from colleagues is 3.79. From the survey I found that managers and colleagues perceptions regarding my skills are quite same. I decided to improve my leadership skills, time management skills and communication skills as soon as possible.  

Feed-back from customers:

Objectives	1	2	3	4	5	Average
Customer service			2	2	2	4.46
				3	3
				4	2
			2	2	2
				3	3

I get good comments from customers for my customer service. They give me 4.46 point out of 5, so my customer service is quite good. As customers are too much busy, I don’t ask them too much questions. I just ask some fundamental questions regarding customer service. 

1.2    critically evaluate own management performance, based on performance information, with reference to significant management theories or models and schools or trends in management training

My management style is critically evaluated on basis of management theories and those theories are:

Time management skills:

As an international student I have to work part time as well as my study. Sometimes I attend college after my work; so sometimes I become late at my work. Sometimes I feel pressure about my job and can’t concentrate properly. That time I can’t finish my job on time. I have to do a lot of work at home and my working place. I have some lacking in time management skills and few managers and colleagues also agreed on this issue. I want to improve my time management skills. According to Taylor, “Management will organise work and control workers so that jobs can be done as efficiently as possible. Tell people what to do! Workers need to do what they are told to do! Work should be studied scientifically, broken down into specialized jobs. Careful personnel selection and linking must pay to performance”. (Mitcham, Carl and Adam, 2005) Next time I will stipulate my job in small tasks and allocate time for each job and I will check my “Do List” frequently and mark after completion of my tasks. 

Communication skills:

As an international student, sometimes I have some problems to understand the British accent. Communication skills are very important for leadership and without good communication skills a person never become good leader. Sometimes I face some cockney customers which accent is really abstruse to understand. That time I seek help from my manager. Few managers and colleagues point out the issues that I have some problems in communication. According to the Elton Mayo “an increase in worker productivity was produced by the psychological stimulus of being singled out, involved, and made to feel important. Employees will respond positively to any novel change in work environment like better illumination, clean work stations, relocating workstations etc.” (Tecnofunc, 2012) Team leader will be responsible to motivate his employees at regular basis.    

I need to cooperate with my subordinates and need to transfer organizational objectives to employees. If a manager communicate properly with his employees and motivate them properly, those will increase employee productivity. Mary Parker Follett mentioned that organization must focus on employee autonomy, participation and manager must coordinate group effort. Here managers will ask for employee input and incentives for participation which increase employee productivity; as a result company can earn more revenue (Follet, 2003)

Customer service:

According to my managers and colleagues I provide good customer service to my customers. Customers are too much pleased about my service. If any customer gives a complaint or suggestion I treat it seriously. I discuss it with my managers. Customer service is very essential for smooth running of an organization. If any company does not provide good customer service, it is sure the company will destroy its reputation within few days and lost its potential customers. Company will try to improve its products and services regularly through their employees. According to Deming, “everyone in the organization strives to continuously improve customer satisfaction; everyone is looking at ways to improve process and products” (Martin, 2010). Organization will manage various trainings for their employees including managers to improve its products and services. All employees need to concentrate on customer satisfaction. According to Drucker, “there is only one valid definition of business purpose –namely to create a customer; the customer is the foundation of a business and keeps it in existence. He alone gives employment”. He also mentioned that the basic function of business is marketing and innovation. All employees must have adequate knowledge regarding their products and services and they will always try to improve their services and products through innovation (Ducker, 1954).

Leadership skills:

It is very important skill at workplace and it is very essential for a manager. As a team leader, I have to lead my team. I am working as a team leader just for one year, so I have some lacking in leadership skill. My managers and colleagues also found that I have fewer competencies in leadership skills. I try to lead my team properly to accomplish our job on time. According to the Weber “power educes obedience through force or the threat of force which induces individuals to adhere to regulations”. According to him, there are three types of power in an organization:- Traditional Power, Charismatic Power and Bureaucratic Power or Legal Power (Akrani, 2011). My leadership style is bureaucratic rather than traditional and charismatic as I admire industrial workers, follow hierarchical structure, choose employees on technical expertise, and follow the rules and regulations of the organizations and give importance on legal power and impersonal relations.

According to Follett, “Leadership is a communal, not individual, achievement.” He also mentioned that “leaders need to be autocratic, aggressive, masterful, dominating, compelling and imposing for they must militate, lay down the law and give order”. He mentioned that knowledge is the first requisite of leadership. He state that "The best leader knows how to make his followers actually feel power themselves, not merely acknowledge his power” (Follet, 2003). Every day I am trying to learn more leadership skills. I follow my superior managers every day. Most of the time I inspire employees which increase the performance of employees. The key terms associated with Covey’s inside-out philosophy teaches a proactive leader that thinks "win-win" and creates productive employees who enjoy a higher level of job satisfaction (Business Website, 2013).

It is very tough to be a leader if leadership is not inherent and it is possible to create leader by management. Management may produce manager but not leader. According to Peter Drucker, “Management can’t create leaders: it can only create the conditions under which potential leaders will become effective; The supply of leadership is much too limited and unpredictable to be dependent upon for the creation of the spirit the business enterprise needs to be productive and to hold together (Drucker, 1954)”.

Kotter himself has stated, "The fundamental purpose of management is to keep the current system functioning. The fundamental purpose of leadership is to produce useful change." When properly used, Kotter's theory will help me to overcome resistance to change within the company, and thereby facilitate organizational transformation (Business Website, 2013).

Team work:

We always work in a team. All the employees of women department are very cooperative and helpful. We help each other when anyone faces any kind of problem. Even anyone faces any kind of personal problems he can share with us. Our mangers are very pleased about our teamwork. It is very tough to accomplish a job alone but when we work together, synergy become immense and job is done on time. According to Follett “Power-with and power-over (power-with: groups work more effectively when power is shared and people are empowered). Power-with: co-active not coercive”. According to Deming’s management theory, “leader must know the system he is attempting to manage. Without this understanding the system can‘t be managed or improved. A system cannot understand itself or manage itself. Optimization of the parts does not optimize the whole. System optimization requires coordination and cooperation of the parts which requires leadership” (Martin, 2010). All members must cooperate and coordinate with each other for optimization. We will practice team working now and then.  

Motivational skill:

The performance of all employees is not same. Some work very fast and some are very slow in their movement and activities. In my department there are two guys who are relatively slow in their activities. Most of the time, I motivate them to give their full effort. I motivated myself personally. Motivation work best in workplace when there is a reward but it is controversial issue. According to the Taylor’s scientific management theory, “money work as a motivator and employees productivity is greatly influenced by salary or payment. When there is bonus scheme or other promotional scheme, employees like to give their full effort. Normally effective people demand for higher salary”. (Mitcham, Carl and Adam, 2005). Motivation helps employees to become satisfied at work. Abraham Maslow developed the Hierarchy of Needs that outlined what effective communication was based off of-basic needs. His Theory stated that as one level of satisfaction is met, we then go to the next level of need. Self-satisfaction and esteem were the highest priorities, and external needs were of lower priority.As if Maslow's theory wasn't solid enough, there is also McClellan's theory of needs to back it up (Bateman, T., Snell, S., 2009). McGregor developed a philosophical view of humankind with his Theory X and Theory Y in 1960. Theory X and Theory Y represent two sets of assumptions about human nature and human behavior that are relevant to the practice of management (McGregor, 1960).

Task allocation-

At first when I enter into my working place, I distributed tasks among the employees and accomplish our tasks accordingly. For an example 2 people display the products, 2 people handle the tills and so on. I can allocate tasks properly and I have already got recognition from my managers and colleagues about it. Taylor theory stated that “One can control people by offering or withholding financial rewards. Workers tend to be passive and exert less effort when possible. Unwilling to take responsibility, Workers interested in what they can get out of their work financially. They must be controlled and firmly managed”.

1.3    use this evaluation to indentify strengths in own management practice and prepare an action plan to address areas for improvement

After the evaluation it is found that I have strength on the following management practices like:

·        Creating and sustaining positive mental attitude

·        customer care

·        Team work

·        Handling different  people

·        Organizing work

·        Motivating

·        Training skill

·        Allocating staff work/task

·        Allocating meeting/operate meeting

I have lacking in:

·        Communication skills

·        Leadership skills

·        Time management skills

Action plan for the improvement of those skills:

Skill area chosen	Objective for improvement		Action planned		Resources
			Specific actions	Completions
Leadership skills:	1.1	Delegation	1. Analyze My Needs First	Ongoing	There are many resources to learn leadership skills like research documents, success stories, videos, books, websites, various institutes and various leadership development exercise and games. I can learn leadership by following our senior managers from our workplace or other institutes. This is the most practical way to learn leadership. I can learn various leadership styles by reading various leadership learning books. There are many articles appear in the press and trade journals about leadership which can teach us a lot. I can learn leadership skills from various institutes as well.
			2. Explore My Options	Ongoing
			3. Document Everything	Ongoing
			4. Develop a Prioritized Assignment Plan	Ongoing
			5. Use Technology	Ongoing
			6. Communicate Well and Often	Ongoing
			7. Cultivate Trust	Ongoing
	1.2	Direction	-Setting realistic goals:	One week
			Choose the way to accomplish a job.	One week
			Evaluate the success of a job accomplishment	around 2 months
	1.3	Motivation	Recognize myself:	Ongoing
			Think positively:	Ongoing
			Be optimistic:	Ongoing
			Set a goal in my mind:	Ongoing
Time management skills:	2.1	Approaching a Project in Order	I will learn different kinds of project management approaches	One month	There are many resources to learn time management skills like research documents, success stories, videos, books, websites, various institutes and various leadership development exercise and games. We can learn time management by following our senior managers from our workplace or other institutes. This is the most practical way to learn time management. We can learn time management by reading various time management books. There are many articles appear in the press and trade journals about time management which can teach us a lot. We can learn time management skills from various institutes as well.
			I will learn different processes of project management	One month
			I will follow international standard or maintain quality standard.	One month
	2.2	Flexibility and priorities	I will avoidprocrastination and complete my all tasks on time.	Ongoing
			I will make a list of my tasks and put time according to the tasks.	Ongoing
			Important tasks get moved to the top of the priority list	I will practice it for one month
	2.3	Learn to Set Smaller Goals	-prepare my work schedule in the morning and set time for each task. -Always try to be positive After the accomplishment of my task I will reward myself	Ongoing
Effective communication skills:	3.1	Development of Interpersonal Skills	Identifying interpersonal skills which need to develop. I want to improve my listening skills, building relationship.	Ongoing	There are many resources to learn effective communication skills like videos, books, websites, and various institutes. We can learn effective communication skills by following our senior managers from our workplace or other institutes. This is the most practical way to learn time management skills. We can learn how they talk to others.  We can learn effective communication skills by reading some books regarding this topics. We can listen some motivational speeches regarding effective communication skills. There are many articles appear in the press and trade journals about effective communication skills which can teach us a lot. We can learn communication skills from various institutes as well.  There are many websites from which we can learn time management skills.
			Then I will try to communicate with other clearly and carefully. I will listen carefully and speak clearly and practice good judgment in written communications.	It needs few times and I will give more time on this section Two months
	3.2	Message Development	At first I will improve my writing skills and non-verbal communication.	It needs few times and I will give more time on this section Two months
	3.3	Active Listening and reading non-verbal cues:	Practice to listen carefully and taking notes while attending meeting and improve my posture and gesture	It needs few times and I will give more time on this section Two months

(T. Bridge, 2013)

Review the plan: most of the development activities are taking place now according to the plan. Communication skills development needs too much time to develop. For getting full competency it needs around 6 months. After these skills I will improve my computer and technical skills as those are needed to run an operation. 

Conclusion:

Managerial skills are very important for a person and for an organization. A manager must have some certain skills like good communication, hard working, and persistency, problem solving skills, team work, and motivation and so on. For become a good leader, those skills are very essential. A skilled professional employee is a great asset of an organization. If an organization has effective team, it is very easy to prosper in this competitive world. Senior managers must raise their helping hand to the young managers or team leaders.

References:

Akrani, G. (2011), Bureaucratic Theory of management by Max Weber [Online], Available from: http://kalyan-city.blogspot.com/2011/04/bureaucratic-theory-of-management-by.html [accessed: 8th February, 2013]

Business website (2013), Management theory of Stephen Covey Key Terms [online], Available from: http://www.business.com/guides/management-theory-of-stephen-covey-key-terms-33872/,  [accessed: 8th February, 2013]  

Business website (2013), Management theory of John Kotter [online], Available from: http://www.business.com/guides/management-theory-of-john-kotter-6774/, [accessed: 8th February, 2013]  

Drucker, Peter F., The Practice of Management (1954)

Kenneth Crow (1999), Team leader responsibilities [on line], Available from: http://www.npd-solutions.com/leader.html [accessed: 8th February, 2013]

Mary P. Follett : Creating Democracy, Transforming Management, Tonn, Joan C., New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003. p. 34

Mitcham, Carl and Adam, Briggle Management in Mitcham (2005) p.1153,

MindTools (2012), Henri Fayol’s Principles of Management: Early management theory [online], Available from: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/henri-fayol.htm, [accessed: 8th February, 2013]

Martin, J. R., (2010), Deming’s theory of profound knowledge [online], Available from: http://maaw.info/DemingExhibit.htm,  [accessed: 8th February, 2013]

McGregor, D. The Human Side of Enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1960.

Tecnofunc [2012], Management theories [online], May 2012, Available from:  http://www.technofunc.com/index.php/leadership-skills/leadership-a-management/item/management-theories[accessed: 8th February, 2013]

T. Bridge (2013), 11 solid ways to improve your time management skills [online], Available from:  http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/02/11-solid-ways-to-improve-your-time.html [accessed: 8th February, 2013]

Appendix:

I ask all participants to rate my performance and skills from 1 to 5, and then I make the average.

1-      Very poor, 2- poor 3-medium 4- good 5- very good 

Questionnaire for managers

Objectives	Questions	1	2	3	4	5	Average
Leadership skills	Would you think my leadership skills are up to the mark to run women department?
	Would you think I motivate other employees to accomplish their task on time?
	Would you think I am self-motivated?
Task allocation	Would you think I am able to allocate tasks among my subordinates?
	Would you think I am biased to someone in allocating tasks?
	Would you think I follow manager direction?
Time management skills	Would you think I have good time management skills?
	Would you think I finish my job on time?
	Would you think I plan my work on priority?
Logistic Support	Would you think I did my paper work properly?
	Would you think I give enough logistic support to my manager?
	Would you think I follow company rules and regulation properly?
Communication skills	Would you think I am good communicator?
	Would you think my eye contact is not good at all?
	Would you think my gesture and posture is not good enough?
Team Work	Would you think I support my team to get the jobs done on time with cooperation and collaboration?
	Would you feel comfortable to work with me?
	Would you think in highly pressurized condition I am able to perform well
Conflict management	Would you think I have good conflict management skills or problem solving skill
	Would you think I have good control over my subordinates?
	Would you think there is friendly environment in TK Maxx?
Customer service	Would you think I provide good customer service to my customers
	Do I explain about our products and services to you properly?
	Would you think I help you to choose best offer or product?

Questionnaire for colleagues:

Objectives	Questions	1	2	3	4	5	Average
Leadership skills	Would you think I am able to lead the team properly?
	Would you think I motivate other employees to accomplish their task on time?
	Would you think I am self-motivated?
Task allocation	Would you think I allocate tasks among my subordinates properly?
	Would you think I am biased to someone in allocating tasks?
	Would you think I allocate tasks according to the capabilities and experience of an employee?
Time management skills	Would you think I have good time management skills?
	Would you think I directed you properly to finish your job?
	Would you think I plan my work on priority?
Communication skills	Would you think I am good communicator?
	Would you think I maintain good eye contact while conversation with others?
	Would you think I have good gesture and posture?
Team Work	Would you think I support my team to get the jobs done on time with cooperation and collaboration?
	Would you feel comfortable to work with me?
	Would you think in highly pressurized condition I am able to perform well
Conflict management	Would you think I have good conflict management or problem solving skill
	Would you think I have good control over my subordinates?
	Would you think there is friendly environment in TK Maxx?
Customer service	Would you think I handle customer complains quite handsomely?
	Do I explain about our products and services to you properly?
	Would you think I suggest best offer of us to my customer?

Questionnaire to customers

Objectives	Questions	1	2	3	4	5	Average
Customer service	Would you think I explained about our products and services to you properly?
	Would you think I help you to choose best offer of our products?
	Would you think I promote our products to you properly?
	Would you think you get excellent customer service from our team?
	Would you think you enjoyed your shopping over here and come back again?

Data found after questionnaire:

Managerial questionnaire:

Objectives	1	2	3	4	5	Average
Leadership skills		1	1	1	1	3.41
		1	1	1	1
		1	2		1
Task allocation			1	2	1	4.08
			1	1	2
			1	2	1
Time management skills		1	1	1	1	3.58
		1	2		1
		1		1	2
Logistic Support			1	1	2	4.08
			2	1	1
			1	1	2
Communication skills		1	1	1	1	3.58
		1		2	1
		1	1	1	1
Team Work			1	2	1	4.16
			1	1	2
			1	1	2
Conflict management			1	2	1	4.00
			1	1	2
			2	1	1
Customer service			1	1	2	4.08
			1	2	1
			1	2	1
Total Average						3.87

Questionnaire for colleague:

Objectives	1	2	3	4	5	Average
Leadership skills		3	2	3	2	3.36
		2	4	2	2
		3	3	2	2
Task allocation			3	3	4	4.10
			3	4	3
			2	4	4
Time management skills		4	2	2	2	3.33
		2	4	2	2
		2	4	2	2
Communication skills		3	2	3	2	3.36
		2	3	3	2
		3	3	3	1
Team Work			3	3	4	4.10
			3	4	3
			2	4	4
Conflict management			2	5	3	4.13
			2	4	4
			3	3	4
Customer service			3	3	4	4.20
			2	4	4
			2	3	5
Total average						3.79