Manager interview paper

The success or failure of an organization highly depends on how the manager drives the people to achieve effectiveness. The study is conducted to identify the general responsibilities of a manager and how the manager handle its people in order to leverage them to move forward and dream big for the organization.
The study will highlight the day-to-day activities and responsibilities of a manager based on existing concepts and theories. It will also try to assess how a manager will approach various problems of employees in attaining success of the organization.
The selected manager is currently a Manager of a Natural Resource Management Program implemented in different regions. He has been in the program as a manager for eight years now. He handles 20 people who are under different positions such as Finance Officer, Administrative Staff, Researcher, Social Marketing and  Events Organizer and General Services.

• General Background and Responsibilities
Different roles and responsibilities of a manager were ascertained in the course of the interview. The manager has been in the business for 10 years but assigned as manager for eight years. The interview evolved into the responsibilities of a manager.
The top most tasks or duties of a manager are to select, supervise, and support a team. This looks like a little responsibility but this spells a lot especially that the objective is to manage and supervise the program efficiently.
Selecting is one of the difficult parts as a manager. This is where the manager matches the job of the person into the skills and abilities. Before assigning a certain person in a job the person applying for a position are thoroughly selected and deliberated. It is not easy assigning a person with a job that is not suited to his abilities and skills or the objectives of the organization may fail.
The second top of the responsibility of a manager is plan and supervise. A clear plan with clear strategies is needed in starting up an organization that leads to accomplishment. The plan matters in any way and anyhow. This is like a “diary” of every manager in implementing and monitoring the program itself.  After selecting an appropriate person in a job suited to him it is now the task of the manager to supervise him and teach him with the organization’s strategies in order to deliver his outputs properly. The manager sees to it that the work being done by his subordinates is appropriate and accurate. Another task related to this is supervising the selected employees to do their work expected from them.
The third task is support, which is equally important with other responsibilities. This is where the manager develops the sense of belongingness of an employee in a certain organization because of always reminding to them that they are part of the organization and that any success or failure would also be their success or otherwise. Trainings, seminars and other skill enhancing activities are done to develop more their skills. Support given to the employees is always maintained. In relation to this also, open communication between the employees and the manager is extended.
Being a manager is not an easy task. The day-to-day meeting with the higher bosses and the meeting with the staff is a job that requires patience and endurance. Everyday the manager is faced with different problems may it be technical, financial and even personal problems from the employees.
The most liked part of being a manager is the privilege to any sort of privileges. The manager always travels, meet new people, attend conferences and among others. This is like the
But one of the least liked parts of it is managing employees. And sometimes much harder is managing employees with attitude. This is the hardest part because they are the fuel to the organization’s success.
• Managing Employees
The manager handles 20 employees who are holding different positions. These positions require diverse skills, abilities and talents. These in turn should be given attention in order to be enhanced and attain growth not only for the benefit of the employee but of the organization as well.
Managing the employees is one of the hardest parts to do. The organization especially the manager is tasked to carefully manage its people, motivate them in any way and lead them to where the organization wants it to be.
Attaining success of the organization can be achieved if the workforce involved are suitably motivated and led with authority.
Motivation. Motivation of employees to work harder is linked also with the performance appraisal. In performance appraisal, the employee is assessed accordingly based on its tasks and responsibilities to improve the quality of the work. Appraisal is often used with tools such as 360-degree feedback where everyone who is connected with the employee is asked to give their assessment to the person involved within the duration of the project. Results of this will be consolidated and identify certain strategies on how to maximize the strengths and improve weaknesses of employees. In motivation theory, rewards are given to the employee who has performed way above the expected from them.
This may be in the form of salary increase, promotion from one position to a higher position or the equivalent of it in some offices. This is true with Mayo’s theory that an employee can do better in his job if there will be an open communication lines, teamwork and with interaction with the manager. Several theories came out like of Maslow’s five levels of need, Herzberg’s theory of motivators and de-motivators, Vroom’s theory on the good performance will reap rewards, and Skinner’s theory of reinforcement.  These are all worth contribution in refining the theories behind motivating an employee (Blair, 2005).
Lead. The key to leadership is to lead. An employee must see with his own-two eyes that the leader they are going to follow possesses good leadership skills.
Coaching is one way also of leading an employee. Not all of the topics are familiar with the newly hired employees and who are still struggling to blend with the group in an organization. This is the best way to teach and guide the employees to work hard and give their best in their endeavours. Develop skills of staff especially sending to trainings and workshops where the employee can voice out their issues. The word leadership should emanate from the manager itself to make the employee understand what leadership is. This should be coupled with authority.
Another way of leading is ensuring that they get enough commensuration based on what they do not on number of hours they worked for it.
Manages ethics and ethical accountability. In reprimanding someone because he did not do his job always emphasize that you are angry with the results of the work he handled and not of who he is as a person. Direct to the point conversations and giving feedback is highly appreciated by employees. Respect is always important in handling employees. This will gain also respect from the staff and later on it would not be too difficult to open up and voice out opinions of what the employee thinks.
Much more to this is always delegating work to the subordinates. This is not just to lessen the jobs of a manager but also giving the employee the chance to grow and understand the things around him. This also contributes hugely to the self-esteem of the employee because the privilege to be part of the success of a certain project.
Feedbacks from the staff are also important in making the organization work. This is one move to ensure that the strategies employed by the manager are working and relevant to the learnings of each and every employee.
Conclusion
I would still go back to what I have mentioned earlier: the success or failure of an organization is not on how the manager managed the project but how he has maximized the potentials of his employees to deliver accurate and quality outputs.
Managing people is like accomplishing an unfinished puzzle. The managers have their own task to accomplish which is the same with the employees who are part of the project. But in making this endeavour a success the manger sees to it that his people are enriched, have grown and motivated to do the job accordingly. This is not because of the increase in the salary or a work promotion but this is done because working in a team is a sense of fulfilment.
Managing people is not easy. Management also is not that easy. It can be learned through time. These ideas that have been inculcated in their minds that at the end of the day it is not “me” that matters but “we’.
References
Brandenburg, B. (2006). What Community manager does? Retrieved March 5, 2008
Website: http://www.vmmg.net
Fairweather, A. (2006). Managing employees: How to reprimand. Retrieved March 5, 2008      Website www.businessknowhow.com/manage/reprimand.htm
What Manager does? 2007. Retrieved March 6, 2008. Website:       http://userwebs.cth.com.au/~gcutts/Management/1manager.html
Blair,  G. (2005). What makes a Great Manager. Retrieved March 3, 2008. Website  http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/art9.html
Employee Performance Improvement: Understanding Your Role as a Manager” (2003) Catalog No. TD11A8Q65, Corporate Executive Board, p. 19.
Martin, K. J. and J. McConnell. (1989). Corporate Performance, Corporate Takeovers and Management Turnover, Working Paper at Purdue University.
Appendices
Manager Interview Form
Section 1: General Background and Responsibilities
1. How long have you been with the company? How long have you held your
current position?
2. What are the three most important tasks or duties that you are responsible for
accomplishing in this job?
3. What do you like most about being a manager? What do you like least about
being a manager?
 
Section 2: Managing Employees
What are the objectives you want to achieve? Short term and long term?
How many employees do you have?
Is it difficult to handle people who are diverse?
Are there any instances when you reprimanded employees just because they did not follow you?
How do you treat problems like this?
What are the motivating factors you employ?
Do you give benefits/rewards to those employees who performed high? Why is that so?
What have you done so far as a Manager in the policies regarding benefits and rewards of the employees?
As a manager, how do you build confidence and self-esteem of staff?
How do you build quality team to ensure output?