The New Art Of Managing People

Introduction Organizational management is a holistic issue that requires absolute focusing so as to ensure that all aspects making-up the organization are running effectively and they meet the organization’s strategic objectives.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The New Art Of Managing People specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Organizational management entails the alignment of the organization’s mainstream resources such as the financial resources, the human resource aspect among others towards meeting the obligations of the organization to ensure that the organization is a profitable venture and it meets the needs and wants of the targeted customer. However, it should be noted that human resource is the most important resource of an organization. The effective and efficient running of a business should be based on the belief of continued innovations by the organization, the organization’s abili ty to adapt to the changes in its environment and the overall ability of the organization to integrate itself with the drastic changes in technology. This has made the efficient running of a business hard as there are many problems encountered in the management process. Understanding of the Book The need to develop strategies that are required to resolve issues that relate to management of personnel has been necessitated by the modern organizational management dynamism. The New Art of Managing People is a book that aims at coming up with strategies that can be applied by a management to resolve some of the problems that influence effective management in the organization. The book subject matter articulates around the creation of friendly and productive ties that exist between the management and the employees. The authors of this book have stated that effective management of an organization should build trust between all the relevant stakeholders as this would improve the organizatio n’s performance. Therefore, they come up with practical techniques and procedures that can be used to resolve the issues in the organization on matters pertaining interaction between the employees and the management.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The book also suggests several process improvement strategies, proper human resource development strategies, transactional analysis of activities in the organization and effective decision making processes. In order that this book remains relevant as the years go by, the authors have attempted to relate these issues to the modern management. In this book, Hunsaker and Alessandra, (2008) establishes that management can forge an effective employee friendly working atmosphere that will ensure employees’ productivity is upped. The book develops ways that can be applied to develop interpersonal skills that can be helpful in the process of improving the communication between the management and the employees. The book postulates that the adoption of new skills will improve the employer vis-a-vis the employees’ relationship (Hunsaker Alessandra, 2008). Such an improved relationship has been cited as the backbone of the modern organizations in the sense that such an organization is grounded on effective relationship of trust and mutual respect. This means that the management does not necessarily need to use coercive forces to induce performance as employees are self-motivated. The book stipulates that the managers of an organization and all the other superior officials of the organization are not aware that there exists a problem in the organization with regard to the building and the maintenance of healthy and productive relationships in the organization’s human resource department. The authors have insisted that managers need to be in good relationship with their subordinates meaning th at they should be able to understand the predicaments of their workers. However, this has not been the case. The relationship between the managers and their subordinates has been rocky because managers have not been trained on how they should interact with their subordinates effectively. Hunsaker and Alessandra, (2008), have discovered that many organization’s superiors are well trained in business management, but they have not been technically trained on effective methods to interact with their subordinates.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The New Art Of Managing People specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More When compared to their preparedness in dealing with the technical aspect of the organization, the lack of effective training of management of their employees poorly prepares them to deal with people’s problems that may arise in the organization (Hunsaker Alessandra, 2008). Therefore, this book aims at helping managers develop skills that will enable them to tap the potential of its subordinates in undertaking the activities of the organization which will spell absolute success for the organization, the management and the other organization employees. According to the authors, there are several ways that can guarantee proper treatment of employees. First, the management should respect its employees especially on their abilities to execute their designated responsibilities as hired to perform. Such an approach by the management can help greatly in the process of improving self-autonomy of workers. The authors of The New Art of Managing People have developed strategies that can be applied by people in management positions to evaluate the working conditions at an organization. Hunsaker and Alessandra, (2008), also presented strategies that can be used to improve those working conditions. The authors argue that it is very difficult for the management to change from its old habit o f directing the subordinates by issuing orders that are deemed implementable by the subordinates under the direct supervision of the superiors. Besides this, the book formulates ways that will ensure gradual transition from the old habits of management to new approaches in management issues. It has also been noted that transitions may be prone to mistakes and thus leniency may be required to ensure that employees are not reprimanded for this mistakes. It is further argues that the management should come up with a good transition process that guarantees an effective implementation of the new policy in the relationship between the management and its employees. This process can be achieved using a five-step process that is suggested in the book.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This process ensures that managers employ an interactive approach that will overhaul the interaction process in the organization. It holds that interactive managers have the opportunity of understanding their subordinates and thus, developing the required communication skills that will be applied in the development of mutual relationships in the organization. The book also postulates that an effective approach to management should be one that is promoted by open mindedness exhibited by the management and the organization of employees. These ideas suggest an outcome of friendly and extremely productive working conditions for all the organization stakeholders, thus improving on the organization profitability (Hunsaker Alessandra, 2008). The book holds that it is crucial that the management understands the differences that are exhibited by its employees and thus, take the necessary steps that will maximize the organization’s gain from the diversity identified. The identificatio n of the differences in employees’ behavior should motivate the management to handle this matter in a way that will ensure the differences are harmonized with the organization objectives. Importance of the Book Professor Hunsaker and Dr. Allessandra are seasoned and highly respected management experts and consultants and their combined effort in writing this book has stressed the vitality of an effective and efficient management of any organization. The book has put it in a nut shell that the process of managing the employees of an organization is an ever-changing field. The dynamics of management are constantly evolving; therefore, the management concepts that are proposed and being used at a particular time in an organization are likely to be obsolete in only a few years. The authors of this book have attributed the change in ways of managing organizations to the fundamental realization that human beings are constantly modifying how they accomplish different tasks from the previously used procedures. The business environments and the state policies that govern organizations are changing constantly, forcing the management to conversely adapt to the new demands. These changes have pushed the costs of production, training of employees in the organization and keeping the employees highly motivated up. The authors hold that this will continue escalating over the coming years. Therefore, a need to overcome these unprecedented adversaries in the organization management has to be countered or else the corporate world will be doomed to a disastrous tiding to the management. This book is written with the main agenda of coming up with ways that will overcome the traditional methods that dictated the manager-employee relationship in an organization’s practice. The authors have illustrated vividly that an organization that has a friendly and productive employee-management relationship experience substantial benefits that are spread through the organization. The book is very crucial in offering the organizational management the practical strategies with well laid out guidelines that can be applied by the management to achieve the ultimate goal of developing interpersonal skills that are held by the superiors. The acquisition of these interpersonal skills by the management will help in forging a good employee-employer relationship by identifying the differences that exist in its workforce in regard to appropriate use of knowledge, assessment of the current employee working conditions, improvement of the areas that are deemed to require upgrading, and lastly, in the overall creation of trust between the superiors and their subordinates. The book has identified that the acquisition of person-to-person skills that are held by all the employees of an organization is crucial to the overall central development of good teams. The book has stressed that letting the employees express their individual personalities will aid each one of them to ac hieve their potential and consequently, to self-actualize. This reduces the stress and animosity in the organization’s workforce that is brought about by strenuous bureaucracy. An overall positive interaction spirit is formulated in all the sectors of the organization. Consequently, this stimulates increment in organization productivity and profitability. The book gives very clear and vivid insights into the world of management to those who want to understand the concept of managing people. The book looks at management from a critical perspective of enhancing productivity through proper leadership skills that are geared towards having a robust working condition and cohesion among workers as a means towards achieving the set goals and objectives. This calls for the creation of a system that is efficient and effective in its dispensation of the identified mandate. Management in form of human resource entails having a workforce that is efficient in its coordination and that is f ree of stress associated with work may it be long working hours or even the working environment. One of the weaknesses that I found in this book is that it does not cover the issue of stress management. Stress can be defined as lack of the ability to meet the demands that one is required to meet causing a feeling of anxiety and unnecessary pressure. Stress can have internal sources or external sources. Internal sources of stress at workplaces include the levels of bureaucracies and red tapes that are present at a specific work station, the time that workers are required to work and finally from the level of cooperation that is exhibited by the workers. External sources of stress include the conditions at the homes of workers or any other outside stressor. The most profound external factor is the work-family linkage, where social issues of family are imposed upon the workers. It is important to note that family issues will always affect level of competence either directly or indirect ly as it affects both emotional and cognitive aspects. Despite the fact that the book was published in 2008, the authors might not have anticipated the impact of changing concepts of business management as the recommendations that the book gives may not be very effective in today’s management of human capital. Due to such weaknesses the book may not be very helpful in offering technical insights for advanced levels of management students as there are other books that addresses the issues of management of personnel in more advance methods and offers more modern insights when compared to those offered in this book. This text may be better suited for beginners as opposed to advanced students of management. Another aspect of the book that I felt was a weakness is that the authors did not build on the necessity of creating a positive spirit in a company environment. The author focuses largely on managing the company in a structured way where management of various organizational as pects is given a horizontal approach, meaning that the communication model that is advocated for in the book is more of instructional nature. Such modes of communication bring about the feelings of superiority versus inferiority which may be detrimental in the process of management of human capital in organizations. Although this mode has proved to be efficient in dispensing work instructions, it has been categorized as being an anti-social approach at the workplace. Building a positive spirit in an organization entails letting the employees feel a sense of ownership of the success of the company. This allows them to own the success as being a part of them, which encourages workers to pursue teamwork. This is also crucial in individual empowerment. However, this leads to unnecessary competition as each of the staff would want to get an opportunity to be recognized as the source of a particular success. Another concept that the book has failed to cover adequately is that of seeking t o reduce stress that is not related to work, but which impacts on the performance of the organization. Managers should, through the human resource desk, be able to have a therapist who should look into the employee’s psychological state of mind like depression, stress and other habits that may make such employees ineffective in their productivity. It is imperative that although the main areas of focus in workplace stress management are stressors that are work related, external stressors need to be addressed to ensure that the productivity of employees is maintained at its peak to guarantee maximum productivity in the organization. Lastly, although the book gives an insight on how to increase productivity and profitability, it is disappointing to note that some of the suggestions and initiatives given do not meet today’s world dynamism of management, although they have a high potential of success. For instance, some books in management advocate that managers should come up with an interactive approach and go on to give the concept of a bicycle wheel where the rear wheel is the technical management and the front wheel is said to be the people’s knowledge, it is imperative to mention that the first goal of any institution is to make profit and, therefore, the issue of people’s knowledge is taken as a facade because it doesn’t exist in real businesses, reason being that the workers views and opinions are not really taken into consideration. Although the authors advocates for the satisfaction of the employees’ needs and values as being the long-term measure of increasing their productivity, the satisfaction of employees to their maximum may not be realistic as it may be hard for organizations to meet all the needs of the employees and enable them to get ultimate satisfaction as far as their cognitive and social needs are concerned. Although I do disagree with some of the recommendations and opinions expressed by the authors , I find some of the strategies outlined being authentic and highly valuable. For instance, it is important for any organization to have a good working relationship between the management and the employees. This does not only give a sense of ownership of the organization by the employees, but it allows for sincerity and improved levels of competence that does not require the presence of managers to achieve the organization’s objective. This means that employees continuously feel that they are appreciated by their employer and thus their commitment to the company remains undivided. When employees own up the organization procedures, they feel that it is their prerogative to deliver to the best of their ability, which translates to improved organizational productivity. In conclusion, it is important to note that Hunsaker and Alessandra’s work offers wonderful insights as far as management of human capital is concerned. The content of this book can be applied at the workpl ace in a number of ways. Although it has been noted in this review that this book has some suggestions that are not in line with today’s dynamism in management of human capital, the authors have managed to give many new insights that are of great relevance in management of workers. The book is also excellent for management students as it offers the necessary knowledge especially to beginners as they learn what is required of them as managers of human capital. Therefore, the book can be recommended to all management students especially those that are interested in advancing their knowledge on fruitful approaches to management of personnel. Reference Hunsaker, P. Alessandra, T. (2008). The New Art of Managing People. New York: Free Press. This essay on The New Art Of Managing People was written and submitted by user Maritza Langley to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.