Text 1. DIRECTING

Directing, the third management function, is for guiding and motivating others to work successfully for accomplishing organisation goals and objectives. The trend is to give employees as much freedom as possible to become self-managed and self-motivated. Often that means working in teams. Some up-to-date managers perform all of these tasks with the full cooperation and participation of workers. Traditional managers direct workers in activities to meet the goals and objectives of the organisation.

Directing involves giving assignments, explaining routines, clarifying policies and supplying feedback on performance. Empowering employees means allowing them to take part more fully in decision-making.

Empowerment is a total quality term that means giving employees the authority and responsibility to respond promptly to customer requests. The managers set up teams that will work together. They are less that of “a boss” and more that of a coach, assistant, counsellor and team member. Empowerment enables associates to fulfil the tasks set without the authority approval to satisfy customers’ wants.

Chain of command is the other way of organising and directing a business which is formal command that defines the lines of authority from the top to the bottom of an organisation. It involves line position and staff position. Line position comprises direct chain of command and contributes directly to the achievement of the organisation’s goals. Staff position facilitates or provides advice to line positions.

There is one more type of directing which is departmentalisation. It is a process of grouping jobs according to some logical arrangements. A manager should remember that people are born with intrinsic motivation and with a need for relationships with other people. They are better working in teams than alone. They are higher motivated observing the constancy of purpose and concrete results of their job. And what could give better results than logical arrangement of the job process? The notion of job design which is determination of exactly what tasks must be performed by each team to complete the work makes directing successful at any rate. Each team of associates deals with a set of tasks to be performed and they fulfil only these tasks without paying attention to the other ones. Departmentalisation increases the level of productivity of labour and allows any business organisation to operate freely.

One more type of organising and directing business is span of control which involves the number of people who report to one manager or supervisor.

Taking into account the fact that management is the process undertaken by one or more persons to coordinate other people’s activities to achieve high-quality results not attainable by just one person acting alone, a manager who guides, directs and oversees the work of his associates, should not keep employees in the dark about any changes, procedures, steps taken by a firm and must permit workers to complete tasks in logically arranged teams. Team-worker is confident, flexible and open to change. He or she is concerned with concrete job range, is free to act and if he or she needs advice, the authorities must supply it immediately.

Here are some pieces of advice from Mr. W. Edward Deming how to reach total quality management:

· Create constancy of purpose for improvement of product and service. A company shouldn’t just make money. It stays in business and provides jobs through innovation, constant improvement and maintenance.

· Adopt a new philosophy, where mistakes and falls are unacceptable.

· Cease dependence on mass inspection. Quality of a product comes not from inspection but from improvement of the process.

· Buyers should seek and find the best quality in a long-term relationship with a single supplier for any one term.

· Improve constantly the system of production and service.

· Provide institute training. The principle of “know how” is the most important one for associates.

· Institute leadership is not to punish but to help people do a better job and learn who needs help.

· Drive out fear. People are afraid of posing questions even when they do not understand how to act. It leads to appalling economic losses. Make people feel secure.

· Break down barriers between staff areas. People should work as one team to foresee and solve problems.

· Eliminate slogans and targets for the workforce. Let associates formulate their own slogans.

· Institute a rigorous program for education and retraining. Both management and workforce must be educated in the new methods including team work and statistical techniques.

· A special management team with a plan of actions is obligatory to fulfill the quality mission.

To organise and direct wisely a manager should remember that a person is born with a natural inclination to learn and to be innovative. A person inherits a right to enjoy his work with a need to be loved and esteemed by others.

Task 25. Translate the sentences into English:

1. Управління – це одна з функцій менеджменту, яка забезпечує мотивацію для досягнення поставлених цілей. 2. Так чи інакше, ви змушені проінструктувати ваших колег і пояснити можливі перс­пективи. 3. Наше підприємство зробило великий внесок у розвиток державної економіки. 4. Три роки тому мені дали мож­ливість взяти участь у міжнародній конференції з питань сучасної економіки та менеджменту. 5. Завдяки своїм природним здібнос­тям він став чудовим керівником. 6. Працівники зробили вагомий внесок в оновлення фірми. 7. Кожна компанія повинна піклува­тись про те, щоб її клієнти почувались у безпеці. 8. Кожен день працівники мають справу із різноманітними завданнями, які по­винні бути належно виконані. 9. Створюючи робочі команди, звертайте увагу на впевнених, гнучких і кваліфікованих праців­ників. 10. Керів­ництво нашої фірми визначило цілі для подальшої роботи і удоско­налення товарів та послуг. 11. Очікування спожи­вачів впливають на вдосконалення продукції. 12. Система обслу­говування потребує постійного вдосконалення. 13. Принцип “ноу-хау” є дуже важли­вим для ефективної співпраці. 14. Лідерст­во допомагає людям краще працювати та виявляти тих, хто потребує допомоги. 15. Люди бояться задавати запитання, і це спричиняє невдачі.

Task 26. Make up a plan of the text “DIRECTING” in writing.