Key responsibilities of the head on the organization of effective management

Leonid Zverugo

wrote this on Июн 9, 2014

Good work starts with careful organization. To get the job done efficiently and on time, you need to pay attention to the organization of this process. The list of requirements will include the following functions: setting objectives and organization of the implementation, allocation of responsibilities and ensuring interaction, relationship building, analyzing the results, performance audit processes etc. How to implement them in practice?

The work of a manager at any level can be distinguished by such features as:

• management of the subordinates: all the actions that the manager must take in order to ensure that the staff complete all the required work properly;
• interaction with the company: meetings and correspondence with the colleagues and superiors;
• production of the results: all the actions of a leader, which are not connected with the management of the subordinates or interaction with the company when he works as a highly qualified specialist;
• comprehension: analysis and synthesis of the information needed to develop effective management decisions.

The time of the head is distributed on the production of the results and other zones of responsibility depending on the following factors:

• Specificity of work. If the work is highly specialized (for example, you are the leader of a scientific direction and you have two lab-assistants), then you'll be engaged in the production of the result most of all. If the job requires unique knowledge / skills, which no one else has, then you'll be more engaged in the work than the control itself. In this case, you are responsible for the qualification of your employees, so it makes sense to teach them what you have to do.
• Level of the corporate hierarchy. The lower your level is, the more you will be engaged in the production of the result.
• The power of authority. The weaker your authority, the more you work; your destiny is the production of the result.
• Qualification of the subordinates. The lower their professional level, the more you work.
• Motivation of the subordinates. The less the subordinates are interested in the results of the work, the more work you will have to do yourself.

The list of requirements to the organization of the work process include the following responsibilities:

• setting objectives and organization of the implementation,
• allocation of responsibilities and ensuring interaction,
• relationship building,
• analyzing the results,
• audit of the processes’ efficiency.

Consider each of the items in detail.

1. Responsibility "Organization of the implementation"

Good work starts with careful organization. To get the job done efficiently and on time, you need to pay attention to the organization of this process.

We must decompose our problem to the level of simple tasks, considering a number of conditions - from the skill level of the subordinates to the level of priority of the specific task within the general field.

We also need to define the priorities, the optimal sequence of work, make a schedule and mark control points, and points to clarify decisions for the further progress. Perhaps the nature of the problem involves assessing the internal / external risks and development of the appropriate preventive or reactive measures.

All these procedures should be consistent with both the content of the task and time for its implementation. Otherwise, after a fast start the participants begin to stumble on unaccounted obstacles that dramatically slow the progress of the task. The lack of planning in this area can also lead to the fact that some important components are not executed at all, or executed at the last moment. As a result, the tasks implementation is long, expensive and of poor quality.

But if you do everuthing right, the time taken to run the organization is repeatedly payed by controllability of the process, optimal use of resources of the structure and the quality of work itself.

If you do not have time for qualitative organization of work, then you are in another "self locking loop" trying to replace the change in approach by increase in the speed. Of course, you’ll first need to invest more time, but otherwise this vicious circle won’t break.

Well-organized work is done quickly, intensely and... unnoticed. In turn, screams and vanity of the subordinates demonstrate the low quality of management rather than enthusiasm.

2. Responsibility "Allocation of responsibilities"

This responsibility of the head is the most clear in its content. One of the reasons of the overload of the leaders is the fact that the they do not allocate responsibilities properly.

In addition, one can not be forced without specifying his rights. The responsibilities of the subordinates are specified in the job descriptions, but the responsibilities of the concrete employee in the performance of the current project can not be contained in the standard regulations. Nor should we expect that the subordinate will determine his own set of responsibilities in the particular project based on the list of his general responsibilities.

Conclusion: if you have not paid enough attention to the setting objectives and organization of the implementation, then you have almost no chance to  distribute the work among the subordinates adequately. Getting in this situation, the head intuitively selects one of the two models.

Model 1. The most of work is done by the head independently, the subordinates only run on errands. If you fail to fulfill all the work yourself, fight for reducing the amount of work, staff expansion, motivation improvement, a good set of subordinates.

Model 2. "Delegate" the work to the subordinates as it is, with the understanding that the result will be not so good as you wish. When the premonitions come true, fight for reducing the amount of work, staff expansion, motivation improvement, a good set of subordinates.

3. Responsibility "Ensuring interaction"

No matter how carefully you organize the work, certain obstacles unaccounted at the preliminary stage or new factors will necessarily appear. All they require to be addressed, to get more information, and even to make corrections to the original disposition.

Previously distributed authority can not consider the unknown factors, and the right to make decisions on the emerging issues may be delegated only to proven and reliable people. Therefore, the  employees need periodic contact with the head.

In addition, your employees need to interact with their colleagues on the "horizontal" level within the company structure.

If your employees have a high level of executive discipline, the problem is simplified. Upon the completion of allocation of the responsibilities you should just agree that when they face any obstacle and / or unexpected factors, they’ll immediately indicate this to you.

You should also remember that any work must be controlled - even the work, that initially has no surprises and does not require joint actions. If the head is inclined to neglect it, the final or intermediate result may simply be absent. The methods and intensity of control depend on skills and discipline of the subordinates, and besides - the characteristics of the task.

4. Responsibility "Relationships building"

Depending on the purpose and nature of problems that the company faces, one or another type of relationship in the team can be both good and bad. This parameter is relative and depends on how these relationships contribute to the effective work. So the mistake is the pursuit of a mythical good climate in the team. Perhaps an even greater mistake is to assume that the better the relationship, the better the work will go.

Why do such illusions often arise? It is believed that if the employees are in good relationships, it will be easy for them to communicate on business issues, agree on contentious moments calmly and constructively, there will be no quarrels and gossips in the team, people will be less tired and no one will have a desire to quit. However, additional factors always appear in such teams:

• mutual demands reduce;
• mutual obligations are more important than the company and the supervisor;
• information is hidden from the head;
• the culture of mutual cover-up thrives.

We do not want to say that the relations in the team have to be bad. It also won’t be good. The manager must be able to maintain a proper balance between the collective cooperation and competition. Interpersonal relationships is a controlled substance; concepts of "good" and "bad" are rather relative. The whole question is of your own or corporate criteria.

5. Responsibility "Analysis of the results"

Fulfilling this responsibility seems to be a matter of course. However, the results of your own work are not always subjected to conscious analysis. This is largely due to the initial lack of a properly defined goals of work. But even if the goals have been set, the analysis of the intermediate and final results are often absent. The performance is surely analized during the work, but it is not fixed anywhere.

The human psyche is arranged in such a way that it always subconsciously tries to avoid the unwanted lowering of self-esteem and therefore ascribes its errors to various external. And any results are optimal and the only possible ones. In this regard, we recommend you to analyze the intermediate and final results on a regular basis by scheduling it as a mandatory procedure. Such a habit spoils the mood sometimes, but significantly increases the efficiency of management.

6. Responsibility "Audit of the processes’ efficiency"

The manager must measure and evaluate the correctness of the organization of work, correlate it with the key efficiency parameters and ensure the development of the necessary changes in case of discrepancies or such possibility in the future. All the technologies that affect the efficiency should be subject to analysis.

So if a manager finds that the incentive system is not conducive to the quality of performance of the  assigned tasks, then he must either arrange a list of specific proposals to change the situation or bring the external resources needed for this.

If the manager does not use any management tool, his subordinates will not do it either. If you do not use the management technology, the control of its use among the subordinates will require extra effort and will likely shrink and disappear. Without constant monitoring the technology is unlikely to be applied.

The audit of processes’ efficiency is not a hobby, but an obligation. The result of the audit is the list of objects of analysis, description of assessment and the possibility to see the results.

A person can effectively deal with only one task at a time. Anyone who tries to perform several important tasks simultaneously, does not really do that. Therefore, performing managerial responsibilities should be included in the working schedule of the head under the appropriate name and high level of priority.