Wednesday, 10 July 2013

Successful Managers versus Effective Managers

I recently read the 1988 book called "Real Managers" by Fred Luthans , Richard M. Hodgetts and Stuart A. Rosenkrantz.It was based on empirical data from an extensive  four year  study on real managers.
                           For me , it was a paradigm shifting book.I thought , I must share its central idea with a wider audience through social media .I am sure , if you are a real manager , it will change the way you work .
                           The book has nine chapters but the real findings are given and analysed in chapters four and nine.Briefly ,it says that  the effective managers  have the distribution of their activities/time and resources  as below:
1.Routine communication :45%
2.Networking:12%
3.Human resource Management:27%
4.Traditional Management functions:15%
Comparative figures for successful managers are;
1. . 28%
2 .  . .48%
3. . . .11%
4. . . .13%
The real difference is in the time and resources spent on networking .Successful managers spend nearly half their time and resources on networking while effective managers spend barely 12% of time and resources on networking .
The" Effective AND successful "spend time  almost on the same pattern as that of Effective managers .
                     ( Successful managers are those who rise to the top in the shortest time .Effective managers are those who really bring about the changes they want in the organizations.)
Do we want to be successful ?or do we want to be Effective and successful?Depending on your answer, decide to spend time and resources on networking .

2 comments:

akshaya Bhatia said...

Interesting Inference,...Crux of management is optimum allocation of resources of all kind while keeping track of how the project is moving towards fulfillment or how align are the resources align to the mission of the enterprise,...People, Material, Money, (Time)......

Vidya Nand Garg said...

Not all management skills are used for effectiveness.When these are used substantially for success in career, then optimization of resources is not necessarily the result.