An Alternative View of the Management Cycle
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 4:34 am
The manager's organizational functions do not necessarily have to be performed in all cycles. They are not as common as planning, control, and resource allocation (for simplicity, let's call such tasks current management functions).
To resolve the emerging contradictions, we will use the geometric method: we will divide the entire management cycle into current management and organizational tasks.
In parallel, the "Regulation" function should be considered (the term is used to designate measures to implement various changes in a department or in the entire enterprise). These usa student data package may be tasks: restructuring (reorganization of the organizational structure), production redesign (technological changes), replacement of specialists, organization of training, improvement of the motivation system and KPI, modernization of work places, revision of the system of rights, responsibility, etc.
A more detailed study of this issue reveals that regulation is precisely the function of organizing the company's work. The tasks associated with this are not performed at the stage of creating an enterprise or its departments (here everything is built for the first time), but in the process of ongoing work. It turns out that "Regulation" is a whole complex of functions. To make it easier to consider the management cycle, it is worth combining two blocks of management tasks (functions): "Organization" and "Regulation". The result will be a diagram resembling an infinity sign:
Example of a management cycle
Source: ekonfin.rf
Thanks to such visualization of management functions, young managers will understand many questions at the initial stage of studying management. If individual management tasks are divided into smaller components, the resulting scheme will be as close to reality as possible.
In real conditions, processes within the framework of the department's activities (except for divisions implementing the main production at enterprises) are not described at the same time and in the same process maps. Another practice is more common. The technology of the activities of department specialists who are engaged in a single process is described by the corresponding diagrams or in the register of functions of a specific division. Often such a document is presented in a separate paragraph of the "Regulations on the division".
The essence of the actions performed by one specialist is usually disclosed in more detail (most often such a description is included in the job description).
Our management cycle diagram must include the function "Detailing job responsibilities". In other words, the specialist's functions are described in detail by the manager in the relevant instructions. At the same time, within the framework of the task "Setting up work technology", process diagrams or a list (register) of department functions must be formed.
It seems more logical to replace the task "Personnel Planning" with two roles:
Creation of the organizational structure of the department (including calculations of the number of employees).
Distribution of job functions among staff.
In other words, after determining the list of necessary positions in the department, it is necessary to build a system of subordination of employees, determine their number and distribute responsibilities among them.
The management scheme will be even more logical and clear if we separate the task of "Defining job requirements" from the function "Personnel selection and placement". There are two important points in such a solution:
First of all, HR departments usually handle personnel selection, and the task of describing job responsibilities in detail falls directly on department heads. Indeed, it is more important to have a list of requirements for a specialist at the time of drawing up instructions for employees, and not at the stage of searching for employees. Having such a document makes it possible to more accurately describe the responsibilities of personnel. If HR specialists select experienced workers, then special detailing of job descriptions is not required. But when you accept inexpensive and untrained candidates, everything should be described in more detail.
It is necessary to highlight the control function in the current management phase. In this task, it is necessary to separately display such moments as summing up and analyzing reports. Note that the receipt of reports in the planned management cycle occurs only once, and the manager must exercise control over the processes systematically, throughout the entire iteration from the planning stage and up to the final stage.
There is another important function of the manager that is not included in any of the management schemes. This is about working with unplanned events (incidents). This includes all cases of process violations that lead to a decrease in quality, failure to meet deadlines for operations and other negative consequences. It does not happen that everything goes perfectly. Unforeseen breakdowns, delivery delays, misunderstandings with clients, etc. happen. All incidents should be constantly in the center of the manager's attention. In real practice, working with incidents takes up most of the m
To resolve the emerging contradictions, we will use the geometric method: we will divide the entire management cycle into current management and organizational tasks.
In parallel, the "Regulation" function should be considered (the term is used to designate measures to implement various changes in a department or in the entire enterprise). These usa student data package may be tasks: restructuring (reorganization of the organizational structure), production redesign (technological changes), replacement of specialists, organization of training, improvement of the motivation system and KPI, modernization of work places, revision of the system of rights, responsibility, etc.
A more detailed study of this issue reveals that regulation is precisely the function of organizing the company's work. The tasks associated with this are not performed at the stage of creating an enterprise or its departments (here everything is built for the first time), but in the process of ongoing work. It turns out that "Regulation" is a whole complex of functions. To make it easier to consider the management cycle, it is worth combining two blocks of management tasks (functions): "Organization" and "Regulation". The result will be a diagram resembling an infinity sign:
Example of a management cycle
Source: ekonfin.rf
Thanks to such visualization of management functions, young managers will understand many questions at the initial stage of studying management. If individual management tasks are divided into smaller components, the resulting scheme will be as close to reality as possible.
In real conditions, processes within the framework of the department's activities (except for divisions implementing the main production at enterprises) are not described at the same time and in the same process maps. Another practice is more common. The technology of the activities of department specialists who are engaged in a single process is described by the corresponding diagrams or in the register of functions of a specific division. Often such a document is presented in a separate paragraph of the "Regulations on the division".
The essence of the actions performed by one specialist is usually disclosed in more detail (most often such a description is included in the job description).
Our management cycle diagram must include the function "Detailing job responsibilities". In other words, the specialist's functions are described in detail by the manager in the relevant instructions. At the same time, within the framework of the task "Setting up work technology", process diagrams or a list (register) of department functions must be formed.
It seems more logical to replace the task "Personnel Planning" with two roles:
Creation of the organizational structure of the department (including calculations of the number of employees).
Distribution of job functions among staff.
In other words, after determining the list of necessary positions in the department, it is necessary to build a system of subordination of employees, determine their number and distribute responsibilities among them.
The management scheme will be even more logical and clear if we separate the task of "Defining job requirements" from the function "Personnel selection and placement". There are two important points in such a solution:
First of all, HR departments usually handle personnel selection, and the task of describing job responsibilities in detail falls directly on department heads. Indeed, it is more important to have a list of requirements for a specialist at the time of drawing up instructions for employees, and not at the stage of searching for employees. Having such a document makes it possible to more accurately describe the responsibilities of personnel. If HR specialists select experienced workers, then special detailing of job descriptions is not required. But when you accept inexpensive and untrained candidates, everything should be described in more detail.
It is necessary to highlight the control function in the current management phase. In this task, it is necessary to separately display such moments as summing up and analyzing reports. Note that the receipt of reports in the planned management cycle occurs only once, and the manager must exercise control over the processes systematically, throughout the entire iteration from the planning stage and up to the final stage.
There is another important function of the manager that is not included in any of the management schemes. This is about working with unplanned events (incidents). This includes all cases of process violations that lead to a decrease in quality, failure to meet deadlines for operations and other negative consequences. It does not happen that everything goes perfectly. Unforeseen breakdowns, delivery delays, misunderstandings with clients, etc. happen. All incidents should be constantly in the center of the manager's attention. In real practice, working with incidents takes up most of the m