MGT/521 Management Professor Daniel Kearney Week Two August 24, 2013

Problem solving is a very large part of a managers job. The manager who can utilize the four functions of management and be creative and lead will be a successful manager. Planning, organizing, leading and [in academic writing, if this is a series, place a comma before the final conjunction (and)] organizing is the primary goal and functions of the manager. Henry Mintzberg wrote about and studied manager’s style came up with a very unique [Unclear. Unique means there is nothing like it--from the French word "un" (one). Something is unique or it is not. Terms like very, more, less, or slightly do not apply. Use something like "very unusual," "very distinctive," "very different," etc.] way of assessing the managerial roles. His first assessment discussed the interpersonal roles which [Use "that" for a restrictive phrase (or place a comma before "which")] involves interacting with others, the informational role was assessed by the manager giving and receiving information, being [Doctoral rule (but good advice for any academic writer)--If not a noun (as in "human being"), the word "Being" is hard to imagine; it means "existing." Try to rewrite this without using "being"--with action words like "attending," "working," "living," "experiencing," simply "as"--or even removing "being" completely] able to facilitate to his subordinates and the final role was the decisional role which [Use "that" for a restrictive phrase (or place a comma before "which")] allowed the manager to be able to [Wordiness: Remove "be able to"; the sentence will read more smoothly without it] make decisions, negotiate, peacemaker and [in academic writing, if this is a series, place a comma before the final conjunction (and)] entrepreneur. There are often times when the managers role may get confusing or misconstrued with titles, in reading Executive [A job title is not capitalized unless it is the first word in a sentence or associated with the name of a person or institution, e.g., Certified Public Accountant John Doe. If not, it is just a label, such as auto mechanic, nuclear physicist, fry cook, brain surgeon, professor, etc.] or Functional Manager [Do not capitalize job names] by Charlotte Stephens and William Ledbetter, discuss how the roles of a manager can get confused just by the titles they are given [The passive voice is a form of "be" (are) and a participle (given). Over-use of the passive voice can make paragraphs officious and tedious to read. Prefer the active voice. For example, passive voice = The paper was completed on time. Active voice = the student completed the paper on time. See Center for Writing Excellence > Tutorials & Guides > Grammar & Writing Guides > Active & passive voice] and how this can become problematic because they [Check pronoun agreement--if "they" refers to "a manager" (or a singular subject), it should be singular, too (he or she) and perhaps require adjusting the following verb] are not always prepared to be in a management role and many do not want to be in a management role but may have the technological skills but lack the skills to lead and manage others. [Writing suggestion: If this sentence is as long as 50 or more words, it can be confusing with logic twists, recursions, or long lists. Cut it into shorter sentences featuring one idea. Shorter sentences are easier to comprehend] When a manager does not prepare and make proper plans the organization can be affected and [Run-on sentence: Insert comma before "and" if the following is an independent clause (not part of a series)] this can have a very negative impact on daily operations. There has to be specific goals when planning and specifically in an organization that needs strong leaders. There are many ways a manager can plan they [he or she] may have informal plans and formal plans. Informal planning is not always the best way for a manager to get things done a more successful manager would be much more successful if they [he or she] made formal plans and prepared written reports and statements which [Use "that" for a restrictive phrase (or place a comma before "which")] may reflect short and long term [Check spelling--if used as an adjective, the preceding two words are spelled as one hyphenated word] organizational goals. Preparing written agendas and being prepared [Passive voice ] for meetings is one way that a manager can plan ahead. “Structured observation can provide a richness of understanding while simultaneously providing a quantitative basis for comparison with other studies. Mintzberg (1973) called structured observation "perhaps [Check the quotation--if it is a complete sentence, a comma should precede the opening quotation mark, and the first word should be capitalized] [Check capitalization: the first word of a quotation is capitalized if it begins a complete sentence] the only one that enables us [Use "we," "us," or "our" to mean yourself and coauthors, not general humanity (or yourself and the reader)] to study systematically and comprehensively those parts of managerial work that are [Writing suggestion: rewrite the sentence to remove "that are"] not well understood"(Executive [Leave a space after the quotation mark] [Do not capitalize job names] or Functional Manager? [Writing suggestion: Unless in a quote or a title, avoid rhetorical questions in academic writing. A good idea is to provide answers, not questions] The Nature of the CIO's Job, 1992) The organizational structure is also an essential part of manager’s job, the manager must have the ability to maintain organization of the employees. Being precise and decisive about decisions not only makes objectives clear and specific so that all [Writing suggestion: "All" or "all of" used as an intensifier very often can be removed with no loss of meaning] of the company resources are organized [Passive voice ] and utilized. A manager should focus on coordinating, controlling and [in academic writing, if this is a series, place a comma before the final conjunction (and)] delegating task to the employees and ensure that they [he or she] are completed [Passive voice ] in a timely manner and fashion. A manager who coordinates their [Check pronoun agreement--if "their" refers to "manager" (or a singular subject), it should be singular, too (his or her)] employees to successfully complete [Doctoral rule (but good advice for any academic writer)--avoid a split infinitive; consider placing the adverb (successfully) before or after the infinitive (to complete )--try "successfully to complete " or "to complete successfully" (or place "successfully" later in the sentence)] task is surely to be a successful manager. A manager must be a confident leader this assures [Check spelling: "Assure" means "to give confidence to"; "Ensure" means "to make certain, to guarantee"] them [Check pronoun agreement--if "them" refers to "manager" (or a singular subject), it should be singular, too (him or her)] more success in the workplace, they [he or she] should be focused [Passive voice ] and have the ability to [Express "have the ability to" as simply "be able to" or even "can" or "could"] guide and direct employees. The ultimate success of a manager is when ["manager" is an "it," not a "when." Often you can replace "is when" with "the time," "occurs when," etc., leave out "is when" entirely, or replace the phrase with "then"] his employees are also successful and are goal oriented [Passive voice ] [If these two words function as an adjective, they should be spelled as a hyphenated word] and achieve their [his or her] goals a manager who is a leader is there to assist them in achieving goals and instructing them [him or her] in order to [Writing suggestion--the meaning will be the same (and less wordy) by removing "in order"] accomplish the goals of the organization. The manager who leads his employees is more likely to be more successful in achieving his own personal goals and accomplishing the goals for the organization. When goals are accomplished the successful manager would become even more successful by celebrating these accomplishments and complimenting employees with praise and maybe [Check spelling: "maybe" means "perhaps." The verb is "may be" `] even bonus. This is a very effective tool to continue to keep the momentum going and for the employees to continue to be even more motivated. Some managers achieve these goals and give back to their employees. Managers [Do not capitalize job names] who control also are successful they know how to execute their plans and if there is an issue or a problem they are more likely to resolve it before it gets out of their control. “Control consists [Missing preposition--consists of] in verifying whether [Use "whether" when the situation has more than one possible outcome. If there is just one result, prefer "if" ] everything occurs in conformity with the plan adopted, the instructions issued and [Insert a comma before this word if this is the last in a list of more than two -- or if it begins a new clause] the principles established.” (MBA Knowledge Base, 2013) [The citation for a direct quote needs the page number] A manager who is in control knows how to implement work and evaluates a problem quickly and makes corrective measures to assure [See above, assure vs. ensure] the problem is resolved [Passive voice ] in a timely manner. Control in an organization amounts to a major part of the success of the organization. . .

‘References: Stephens, C. S., Ledbetter N., W., & [Use an ampersand (&) only in a company name or inside the parentheses of an in-text citation. Anywhere else, spell out "and"] Mitra, A. (1992, December). Executive or Functional Manager? The Nature of the CIO's Job. MIS Quarterly, 16(4), 449-467 MBA Knowledge Base. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.mbaknol.com/category/management-concepts/page/4/ MBA [Do not leave spaces around a slash mark] Tutorials. . (2013). Retrieved from http://www.mba-tutorials.com/ Raynus [Do not leave spaces around a slash mark] , J. (2011). Improving business process performance : gain agility, create value, and achieve success. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press