Select a manager of an organization
Question
Select a manager of an organization and request a 30-40 minute meeting to learn about his/her role in the
organization. The individual could be a manager from a small or large company, and could be from your workplace or some other facility. He/she could also be an entrepreneur.
Review the management functions and skills that you have studied and prepare at least 10 questions to find out about that manager’s role in the organization. Some questions could include but not be exclusive to some of the following:
-Where do you fall on the organizational hierarchy?
-How would you describe your management style?
-How many persons report to you?
-Describe a typical day.
-How do you plan each day’s activities? How often do you get to accomplish what is on your ‘to do’ list?
-What are some of the greatest challenges that you experience?
-What skills do you think are most important in your role?
-Are your subordinates empowered?
-How do you ensure that your departmental goals align with the overall company goals and objectives?
-How do you motivate your staff?
-What sort of employee training do you think is necessary and why?
-How do you handle a personnel situation which might have a potential legal impact?
-How do you deal with an employee who needs to be disciplined?
These are just a few sample questions. Your conversation should flow so you may not always follow the order of your prepared questions. Don’t forget to follow up with a thank you note!
After gathering responses, prepare a 1-2 page report on the information you gathered. This report should be in paragraph format and not a list of questions and answers. Share what you learned about that manager’s role from this process. How does that fit with what you learned in the course? Be aware that grammar, spelling and punctuation will be graded heavily.
This exercise will help you learn to develop questions, lead an interview session, think critically, analyze data, ‘think on your feet,’ and keep a conversation flowing. These are all elements of a manager’s role.