HOW THE MANAGERS JOB IS CHANGING?
Managers have always had to deal with changes taking place inside and outside their organization. In today's world where managers everywhere are dealing with the continued aftermaths of 9/11 and corporate ethics scandals, global economic and political yncertainties, and technologiecal advancements, change is a constant. For example, Ronnie Antebe, manager of A&R Welding in Australia, had to find ways to keep his welders employed as customer demand fluctuated. his solution: Form special crews of welders who are sent out of state when localdemand falls. Or consider the management challenges faced by Thomas Michaud, J, John G. Duffy, and Andy Senchak, top executives at Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods Inc., a financial servicews firm that was headquartered in 2 World Trade Center. Sixty-seven employees, almost one-thirdof its workforce, died in the collapse of the buildings on 9/11. Not nly ded these managers have to deal with the painful emotional losses, they had to get the business up and running and keep it foing for the surviving employees. Althouth most managers are not likely to have to manage under such terrible circumstances, the most important changes facing managers. Throughout the rest of this book, we will be discussing these Changes and their impact on the way managers plan, organize, lead, and control. We want to highlight two of these changes that appear to be hav ing a significant impact of managers jobs: the increasing importance of customers and innovatrion.
Importance of Customers to the Manager's Job: Every workday John Chambers, C.E.O. of Cisco Sustems, listensto 15 to 20 voice mails that have been forwarded to him form dissatisfied Cisco customers. He says, "E-mail would be more efficient, but I want to hear the emotion, I the emotion, I wnat to hear the frustration, I want to hear the caller's level of comfort with the strategy we are employing. I can not get that through e-mail." Here is a manager who recognizes the importance of customers. Every organization needs custmers. Without customers, most organizations would cease to exist. Yet, focusing of the customer has lohg been thought to be the responsibility of marketing types. "Let the marketers worry about the customers" is how many managers felt. We are dicovaring, how ever, that employee attitudes an behaviors play a big role in customer satisfaction. For instance, an analysis of a Qantas Airways' passenger surv ey confirms this. Pasengerswere asked to rate their "essential neds" in air travle. Almost every factor listed by passengers was directly influenced by the actions of Qantas' employees---from prompt baggageadelivery, to courteous and efficient cabin crews, to assistance with connections, to quick and friendly check-ins. Managers everywhere are beginning to understand that delivering consistent high-quality service is essential for success and survival in today's competitive environment and that employees are an important part of that equation. The implication is clear--they must create a customers-responsive organization where employees are friendly aned courteous, accessible, knowledgeable, poromptin responding to customer needs, and willing to do what is nacessary to please the customer. We eill examine customer service management and its importance to planning, organizing, leading, and controlling in sevral chapters.
Importance of Innovation to the Manager's Job: "Nothing is more risky than notinnovating." Innovation means doing thinfs differently, exploring new territory, and taking risks. And immovatrion is not just for high-tech and technologically advanced organizations. Examples of successful innovation can be found in organizatios you might not expect. For instance, for ever 25 years, CXS Transportation (the railroad company) nad transported Tropicana's orange juce products from the processing plants to market. Mistrust between the tow organizations had built up over the years, and the relationship was often adversarial. It affected all aspects of the way employees in both organizations did thir jobs. One day a CSX uail inspector proposed the idea of inspection the rail cares of the Tropicana property rather than bringing them all the way to the CSX rail yard many miles away, as had b een done for years. After all, this back-and-forth transport of rail cars simply for inspection was costly and time consuming. Granted, the idea was not a technological breakthrough, but it was innovative--a way of doing things diferently. It was also valuaaab le for both parties. What role did managers play? Someone hsd to create and maintain an environment in which employees felt free to innovate. And comeone had to act on the idea. That someone was the managers. In today's world, organizational managers--at all levels and in all areas--need to encourage their employees to be on the lookout for new ideas and new approaches, not just in the products or servoces the organization provides, but in everything that's done. We will examine immovation and its importance to planning, organizing, leading, and controlling in several chapters