Literature of MNC management roles , function, activities and skills….5

assumed with multiple roles (Carroll and Gillen ,1987). A role is an organized set of behaviors. 1973, Henry Mintzberg has identified ten roles common to the work of all managers. The ten roles are divided into three groups:

interpersonal, informational, and decisional (Mintzberg ,1971). The

informational roles link all managerial work together. The interpersonal roles ensure that information is provided. The decisional roles make significant use of the information. The performance of managerial roles and the requirements of these roles can be implemented at various time spans by the same

manager and to different degrees depending on the level and function of management. The ten roles are described individually, but they form an integrated whole. The three interpersonal roles are primarily concerned with interpersonal relationships. The direct relationships with people in the

interpersonal roles place the manager in a unique position to get information.

Thus, the three informational roles are primarily concerned with the

information aspects of managerial work. The unique access to information locates the manager at the center of organizational decision making as four decisional roles.

The job of every manager involves what is known as the functions of management: planning; organizing; directing; and controlling. These functions are goal-directed, interrelated and interdependent. Planning involves devising a systematic process for attaining the goals of the

organization, it prepares the organization for the future. Organizing involves arranging the necessary resources to carry out the plan, it is the process of

creating structure, establishing relationships, and allocating resources to accomplish the goals of the organization. Directing involves the guiding, leading, and overseeing of employees to achieve organizational goals.

Controlling involves verifying that actual performance matches the plan, if performance results do not match the plan, corrective action should be taken.

Management role and skill from website of

( http://ollie.dcccd.edu/mgmt1374/book_contents/1overview/managerial_role s/mgrl_roles.htm)

To complete each manager’s function or task, necessary knowledge and related skill are very critical, knowledge is usually assumed solid and easy to be defined. However, skills differ from inherent personality traits (e.g., being aggressive), motives (e.g., need for security), roles (e.g., supervisor), and functions (e.g., planning). On one hand, they encompass more than single managerial actions such as writing one’s name or smiling at an employee.

On the other hand, they encompass less than the multiple behaviors involved in the classic management functions. Skills include cognitive knowledge or how to perform an action, but they involve more than just knowledge itself. While it is difficult, and somewhat arbitrary, to establish the boundaries for what is and what isn’t to be considered a skill, we feel

comfortable in adopting the following definition of management skills: A management skill involves a sequential pattern of behaviors performed in order to achieve a desired outcome. This definition eliminates traits such as honesty or loyalty since these concepts are not defined by a specific,

sequential set of behaviors. It also eliminates roles or functions such as leading or controlling as skills since they involve a variety of behaviors.

Management skills from website (http://cobe.boisestate.edu/msr/index.htm) Extracted from these above mentioned topics regarding role and function in different level of manager with particular skill or knowledge in conjunction with theory of necessary managerial activities, we establish a working perspective of managerial activity and competency that could guide our exploration of MNC manager performance and what skills they actually need.

• What MNC managers usually do and

• What skills and knowledge they need based on industry type and level?

We call this an activity competency model (ACM). It shows the hierarchical structures between the level of management of given MNC manger’s concerned management activity, and their necessary requisite

skills/knowledge sets, as shown in Fig 1.

Fig 1 Activity Competency Model

At the top of the ACM, are the levels of MNC management characterized by the MNC manager’s roles or critical functions vital to the success. Following

Manager’s Roles/ Functions

Managerial Activities

Managerial Knowledge/Skills

the lower levels, manager’s roles and functions are broken down into their special activities; each level of management needs to complete these work activities to accomplish their defined functions effectively. Obviously, different levels of management perceive the importance of their activities in different way. How well the performance at each work activity and its appropriate level depends on how efficient utilization of the more elementary competencies at their skill and knowledge level that are the key competencies that they support in accomplishing to the organization’s success. Naturally, a

competency at a lower level is likely to support more than one competency at a higher level. Nevertheless, many competencies at lower levels are

required to support a specific competency at a higher level.

2.3 Conceptual framework and hypotheses

The extent to which managers perform the functions of management varies by level in the management hierarchy. The term “supervisor” could be applied at all management levels of the organization to those who direct the work of others. In common usage, however, the title tends to be used only in the first level of the management hierarchy. If an organization were divided into top, middle, and lower managerial levels, this term generally applies to the lower level. Supervisors are managers whose major functions

emphasize directing and controlling the work of employees in order to achieve the team goals. They are the only level of management managing non-managers. Thus, most of the supervisor’s time is allocated to the functions of directing and controlling. In contrast, top managers spend most of their time on the functions of planning and organizing. The top manager determines the mission and sets the goals for the organization. His or her

primary function is long-term planning. In sum, top management is

accountable for the overall management of the organization, where middle management implements top management goals, supervisory management directs the actual work of the organization at the operating level.

Adler and Bartholomew compared the qualities of MNC competent

managers with those of traditional managers. They specified the qualities for managing globally competent people as follows (Adler and Bartholomew 1992):

-understanding the worldwide business environment from a global perspective learning about many cultures

-working with and learning from people from various cultures simultaneously -creating a culturally synergistic organizational environment

-adapting to living in many foreign cultures

-using cross-culture international skill on a daily basis -treating foreign colleagues equally

From Jassawal, Truglia and Garvey’s study 2004 in terms of components of selection criteria for expatriate managers is suggested to be:

-Self awareness: knowledge of difference between home and host cultures, realization of the impact of culture values on performance.

-Self regulation: being open to new perspectives, managing uncertainties with self learning and improvement, resisting the urge to impose own values on host cultures, understanding the link between host culture and cross-culture conflicts, being flexible and patient when uncomfortable situations arise.

-Self motivation: maintaining optimism in the new challenges, effectively

handling stress, seeking new ways of achieving assignment goals.

-Empathy: listening skill, sensitivity to differences, asking questions and seeking to understanding before reacting, willing to change so as to show respect for others, opening sharing information.

-Social skill: being outgoing, smiling and friendly, building friendships, seeking common ground despite cross-culture differences, being

open-minded and engaging in discussion rather than passing judgment, socializing and communication informally to build rapport and future cooperation.

Therefore an effective manager is likely to possess complementary managerial skills that are aligned with the organization’s strategy and design, in a complex array that integrates external and internal elements.

Carmeli’s study summarized the following skill: Cleverness (intelligence), Conceptual skills, Creativity Diplomacy and tact, Fluency in

speaking ,Knowledge about group Organizing skills (administrative ability) ,Persuasiveness , Social skills which are very necessary for any cross culture managers (Carmeli, 2006).

Ali and Camp 1996 also implemented a survey and found skill and qualities needed for global managers as follow: Global perspective, Effectiveness in dealing with human resources , Flexible attitude, Adequate technical literacy, Comfort ability in dealing with people from different cultures, Knowledge of social economic, and political environment of other country, Problem solving skill , Adaptability and commitment to change , Willing to Foreign assignment, Long term perspective on business perfprmance, Overseas experience , Proficiency in local language, Personal relations skill.

To understand the difference between domestic and global management, it is necessary to understand the ways in which cultures vary. Anthropology has produced a literature rich in description of alternative culture system.

“Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, and any capabilities and habits acquired by a man as a member of society”( Taylor,1977). People from different culture fail to understand one another; they do not work in the same ways or at the same pace. The potential for increased confusion becomes highest when the organization requires clarity. However, diversity culture leads to advantages when organization wants to expand such as new idea, new approach, new market, due to mixture of creativity (Miroshnik, 2002).In terms of

cross-culture management effectiveness, Phatak offered us five values, which are vary necessary to know for foreign manager to manage effectively which are Individualism, Informality, Materialism, Change, Time orientation (Phatak ,1986). A well-known discovery by Hofstede, he found that,

“Manager and employee vary on four primary dimensions:

individualism/collectivism, power distance, uncertainty, avoidance and masculinity”. All this researches are discussing management impact from cross culture point of view (Hofstede,1980). Thus, we predict that MNC managers in different industries on different level should perceive the relative importance of managerial activities and associated skills.

Although previous research focused on relative importance of managerial roles in Individual function, meanwhile, necessary skills are also suggested for MNC manager frequently, however rarely survey being found in terms of

how is the cross relationship between activity and associated skill for MNC managers, therefore the ACM model is used for guide our research and conceptual framework of this study which shown in Fig 2

Fig 2 Conceptual framework

As a result, we establish the following research hypotheses:

1. Effects of industry type and management level on management activity.

H1.1: There is no interaction between management level

and industry type on the importance of the management activity.

H1.2: There is no difference among the management levels regarding the importance of the management activities.

H1.3: There is no difference among the industry types

regarding the importance of these management activities.

2. The importance of management activities to management level and industry type.

H2.1: Each management activity is unimportant to each level of management.

H2.2: Each management activity is unimportant to each type of industry.

3. The importance of management skills to management level and Level of

Management Type of Industry

Management Activities

Management Skills

industry type.

H3.1: Each management skill is unimportant to each level of management.

H3.2: Each management skill is unimportant to each type of industry.

4. The relationship between managerial activities and skills.

H4: The management skills are unimportant to each managerial activity for each one of the three management levels.

3. Research Design