List and summarize the four levels of management, summarizing the job responsibilities for someone at each level. For each level of management, discuss some of the activities that would be performed by the managers of a U.S.-based party-favor store.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Managers may be classified into four levels: top, middle, first-line, and team leaders. (Answers will vary regarding the tasks performed by the managers at the U.S.-based party-favor company.)

Top managers make long-term decisions about the overall direction of the organization and establish the objectives, policies, and strategies for it. They need to pay a great deal of attention to the environment outside the organization, being alert for long-run opportunities and problems and devising strategies for dealing with them. Thus, executives at this level must be future oriented, dealing with uncertain, highly competitive conditions. The top managers at the party-favor company will need to be on the lookout for competition from abroad; it may be the case that competing companies in other countries can produce party favors at a much lower cost, thereby gaining a price advantage over the U.S. company. Top managers may need to look into outsourcing and other cost-saving measures in order to remain competitive.

Middle managers implement the policies and plans of the top managers above them and supervise and coordinate the activities of the first-line managers below them. At the party-favor company, a middle manager might meet with a top manager and receive the following goal: "Enter the wedding-favor market, achieving market penetration of 10 percent by the end of the fiscal year." The middle manager implements this goal by working with first-line managers to define the tasks that will achieve this goal, as well as managing the progress in reaching that goal.

Following the plans of middle and top managers, first-line managers make short-term operating decisions, directing the daily tasks of nonmanagerial personnel. A first-line manager on the shop floor might oversee the installation of new equipment to create wedding favors, arrange for the employees to receive training on the new equipment, and then monitor the output to make sure that costs are controlled and the wedding favors are of high quality.

Team leaders are responsible for facilitating team activities toward achieving key results. Team leaders may not have authority over other team members, but they are expected to provide guidance, instruction, and direction to the others; to coordinate team efforts; to resolve conflicts; to represent the team to the first-level manager; and to make decisions in the absence of consensus. The party-favor company may appoint a team leader for its new wedding-favor business; this team leader will coordinate the efforts of the team members, perhaps helping them apply best practices from other parts of the organization to achieve the company's goals.