Management is both an art and a science.
The "art" factor comes out of the individual's basic makeup-level of sensitivity to others, attitudes about life and work, innate organizational skills, natural ease of getting along with people, sense of humor, general outlook on life, priorities, built-in value system, and thousands of other factors that define us as individual human beings.
The "science" aspect of management does not come from within. Rather, it is learned over a period of time through a combination of experience, training, and, most important, willingness to acknowledge it as a teachable skill and to strive to learn it.
Unfortunately, many men and women in data processing are, by their own admission, lacking in managerial skills. This finding came out through another of my studies. We first asked top management to evaluate the managerial skills of data processing managers reporting to them. Sixty-four percent of them felt that their DP managers were weak in those skills. We then asked the DP managers themselves how they would rate their skills as managers, and, believe it or not, 46 percent of them believed their management skills were lacking. In a sense, this can be viewed as a positive finding if those who recognize their inadequacies act upon that knowledge by taking steps to improve their managerial knowledge and techniques. The first step in anyone's improvement is to recognize a weakness. If you feel you are shaky in this area, by all means take whatever steps are necessary to correct the situation.
Going from a lower level - more technical hands-on jobs in data processing - up through the management ranks, in which each plateau carries with it responsibility for more people, demands a set of skills that data processing training doesn't prepare you for. No longer can you depend upon your computer abilities. You have to call upon a whole new reservoir of knowledge and insight that you'd better fill to the brim to succeed and to reap the resulting rewards. Those in management are faced with problems that are more intangible and all-encompassing than the DPers working under them must deal with, and the approach to solving those problems carries you into a new dimension of business life.
If you have reached a managerial level, it's probably obvious that you now have both an up and a down relationship with others. Until becoming a manager, your primary thrust was upward-developing relationships with those above you. Now, while you continue to do that as you seek even more responsible and loftier positions, you must relate with those below you if you are to succeed. It all comes back to the same thing: people are at the heart of all business, including the most highly technical and automated, and it ultimately will be your people skills - up and down - that will determine your ultimate career success.
As with every other aspect of the management function, much of what you do will be instinctive, and based upon your own individuality. But in today's complex business climate, you can't depend upon instinct to get through. Instead, your natural abilities have to be supplemented by what you can learn about effective management, including the handling of people who report to you.
Time
Managing the productive time of people who work for you is crucial to a department's success. There is only so much time available, and it must be carefully weighed against department and company objectives if they are to be met in a timely fashion. Managers who successfully manage time get more done in less time. That's the key to good time management: making maximum use of it.
"Do as I say, not as I do" is sometimes valid where managing people is concerned, but not when it comes to managing time. You, the DP manager, will find it virtually impossible to effectively schedule your staff if you aren't good at planning and keeping to your own schedule. Managing your own time, now that you will have less of it, is something you should work at very hard.
Successful people waste very little time. If they are going to the bank and know they will have to stand in line, they bring with them something that they have been meaning to read, or they use the time to think out a problem that the crush of daily pressure at the office precludes. They make productive use of commuting time by reading on the train or by listening to helpful instructional tapes on their car stereo system. For them, part of planning a business trip is deciding what sort of work to carry on the plane that can readily by done in-flight.
Successful people value their time enough to find the time to improve their reading skills and speed. They learn to skim voluminous reports in order to quickly sum up the essence of them. They also recognize that good physical condition contributes to effective use of time. It promotes more restful sleep and boosts energy levels after long hours at a project, with the promise of more to come.
I've made it a point for years to always have a mini tape recorder with me. I like to start my day early in the morning with a long walk, and I find this to be a particularly fertile time for me to think out problems that I know I'll be facing that day. Such thoughts are fleeting', however, which is why the tape recorder has become an indispensable item in my pocket.
A good area in which managing time pays off involves business meetings. As you progressed through the data processing ranks, how many managers have you worked for who call a meeting and then spend an incredible amount of valuable time getting it started? Meetings should be carefully thought out and planned, and a tight agenda should be adhered to. The same holds true for conferences with individual employees. Know what you want to accomplish when you call someone into your office, and stick to the subject.
Establish with your employees an understanding that you don't enjoy wasting time and you expect them to respect that. By doing this, you will find yourself having more available time during your workday and, simultaneously, will help establish in your employees the same attitude toward their own workday.
Successful executives put considerable planning into their office decor and surroundings to discourage irrelevant conversations. They keep distracting objects to a minimum, which cuts down on idle chitchat about them. They establish, in a friendly way, an atmosphere in which it is expected that visitors will get their points across quickly, without unnecessary deviation.
You, the DP manager, have to set the tone when it comes to making productive use of a department's time. You can't hang out by the water cooler or copying machine and expect your employees to avoid that indulgence.
