Course Booklet: Management (KM FPM/MMB21046/21)
Winter Semester
Instructors: doc. Ing. Juraj Mišún, PhD., doc. Ing. Zuzana Skorková, PhD.,
prof. Ing. Nadežda Jankelová, PhD.
Credit Count: 6
Teaching Language: English
Table of Contents
Part 1: The Foundation of Management
1. Lecture 1: Management and the Manager
2. Lecture 2: Evolution of Management Thought
3. Lecture 3: Business and Managerial Ethics
4. Practical 1-3: Foundational Case Analysis
Part 2: The Core Management Functions (The P-O-L-C Framework)
5. Lecture 4: Strategic Management (The "Why")
6. Lecture 5: Planning (The "What" and "How")
7. Lecture 6: Decision-Making (The Engine of Planning)
8. Lecture 7: Organizing (Structuring for Success)
9. Lecture 8: Human Resource Management (The People Side)
10. Lecture 9: Motivation (Energizing Performance)
11. Lecture 10: Communication (The Vital Link)
12. Lecture 11: Leadership (Influence and Inspiration)
13. Lecture 12: Management Control (Ensuring Results)
14. Practical 4-7: Applying the P-O-L-C Framework
Part 3: The Modern Context
15. Lecture 13: Management in the 21st Century
16. Practical 7: Integrative Case Study & Team Project
Part 1: The Foundation of Management
Lecture 1: Management and the Manager
● Management is the art and science of achieving organizational
goals through the functions of planning, organizing, leading, and
controlling (P-O-L-C) human and other resources.
● Managers are individuals who achieve goals through other
people. They operate at different levels:
○ Top Managers (e.g., CEO, CFO): Set overall strategy and
direction.
○ Middle Managers (e.g., Regional Manager, Plant Manager):
Implement strategies of top management and oversee
first-line managers.
○ First-Line Managers (e.g., Supervisor, Team Leader): Direct
the day-to-day activities of non-managerial employees.
● Managerial Roles (Mintzberg's Model):
○ Interpersonal: Figurehead, Leader, Liaison.
○ Informational: Monitor, Disseminator, Spokesperson.
○ Decisional: Entrepreneur, Disturbance Handler, Resource
Allocator, Negotiator.
● Key Skills (Katz's Model):
○ Technical Skills: Proficiency in a specific field (e.g.,
accounting, coding).
○ Human Skills: Ability to work with, understand, and
motivate people.
○ Conceptual Skills: The mental ability to analyze and
diagnose complex situations. Most critical for top
managers.
Lecture 2: Evolution of Management Thought
Understanding history prevents reinventing the wheel and provides a
toolkit of perspectives.
1. Classical Approach:
○ Scientific Management (Taylor): "One best way" to do a job
through time-and-motion studies. Focus on efficiency.
○ Administrative Principles (Fayol): 14 principles for
managing the entire organization (e.g., unity of command,
division of work, scalar chain).
○ Bureaucratic Organization (Weber): Rational, impersonal
structure based on rules, hierarchy, and specialization.
2. Behavioral Approach (Hawthorne Studies, McGregor, Maslow):
Emphasized the importance of human behavior, needs, and
relationships within organizations. McGregor's Theory X (workers
need to be controlled) vs. Theory Y (workers are self-motivated).
3. Quantitative Approach: Application of statistical and
mathematical models to management problems (e.g., operations
research, management science).
4. Modern Approaches:
○ Systems Theory: Views the organization as an open
system that interacts with and adapts to its environment
(inputs -> transformation process -> outputs -> feedback).
○ Contingency Theory: There is no single best way to
manage. The optimal course of action is contingent
(dependent) upon the internal and external situation.
Lecture 3: Business and Managerial Ethics
● Ethics are the principles, values, and beliefs that define right and
wrong behavior.
● Managerial Ethics: The standards that guide the conduct of
managers in their workplaces.
● Four Views of Ethical Behavior (Robbins & Coulter):
1. Utilitarian View: Decisions are made based on their
outcomes/consequences (greatest good for the greatest
number).
2. Rights View: Decisions that respect and protect the
fundamental rights of individuals (privacy, free speech).
3. Justice View: Decisions that impose and enforce rules
fairly and impartially.
4. Integrative Social Contracts View: Decisions based on
ethical norms in industries and communities.
● Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): A business's intention,
beyond its legal and economic obligations, to do the right things
and act in ways that are good for society. The Stakeholder View
argues managers must consider the interests of all parties
affected by organizational decisions (employees, customers,
suppliers, community, environment).
Part 2: The Core Management Functions (The P-O-L-C
Framework)
Lecture 4: Strategic Management
The highest level of managerial planning. It is the process of defining
the organization's strategy and making decisions on allocating
resources to pursue this strategy.
● Strategic Management Process:
1. Mission & External/Internal Analysis: Define the
organization's purpose. Use SWOT Analysis (Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) and PESTLE to
assess the environment.
2. Strategy Formulation: Develop corporate, business, and
functional level strategies.
■ Porter's Generic Strategies: Cost Leadership (low
cost), Differentiation (unique product), Focus
(serving a narrow market segment).
3. Strategy Implementation: Putting strategies into action
through organizing, leading, and controlling.
4. Strategy Evaluation: Assessing the results and making
adjustments.
Lecture 5: Planning
Defining goals, establishing strategy, and developing plans to coordinate
activities.
● Types of Plans:
○ Breadth: Strategic (organization-wide) vs. Operational
(specific procedures).
○ Time Frame: Long-term (>3 years) vs. Short-term (<1 year).
○ Specificity: Specific vs. Directional.
○ Frequency of Use: Single-use (e.g., a project budget) vs.
Standing (e.g., an HR policy).
● SMART Goals: Effective goals are Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Lecture 6: Decision-Making
The essence of a manager's job. It is choosing among two or more
alternatives.
● Rational Decision-Making Model:
1. Identify the Problem.
2. Identify Decision Criteria.
3. Allocate Weights to Criteria.
4. Develop Alternatives.
5. Analyze Alternatives.
6. Select an Alternative.
7. Implement the Alternative.
8. Evaluate Decision Effectiveness.
● Bounded Rationality: Managers make decisions rationally but are
limited by their ability to process information. They
satisfice—choose the first acceptable solution.
● Intuition: An unconscious process of making decisions based on
experience and accumulated judgment.
Lecture 7: Organizing
The process of arranging people and physical resources to carry out
plans and accomplish goals. It creates the organization's structure.
● Organizational Structure: The formal framework by which job
tasks are divided, grouped, and coordinated.
● Key Elements:
○ Work Specialization: To what degree are tasks subdivided
into separate jobs?
○ Departmentalization: The basis by which jobs are grouped
(e.g., by function, product, geography, customer).
○ Chain of Command: The line of authority from top to
bottom.
○ Span of Control: The number of employees a manager can
efficiently supervise.
○ Centralization vs. Decentralization: Where is
decision-making authority concentrated?
○ Formalization: How standardized are jobs and the extent
to which employee behavior is guided by rules.
Lecture 8: Human Resource Management (HRM)
The policies, practices, and systems that influence employees' behavior,
attitudes, and performance.
● HRM Process:
1. Recruitment & Selection: Attracting and choosing
competent individuals.
2. Orientation & Training: Integrating new employees and
upgrading skills.
3. Performance Management: Evaluating performance and
providing feedback.
4. Compensation & Benefits: Rewarding employees.
5. Career Development: Ensuring a path for growth.
Lecture 9: Motivation
The process that account for an individual's intensity, direction, and
persistence of effort toward attaining a goal.
● Content Theories (What motivates?):
○ Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Physiological, Safety, Social,
Esteem, Self-actualization.
○ Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory: Hygiene Factors (prevent
dissatisfaction, e.g., salary, work conditions) and
Motivators (create satisfaction, e.g., achievement,
recognition).
● Process Theories (How are people motivated?):
○ Expectancy Theory (Vroom): Motivation = Expectancy
(effort→performance) * Instrumentality
(performance→reward) * Valence (attractiveness of
reward).
○ Equity Theory (Adams): Employees compare their
input/outcome ratio to that of others and seek to eliminate
any inequity.
Lecture 10: Communication
The transfer and understanding of meaning.
● Process: Sender -> Encoding -> Message -> Channel -> Decoding
-> Receiver -> Feedback -> Noise.
● Barriers to Effective Communication: Filtering, emotions,
information overload, language, silence, nonverbal cues, lying.
● Formal vs. Informal Communication:
○ Formal: Follows the official chain of command.
○ Informal: The Grapevine—unofficial communication
network.
Lecture 11: Leadership
The ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or
set of goals. Not all managers are leaders.
● Trait Theories: Focus on personal qualities (drive, honesty,
intelligence) that differentiate leaders from non-leaders.
Incomplete explanation.
● Behavioral Theories: Focus on what leaders do.
○ Ohio State Studies: Identified Initiating Structure
(task-oriented) and Consideration (people-oriented) as key
dimensions.
○ Managerial Grid (Blake & Mouton): Concern for Production
vs. Concern for People.
● Contingency Theories:
○ Fiedler's Model: Leader effectiveness depends on
matching a leader's style (task- or relationship-oriented)
with the situation.
○ Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership®: Leader should
adjust their style (telling, selling, participating, delegating)
based on the followers' readiness.
Lecture 12: Management Control
The process of monitoring activities to ensure they are being
accomplished as planned and of correcting any significant deviations.
● Control Process:
○ Measure actual performance.
○ Compare actual performance against a standard.
○ Take managerial action to correct deviations or inadequate
standards.
● Types of Control:
○ Feedforward Control: Prevents problems before they occur
(e.g., hiring standards).
○ Concurrent Control: Corrects problems as they occur (e.g.,
real-time monitoring).
○ Feedback Control: Corrects problems after they occur (e.g.,
financial reports).
Part 3: The Modern Context
Lecture 13: Management in the 21st Century
● Key Trends:
○ Digital Transformation: Managing remote/hybrid teams,
data-driven decision-making, AI and automation.
○ Globalization: Managing across cultures, global supply
chains, and diverse workforces.
○ Sustainability & Ethics: Integrating ESG (Environmental,
Social, Governance) factors into core strategy.
○ Knowledge Management: Creating, capturing, sharing, and
using organizational knowledge as a key asset.
○ Agility & Innovation: Creating flexible organizations that
can adapt quickly to change.
Practical Exercises: Application
Prac 1-3: Foundational Case Analysis
● Analyze a historical company (e.g., Ford under Taylorism) to
identify management approaches.
● Debate an ethical dilemma using the four views of ethical
behavior.
● Profile a modern CEO, analyzing their level, roles, and required
skills.
Prac 4-7: Applying the P-O-L-C Framework
● Strategic Management: Conduct a full SWOT analysis for a
provided company.
● Planning & Decision-Making: Use a rational model to solve a
complex business problem (e.g., "Should we launch a new
product?") and then discuss bounded rationality constraints.
● Organizing: Design an organizational structure for a startup
growing into a multinational, justifying choices of
departmentalization, centralization, etc.
● Leading & Motivating: Develop a motivation plan for a
demoralized team using content and process theories.
● Integrative Case Study: A comprehensive case where you must
act as a manager to diagnose problems and prescribe actions
across all P-O-L-C functions.