DIRECTING
Meaning
In the ordinary sense, directing means giving instructions and guiding people in
doing work. In our daily life, we come across many situations like a hotel owner
directing his employees to complete certain activities for organising a function,
a teacher directing his students to complete an assignment, a film director
directing the artists about how they should act in the film, etc. In all these
situations, we can observe that directing is done to achieve some predetermined
objective.
In the context of management of an organisation, directing refers to the process
of instructing, guiding, counselling, motivating and leading people in the
organisation to achieve its objectives.
You can observe here that directing is not merely an issue of communication, but
encompasses many elements, such as supervision, motivation, and leadership.
It is one of the key managerial functions performed by every manager. Directing
is a managerial process that takes place throughout the life of an organisation.
The main characteristics of directing are discussed below
(i) Directing initiates action: Directing is a key managerial function. A manager
must perform this function in conjunction with planning, organising, staffing,
and controlling while discharging their duties within the organisation. While
other functions prepare a setting for action, directing initiates action in the
organisation.
(ii) Directing takes place at every level of management: Every manager, from
top executive to supervisor, performs the function of directing. The directing
takes place wherever superior-subordinate relations exist.
(iii) Directing is a continuous process: Directing is a continuous activity. It takes
place throughout the life of the organisation irrespective of people occupying
managerial positions. We can observe that in organisations like Infosys, Tata,
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BHEL, HLL and the managers may change, but the directing process continues
because without direction, the organisational activities cannot continue further.
(iv) Directing flows from top to bottom: Directing is first initiated at the top level
and flows to the bottom through the organisational hierarchy.
It means that every manager can direct his immediate subordinate and take
instructions from his immediate boss.
Importance of Directing
The importance of directing can be understood by the fact that every action in
the organisation is initiated through directing only. Directing guides towards the
achievement of common objectives. Through directing, managers not only tell
the people in the organisation as to what they should do, when they should do
and how they should do, but also see that their instructions are implemented in
a proper perspective. Very often, this becomes an important factor in the
efficient and effective functioning of the organisation. The points which
emphasise the importance of directing are presented as follows:
(i) Directing helps to initiate action by people in the organisation towards the
attainment of desired objectives. For example, if a supervisor guides his
subordinates and clarifies their doubts in performing a task, it will help the
worker to achieve the work targets given to him.
(ii) Directing integrates employees' efforts in the organisation in such a way that
every individual effort contributes to the organisational performance. Thus, it
ensures that the individuals work for organisational goals. For example, a
manager with good leadership abilities will be in a position to convince the
employees working under him that individual efforts and team effort will lead to
the achievement of organisational goals.
(iii) Directing guides employees to fully realise their potential and capabilities by
motivating and providing effective leadership. A good leader can always identify
the potential of their employees and motivate them to work up to their full
potential.
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(iv) Directing facilitates the introduction of needed changes in the organisation.
Generally, people have a tendency to resist changes in the organisation. Effective
directing through motivation, communication and leadership helps to reduce
such resistance and develop the required cooperation in introducing changes in
the organisation. For example, if a manager wants to introduce a new system of
accounting, there may be initial resistance from accounting staff. But, if the
manager explains the purpose, provides training and motivates with additional
rewards, the employees may accept change and cooperate with the manager.
(v) Effective directing helps to bring stability and balance in the organisation
since it fosters cooperation and commitment among the people and helps to
achieve balance among various groups, activities and departments.
Principles of Directing
Providing good and effective direction is a challenging task as it involves many
complexities. A manager has to deal with people with diverse backgrounds and
expectations. This complicates the directing process. Certain guiding principles
of directing may help in the directing process. These principles are briefly
explained below:
(i) Maximum individual contribution: This principle emphasises that directing
techniques must help every individual in the organisation to contribute to their
maximum potential for the achievement of organisational objectives. It should
bring out the untapped energies of employees for the efficiency of the
organisation. For example, a good motivation plan with suitable monetary and
non-monetary rewards can motivate an employee to contribute their maximum
efforts for the organisation as he or she may feel that their efforts will bring them
suitable rewards.
(ii) Harmony of objectives: Very often, we find that individual objectives of
employees and the organisational objectives as understood conflict with each
other. For example, an employee may expect an attractive salary and monetary
benefits to fulfil his personal needs. The organisation may expect employees to
improve productivity to achieve expected profits. But good directing should
provide harmony by convincing that employee rewards and work efficiency are
complementary to each other.
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(iii) Unity of Command: This principle insists that a person in the organisation
should receive instructions from one superior only. If instructions are received
from more than one, it creates confusion, conflict and disorder in the
organisation. Adherence to this principle ensures effective direction.
(iv) Appropriateness of direction technique: According to this principle,
appropriate motivational and leadership techniques should be used while
directing the people based on subordinate needs, capabilities, attitudes and
other situational variables. For example, for some people, money can act as a
powerful motivator, while for others, promotion may act as an effective
motivator.
(v) Managerial communication: Effective managerial communication across all
levels in the organisation makes direction effective. Directing should convey clear
instructions to create total understanding among subordinates. Through proper
feedback, the managers should ensure that subordinate understands their
instructions clearly.
(vi) Use of informal organisation: A manager should realise that informal groups
or organisations exist within every formal organisation. He should spot and make
use of such organisations for effective directing.
(vii) Leadership: While directing the subordinates, managers should exercise
good leadership as it can influence the subordinates positively without causing
dissatisfaction among them.
(vii)Follow through: Mere giving of an order is not sufficient. Managers should
follow it up by continuously reviewing whether orders are being implemented
accordingly or any problems are being encountered. If necessary, suitable
modifications should be made in the directions.
Elements of Direction
The process of directing involves guiding, coaching, instructing, motivating, and
leading the people in an organisation to achieve organisational objectives.
Consider the following examples:
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(i) A supervisor explains a worker about operations to be carried by him
on a lathe machine,
(ii) A mining engineer explains about safety precautions to be followed
while working in a coal mine.
(iii) A Managing Director declares a share in the profits to the managers for
their contribution to enhance profits of the company, and (iv) A
manager inspires his/her employees by playing a lead role in
performing work.
All these examples and many other activities related to directing may broadly be
grouped into four categories, which are the elements of directing. These are:
(i) Supervision
(ii) Motivation
(iii) Leadership
(iv) Communication
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SUPERVISION
Meaning
The term supervision can be understood in two ways. Firstly, it can be
understood as an element of directing and secondly, as a function performed by
supervisors in the organisational hierarchy.
Supervision, being an element of directing, every manager in the organisation
supervises his/her subordinates. In this sense, supervision can be understood as
the process of guiding the efforts of employees and other resources to
accomplish the desired objectives. It means overseeing what is being done by
subordinates and giving instructions to ensure optimum utilisation of resources
and achievement of work targets.
Secondly, supervision can be understood as the function to be performed by a
supervisor, a managerial position in the organisation hierarchy at the operative
level, i.e., immediately above the worker. The functions and performance of the
supervisor are vital to any organisation because they are directly related to
workers, whereas other managers have no direct contact with bottom-level
workers.
Importance of Supervision
The importance of supervision can be understood from the multiple roles
performed by a supervisor. These are explained below:
(i) The supervisor maintains day-to-day contact and maintains friendly relations
with workers. A good supervisor acts as a guide, friend and philosopher to the
workers.
(ii) The supervisor acts as a link between workers and management. He conveys
management ideas to the workers on one hand and workers' problems to the
management on the other. This role played by the supervisor helps to avoid
misunderstandings and conflicts between management and
workers/employees.
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(iii) The supervisor plays a key role in maintaining group unity among workers
placed under his control. He sorts out internal differences and maintains
harmony among workers.
(iv) The Supervisor ensures performance of work according to the targets set. He
takes responsibility for task achievement and motivates his workers effectively.
(v) Supervisor provides good on-the-job training to the workers and employees.
A skilled and knowledgeable supervisor can build an efficient team of workers.
(vi) Supervisory leadership plays a key role in influencing the workers in the
organisation. A supervisor with good leadership qualities can build up high
morale among workers.
(vii) A good supervisor analyses the work performed and gives feedback to the
workers. He suggests ways and means of developing work skills.
Directing a Dissatisfied Manager
Rashmi Joshi had been a district sales manager with Fine Productions for ten
years. She was recognised by her peers and supervisors as a person who
managed the department well. However, everyone realised that Rashmi was
extremely ambitious and was seeking a higher-level management position.
When one of her sales representatives did a good job, she would attempt to take
the credit. However, if a problem arose, she thought it was not her fault. When
the marketing manager retired, Rashmi applied for the position. The company
decided to do a thorough search because of the responsibility and importance
associated with the position. When the search was concluded, the decision was
made to fill the position with a person from outside the company. The consensus
of top management was that Rashmi, although a good district sales manager,
might have difficulties in working with her new peer groups. They felt that she
might displease the other managers if she tried to take credit for their work and,
as a result, their performance would suffer.
Rashmi was heartbroken. She had wanted that particular job for a long time and
had dedicated all her energies towards obtaining it. She became very
despondent, and her work deteriorated. The department functioned in spite of
her, not because of her. Decisions were made slowly, if at all, and she began to
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be late with her sales reports. Although her sales staff continued to be
productive, Rashmi could not take the credit.
When the new marketing manager took over, one of the first major problems
that he confronted was how to motivate and inspire Rashmi to her former level
of performance. He recognised that Rashmi had been with the company for a
long time, but something had to be done to motivate her to perform really well.
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