Directing.

Meaning:

Directing means giving instructions, guiding, counseling,

motivating and leading the staff in an organization in
doing work to achieve Organizational goals. Directing is
a key managerial function to be performed by the
manager along with planning, organizing, staffing and
controlling.
From top executive to supervisor performs the function
of directing and it takes place accordingly wherever
superior – subordinate relations exist.Directing is a
continuous process initiated at top level and flows to the
bottom through organizational hierarchy.

Direction has got following characteristics:

1. Pervasive Function- Directing is required at all levels

of organization. Every manager provides guidance and
inspiration to his subordinates.

2. Continuous Activity- Direction is a continuous activity

as it continuous throughout the life of organization.

3. Human Factor- Directing function is related to

subordinates and therefore it is related to human factor.
Since human factor is complex and behaviour is
unpredictable, direction function becomes important.

4. Creative Activity- Direction function helps in

converting plans into performance. Without this function,
people become inactive and physical resources are
meaningless.

5. Executive Function- Direction function is carried out

by all managers and executives at all levels throughout
the working of an enterprise, a subordinate receives
instructions from his superior only.

6. Delegate Function- Direction is supposed to be a

function dealing with human beings. Human behaviour is
unpredictable by nature and conditioning the people’s
behaviour towards the goals of the enterprise is what the
executive does in this function. Therefore, it is termed as
having delicacy in it to tackle human behaviour.

Importance

1. Initiates Action: It helps to initiate action by the

people in the organization towards attainment of desired
objectives. The employees start working only when they
get instructions and directions from their superiors. It is
the directing function which starts actual work to convert
plans into results.

2. Integrates Employee’s Efforts: All the activities of the

organization are interrelated so it is necessary to
coordinate all the activities. It integrates the activities of
subordinates by supervision, guidance and counselling.

3. Means of motivation: It motivates the subordinates to

work efficiently and to contribute their maximum efforts
towards the achievement of organizational goals.

4. Facilitates change: Employees often resist changes due

to fear of adverse effects on their employment and
promotion. Directing facilitates adjustment in the
organization to cope with changes in the environment.

5. Stability and balance in the organization: Managers

while performing directing function instruct, guide,
supervise and inspire their subordinates in a manner that
they are able to strike a balance between individual and
organizational interests.
Principles of Effective Direction:

Effective direction leads to greater contribution of

subordinates to organization goals. The directing
function of management can be effective only when
certain well accepted principles are followed.

The following are the basic principles of effective

direction:

1. Harmony of Objectives:

It is an essential function of management to make the

people realize the objectives of the group and direct their
efforts towards the achievement of their objectives. The
interest of the group must always prevail over individual
interest. The principle implies harmony of personal
interest and common interest..

2. Unity of Command:

This principle states that one person should receive

orders from only one superior, in other words, one person
should be accountable to only one boss. If one person is
under more than one boss then there can be contradictory
orders and the subordinate fails to understand whose
order to be followed. In the absence of unity of
command, the authority is undermined, discipline
weakened, loyalty divided and confusion and delays are
caused.

3. Unity of Direction:

To have effective direction, there should be one head and

one plan for a group of activities having the same
objectives. In other words, each group of activities
having the same objectives must have one plan of action
and must be under the control of one supervisor.

4. Direct Supervision:

The directing function of management becomes more

effective if the superior maintains direct personal contact
with his subordinates. Direct supervision infuses a sense
of participation among subordinates that encourages
them to put in their best to achieve the organizational
goals and develop an effective system of feed-back of
information.

5. Participative or Democratic Management:

The function of directing becomes more effective if
participative or democratic style of management is
followed. According to this principle, the superior must
act according to the mutual consent and the decisions
reached after consulting the subordinates. It provides
necessary motivation to the workers by ensuring their
participation and acceptance of work methods.

6. Effective Communication:

To have effective direction, it is very essential to have an

effective communication system which provides for free
flow of ideas, information, suggestions, complaints and
grievances.

7. Follow-up:

In order to make direction effective, a manager has to

continuously direct, guide, motivate and lead his
subordinates. A manager has not only to issue orders and
instructions but also to follow-up the performance so as
to ensure that work is being performed as desired. He
should intelligently oversee his subordinates at work and
correct them whenever they go wrong.
(i) Supervision- implies overseeing the work of
subordinates by their superiors. It is the act of watching
& directing work & workers.

(ii) Motivation- means inspiring, stimulating or

encouraging the sub-ordinates with zeal to work.
Positive, negative, monetary, non-monetary incentives
may be used for this purpose.

(iii) Leadership- may be defined as a process by which

manager guides and influences the work of subordinates
in desired direction.

(iv) Communications- is the process of passing

information, experience, opinion etc from one person to
another. It is a bridge of understanding.

1. Supervision, as an element of directing:

● processof guiding the efforts of employees and other

resources to accomplish desired objectives.
●
Overseeing people at work
●
 Involves instructing, observing, monitoring and
guiding employees.
●
Carried out at all levels but more important at the
lower levels therefore the term ‘Supervisor’ is used at
the operatives level of management

I. Importance of Supervision/Role of a
Supervisor/Functions

1. Link between workers and management because the

supervisor explains management policies to workers and
brings workers problems to the notice of the
management.

2. Ensures issuing Instructions: To make sure that the

instructions are communicated to each and every
employee.

3. Facilities Control: Control means match between

actual and planned output. It ensures checking on the
methods in use and progress of work according to
planned schedule.
4. Maintenance of discipline: The strict supervision and
guidance of supervisor encourages the employees and
workers to be more disciplined in the activities.

Under the guidance of superior the workers follow a

fixed or strict timetable and execute the plans in right
directions.

5. Feedback: The supervisors are directly dealing with

the subordinates. As a result, feedback in the form of
suggestions, grievances keep coming to the management.
It improves quality management decisions and revision
of plans & policies.

6. Improved Motivation: A supervisor with good

leadership qualities can build up high morale among
workers. The relationship with the supervisor is a very
good incentive to improve the motivation level of the
employees while guiding the employees, the supervisors
encourage the subordinates to perform to their best
capacities.

7. Optimum utilization of resources: All the activities are

under the observation of supervisor so less wastage and
optimum utilization of resources is possible.
II. Motivation

Meaning:

i. Incitement or inducement to act/move.

ii. Process of stimulating people to action to accomplish

desired goals.

• Three key terms = motive, motivation, motivators

Motive :inner state that energizes, activates and directs

behaviour towards goals.

Arises out of unsatisfied needs = causes restlessness.

Motivation : Process of stimulating people to action +

Depend on satisfying needs of people.

Motivators: Technique used to motivate people.Egs. =

pay, bonus, promotion, recognition etc.

Features

1. Psychological Phenomenon: Motivation is an internal

feeling which means it cannot be forced on employees.
The internal feeling such as need, desire, aspiration etc.
influence human behaviour to behave in a particular
manner.
2. Goal Directed Behaviour: It induces people to behave
in such a manner so that they can achieve their goals. A
motivated person works towards the achievement of
desired goals.

3. Motivation can be either positive or Negative: Positive

motivation means inspiring people to work better and
appreciating a work that is well done e.g., pay increase
promotion recognition. Negative motivation means
forcing people to work by threatening or punishing them.
e.g., issue of memo, demotion, stopping increments etc.

4.Complex Process: It is a complex and difficult process.

Individuals differ in their needs and wants and moreover
human needs change from time to time.

5. Continuous Process: Human needs are unlimited and

so they keep on changing continuously, satisfaction of
one need gives rise to another. As soon as one need is
satisfied another need arises. So managers have to
continuously perform the function of motivation.

Maslow‟s Hierarchy Of Needs:

Maslow‘s need hierarchy is considered to be
fundamental to the understanding of motivation and
plays an important role in motivation.

• People have a wide range of needs like physiological

needs, social needs, safety needs, esteem needs and self
actualisation needs which motivate them to work.

• The manager must understand the needs and wants of

people in order to motivate them and improve their
performance levels.

• For the satisfaction of these needs, managers must offer

different incentives (monetary and non-monetary).

Management
Examples Of
Can Satisfy This
Need
NEED Need By
(Individual
(Organizational
Example)
Example)
Most basic in Offer monetary
the hierarchy incentives e.g.
1. Basic and Good
Physiological Needs corresponds to salary/wages and
primary needs. comfortable
Hunger, thirst, working
shelter, sleep. conditions
Security and
protection from
Offer job security,
2. Safety/Security physical and
pension, insurance
Needs emotional
etc
harm, stability
of Income etc.
The firm can
encourage team
Refer to building and
affection, sense permit the
3.
of workers to
Affiliation/Belonging
belongingness, opportunity to
Needs
acceptance and interact socially
friendship and so develop
cordial relations
with colleagues
Recognize good
Include factors performance,
such as self- provide
respect, opportunity for
4. Esteem Needs autonomy employees to feel
status, a sense of
recognition and accomplishment,
attention provide important
job titles etc
The drive to Offer the freedom
become what to take decisions,
 one is capable providing them
of becoming. with opportunity
5. Self Actualisation
These needs to learn things,
Needs
include growth, encouraging
self-fulfillment creativity, leading
and to achievement of
achievement of goals etc.
goals.

Financial and Non-Financial Incentives: Incentive

means all measures which are used to motivate people
to improve performance.

Non-financial incentives=
Financial incentives = main emphasis is to provide
directly in money form or psychological and emotional
measurable in monetary satisfaction. Not measurable
terms. in monetary terms.
1. Pay and allowance 1. Status2. Organizational
2. Productivity linked climate
incentive schemes 3. Career advancement
3. Bonus opportunities
4. Profit sharing 4. Job enrichment
5. Co-partnership/Stock 5. Employee recognition
options programmes
6. Retirement benefits 6. Job security
7. Perquisites 7. Employee participation 8.
Employee empowerment

III. Leadership

Leadership is the activity of influencing people to strive

willingly for mutual objectives. Managers at all levels
are expected to be the leaders of their subordinates.
Leadership indicates the ability of an individual to
maintain good interpersonal relations with followers and
motivate them to contribute for achieving organizational
objectives. It is a process of interaction between the
leader and his followers. It helps in persuading
employees to work cooperatively and enthusiastically
towards common goals.

Importance of Leadership:

1. Makes people contribute positively:

• Influences behaviour and makes people contribute
positively and produce good results.

2. Creates congenial work environment:

• Maintains personal relations, helps followers fulfil their

needs+ provides confidence, support and encouragement.

3. Introduces change:

• Persuades, clarifies and inspires people to accept

changes.

• So overcomes resistance to change with minimum

discontent..

4. Handles conflict

• Does not allow adverse effects .

• Allows followers to express their feelings and

disagreements and gives suitable clarifications.

5. Trains subordinates:

• Builds up successors and helps in smooth succession

process.
Qualities Of A Good Leader:

1. Physical features – appearance, personality, heath and

endurance inspires followers to work with the same
tempo.

2. Knowledge – knowledge and competence to instruct

and influence subordinates.

3. Integrity – the leader should be a role model regarding

ethics, values, integrity and honesty.

4. Initiative – grab opportunities instead of waiting for

them.

5. Communication – capacity to explain his ideas and

also be a good listener, teacher, counselor and persuader.

6. Motivation skills – understand followers needs and

devise suitable means to satisfy them.

7. Self-confidence – so that he can provide confidence to

followers

8. Decisiveness – should be firm and not change opinions

frequently
9. Social skills – sociable, friendly and maintain good
relations with followers.

Styles of Leadership

Leadership styles refer to a leader’s behaviour.

Behavioural pattern which the leader reflects in his role
as a leader is often described as the style of leadership.

A Leadership style is the result of the leader’s

philosophy, personality, experience and value system. It
also depends upon the type of followers and the
atmosphere revealing in the organization.

Different types of leadership style are:

1. Autocratic leadership

2. Participative leadership/Democratic

3. Free rein leadership/Laissez Faire

A leader may use all styles over a period of time but one
style tends to predominate as his normal way of using
power.

l. Autocratic or Authoritarian Leader

An autocratic leader gives orders and insists that they are

obeyed. He determines the policies for the group without
consulting them. He does not give information about
future plans but simply tells the group what immediate
steps they must take. Under this style, all decision
making power is centralized in the leader. He does not
give the subordinates any freedom to influence his
decisions.
It is like “bossing people around.” This style should
normally be used on rare occasion.

It is best applied to situations where there is little time

for group decision making or where the leader is the
most knowledgeable member of the group.

2. Democratic or Participative Leader

A democratic leader gives order only after consulting the

group and works out the policies with the acceptance of
the group.
He never asks people to do things without working out
the long term plans on which they are working. He
favours decision making by the group as shown in the
diagram.

This improves the attitude of the employees towards their

jobs and the organization thereby increasing their morale.
Using this style is of mutual benefit – it allows them
(subordinates) to become part of the team and helps
leaders (seniors) to make better decisions.

When should Participative/democratic leadership be

applied?

It works best in situations where group members are

skilled and eager to share their knowledge.
It is also important to have plenty of time to allow people
to contribute, develop a plan and then vote on the best
course of action.

This style should NOT he used when:

In situations where roles are unclear or time is of the

essence, democratic leadership can lead to
communication failures and incomplete projects.

3. Laissez Faire or Free Rein Leader

A free rein leader gives complete freedom to the
subordinates. Such a leader avoids use of power. He
depends largely upon the group to establish its own goals
and work out its own problems. Group members work
themselves as per their own choice and competence.

The leader exists as a contact man with the outsiders to

bring information and the resources which the group
requires for accomplishing the job. Note: This is also
known as laissez faire which means no interference in
the affairs of
others. Frenchlaissezmeanstolet/allowfairmeanstodo.

Communication

It is transfer of information from the sender to the

receiver with the information being understood by the
receiver. Communication plays key role in the success of
a manager. Directing abilities of manager mainly depend
upon his communication skills.

That is why organization always emphasizes on

improving communication skills of managers as well as
employees. Communication is important for the directing
function because all other elements of directing become
possible only when there is adequate communication.

Elements of Communication Process

1. Sender: Who conveys his thoughts or ideas.

2. Message: Ideas, feelings, suggestions, order etc.

3. Encoding: Converting the message into

communication symbols such as words/pictures etc.

4. Media: Path/Channel through which encoded message

is transmitted to receiver e.g., face to face, phone call,
internet etc.

5. Decoding: Converting encoded symbols of the sender.

6. Receiver: Who receives communication of the sender.

7. Feedback: All those actions of receiver indicating that

he has received and understood the message of the
sender.
8. Noise: Some obstruction or hindrance to
communication like poor telephone connection,
inattentive receiver.

Importance of Communication

1. Facilitates Coordination: between interrelated

departments and sections thus creating a unity of purpose
and action.

2. Provides data necessary for decision makings: When

information is effectively and efficiently communicated
to management.

3. Increases managerial efficiency: Every individual in

the organization is assigned a job or task. The employee
must know clearly who has to report to whom, what part
of total job they are expected to perform and what are
their decisions. The clarity comes only with smooth flow
of communication which keeps the organization at work
with efficiency.

4. Promotes cooperation and Industrial Peace: The two-

way communication promotes cooperation and mutual
understanding between the management and workers and
brings peace in the organization.

5. Establishes effective leadership: Effective

communication helps to influence subordinates. while
influencing, a leader should possess good
communication skills.

If there is two-way information flow between the

superior and subordinates then there will be positive
reaction of employees.

Communication taking place within an organization

may be broadly classified into two categories.

Formal communication
1.Official communication
following the chain of
command Informal
2.Is concerned with official Communication:
matters
3. May be written/oral but 1.Takes place outside the
generally recorded and filed. official channels –
4.Directions = 2. May be work related or
• Vertical: other matters –
1. Downward-superior to 3.Arises out of social
subordinates –sending interactions –
notices, passing 4.Grapevine:
guidelines, asking them • Origin and direction of

to complete assigned flow is not easily

work. located
2. upward- subordinates to • Cuts across scalar

superior – application for chain

leave, submission of • Spread of rumors is

reports. possible as it is not

• Horizontal- between easy to fix
departments – about responsibilities –
schedule of product 5.Types =
delivery, product design • single strand,
etc. • gossip,
5.Popular communication • probability network,
networks are: • clusters

• Single chain, Wheel,

Circular, Free flow and
Inverted V

Difference between Formal and Informal

Communication
 Formal Informal
Basis
Communication communication
Between individuals
Follows the official
1. Meaning and groups are not
chain of command.
officially recognized.
Through a definite
2. Channel No definite path.
path.
Slow: because all
Very fast-Cuts across
information has to pass
3. Speed all the official
through an established
channels.
scalar chain.
Flexible and varies
More rigid and cannot
4. Nature from individual to
be modified.
individual.
5. It is mostly expressed It mostly tends to be
Expression in the written form. oral.

Barriers to Effective Communication

Semantic Barriers: Concerned with problems and
obstructions in the process of encoding or decoding of
message into words or impressions. Semantic barriers are
as follows:
1. Badly expressed message: Sometimes intended
meaning may not be conveyed.

2. Words with different meanings confuses the receiver.

3. Faulty translations may transfer wrong messages.

4. Unclarified assumption: Different interpretations may

result in confusion.

5. Technical Jargon: Technical words may not be

understood by the workers.

Psychological/Emotional barriers

1. Premature evaluation- judgement before listening

leads to misunderstanding.

2. Lack of attention/poor listening may disappoint the

employees.
3. Loss by transmission and poor retention: When oral
communication passes through various levels it destroys
the structure of the message or leads to transmission of
inaccurate message.

4. Distrust: If the parties do not believe each other. They

cannot understand each other’s message in its original
sense.

Organizational Barriers

Factors related to organization structure:

1. If organizational policy does not support free flow of

information it creates problem.

2. Rules and regulations: Rigid rules and regulations may

lead to red tapism and delay of action.

3. Status conscious managers may not allow subordinates

to express their feelings freely.

4. Complexity in organization structure results in delay

and distortion.

Personal Barriers: of superiors and subordinates.

1. Fear of challenge to authority may withhold or

suppress a particular communication.

2. Lack of confidence of superior in his subordinates.

3. Unwillingness to communicate. e.g., fear of

punishment/demotion.

4. Lack of proper incentives stops the subordinates to

offer useful suggestions.

Improving Communication Effectiveness

1. Clarify the ideas before communication.

2. Communicate according to the needs of receiver.

3. Consult others before communicating.

4. Be aware of language, tone and content of message.

5. Ensure proper feedback. Feedback provides

opportunity for suggestions and criticism.

6. Follow up communication helps to remove hurdles,

misunderstanding of information given by managers to
subordination.

7. Be a good listener.