Now that you’ve joined the ranks of those who manage let’s consider the issues that will help you develop some managing principles and a system of thought—a philosophy of managing. Without a guiding philosophy, your thinking will have to begin at the bottom of the learning curve for every issue that arises. You can’t simply afford to restart the engine every time a major issue arises. You need to develop some operational philosophy that will guide you through the maze of decision-making processes. The real world of the entry-level manager is quite different from that presented in the academic or business press. The quick fixes presented by the management gurus to executive-level managers do not lead to management utopia. You’re dealing with people who bring all their uniqueness to the workplace, and their skills and abilities must somehow be integrated to meet the organization’s purposes.
You are now part of the organization’s management team regardless of your past professional discipline or your organizational function. Your domain of operations has changed, and you now must view the organization from a broader perspective. You are on the other side of the desk, with responsibility for the performance of others. Throughout this book the word organization will include those in academia, government, industry, and the not-for-profit world. It will apply to every discipline on the continuum from the humanities to science and engineering, to every type of organization whether national or global, to every organization whether product or service oriented, and to every organization from the smallest to the largest.