IRAN

Iran

Assignment No. 1

Senior Managers' Effectiveness: The Case Of The Steel Industry In Iran

Introduction

Senior managers play a significant role in their organizations and the development of their nations. Questions as to what contributes to their increased effectiveness have become increasingly important. It has been suggested that task, people and analytical and self-development skills are essential for their increased managerial effectiveness[1, 2, 3] and that their need for the acquisition of the above skills is influenced by their level of seniority in the hierarchy[4].

Aim of the Project

This paper outlines the major findings of a research project which attempts to examine the relevance of the above for the management development training of the senior managers in the Iranian steel industry. The main concern has been to assess the importance of the need for managerial knowledge and skills as perceived by senior managers for their increased effectiveness. The intention is to discover the extent to which the acquisition of these three broad categories of managerial skills will contribute to the development and increased effectiveness of senior managers in different positions. Moreover, the question posed is, do senior managers have different training and development needs because of their position of seniority in the organization? Finally, the implications of the above for the management development training of senior managers is discussed and relevant conclusions are reached.

Background Information

The need to build and sustain effective and productive organizations is a prerequisite for achieving socio-economic goals of development. At the same time, it is crucial to develop competent managers who can be entrusted with the responsibilities of these organizations. Management, therefore, creates the vital link between economic progress, organizational effectiveness and people's performance. In this respect, the role of senior managers has been considerably more significant in the overall success of their organizations and the development of their nations. This has meant greater responsibility and demand on their part to increase their managerial effectiveness.

There seems to be a time gap between industrialized and developing countries in the utilization of modern concepts of management which deprive them of the opportunity to utilize the most current knowledge and practices[5]. While the developed countries have benefited relatively from recent progress in the field of management development, the approaches adopted by developing nations still emphasize cognitive learning and the acquisition of management knowledge apart from management skills[6]. In Western societies, the conventional approach to management training and development has long been found to be insufficient[7, 8]. As a result, successful attempts have been made in the West to achieve a sustained change in managerial behaviour through a more promising skill learning approach which imparts to managers the essential managerial skills required for the their increased effectiveness at work. The training and development of senior managers, therefore, has become the focus of much attention during the last two decades and has posed a challenge for management theorists and developers alike[9]. Serious attempts have been made for the identification of a set of observable skills and their implications in the areas of management education and ...