By Anyi D. Rojas Cruz – Student of Business Administration

“It seems in order to do really big things; you need to start by doing deceptively small things”

—Paul Graham, co-founder of Y combinator

Becoming a manager in the land of corporate can be both challenging and rewarding, you can be tested in numerous ways, trained, stretched, rewarded, and have many failures in your way. “A manager is an individual in an organization who holds position of authority and makes decisions about the allocation and resources” (Bedeian, 2019). Not everyone is meant to become a manager, however, people that want to take the chance and give it a try must have a very clear mindset of what does it involves, because being a manager can be very rewarding and bring so much satisfaction for some, but it can be the opposite for others, some perceived cons come with the title and with new challenges.

There are a set of skills that you must learn and develop to be able to acknowledge a management position. According to Robert L. Katz (2009), says that “successful administrators appear to rest on three basic skills…Technical, Human, and conceptual”; where technical implies skills that give the manager the ability and knowledge to apply the different techniques in order to achieve their goals, while human skills are primarily working and interact with people, these skills allow them to make use of the available human potential and motivate the employees for better results. Finally, conceptual skill involves management skills in terms of knowledge, analyze and solve problems, and find creative and efficient ideas, abstract thinking, formulating ideas, etc.

As rewarding as it can be, being a manager comes with challenges and sacrifices that some don't want. “When an employee fails…The employee doesn’t understand the work, a manager might contend. Or the employee isn’t driven to succeed, can’t set priorities, or won’t take direction… Sometimes, an employee’s poor performance can be blamed largely on his boss” (Manzoni & Barsoux, 2015). Some perceived cons come with the title, that’s the reason why managers get paid more than individual contributors because managers deal with more responsibility and exposure, they are not just responsible for their work, but also the work of the whole team, being on charge of hire and fire people, working more hours, have the last word and communication is not optional, stress, bureaucracy, everything related with employees’ issues, in case of sickness, pregnancy, etc., managers are the ones on charge for lookup during all these situations.

By this being said, for the right person with the right reasons, knowledge, and skills, managing a team can bring great rewards and benefits. However, if you are offered the position of manager take your time to think about it, if you have family consider this because a job position like this can have repercussions on your beloved ones. If you truly have the aspiration and desire to become one, do not let the possible challenges and rough times to stop you. It's an opportunity to work and improve on your leadership skills, it’s a great resume booster. Be proactive and lookup for new ways to learn, new resources, how to practice and improve your skills, because as the rewards often outweigh the challenges, if you fail by trying then at least you gave it a try.

 

MOXIE es el Canal de ULACIT (www.ulacit.ac.cr), producido por y para los estudiantes universitarios, en alianza con el medio periodístico independiente Delfino.cr, con el propósito de brindarles un espacio para generar y difundir sus ideas.  Se llama Moxie - que en inglés urbano significa tener la capacidad de enfrentar las dificultades con inteligencia, audacia y valentía - en honor a nuestros alumnos, cuyo “moxie” los caracteriza.

References:
  • Bedeian, A. G. (2019, December 22). Management. https://books.google.co.cr/books?id=N_bsAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA489&dq=can%2Bmanagement%2Band%2Bleadership%2Bbe%2Blearned&hl=es&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiNrYnj7bDvAhUCx1kKHfqmAT4Q6AEwAnoECAMQAg#v=onepage&q=can%20management%20and%20leadership%20be%20learned&f=false
  • Katz, R. L. (2009). Skills of an effective administrator. Boston, MA, MA: Harvard Business Press.
  • Manzoni, J., & Barsoux, J. (2015, July 16). The set-up-to-fail syndrome. https://hbr.org/1998/03/the-set-up-to-fail-syndrome