The Perfect Manager

What makes the perfect manager? Is there such a thing? Is such a thing possible? Where does the perfect manager work? How much does he/she get paid? What does perfect mean? What does manager mean? How subjective is it?

The perfect manager will be able to give insights and inputs into strategy and will have tactical awareness and ability. Good interpersonal skills will be required for interacting with people at different levels of the organisation from the shop floor to the board room. Analytical skills for planning, implementation and control of marketing cannot be overlooked (Kotler, 1999).

Leadership style could be autocratic or democratic. Authority and freedom are both important but how much and where? Contingency style might suit best (Mullins, 1999). Management competencies and skills like communication skills, encoding and decoding written and verbal communication, delegating and negotiating, co-ordination of different roles and departments for a congruent outcome must be included in the analysis. Making sure of good information systems will help make the right decisions. Faultless financial analysis and budgeting, planning and control of accounting plans should keep the cash flowing. Organisation skills and structures and decisions on whether to have them entrepreneurial or bureaucratic are so important. Time is the manager's most precious resource. Good time management is vital to get things done. Boundary management is necessary to contain and differentiate the business from other open systems (Morden, 1996). The perfect manager, to be complete, must have the ability to manage diversity and manage change without upsetting people. Someone who knows the family well, an old friend.

It must be someone who will not give up the manager's right to manage. Someone with a management style for performance, productivity and work behaviour applying Theory X or Y or Z or the Golden Rule and being a people company (Mullins, 1999). Management must show more concern for the environment and social responsibility (Morden, 1996). It must involve the choice and application of business, marketing and communications ethics. The management, human resources and marketing philosophies of a perfect manager must make a difference to work performance, morale and relationships (Mullins, 1999).

A manager works for a firm and must make a contribution to accomplish the mission, aims and objectives of the business. The perfect manager must be whatever best suits particular requirements of the employer or situation. So perhaps it comes down to recruitment and selection and whoever best fits the job description and person specification. Given a competent HR manager. We all have different values and opinions, so maybe there is no such thing.