Question

Should Manager and Deputy Manager pay rates be reconsidered in light of the changes? What are the pros and cons of different options?

Answer 1

Management is the coordination of various activities and combine the factor and non-factor inputs to achieve a predetermined goal or output. —in which both the bouquets and the brickbats have to be considered—meaning a precise knowledge of the attractive gains that await the entrepreneur and the foreseen and unforeseen risks that lurk on the way.

It is very common to use the terms manager and entrepreneur synonymously but in actuality, the entrepreneur is not a hired factor of production, he / she , in fact hires other factors and combines them in varying proportions to assess the optimum output that can be achieved with the available resources , at the same time seeking to minimize the cost as well.

A manager , on the other hand , can be a paid factor, who coordinates various activities , in a manner that it starts from the inception stage of the product to its marketing or selling stage . In the melee he has to also keep an eagle eye on the competitors’ policies and act with alertness and sharpness to quickly adapt the product or its marketing strategy and take advantage of the situation.

Its important to clearly understand that the entrepreneur himself can take up the role of the manager. In such cases the entrepreneur becomes the manager.

The manager, in the traditional sense, would be required to have a precise knowledge of the job or project to be undertaken by his/her team, ensure that the team is imparted and equipped with all the necessary training required to do the given task and set realistic goals that should be regularly monitored to achieve the task.

He/she however does not have or possess very little power to decide about the nature of the task-which in effect will

be allotted by the CEO or the founder of the company to various teams.

Today , however , the manager’s role is subjected to many changes and   is seen in a different light. It is more of the role of a ‘role model’, set the example, inculcate in you the habits that you want your team to adopt, do the things the way you want your team to do……..

This automatically, will act as an impetus to the team, who will observe the boss and behave in the same manner which automatically reinforces the positivity of the manager’s actions.

A proactive manager will quickly adapt him/her to the benefits of the newer technology and act as a guide to the team thereby giving them a head start in the process of performing the task and achieving the goal on time—deadline. As a reward , the company must therefore duly and publicly recognise such a talent both in monetary and non monetary terms. This ensures that the employee is retained for a long time which is much for the benefit of the organization.

The deputy manager has to necessarily act in the sense of the ‘prime minister in the king’s court’, the deputy has to have as much clarity of the project or task in hand as the manager and must be in a position to lead the team in the absence of the manager—whether it is a planned leave or a sudden need to go on a business meeting---the deputy must act with as much responsibility as the manager and ensure that there are minimum road blocks in the work process. This requires that the deputy manager is a quick learner , understands the manager’s instructions clearly and is able to communicate them to the team with great clarity and transparency.

The manager must duly recognise the deputy's role and must never hesitate to review his/her actions in a positive light wherever possible. This will further enhance the deputy's performance and will work for the team's success.

Hence , given this changing and challenging scenario, it is very important that the remuneration packages or pay rates of the managers and deputy managers be reviewed. Apart fro the annual (basic) pay , there are many companies that offer variable pay , which directly depends upon the performance of the employee’s ( here, the manager or the deputy) performance assessed on various parameters like work efficiency, team coordination, knowledge of the market/rival companies’ policies and the ability to tackle deadline pressures and achieve the client expectations within the prescribed time limit.

A smart CEO will always want to retain the most efficient managers who are diplomatically ruthless with their team and achieve the oraganisations goals. This means that such managers are given more internal powers like , more decision making power within the department, the power to choose on behalf of the team ,other fringe benefits like ,travel comforts—a car and a driver (both for personal use and official use), recognition of the manager’s need to spend time with his/her family and hence arranging some quality time on such basis, giving due importance to the spouse of the manager and so on .

The benefits of such a cash and in kind benefits is that it creates a sense of psychological satisfaction and meets the basic psychological need of ‘being recognised’, and acts as an energy booster to the manager who will pump in more genuineness in his/her actions.

On the other hand, the disadvantages or cons of such a performance oriented packages are that they could add to the already existing pressure on the manager to perform efficiently. There is every risk of the manager, in his/her greed to gain more and more remunerative pays and organizational clout , turns into a narcissist who is lacking the humane touch , and the team begins to feel the heat of such policies , so much so that the team ‘s performance is adversely affected.

The deputy manager , could also , in a similar sense, seek to develop his/her personal benefits rather than work in a team.

In today’s world, with ever changing careers and roles, the organizations are at the risk of losing some of their best employees even after catering well to their economic and non economic needs because of the growing sense of personal greed and selfishness and replacing such values in the place of loyalty and responsibility towards the oraganisations. This ‘flexible work culture’, has indeed replaced the traditional values which in effect could affect the organisation in the long run.