What Makes a Good Manager?

The article that I chose to write about is titled, What makes a “good” manager? Many have their own thoughts on what different traits are needed to become a “good” manager, but the importance of those traits varies from person to person. “The dictionary defines management as the act or art of managing: the conducting or supervising of something (as a business)” (Shubert, 2006, para.1). As seen in the article, the success of a manager starts with the way that their subordinates feel about them as a manager.

The first trait that was mentioned in the article was that of charisma. Strong communication and interpersonal skills are seen as a critical part of developing charisma. “Charisma is a sort of magical quality of magnetic charm or appeal that makes people want to follow the person who has it” (Shubert, 2006, para.3).

Strong leadership is another trait of a good manager. Strong leaders earn the respect and admiration of his or her subordinates by their actions. The most important action is the organization’s involvement in making company decisions. This is to make sure that all ideas are allowed to be provided from all over the company. A large number of ideas are provided by people who work on the front lines of a business and usually are the first people to see what works and what does not. Being receptive to these ideas and successfully leading subordinates to make those ideas a success are important in addition to delegating day to day tactical decisions.

The next trait to be mentioned is to recognize others for their contributed ideas. This is stated as the best way to gain employee loyalty. It also shows that a manager is intelligent enough to know that they do not have all the answers all the time and many times need to hear the ideas of others to gain perspective. It is not important to reward employees and subordinates with money. Shubert stated that recognizing one publicly is just as effective. “Recognition nurtures the ego and differentiates people from their peers” (Shubert, 2006, para.5). Recognizing a person for their positive contributions makes them “feel good” and makes them want to do it again.

Another trait mentioned is the proper utilization of subordinates to develop and carry out the organization’s mission statement