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First Line Management

In: Business and Management

Submitted By milk517
Words 1055
Pages 5
It is true that every successful organization has an effective management system to solve specific issues in urgent situation and it helps employees improve their performance to contribute more profits to organizations (Guest & David E, 1997). Thus, effective management needs complex cognitive skills to achieve success such as powerful leadership skills, communication skills and highly technical systems (Carnevale & Desrochers, 1999). However, according to Hartley (2000), formal learning only has a heavy implementation on theoretical acknowledge but keep pace with the constant change in current workplace. As a result of that, informal learning becomes thus important in the work environment (Enos, Kehrhahn & Bell, 2003).

Managers are seemed as the basic components of organization, especially the first-line managers (FLMs). The characteristic of FLM has been defined as the basic line managers at the operational level who are a significant connection during management and employees (Malmqvist M., 2008).However, it is not easy for HRD practitioners to design effective activities into management development programs which properly fit FLM’s requirement and improve their working performance.

“Observing colleagues’ behavior had been particularly useful in helping people develops their own personal skill” (Cheetham & Chivers, 2001). It is a truth that FLMs might lack of management competencies. Although employees have been promoted as FLMs, it does not change their skills and work value (Charan Drodder & Noel, 2001). They might have professional skills and capacities on individual working but lack of managerial work in small group. Many FLMs work on changing this situating through informal development methods in terms of observation (Cheetham & Chivers, 2001). It is very useful that observing experienced colleagues and figure out the weakness of themselves (Cheetham

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