Defining good management practices in Yemen: A survey [Archives:2007/1113/Business & Economy]

Effective management is a concept which continues to puzzle not only businessmen and executives, but is a concern for all employees in the privet sector. Yemeni privet sector is no exception, a business environment dominated by entrepreneurs, family businesses, and tycoons, every person in management or has sufficient authority is always in search of better, more effective, and more efficient ways of undertaking business.

However, the key issue is understanding and identifying what is better, and how to measure effectiveness and efficiency, is it the direct costs incurred, the ability to marshal staff and resources promptly, the ability to create and cope with change, or the ability to increase profitability is an increasingly more competitive business environment. In this survey, YemenTimes surveys several managers from cross-cutting industries and asks these questions.

Defining good management

We start in-house, with YemenTimes' own Financial Manager Hayaf AbdulRahman, who stated that sound financial management has got to come from the ability to meet your targets, in the world of numbers and budgets, success depends on continuously achieving the objective with the least number of glitches. He adds that good management starts from setting a challengeable objective, and striving to successfully achieving it with the minimum costs possible.

AbdulRakim Al-Ba'adani, General Manager of Net Technology corporation, says that the management style is successful when you can automate the process of management, and result in the ability of the organization to run itself through dependence on a system, he states that a few years back the management of his corporation was heavily reliant on the interference of the General Manager to run its day-to-day operations. He stated: “But now things have changed, we have institutionalized management and advocated for specialization, following this change the corporation have grown at a rapid pace, and I am very happy with the outcome of delegation and systemization”.

AbdulRahman Al-Haiday, General Manager of Al-Haidary corporation, reiterated that the core essence of management is decision-making, the ability to make the right decisions at the right moments.

This is a leadership quality which is critical to the success of any managerial job. He also stated that the manager must win other employees and partners on board with any strategy that he might have, in order to ensure their collaboration or any project or expansion plan the manager might envision for the establishment.

Abdullah Sofan, Managing director of NIIT information technology institute, stated that a manager must be able to network and connect with people on more than one level, adding that a good manager must have social skills that enable him to become friends not only with his staff but also with his customers. He emphasized on the importance of this skill for the success of any manager especially in the Yemeni business environment, which depends heavily on social networking.

Redefining good management

From an employee's prospective, good management is an admirable talent not only because it helps the organization achieve its goal, but it also helps all employees live up to and exceed the expectations from them.

Hana Abdullah, a public relations officer at an oil company says that her view of good management depends highly of what your staff think of you. She explained saying that if the staff would like to continue giving their job 100 % of their efforts and enjoy the work environment, then the manager is a successful one.

Hassan Ahmed, a human resources clerk, adds to that saying that management is not a forceful activity, it depends on the willingness of the staff to voluntary exert additional efforts and excel in their jobs, this is not derived by harsh or restrictive management, he states, “it is a matter of feeling a part of the organization”.

Wajdi saeed, executive officer at a travel & tourism company says that good managers have two signs, the first is that they lead by example, they show up to work first and leave last, and exhibit high willingness to get their hard dirty and become a part of the team.

The second sign is that they tolerate mistakes, they know humans are humans and are bound to make mistakes, therefore a mistake or an error is understandable and one should take measures to rectify it and make a system to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

Signs of bad management

The other side of the argument helps further define good management, one of the most popular notions about bad managers is their inability to manage time. Muneer Abdullah, personal assistant, says: “the worest managers are those who do not have respect for time, they are late for their appointments, always late for their meetings, call you at the late night or holidays requesting something, they are very disorganized and unwilling to respect time”.

Najib Alawi, phone operator, adds: “you find examples this type of managers at the government, they hold their official meetings during qat sessions, discuss critical and official business at the late hours of the night, make an appointment at 9 in the evening, and notify you with you fifteen minutes before”.

This survey interviewed large number of businessmen and employees to define what good management is, however, apparently there is no single definition of good management, it depends on achieving the desired results while considering all the other factors that might contribute to the success of the job.
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