The Career Path To General Management: What Does It Look Like?

General management is being considered as one of the most stem-winding and well-heeled career pathways in 2020. After all, it feels good to be the boss. Right? There are several reasons to pursue a general management online certification, but is it the right choice for you? Will you be right for the job? What does a career in general management look like? What will you be doing? Let’s find out!

Skills, Expertise, and Experience – The Perfect Recipe for a Career in General Management

A successful career in general management is not solely based on a college degree – it requires a pool of skills, a credible general management online certification, and some real-life experience of managing actual people. If you follow this path, you will have a successful career in this domain. But what will you be doing if you go down this road?

You will be Lined with These Responsibilities

Planning, coordinating, and managing business operations
Assisting with budget preparations as well as expense management
Oversee and assist marketing plans
Develop strategies to increase efficiency and improve productivity
Schedule regular staff meetings to discuss issues related to work, recommendations and company updates
Assisting with recruitment, training, development, and performance evaluation of personnel
Ensuring all employees follow company policy and procedures
Generating company reports and sharing with the management
Providing employees with direction, motivation, and support to do their job
Payroll
Health and safety management

What Does A Career in General Management Look Like?

If you are looking to build a career in this domain, you’ll start off with summer internships offered by large organizations that will allow you to try out functional areas of business such as purchase, production, sales, marketing, business development, finance, etc.
Further, you can consider which industry or sector you would like to work in. Based on that, you’ll be offered job roles such as marketing manager, assistant general manager, finance manager, human resources manager, operations manager, etc.
If you decide to build a career after obtaining a general management online certification, the experience you gain will be valuable. The employers are increasingly considering summer internships and online certifications as a vital recruitment criterion.
Usually, after completing a general management online certification, you’ll start off with entry-level jobs such as administrative service manager, customer service manager, financial analyst, operations manager, etc, and then slowly work your way up the corporate ladder.
You can expect to be in the spotlight most of the time, but every decision you make and every policy you set will be subject to scrutiny by those around you.

Is it Right For You?

If you have a drive for success, love being in charge, and you are a natural-born leader, this career is perfect for you. General management programs like general management certification from IIM Raipur can help you build a successful career in this domain. By familiarizing you with the concepts of management and exposing you to issues related to responsible leadership, general management certification from IIM Raipur helps you become the leader of tomorrow.

The modern concept of general management has changed the way general managers look at their jobs. Leaders do manage what they are responsible for. Over the years multiple theories of management have evolved that are used by general managers as guiding forces to form their leadership philosophy. The traditional concept of the management process focuses on what managers do- planning, organizing, leading and controlling and the roles they play which are interpersonal, liaison, and leader. The three major recognized theories that have developed the modern concept of general management add more to this:

The Quantitative Approach

The quantity approach deals with the measurement of quantity or amount. It is centred on data and mathematical techniques. It gives a quantitative basis for decision making and considers management as a system of mathematical models and processes. Different mathematical and quantitative techniques or tools like linear programming, simulating and queuing are being used in all areas of general management

Systems Approach

The systems viewpoint expands the traditional management process to include decision-based on internal and external concerns.

The systems approach is of the view that a company is really an interconnected group of systems that work together. The company is like a machine. It has:-

Inputs – Which refer to Information, material or data that go into the machine
Processes – Work done on the information, material or data while it is in the machine
Outputs – The final product

The systems thinking uses teams to align efforts and skills and improve processes, encouraging collective understanding where team members can build on a shared vision. This is very useful in problem-solving and is quicker and smoother in implementation. Teams reinforce and adapt to changes. Team learning helps drive performance.

Contingency or Situational Viewpoint

The contingency viewpoint stresses the independent management processes that rely on a manager’s conceptual skills, decision-making capabilities, interpersonal characteristics, effective communication and negotiating and delegating talents. This viewpoint calls for an identification of the internal and external variables that critically influence managerial revolution and organizational performance. It points out that there is no one best way of doing things. Management policies and practices must adjust to change in the environment to be effective. It should improve diagnostic skills in general managers.

Online Management Course

These theories have strongly influenced the modern concept of general management. The general manager of today is innovative and creative apart from being digitally savvy and collaborative. It would benefit a prospective general manager to opt for general management online certification. Talentedge offers online management courses in collaboration with many institutions of repute like IIM (Raipur), IIM (Kozhikode), XLRI etc.

These courses have relevant subjects like Marketing Management, Financial Management, Data Analytics, Strategic Management, etc. on their syllabus. The online management course helps improve your leadership skills, enhances your analytical skills, hones your entrepreneurial skills and generally improves your awareness regarding emerging trends.