As further stated in the article, conflict can be viewed as something to manage or something to resolve.  John Burton, one of the world’s leading scholars in the field of conflict resolution commented “…resolution means terminating conflict by methods that are analytical and that get to the root of the problem.”  Miller explains that “conflict management is a multi-disciplinary, analytical, problem-solving approach to conflict that seeks to enable participants to work collaborately towards its management.”[16]
Conflict is not easily avoided in any organization; therefore, an effective manager is divpared by knowing how he will approach certain issues before they happen.  There are many books and articles written that address this topic in great detail.  An effective manager will consult these items and use his or her own judgment in taking the advice of these publications. 
According to James Cribbin, there are three basic kinds of conflict as follows:  Approach-Approach, Avoidance-Avoidance, and Approach-Avoidance.[17]  Approach-Approach would seem to be the most straight forward type of conflict as there are two alternatives that are equally feasible.  If an employee is not being productive in the company this affects how the manager’s boss views that department.  The manager wants to please his boss but also stay on good terms with his employee.  In each case the manager needs to approach the other person with open communication and deal with the situation.
Avoidance-Avoidance is very difficult because whatever decision is made to have negative consequences.  If a manager knows that his boss is cheating the company financially, he must make a decision.  Tell on his boss and suffer the wrath, or stay quiet and sacrifice his ethics.  He would like to avoid the conflict on either side, but staying quiet may not be an option.
The last type of conflict according to Cribbin is Approach-Avoidance.  He gives a clear example of a manager put in a situation in which he must make a decision that will affect himself and his family.  He wants to approach the situation but also avoid it completely.  He is given a great promotion in the company but must move his family from his nice comfortable town to a large metropolis city.  Cribbin has outlined the options he has and portrays what a difficult situation this could really be:

1. Accept the position and move
2. Accept the position, leave the family in the small town and visit them on the weekends.
3. Bribe the family to make the move.
4. Ask the family to try to the new city for a year and then assess the situation.
5. He can refuse the promotion.
6. He can try to stall in making the decision and hope that something different will turn up.
7. He can try to convince his superiors that he can take the promotion and contribute more from where he already is.
8. He can get another job.[18]

While this is a personal conflict for this manager, the skills a manager uses to deal with personal conflict must be transferable to the workplace environment involving other employees as well as superiors.  If a manager knows that there are always several options in dealing with a situation, he will be more open to choosing one that will work for that unique conflict.
As mentioned earlier, consistency is an important part of an effective manager and can be applied to conflict as well.    A good manager is consistent in executing rules and regulations with his employees.  He will not let close relationships with employees cloud his judgment and rationale for making a decision.  When conflict arises, the employees will know that each person will receive the same treatment regardless of who they are.
According to Robbins, “Consistency can relate to an individual’s reliability, divdictability, and good judgment in handling situations.  Inconsistencies between words and actions decrease trust.  Nothing is noticed more quickly… than a discrepancy between what executives divach and what they expect their associates to practice.”  People want to be able to “divdict what you are going to do.”[19] 
In order for a manager to improve their effectiveness in a conflict situation they can also use “The Five A’s of Improving Your Personal Effectiveness” Model from Kerns.  The A’s are assess, analyze, action plan, act, and adjust – then repeat.[20]  A good manager will always assess the situation in order to gather all of the details.  Once he has all of the information, he will analyze it and develop an action plan.  After implementation of the plan, he will be able to be flexible with that plan if something needs to be adjusted.  Effective managers use the Five A’s constantly without even realizing it. This helps a manager approach conflict with confidence knowing there is a steady process he can rely upon.
2.3.  Flexibility and Creativity
 “Managers exist in a state of steady uncertainly and their success rests upon constant exploration of uncharted waters.”
Barry Munitz,
President of Federated Development Company
Houston, Texas
Today changes in the business environment become more rapid and more complex and of course each manager must solve more problems in a limited period of time. As Dr. Abraham Zaleznik of Harvard University mentioned: "No matter how much you plan, when you get to the work place there are unanticipated problems: And the added constant challenge is that most of these problems cannot be solved effectively in old, familiar, or straightforward manners. Hence the quality most necessary for business and career success these days, and increasingly so in the future, is flexibility.”[21] But our group consider also creativity to be important today. These two aspects help manager not to be lost and not to lose in the modern business world and of course to be effective.
According to the dictionary flexibility is “the ability to change or to be changed easily to suit a different situation”[22]. What factors made this aspect so important? Thirst of all the growing volumes of information a manager should deal with. Second, environment and technologies which changed quicker and quicker every year and the third point will be internationalization. According to these three situations we can determine the following characteristics of the flexible manager:

1. A flexible manager is able “to stay loose and to choose and explore a wide variety of approaches to problems, without losing sight of the overall goal or purpose”[23]
2. Shows a resourcefulness in their ability to adapt himself quickly and easily to developing situation and changing environment
3. He "does not see the environment as something to which they should passively respond, but as something they should actively shape."[24]

Some authors also associated flexibility with personal openness of the manager[25]. They pointed out that if managers are open then they can be influenced by what is happening around them and as a result they react more flexible to all the changes around them. The one thing is obvious that flexibility is a key feature of personal growth and an indispensable condition for being an effective manager.
Let’s now go back to the second aspect – creativity, and let’s see what it means: “Creativity – producing or using new and effective ideas, results, etc”[26]. When we think about creativity, we imagine people who are gifted, talented, and different from others, whose ideas, decisions, and actions are situated out of the every day’s life borders.  In culture, creativity is associated with such a people like Bach, Van Gogh, and Einstein; in business with Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple Computers), Jack Welch (General Electric), and Anita Rodick (The Body Shop).[27]  Today creativity is a way of thinking, the way to integrate you visions and ideas into relationships and business. This process can be divsented as following:
Figure 3: Critical thinking

Begin with one problem or question

           

Generate numerous possibilities

                                                                                                       
   Brainstorming processes
                                                 Free association, etc.                                 
                                                    
Source: Becoming a Master Manager, By:Robert E.Qiunn,Sue R.Faerman,Michel P. Thomson, Michael R. McGrath; USA,2003
The use of creativity in the decision making process or in problem solving allows manager to increase the effectiveness and encourage creative thinking among employees.  An effective manager will use creativity as a tool of motivation. When employees are encouraged to use creativity in their problem solving and in everyday work, they are more likely to feel unique, valued and important for their organization[28]. In this way a manager can not only develop effectiveness but also create a group of like-minded employees.
For an effective manager of the future creativity or creative thinking should become the natural way to think. But to reach this ideal situation each manager should avoid the following barriers:

1. “A negative value of fantasy and reflection as a waste of time, a sign of laziness, or even a bit crazy”[29]
2. the ideas that only children may play and fantasise but adults must be serious
3. the idea that problem solving is a very serious an responsible process and you must forget about creativity and humour
4. a negative image of feeling and intuition, which are regarded as illogical an impractical

Although it is very difficult sometimes to change the society’s cultural barriers and to change the image of creativity, each manager should try to overcome pragmatic influences and think individually.
2.4.  Developing of managerial knowledge and  manager’s teaching role
Every manager must be sure that he or she will develop the competence and knowledge of those they supervise. Every employee has a potential for personal and professional development, and a good manager should discover and develop this potential. We will start with the idea that each person wants to know more. When a young employee comes to the company he has a lot of theoretical knowledge, personal ideas and visions.  He has read a lot of books and articles, but he is still asking himself a lot of different questions. In that moment he needs someone to teach him how to become successful.
When you are a small child your parents teach you how to walk, and when you make your first steps in your career you also need a “parent” to  teach, to give support, to empower and whatever else necessary. The effective manager is always ready to become such a “parent”. He is always open to his employees and colleagues, he shares his knowledge, and he inspires others with his own experience and example.  During the process of teaching he always remains patient and supports everyone in every step of the way. And of course leaders take the time to thank employees for a job well done.
But teaching doesn’t mean only sharing manager’s knowledge with someone; it also means that the manager takes a role of mentor. The term "mentor" has been used quite often in recent years.  Jacqueline D. Heads, academic advisor for the Rutgers University College of Pharmacy in New Jersey defines this term as the following  “A true mentor motivates you and impels you to move to the next level, mobilizes you by advising you on how to get there, and finally, like a guide, a mentor informally monitors your progress to make sure you are moving in the right direction,"[30]
But why should we pay so much attention to teaching role of manager or his mentoring role? The answer is obvious: teaching is a core competency the effective manger should have. The idea of effectiveness changed the vision of teaching and today more authors speak not only about teaching or mentoring but about a developmental manager.[31]  That means that instead of taskmasters and evaluators, managers are most effective as coaches, motivators, symphony conductors and employee developers”[32]  We will pay more attention to this idea.
Developing happened not at home but mostly at the work place during the work itself or during the special classes. That is why it will be useful for each manager to create and to follow a development plan to avoid pointless talks and wasting of time. The idea of “A+ employees takes A+ managers”[33] seems to our group to be a very interesting and future oriented idea of cooperation between manager and employees. According to this idea you should follow these rules while developing people:
·         Apdivciate uniqueness of the people
·         Assess capability of their team members
·         Anticipate the future  (leads others in the future)
·         Align aspirations (create win/win partnerships built on trust and loyalty)
·         Accelerate learning
But in practice the theory is always confronted with reality. One of the main problems of teaching or developing people is that a lot of managers are afraid of teaching other people. The main reason for such an attitude is idea, that if you as a manager will teach someone everything you know and after that he may become better and smarter then you, and take your place. Of course it can happen. But then manager should turn back to his main values and decide what is most important to him: his own career or his company’s success.
At the same time, if you are going to share your knowledge with someone, to teach, to develop and to become a mentor you must broaden your own knowledge. The individual becomes a manager because he was chosen to get results and to use his knowledge, not because he won a popularity contest. Employees are not going to listen to a person who has no knowledge in what he is talking about or gives out false information. People need to believe that a manager has the proper skills and abilities to carry out what he claims to be experienced in. Only then a manager will earn a respect and employees will become his like-minded team. How will you be able to do this? 
 Some authors[34] say that as a manager and especially as an executive manager you are responsible for all fields of business in your company: for marketing and sales, for finance, for information technology etc. You should understand how things works (the IKEA-case and Kamprad’s attention to all details can illustrate this statement) and also how employees work whose knowledge in one particular field are deeper then yours. These are two main corner stones of success. How to reach them? The best solution can be continuous replacing inside organization. As a result manager receives variety of experiences and knowledge in different functions, business units, companies, and even countries. The positive effect of such a “moving” results in understanding, how the whole business operates; of the impact of managerial decisions on the rest of the organization. Managers can also transfer best practices to new areas while moving; he learns how to lead in a variety of situations and he develops strong networks inside and outside the organization[35]. 
Some other authors[36], especially from the business world, used to think that an effective manager must not be satisfied with his education degree and training, but must always be ready to catch advanced education opportunities. The advanced degree is MBA-program; if this level was reached then never avoid additional seminars, courses and workshops. In contrast to the thirst group of authors who are speaking about continuous replacement, these theories accept the idea of receiving deep knowledge in one particular area.
These two approaches and also all theories about teaching show us how important is for every manager to develop himself and his employees. Continuous self-development, learning and teaching are the best ways to success and effectiveness.

2.5.  Motivation of employees

Like the divvious characteristics, the ability to motivate your employees to work is also an indispensable one if you want to be effective as a manager. The psychology of motivation is tremendously complex, and what has been unravelled so far with any degree of assurance is very small. What I will do here is (1) give a definition of what motivation is, (2) very briefly going across the major theories, classical and contemporary ones, and (3) address some possibilities how an affective manager can implement the ideas the theories offered in reality, which is of most importance. But first some theory.

Stephen P. Robbins gives us the following definition of motivation in his book Organizational Behavior (2001, p. 155)[37]: “[…] the processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal”. Thus intensity (1) is concerned with “how hard a person tries”, with direction (2) we mean “toward attaining the organizational goals“and persistence refers to “how long a person can maintain his or her effort”.

In the past, especially in the 50’s, a lot has been written about how managers can motivate their employees. We can classify these theories in 5 categories.[38] These are:

1. Need theories:

-    Hierarchy of Needs Theory (A. Maslow) / ERG Theory (C. Alderfer)

-          Two Factor Theory (F. Herzberg)
-          Theory X and Theory Y (D. McGregor)
These theories all depart from the thought that to motivate your employees, you have to satisfy certain needs. Maslow’s hierarchical model, a classical one,  says that you first have to satisfy physiological needs (i.e. hunger, thirst, …), then you have to offer them safety (from physical and emotional harm), consequently you must satisfy them socially (affection, acceptance, …), after that you can motivate them by satisfying their esteem (internal as well as external), and only then, when all the divvious needs are satisfied, you can motivate them by letting your employees actualize themselves through their work (i.e. self-fulfilment). So if you want to motivate someone, according to Maslow, you need to understand what level of hierarchy that person is currently on and focus on satisfying those needs at or above that level.
Maslow’s theory has received wide recognition, but unfortunately research does not validate the theory. A theory that contests Maslow’s theory is Alderfer’s ERG Theory, where E stands for existence (cfr. the physiological and safety needs), R for relatedness (cfr. the social needs and the external component of the esteem need) and G for growth needs (cfr. the internal esteem component and the self-actualization need). This theory differs from Maslow’s in that (1) more than one need may be operative at the same time and (2), if the gratification of a higher level need is stifled, the desire to satisfy a lower-level need increases. In opposite to Maslow’s theory, several studies do have supported this theory. It takes into account that in different cultures the categories can be ranked in another way, for example Japan, where the social needs are placed under the physiological ones.
Another classical need theory is the Theory X and Theory Y of Douglas McGregor. These two theories redivsent two distinct views of human beings: Theory X makes the assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy, dislike responsibility, and must be coerced to perform, where Theory Y stipulates that employees like work, are creative, seek responsibility and can exercise self-direction. Research suggests that these theories may be applicable but only in particular situations.
Maybe the most important contribution to the motivation question comes from the psychologist Frederick Herzberg with his Two-Factor Theory. The insight Herzberg brought to the matter meant a u-turn in divviously thinking. He stated as first that the opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction, as was traditionally believed, but that both are distinct and separate. Intrinsic factors such as the work itself, responsibility, and achievement seem to be related with satisfaction (motivators), while extrinsic factors such as supervision, pay, company policies and working conditions are associated with dissatisfaction (hygiene factors). This theory has had a major impact on management in the last 30 years and the fact that managers nowadays allow workers greater responsibility in planning and controlling their work can probably be attributed largely to Herzberg’s findings and recommendations
2. Goal-Setting Theory (E. Locke):
 
The primary idea of this theory is that specific and difficult goals, with goal/ feedback, lead to a higher performance. This means that, for example, to motivate someone, you don’t say “Just do your best”, but you say specific what has to be obtained, for example “You should strive for 85 percent or higher on all your work in English”. Research supports this theory in that this do can lead to a higher performance, although it may not lead to job satisfaction (cfr. supra).
3. Reinforcement Theory:
This theory states that reinforcement conditions behaviour. Behaviour is thereby environmentally caused. What controls behaviour are reinforcers – any consequence that , when immediately following a response, increases the probability that the behaviour will be repeated. The theory ignores the inner state of the individual and concentrates solely on what happens to a person when he or she takes some action. Because it does not concern with what initiates behaviour, it is not, strictly speaking, a theory of motivation. But it does provide a powerful means of analysing of what controls behaviour, and it is for this reason that it is typically considered in discussions on motivation.
4. Equity Theory (J. S. Adams):
This theory poses that individuals compare their job inputs (i.e. effort, experience …) and outcomes (i.e. salary, recognition …) with those of others and then respond so as to eliminate any inequities. For example a person who does the same job as another employee but gets paid less will be motivated to perform better in order to eliminate the existing inequities.
5. Expectancy Theory (V. Vroom):
This is currently one of the most accepted explanations of motivation. Most of the research evidence is supportive of this theory. Concrete, this theory says that an employee will be motivated to exert a high level of effort when he or she believes that effort will lead to a good performance appraisal; that a good performance appraisal will lead to organizational rewards such as a bonus, a salary increase, or a promotion; and that the rewards will satisfy the employee’s goals.
The major theories briefly divsented, we can now look at how in reality a manager can implement these. Robbins mentions 6 applications. These are:
1. Management by objectives (MBO) (cfr. Goal-Setting Theory):
This means in realty, as a manager, you make sure that the organization’s overall objectives are translated into specific objectives for each succeeding level (divisional, departmental, and individual) in the organization. You develop a program that encompasses specific goals, participatively set with the employees, for an explicit time period, with feedback on goal progress. MBO programs are used in many business, health care, educational, government and non-profit organizations.
2. Employee Recognition Programs (cfr. Reinforcement Theory)
Consistent with reinforcement theory, rewarding a behaviour with recognition immediately following that behaviour is likely to encourage its repetition. For example: personally congratulating an employee, or sending a letter or an e-mail, having a celebration because of good achievement, or publicly recognizing, such as organizing a prize “Best Employee of the Month” (he/she then gets a plaque on the wall). These programs are widely used because it costs no money and according to research bears effective.
3. Employee Involvement Programs (cfr. Theory X and Theory Y, Two-Factor Theory, Hierarchy of Needs Theory & ERG Theory):
The idea here is that by involving workers in those decisions that affect them and by increasing their autonomy and control over their work lives, employees will become more motivated, more committed to the organization, more productive, and more satisfied with their jobs. Examples:
-          participative management: subordinates share a significant degree of decision-making power with their immediate superiors.
-          redivsentative participation: rather than participate directly in decisions, workers are redivsented by a small group of employees who actually participate
-          quality circles: a work group of 8 to 10 employees and supervisors meet regularly to discuss their quality problems, investigate causes, recommend solutions, and take corrective actions.
-          employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs): these are company-established benefit plans in which employees acquire stock as part of their benefits.
4. Variable Pay Programs (cfr. Expectancy Theory):
Here a portion of an employee’s pay is based on some individual and/or organizational measure of performance. Examples:
-          Piece-rate pay plans: you are paid a fixed sum for each unit of production completed.
-          Bonuses: extra payment because of certain achievement.
-          Profit-sharing plans: compensations based on some established formula designed around a company’s profitability (direct cash outlays or stock options).
-          gainsharing: an incentive plan in which improvements in group productivity determine the total amount of money that is allocated.
5. Skill Based Pay Plans (cfr. ERG Theory, Reinforcement Theory, Equity Theory):
These plans set pay levels on the basis of how many skills employees have or how many jobs they can do. For example, if you are a machine operator in a certain company, you earn 14$/hour, but because of the skill based pay plan, you can earn up to a 10 percent divmium if you broaden your skills to for example material accounting. Several studies have confirmed that skill based pay generally leads to higher performance and satisfaction. These plans are expanding and already widely used with success.
6. Flexible Benefits (cfr. Expectancy Theory):
These allow employees to pick and choose from among a menu of benefit options that exceeds the traditional benefit programs. The options might include hearing, dental and eye coverage; life insurance; extended vacation time; …. This way the different needs of the employees can be met.  The major theories and their applications were provided; we want to conclude here with some general guidelines:
Recognize Individual Differences
Use Goals and Feedback
Allow Employees to Participate in Decisions that Affect Them
Link Rewards to Performance
Check the System for Equity
The conclusion then is that нf you have the skill as a manager to tailor the perfect motivation method for each of your employees, you will be more effective.

2.6.  Communication skills

With Rees (1991, p. 159), we can say that this characteristic is probably the most important of all the characteristics an effective manager needs to possess. Everything a manager does involves communication, his verbal and nonverbal behaviour. Communication between managers and employees is important in the sense that it provides the information necessary to get work done effectively and efficient in organizations. Effective communication is the critical factor that moves a team toward a resolution or consensus (“How to be an effective manager”, 2000, p. 14).
Robbins & Coulter provide us with the following communication model (see attachment 1). As we can notice by looking at this model, there are seven factors involved in communication: (1) the communication source, (2) encoding, (3) the message, (4) the channel, (5) decoding, (6) the receiver and (7) feedback. The definition of communication is then “the transfer and understanding of meaning” (Robbins & Coulter, 2002, p. 282). This means that (1) the message has to reach the receiver ( for example a speaker who isn’t heard does not communicate) and (2), more important, the message has also to be understood in the way it was meant by the sender. Interesting to note is that communication can be affected by noise, by which we mean any disturbance that interferes with the transmission, receipt or feedback of a message, for example a phone ringing in the background.
Robbins and Coulter (2002, pp. 288-291) distinguish 7 different barriers to effective communication. These are (Robbins & Coulter, 2002, pp. 288-291):
1.      Filtering: this is the deliberate manipulation of information to make it appear more favorable to the receiver. For example when a manager tells his boss what his boss wants to hear.
2.      Selective perception: when people selectively interdivt what they see or hear on the basis of their interests, background, experience and attitudes. For example an employment interviewer who expects a female job applicant to put her family ahead of her career is likely to see that in female applicants, regardless of the fact that it is true or not.
3.      Emotions: how a receiver feels when a message is received influences how he or she interdivts it.
4.      Information overload: when the information we have to work with exceeds our processing capacity. For example tons of e-mails. You are bound to select and this way information gets lost.
5.      Defensiveness: when individuals interdivt another’s message as threatening, they often respond in ways that hinder effective communication.
6.      Language: words mean different things to different people. Age, education and cultural background are three of the more obvious variables that influence the language a person uses and the definitions he or she gives to words. The use of jargon, a specialized terminology or technical language that members of a group use to communicate among themselves, can be a barrier to effective communication. 
7.      National culture: cultural differences and consequently different values (cfr. the problems of intercultural communication).[39]
To these we can also add gender differences[40], status differences (for example boss vs. subordinate) and interference of nonverbal communication factors (for example smell as a personal physical characteristic).
Now what can a manager do to overcome these and as such be effective in his communication? If we know that an average manager spends 80% of his or her time communicating in one form or another (10% writing, 15% reading, 25% listening and 30% speaking), communication is affecting a company in every possible way (“How to be an effective manager”, 2000, p. 14). Therefore effective communication is of extreme importance.
Robbins (2001, pp. 302-304) mentions 8 rules by which the barriers can be bridged:
1.      Use feedback: question the receiver to know if he understood the message in the way it was intended.
2.      Simplify language: choose words and structure your messages in ways that will make those messages clear and understandable to the receiver.
3.      Listen actively: this means an active search for meaning, in opposite to passively hearing
4.      Contrain emotions: when emotionally upset, refrain from communication until u have regained composure.
5.      Watch nonverbal cues: to ensure that the receiver conveys the desired message.
6.      Empathize with others: put yourself in the shoes of your listeners. This way you’re more likely to see things from their perspective. Then you can choose the proper channel and the right words to transfer your message (cfr. infra).