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Job Description of a General Manager

Kundan Pandey
A general manager is a key player in an organization and is responsible for managing plethora of operations. Depending on the size of the business unit the responsibilities and duties of general managers vary widely. This write-up will acquaint you with the job description of a general manager.
With the business units expanding globally, the need of excellent leadership has assumed a significant role for the success of firms. One of the key team members in any corporate firm are the general managers.
General managers are involved in various activities that includes managing all the aspects of various business operations of the firm. Be it the human resources, administrative services, operations, accounts and even the policies and procedures, general managers are directly or indirectly involved in all these aspects of the work.
No doubt, handling challenging situations is one of the distinct features of the general manager job description. General managers are a requirement in every industry.

Job Description
It's obvious that general managers hold a sensitive leadership position in firms. Let's discuss the general manager duties and responsibilities.
► A general manager is expected to look into the matters related to the human resources. All the matters related to organizational training, recruitment and selection of candidates is looked after by the general manager in consultation with the human resource manager.
► While the human resource manager carries out all the tasks related to recruitment, the general manager ensures that quality organizational training is given to the trainees. Precisely said, general managers look after the training needs of the employees.
► The responsibility of a general manager is to actively participate in the feedback session and performance evaluation of the employees.
► A general manager ensures that matters related to finance and transactions are within his supervision.
► General managers manage and utilize the funds and expenditures of the various operations carried out by the firm. The general manager is expected to understand the financial tools and resource available to the firm and chalk out a plan that effectively meets the requirements of the projects.
► One of the key duties of a general manager is that he is expected to act as liaison between the management and the employees/staff.
► General managers also monitor and track the performance and achievements of the employees as well of the entire company.
► The general managers also direct people to various goals and targets.
► Hiring good middle level managers is another important duty of general managers.
► Middle level managers assist the general managers in managing the different tasks. Besides these, keeping a record and check of firm's growth is also done by the general managers.

Educational Requirements

Depending on the kind of business, the educational requirements of the general managers vary significantly. For instance, general managers in technology related firms are generally graduates or postgraduates in sciences and engineering subjects.
Generally, people with college degrees work up their way to managerial positions but that happens in case the employee joined the company in its inception and remained with the firm for fairly long time.
However, as the business environment has become extremely challenging many firms now hire management trainees with graduate or post-graduate degrees in management related subjects like finance, economics, management etc.
Since the past few years the trend of hiring master's in business administration (MBA's) has increased and so firms have been hiring MBAs from top-notch B-schools.
Many B-school graduates who have low managerial expertise or have shown outstanding performance at the low or middle level managerial positions are preferred for the general manager positions. A proven success in the lower managerial positions is the most important prerequisite for becoming a general.
General managers work in comfortable atmosphere in tandem with the various departments that they handle. In big firms they have to frequently travel abroad and meet with the managers of other divisions and business units.
The workload and intense pressure on general managers in big firms makes it quite a challenging designation.
GMs are indirectly responsible for effective functioning of all departments of a firm. So, if you have plans to enter in the corporate world, you have to start early and reach the position of a general manager, that will further open the doors for senior managerial positions.
The career opportunities in management field are immense and it's just about starting the job and proving your competency. All the best for a flourishing career!