A is working as a marketing manager in a company. He has been given the task of selling 100,000 units of a product at the cost of Rs 100 per unit within 20 days. He is able to sell all the units within the stipulated time but had to sell the last 1000 units at a 20% discount in order to complete the target. In such a situation, he will be considered to be:

An effective manager

The correct answer is option 2- An effective manager.

In this situation, A will be considered to be an effective manager.

An effective manager is one who achieves the set objectives or targets. In this case, A successfully sold all 100,000 units within the 20-day timeframe, which means he achieved the goal, but had to take a price reduction on the last 1000 units to do so which means he is not efficient.

Effectiveness: Effectiveness in management is concerned with doing the right task, completing activities and achieving goals. In other words, it is concerned with the end result. In this case, A was given the task of selling 100,000 units, and he successfully sold all 100,000 units within the given timeframe of 20 days. Therefore, he achieved the target, making him an effective manager.

Efficiency: Efficiency means doing the task correctly and with minimum cost. There is a kind of cost-benefit analysis involved and the relationship between inputs and outputs. If by using less resources (i.e., the inputs) more benefits are derived (i.e., the outputs) then efficiency has increased. Efficiency is also increased when for the same benefit or outputs, fewer resources are used and less costs are incurred. So, Efficiency refers to the optimal use of resources to achieve those objectives. While A met the sales target, he had to resort to a 20% discount on the last 1000 units. This means he had to reduce the revenue he could have potentially generated from those units. This indicates a lack of efficiency as he had to compromise on the selling price for a portion of the sales to meet the deadline.

Therefore, in this specific situation, A is primarily considered an effective manager.