There is no uniformity in the definition of management because the meaning of management keeps on changing with the change in environment. With numerous issues emerging in the recent decade management has become more complex than before.For the purpose of having concept of management the following definitions are useful.
According to Gilbert, Freeman and Stoner-“ Management is the process of planning, organizing, leading and controlling the work of organization members and of using all available organizational resources to reach stated organizational goals.
According to F.W. Taylor: “Management is knowing exactly what you want people to do, and then seeing that they have done it in the best and cheapest way.”
According to Mary Parker Follet: “Management is the art of getting things done through people.”
According to Henry Fayol: “To manage is to forecast and plan, to organize, to command, to coordinate and to control.”
According to Koontz and Weihrich: “Management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims.”
According to Ricky Griffin: “ Management is a set of activities directed at an organization’s resources with the aim of achieving organizational goals in an efficient and effective way.”
According to Robbins and DeCenzo: “Management is the process of getting things done effectively and efficiently through and with other people.”
Characteristics of Management:
The main characteristics of management are as follows:
1. Management achieves goal
2. Management gets the job done
3. Management attains efficiency and effectiveness
4. Management works with and through people
5. Management is a process
6. Management has environment
Principles of Management
Principles of management refer to a set of theories that guide the process of management. These principles are applicable universally to all types of management. The principles of management developed by Henry Fayol are still useful in today’s management. The fourteen principles of Management developed by Henry Fayol are as follows:
1. Division of work :Work should be divided into small bits so that people can specialize in their work and become expert.
2. Authority and responsibility: A are related Authority flows from responsibility.
3. Discipline: There should be obedience and respect for rules and agreement.
4. Unity of Command: One employee one boss
5. Unity of direction: One plan and one head for a group of activities having one objective
6. Subordination of individual interest to general interest: Interest of organization should be above the interest of individuals
7. Remuneration: Fair and equitable pay to employees
8. Centralization: Highly centralized power structure; orders should be issued from top
9. Scalar Chain : All employees are linked with each other in a hierarchy or superior-subordinate relationship. Communication should flow from top to bottom.
10. Order: There should be a place for everything and everything should be in proper place.
11. Equity : Sense of kindliness and justice throughout all levels of personnel
12. Stability of tenure of employees: Job security to avoid turnover of employees
13. Initiative: Encourage subordinates initiatives
14. Espirit de corps: Unity is strength. There should be cohesiveness and team spirit.
Functions o f Management
Management is a process carried out by managers. Regardless of their particular aptitude or skills, managers engage in certain interrelated functions to achieve their desired goals. The major functions of management can be defined as follows:
1. Planning: Planning is a process of establishing goals and a suitable course of action for achieving those goals. There are different steps in planning:
• Selection of goals for the organization
• Establishment of goals for the subunits such as departments, units, divisions etc.
• Establishment of programmes to achieve the goals.
2. Organizing: It is the process of engaging two or more people in working together in a structured way to achieve a specific goal or set of goals. Organizing involves the following steps:
• Defining tasks required to achieve goals:
• Group the tasks in departments:
• Designing of structure
• Establishing authority and responsibility for each position
• Coordinate tasks to achieve harmony of efforts
3. Staffing: Staffing refers to putting the right person in the right position in the organization. Staffing is a human resource activity in an organization. It involves:
• Human Resource planning to determine human resource requirement
• Development of human resource inventory
• Job analysis
• Acquiring, developing, utilizing and maintaining people.
4. Leading: The process of directing and influencing the task-related activities of group members or an entire organization. Leading involves three major activities
• Leadership: It is the process of guiding and influencing the work of subordinates to willingly and enthusiastically contribute towards goals.
• Motivation: It is the act of stimulating people to contribute towards achievement of organizational goal.
• Communication. It involves follow of information from top to bottom, bottom to top and at horizontal level.
5. Controlling: Controlling is the process of ensuring that actual activities conform to planned activities. The steps involved in controlling are as follows:
• Establish standard
• Measuring actual performance
• Finding and analyzing deviation
• Corrective action
Managerial Hierarchy
The term manager refers to anyone who carries out major managerial function, i.e. planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. However in an organization managers work at different levels and they carryout different set of activities.
Managerial hierarchy refers to different level of managers in an organization. Based on the hierarchical level, managers can be divided into following levels:
• Top Managers: Composed of a comparatively small group of people, top managers are responsible for the overall management of organization. These people are called executives. They establish operating policies and guide the organization’s interaction with its environment. Typical titles of top managers are ‘ chief executive officer’, ‘president’, Managing Director, Executive Director and ‘ vice president’.
• Middle Managers: Middle level managers are subordinate to top managers. The middle managers direct the activities of lower level managers and sometimes those of operating employees as well. Middle level managers implement strategies, policies and plans developed by top level managers. They are responsible for supervising and controlling the activities of lower managers. Functional managers such as marketing manager, finance manager etc are middle managers.
• First-Line managers: First line managers are subordinate to middle level managers. These managers direct non managerial employees or operating employees. First line managers are responsible for implementation and control of operational plans. Supervisor, foreman and section heads represent first line managers.
Management Skills
Henry Fayol identified three basic kinds of skills: technical, human and conceptual. Every manager needs all three.
• Technical skill: Technical skill refers to the ability to use the procedures, techniques, and knowledge of specialized field. Technical skill is required for functional expertise and technical competence. Lower level managers need high level of technical skill. They should know how to perform task assigned to junior level employees. Examples of technical skill are accounting skills, computer skills, production skill etc. These skills are necessary to supervise the work of non-managerial employees or operating employees.
• Human Skills: Human skills relate to the ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people as individuals or in groups. Human skills are required to get the job done through people. HR includes the following skills:
a.
Communication
b.
bargining
c.
motivating
d.
Negotiating
e.
Leading
f. Conflict
Management
• Conceptual Skills:
Conceptual skills refer to the ability to coordinate and integrate all
of an organization’s interests and activities. They are the abilities to
think in abstract. They are the abilities to think strategically. They
are needed to relate the organization to environmental forces.
Conceptual skills are most important for top managers to analyze and
respond to complex situations.
Managerial
Roles
Managers perform number of specific
roles at various times. Henry Mintzberg has carefully studied what
managers do. In his book The Nature of Managerial Work he
describes the manager’s role as consisting of ten roles. These ten roles
can be broadly classified into three roles.
- Interpersonal Role: These roles deal with interpersonal relationships. They aim at building good human relations. Managers must deal with others both inside and outside the organization. Interpersonal roles consist of:
a. Figurehead
role: It deals with ceremonial and symbolic activities. It consists
of:
· Greeting, receiving and entertaining
guests
· Attending parties and ceremonial
functions. The manager is the symbol of organization.
b. Leader role: It involves leadership,
motivation and human resource management. This is essential for the
management of people and performance activity. It encourages employees
to increase productivity.
c. Liaison
Role: This role involves activities related to maintaining contacts
with outside organizations and with community. It is the public
relations role of manager.
- Informational Role: These roles involve information management. Managers receive information from inside and outside of organization. Informational Role involves:
a. Monitoring Role: This
role deals with gathering of information from the environment through
environmental scanning. Monitoring role is required to identify the
emerging trends in the environment.
b. Disseminator
role: This role deals with transmission of information to those in the
work place. The role is performed within the organization.
c. Spokesperson: Managers are the spokesperson
for organization. They Transmit information to the external
stakeholders of organization.
- Decisional Roles: These roles involve decision making to solve the problems. Decisional roles are as follows:
a. Entrepreneur role:
This role involves risk taking and experimentation. Managers identify
opportunities and develop way to take benefit of those opportunities.
b. Disturbance handler role: Managers should
respond to conflicts and crisis situation in the organization. They
have to be involved in taking corrective actions to stop unexpected
events such as strikes, lockouts etc.
c. Resource
Allocator role: Managers have to allocate available resources to
different departments, units, activities etc. Organization has
financial, human, physical and informational resources. These resources
should be properly allocated for the attainment of organizational goal.
Budgeting is done for resource allocation.
d. Negotiator role: This role involves
negotiating resolutions to dispute both inside and outside organization.
They have to be involvement in negotiating with internal and external
stakeholders such as trade union, employee association etc.
All
the above mentioned roles are inter-related. Managers may be involved
in different role simultaneously.
Emerging Challenges
for Management
The
emerging challenges for management are as follows:
1. Globalization
2. Technology
3. Quality
4. Social
Responsibility
5. Empowerment
6. Human Resource Management
7. Organization design
8. Cultural Sensitivity
9. Change Management
10. Learning Organization
