Meaning And Definitions
Successful organizations
do not achieve their goals by chance but by following a deliberate process
called management.
Management is
essential for all organizations big or small, profit or non-profit, service or
manufacturing management is necessary so that individuals make their best
contribution towards group objectives.
Management consists
of a series of inter-related functions that are performed by all managers, for
examples, managers have to plan the objective of the firm, organise resources
to achieve that objective, recruit and select employees who can implement these
objectives. Giving directions, communicating and motivating these employees to
achieve objectives effectively and efficiently and ultimately checking whether
everything is going as per plan or not.
However, the time
spent by managers in different functions is different. Managers at top-level
spent more time in planning and organising than the managers at a lower level.
Definitions
by different authors:
"Management is the creation of an internal
environment where individuals working in a group can perform effectively and
efficiently for the achievement of organisational goal."
"Management is establishing an effective
environment for people operating in formal organisational group.”
-Kootz and
O'Donnel
"Management is the art of knowing exactly what
you want your men to do and then seeing that they do it in the best and
cheapest way.”
-James L.
Ludney
"Management is the coordination of all resources
through the process of planning, organising, directing and controlling in order
to attain stated objectives.”
-F.W. Taylor
"Management is the process by which a cooperative
group directs actions of others towards common goals.”
Marrie and
Douglas
Concept of Management
A precise definition of management is not so simple because the term management is used in a variety of ways. Being a new discipline, it has drawn concepts and principles from the number of disciplines such as economics, sociology, psychology, anthropology and so on.
- Management as a discipline.
- Management as a group of people.
- Management as a process.
Management as a Discipline: When we refer to management as a discipline, we include in
it the various relevant concepts and principles, the knowledge of which aids in
managing. From this point of view, management can be treated either as an art
or science, the two basic and broad disciplines. However, since management
prescribes various principles and how these principles can be applied in
managing an organization, it has the orientation of both, science and art
Management as a Group of People: Sometimes, we refer to management as a group of people in
which we include all those personnel who perform managerial functions in
organizations.
For example- when we talk about the relationship between management and labour in an
organization, we refer to two distinct classes or groups of personnel in the
organization. In the first category, we include all those persons who are
responsible for managerial functions and in the second category, we include
non-managerial personnel. This approach of using management is quite popular;
however, it does not serve our purpose of defining the term management.
Management as a Process: A process can simply be defined as a systematic method of
handling activities. However, the management process is complex, dynamic,
continuous, and flexible.
For identifying managerial
activities, the total activities of an organization can be divided nature into
two groups: operational and managerial.
Those activities which are of
operative through which actual work is accomplished such as handling a machine
by workers, putting the materials into godown, etc. are called operational activities. As against this, some a activities are performed to get
things done like a supervisor instructing worker to do a particular job, or
marketing manager instructing his salesmen to contact the customers to sell the
product, etc. Such activities are different from the first group and are known
as managerial activities.
Management is
the process of getting things done through and with others in an organization.
Characteristics Or Features
of Management
- Management is Goal Oriented Process: Management
always aims at achieving the organizational objectives. The functions and
activities of a manager lead to the achievement of organizational objectives.
Management units the efforts of different individuals in the organisation
towards achieving their goal.
- Management is Pervasive: Management is a universal phenomenon. The use of management
is not restricted to business firms only, it is applicable in profit-making,
non-profit-making, business or non-business organizations, even a hospital,
school, club and house have to be managed properly.
- Management is Multi-dimensional: Management does not
mean one single activity but it includes three main activities:
a)
Management
of work.
b)
Management
of people.
c)
Management
of operations.
A.
Management of work: All organizations are set up to
perform some task or goal. Management activities aim at achieving goals or
tasks to be accomplished. The task or work depends upon the nature of Business, for example, work to be accomplished in a school is providing education, in
hospital is to treat patient, in the industry to manufacture some product.
Management makes sure that work is accomplished effectively and efficiently.
B.
Management of people: People refer to human resources and
human resources are the most important assets of an organization. Management
has to get a task accomplished through people by making their strength effective
and their weakness irrelevant.
Managing people has two dimensions:
a)
Taking
care of employee's individual needs.
b)
Taking
care of a group of people.
C.
Management of operations: Operations refers to activities of
production cycle such as buying inputs, converting them into semi-finished
goods, finished goods.
Management of operations concentrates on mixing
management of work with management of people, i.e., deciding what work has to
be done, how it has to be done and who will do it.
- Management is a Group Activity: Management always refers to a group of people involved
Company of the Year in managerial activities. Each individual performs his/her
role at his/her status and department,
then only management function can be executed. Even the result of management
affects every individual and every department of the organisation so it always
refers to a group effort and not the individual effort of one person.
- Management is a Dynamic Function: Management has to make changes in goal, objectives and other
activities according to changes taking place in the environment. The external
environment such as social, economical, technical and political environment has
great influence over the management. As changes take place in these
environments, the same is implemented in the organisation to survive in the
competitive world.
- Intangible:
Management function cannot be physically seen but its presence can be felt. The
presence of management can be felt by seeing the orderliness and coordination
in the working environment.
- Management is a Continuous Process: Management is a continuous or never-ending function.
All the function of management are performed continuously, for example-
Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Direction and Controlling are performed by all
the manager all the time.
Importance Of Management
The importance of
management may be traced in the following contexts:
1)
Effective Utilization of Resources: Management tries the utilization of
various resources. The to make effective resources are scarce in nature and to
meet the demand of the society, their contribution should be maximum for the
general interests of the society. Management not only decides in which particular alternative a particular resource should be used but also
takes actions to utilize it in that particular alternative in the best way.
2)
Development of Resources: Management develops various
resources: This is true with human as well as non-human factors. However, most
of the researches for resource development are carried on in an organized way
and management is involved in these organized activities. Thus, through the
development of resources, management improves the quality of lives of people in society.
3)
To Incorporate Innovations: Today, changes are occurring at a
very fast rate in both technology and social process and structure. These
changes need to be incorporated to keep the organizations alive to and
efficient. Business organizations are moving from primitive sophistication. Therefore,
they require high degree of specialization, high level of competence, and
complex technology. All these require efficient management so that
organizations work in the most efficient way.
4)
Integrating Various Interest Groups: In the organized efforts, there are
various interest groups and they put pressure over other groups for maximum
share in the combined output.
For example,
in the case of a business organization, there are various pressure groups such
as shareholders, employees, government, etc. These interest groups have
pressure on an organization. In a more advanced and complex society, more such
pressure is on the organization. Management has to balance these pressures from
various interest groups.
5)
Stability in the Society: Management provides stability in society by changing and modifying the resources in accordance with the changing
environment of the society. In the modern age, more emphasis is on new
inventions for the betterment of human beings. These inventions make old
systems and factors mostly obsolete and inefficient. Management provides
integration between traditions and new inventions, and safeguards society from
the unfavourable impact of these inventions so that continuity in the social
process is maintained.
