Management

“Management is tasks. Management is discipline.

But management is also people.”

( Peter Drucker, Austrian-American management guru)

Management is the achievement of organizational objectives through people and other resources. The manager’s job is to combine human and technical resources in the best way possible to achieve these objectives.

There are three levels of management in most organizations. Top management, the highest level of the management pyramid includes the president, executive vice-president, and other key company executives. These people devote their time to developing long-range plans for the company. They make broad decisions such as whether to manufacture new products, to purchase other companies or to begin international operations.

Middle management, the second level of the management pyramid, includes plant managers and division heads. They are responsible for developing detailed plans and procedures to put into action the general plans of top management.

Supervisory management, or first-line management, includes supervisors, foremen, department heads, section leaders who are directly responsible for daily and even hourly performance.

Every manager must possess basic managerial skills: technical skills, human relation skills and conceptual skills.

Technical skills refer to the manager’s ability to understand and use techniques, knowledge and tools of a specific discipline.

H uman relations skills involve the manager’s ability to work effectively with and through people. The ability to create a work environment in which employees will contribute their best efforts to achieve objectives is a crucial managerial skill at every level.

Conceptual skills refer to the ability of the manager to see the organization as a whole and to understand how all parts fit together. These skills involve a manager’s ability to “see the big picture” by acquiring, analyzing, and interpreting information.

Managers at every level perform four basic functions: planning, organizing, directing and controlling.

Planning is the process of setting goals for the organization and developing strategies to accomplish them. It includes decisions about the production, marketing, financial strategies and the resources needed to accomplish them.

Organizing involves coordinating the efforts of employees in such a way that the goals of the organization can be accomplished.

Directing is the process of supervising and guiding employees so that plans are completed and the goals accomplished. It involves motivating people to do their best, explaining procedures, issuing orders.

Controlling is the function of evaluating the organization’s performance to determine whether it is accomplishing its objectives. It is closely linked to planning: the basic purpose of controlling is the determination of how successful the planning function has been.

Comprehension:

1. What is management?

2. What does the manager’s job involve?

3. How many levels of management do you know?

4. What functions are performed by top management?

5. What are middle managers responsible for?

6. Name the functions of supervisory management.

7. Characterise four basic functions of management.