WHAT IS MANAGEMENT?
DEFINITION:
•F.W. Taylor -“Art of knowing what you want to do and then seeing that it is
done the best and cheapest way”.
•Henry Fayol –“To Manage is to forecast, to plan, to organise, to command,
to co-ordinate and to control”.
•Peter [Link] –”Management is work and as such it has its own skills, its
own tools and its own techniques”.
•“Management is the art of getting things done through and with people”.
CHARACTERISTICS OF MANAGEMENT
1)Is a Process /a function.2)Is a Social Process.3)Involves Group
Effort.4)Aims at achieving predetermined objectives.5)Required at all levels
of management6)Is a Profession7)Is comprised of following
functions:•Planning •Organising •Directing •Controlling •Co-ordination8)Is
an art and science.
MANGEMENT IS AN ART AND SCIENCE
Art
•Practical know how
•Technical skills
•Concrete results
•Creativity
•Personalised nature
Science
•Empirically Derived
•Critically tested
•General principles
•Cause and effect relationship
•Universal applicability
MANAGEMENT AS A SCIENCE PROVIDES PRINCIPLES AND AS AN ART
HELPS IN TACKLING SITUATIONS.
The functional approach to Mgmt.
Whether in a small business firm, a Govt. agency or a large corporation,
whether on general mgmt. level or, in a specialised area of work, all
managers are involved in carrying out the functions of Planning Organising,
Staffing, Directing and Controlling.
Planning: It is the function of outlining what, where, when, how and by
whom a thing is to be achieved. Everything is planned beforehand and a
blue-print is prepared. The identification of organizational objectives and
formulation of Policies, Programmes, Procedures, and Methods make up
the Planning Process
Organizing: It is the function of making arrangement for all the necessary
things required for achieving the objectives. The determination and
grouping of activities and the definition of authority relationships in the
organisation are involved in management function of organizing.
Directing: It consists in guiding and supervising the subordinates in their
activities. It involves: (1) Issues of orders and instructions. (2) Guidance and
training of subordinates. Directions are not only to be given, but also to be
obeyed. They must be understandable and practicable. Direction sets the
organization in action.
Controlling: It consists in making the results tally with targets, or achieving
close Correspondence between plans and performance. The steps in
controlling include:
(1)Establishment of standard work.(2) Assessment of actual work.
(3)determination of deviation.(4)Corrective action.
Coordinating: It means achieving team spirit and unity of action among the
subordinates for achieving the common business objective. Need of
coordination arises particularly because of existence of (1)Numerous
persons at work.(2)Subdivisions and complexity of work.(3)Delegation of
authority and responsibility.(4)Chances of differences between executives
and specialists.