What is Management?

Management is essential for an organized life and necessary to run all types
of management. Good management is the backbone of successful
organizations. Managing life means getting things done to achieve life’s
objectives and managing an organization means getting things done with and
through other people to achieve its objectives.

Whether management is an art or science, will continue to be a subject of

debate. However, most management thinkers agree that some form of formal
academic management background helps in managing successfully.
Practically, all CEO’s are university graduates. Hence, the reason for including
business degree programs in all academic institutions.
Management is a set of principles relating to the functions of planning,
organizing, directing and controlling, and the application of these principles in
harnessing physical, financial, human, and informational resources efficiently
and effectively to achieve organizational goals.

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Definition of Management
Many management thinkers have defined management in their own ways. For
example, Van Fleet and Peterson define management, ‘as a set of activities
directed at the efficient and effective utilization of resources in the
pursuit of one or more goals.’
Megginson, Mosley, and Pietri define management as ‘working with human,
financial and physical resources to achieve organizational objectives by
performing the planning, organizing, leading and  controlling functions‘.
Kreitner’s definition of management:
‘Management is a problem-solving process of effectively achieving
organizational objectives through the efficient use of scarce resources
in a changing environment.’
According to F.W. Taylor, ‘  Management is an art  of knowing what to do
when to do and see that it is done in the best and cheapest way  ‘.
According to Harold Koontz, ‘Management is an art of getting things done
through and with the people in formally organized groups. It is an art of
creating an environment in which people can perform and individuals
and can co-operate towards attainment of group goals.‘
A leader has certain inherent qualities and traits which assist him in playing a
directing role and wielding commanding influence which others. Leadership is
an integral part of management and plays a vital role in managerial
operations, while management is an integral component of technical as well
as social processes. The practice of management is as old as human
civilization. However, the study of management in a systematic and scientific
way as a distinct body of knowledge is only of recent origin.

Management in some form or another is an integral part of living and is

essential wherever human efforts are to be undertaken to achieve desired
objectives. The basic ingredients of management are always at play, whether
we manage our lives or our business.

For example, let us look at the managerial role of a simple housewife and how
she uses the managerial ingredients in managing the home. First, she
appraises her household and its needs. She forecasts the needs of the
household for a period of a week or a month or longer. She takes stock of her
resources and any constraints on these resources. She plans and organizes
her resources to obtain the maximum benefits out of these resources. She
monitors and controls the household budget and expenses and other
activities. In a large household, she divides the work among other members
and coordinates their activities. She encourages and motivates them to do
their best in completing their activities. She is always in search of improving,
mention goals, resources, and in means to attain these goals. These
ingredients, generally, are the basic functions of management.

READ   Five Functions of Management: Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing

& Controlling

Management Can Be Defined In Detail In The Following Categories :

o     Management as a Process
o     Management as an Activity
o     Management as a Discipline
o     Management as a Group
o     Management as a Science
o     Management as an Art
o     Management as a Profession
The concept of management  is as old as the human race itself. The concept
of ‘family’ itself required that life be organized and resources of food are
apportioned in a manner so as to maximize the utility of such resources.
Taking proper steps to safeguard the family from attacks by wild
animals, planning on where to go fishing and hunting and whom to go with,
organizing these groups into chiefs and hunting and fishing bands where
chiefs gave directions, and so on, are all subtle ingredients of management
and organization.

A study of various people around the world shows good examples

of organizational structures and organizational evolution over the years. A
village open market in a tribe and a large department store in a modern city
serves the same needs in a similar fashion, which is putting things together
that people need.

While the tribal organization was simple in nature, the modern organization is

much more sophisticated and complex with many technological innovations.
However, the basic form of management and organizational structure seems
to have existed since the beginning of an organized human activity.

Even the recorded history shows the application of some current management

techniques as far back as 5000 BC. when the ancient Sumerians used written
records in assisting governmental operations. The Egyptian pyramids, built as
early as 3000 BC., required the organized efforts of over 1,00,000 workers. It
would be natural to assume that all functions of modern management,
namely, planning, organizing, directing, and controlling played a significant
role in the construction of these monuments. Similarly, the early civilization of
India bears witness to organized living.

Management, as a system, is not only an essential element of an organized

society but also an integral part of life when we talk about managing our lives.
Managing life is not much different from managing an organization and this
‘art’ of management has been with us from time immemorial. Just as a well-
managed life is much better organized, goal-oriented, and successful, ‘good’
management of an organization makes the difference between the success
and the failure of the organization.

Perhaps, the importance of management was highlighted by the late

President of the United States, John F. Kennedy when he said that, the role
of management in our society is critical in human progress. It serves to
identify a great need of our time: to improve standards of living for all people
through the effective utilization of human and material sources.

Similarly, Peter F. Drucker, a noted management authority has emphasized

the importance of management to social living. He proclaimed nearly 25 years
ago that, ‘effective management was becoming the main resource of
developed nations and that it was the most needed resource for developing
nations.’

A manager’s job is highly crucial to the success of any organization. The more
complex the organization, the more crucial is to the manager’s role in it. A
good manager makes things happen. The importance of management in any
organization was emphasized by Professor Leonard R. Sayles in his address
to a group of management development specialists, as follows:

READ   Importance of Directing Function of Management

‘We must find ways of convincing society as a whole, and those who train
managers in particular, that the real leadership problems of our institutions-the
getting things done, the implementation, the evolving of a consensus, the
making of the right decisions at the right time with the right people is where
the action is. Although we as a society haven’t learned to give much credit to
managers, I hope we can move toward recognizing that managerial
and leadership jobs are among the most critical tasks of our society. As such,
they deserve the professional status that we give to more traditional fields of
knowledge.’

There Are Basically Five Primary Functions of

Management. These Are:
1. Planning
2. Organizing
3. Staffing
4. Directing
5. Controlling
The controlling function comprises coordination, reporting, and budgeting, and
hence the controlling function can be broken into these three separate
functions. Based upon these seven functions, Luther Gulick coined the
word POSDCORB, which generally represents the initials of these seven
functions i.e. P stands for Planning, O for Organizing, S for Staffing, D for
Directing, Co for Co-ordination, R for reporting & B for Budgeting.
But, Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, and Controlling are widely
recognized functions of management.

(1) Planning
Planning is future-oriented and determines an organization’s direction. It is a
rational and systematic way of making decisions today that will affect the
future of the company. It is a kind of organized foresight as well as corrective
hindsight. It involves predicting of the future as well as attempting to control
the events. It involves the ability to foresee the effects of current actions in the
long run in the future.

Peter Drucker has defined planning as follows:

 “Planning is the continuous process of making present entrepreneurial
decisions systematically and with best possible knowledge of their futurity,
organizing systematically the efforts needed to carry out these decisions and
measuring the results of these decisions against the expectations through
organized and systematic feedback”.
An effective planning program incorporates the effect of both external as well
as internal factors. The external factors are shortages of resources; both
capital and material, general economic trend as far as interest rates and
inflation are concerned, dynamic technological advancements, increased
governmental regulation regarding community interests, unstable international
political environments, etc.

The internal factors that affect planning are limited growth opportunities due to

saturation requiring diversification, changing patterns of the workforce, more
complex organizational structures, decentralization, etc

(2) Organizing
Organizing requires a formal structure of authority and the direction and flow
of such authority through which work subdivisions are defined, arranged and
coordinated so that each part
relates to the other part in a united and coherent manner so as to attain the
prescribed objectives.

According to Henry Fayol, “To organize a business is to provide it with

everything useful or its functioning i.e. raw material, tools, capital and
personnel’s”.
Thus the function of organizing involves the determination of activities that
need to be done in order to reach the company goals, assigning these
activities to the proper personnel, and delegating the necessary authority to
carry out these activities in a coordinated and cohesive manner.

It follows, therefore, that the function of organizing is concerned with:

1. Identifying the tasks that must be performed and grouping them
whenever necessary
2. Assigning these tasks to the personnel while defining their authority and
responsibility.
3. Delegating this authority to these employees
4. Establishing a relationship between authority and responsibility
5. Coordinating these activities

READ   A Closer Look at Leadership Theories

(3) Staffing
Staffing is the function of hiring and retaining a suitable work-force for the
enterprise both at managerial as well as non-managerial levels. It involves
the process of recruiting, training, developing, compensating, and evaluating
employees and maintaining this workforce with proper incentives and
motivations. Since the human element is the most vital factor in the process of
management, it is important to recruit the right personnel.

According to Kootz & O’Donnell,  “Managerial function of staffing involves

manning the  organization structure through the proper and effective
selection, appraisal & development of personnel to fill the roles
designed in the structure”.
This function is even more critically important since people differ in their
intelligence, knowledge, skills, experience, physical condition, age, and
attitudes, and this complicates the function. Hence, management must
understand, in addition to the technical and operational competence, the
sociological and psychological structure of the workforce.

(4) Directing
The directing function is concerned
with leadership, communication, motivation, and supervision so that the
employees perform their activities in the most efficient manner possible, in
order to achieve the desired goals.

The leadership element involves issuing of instructions and guiding the

subordinates about procedures and methods.
The communication must be open both ways so that the information can be
passed on to the subordinates and the feedback received from them.
Motivation is very important since highly motivated people show excellent
performance with less direction from superiors.
Supervising subordinates would lead to continuous progress reports as well
as assure the superiors that the directions are being properly carried out.
(5) Controlling
The function of control consists of those activities that are undertaken to
ensure that the events do not deviate from the pre-arranged plans. The
activities consist of establishing standards for work performance, measuring
performance and comparing it to these set standards and taking corrective
actions as and when needed, to correct any deviations.
According to Koontz & O’Donnell, “Controlling is the measurement &
correction of performance activities of subordinates in order to make sure that
the enterprise objectives and plans desired to obtain them as being
accomplished”.
The controlling function involves:
a. Establishment of standard performance.

b. Measurement of actual performance.

c. Measuring actual performance with the pre-determined standard and

finding out the deviations.

d. Taking corrective action.

All these five functions of management are closely interrelated. However,

these functions are highly indistinguishable and virtually unrecognizable on
the job. It is necessary, though, to put each function separately into focus and
deal with it.