Overview
Management is the act of engaging with an organization's human talent and using the physical resources at a manager's disposal to accomplish desired goals and objectives efficiently and effectively. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading, directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal.
One of the most important duties for a manager is effectively using an organization's resources. This duty involves deploying and manipulating human resources (or human capital), as well as efficiently allocating the organization's financial, technological, and natural resources.
Since organizations can be viewed as systems, management can also be defined as human action, such as product design, that enables the system to produce useful outcomes. This view suggests that we must manage ourselves as a prerequisite to attempting to manage others.
Theoretical Scope
At first, management may be considered as a type of function, one which measures financial metrics, adjusts strategic plans, and meets organizational goals. This applies even in situations where planning does not take place. From this perspective, Henri Fayol (1841–1925) considers management to consist of six functions: forecasting, planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling. He was one of the most influential contributors to modern concepts of management.
In another way of thinking, Mary Parker Follett (1868–1933) defined management as "the art of getting things done through people." She described management as philosophy. Some people, however, find this definition useful but far too narrow. The phrase "management is what managers do" occurs widely, suggesting the difficulty of defining management, the shifting nature of definitions, and the connection of managerial practices with the existence of a managerial cadre or class.
Another perspective regards management as equivalent to "business administration" and thus excludes management in places outside commerce, for example in charities and in the public sector. More realistically, however, every organization must manage its work, people, processes, technology, etc. to maximize effectiveness and accomplish its goals.
Nature of Managerial Work
In the for-profit environment, management is tasked primarily with meeting the needs of a range of stakeholders. This typically involves making a profit (for the shareholders), creating valued products at a reasonable cost (for customers), and providing rewarding employment opportunities (for employees). Nonprofit management has the added importance of attracting and retaining donors.
In most models of management/governance, shareholders vote for the board of directors, and the board then hires senior management. Some organizations have experimented with other methods (such as employee-voting models) of selecting or reviewing managers, but this occurs only very rarely. In the public sector of countries that are representative democracies, voters elect politicians to public office. Such politicians hire managers and administrators.
Several historical shifts in management have occurred throughout the ages. Towards the end of the 20th century, business management came to consist of six separate branches, namely:
- Human resource management
- Operations management or production management
- Strategic management
- Marketing management
- Financial management
- Information technology management (responsible for the management information systems)
Basic Functions
Management operates through various functions, such as planning, organizing, staffing, leading/directing, controlling/monitoring, and motivating.
- Planning: Deciding what needs to happen in the future (today, next week, next month, next year, over the next five years, etc.) and generating plans for action.
- Organizing: Implementing a pattern of relationships among workers and making optimum use of the resources required to enable the successful carrying out of plans.
- Staffing: Job analysis, recruitment, and hiring of people with the necessary skills for appropriate jobs. Providing or facilitating ongoing training, if necessary, to keep skills current.
- Leading/directing: Determining what needs to be done in a situation and getting people to do it.
- Controlling/monitoring: Checking current outcomes against forecast plans and making adjustments when necessary so that goals are achieved.
- Motivating: Motivation is a basic function of management because without motivation, employees may feel disconnected from their work and the organization, which can lead to ineffective performance. If managers do not motivate their employees, they may not feel their work is contributing to the overall goals of the organization (which are usually set by top-level management).
Mary Parker Follett
Mary Parker Follett defined management as "the art of getting things done through people."