principals of management

Introduction Need and Basic Concepts

• The need for management is associated with the phenomenon of group activity • The origin of management can be traced back to the days when man started living in groups. • History reveals that strong men organised the masses into groups according to their intelligence, physical and mental capabilities.

• According to Egyptian literature of BC 1300, the art of management was being practiced in different forms by different people.

• Everywhere in a modern society, we find groups of people working in various activities , for e.g. family, school, college, hospital, government sector, e.t.c.

• Group work is always efficient and fruitful than individual activities.

• No individual can plan and organise his/her actions to realise all the needs of an enterprise or organisation.

• Individuals forming themselves into groups have their own individual objectives which motivate them to join with others.

• However when a group is formed, it will have its own objectives called common goals.

• there is a need to reconcile the individual interests to group objectives.

• All the resources like man, machinery, materials, finance and technology must be best utilised and coordinated.

• The agency required for a reconciliation of individual and group objectives and for the best utilisation and coordination of basic inputs, might be called Management.

Definition

1. Management is the art of getting work done through others, working in a group – Management is certainly an art of making people working in an effective and efficient manner.

– The knowledge of science requires an intelligent application of the concepts, techniques and principles …and it is an art.

– A professional manager with expertise in the knowledge of management science too has to be a successful artist of management practice.

– The art of management lies in inducing people to work to the best of their efforts and energies for the most efficient realisation of common objectives.

It must not be supposed that ‘Management’ just sits idle-only making other people work. In fact, a manager works with the group. His work is to make others perform most effectively and efficiently. This process which a manager performs to drive others towards best performance is called the managerial job.

2. Management is the creation of an internal environment in an enterprise, so that people associated with the group are helped to give their best contribution towards the attainment of common objectives. – The performance of people working in a group would very much depend on the quality of internal environment created by the management. – The better is the internal environment created by management; the better would be the performance of people and vice-versa.

3. Management is what management does – A person performing a managerial job in any group – the head, president, administrator, captain, principal etc (all belong to the name ‘manager’) perform their job in different context and conditions.

– The managerial job is comprised of • Planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling • Including coordination as the essence of managership

In view of above definitions, Management is the art of inducing people to give their best contribution towards the most effective and efficient accomplishment of group goalsthrough creating a fine internal environment in the group enterprise; by performing managerial functions of planning, organising, staffing, directing and controllingwith emphasis on coordination – throughout the managerial process.

Definitions given by some management thinkers

• Management is the art of getting things done through and with people in formally organised groups. It is the art of creating the environment in which people can perform and individuals could cooperate towards attaining of group goals. It is the art of removing blocks to such performance, a way of optimising efficiency in reaching goals – Harold Koontz

• Management is principally the task of planning, coordinating, motivating and controlling the efforts of others towards a specific objective.

– James L.L

• Management is a social and technical process which utilises resources, influences human action and facilitates changes in order to accomplish organisational goals.

– Theo Haimann and William G Scott

Nature of management • The nature of management is a most comprehensive description of it – with reference to the different aspects of management or the different viewpoints from which management is often looked at by practitioners, scholars and authorities.

Management as • An activity (or a process) • A discipline • A class, team or society • An economic resource( a factor of production) • A system of authority • An art • A science • A profession

Perspectives of Nature of Management Discipline

Class/ Team/ Society

Activity or Process

Economic Resource

System of Authority

Profession

Science

Art

1.Management as an Activity or Process • Managerial activity is not just a single function, rather it is a process consisting of a number of inter-related and interdependent functions such as planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling, Including coordination as the essence of managership by modern management scholars. • It is not just a list of 5 functions; it is a five-fold structural classification of the managerial job and any other function of management conceived of or practised could be fitted into this structure.

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• •

•

Coordination is a managerial function included in each of the functions comprised in the above mentioned fivefold classification.

The managerial functions except planning are not performed in the order in which these have been listed.

Managerial job is a mixed complex affair and might be performed in any order or sequence according to the managerial situations for which these are performed.

The managerial process is a continuous one : it is required so long as an enterprise is in existence.

The management Process INPUTS  MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS OBJECTIVES (The 6 M’s)  ( Process of Management)  (End Results)

Men and Women Materials Machines Methods Money Markets

PLANNING

DIRECTING

STAFFING ORGANISING CONTROLLING

Goods and Services desired by the customers

Management as a Continuous Process PLANNING

CONTROLLING

DIRECTING

ORGANISING

STAFFING

• The management process is a social process : while taking decisions about any managerial situation, the management must take care to promote healthy social relations among people working in the organisation and ensure a better success for the enterprise. • It is an integrating process through which the functioning of human and non human resources is best integrated, so as to utilise all resources in the best possible manner to extract max. o/p from min. i/ps.

• It is a communicative process through which necessary orders and instructions are passed on to others to initiate action according to planned courses of action • It is an adaptable process which seeks to incorporate the external environment influences and factors into management’s own decision making so that the internal environment created by it is not inconsistent with the external environment.

2. Management as a Discipline • By discipline we mean a branch of knowledge or a subject of instruction.

• Management education is gaining popularity in the present day times • Management as a subject is taught at schools, colleges and universities • Specialised management institutions are growing rapidly, imparting management education and training and helping people to prepare for a career in management • Scholars are interested for research and practitioners for a better practice of management.

3.Management as a group • Management refers to the totality of all those persons, who are charged with the responsibility of managing a particular enterprise.

• Management means the group of all managers who represent a distinct class of society; the management class • Micro-Level (Enterprise Level) – Refers to all managers within a a particular enterprise.

• Macro-Level (Societary Level) – Refers to all persons who are performing the managerial jobs in all different enterprises which are located in an economy or a nation.

4. Management as an economic resource • The economist has all the time been speaking of four factors of production viz., land, labour, capital and enterprise. • To this list of four, management , as a factor of production must be added to make it a complete list of all factors of production.

5. Management as a system of authority • It refers to as the management hierarchy, consisting of managers from the highest rank to the lowest one. • It starts from top management and reaches supervisory level

6.Management as an Art • An art might be defined as a skilful application of the knowledge of science underlying that art; requiring preferably creativity on the part of the artist with a view to obtain max. results. • The skilful application of the knowledge of management science requires a use of common sense to face the realities of the managerial situation. • Industrial heroes in the past , made the uttermost of common sense and experience in times when no science of management was available at all.

Those ideas came to be regarded as management concepts or principles in future.

• The art of management demands creativity on the part of the practitioner, so as to develop new and unique ways of understanding human behaviour and making people work in the desired manner towards the best realisation of the common objectives. • As in any science, so in management science also, the theory is never so perfect as to provide clues to tackle all possible real situations of life.

Creativity of the practitioner overcomes that. • The essence of success in any art is attainment of maximum results while handling a practical situation in life. In management too the success of a manager is judged against the best realization of common goals

• Management is the most significant of all human arts: because the need for management is universally acknowledged in all types of group work. When management lacks in efficiency or skills, the goals are unattainable. • Management is the most complex of all human arts: because it is easier for one to work by oneself, but to drive others towards work and making them work to the maximum is a tough task. • The art of management is invisible except for a bit of paper work done by a manager. In other types of art, the output is visible or tangible.

• The art of management is dynamic as it has to consider and incorporate the dynamics of external environment into its practice to produce practical results.

7.Management as Science • A science might be defined as a body of knowledge concerning some specific field of enquiry. It is the knowledge which is organised around concepts, principles, theories and techniques.

• Management is a science because: • There is a large body of knowledge about management with specialised areas like, finance , marketing, production etc.

• There are a number of management concepts, principles, theories and techniques and management belongs to the category of social sciences

• Management is fundamentally concerned with human beings and much of the knowledge is the distilled experience of renowned practitioners. It may not be significant in future management situations where quantity, quality and competence of man power and environmental factors are radically different from those faced by the practitioners. • Management science takes contributions from other disciplines mostly social sciences like economics, sociology, psychology, anthropology e.t.c.

Management is both a science and an art

8. Management as a profession • A profession might be defined as an occupation which involves rendering of services of a specialised and personal nature for a fee called professional charges.

• Management is a profession because: • Existence of a science • Acquisition of such knowledge through formal education and training

• Establishment of a central representative organisation (All India Management Association AIMA,in India ) of the profession for a) taking care of the growth and promotion of the profession through the provision of latest information, publication of standard journals and magazines for the benefit of practitioners, holding seminars, conference etc for enabling an exchange of views among managers and encouraging research to promote healthy growth in industry b)prescribing a code of conduct for managers, c)issuing licenses to managers and regulating entry into the profession such as only those who have the minimum academic qualifications and training are alone able to practice the profession.

• Service element : in any profession, the element of service to society by the professional is expected to get a monetary gain which is to follow naturally as a result of services provided by them.

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