Understanding Managers and Management

In this Modern industrial world Management is a part of any organisation or industry.  In this part it follows certain objectives and values of the organisation.  There are many thinkers and philosopher and also management gurus  talked about Management, but still I believe that management is cannot be define so precisely, as it is an ongoing process which involves several activity either it is related with profit making for the benefit of firm or it is welfare of people.

The word “Manager”  not only manager but “the best Manager” reminds me of my mother. She is the first person in my life whom I see managing proficiently each and every task either it is to look after of kids, husband, family, home or business. Every where she plays important role. She is the first who plans in advance for the benefit of future for her family, she is the one who organize everyones task systematically,  She is the one who has to prepare the budget for home, and she is the one who manage the finance efficiently. And she is  the one who has to arrange resources for home. The principle of planning organizing, staffing, financing, controlling and coordinating. All in one “The Mother” is also a Manager.

Management is not a new concept. It is already existed in society since very before. Origin of management can be traced when people were leaving together. We find in history that since the period of human evolution humans were living in society and always there were someone strong and smart who tried to bring people in the society altogether to achieve some goal or task to be done. Either it was hunting for food or movement to another colony. Management in one or another form has existed in every nook and corner of the world since the dawn of civilisation. Even in later stages management are existing in every were, either it was the period of Monarchy or it is  Orthodox churches, or Military. So the concept of manager is not new.  

But the question is what is management?

In this Modern industrial world, Management is a part of any organisation or industry.  In this part it follows certain objectives and values of the organisation.  There are some thinkers and philosopher and also management who define Management according to their ways.

One of most famous Indian Philospher and economist from 350 BC. Kautilya also known as Chanakya  mentioned in his famous writing “Arthsashtra” about the tactics and principle of administration and management. He mentioned about the eight elements for sovereignty as King, Minister, Country, Treasury, Fort, Army, Friend and Enemy. (57.1 Kautilya Arthshasthra. 6.1.1)

This can be interpreted in this following manner: King as a leader of organisation, Here minister is the person who plays role of  manager. Country is the market, Fort as a head office,  Treasury is finance, Army is the team of organisation, Friend as partner organisation while enemy is the competitor.

Kautilya mentioned that Minister is the very important extraordinary person who look after the business during presence or absence of the master. There are other famous Philosophers talked about management and elaborated in their ways. 

Management is a practice that has to be blend a good deal of craft (experience) with dealt with a certain amount of art (Insight) and some science (analysis). (Mintzberg, 2003)

According to Peter Druker, Management is a multi-purpose organ that manages a business and manages managers and manages workers and work. He also said Manager is a person who motivates and communicates. (Druker 2007)

Koontz and Weihrich describes Management as the process of designing and maintaining an internal environment in an organisation. The environment in which individuals working together in groups will accomplish the task more efficiently with selected aims. (Koontz & Weihrich 2006)

Mary Parker Follett said Management is an Art and it is about getting the work done through the effort of other people. (Follett, 1868)

According to George R terry Management is a distinct ongoing process consisting of planning, organising, actuating and controlling performed to determine and accomplish the objectives by the use of people and resources. Stanley Vance defines management as the process of decision-making and control over the actions of human beings for the express purpose of attaining predetermine goals. (Vance 1959)

According to John Mee. Management can be defined as the art of securing maximum result with minimum of effort so as to secure maximum results with a minimum of effort so as to secure maximum prosperity and happiness for both employer and employee and give the public the best possible service. (Mee, 1963)

So we can say that management is a process of organising social, technical and economical activities to achieve certain predetermine goal for the benefit of organization.

Management as an Art:

Management also considered as an action of art because it required skills to mobilize people and resources to getting work done through them with satisfaction for employer , employee and stakeholders.  It is a task to bring various resources altogether. It is necessary to guide, direct, coordinate and control.

According to Kimball “Management is the art of applying the economic principles that underlie the control of men and materials in the enterprise under consideration”.

Koontz and O'Donnell described “management is the art of getting things done through people in formally organised group”.

Management is an Art because it involves relationship, coordination and it required tactics to achieve a common goal.  Managemnt is an art, because it required Leadership, it required encouragement, motivation.

Management as a Science:

Management is based on more scientific action because in science we are guided by analysis we are guided by data, we are guided by result, we use probability, statistics, we use modeling and several methodologies to interpret scientific knowledge.

Wheeler says that Businesss management is a human activity which directs and control the organisation and operation of a business enterprise. Management is centered in the administrators of managers of the firm who integrate men, material and money into an effective operating limit.

In management goals are full filled through the use of Man, Money, Materials and Machines. Management is not possible without these four elements.  But generally these four elements are mostly used in industrial management.

Management require technical skill to achieve the goal and development of organisation. This technical skill we called science and hence management is a science. Management is also a process where whole team and movement of work happen in direction towards achieving common goal. To achieve this goal management required analytical skills and knowledge so we can say that management is also a science.

But again the question comes where management is situated in the system, if they falls on the top of Organisation or middle or lower level ?

The answer is: any enterprise or business required an initiator an Owner or Master, who dreams about the project or enterprise, owner is the one, who put his brain behind the whole enterprise.  He is the person who set rules and regulation. He is the person who deeply understands the vision and mission and also objective of his enterprise. He sets values for enterprise.

So to fulfill his dream Master recruit Manager. It is manager whose mission is to full fill the dreams of the master. It is his responsibility to bring dream into reality. Manager is the person who works into a system called management.

Management does not frame policies, it only implement the policies. Management is the servant of administration. Because manager receive salary for his service to the owners. Owners are not called manager. Managers are the management. They are the people who are responsible for the development of organisation. And here manager go ahead with the project, sets the target for production for achievement of goal. So to make this production happen he hires supervisors and workers.

So management in any company or organisation is very important. Role of manager is to achieve goal, produce the production increase the development. Management means profit, it also means value addition to the profession and business.

Functions of Management:

Generally there are six functions of Manager in a Management, these are:

Planning, Organising, Staffing, Motivating, Directing and Coordinating.

Planning

Planning is one of the most important part  in management. Planning is a process to determine the missions and objectives and values of an organization. In this level a manager look towards the future. It involves setting up tasks and target for the future. Planning also talks about time management. It talks about almost all other functions in this first level. Planning almost tries to find the answer of How! Planning is about how to go ahead with resource mobilization. Planing is also about how to lead the employee. Planning is also talk How to get funding and so on..

Organising

In this stage management create an internal environment which includes defines role and responsibility of other staff according to their skills and abilities. It is important to organise the activities and person to make to work done smoothy.

Staffing

Staffing is another important part were management has to decide how many staff are required and how many they can afford depending on the available budget. Staffing also important because here management have to select skilled full employee so that task and production can be carried out more efficiently.

Motivating

Motivation is a part where management have to show their leadership quality. Here Management have to inspire and encourage their staffs to gain quality level standardize production. It is an important part which is indirectly related with the production and goal achievement. Giving incentives and extra perks to their staff based on performance of work and also on special occasion is a part of motivation.

Directing

Directing is a part of management where manager is responsible for guiding and supervising their staff members. In terms of achieving quality production and going towards right direction more efficiently managers time to time organise training to upgrade the technical and soft skills of their staff. Now a days we see that there is another section in management which is called quality management.

Coordinating

People do things according to their own convenient. But in an orgasnisation it is important to them to have to work altogether for common goal. And so coordination required. Most of the time lack in coordination results in a waste of resources, time, money or effort. Coordination required in all level top to bottom of the organisation.

Communication is a part of coordination and so during communication it important to use both type of communication verbal and written. Coordination also involves time management here respecting time value is important in any organisation.

So we see that by compilation of all these six functions an organisation can run There are many examples were managerial skill were used to do some specific task or run any organisation, wether it was building of seven wonders of world I.e. Tajmahal or  Pyramid..or Great Wall of china... or Running a company or a mill.

Managers:

Managers it sounds like a person who can manage almost everything. Manage work, Manage meetings, Time, Production, Budget and also manage people. It sounds like an extraordinary person who is very expert and skilled into his profession. Managers are part of management. Depending on the size of an organisation Managers are appointed by Owner of organisation. Managers are those who work and implement the vision and mission and values of Firm or company or organisation into practice.

Generally in medium level or big organisation we see four levels of Managers in Management. Top Level, Mid level, Small level, and very small level. Or we can also classify managers in following manner: Executives Manager,  Senior Managers, Junior Managers and then supervisors.

As we know that there are various size and type of organisations and its activities. Some are independent, some are small,  some are medium some are large, and some are extreme Large. So for all these various types of size management skills and requirement also varies. For all these various category the management style also varies. But as I mentioned earlier Manager are not necessary to go beyond their limitation.

Manager from one department are given responsibility for his department only. He cannot interfere into another department. For example a manager from Production department are responsible for production unit only. While if he find some wrong doing in Marketing department he can point out there but cannot fix. So Manager are said to follow rule only.

Management is always considered as a part of leadership. Because leadership means to motivate, encourage, to work together as a team. But It is not necessary that all managers will be having these qualities. Because leadership and Management are two different part and so Leader and Manager.

It is not necessary that a leader can be a manager or Manager can be a leader. But as it is also true that leaders are not born and so manager but by living in environment and acquiring skills and experience people turn into a manager or a leader. 

So if we see the definition of manager than, Manager are those who can organize, control, regulate and produce the work. A manager is a person who has been given a part of responsibility. Manager is the person having power of hire and fire. Who can assign task and set the deadline for the task accomplishment. Manager is a person who assess the performance of their people involved into the task accomplishment activity and if we consider present time period than he is also the person who set the salaries and bonus of their people.

Manager is the person who can have leading assignment. In different level of management assumes different level of responsibility and authority. So a manager have certain authority not all it means he can point towards the wrong doing but have no authority and responsibility to fix them. 

As we have seen management  is not a new thing or concept in this world. People are continuously using this concept some how directly or indirectly while doing the business or any activity. Even if it is a matter of business management or home management both required some certain skills and managerial capability.

So we know that not every one can become manager or leader. But also people can managerial skill by learning in environment and society and thus becomes capable of running business. Manager is the one who have to keep itself updated with the changes in surroundings.The person who follow or lead and manage the business have to be smart and dedicated.

Management is an ongoing process in a system to achieve target oriented tasks. Although definition of management is changes time to time and unit to unit but the crux of management is to constantly work towards achieving the vision and mission of the owner of company or firm or any organisation. but still I believe that management is cannot be define so precisely as it is an ongoing process which involves several activity either it is related with profit making for the benefit of firm or it is welfare of people. And since this is an era of higher technology where men, machine, material and money are continuously changing, management must have to update it self according to this changes pattern.

So finally manager can be any one either by learning the tactics of games of business managing a business and managing a home two different thing and mostly managers are seen to be handling  business out of home but  again I say mother is the best manager because either it is a matter of running a business or a running a home she can handle both in very efficiently. email: rrpaswan@gmail.com