Management Overview: Chapter 1

Management Overview: Chapter 1

• Management involves planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling organizational work and resources towards achieving set goals.
• Management is an ongoing process that seeks to achieve organizational goals by performing management functions like planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling.

Definition of Management

• Management entails working with and coordinating others to realize organizational objectives in a changing environment, focusing on effective and efficient resource use.
• Management secures results by using human, material, and financial resources.
• This process involves several actions: planning, organizing, directing, staffing as well as controlling, financial oversight, material handling, coordinating resources to accomplish goals.
• The primary managerial activities include getting things done effectively, efficiently, and collaboratively.

Management Processes

• Process in management represents the actions managers undertake.
• Efficiency means doing the task correctly; relates inputs to outputs.
• Effectiveness is about doing the right task to achieve the organization's goals
• A key element is coordinating others' efforts for achieving specified goals and targets.
• In all organizations, individuals are responsible for attaining goals.
• Management centers around what a manager does to accomplish tasks through others.

Why Study Management

• Management is universally needed across organizations.
• Management determines whether business organizations succeed or fail in utilizing talents and resources effectively.
• Understanding management applies whether one is managing or being managed.
• Individuals trained in management often secure managerial roles, gain a livelihood, and the path to success involves education combined with experience.
• Successful managers obtain good monetary rewards.
• Any organization's success depends on competent management while failures often stem from inadequate management.

Efficiency vs Effectiveness

• Efficiency refers to wise and cost-effective resource use.
• Effectiveness consists of making and successfully implementing the right decisions.

Significance of Management

• Achievement of common objectives through promoting teamwork and coordination is key.
• Management ensures appropriate resources and reducing idle time.
• Minimizing organizational expenses by streamlining daily operations to avoid waste and extravagance must remain a focus.
• Continuity and growth are enhanced when businesses adapt to change, which allows them to seize opportunities and minimize risks.
• Creating employment and enabling economic and social well-being is a strong factor.
• Effective management facilitates the appropriate use of resources.
• Management boosts national income and elevates living standards, making it a key factor in a country's economic progress.

Management: Science or Art?

• Management uses rational and systematic ways to address problems.
• Managers use data, facts, and objective insights.
• They utilize quantitative models to make correct decisions.
• Applying a scientific approach to routine issues remains a key factor.
• Managers must often rely on intuition, personal experience, and instinctive insights when making decisions.
• Management integrates both science and art.

Management as Science

• Science in management is structured knowledge from study to understand universal principles.
• This involves observation, data collection, analysis, and measurement to determine the nature.

Management as Art

• Art consists of doing work in the best way in a specific environment.
• It involves using common sense and personal insight.
• Adaptations are made through trial and error.

Objectives of Management

• The objectives fall into three categories: organizational, personal, and social.
• Organizational objectives should be to achieve reasonable profits, survival, growth, and good reputation in the market.
• Personal objectives relate to fair compensation, good working conditions, training opportunities, and participation in prosperity of the business.
• Social objectives include quality products at fair prices, honest tax payments, environmental conservation, fair practices with stakeholders, and uphold ethical standards.

Levels of Managers

• Top managers are responsible for realizing overall organizational goals.
• Middle managers oversee managers at lower levels.
• First-line managers are directly in charge of non-managerial employees.

Levels of Management Responsibilities

• Top-level managers set broad goals and ensure the business's overall performance through long-term planning.
• They serve as official representatives when engaging external entities like government offices.
• Middle-level managers develop departmental objectives; they execute strategies set by the top-level management.
• They also monitor lower-level managers' performance.
• Lower-level management focuses on daily operations, short-term planning, and direct guidance and control of staff within their subsections.

Qualities of a Good Manager

• Should possess general and specific business administration education
• They should have adequate job training.
• Needs to practice leadership to realize the full potential of individuals.
• They need to also practice traits of sound health, good interpersonal skills, and a pleasant personality
• Honesty should be the best policy in business
• Should have a scientific outlook
• Effective managers should be self-confident in their choices, and aware of the work involved to maximize subordinates’ contributions.
• Manager needs to understand and respect the needs of employees while remaining fair at all times.
• Should be well-versed in their field of expertise.
• They must be technically skilled to provide proper oversight and guidance.

Managerial Job Functions

• Managers engage in specific functions, play specific organizational roles, and must possess certain skills.

Functions of Management

• Functions of management include planning, organizing, leading/directing, and controlling.
• Planning involves setting goals toward achieving it.
• Organizing assigns responsibility for tasks.
• Leading concerns influence to motivate personnel.
• Controlling means continuous monitoring and making corrections where necessary.

Planning as a Key Function

• Planning is setting objectives and charting a course of actions.
• Resources are secured to achieve specific objectives.
• Members operate within established goals, with consistent activities.
• Progress is assessed to determine if corrective action is required.
• Managers are able to make decisions of what, who, how, when, where and why.

Organizing Activities

• Organizing means allocation jobs and grants authority to team members.
• Organizing process seeks to define what tasks, who by, group tasks, to whom to report, and clarify the decision process.

Directing Employees

• Directing involves influencing and motivating employees to meet organizational goals.

Controlling Performance

• The continuous task of standards establishing, performance measuring, comparing and corrective actioning as needed.

Essential Management Skills by Katz

• Technical skills refer to expertise in a specific field.
• Human skills involve interpersonal abilities for good collaboration.
• Conceptual capabilities focus on analyzing complex scenarios.

Conceptual Skills

• Conceptual skills involve seeing the overall workings.

Human/Interpersonal Skills

• Understanding others and creating an environment for free speech.
• Includes the ability to effectively engage with people in teams.

Technical Skills

• Expertise to perform particular activities to attain ends

Skills Importance

• Technical skills matter most for first-line supervisors.
• These are the supervisors who train subordinates.

Managerial Roles

• Manager roles are grouped under the following: interpersonal, decisional, and informational.

Interpersonal Roles

• Figureheads must represent the company at social functions.
• Leaders must motivate for better performance.
• Liaisons network with external parties.

Decisional Roles

• Entrepreneurs are drivers of change.
• Resource allocators decide on fund distribution.
• Negotiators negotiate deals across departments.
• Disturbance handlers resolve crises.

Informational Roles

• Monitors stay updated on all developments internally and externally.
• Disseminators distribute information to the members.
• Spokespeople broadcast data of events and activities.

Small Business Impact

• The small business managers act as spokesperson on things such as finances.
• They must look for entrepreneurial roles such a business opportunities.
• The small business managers are likely to be generalists when compared against large cooperation managers.

Context of Organizations

• Organizations are social systems that seek to provide objectives to its members.
• Goals that could not be achieved on their own.

Essential Qualities of Organizations

• Key qualities include having its purpose, structured, and peopled by members.

Types of Organizations

• Service Organization, for example: charities or public schools
• Economic Organization, for example: co-operations or proprietorships
• Religious Organization, for example: Churches or Mosques
• Protective Organization, for example: police or military.
• Social Organizations, for example: clubs or teams.
• Governmental organizations, for example: federal or regional.