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45 4 Principles and Practice ofManagement POM. In the present UNIT-1,2 context, managing (NEP-2024-25) has become one of the most important areas of hum...

45 4 Principles and Practice ofManagement POM. In the present UNIT-1,2 context, managing (NEP-2024-25) has become one of the most important areas of human activity because of increasing role oflarge and complex organisations in the society. Because of their increasing role, the organisations have attracted the attention of both practitioners and academicians to find out the answer of the question how these organisations ca.'1 be , made more effective. This has led to the development of a new field of study known as management. It has grown over the period of time and in today's context, it has emerged as one of the most important disciplines of study and research. ,..gkncept of Management citK,,._; ~ The study of a discipline should start With its definition delineating properly its contents and characteristics, defining its scope and boundary, andprescribing the objectives for which it stands. From this point of view, we can proceed only when we define management. However, a precise defmition of management is not so simple because the term management is used in a variety of ways. Being a new discipline, it has drawn concepts and principles from a number of disciplines such as economics, sociology, psychology, anthropology, statistics, and so on. The result is that each group of contributors has treated management differently. For example, economists have treated management as a factor of production; sociologists have treated it as a class or group of persons: practitioners have treated it as a pr:ocess comprising different activities. Naturally, all these divergent groups view the nature and scope of management from their own points of view. Thus, taking all these points of view together, it becomes difficult to define management in a comprehensive way. In the present context, the term management is used in three alternative ways: 1. Management as a discipline, 2. Management as a group of people, and 3. Management as a process. Management as a Discipline Discipline refers to a field of study having well-defined concepts and principles. When we refer to management as a discipline, we include in it the various relevant concepts and principles, the knowledge of which aids in managing. From this point of view, manag~ment can be treated either as an art or science, the two basic and broad disciplines. However, since management prescribes various principles and how these principles can be applied in managing an organisation, it has the orientation of both, science and art, a phenomenon which Will be discussed later in this chapter. Management as a Group of People Sometimes, we refer to management as a group of people in which we include all those personnel who perform managerial functions in organisations. For example, when we talk about relationship between management and labour in an organisation, we refer to two distinct classes or groups of personnel in the organisation. In the first category, we include all those persons who are responsible for managerial functions and in the second category, we include non-managerial personnel. This approach of using management is quite popular; however, it does not serve our purpose of defining the term management. Management as a Process In mcmct,ge:m~~nt discipline, we generally refer to management as a process. A.,,.,,....,1iu be defined as systematic method of handling activities. However, the  Nature ofManagement 5 nent management process can be treated as a complex one which can be referred to as an nan identifiable flow of information through interrelated stages of analysis directed towards the lUSe achievement of an objective or set of objectives. It is a concept of dynamic rather than static 1ers existence in which events and relationships must be seen as dynamic, continuous, and 1 be flexible, and as such, must be considered as a whole. Thus, management as a· process las includes various activities and subactivities. However, what these activities are must be das defined precisely to understand the exact nature and. scope of management. In a simple way, we can define management as what managers do. However, this definition, though simple, suffers from two limitations: 1. There is a problem in identifying the people in the organisation who can be called ::nts managers because there is no uniformity in the titles given to the people. For example, I for people may be called as pres,ident, chief executive or managing director at the top ent. level. Similarly at the middle level, they can be called as executive or accountant, 1ent and at lower level as supervisor. Therefore, it becomes difficult to identify who is a ples manager and who is not; whose activities should be treated as managerial and ogy, whose activities as non-managerial. Thus, what should be studied is not clear. aent 2. Even if the problem of identifying people as managers is solved, the problem of ion; identifying managerial activities still exists because.people known as managers asa may perform different kinds of actiVities, some of which may not really be managerial. ture Therefore, unless some yardsticks are prescribed to distinguish between managerial ts of and non-managerial activities, managerial activities cannot be identified. I the In order to overcome these limitations, the total activities of an organisation can be divided into two groups: operational and managerial. Those activities which are of operative nature through which actual work is accomplished such as handling a machme by workers, putting the materials into godown, etc., are called operational activities. As against this, some activities are performed to get things done like a supervisor instructing a worker to do a particular job, or marketing manager instructing his salesmen to contact the customers to sell the product, etc. Such activities are different from the first group and are known as nwe managerial activities. Thus, management can be defined as the process of getting things and done by others. Management is invariably defined as the process of 'getting things done nent through the efforts of others', 'getting from where we are to where we want to be with the ever, least expenditure of time, money, and efforts', or 'coordinating individual and group efforts plied toward superordinate goals'. Though these definitions of management as process use ::non different terms, all of them convey the same set of meanings in their final analysis. However, the problem of defining management as a process is not over because of the existence of different approaches in this context too. Historically, four such orientations have been adopted in defining management process: hose 1. Production- or efficiency-oriented, :talk I two 2. Decision-oriented, ~lude 3. People-oriented, and gory, 4. Function-oriented. ular; Production- or Efficiency-oriented DefJ.W.tion. Those who have put forward the concept of management as a source of efficiency in organisations have viewed that management :l.s concerned with generating efficiency in organisational settings. For example, in an early SS. A stage of development of management, Taylor has defined management as follows: ·,the  Principles and Practice ofManagement "Management is the art of knowing what you want to do and then seeing that it is done in the best and cheapest way. "1 This definition emphasises relationship between efforts and results as the objectives of management but do not specify how these objectives can be achieved. To that extent, this definition does not offer exact explanation of the nature of management. Declsion-orlented Definition. Decision-oriented definition of management has been v provided by decision theorists who have seen management process in terms of decision making. For example, Peter Drucker, a noted management thinker, has viewed that the life of a manager is a perpetual decision-making activity. Whatever a manager does, he does only through decision making. Decision-makll?-g power provides a dynamic force for managers to transform the resources of business organisations into a productive, cooperative concern. 2 These decision theorists have emphasised the role of decision making in management to such an extent that one of them has viewed that..management means decision making. 3 A more formal decision oriented definition of management has been prOVided by Stanley Vance as follows: "Management is simply the process of decision making and controVover the action of human beings for the expressed purpose of attaining pre-determined goals. "4. The decision-oriented definition of management indicates that the basic activity of a manager is to make decisions and enforce these decisions. However, this does not proVide the processes in which context decision making is applied. People-oriented Definition. In this group of definition, management is defined as a process of coordinative efforts of people in organisations. Various authors have emphasised the role of people in the organisations. They have viewed that management is the direction of people and not of things; management is personnel management; and so on. Lawrence Appley has called management as personnel management and has defined it as follows: "Management is the accomplishment of results through the efforts of other people. "5 Koontz has defined management in similar way when he says that: "Management is the art ofgetting things done through and with people in formally organised groups."11 These definitions, no doubt, offer better explanations of the nature of management though these do not specify the functions or activities involved in the process of getting things done by or with the cooperation of other people. l'unction-oriented Definition. This definition puts emphasis on the various functions performed by managers in organisations though there is no uniformity in these functions in different definitions. For example, McFarland states that: 1Frederick W. Taylor, Scientiflc Management, New York: Harper Brothers, 1911. 2Peter F. Drucker, Management Tasks, Responsibilities and Practi.ces, New York: Harper & Row; 1974. 3wnuam E. Moore, The Professions: Roles and Rules, New York: Basic Books, 1978. 4 Stanley Vance, Industrial Administration, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959. 51.awrence A. Appley, "Management-the Simplest Way; Personnel, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 595-603. 6Harold Koontz, "The Management Theory Jungle; Journal of Academy of Management, December 1961, p. 174.  nt Nature ofManagement 7 "Management is defined for conceptual, theoretical, and analytical purposes as that pro- cess by which managers create, direct, maintain, and operate purposive organisations of through systematic, coordinated, cooperative human efforts. "7 LiS Function-oriented definitlons.ofmanagement are more relevant for understanding the exact nature and scope of management in spite of the fact that there is no unanimity over en various functions. From this point of view, we can define management as follows: )ll "Management is a process involving planning, organising, staffing, directing, and controlling lfe human efforts to achieve stated objectives in an o,rganisation." es ~rs ~tures of Management 1.2 to In the light of the above discussion and definitions, basic features of management can be ~A identifkd which are as follows: lCe 1. Organised Activlties.~anagement is a process of organised activities. Without organised activities, two groups of people cannot be involved in the performance of activities. Where a group of people are involved in working towards a common objective, management comes into existence)lie organised activities may take a variety of fortns ranging from a tightly- structured organisation to a very loosely-knit organisation. It can be a company like Tata fa Iron and Steel Company or a local social club. But all organisations· have one thing in lde common; they want to progress efficiently towards the achievement of their objectives, through the coordinated efforts of people. This is done by management process. Therefore, where a single individual pursues his personal objectives, management has no operational ~SS meaning. However, when an attempt is made to channel the individual's quest for personal ole objectives along the lines that contribute to the overall objectives of the group, management pie becomes the means by which the random action is controlled. tas 2. Existence of Objectives. An objective or set of objectives should exist towards which the organised group activities are directed. Without objectives, it becomes difficult to define the direction where organised group activities would lead to. The existence of objectives is a basic criterion of every human organisation because all organisations are deliberate and purposive creation and, therefore, they should have some objectives. The objectives are agreed upon by the members of the group or the organisation. The organisational objectives are the desired state of affairs which an organisation attempts to realise. This realisation of ent objectives is sought through the coordinated efforts of the people constituting an ing organisation. 3. Relationship among Resources. Organised activities meant to achieve common goals JnS are brought about to establish certain relationships among the available resources. Jns Resources include money, machine, materials, and people. All these resources are made available to those who manage; they apply knowledge, experience, principles for getting the desired results. Thus, the essence of management is integration of various organisational resources. However, since people at operative level do the things by the use of various physical and other resources, it is more important for the management to take care of integration of human resources. Thus, management is concerned with the proper utilisation of human resources which, in turn, utilise other resources. 4. Working with and through People. Management involves working with people and getting 961, organisational objectives achieved through them. The idea of working through people is 7Dalton E. McFarland, Management Princfples and Practices, New York: Macmillan, 1974, p. 6. 8 Principles and Practice ofManagement interpreted in terms of assigning activities to subordinates. The superior-subordinate relationships are created because of organised activities. Through the proc~ss of assignment and reassignment of activities, the actual work is performed by people at the operative level which is the lowest level in an organisation. Thus, a sizeable proportion of management.:principles relates to how human beings can be put for better efforts in the organisation. 5. Decision Making. Management process involves decision making at various levels for getting things done by others. Decision making basically involves selecting the most appropriate alternative out of the several. If there is only, one alternative, the question of decision making does not arise. The quality of alternative which a manager selects determines. the organisation's performance, and the entire future of the organisation rests on the degree to which the riglit decisions are made by managers. Therefore, the success or failure of managers can be judged. by the quality of decisions that they make. There are various elements of management process. These are generally classified as planning, organising, staffing, directing, and controlling. The coordinated performance of these leads to the realisation of organisational objectives. This aspect of management process will be discussed in Chapter 3. MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION: A TERMINOLOGICAL CONFLICT Before we proceed further to analyse the nature of management, it is desirable to resolve the terminological conflict between management and administration as there is often a terminological conflict between the two. Some authors suggest that there is no fundr1"T.ental difference between management and administration, whatever difference between the two exists, it exists only in terms of their usage in different walks of life. Other authors sugi;est that these two terms are different and involve different sets of activities. Therefore, resolution of this conflict is necessary.. At the initial level of development of management thought, no distinction was made between management and administration and both the terms were used interchangeably. In 1923, the terminological conflict between the two terms was raised by Oliver Sheldon in his book '1he PhUosophy ofManagement' when he emphasised administration as decision- making function and management as execution function. 8 After that, this distinction between the two terms was emphasised by many and the terminological conflict proceeded further. Various views expressed in this regard have led to the emergence of three approaches: 1. Administration is above management, 2. Administration is a part of management, and 3. Management and administration are same. Administration is above Management According to many classical thinkers. administration is above management so far as different functions in the organisation are concerned. They perceive that both administration and management activities are different though both of them may be performed by a single individual I1 an organisation. Prominent among them are Oliver Sheldon, William Spriegal, Milward, Lansberg. Ordway Tead, Florence, etc. The general view is that administration relates to policy formulation and management relates to policy execution and these two activities are not the same. For example, Spriegal states that: 8 0liver Sheldon, The Philosophy of Management, London: Sir Issac Pitman, 1923. 12 Principles and Practice ofManagement "No ideology, no ism, or political theory can win greater output with less efforts from a given complex of human and material resources, only sound management. And it is on such greater output that a higher standard of life, more leisure, more amenities for all must necessarily be found. "13 The importance of management may be traced in the following contexts: 1. Effective Utilisation of Resources. Management tries to make effective utilisation of various resources. The resources are scarce in nature and to meet the demand of the society, their contribution should be maximum for the general interests of the society. Management not only decides in which particular alternative a particular resource should be used, but also takes actions to utilise it in that particular alternative in the best way. 2. Development of Resources. Management develops various resources. This is true with human as well as non-human factors. Lawrence Appley has emphasised that management is the development of people. 14 However, most of the researches ror resource development are carried on in an organised way and management is involved in these organised activities. Thus, through the development ofresources, management improves the quality of lives of people in the society. 3. To Incorporate Innovations. Today, changes are occurring at a vexy fast rate in both technology and social process and strueture. These changes need to be incorporated to keep the organisations alive and efficient. Business organisations are moving from primitive to sophistication. Therefore, they require high degree of specialisation, high level of competence, and complex technology. All these require efficient management so that organisations work in the most efficient way. 4. Integrating Various Interest Groups. In the organised efforts, there are various interest groups and they put pressure over other gtoups for maximum share in the combined output. For example, in the case of a business organisation, there are various pressure groups such as shareholders, employees, government, etc. These interest groups have pressure on an organisation. In a more advanced and complex society, more such pressure is on the organisation. Management has to balance these pressures from various interest groups. 5. Stability in. the Society. Management provides stability in the society by changing and modifying the resources in accordance with the changing environment of the society. In the modern age, more emphasis is on new inventions for the betterment ofhurnan beings. Thf"se inventionsmake old systems and factors mostly obsolete and inefficient. Management provides integration between traditions and new inventions, and safeguards society from the unfavourable impact of these inventions so that continuity in social process is maintained. Nature of Management The study and application of management techniques in managing the affairs of the organisation have changed its nature over the period of time. Though management as a practice came long ago, in fact, with the existence of human ~roups themselves, its impact as a formal body of knowledge has been felt much later, partiC:ularly during the last five-six 13 Lyndall F. Urwick, Elements ofAdministration, New York: Harper Brothers, 1943. 14Appley, op. cit.  Nature ofManagement 13 decades; Various contributions to the field of management have changed its nature, for example, from merely a practice to $cience also. Similarly, other changes have also occurred. Thus, the nature of management can be described as follows: of 1. Multidisciplinary. Management is basici;µIy multidisciplinary. This implies that, although le management has been developed as a separate discipline, it draws knowledge and concepts y. from various disciplines. It freely draws ideas and concepts from such disciplines as Id psychology, sociology, anthropology, ebonomtcs, ecology, statistics, operations research, r, histoi:y, etc. Management integrates the ideas and concepts taken from these disciplines and presents newer concepts which can be put into practice for managing the organisations. th In fact, the integration of knowledge of various disciplines ii:t the major contribution of nt management and this integrated dis,cipline is known as management. Therefore, the nt contributions in the field can be expected from any discipline which deals with some aspects ~s. of human beings. ' of 2. Dynamic Nature of Principles. Principle is a fundamental truth which establishes cause and effect relationships of a funetion. Based on integration and supported by practical 1th evidences, management has framed certain principles. However, these principles are flexible to in nature and change with the changes in the environment in which an organisation Ive exists. Because of the continuous development in the field, many older principles are being of changed by new principles. Continuous researches are being carried on to establish lat principles in changing society and no principle can be regarded as a final truth. In fact, there is nothing permanent in the landslide of management ' est 3. Relative, not Absolute Principles. Management principles are relative, not absolute, ut. and they should be applied according to the need of the otgariisation. Each organisation ips may be different from others. The difference may exist because of time, place; socio-cultural factors, etc. However, individuals working within the same organisation may also differ. Lire Thus, a particular management principle has different strengths in· different conditions. the Therefore, principles of management should be applied in the light of prevailing conditions. )S. Allowance must be made for different changing environment, md 4. Management: Science or Art. There ts a controversy whether management is science. In or art'. However, management is both a science and an art. This will be elaborated later in igs. this chapter. tent ~om 5. Management as Profession. Management has been regarded as a profession by many s is while many have suggested that it has not achieved the status of a profession. This aspect will be discussed later in this chapter. 6. Universality of Management. Management is a universal phenomenon. However, management principles are not universally applicable but are to be modified according to the needs of the situation. Universality of management will be discussed later is this chapter. the The nature of management suggests that it is a multidisciplinary phenomenon; its as a principles are flexible, relative and not absolute. It is both science and art; it can be taken pact as a profession and finally it is Universal. However, the last three aspects need further !-Six elaboration because of differing views over these aspects of management. MANAGEMENT:SCIENCEORART The controversy with regard to the nature of management, as to whether it is a science or an art, is vei:y old. This controversy, however, is not vei:y much in the air t.liough the controversy is yet to be settled. Specification of exact nature of management as science or nagement Management Process and Skills 87 with and errelated Staffing Investigating Ligh time Appraising Evaluating cess and Directing Coordinating ies some Leading Representing ess. The ire to the Motivating Administering The list is very long. However, this can be shortened by combining some functions into one. For example, directing may include leading, motivating, communicating, commanding, activating, and securing efforts. Similarly, planning may include formulating purpose, innovating; investigating may fall under planning and controlling, and so on. Taking the system, classification of mangement functions in this way, unanimity prevails in respect of three Ltionship functions, viz., planning, organising, and controlling. However, to get the things done by a whole. others requires some sort of directing human behaviour to purposeful activities. Therefore, that the f J directing can be considered like the above three functions. Some authors have carved out However,. a fifth function as staffing by splitting the social i:ispect of organising. However, this has because acquired great importance in the. context of the manager's responsibilityfor getting human ·of views resources in the organisation. Thus, managerial functions may broadly be grouped into planning, organising, staffing, directing, and controlling. Some authors add coordinating )ners, of in this list but this is not a separate function of mangement and it can be treated as essence of management since the basic objective c1f all managerial functions is to achieve 1ed with coordination in organised efforts. A detailed discussion of each of these functions will take :ans by a place in separate parts, here a brief discussion is gilven about what each function includes. 1. Planning. Planning is the conscious determination offuture course of action. This involves >eriences why in action, what action, how to take action, and when to take action. Thus, planning n of one includes determination of specific objectives, deterrnining projects and programmes, setting policies and stategies, setting rules and procedures, and preparing budgets. Based on the es which futurity involved in the planning process, plans may be prepared for long-term period, usually five years or more, intermediate-term period usually 2-5 years, or short-term period usually one year. Plans for these three periods are coordinted and a longer-term plan provides basis for shorter-term plan. 2. Organising. Organising is the process of dividimg work into convenient tasks or duties, grouping of such duties in the form of positions, grou.ping of various positions into departments and sections, assigning duties to individual positions, and delegating authority to each 1fuctions position so that the work is carried out as planned. Organising function can be viewed as a lisational bridge connecting the conceptual idea developed.in creating and planning to the specific means for accomplishing these ideas. Organising function contributes to the efficiency of idertaken the organisation by ensuring that all necessary ac tivities are performed and objectives are functions achieved. :nclature. 3. Staffing. Staffing involves manning the vario us positions created by the organising process. It includes preparing inventory of persc mnel available and identifying the gap between manpower required and available, identifying the sources from where people will be selected, selecting people, training and develop ing them, fixing financial compensation, appraising them periodically, etc. There is a contI ·oversy whether staffing function is to be performed by all managers in the organisation or it. is to be handled by personnel department which looks after the personnel matters enumenited above. The controversy can be settled because staffing function is too complicated andl time-consuming. To make it convenient, some processes of staffing are completed by peruoinnel department. In doing so, it facilitates the performance of staftlng function by managem iltl the organisation. For example, managers 88 Principles and Practice ofManagement are required to appraise the performance of subordinates. Personnel department can facilitate this function by prescribing and supplying the proforma for this appraisal so that there is uniformity in appraisal system throughout the organisation. Similar support can be provided by personnel department in other aspects of staffing. 4. Directing. When people are available in the organisation, they must know what they are expected to do in the organisation. Superior managers fulfil this requirement by communicating to subordinates about their expected behaviour. Once subordinates are oriented, the superiors have continuous responsibility of guiding and leading them for better work performance and motivating them to work with zeal and enthusiasm. Thus, directing includes communicating, motivating, and leading. 5. Controlling. Controlling involves identification of actual results, comparison of actual results with expected results as set by planning process, identification of deviation between the two, if any, and taking of corrective action so that actual results match with expected results. It brings to light all bottlenecks in work performance and operates as straight pointer to the needs of the situation. Nature of Management Functions Nature of management functions can J:?e identified in terms of their being universal, their iterative characteristics, sequential arrangement, and relative importance. 1. Management functions are universal in the sense that a manager has to perform all these functions in the organi~ation irrespective of his level or type of organisation. Acting ir. their managerial capa~ity, chief executives, departmental heads, foremen, supenrisors, etc., all do the same thing. Similarly, whether it is business organisation or non-business organisation, the management functions are involved. 2. Mangement functions have iterative quality, that is, they are contained within each other. For example, planning, organising, directing, and controlling may occur within staffing function. Similarly, organising may invovle planning, directing, and controlling. We hear planning and controlinig of organisational design (a part of organising process). Thus, all management functions can be thought of as sub- functions of each other. 3. Although management process suggests a sequential arrangement of functions. it is not always possible in the performance of managerial functions strictly in a sequence. Sequential concept may be true for initiating management functions in a new organisation to begin with. For an on-going organisation, it is not necessary to insist on a special time sequence for the various functions of management process. In this case, management process can be seen as a circular continuous movement as shown in Figure 3.1. Planning ~ Controlling Organising { Directing J Staffing ~ FIGURE 3.1: Management functions This process may start from any point, not necessarily from planning, and end at any point. Moreover, several functions may be performed at the same time. For 90 Principles and Practice ofManagement figurehead role, leader role, and liaison role. In flgwehead role, the manager performs activities which are of ceremonial and symbolic nature. These include greeting the visitors, attending social functions involving employees, and handing out merit.certificates and other awards to outstanding employees. Manager's leader role involves leading his subordinates and motivating them for willing contributions. Willing contributions come from subordinates when they see in a manager certain exemplifying behaviour. In liaison role, the manager serves as a connecting link between his organisation and outsiders or between his unit and other organisational units. The major objective of this role is to maintaing a link between the organisation and its external environment. Informational Roles Informational roles of a manager include communication-giving and receiving information- both within and outside the organisation. Infohnation is required to make decisions effective. There are three types of informational role of a manager: monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson. In his monitoring role, the manager constantly collects information about those factors which affect his activities. Such factors may be within the organisation as well as outside it. In the disseminator role, the manager distributes the information to his subordiantes who may otherwise not be in a position to collect it. As a spokeserson, the manager represents his organisation or unit while interacting with outsiders. These may be customers, financiers, government, suppliers, or other agencies of the society. Decisional Roles Decisional roles of a manager involve choosing the most appropriate alternative out of the available ones. so that the organisation achieves its objectives when the chosen alternative is put into action. In his decisional roles, the manager performs four roles: entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator. As an entrepreneur, the manager assumes certain risk which is involved in terms of the outcomes of an action because these are affected by a variety of external factors. Since these factors are dynamic and change constantly, the manager is required to bring suitable changes in the organisational processes to align these with the requirement of the environment. As disturbance handler, the manager is required to contain those forces and events which tend to disturb the organisational equilibrium and normal functioning. These forces and events may be strike by employees, shortage of raw materials, employee complaints and grievances, etc. As resource allocator, the manager allocates resources-human, physical, and financial-to v?rtous organisational units according to their needs. As negotiator, the manager negotiates with various interest groups in the organisation. Such interest groups are shareholders, employees, and outside agencies. Validity of Role Approach. Mintzeberg's role approach is based on the close observation of the activities performed by five chief executives. Therefore, the question arises about its· validity so far as managerial activities ·are concerned. Though some research studies have supported the views ofMintzberg, 2 this approach suffers from two limitations. First, the type of roles that have been identified by Mintzberg are not applicable to all types of managers particularly those at the lower levels. Second, there are many other managerial roles which have not been included in this list, for example, manager as a controller, as a coordinator, etc. Nevertheless, Mintzberg has given a new insight about what managers do. 2 Colin P. Hales, "What Do Managers Do? A Critical ,Review of the Evidence,· Journal of Management Studies, January 1986, pp. 88-115. Hugh C. Willmott, "Studying Managerial Work: A Critic and a Proposal," Journal 4 of Management Studies, May 1987, pp. 249-70. 102 Principles and Practice ofManagement Management Skills In order to perform various management functions effectively, mar:iagers must possess certain skills. Skill refers to practical ability or expertness in an action or doing something. From the very beginning of development of management thought, both management practitioners and researchers have emphasised different skills for managers. Therefore, the list of managerial skills is very long. Robert Katz has grouped various managerial skills into three broad categories: technical skills, human skills, and conceptual skills. 13 Technical Skills Technical skills are concerned with what is done. These pertain to knowledge and proficiency in processes, procedures, methods, and techniques which are used in doing a work. Boulton has called these skills as hard skills and are easily visible in a person. 14 Technical skills learned by accountants, engineers, managers, and other persons are developed by the actual practice on the job. For example, the person who is responsible to maintain files in an organisation must have technical skill relating to 'how files are maintained' and he learns this through practice. For managers, technical skills are required for effective performance of the following managerial jobs: 1. Managers are responsible to maintain workflow in the organisation. Workflow involves the intiation of action, that is, who will initiate action and who will receive it. For example, in an organisation, one person gives materials to another person, an initiation of action, and other person receives it. For prescribing workflow, managers must have technical knowledge of the work concerned. 2. Managers are responsible to maintain order in the work system, that is, there should be place for everything and everything should be on its place. For maintaining effective order system, managers must have knowledge of work system and workflow. BmnanSkills Human.skills, also referred to as human relations skills, are one's ~bility to work effectively with others on a person-to-person basis and to build up cooperative group relations to accomplish organisational objectives. Since management in a process of getting things done with and through people, no manager can be effective without suitable human skils irrespective of his being technically and conceptually competent. Human skils are required for effective peformance of the following managerial jobs: 1. Every manager interacts on one-to-one basis with others-superior, subordinate, peer, and outsider. To make this interaction effective, the manager must have good interpersonal skills so that he can understand others and make himself to be understood by others. 2. Every manager interacts with others as a member of groups. Such groups may be constituted either formally by the organisation in the form of various committees and work groups or informally constituted by the group members themselves. A manager will be effective as a group member only when he has ability to understand other members and to make himself understood by these members. 13 RobertL. Katz, "Skills for an Effective Administrator," Harvard Business Review, January-February, 1955. PP· 33-42. Also "Retrospective Commentary." Harvard Business Review September-October 1974. pp.101- 102. 14R. Boulton, People Skill, Englewood, Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1989.  nagement Management Process and Skills 103 3. Every manager communicates with others frequently. These people may be from within the organisation or from outside-. For making communication effective, every possess mething. manager must have ability to be empathic to under~tand others' views tn right agement perspective as a good listener besides being good orator. herefore, 4. For directing his subordinates, a manager does not only use his formal authority rial skills because of its obvious limitations but relies more on his leadership ability so as to 13 get willing and enthusiastic efforts of his followers for achieving organisational objectives. Therefore, a manager must have emotional stability, empathy, objectivity, and ability to influence others. roficiency 5. For getting best result from people, it ls essential that they are motivated properly. :. Boulton Motivation defends on people's needs and their perception that they will be able to ical skills satisfy their needs by working in the organisation. It is the responsibility of a manager ed by the to create such an environment in which people may have perception that they will tin files in be able to satisfy their needs. Therefore, the manager must be able to understood d' and he r ·effective the needs of his people and the way these needs may be satisfied. 6. Occasionally. conflicts arise in the organisation. Such conflicts may arise between winvolves two persons, in group, or between two groups. If such conflicts are not resolved !ive it. For amicably and within the given time frame, these may become dysfunctional leading 1erson,.an to organisational inefficiency. Therefore, a manager must have ability to resolve managers conflicts appropriately. For this purpose, the manager must be a good compromiser, smoother, and negotiator. ere should All the above human skills can be learned and developed by an individual by going aintaining through appropriate literature and practising accordingly. lworkflow. Conceptual Skills Conceptual skills are related to concepts and mental conception-conceptual framework : effectively intended to development of new product and/ or idea. Since conceptual skills are in the elations to :ing things form of imaginatlon-:-ehimarical, fantasy, notional, or vision, Boulton has called these as Liman skils soft skills and are hardly visible in a person. 15 In the context of management, conceptual re required skills are also known as general management skills and refer to the ability to see the whole picture to reconsise significant elements in a situation and to understand the relationship tbordinate, among these elements. For managers, conceptual skills are required for the following thavegood managerial jobs: nself to be 1. For making decisions, particularly non-programmed or strategic decisions, conceptual skills are required. Non-programmed decisions are relevant for solving ups maybe unique/unusual problems in which various alternatives cannot be decided la committees advance for example, launching a new product, expansion of business, and so on. Fo.r ~mselves. A making non-programmed decisions. various factors, both environme~td e.nv understand internal, have to be taken into account. These factors, particularly envir6.n'r1il'!ftt!t factors, are quire dynamic and changes in these cannot be predicted ea3.a1y Therefore, managers have to used their conceptual skills for broadly defining the !bruary, 1955. likely change in contextual variables affecting decision-making. There are various 1974. pp.101- examples of using conceptual skills i11 making non-programmed decisfons. One 104 Principles and Practice ofManagement example is presented here. In 1980s, when Hero Group of Ludhiana considered some ha new products in the personal transport product, it chose to add four-stroke motorcycle to which was not considered highly lucrative at that time as comparedto scooter. Even many professional friends of Brij Mohan Lall (Head of Hero Group) questioned the efficacy of this decision. On this, Lall, the present Chairman of Hero Honda Motors commented that "future personal transport will be dominated by motorcycle and not by scooters". In the age of incraesing fuel cost and speed-oriented transport. motorcycles would have an edge over scooters. One can see very easily how much true this perception has been. Presently, motorcycles have overtaken scooters by a big margin and Hero Honda has become number one motor cycle manufacturer. 2. Conceptual skills are relevant for building models. A model is an abstraction of reality; a simplified representation of some real-world phenomenon. Models are used in different fields, for example, economic models, business models, transport models, etc. In management, models are used for dtflferent activities like business models showing how different business activities will contribute tcr revenue generation, model for predicting environmental variables, etc. For constructing a model, only partial information remains available and the gap is fulfilled by the model creater using his conceptual skills · Thus, technical skills deal with things, human skills deal with people, and conceptual skills deal with ideas. Every person has all these skills in varying proportion depending on the structure of his brain and the environment he lives is the case with managers. Every manager is required to possess these skills in varying proportion depnding on the nature of his functions. Since managers at different levels perform different types of functions, as discussed earlier, managers at diffemet levels require different skills.· Generally, as one goes up higher in the organisational level, one needs conceptual skills more as shown in Figure 3.6. 16.!!l Technical 32 ti) ~ Human E CD ~ ~ Conceptual Top Middle Lower Skills required Managerial levels FIGURE 3.6: Skill requirements at different managerial levels Besides these three skills, various writers and researchers have provided other skill sets for various levels of management. Top Management Skills In the academic world, much attention has been focused on the skills and their development in top management because this level is the major driving force in an organisation. Osmond 16Katz, op. cit.  186 Principles and Practice of Management Management functions, as poin1 d out earlier, are classified as planning, organising, staffing, I ' directing, and controlling. All these functions are required to achieve the objective of an I organisation. However, withom setting the objectives there is nothing to organise, direct, or control. Therefore. every organt.;ation is required to specify what it wants to achieve. Planning is basically related with this aspect. Concept of Planning The meaning of the word 'planning' is something of a paradox. To some, it is an omnibus term having convenient utility and a generalised context extending from broad philosophical considerations to precise details. They think of it as specific activity; in contrast, others believe it is a part of, perhaps even a symbol for almost everything a person does. Then, too, the upsurge in plannin'g has created many different kinds of planning, and this array of different entities, all identified by planning, has added to confusion. There are some who consider planning synonymous with decision making. This is also erroneous. Decision i making is not the same as planning because one can make decisions in other activities also, though the role of decision making is highly important in planning. Another confusion that arises in tli~.£91:1.£~.Pt.~()fplanri!J:lg)s the.~.