What do you call the term that is getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources?

Management is a process of planning, decision making, organizing, leading, motivation and controlling the human resources, financial, physical, and information resources of an organization to reach its goals efficiently and effectively.

Threefold Concept of Management

To understand the definition of management and its nature, a threefold concept of management for emplacing a broader scope for the viewpoint of management.

We can say management is a;

Management is an Economic Factor

For an economist, management is one of the factors of production together with land, labor, and capital.

As the industrialization of a nation increases, the need for management becomes greater.

The managerial resources of a firm determine, in large measure, its productivity and profitability. Executive development, therefore, is more important for those firms in a dynamic industry in which progress is rapid.

Management is a System of Authority

From an administrator’s point of view, management is a system of authority. Historically, management first developed an authoritarian philosophy.

Later on, it turned paternalistic.

Still, later, constitutional management emerged, characterized by a concern for consistent policies and procedures for dealing with the working group.

Finally, the trend of management turned towards a democratic and participatory approach.

Modern management is nothing but a synthesis of these four approaches to authority.

Management is a Class and Status System

As viewed by a sociologist, management is a class-and-status system.

The increase in the complexity of relationships in modern society demands that managers become elite of brain and education.

Entry into this class of executives is being more and more dependent on excellence in education and knowledge rather than family or political connections.

Some scholars view this development as a “Managerial Revolution”.

But you might have a different point of view about management but the purpose of it remains static; reach the goal effectively and efficiently.

It is a set of activates directed at an organization’s resources to achieve organizational goals efficiently and effectively.

The basic managerial functions or activities are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.

These activities are undertaken by the managers to combine all resources (human, financial, physical, information) efficiently and effectively to work toward achieving the goals of the organization.

So, we can say that the nature of management is;

• Management as a systematic process of planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. As managers, people carry out the managerial functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.
• The concepts and activities of management apply to all levels of management, as well as to all types of organizations and activities managed.
• The aim of all managers is universal: to create a surplus.
• Management identifies a special group of people whose job is to direct the effort and activities of other people towards common objectives.
• Management is concerned with productivity, thereby implying efficiency and effectiveness. Factors of production of an organization such as labor, capital, land, equipment, etc. are used efficiently and effectively prepared through management for achieving organizational goals.
• Management has to pay attention to fulfilling the objectives of the interested parties.
• Management is the art and science of getting work done by other peoples.
• “Maximum results with the minimum of efforts” is the motto of management of any organization.

Management as a concept has broadened in scope with the introduction of new perspectives by different fields of study, such as economics, sociology, psychology and the like.

Features of Management

Management is the process of setting and reaching goals effectively and efficiently. Management process has some qualities or features;

1. Management is Associated with Group Efforts
2. Management is Purposeful
3. Management is Accomplished Through the Efforts of Others
4. Management is Goal-oriented
5. Management is Indispensable
6. Management is Intangible
7. Management can Ensure Better Life

Management is Associated with Group Efforts

It is usual to associate management with a group.

Although people as individuals manage many personal affairs, the group emphasis on management is universal.

Every enterprise entails the existence of a group to achieve goals. It is now established that goals are achieved more readily by a group than by any one person alone.

Management is Purposeful

Wherever there is management, there is a purpose. Management deals with the achievement of something definite expressed as a goal or objective.

Management success is commonly measured by the extent to which objectives are achieved. Management exists because it is an effective means of getting the necessary work accomplished.

Management is Accomplished Through the Efforts of Others

Management is sometimes defined as “getting things done through others’ efforts.”

Besides the manager of a firm, there may be accountants, engineers, system analysts, salesmen and a host of other employees working but it is the manager’s job to integrate all their activities.

Thus it can well be said that participation in management necessitates relinquishing the normal tendency to perform all things oneself and getting tasks accomplished through group efforts.

Management is Goal-oriented

Managers focus their attention and efforts on bringing about successful action. Successful managers have an urge for accomplishment.

They know when and where to start, what to do with keeping things moving, and how to follow a goal-oriented approach.

Management is Indispensable

Management can neither be replaced nor substituted by anything else.

Even the computer which is the wonderful invention of the twentieth century can only aid but not replace management.

We know that the computer is an extremely powerful tool for management.

It can widen a manager’s vision and sharpen his insight by supplying more and faster information for making key decisions.

The computer has enabled the manager to conduct analysis far beyond the normal analytical capacities of man.

But what happens, in reality, is that the computer can neither work by itself nor can it pass any judgment.

The manager plays his/her role by providing judgment and imagination as well as interpreting and evaluating what the information/data mean in each case.

Management is Intangible

Management is often called the unseen force; its presence is evidenced by the results of its efforts – motivation among employees, discipline in the group, high productivity, adequate surplus, etc.

Conversely, the identity of management may also be felt by its absence or by the presence of its direct opposite mismanagement. The consequence of mismanagement is anybody’s guess.

Management can Ensure Better Life

A manager can do much to improve the work environment, stimulate people to perform better, achieve progress, bring hope and accomplish better things in life.

The study of management has evolved into more than just the use of means to achieve ends; today it includes moral and ethical questions concerning the selection of the right ends towards which managers should strive.

Management is the science and art of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives by coordinating and integrating all available resources efficiently and effectively.

Let’s understand the management definition and it’s basics in this infographic

Any organization whether small, medium or big has its own management structure which determines relationships between the different activities and the employees by subdividing and assigning roles, responsibilities, and authority to carry out different tasks.
The term”Management” denotes different meaning to different people. While some ascribe it to the people holding senior positions in an organization, others compare it with man management skill. Management in all business and human organization activity is considered as an act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives. According to Mary Parker Follett, Management is “The art of getting things done through people”. Management functions on a three tier hierarchy, top level, medium level and lower level management. While the former consists of CEO, CFO, who establish the goals of the company, it is the lower level of management which carries out the goals through the use of employees. The middle level management only use rank and file to complete the tasks assigned to carry out the goals of upper management. Power has been delegated to the lowest level employees to make decisions, solve problems and do what is necessary to keep employees satisfaction up.

Coordination of the efforts of people is considered as a function of management in businesses and organization’s to accomplish goals and objectives by using available resources efficiently and effectively. In other terms, management involves in interlocking functions of creating corporate policies as well as organizing,planning,controlling, and directing an organization’s resources in order to achieve the objectives of that policy.The size of management differs from organization to organization. It can range from one person in a small firm to hundreds and thousands of managers in multinational companies. While the term “Management”, as a collective word describing the managers of an organization, a corporation. But historically, the use of the term often contrasted with the term “labour”, referring to those being managed. But in the present era, the concept of management is defined in the wide areas and its scope is broaden.The concept and its usages are not constrained.Rightly speaking, Management on the whole is the process of planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. It is human resource department in a company which is responsible for creating,implementing and overseeing policies governing employee behaviour and the behaviour of the company toward its employees. HR are the people who work for the organization whereas HRM is really employee management with an emphasis on those employees as assets of business. Thus, the HR Department considered as backbone of a company and serves as the functional centre of an organization. It operates in both the forefront and behind the scenes as it’s functions requires intimately involved in every aspect of the business. In this context, employees are sometimes referred to as human capital. Like other business assets, the goal is to make effective use of employees, reducing risk and maintaining return on investment(ROI).

Management is defined as the process of reaching organizational goals by working with people ,through people and other organizational resources. Management consists of the following 3 characteristics:

• It is considered as the process or series of continuing and related activities. • It involves and ensures to accomplish organizational goals.

• It works with the people,through the people and with other organizational resources to reach goals.

MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS:
The 5 basic management functions are described below that make up the management process:

• PLANNING • ORGANIZING • STAFFING • DIRECTING

• CONTROLLING

PLANNING: • Planning is a management process which is concerned with defining goals and mission for a company to achieve its objectives.

• Planning activity focuses on attaining organizational goals. Managers should outline what organizations need in order to be successful. Planning is concerned with the success of the organization in the short term as well as in the long term.

ORGANIZING: • Organizing is the function of management which follows planning. Organizing is a core function of management which synchronize and combine human,physical and financial resources. These three are most important aspects to achieve the results. Therefore, organizational function helps in achievement of results which in fact is important for the functioning of a concern. • The role of a manager is to organize functions with the identification of activities, than departmentally organizing the activities and accordingly classifying the authority in every level and coordinating between authority and responsibility.

• People within an organization are assigned with tasks that help in achieving company’s goals. Tasks are organized in such manner whereby the output of each individual is measured not only in terms of success of departments, but also towards the success of divisions, which ultimately contributes to the success of the organization.

STAFFING: • Staffing plays a very crucial role in manning the organization’s structure through proper and effective selection, performance appraisal and development of the personnel assigned to the employers/workforce. • Staffing tops on the agenda of management. Although in a new organization, the process of staffing comes after planning and organizing but for going organization it is a continuous process. DIRECTING: • Directing is a process in which the managers instruct, guide and supervise the performance of the workers to achieve set goals of the organization.Directing is said to be the heart of management process. The former management functions i.e., planning, organizing, staffing have got no importance if direction function does not take place. • Directing initiates action and it is from where the actual work starts. It consists of human factors.

• In simple words, it can be described as a function of providing guidance to workers in doing work. In management field, Directing is said to encourage subordinates effectively and efficiently.

CONTROLLING: • Controlling is function is the last function performed by management. It is a parameter that measures actual performance with the expected performance. • The controlling process involves: • Formulating standards to measure • Measurement of actual performance • Comparing performance with the defined standards • Taking corrective action • In this process, Managers analyze that whether the tasks performed have met the desired goals. Controlling is an ongoing process. • Management is a continuous process and is very important for any organization because it enables the organization to view its process.

To summarize, Management has no direct link with its people. Whatever may be the size of an organization(there are few exceptions),hierarchically HR is placed in a position whereby the information flows from top to bottom and bottom to top and vice-versa and thereby it plays the role of a weighing scale keeping the balance between management and employees.It is the HR professionals who not only suggests to the management how to strategically manage people as business resources but also suggests strategies for increasing employee involvement and commitment to the organization.From management perspective, HR is a part of management which is concerned with the people at work and desirable working relationships among all the members of the organization.

– Debleena Sinha

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