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MANAGEMENT AN OVERVIEW

1) Meaning And Definition Of Management

There are several definitions of Management; but they all are

fundamentally the same. Among the many, some are:

a) Management is the process of coordinating all resources through

the five major functions of planning, organizing, staffing, directing
/leading and controlling to achieve organizational goals/desired
objectives. That is, it is the process of achieving organizational goals
through engaging in the five major functions of planning, organizing,
staffing, directing/leading and controlling.
In the above definition there are three key concepts
i) Coordination of all resources – managers should coordinate the
resources of an organization. These resources may be human or
non human.
ii) The five managerial functions – To coordinate the resources of
an organization a manager should employ/use the five
managerial functions.
iii) Objectives – are the reason for the establishment of
organizations and management is useful for achieving these
goals. Managing/management is concerned with productivity:
effectiveness and efficiency. There are points to be meet, targets
to be shot or places to be reached. All organizations establish a
variety of goals and direct their energies and resources to
achieve them.
- Profit oriented business → ROI goals
- Hospital → Patient care
- Educational institution → Teaching, research &
community service.
All organizations also have resources that can be used to meet these
objectives. Such resources can be classified into: human and non-
human, and management is the force that unifies these resources. It is
the process of bringing them together and coordinating them to help
accomplish organizational goals.
b) Management is the art of getting things done through other people by
making the atmosphere conducive for others. It is the process of
getting things done through others, and this process puts emphasis
on both the objectives to be attained and the people who will be
pursuing them.
→ an effective manager focuses on both work and people.
→ the job of every manager is to achieve organizational goals
through the combined efforts of people.
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c) Management is the utilization of scientifically derived principles to

examine and improve collective efforts or production.
- Management applies to any kind of organization, to
managers at all organizational levels.
- Without management, virtually no business could
survive.
- Management increases the values of our resources.
d) Management is the process of achieving organizational goals through
engaging in the five major functions of planning, organizing, leading,
staffing and controlling. This definition recognizes that:
- Management is an ongoing activity
- Entails reaching important goals, and
- Involves knowing how to perform the five major
functions of management.
Managers – are those persons in the position of authority who make
decisions to commit (use) their resources and the resources of
others towards the achievement of organizational objectives.
* Everybody is the manager of his/her time, energy and talents.

Organization – is a group of two or more people brought together to

achieve common stated objectives.
Organization – two or more persons engaged in a systematic effort to
produce goods and/or services.

2) Managerial Functions
Regardless of the type of firm and the organizational level, all managers
perform certain basic functions. These managerial functions are
Planning, organizing, staffing, directing/leading/ and controlling.
i. PLANNING: is making decisions today about future actions. It involves
selecting missions and objectives and the actions to achieve them; it
requires decision making, that is, choosing future courses of action from
among alternatives. No real plan exists until a decision – a commitment
of human or material resources – has been made. Before a decision is
made, all we have is a planning study, an analysis or a proposal, but not
a real plan.
 Planning bridges the gap between where we are to where we want
to be in a desired future.
 Planning identifies goals and alternatives. It maps out courses of
action that will commit individuals, departments and the entire
organization for days, months and years to come.
 Planning is the first managerial function that all managers
engaged in because it lays the groundwork for other managerial
functions. Even other managerial functions have to be planned.
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- ii. ORGANIZING: is concerned with assembling the

resources necessary to achieve organizations’ objectives and
establishing the activity authority relationship.
 It is the management function that focuses on allocating and
arranging human and non-human resources so that plans can be
carried out successfully. Resources are allocated on the basis of major
company goals.
 Planning has established the goals of the company and how they are
to be achieved; organizing develops the structure to reach these goals.
It is through organizing function that managers determine which tasks
are to be done, how tasks can best be combined into specific jobs, and
how jobs can be grouped into various units that make up the structure
of the organization. It involves creating job positions with assigned duties
and responsibilities, arranging positions into hierarchy by establishing
authority–reporting relationship, determining the number of
subordinates each manger should supervise, determining the number of
hierarchical levels etc and thereby create an organization. Organizing is
not done once and then forgotten. As the objectives of the company
change, they will influence the structure of managerial and
organizational relationship.

iii. STAFFING: As it has been pointed out, organizing involves creating

job positions with assigned duties and responsibilities. Staffing involves
filling and keeping filled the positions in the organization structure. It is
concerned with locating prospective employees to fill the jobs created by
the organizing process. It basically deals with inventorying the people
available, announcing vacancies, accepting, identifying the potential
candidates for the job, recruiting, selecting, placing, orienting, training
and promoting both candidates and existing employees.
Staffing is concerned with human resource of the organization.

iv. Directing/LEADING: has been termed as motivating, influencing,

guiding, stimulating, actuating or directing. It is aimed at getting the
members of an organization move in the direction that will achieve its
objectives. Leading/leadership is the heart and soul of management. It
involves influencing others to engage in the work behavior necessary to
reach organizational goals; i.e., it is influencing people so that they will
contribute to organization and group goals; it has to do predominantly
with the human/interpersonal aspect of management.
Leading is the most complex managerial function because it deals with
complex human behavior; and because most problems in organizations
arise from people, their desire and behavior. It includes communicating
with others, helping to outline a vision of what can be accomplished,
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providing direction, and motivating organization members to put forth

the substantial effort required.

v. CONTROLLING: is the measuring and correcting of activities of

subordinates to ensure that events conform to plans. It deals with
establishing standards, measuring performances against established
standards and dealing with deviations from established standards.
 Controlling is the process through which mangers assure
that actual activities conform to planned activities.
 It is checking current performances against
predetermined standards contained in the plan. Control activities
generally relate to the measurement of achievement.

3) Significance Of Management
Why do we study management?
There are different reasons to study management. These are:
 It is important for personal life.
 Managers are universal: managers work in all types of
organizations, at all levels, and in all functional areas. These
managers are responsible fo0r the success or failure of the
organizations.
 Societies depend on organizations/institutions for the
provision of goods and services. These institutions are
guided by the decision of few individuals /one or two/
designated as Managers.
 It affects the accomplishment of social, economic, political and
organizational goals. Management is the force that determines
whether business organizations and social institutions will serve
us or waste our talents and resources.
 Ever since people began forming groups to accomplish
aims they could not achieve as individuals, managing has
been essential to ensure the coordination of individual
efforts.
 People currently not trained by management get themselves in
managerial positions and earn their livelihood, and the most
common path to become successful manager involves a
combination of education and experience.
 Management is needed to coordinate and direct the efforts of
individuals, groups and the entire organization to achieve desired
objectives. Management is responsible for the success or failure of
an organization. That is, when an organization fails it is because of
poor management, and when an organization succeeds it is
because of good management. Whenever and wherever there is a
group work having stated objectives, management is needed to
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direct and coordinate their efforts. Without management effort will

be wasted.

4) Levels Of Management
Is management the same throughout an organization? Yes and No
Yes: because all managers perform the five managerial functions.
No: because despite the fact that they perform all managerial functions,
they perform it with different emphasis and scope.
Managers all perform the same management functions but with different
emphases because of their position in the organization. Although all
managers may perform the same basic duties and play similar roles, the
nature and scope of their activities differ. These differences are the base
for the classification of managers.
Managers can be divided based on two criteria. These are:
1) Levels of management (vertical difference)
2) Scope of responsibilities (horizontal difference)

I. Types of Managers based on levels of management

An important determinant of a manager’s job is hierarchical level. Levels
refer to hierarchical arrangement of managerial positions or persons in
an organization. The number of managerial levels in an organization
depends on the size of the organization. In most organizations, however,
there are three distinct levels. How these levels are distinguished? What
functions are performed at each level? And the reporting relationships
are some of the issues to be addressed.
Based on levels of management or hierarchy we do have three types of
managers. A manager’s assigned duties and the authority needed to
fulfill those duties are what determine management level.

i. Top Level Managers

Top-level managers are managers who are at the top of the organizational
hierarchy and are responsible for the entire organization. They are
usually few in number and include the organization’s most important
managers - the CEO or the president and his/her immediate
subordinates usually called vice-presidents. But the actual title may vary
from organization to organization. They are few in number because of the
nature of the work they perform and economic problem. They deal with
the big picture, not with the nitty gritty. They are responsible for the
overall management of the organization. They establish company wide
objectives or goals & organizational policies. Furthermore, top
management:
- Develop overall structure of the organization.
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- Direct the organization in accordance with the

environment.
- Develop policy in areas of Equal Employment
Opportunity & employee development.
- Represent the organization in community affairs,
business deals, and government negotiations.
- Spent much of their time in planning and dealing
with middle level managers and other subordinates.
- Work long hours and spend much of their time in
meetings and on telephone.
- Are persons who are responsible for making
decisions and formulating policies that affect all aspects of
the firm’s operations.
- Provide overall leadership of the organization
towards accomplishment of its objectives.
 They are responsible for the organization because objectives are
established and policies are formulated at the top.
 Top-level managers take the credit or blame for organizational success
and failures respectively.

ii. Middle Level Managers

Middle level managers occupy a position in an organization that is above
first-line management and below top management. They interpret and
implement top management directives and forward messages to and from
first-line management.
- Regardless of their title, their subordinates are
managers.
- Often coordinate and supervise the activities of
lower level managers.
- Receive broad/overall strategies from top managers
and translate it into specific objectives and plans for First-Line
Mangers/operating managers.
- Are responsible for the proper implementation of
policies and strategies defined by top level managers. They
interpret and implement top management directives and forward
messages to and from first-line management.
- Their principal responsibility is to direct the activity
that implement the policies of the organization.
E.g. Academic deans, Division Head, Plant managers,
Army captain
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iii. First Level Managers/Supervisory Level managers

- Are those at the operating level or at the last level of management.
- Their subordinates are non managers.
- They are responsible for overseeing and coordinating the work of
operating employees.
- Assign operating employees to specific tasks.
- Are managers on which management depends for the execution of
its plan since their job is to deal with employees who actually
produce the organization’s goods and services to fulfill the plan.
- Are directly responsible for the production of goods and services.
- Motivate subordinates to change or improve their performance.
- Serve as a bridge between managers and non-managers.
- Spent much of their time in leading and little in planning.
- Are in charge of carrying out the day-to-day activities within the
various departments to ensure that short-term goals are met.
E.g. Department Heads, supervisory personnel, Sales managers,
Loan officers, Foreman.
- Are often neither fish nor fowl – neither management nor labor
because they feel great deal of empathy for their subordinates
(which stems from close personal contact and the fact that most
supervisors have come up from the ranks of labor) and they are
there to reflect the company’s point of view to their subordinates.
And that is why First-Line Mangers are called “People in the
Middle”.
All managers carry out managerial functions. However, the time spent for
each function varies according to their managerial hierarchy. Top-level
managers spend more time on planning and organizing than lower-level
managers. Leading, on the other hand, takes a great deal of time for first-
line managers. The difference in time spent on staffing and controlling
varies only slightly for managers at various levels.
Planning

Organizing

Controlling
Staffing

Directing

Top

Middle

First-line
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Organizational Hierarchy Time spent on carrying out

managerial functions

Fig. 1.1 The relative importance of the managerial functions at different

levels
II. Types of Managers based on scope of responsibility
Based on the scope of responsibility/activities they manage, managers
are divided into two:
i. Functional Managers
Functional managers are managers who are responsible for a department
that performs a single functional task and has employees with similar
training and skills.
Supervise employees (managers + workers) with specialized skills in
specific areas of operations such as accounting, payroll, finance,
marketing, production, or sales etc. They are responsible for only one
organizational activity; i.e. their responsibility is limited to their
specialization/specification.
ii. General Managers
General Managers are managers who are responsible for several
departments that perform different functions. They are responsible for
the entire operations of the organization without being specific.
Oversee a complex unit, such as a company, a subsidiary, or an
independent operating division. S/he will be responsible for all activities
of that unit, such as its production, marketing, sales and finance.
A small company may have only one general manager – its president or
executive vice president – but a large organization may have several,
each at the head of a relatively independent division.

5) Managerial Roles
Role is an organized set of behaviors that is associated with a particular
office or position. It is a pattern of behavior expected by others from a
person occupying a certain position in an organizational hierarchy.
A role is any one of several behaviors a manager displays as s/he
functions in the organization
When a manager tries to carryout the management functions, s/he must
behave in a certain way – to fill certain role. Managerial roles represent
specific tasks that managers undertake to ultimately accomplish the five
managerial functions. Factors which affect managerial roles are:
manager’s formal job description, and the values & expectations of other
managers, subordinates and peers.
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Henry Mintzberg identified 10 managerial roles which are in turn

grouped into three categories: Interpersonal, Informational and
Decisional Roles.
I. Interpersonal Roles involve developing and maintaining positive
relationships with significant others in the organization. It is
communication oriented. It includes:

i. Figurehead Role: managers perform symbolic duties of a legal or

social nature. The manager is the head of his work unit, be it
division, section or department. Because of this “lead person” position
the manager represents his work unit at ceremonial or symbolic
functions.
The top level managers represent the company legally and socially to
those outside of the organization. The superior represents the work
group to higher management and higher management to the work
group.
E.g. Signing documents, presiding at a ceremonial event, greeting
visitors, attending a subordinate’s weeding, taking a customer to
lunch, university president hands out a diploma for graduates – in all
these cases the manager is representing his/her organization.
ii. Leadership Role: The manager is the environment creator – s/he
makes the environment conducive for work by improving working
conditions, reducing conflicts, providing feedback for performance
and encouraging growth. (Virtually all managerial operations involving
subordinates are examples for a leadership role). The leader builds
relationship and communicates with employees, motivates & coaches
them. As a leader, the manager is responsible for hiring, training,
motivating and encouraging employees/subordinates.
→ The leadership role is evident in the interpersonal relationship
between manager and his/her subordinates.
iii. Liaison Role/Coordinator role: The liaison maintains a
network of contacts outside the work unit to obtain information. The
manager serves as a link between the organization and the informants
who provide favors and information. S/he fulfills this role through
community service, conferences, social events, etc, participation is
meetings with representatives of other divisions.
Refers to dealing with the member of the organization superiors,
subordinates, peer level managers in other departments, staff
specialists and outside contacts such as clients.
The top management uses this role to gain favors and information,
while the superiors use it to maintain the routine flow of work.
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II. Informational Roles focuses on the transmission of important

information to and from internal and external sources. It involves the
following activities:
i. Monitor role: is also called information gathering role. This role
refers to seeking, receiving, screening and getting information. The
manager is constantly monitoring the environment to determine what
is going on. The monitor seeks internal and external information
about issues that can affect the organization. S/he seeks and receives
wide variety of special information to develop through understanding
of the organization and the environment.
Information is gathered from news reports, trade publications,
magazines, clients, associates, and a host of similar sources,
attending seminars & exhibitions.
ii. Disseminator Role: what does the manager do with the
information collected? As the disseminator, the manager passes on to
subordinates some of the information that would not ordinarily be
accessible to them. After the information has been gathered (by
monitor role), it has to be disseminated to superiors, subordinates,
peers and other concerned clients. The types of information to be
forwarded to members could be facts, opinions, interpretations, and
influences.
iii. Spokesperson/representative Role: the spokesperson
transmits information about the organization to outsiders. The
manger is the person who speaks for her/his work unit to people
outside the work unit.
One aspect of this role is to keep superiors well informed and a
second aspect is to communicate outside the organization like press,
government agencies, customers and labor unions. Although the roles
of spokesperson and figurehead are similar, there is one basic
difference between them. When a manager acts as a figurehead, the
manager’s presence is as a symbol of the organization, whereas, in the
spokesman role, the manager carries information and communicates
it to others in a formal sense.
Thus, the manager seeks information in the monitor role,
communicates it internally in the disseminator role and transmits it
externally in the spokesperson role. The three informational roles,
then, combine to provide important information required in the
decisional roles.

III. Decisional Roles: involve making significant decisions that affect the
organization.
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i. Entrepreneur Role: (initiator of change) the manager acting as an

entrepreneur recognizes problems and opportunities and initiates
actions that will move the organization in the desired direction. In the
role of entrepreneur, the manager tries to improve the unit. Often
s/he creates new projects, change organizational structure, and
institutes other important programs for improving the company’s
performance. The entrepreneur acts as an initiator, designer, and
encourager of change and innovation.
ii. Disturbance Handler Role: solution seeking role. In the role of
disturbance handler, the manager responds to situations over
which s/he has little control, i.e. that are beyond his/her control
and expectation such as conflict between people or groups, strikes,
breachment of contract or unexpected events outside the
organization that may affect the firm’s performance. The
disturbance handler is responsible for taking corrective action
when the organization faces important, unexpected difficulties.
iii.Resource Allocator Role: deciding on the allocation of the
organization’s physical, financial and human resources. As a
resource allocator, the manager is responsible for deciding how
and to whom the resources of the organization and the manager’s
own time will be allocated. This involves assigning work to
subordinates, scheduling meetings, approving budgets, deciding
on pay increases, making purchasing decisions and other matters
related to the firm’s human, financial, and material resources. The
resource allocator distributes resources of all types, including time,
funding (finance), equipment and human resources.
iv.The Negotiator Role: representing the organization in all
important/major negotiations. Managers spend a great deal of
their time as negotiators, because only they have the information
and authority that negotiators require.
E.g. negotiations to buy firms, to get credit, with government, with
suppliers, etc.

The Ten Managerial Roles

Category Role Activity
Interpersonal Figurehead Perform ceremonial and symbolic duties
such as greeting visitors, signing legal
documents
Leader Direct and motivate subordinates;
training, counseling, and communicating
with subordinates.
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Liaison Maintain information links both inside

and outside organization; use mail,
phone calls, meetings.
Informational Monitor Seek and receive information, scan
periodicals and reports, maintain
personal contacts.
Disseminator Forward information to other
organization members; send memos and
reports, make phone calls.
Spokesperso Transmit information to outsiders
n through speeches, reports, memos.
Decisional Entrepreneur Initiate improvement projects; identify
new ideas, delegate ideas, delegate
responsibility to others.
Disturbance Take corrective action during disputes or
handler crises; resolve conflicts among
subordinates; adapt to environmental
crises.
Resource Decide who gets resources; scheduling,
allocator budgeting, setting priorities
Negotiator Represent department during negotiation
of union contracts, sales, purchases,
budgets; represent departmental
interests.

6) Managerial Skills And Their Relative Importance

A manager’s job is diverse and complex and it requires a range of skills.
Skills are specific abilities that result from knowledge, information,
practice, and aptitude.
 Effective managers are essential to the performance of all
organizations, whether they have the ability to plan, organize, staff,
lead and control business operations effectively can determine a firm’s
ultimate success or failure.
 Management success depends both on: a fundamental understanding
of the principles of management and the application of technical,
human and conceptual skills.
 Modern businesses are dynamic and complex, and competition in the
market place is fierce. Consequently, managers must be highly skilled
to succeed. The skills managers need can be classified as:
o Technical skill
o Human Relations skill
o Conceptual skill
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1. Technical Skills – involve process or technique, knowledge and

proficiency. It is the ability to use the tools, procedures, or techniques of
a specialized field. It includes mastery of the methods, techniques, and
equipment involved in specific functions, such as engineering,
manufacturing, or finance. Technical skill also includes specialized
knowledge, analytical ability, and the competent use of tools and
techniques to solve problems in that specific discipline.
- Is specialized knowledge and ability that can be
applied to specific tasks.
- Is a skill that reflects both an understanding of and a
proficiency in a specialized field.
- Technical skills are most important at the lower levels
of management. It becomes less important as we move up the
chain of command because when they supervise the others
(workers), they have to show how to do the work.
E.g. A surgeon, an engineer, a musician, a quality controller or
an accountant all have technical skill in their respective areas.

2. Human Relations /Interpersonal Skill – the ability to interact

effectively with people. It is the ability to work with, understand and
motivate other people, either as individuals or as groups. Managers need
enough of human relationships skill to be able to participate effectively
and lead groups. These skills are demonstrated in the way a manager
relates to other people, including the way s/he motivates, facilitates,
coordinates, leads, communicates, and resolves conflicts. A manager
with human skills allows subordinates to express themselves without
fear of ridicule and encourages participation. A manager with human
skills likes other people and is liked by them. This skill is a reflection of
the manager’s leadership ability.
Managers who lack human skills often are abrupt, critical, and
unsympathetic toward others. The results are often abrupt, critical, and
unsympathetic response from workers to management.

Because all work is done when people work together, human relation
skills are equally important at all levels of management.

3. Conceptual skills – involve the formulation of ideas. It refers to

the ability to see the big picture – to view the organization from a broad
perspective and to see the interrelations among its components. It
includes recognizing how the various jobs in an organization depend on
one another and how a change in any one part affects all the others. It
also involves the manager’s ability to understand how a change in any
given part can affect the whole organization, ability to understand
abstract relationships, solve problems creatively, and develop ideas.
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Conceptual skills are more important in strategic (long range) planning;

therefore, they are more important to top-executives than middle
managers and supervisors.
Although all three of these skills are essential to effective management,
their relative importance to specific manager depends on his/her rank in
the organization. Technical skill is of greatest importance at supervisory
level; it becomes less important as we move up the chain of command.
Even though human skill is equally important at every level of the
organization, it is probably most important at the lower level, where the
greatest number of management–subordinate interactions is likely to
take place.

On the Other hand, the importance of conceptual skill increases as we

rise in the rank of management. The higher the manager is in the
hierarchy, the more s/he will be involved in the broad, long term
decisions that affect large parts of the organization. For top management,
which is responsible for the entire organization, conceptual skill is
probably the most important skill of all.
 Technical skill deals with things, human skill concerns people and
conceptual skill has to do with ideas.

Conceptual Skills
Technical Skills

Human Skills

Top

Middle

First-line

Managerial Levels Managerial Skills

Fig. 1.2 Variation of skills necessary at different management levels

4. Management: Science or Art?

Science is characterized by making conclusions based on actual facts
and verifies knowledge through cause-effect relationship. It can be
generally learnt, thought, and researched to know the universal truth.
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Managers can work better by using the organized knowledge about

management, and it is this knowledge that constitutes a science.
Art is characterized by using common sense, personal feeling, beliefs,
impulses, etc. Management/Managing, like all other practices-music
composition, engineering, accountancy or baseball- is an art. It is know-
how, skill or how to accomplish the desired objectives with insufficient
data and information or when there is limited use of secondary sources
of information. It is doing things in the light of realities of a situation.
Thus, management as a practice is an art; the organized knowledge
underlying the practice may be referred to as a science. In this
sense/context science and art are not mutually exclusive but are
complementary.
Therefore, management in actual sense is neither an art nor science, but
it requires both to be successful, i.e., it is not pure art because it uses
scientific methods e.g. computer and it is not pure science because it
uses intuition, judgment, and creativity. Management is one of the most
creative arts as it requires a vast knowledge and the innovative skills to
apply. Managers should develop new ideas, techniques and strategies
and be able to communicate them effectively in the work environment.
They should be able to make decisions even when there is shortage of
data. This leads us to the conclusion that ‘the art of management begins
where the science of management stops’. This underlines the importance
of making managerial decisions in the absence of sufficient data and
information by using the decision maker’s common sense.

5. Universality Of Management
Regardless of title, position, or management level, all managers do the
same job. They execute the five managerial functions and work through
and with others to set and achieve organizational goals. Managers are
the same whether the organization is private or public, profit making or
non-profit making, manufacturing or service giving, and industrial or
small firms. Hence, management is universal for the following reasons.
1. All managers perform the five
managerial functions even if with different emphasis.
2. It is applicable for all human efforts;
be it business, non-business, governmental, private. It is useful from
individual to institutional efforts.
3. Management utilizes scientifically derived operational principles.
4. All managers operate in organizations with specific objectives.
5. Management, in all organizations, helps to achieve organizational
objectives.
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In sum, management theories and principles have universal

application in all kinds of organized and purposeful activity and
at all levels of management.