Management Process

Management, is the process of planning, organizing, leading and controlling the effort of
organizational resources to achieve set goals.

Process is a systematic way of doing things and management is a process because all managers
regardless of their particular attitudes or skills, engage in certain interrelated activities in order to
achieve their goals.

In This Chapter
 Definition of management
 Functions of management
 Vision
 Mission
 Goals and Objective
 Policy
 The three levels of management
 Types of managers

Introduction
The building of the great walls of china, the Egyptian Pyramids, the famous irrigation in Egypt
and Mesopotamia, and the tower of Babel and others are obvious manifestations of the existence
of management before the last 90 years. However the theory and practice of management started
in the last 90 years. This was due to the recognition that material world required to be properly
organized and managed.

Conscious efforts towards management as a discipline started only about 90 years ago following
the advent of industrial revolution in Europe and America. Industrial revolution provided a
platform in which for the first time people were brought together from diverse ground to work
under the same umbrella. This in turn necessitated a need for management of human and
materials resources.

Organizations are collections of people who work together and coordinate their actions to
achieve organizational goals. A goal is a defined future outcome that an organization strives to
achieve resources are assets such as people, machinery, raw materials, managers are people
responsible supervising the use of organizational resources to achieve its goal. Management is
the planning, organizing, leading and controlling of resources to achieve organizational goals
effectively and efficiently. The job of management is to help an organization make the best use
of its resources to achieve organizational goals.

This chapter examines what management is all about. The chapter also throws light on what it
takes to be a successful manager, what managers do, and the differences among managers. These
topics apply to both past and present.

Objectives
At the end of this chapter you should be able to:
a. Define management
b. Describe the functions of management
c. Explain what policy is
d. Identify and explain the three levels of management and the types of managers

Content
Definition of Management
The word “management” is used pervasively by many people that the meaning appears to be
mutilated. It is not uncommon to find that everyone in the street claims to be a manager.

Essentially, management is achieving desired results through people. It is an activity or

behaviour directed to a specified purpose. Thus the task of management is to secure and utilize
planning, organizing, directing and coordinating.

Management may also be defined as an activity which performs certain functions in order to
obtain the effective acquisition, allocation and utilization of human efforts, as well as physical
resources in order to accomplish some goals. Also management can be the act of getting thing
done through people.

Management is a decision making process. Management is the process of utilizing the resources
of the organization to accomplish designated objectives. Thus, management is the achievement
of organization objectives through people machines materials and money.

More elaborately, management is the process of planning, organizing, staffing, leading and
controlling the work of organization members and using all other organizational resources to
achieve stated organizational goals in an efficient and effective manner. However, it is important
to note that management has many definitions and charges with changes as the environment of
organizations change.

Management is defined in terms of the type of work that managers do. In general, the organized
pursuit of an objective by individuals or groups of persons is “managed” activity. In this sense,
management is the direction of human behaviour towards a particular goal or objective.

Business management than takes into account, the activity which determines the goals or
objectives of business, designs the means by which the goals can be reached, and executes the
programs which actually fulfill the objectives.

Who is a Manager?
Managers are those people who get things done through other people and make decisions among
others.

The term manager can be classified into two:

a. By the management level in the organization or
b. By the range of organizational activities for which they are responsible

The roles of managers

a) Goals setting: once the business is defined, managers must establish a set of primary
goals to which the organization is committed. Developing these goals gives the
organization a sense of direction or purpose. In most organization, articulating major
goals is the job of the CEO, although other managers have input into the process.
Establishing a goal is one of the phase of the planning process. Managers should avoid
situation whereby their own priorities are place first before organizational goals.
b) Planning: planning can be defined as the process of setting goals (target) for the
organization and developing strategies or approaches to accomplish them. Without plans
managers cannot know how to organize people and resources and they cannot lead with
confidence, planning is generally in two forms. It can be at the corporate level or lower
levels and it may be of long term or short term. Strategic planning is concerned with long
term planning while operational planning is concerned with short-term planning.
Essentials of planning include: forecasting, setting objectives and priorities, the planning
horizon, devoting strategies, establishing programmes, preparing, budgets, setting
procedure and deciding on policies
c) Organising: Organizing is a process that managers use to establish a structure of
working relationships that allow organizational members to work together to achieve
organizational goals. Organising involves grouping people into departments, laying out
the lines of authority and responsibility between different individuals and groups, and
decide how best to coordinate organizational resources, particularly human resources.
d) Staffing: Staffing is the procedure of supplying the organization with the right people in
the right positions at the right time. It includes recruitments, hiring the best qualified
people, compensating and promoting them, appraising their performance and then
developing their skills so that they can do their jobs efficiently and effectively.
e) Leading/Directing: in leading managers articulate a clear vision for organizational
members to follow, and they energize and enable organizational members so that they
understand the part the plan in achieving organizational goals. Leadership depends on the
use of power, influence, vision, persuasion and communication skills to coordinate the
behaviours of individuals and groups so that their activities and efforts are in harmony
and encourage employees to perform commitment among organizational
members.Directing is supervising and guiding the employees so that plans are completed
and goals are met. Leading involves the ability of the leaders to use different form of
power to influence of followers subordinates behaviour in a number of ways to perform
essential taks.
f) Controlling: controlling this is the process of measuring and correcting the activities of
subordinates to ensure that plans are completed and goals are achieved. Control is
implemented by comprising actual results to planned results and correcting any
significant differences. Different types of control include: inventory control, quality
control, credit control.
g) Motivation: managers have to motivate subordinates to get good results from them,
although carry for them, building self-confidence in them, delegating work and authority
 to them; career development, rewarding them through promotion, salary increment,
bonuses, praise and equally those who do not meet up with expectation by withholding
rewards and by terminations. The following should be avoid as they can lead to hostility
antagonism; don’t criticize your subordinates in front of others, never allow your
subordinates to think you are only advancing your own interests – don’t play favoritism,
don’t be insentive to your subordinate problems, don’t educate them with your personal
view and keep your relationship with them professional (Cohen 1984).
h) Innovation: According to Drucker managing a business or an organization cannot be
administrative or policy making only. It is a creative rather than an adaptive task.
Innovation involves developing new and better ways of doing things and a real leader or
manager is always an innovator.
i) Communication: the leader establishes effective communication networks in the
organization in order to ensure that the objectives are understood and plans are digested.
Information should flow freely upwards laterally and downwards. In effective
communication can collapse an organization. When a leader is poor in communication
there is bound to be costs on the organization as a result of repeated operations. A leader
must take seriously importance of feedback from his subordinates.
j) Representation: The leader’s job includes practicing good public relations techniques
and representing his organization in dealing with a number of out side group i.e. the
stakeholders, government, employees, suppliers, customers, directors/managers and the
public.
k) Conflict resolution: Involves the leader resolving conflicts within the organization
through analytical thinking either conflict between her and her subordinates or among the
subordinates.
l) Team building : Effective managers also encourage team building by setting up project
teams, committee etc. to accomplish organizational goals in an efficient and effective
manner.
m) Reporting: Important management function the progress made on the achievement of the
organizational goals should be constantly reported to the local government’s council top
executives and the board of directors of the organization.
n) Budging: A budget is a comprehensive and coordinated plan, expressed in financial
terms for the operations and resources of a government or an organization for some
specific period in the future.
o) Delegation: Major function of a leader is to delegate the work for which he is responsible
to his subordinates and to monitor and advice them on the progress made. The degree to
which a leader is able to delegate work is a measure of his/her success.
p) Time management: this is crucial skill for a leader. Time is one of the resources of any
organization.

The Functions of Management

The functions of management include:
 Planning
 Organizing
 Staffing
 Directing
 Co-ordination

a. Planning
Planning involves a known objective, and proposing a course of action that will achieve
the objective. In a business, the planner has to be exposed to several courses of actions.
He will then select the best course of action which seems most likely to bring success.
Since planning involves prediction, and many factors that influence business are outside
the control of individual firms, there is always an element of risk in planning. For
example a business plan has to assure stability and at the same time make prediction
concerning major inputs such as raw materials and labour. Sound planning can reduce
risk considerably, but cannot eliminate it altogether.

b. Organizing
Organizing for business means simply the arrangement of men, jobs, materials, and
machines into the best possible relationships for the attainment of business goals. It
involves the selection of materials, the assignment of specific tasks to a specific
individual and machines and the delegation of right among of authority to those who will
be responsible for the operation of the organization.

In organizing, there should be a pattern establishing a chain of command and an orderly

allocation of responsibility. Without this, chaos will follow. Since business is a dynamic
process, a business organization must be constantly reviewed. The basic challenges of
management are the simplification of organizational structure and the attainment of a
higher level of coordination and efficiency among the various parts of the organization.

c. Staffing
Staffing involves recruitment, selection, and placement of employees. It also concerns
training of workers, adequate supervision of their activities and the maintenance of sound
human relations.

Management initially determines the number and type of personnel required to carryout
company plans. Since business is made up of people, the success of business depends on
the quality of people operating it. Other functions under staffing include, compensation,
maintenance, and separation.
i. Compensation: Is the adequate and equitable reward of personnel for their
contributions.
ii. Maintenance: of willingness is greatly affected by management interaction with
employees. The physical condition of the employees should be maintained. His
physical condition can be harmed through disease, stress and strain as well as
through accident. It is important for management to be concerned with the general
 health, both physical and mental, of its employees for economic and humanitarian
reasons.
iii. Separation: Since the first activity in staffing is to secure the employee, it is logical
that the last should be the separation and return of that person to society.
Management is responsible for meeting certain requirements of due process in
separation as well as assuring that the returned citizen is in as good shape as
possible.

d. Directing
Management also has the function of providing direction for all subordinate levels of
workers, and for accepting responsibility for the work they perform. Effective
supervision enhances effective and efficient operation. Workers look up to management
for direction. In the absence of direction from management, workers will turn in other
directions for instructions- the union, fellow worker, or their own personal preferences-
possibly introducing informal objectives which might be at odds with those set down by
the management.

e. Coordination
Keith and Gubellini (1978) define coordination as the brining together of a number of
separate elements to form an organized and coherent unit”.

Hart (1970) defines it as “the process of maintaining harmony and compatibility among
the objective and plans of the various segments of an organization”. Coordination is
essential at every level of organization as well as within the entire organization.

Persons, production, machines and units within the organization have to be brought
together for the purpose of achieving laid down goals. Successful coordination demands
good channels of communication from one level of management to another. From this
communication, the various departments and units within the organization will have
considerable knowledge about the objective and problem of the others. Most firms
achieve this communication through weekly meetings that involve all managers and
supervisors from all units.

A good example of lack of coordination is a case where waiters in the dinning hall of a
restaurant are busy getting ready to go home. Here there is no coordination between the
dinning hall and the kitchen. Like planning, coordination is a continuing process. The
flow of information among levels and units of a company must be maintained if
coordination is to be maintained. (Hart, 1970)

f. Controlling:
This function is concerned with seeing that operations within the firm are going on
according to plan. In other words, it is a means of making sure that the actual
performance does not deviate from the plan or standard. Control essentially involves the
following tasks:
 Setting standards for performance
 Assessing the actual performance with the standards
 Finding reason for deviation if any
 Taking corrective measures (if there was deviation).