Concept and Characterstics of management

Concept of Management

There is a universal rule of organized effort in the world. Any action can occur when different people contribute to achieving the desired results. Human beings are known as social animal as they live in a community or a group.

The main purpose for living together in a group was to fulfill one’s need and demand. A single person cannot make clothes for themselves, farm and fulfill all other basic needs for themselves. So when the society started to develop people split their works and specialize in a particular area. Therefore, by this, we can understand that people need to work in a group to fulfill their needs and demands.

But there exist individualism as well in the world. By this, we understand that there is a difference in the nature, attitude and perception of people. An American person has a different perception to that of a Japanese. This often causes difficulty to people to work together as a single unit moving in the same direction. Hence, management is the task of achieving the desired goals and objectives through coordination of the involved manpower and resources.

Management can be simply understood as “manage-men”. So, management is managing the human resources in the most effective and efficient way.

While some people may say that the task of managing people seems to be easy, many struggles when they are given an opportunity to manage people and resources. It is quite complex due to the unpredictable nature of human beings. If two people are put into the same situation, one might act differently than the other. This makes predicting the response difficult. So, management is a complicated and challenging activity.

Management has been defined in various ways by various writers from a different point of view. Some have defined management as a process to manage people while some argue management is a group of people who control other’s activities. Others say management is a discipline just like economics and mathematics. Some of the famous definitions are given below:

“Management is a distinct process consisting of planning, organizing, activating and controlling, performed to determine and accomplish the objectives by the use of human beings and other resources.”-George R. Terry

“Management is the art and science of decision making and leadership.”-Donald J. Clough

1. Management as a process:
   Management is taken as a process of activities performed in order to co-ordinate and control human efforts to achieve desired results. The process involves planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling, the efforts of the members to accomplish the objectives. These processes are not in sequence form but they are done simultaneously.

2. Management as a disciple:
   Management is also taken as a separate branch of knowledge as any other human knowledge. This discipline involves the principles and techniques to practice the management in any organization. Management is nowadays popular in campus and colleges as a field of high scope and is taught along with Psychology, sociology, politics etc.

3. Management as a noun:
   Management can also be taken as a separate group of people who control the activity of an organization. There is management in every organization whether it be a school or a hospital or a business company. There is a board of directors, managing director, chief executive officer, head of departmental, supervisors and so on. This hierarchy level controls the overall activities in an organization.

“Management is a multi-purpose organ that manages a business, manages a manager and manages workers and work”-P. Drucker

(sharma , surendra raj; jha, surendra kumar: pg- 4-5)

Here in the above definition, we can see that management has three key jobs.

• Managing a business
• Managing a manager
• Managing worker and work

So, even if one is omitted then there cannot be efficiency in the work and the desired output might not be achieved. Therefore, a manager should be capable enough to balance and harmonize all three main functions of management.

(Shrestha pg 13)

We have seen that management can be defined in various ways when they are viewed from different perspectives. However, the general idea of management is a process of getting things done through the manpower to attain organizational goals and objectives.

Characteristics/Features of management

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There are some important features that can be found in management. Some are:

1. Management is Goal Oriented:

The main objective of management is to attain certain pre-determined goals and objectives. Hence, an effective management is always focused on achieving the desired goals and objectives. The basic goal is to maximize the efficiency and profit for any business organization. One of the parameters of success of a business organization can be measured by analyzing its goal accomplishment. Hence, management is always goal oriented.

2. Management is a distinct process:

Management is a process of planning, organizing, leadership, motivation and controlling. The main function of management is not to do things but to get things done through others. Hence, it is a process of planned actions.

3. Management is a unified activity:

Management is the act of integrating and uniting the efforts of the human resources with the machines and materials to achieve the desired goals. Hence, we can say that management is a unified action of the human efforts, machinery, and raw materials.

4. Management as a social process:

Management is a process of getting job done through others. So it involves people. So management is a social process which involves direction, co-ordination and control of the human beings and their efforts.

5. Management as a group activity:

Management is not one man action. There needs to be a coordinated action of many parts of an organization. So a management is a group activity which works toward the same goal. A group helps an organization to achieve planned goals easily and effectively rather than an individual.

6. Management as a universal activity:

Management is an important aspect of mankind as management is essential in every organization. When there is a human activity there we need management to co-ordinate and control the efforts of people. Hence, management is required in business as well as non-business organizations.

7. Management as both science and art:

Management is a science because management has proven principles and are proven by experiments and can be verified and predicted.

Management is an art as they are dependent on the personal skills of a manager and they work on the result-oriented approach.

8. Management as a profession:

Management has a huge scope in the present world. There is a need for managers in every type of organizations. Hence, management can be taken as a profession which requires formal training and involvement in an association.

9. Management is multidisciplinary in nature:

A manager requires skills related to many other disciplines such as economics, psychology, sociology, law etc. Management has to take difficult decisions based on their knowledge on various other subjects. Hence, management is multi-disciplinary in nature.

10. Management is Dynamic:

The world is moving at a high pace as we advance in technology. Hence, there is no hard and fast rule regarding management. So management is flexible in nature and must adapt to the changing environment to get success.

11. Management is Intangible in nature:

Management is intangible as it cannot be seen but the results it generates proves its existence. The operation might not be physically visible but the results show the effectiveness of management in the organization.

(Neupane Surendra; Parajuli, Ram prasad; Jha , Deepak Kumar; Chhetri, Tuk Bahadur; Dulal, Gopal Prasad Pg-7-10)

Hence, these are some of the important characteristics of management. Management is also a continuous function of an organization which has a life span equal to the lifespan of the organization.

References

Neupane Surendra; Parajuli, Ram prasad; Jha , Deepak Kumar; Chhetri, Tuk Bahadur; Dulal, Gopal Prasad;. "Business Studies class: XII." Kathmandu: Nawakala Publications, 2011. 28-40.

sharma , surendra raj; jha, surendra kumar;. "Business Studies Grade XII." Sukunda Pustak Bhawan, 2011 A.D. 31-40.

Shrestha, Kul Narsingh. "Business Organization and Management ." Kathmandu: Nabin Prakashan, 2065 B.S. 30-46.