What is Management, Management definition, the concept of management, levels of managers

Sukanta Maiti April 27, 2020May 10, 2023 37 Comments concept of management, levels of managers, management, management definition, management skills

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What is Management Definition

Management may be defined as the art of work done through people, with the satisfaction of the employer, employees, and the public.

To do this, it is necessary to guide, direct, control human effort towards the fulfilment of the goal of the enterprise.

Concept of management :

Management is an executive act that actively directs the human effort to a common goal.
The main role of the management is to apply the knowledge and analytical approaches developed by numerous other disciplines.
Management is the follower of the administration, it gets a salary or a part of the profit in lieu of its services.
Management does not frame politics, it only implements the politics laid down by the administrator.
Planning, organizing, staffing, motivation, directing coordination, and control are all the functions of the management.
Management is considered as an art as well as a science.

What are the characteristics of management :

Management is goal-oriented. It fulfils the organizational goal through coordination of the efforts of the personal.
If labour, materials and capital are input and goods, services are output then management works as a catalyst medium.
Management represents a system of authority a hierarchy of command. Managers at different levels possess varying degrees of authority.
From management definition, we know management harmonized the goal of the worker to the goal of the organization to avoid conflicts in the organization.
The principles and techniques of management are equally applicable in the fields of business, industry, education, government, army, etc.

Importance of management:

No enterprise can survive without management, even if it possesses huge money, the best machinery, expert manpower. Because without management, it will be all confusion, nobody will know what to do.
Management guides and controls the activities of manpower for maximum utilization of the company’s resources.
Managers provide new ideas and vision to the organization to do better.
The manager provides stability to the company by changing and modifying the resources in accordance with the changing environment of the society.
Management helps personality development thereby raising efficiency and productivity.

Levels of managers or types of management

There are three levels of management-

Managerial or top-level management – Top level of management consist of Board of Director, Managing Director, C.E.O. Their main responsibility is planning and coordinating. Top-level managers are accountable to the stakeholders and the general public.
Executive or Middle-level management –General managers, branch managers, and department managers are known as middle-level managers. Their main role is the directional and managerial function of an organization. Implementation of policies and plans as per the directive of top management.
Supervisor or Operative level Management –Supervisor, foreman, and first-line managers are at this level. Their main role is to distribute jobs and responsibilities to a variety of workers. They are directly responsible for the quality and amount of products.

What are the functions of management?

As I said earlier, management is the art of getting things done by others in formally organized groups. Managers manage the organization towards certain goals, in order to achieve that managers perform certain functions, these are called the functions of management.

Many management experts have given their own explanation regarding the functions of management but the concept is the same. Considering all the views of experts on management functions, it may be said that management involves the following functions-

Planning,
Organising,
Staffing,
Directing, and
Controlling.

1. Planning:

In planning, managers decide what are the goals to be achieved, Where and How to achieve them planning helps to achieve the objectives easily and efficiently. Planning involves Forecasting before selecting the objective, making strategies and find out the best procedure to achieve them.

The planning function is mostly performed by the top-level managers but every level of managers will be involved in planning. The top-level manager spends their most of time in planning, the lower level managers follow the policies, programmes and procedures laid down by the top management.

While planning managers have to ensure the proper utilization of the resources (man, machine, material, money). This is the main goal of every organization.

2. Organising:

According to Henri Fayol, “to organise a business is to provide it with everything useful to its functioning — raw materials, tools, capital and personnel.” So, organising is the bringing together all the organizational resources and direct them systematically towards the desired goals.

Organising involves determining and grouping the activities in a systematical pattern, Assigning those activities to suitable positions and people, and give authority to those positions or people so that they can perform their activity effectively.

3. Staffing:

Every enterprise needs quality people for certain positions, especially for managerial positions. According to Management Theory by Harold Koontz and Cyril O’ Donell, “the managerial function of staffing involves manning the organisational structure through the proper and effective selection, appraisal and development of personnel to fill the roles designed into the structure.”

Staffing function involves- select people properly according to the position, proper wages, proper evaluation of candidates and provide them with proper training so that they can perform effectively.

Staffing function is a very important managerial function because it is concerned with the selection of persons who are properly qualified and mentally well-adjusted to the situations. Board of directors are staffing executive-level managers and low-level manager are generally selects by top-level managers.

4. Directing:

Directing is the art of getting things done by the people, that means to tell subordinates, what to do and seeing that they do it with the best of their ability. Directing includes making assignments, corresponding procedures, seeing that mistakes are corrected; providing on-the-job instructions and, of course, issuing orders.

According to Unvick and Brech “directing is the guidance, the inspiration, the leadership of those men and women that constitutes the real core of responsibility of management.”

The directing function involves- make proper communication with the subordinates and gives them order and instructions, guiding and inspiring them to work properly, and supervising over the subordinates to ensure that the work done by them is in conformity with pre-determined objectives.

5. Controlling:

Controlling function is the process that effectively measures current performance and guides the work towards the pre-determined objectives. The essence of control lies in checking existing actions against some desired results determined in the planning process.

It determines what is being accomplished, evaluating the performance and finds if necessary applying corrective measures so that the performance takes place according to desired plans.

The controlling function involves- Set the standard for measuring the work performance, compare the actual performance with the standards, taking correcting action if needed to ensure attainment of goals.

People management skill :

The skills required to be a successful manager are can be classified as-

Technical skills
Conceptual skills
Human relation skills

1. Technical skill –

Technical skill is necessary for a manager in handling methods, processes properly. It is essential for a manager to know which technical skill should be employed in a particular work. Technical skill is essential for lower-level management.

2. Conceptual skills –

Conceptual skills are required to recognize inter-relationship among different functions of the business and external force and to guide effectively the organizational efforts.

Conceptual skill is essential for higher-level management. Conceptual skills include Decision-making skills and Organisational skills.

Decision-making skills –

It is the ability of a person to take a timely and accurate decision, that required mental ability and presence of mind.

Organizational skills –

Organisational skills help to select the right people at the right job.

3. Human relation skills –

Human relation skills- is the ability to work with other people and reach organizational goals.

Communication skills – is the ability to transfer information to others effectively.

Motivating skills – inspire people to do what the manager wants them to do, the manager can use positive method include, rewards, praise, etc or the negative method like punishment, threat, etc.

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