Management Defined

Management has been defined by various authors/authorities in various ways. Following

are few often-quoted definitions:

Management guru, Peter Drucker, says the basic task of management includes
both marketing and innovation. According to him, “Management is a multipurpose organ
that manages a business and manages managers, and manages workers and work.”
Harold Koontz defined management as “the art of getting things done through and with
people in formally organized groups.”

All these definitions place an emphasis on the attainment of organizational

goals/objectives through deployment of the management process (planning, organizing,
directing, etc.) for the best use of organization’s resources. Management makes human
effort more fruitful thus effecting enhancements and development.

Formally defined, the principles of management are the activities that “plan, organize, and
control the operations of the basic elements of [people], materials, machines, methods,
money and markets, providing direction and coordination, and giving leadership to human
efforts, so as to achieve the sought objectives of the enterprise.”

Management is the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling an

organization’s human, financial, physical, and information resources to achieve
organizational goals in an efficient and effective manner.

Is Management an Art or a Science?

Management as an Art

The personal ingenious and imaginative power of the manager lends management the
approach of an art. This creative power of the manager enriches his performance skill. In fact,
the art of managing involves the conception of a vision of an orderly whole, created from chaotic
parts and the communication and achievement of this vision. Managing can be called "art of
arts" because it organizes and uses human talent, which is the basis of every artistic activity.

Management as a Science

Management is a body of systematized knowledge accumulated and established with reference

to the practice and understanding of general truth concerning management. It is true that the
science underlying managing is not as accurate or comprehensive as physical sciences (such
as chemistry or biology) which deal with non-human entities.

The involvement of the human angle makes management not only complex but also
controversial as pure science. Nevertheless, the study of the scientific elements in management
methodologies can certainly improve the practice of management.

Management as a Science and Art

Science urges us to observe and experiment a phenomenon, while art teaches us the
application of human skill and imagination to the same. In order to be successful, every
manager needs do things effectively and efficiently. This requires a unique combination of both
science and art. We can say that the art of managing begins where the science of managing
stops. As the science of managing is imperfect, the manager must turn to artistic managerial
ability to perform a job satisfactorily.

Every organization has ‘Managers’ who are entrusted with the responsibility of guiding and
directing the organization to achieve its goals.

Managers administer and coordinate resources effectively and efficiently to channelize their
energy towards successful accomplishments of the goals of the organization. Managers are
acquired in all the activities of organizations. Their expertise is vital across departments
throughout the organization.

Role of Managers
Managers are the primary force in an organization's growth and expansion. Larger
organizations are particularly complex due to their size, process, people and nature of business.
However, organizations need to be a cohesive whole encompassing every employee and their
talent, directing them towards achieving the set business goals. This is an extremely challenging
endeavor, and requires highly effective managers having evolved people management and
communication skills.

The Top Management

The top level executives direct the organization to achieve its objectives and are instrumental in
creating the vision and mission of the organization. They are the strategic think-tank of the
organization.

Senior Management

The General Manager is responsible for all aspects of a company. He is accountable for
managing the P&L (Profit & Loss) statement of the company. General managers usually report
to the company board or top executives and take directions from them to direct the business.

The Functional Manager is responsible for a single organizational unit or department within a
company or organization. He in turn is assisted by a Supervisor or groups of managers within
his unit/department. He is responsible for the department’s profitability and success.
Line and Staff Managers

Line Managers are directly responsible for managing a single employee or a group of
employees. They are also directly accountable for the service or product line of the company.

For example, a line manager at Toyota is responsible for the manufacturing, stocking,
marketing, and profitability of the Corolla product line.

Staff Managers often oversee other employees or subordinates in an organization and generally
head revenue consuming or support departments to provide the line managers with information
and advice.

Project Managers

Every organization has multiple projects running simultaneously through its life cycle. A project
manager is primarily accountable for leading a project from its inception to completion. He plans
and organizes the resources required to complete the project. He will also define the project
goals and objectives and decide how and at what intervals the project deliverables will be
completed.

The Changing Roles of Management and Managers

Mintzberg’s Set of Ten Roles

Professor Henry Mintzberg, a great management researcher, after studying managers for
several weeks concluded that, to meet the many demands of performing their functions,
managers assume multiple roles.

He propounded that the role is an organized set of behaviors. He identified the following ten
roles common to the work of all managers. These roles have been split into three groups as
illustrated in the following figure.

Managerial Skills
Henri Fayol, a famous management theorist also called as the Father of Modern Management,
identified three basic managerial skills - technical skill, human skill and conceptual skill.

Technical Skill

Knowledge and skills used to perform specific tasks. Accountants, engineers,surgeons

all have their specialized technical skills necessary for their respective professions.
Managers, especially at the lower and middle levels, need technical skills for effective
task performance.

Technical skills are important especially for first line managers, who spend much of their
time training subordinates and supervising their work-related problems.
Human Skill

Ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people as individuals or ingroups.
According to Management theorist Mintzberg, the top (and middle) managers spend
their time: 59 percent in meetings, 6 percent on the phone, and 3 percent on tours.

Ability to work with others and get co-operation from people in the work group. For
example, knowing what to do and being able to communicate ideas and beliefs to others
and understanding what thoughts others are trying to convey to the manager.

Conceptual Skill

Ability to visualize the enterprise as a whole, to envision all the functions involved in a
given situation or circumstance, to understand how its parts depend on one another, and
anticipate how a change in any of its parts will affect the whole.
Creativity, broad knowledge and ability to conceive abstract ideas. For example, the
managing director of a telecom company visualizes the importance of better service for
its clients which ultimately helps attract a vast number of clients and an unexpected
increase in its subscriber base and profits.

Other Managerial Skills

Besides the skills discussed above, there are two other skills that a manager should possess,
namely diagnostic skill and analytical skill.

A Timeline of Management and Leadership

1880 - Scientific Management

Frederick Taylor decides to time each and every worker at the Midvale Steel Company. His view of the future
becomes highly accurate:

"In the past man was first. In the future the system will be first." - Frederick Taylor

In scientific management the managers were elevated while the workers' roles were negated.

"Science, not rule of thumb, - Frederick Taylor

The decisions of supervisors, based upon experience and intuition, were no longer important. Employees were not
allowed to have ideas of responsibility. Yet the question remains — is this promotion of managers to center-stage
justified?
1929 - Taylorism

The Taylor Society publishes a revised and updated practitioner's manual: Scientific Management in American
Industry.

1932 - The Hawthorne Studies

Elton Mayo becomes the first to question the behavioral assumptions of scientific management. The studies
concluded that human factors were often more important than physical conditions in motivating employees to greater
productivity.

1946 - Organization Development

Social scientist Kurt Lewin launches the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. His contributions in change theory, action research, and action learning earn him the title of the “Father
of Organization Development:” the systematic application of behavioral science knowledge at various levels (group,
intergroup, and total organization) to bring about planned change.

Lewin is best known for his work in the field of organization development and the study of group dynamics. His
research discovered that learning is best facilitated when there is a conflict between immediate concrete experience
and detached analysis within the individual. Also see Organizational Behavior.

1949 - Sociotechnical Systems Theory

A group of researchers from London's Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, led by Eric Trist, studied a South
Yorkshire coal mine in 1949. Their research leads in the development of the Sociotechnical Systems Theory which
considers both the social and the technical aspects when designing jobs. It marks a 180-degree departure from
Frederick Taylor's scientific management. There are four basic components to sociotechnical theory:

o environment subsystem
o social subsystem
o technical subsystem
o organizational design.

1954 - Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory is published in his book Motivation and Personality. This provides a framework for
gaining employees' commitment.
1954 - Leadership/Management

Drucker writes The Practice of Management and introduces the 5 basic roles of managers. He writes:

The first question in discussing organization structure must be: What is our business and what should it be?
Organization structure must be designed so as to make possible the attainment of objectives of the business for five,
ten, fifteen years hence."

1959 - Hygiene and Motivational Factors

Frederick Herzberg developed a list of factors which are closely based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, except it
more closely related to work. Hygiene factors must be present in the job before motivators can be used to stimulate
the workers.

1960 - Theory X and Theory Y

Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y principles influence the design and implementation of personnel policies
and practices.

Late 1960s - Action Learning

An Unheralded British academic was invited to try out his theories in Belgium — Action Learning — it leads to an
upturn in Belgian's economy.

Unless your ideas are ridiculed by experts they are worth nothing. - the British academic Reg Revens, creator of
action learning:

L = P + Q ([L] Learning occurs through a combination of programmed knowledge [P] and

the ability to ask insightful questions [Q])

Note that Revens work has had little impact on this side of the ocean, although it remains one of the best ways to
learn and to bring about productive change in the organization.
1964 - Management Grid

Robert Blake and Jane Mouton develop a management model that conceptualizes management styles and relations.
Their Grid uses two axis. "Concern for people" is plotted using the vertical axis and "Concern for task" is along the
horizontal axis. The notion that just two dimensions can describe a managerial behavior has the attraction of
simplicity.

1978 - Performance Technology

Tom Gilbert publishes Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance. It describes the behavioral-
engineering model which become the bible of performance technology. Gilbert wrote that accomplishment
specification is the only logical way to define performance requirements. Accomplishments are the best starting
points for developing performance standards. In addition, accomplishments are the best tools for the development of
performance-based job descriptions as they allow management to describe the measurement that is important to the
organization, specific to the position, and observable.

1978 - Excellence

McKinsey's John Larson asks his colleague, Tom Peters, to step in at the last minute and make a presentation that
leads to In Search of Excellence. Thus Tom Peters spawns the birth of the “Management Guru Business.”

1990 - Learning Organization

Peter Senge popularized the Learning Organization in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning
Organization. He describes the organization as an organism with the capacity to enhance its capabilities and shape
its own future. A learning organization is any organization (e.g. school, business, government agency) that
understands itself as a complex, organic system that has a vision and purpose. It uses feedback systems and
alignment mechanisms to achieve its goals. It values teams and leadership throughout the ranks. He called for five
disciplines:

o System Thinking
o Personal Mastery
o Mental Models
o Shared Vision
o Team Learning

1995 - Ethics

On December 11, 1995 a fire burned most of Malden Mills to the ground and put 3,000 people out of work. Most of
the 3,000 thought they were out of work permanently. CEO Aaron Feuerstein says, “This is not the end” — he spent
millions keeping all 3,000 employees on the payroll with full benefits for 3 months until he could get another factory up
and running. Why? He answers, “The fundamental difference is that I consider our workers an asset, not an
expense.” Related concept — Ethos and Leadership.
Business Process Management (BPM) - 2000

This is actually a slow advance in process management that has the following roots:

o Record Management
o Workflow - 1970
o Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) - 1990
o Business Process Management (BPM) – 2000