Management

Introduction

Management is the process of organising and planning a company’s resources and activities. It achieves specific goals most efficiently. In management, efficiency refers to completing tasks at the lowest possible cost. Management is goal-oriented, purposeful, associated with group efforts, and indispensable. Management can be described as a human effort to support the development of meaningful outputs from a system.

According to F.W. Taylor, ‘ Management is an art of knowing what to do when to do and seeing that it is done in the best and cheapest way ‘. Planning, organising, hiring, guiding or directing, and controlling an organisation to achieve a goal are management activities. 

Principles of Management

Henry Fayol gave the principles of management. He is referred to as the “Father of Modern Management Theory.” The following are the 14 principles of management:

Division of Work: Henry determined that job division promotes worker productivity, efficiency, accuracy, and speed. This approach applies to both management and technical job levels.

Authority and Responsibility: Authority allows managers to function more effectively. But, responsibility holds them accountable for the job done under their supervision or leadership.

Discipline: Discipline is the foundation of every project or management. It is a critical management idea. 

Unity of Command: It states that an individual employee should receive orders from one boss and report to that manager. Using this idea, it is easier to establish accountability for mistakes.

Unity of Direction: Unity of Direction revolves around focus and togetherness. The focus and tasks of all employees must be related to the same goal. All actions must be completed by a single group that functions as a team. 

Subordination of Individual Interest: It states that the primary focus should be on the organisation’s goals.  This is true at all levels of the business, including management. Personal interests must be subordinated for an organisation to operate well.

Remuneration: This principle of management claims that salary should be enough to keep employees happy. When it comes to the seamless operation of a company, motivation and productivity are linked. It should be in accordance with an individual’s efforts.

The Degree of Centralization:  Centralization is the collection of decision-making authority.  According to Henri Fayol, an organisation should strive for a healthy balance.

Scalar Chain: Fayol emphasises that the hierarchical stages should be from top to bottom. So that every employee knows who their immediate supervisor is and can contact them if necessary, especially when it comes to reporting disasters to direct managers/supervisors.

Order: To create a positive work culture, a company should have a well-defined work order. Employees in a company must have the right resources at their disposal to work efficiently. Positive productivity will increase if there is a positive attitude in the workplace. 

Equity: The management idea of equity is included in an organisation’s fundamental principles. Employees must be treated with kindness and equality. Managers must manage and monitor this approach. As well as treat employees fairly and impartially.

Stability of Tenure of Personnel: If a person feels secure in their work, they will give their all. The management works hard to keep employee turnover to a minimum and have the appropriate people in the right places. Focus areas such as frequent job changes and enough growth must be managed.

Initiative: Under this management approach, employees should be permitted to voice fresh ideas. According to Henri Fayol, employee initiatives are a source of strength for the firm. Employees are more likely to be active and interested due to this.

Esprit de Corps: It speaks for striving for employee participation and solidarity. Esprit de corps promotes cultural growth and fosters an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding. 

Importance of Management

When it comes to managing work, management is essential for any company. Here are some reasons why management is necessary:

Cost-cutting: The resources you utilise in terms of investment, transportation, and labour are all set down. And estimated ahead of time, there is no need to expect a cost increase. This assists a company in maintaining optimal use of labour and machines, hence assisting in cost reduction.

Optimal resource use: Management promotes the efficient use of experts’ and professionals’ skill sets and expertise to prevent workforce waste, material, and all associated direct and indirect expenses. It ensures the resources are used to their full potential by identifying the greatest workable alternate use in industry.

Helps in achieving group goals: The resources are organised, directed, and controlled so that the business works toward achieving its objectives by defining the organisation’s goal clearly, there would be no wastage of time, money, and effort.

The 5 Primary Functions of Management

There are 5 basic functions of management:

Planning: Planning is forward-thinking and decides the course of an organisation. It is a sensible and systematic technique of making decisions today that will affect its future. It enables the ability to predict the long-term consequences of current actions. 

Organising: Organising deals with identifying the tasks that must be completed and grouping them as needed. Assigning these duties to individuals while outlining their power and responsibilities. Creating a link between authority and responsibility. These events must be coordinated.

Staffing: Staffing is the job of employing and keeping an appropriate workforce for the organisation at both management and non-managerial levels. It entails the process of recruiting, training, developing, paying, and assessing personnel as well as motivating and retaining this workforce.

Directing: The directing function revolves around leadership, communication, motivation, and monitoring so that employees do their tasks as efficiently as possible to obtain the intended results.

Controlling: It is carried out to guarantee that outcomes do not differ from the pre-planned plans. The activities include setting work performance standards and measuring performance; also, taking corrective steps as needed to fix any differences.

Conclusion

To summarise, management is an essential part of life. And, it is necessary whenever human actions are carried out to achieve desired results. Whether we are managing our lives or our businesses, the essential principles of management are at work. Fourteen management concepts are critical in performing tasks efficiently. The five primary management functions are all interconnected.