What is Management?

Management is the process of managing organizational activities in a way that enables the success rate of achieving
organizational goals most efficiently and effectively. The main objective of management is to create a working
environment where every organizational member best works and contributes their best effort to the overall
organization’s well-being.
Management is the art and science of organizing, directing, and coordinating the activities and resources of a
business to achieve its goals effectively and efficiently. It involves making informed decisions, planning for the
future, creating a harmonious work environment, and ensuring that the organization’s resources are utilized
optimally.
A successful manager guides and motivates employees sets clear objectives, and monitors progress towards those
objectives. They create a structure that supports productivity and fosters collaboration among team members.
Management is not only about overseeing tasks but also about nurturing talent, facilitating communication, and
adapting to a changing business landscape. Ultimately, management is about achieving desired outcomes by
harnessing the potential of individuals and resources within an organization.

Traditional Definitions of Management

“Management consists of getting things done through others. A manager is one who accomplishes objectives by
directing efforts of others.” – C.S. George

“Management is the art of getting things done through others.” – Follett

Modern Definitions of Management

“Management is the creation of an internal environment where individuals working in a group can perform
effectively and efficiently for the achievement of organisational goals.” – Koontz and Donnell

“Management is defined as the process of planning, organising, actuating, and controlling of an organisation’s
operations in order to achieve coordination of the human and material resources essential in the effective and
efficient attainment of objectives.”– Trewelly and Newport

“Management is the process of working with and through others to effectively achieve organisational objectives by
efficiently using limited resources in the changing environment.”– Kreitner

Characteristics/ Nature of Management

1. Continuous Process: Management is a continuous process. It means that the process of business management
goes on until the company exists, as it helps in achieving the organisational goals. Every manager of an organisation
has to perform the different functions of management in a series (planning, organising, staffing, directing, and
controlling).

2. Goal-oriented: Every organisation has a set of predetermined goals or objectives that it aims to accomplish during
its existence. Every organisation has different goals. Hence, management helps these organisations in fulfilling their
goals by utilising the given limited resources in the best optimum manner. For example, If the objective of Airtel is
to add a billion Airtel Xtreme customers in a year, then all of its managerial activities will be directed toward the
achievement of this objective.

3. All Pervasive: The process of business management is universal in nature. Every organisation, whether small
scale, large scale, economic, social, etc., uses the process of management at every level or stage. Besides, the
activities involved in the management of an organisation are common for all whether it is a social, political, or
economic enterprise.

4. Multidimensional: Management is a multidimensional process as it does not involve only one activity. The three
main activities involved in management are Management of Work, Management of People, and Management of
Operations.
5. Management of Work: Every organisation is set up to perform some work or goal, and the management aims at
achieving these goals or tasks. The work of an organisation depends upon the nature of Business; for example, work
to be fulfilled in a hospital is treating patients, in a university is educating students, etc.

6. Management of People: People are the most essential assets of an organisation and refer to human resources. It
is the duty of the management to get the work completed through human resources/people by making their strengths
effective and weaknesses irrelevant. Managing people have two dimensions; viz., Taking care of a group of people
and Taking care of employees’ individual needs.

7. Management of Operations: Operations are the activities of an organisation’s production cycle, like purchasing
inputs, converting them into semi-finished goods, and finished goods. Simply put, Management of operations
consists of a mix of Management of Work and Management of People, and decides what work has to be done, how
it has to be done, and who will do it.

8. Dynamic Function: There are different internal and external factors that affect the working of an organisation.
An organisation has to change and adapt itself on the basis of changing environment to accomplish the organisational
goals and objectives. Hence, management is a dynamic function.

9. Management is a Group Activity: Management involves a group of people performing managerial activities.
The functions of management can be executed only when every individual performs his/her role their respective
status and department. And as the result of management affects every individual and every department of an
organisation, it always refers to a group effort.

10. Management is an Intangible Force: Management is a function that cannot be physically seen but its presence
can be felt by watching the orderliness and coordination in work environment and happy faces of the employees
when the task is completed.

11. Management is both Art and Science: Management combines elements of both art and science. It requires
creativity, judgment, and intuition (art) along with systematic analysis, research, and evidence-based practices
(science) to make informed decisions and solve problems. Successful management involves a balance of theoretical
knowledge and practical application.

12. Interdisciplinary Nature: Management draws upon insights from various disciplines, including psychology,
sociology, economics, and engineering. It integrates knowledge and principles from diverse fields to address
complex organizational challenges effectively.

This interdisciplinary approach equips managers with a broad understanding of human behavior, organizational
dynamics, and market forces, enabling them to make informed decisions and lead with confidence.

13.Resource Optimization: Management involves judiciously allocating and leveraging organizational resources,
including human, financial, material, and technological assets. Through strategic planning, efficient utilization, and
effective coordination, managers aim to maximize productivity, minimize waste, and achieve desired outcomes
within resource constraints.

This emphasis on resource optimization underscores the importance of sound financial management, efficient
operations, and sustainable practices in driving organizational success.

14. Social Process: Management is deeply rooted in social interactions and relationships. It involves understanding
human behavior, motivating employees, resolving conflicts, and creating a positive work environment.

Managers need to be skilled in building relationships, fostering teamwork, and promoting a sense of belonging
within the organization.

15. Management aims toward Efficiency and Effectiveness: Management aims to achieve both efficiency (doing
things right) and effectiveness (doing the right things). It focuses on optimizing resources, minimizing waste, and
delivering desired outcomes in a timely and sustainable manner. Effective management ensures that resources are
utilized efficiently and that organizational goals are achieved effectively.

16. Principles are Relative, not absolute: Management principles are relative, not absolute and they should be
applied according to the need of the organisation. The organisational difference between organisations may exist
because of time, place, socio-cultural factors, etc. However, individuals working within the same organisation may
also differ. Thus, a particular management principle has different strengths in different conditions. Therefore,
principles of management should be applied in the light of prevailing conditions. Allowance must be made for
different changing environment.

17. Management is Decision-Making: Management process involves decision-making at various levels. This
usually includes delegation of work. Decision-making basically involves selecting the most appropriate alternative
out of the several alternatives available. If there is only one alternative, the question of decision-making does not
arise. The quality of the alternative that a manager selects determines the organisations’ performance and the future
of the entire organization rests on the degree of right decisions are made by this class of executives. Therefore, the
success or failure of managers can be judged by the quality of decisions that they make.

Importance of Management

1. Effective Utilisation of Resources: Management tries to make effective utilisation of various resources. The
resources are scarce in nature and to meet the demand of the society, their contribution should be maximum for the
general interests of the society. The management not only decides in which particular alternative a particular resource
should be used, but also takes actions to utilise it in that particular alternative in the best way.

2. Development of Resources: Management develops various resources. This is true with human as well as non-
human factors. Lawrence Appley has emphasised that, management is the development of people. However, most
of the researches for resource development are carried on in an organised way and management is involved in these
organised activities. Thus, through the development of resources, management improves the quality of lives of
people in the society.

3. To Incorporate Innovations: Today, changes are occurring at a very fast rate in both technology and social
process and structure. These changes need to be incorporated to keep the organisations alive and efficient. Business
organisations are moving from primitive to sophisticated. Therefore, they require high degree of specialisation, high
level of competence and complex technology. All these require efficient management so that organisations work in
the most efficient way.

4. Integrating Various Interest Groups: In the organised efforts, there are various interest groups and they put
pressure over other groups for maximum share in the combined output. For example, in the case of a business
organisation, there are various pressure groups such as shareholders, employees, government, etc. These interest
groups have pressure on an organisation. In a more advanced and complex society, more such pressure is on the
organisation. Management has to balance these pressures from various interest groups.

5. Stability in the Society: Management provides stability in the society by changing and modifying the resources
in accordance with the changing environment of the society. In the modern age, more emphasis is on new inventions
for the betterment of human beings. These inventions make old systems and factors mostly obsolete and inefficient.
Management provides integration between traditions and new inventions and safeguards society from the
unfavourable impact of these inventions so that continuity in social process is maintained.

6. It helps in Achieving Group Goals: It arranges the factors of production, assembles and organizes the resources,
integrates the resources in effective manner to achieve goals. It directs group efforts towards achievement of pre-
determined goals. By defining objective of organization clearly there would be no wastage of time, money and effort.
Management converts disorganized resources of men, machines, money etc. into useful enterprise. These resources
are coordinated, directed and controlled in such a manner that enterprise work towards attainment of goals.
7. Optimum Utilization of Resources: Management utilizes all the physical & human resources productively. This
leads to efficacy in management. Management provides maximum utilization of scarce resources by selecting its
best possible alternate use in industry from out of various uses. It makes use of experts, professional and these
services leads to use of their skills, knowledge, and proper utilization and avoids wastage. If employees and machines
are producing its maximum there is no under employment of any resources.

8. Reduces Costs: It gets maximum results through minimum input by proper planning and by using minimum input
& getting maximum output. Management uses physical, human and financial resources in such a manner which
results in best combination. This helps in cost reduction.

9. Management creates a Dynamic Organization: Managers need to adapt their organisations to match changes
in their environment in order to survive in a dynamic environment. Most employees in an organisation are resistant
to change. By convincing employees that change is not only beneficial to the organization, it will also improve their
performance in the competitive workforce, effective management motivates employees to adopt changes readily. It
is important for an organization to adjust its goal according to the environment.

10. Management brings Harmony in Work: If each employee starts following his own style of working, there
could be chaos and confusion within the organization. Employees come from different backgrounds and have
different attitudes toward work. When managers give directions, they bring uniformity and harmony to the
workplace. Management integrates Human, Physical and Financial Resources.

People in an organization work with non-human resources such as machines, materials, financial assets, and
buildings. Managers coordinate human efforts with those resources. That ensures harmony between the physical,
financial, and human resources in an organization.

Functions of Management

1. Planning: Planning is the foremost feature of a

management which behaves with plans for future
course of action and decides for the most correct
course of actions in getting fixed goals. According
to Koontz, planning is the advance preparation of
action to be taken related to any work. This will
link from the starting of a phase to the
implementation phase. It is a future direction to be
taken which could be worked in problem solving
exercises and decision making. It is studied that
planning shows related course of action to meet
the required goals which involves straight and
clear thinking about ways and means for doing
fixed goals. Planning serves as a correct usage
among human as well as non-human resources.

2. Organising: Organising is related to

involvement of physical, financial, human
resources as well as development of productive
relationships which appears amongst themselves
for obtaining organisational criteria‟s. Henry Fayol relates organisation as arranging a business which will give
everything required for working and functioning. Practically, organising a business needs finding and showing
human and non-human constituents for organisational arrangements. The process of Organising includes:

• Exploring activities
• Classifying activity groups
• Declaration of responsibilities
 • Delegating authority and responsibility
• Functioning with authority and coordination

3. Staffing: It involves association of manpower to support an organisation function. With the advent of new
technologies and spreading of business avenues, staffing play an important role in catering services rendered by
organisations. The idea of staffing is assign right job for right people. Kootz and O‟Donell explained staffing as
manpower involvement in an organisation as per desired selection Staffing involves:

• Recruitments after planning

• Processes related to recruitment, selection along with placement
• Activities related to Training and development
• Basic remuneration to be offered
• Appraisals
• Promotions and transfers

4. Directing: This is the sector of managerial function which allows organisational methods to work correctly and
efficiently in obtaining organisational challenges. This is an inter-personnel concern of a management that
influences, guide, supervise and motivate sub-ordinates for obtaining organisational parameters. Direction has the
following elements:
• Supervision: Inspecting the work of sub-ordinates with the help of superiors.
• Motivation: This involves the work of a superior to inspire, stimulate and encourage with passion to work.
• Leadership: It is the capability which shows the guidance given by mangers to his subordinate to work in
certain direction.
• Communications: This involves sharing, communicating and passing of related information from one
person to another. This serves as a bridge of understanding.

5. Controlling: It implies measurement of approach against particular standards with alterations in deflection, if
any, will make sure the approach of organisational objectives. The idea behind controlling is to make sure that all
will come in conformity with particular standards. A good effective mechanism will handle to think about deflection
earlier at times when it actually occurs. Controlling, as per Theo Haimann is basically a mechanism of analysing
progress that happens towards particular aims and objectives if required to correct any deflection. Koontz and
O’Donell explained controlling as mechanism that involves correction of activities of subordinates to ensure about
enterprise objectives with related plans to get them arrived. Therefore, controlling has the following steps:

• Establishing constant measures

• Measure real performance
• Comparing performances with standards and locating deviations
• Corrective action

Management as a Process

According to George R. Terry, “Management is a distinct process consisting of planning organising, actuating and
controlling, performed to determine and accomplish stated objective by the use of human beings and other
resources.” As a process, management consists of three aspects:

1. Management is a social process: Since the human factor is most important among the other factors, management
is concerned with developing relationships among people. It is the duty of the management to make interaction
between people productive and useful for obtaining organisational goals.

2. Management is an integrating process: Management undertakes the job of bringing together human physical
and financial resources so as to achieve the end-organisational purpose. Therefore, it is an important function to
bring harmony between various factors.
3. Management is a continuous process: As a never ending process, Management is concerned with constantly
identifying the problems and solving them by taking adequate steps. It is an on-going process.

What is Management as a Science?

Management can be considered a science because it adheres to the fundamental features of science. It is a systematic
field of knowledge that involves theories, concepts, and principles developed through observation and
experimentation. While management deals with the complexities of human behavior, which adds an element of
uncertainty, it still follows scientific methods to understand and analyze organizational phenomena.

Although the principles of management may not be as concrete and universal as those in other sciences, they can be
applied in various situations and serve as the foundation for effective management practices. By applying scientific
principles and methods, managers can make informed decisions and establish cause-and-effect relationships to drive
organizational success.

Management as an Art
Art is the experienced and personal utilisation of subsisting information to accomplish solicited outcomes. It can be
procured via education, research and practice. As art is involved with the personal utilisation of data some kind of
inventiveness and creativity is needed to follow the fundamental systems acquired. The essential characteristics of
art are as follows:

• The presence of theoretical knowledge: Art assumes the presence of specific academic knowledge.
Specialists in their particular fields have obtained specific elementary postulates which are appropriate to a
specific sort of art. For instance, the literature on public speaking, acting or music, dancing is publicly
acknowledged.

• Personalised application: The application of this primary information differs from person to person. Art,
hence, is a highly personalised notion.

• Based on custom and creativity: Art is practical. Art includes the creative practice of subsisting intellectual
knowledge. We know that music is based on 7 notes. However, what makes the style of a musician different
or distinctive is his performance of these notes in an artistic way that is uniquely his own solution.

• Perfection through practice: Practice makes a man perfect. Every artist becomes more and more
proficient through constant practice. Similarly, managers learn through an art of trial and error initially but
application of management principles over the years makes them perfect in the job of managing.

• Goal-Oriented: Every art is result oriented as it seeks to achieve concrete results. In the same manner,
management is also directed towards accomplishment of pre-determined goals. Managers use various
resources like men, money, material, machinery & methods to promote growth of an organization.