What are the few functions you can think of when you think of business? Management will undoubtedly pop up in your mind. The role of management is a significant one on any given day. Management drives the organization to a path of proper operation and progress. In this article, we will be discussing the nature of management.
What is management?
Management is the process of controlling and coordinating the operations, planning, and implementation keeping the goal of the organization in focus. The five basic functions of management are planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. Under the umbrella of management, efficient planning of all the resources like financial, infrastructural, information, and human resources of an organization is included.
Planning includes the formulation of strategies, plans, programs, and policies. Every organization has a desired set of goals. The planning depends on the goal and the best use of available resources. Planning also includes the formation of the hierarchy and the design of workflow.
Organizing involves allocating the right resources, both human and non-human, to the required position. Proper organization of the resources builds an interconnected network among the elements of an organization. Staffing is the process by which management takes care of human resources. If said specifically, human resource management is yet another section of management that deals with these issues.
A manager is a leader. the management team has to actively lead the whole organization in their suggested strategy. They motivate and guide the people of the organization to work accordingly. Providing clear directions and elaborating on them is a regular function of management.
Management has the responsibility of controlling the ongoing and upcoming activities in the organization. Having coordination and communication is a must. Carefully examining the activities and regulating them on a regular basis is the task of management.
How to explain the nature of management?
The nature of management deals with the characteristics of management and their applicability of those. The nature of management is universal, multi-disciplinary, intangible, both an art and science, a continuous process, etc. Here are elaborated forms of a few of these characteristics,
Management is an art and science simultaneously
Management includes systematic knowledge and theories based on evaluation and experimentation. The theories and principles used here derive from data analysis. It can be defined as a form of social science. Management tends to explain human behavior and social impact based on the particular theories already available, or in some cases, the theories are corrected and evolved.
Since management deals with humans, it cannot function rigidly. Rather there has to be creativity and coordination according to requirements. The vast range of applications makes it nothing less than an art. So, management is a symbiosis of science and art.
Management is universal.
The applicability of management is universal. No matter what the field is, the knowledge and essence of management are applicable in the same manner. The requirement is common in any sort of social or scientific structure. From business to education, management prevails as a versatile set of activities. The theories and principles of basic management can be applied to any situation. However, which theory is to be used in which situation, depends on the expertise of the manager. A manager is to rearrange the learnings of management according to the need of that certain situation.
Management is multidisciplinary.
The reason for management being universal is that it has derived from multiple disciplines. Management includes knowledge of disciplines like statistics, economics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, research, history, etc. The direct connection to all these fields enables management to work as such a multifarious tool in any state of need.
Management is intangible.
Management is an idea, it is abstract. Unlike other functionalities of business, the existence of this cannot be seen. The presence and success of this are presented in the results. The results could be productivity-related, efficiency-related, human resource-based, etc. So this basically means, management is not a process that can be seen, rather the prevalence of the tasks of management is felt. The organization and the employee can understand the effectiveness of the management process they are functioning.
Management is goal-oriented.
The aim of management is to make sure the organization reaches its goal. So in all the functions of management, the main focus is the goal. The organizational goal and the extent that has been achieved shows how efficient the management of the organization is. The objective of management is to be purposeful. Management is meaningless if the organization and the employees don’t express a sense of progress and productivity towards the predetermined goal of the business.
Management is the coordination of activities.
The accomplishments of management only add value when the activities and plants implemented are coordinated. It acts as an integral force within the organization. It pays attention to individual needs and skills, analyses compatibility, and makes sure that the right skills are coordinated in the right teams. Not only human resource management, but it also has to maintain coordination between infrastructural, financial, and technical resources.
One of the main targets of management is to get the job done by people. Management has to make sure that interpersonal communications and coordination are clear and effective. Leading and controlling a group of people concerns management with the proper understanding of human social behavior. Management has to create a proper work environment to maintain the right level of motivation and productivity.
Management is a continuous process.
The work of management doesn’t stop at any point. It operates as a cycle. Even after achieving a goal, management has to formulate how the organization is going to appraise the goal and move forward. As the process of management is functioning, it is continuously innovated and redesigned for the well-being of the organization.
Management is a process that integrates concepts and practicality into a single notion. The excellence of management is shown in the efficient strategic decision-making and achievement of goals with the least possible resources. The management works as a beacon of leadership as well as the medium of interconnection. An organization needs to have a strong base of management for all the procedures to result in sustainable success.
