M & E UNIT 1
Unit 1 Introduction of Management
Question- 1 Answers the following
1. Define Management. Explain concept of management.
A. It is define as “ Management is a art getting work done through other.
Management is conserved with utilization of resources of business organization.”
In other words “Management is the crucial factor in economic and social development. It was obvious that the economist’s traditional view of development of as a function of saving and capital investment was not adequate.”
Concept of management:
´ The term management is used in three alternative ways:
• Management as a discipline,
• Management as a group of people, and
• Management as a process.
• 1.Field of Study (Discipline) -Management principles, techniques, functions, etc-Profession
• 2.Team or Class of people-Individual who performs managerial activities or may be a group of persons
• 3.Process-Managerial activities -planning, organizing, staffing, directing, controlling.
2. Which points should be discussed while discussing management as art?
A. •Practical know how
•Technical skills
•Concrete results
•Creativity
•Personalized nature
For more detail
Refer question no. 3
3. Is management –science or art or both?-Justify it .
A. MANAGEMENT: AN ARTOR A SCIENCE
A controversy has raged for many years over the concept of management. Is it an art, which depends upon skill or is it a science which depends upon analysis. According to J. Paul Getty, “Management cannot be systematized, or practiced according to a formula. It is an art, even a creative art. Others disagree. It is said that, “The management is the oldest of arts and the youngest of sciences.”
(a) Management as an art:
It has been propounded that just like leaders, the managers are also born and not made. It is an inherent trait and it cannot be learned through formal training or knowledge of certain techniques. It is similar to being a painter or a poet. You cannot be trained to become a poet. There have been a number of cases in which some people have become successful managers and entrepreneurs without having been specifically educated for this profession. They have depended upon intuition and experience rather than any formal preparatory education.
According to Jucius and Schlender, management was considered a pure art in the United States in the last century.
A manager was born or was made so in the hot crucible of ex patience. He thus relied upon intuitive guidance when faced with a decision. So in a sense, he learned nothing from the previous generations and could pass nothing on to succeeding generations as far as management skills were concerned.
The contention of management being an art was rejected by scientific management pioneers like Fredrick W. Taylor, Henry Gantt, Henry Fayol, Frank and Lilian Gilbreths who believed that the management process could be translated into a set of methodologies and techniques which could be learned and communicated. However, the management may be a combination of both art and science elements. The science and the art of it may not be mutually exclusive. In the opinion of a Russian management expert. D. Gvishiani “the managerial activity will always remain a creative field, a field of art. even though it is becoming more and more scientific."
(b) Management as a science.
Science is a systematic knowledge which explains the cause and effect phenomenon with underlying principles which have universal application. In this regard, management has developed certain principles, laws and generalizations which are universal in nature and can be applied under similar circumstances of business environment. According to Luther Guclicku.
Management is already a field of knowledge, and is becoming a science, because the inter-relationships being involved are being explained systematically and the emerging theories are being tested and improved by logic and the facts of life.
Both scientific management, which is the scientific study of management principles and management science which is based upon sophisticated quantitative decision making models has common approach, that subjectivity and intuition should be replaced by objectivity and scientific methodology and rule-of-thumb, hunches, guess-work, and trial-and-error approach be replaced with exact knowledge and deductive decisions.
Can the management, however, be an exact science where the same set of rules apply under similar situations? Do similar causes result in similar effects in the area of management? Hardly so. Management cannot be an exact science because it deals with human beings and because their Psychological make-up are highly complex and unpredictable. Additionally the business environment is highly dynamic and ever-changing. Accordingly, the same rules may not always apply because the situations are never similar.
Management may not be an exact science, but the application of scientific methods to management problems have proved to be effective. Objectives are defined, hypothesis formulated necessary data collected, analyzed and interpreted, conclusions tested, solutions arrived at and implemented. Mathematical techniques have been successfully applied in Problems involving inventories, service facilities, assignment of jobs to machines for optimal results, optimal allocation of scarce and limited resources to different projects etc. More Important than the scientific methodology is the scientific mind and scientific attitude of the manager. The scientific mind is always accepting challenges, is always investigating and reaching objective conclusions. The scientific attitude is selective, objective, and discriminating and it implies creativity.
4. Explain functions of management.A. MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS
There are basically five primary functions of management. These are :
1. Planning
2. Organizing
3. Staffing
4. Directing
5. Controlling
1. Planning:
Planning is future oriented and determines an organization's direction. It is a rational and systematic way of making decisions today that will affect the future of the company. It is a kind of organized foresight as well as corrective hindsight. It involves the predicting of the future as well as attempting to control the events. It involves the ability to foresee the effects of current actions in the long run in the future. Peter Drucker has defined planning as follows :
Planning is the continuous process of making present entrepreneurial decisions systematically and with best possible knowledge of their futurity, organizing systematically the efforts needed to carry out these decisions and measuring the results of these decisions against the expectations through organized and systematic feedback.
An effective planning programme incorporates the effect of both external as well as internal factors. The external factors are shortages 0f resources, both capital and material, general economic trend as far as interest rates and inflation are concerned, dynamic technological advancements, increased governmental regulation regarding community interests, unstable international political environments etc.
The internal factors that affect planning are limited growth Opportunities due to saturation requiring diversification, changing patterns of work force, more complex organizational structures, decentralization etc.
2. Organizing:
Organizing requires a formal structure of authority and the direction and flow of such authority through which work sub-divisions are defined, arranged and co-ordinated so that each part relates to each other part in a united and coherent manner so as to attain the prescribed objectives. Thus the function of organizing involves the determination of activities that need to be done in order to reach the company goals, assigning these activities to the proper personnel, and delegating the necessary authority to carry out these activities in a coordinated and cohesive manner.
It follows, therefore, that the function of organizing is concerned with :
(a) Identifying the tasks that must be performed and grouping them whenever necessary.
(b) Assigning these tasks to the personnel while defining their authority and responsibility.
(c) Delegating this authority to these employees.
(d) Establishing a relationship between authority and responsibility.
(e) Co-ordinating these activities.
3. Staffing:
Staffing is the function of hiring and retaining a suitable work-force for the enterprise both at managerial as well as non-managerial levels. It involves the process of recruiting, training, developing, compensating and evaluating employees, and maintaining this work-force with proper incentives and motivations.
Since the human element is the most vital factor in the process of management, it is important to recruit the right personnel. This function is even more critically important since people differ in their intelligence, knowledge, skills, experience, physical condition, age and attitudes, and this complicates the function. Hence, management must understand, in addition to the technical and operational competence, the sociological and psychological structure of the workforce.
4. Directing:
The directing function is concerned with leadership, communication, motivation and supervision so that the employees perform their activities in the most efficient manner possible, in order to achieve the desired goals. The leadership element involves issuing of instructions and guiding the subordinates about procedures and methods. The communication must be open both ways so that the information can be passed on to the subordinates and the feedback received from them. Motivation is very important, since highly motivated people Show excellent performance with less direction from superiors. Supervising subordinates would give continuous progress reports as well as assure the superiors that the directions are being properly carried out.
5. Controlling:
The function of control consists of those activities that are undertaken to ensure that the events do not deviate from the prearranged plans. The activities consist of establishing standards for work performance, measuring performance and comparing it to these set standards and taking corrective actions as and when needed. to correct any deviations.
All these five functions or management are closely inter-related. However, these functions are highly indistinguishable and virtually unrecognizable on the job. It is necessary, though, to put each function separately into focus and deal with accordingly.
A. Refer question no. 4
6. Which points should be discussed while discussing management as Science?
•Critically tested
•General principles
•Cause and effect relationship
•Universal applicability
For more detail
Refer question no. 3
7.Provide some outline of evolution of management.
A.
8. Explain various levels in management and their functions.
A. There are basically three levels of management with relative standing in an organization’s hierarchy of authority. These levels are:
1. Top management:
The top level management includes top executive such as chief executive officer, chief operating officer, president, executive vice president and various vice president. These managers are primarily involved in board organizational matters such as policy formulation, long range planning, goal setting and development of organizational strategies. In general, the top management effectively deals with all elements and forces that affect the survival, stability, and growth of an organization.
It is the function of top management to watch, interpret, exploit or, where necessary, counter external influences with appropriate decisions and plans and to initiate the appropriate adjustment in the functional authority and status structure of the organization, it is the top management’s duty to protect the integrity of the organization, so that it can survive for its own employee’s, the shareholder’s, supplier’s, and the customer’s interests and for the general good of the social and economic system within which it operates.
2. Middle management:
The middle management level generally consist of divisional and departmental heads such as plant manager, production manager, marketing manager, personal directors etc. their job is to interpret policies and directions set by the top level management into specific planes and guidelines to action. Their responsibility is to coordinate the working of their departments so that the set objective can be achieved. They are concerned with short-term goals and specific results. They spend more time on operation planning, informational processing and day to day monitoring of their divisional activities.
3. First level supervisory management:
This level of management consists of supervisors, unit heads, foremen, chief clerks etc. their primary concerned with the machines of the job and they are responsible for coordinating the work of their employees. They must posses technical skills so that they can assist their subordinates when necessary. They day to day operations, assign personnel to specific jobs, oversee their activities, evaluated their performances, and become a link between the workers and the middle level management.
9. State importance of management.
A. The importance of management may be traced in the following contexts:
• Effective Utilization of Resources
• Development of Resources
• To incorporate Innovations
• Integrating Various Interest Groups
• Stability in the Society
10. Discuss various roles of a manager in brief.
A. A role is a set of specific tasks a person performs because of the position they hold.
- Roles are directed inside as well as outside the organization.
- There are 3 broad role categories:
1. Interpersonal
2. Informational
3. Decisional
Interpersonal Roles:
Roles managers assume to coordinate and interact with employees and provide direction to the organization.
´ Figurehead- represents organization and it’s authority
´ Leader- give direct commands and orders to subordinates and make decisions
´ Liaison- makes contacts with peers and other managers
Informational Roles:
´ Associated with the tasks needed to obtain and transmit information for management of the organization.
´ Monitor- Gathers information , evaluate the performance of managers in different functions
´ Disseminator- communicate to employees the organization’s vision and purpose
´ Spokesperson- give a speech to inform the local community about the organization’s future intentions
Decisional Roles:
Associated with the methods managers use to plan strategy and utilize resources to achieve goals.
- Entrepreneur - commit organization resources to develop innovative goods and services
- Disturbance handler- to take corrective action to deal with unexpected problems facing the organization from the external as well as internal environment
- Resource allocator- allocate existing resources among different functions and departments
- Negotiator- work with suppliers, distributors and labor unions, customer, etc.
0 comments:
Post a Comment