Although like medical and accounting, management, has not yet achieved professional status, yet the techniques, principles, and process of management are universal. Universality of management refers to the transferability of its principles, techniques, functions, and skills from one time, place, or job to another. All these management practices are equally practicable and applicable everywhere in the world irrespective of the nature of the job, differences in the customs, habits, and social laws. Managerial functions, techniques can be practiced in every organized effort. Whether it is a business, shop, industry, government office, educational, social, profitable or nonprofitable organization, management principles, functions and techniques are profitably and productively applied. A successful manager of a company or a field can be equally successful in the other. That is why a manager of a company can be safely transferred from one department, company, or area to another. A captain of a cricket team can be successful as a manager of the bank. A retired army general can successfully hold a position of chairman in a company or president of a country.
Arguments For Universality
Different experts have thrown light favorably on the universality of management whose points are as follows.
1. Apart from the nature of the job, management level, industry, company, or country, every manager performs the same functions. He has to plan, organize, lead, and control, no matter he is working in the capacity of a junior or senior manager, head of an organization, army general, or president of the country.
2. According to Fayol and Urwick, management has some principles, like unity of command or division of work which can be ignored nowhere.
3. Every organized effort has some basic principles, factors, and rules. Every business, educational, government or religious organization has common basic managerial principles. If there is a difference at all, it is that of a technical skill or nature of a job. Universality never means that one particular job should be performed by every manager. But it means that all jobs have principles in common that must be followed by every type of manager.
4. Universality of management can be judged from the fact that a hockey captain can become an efficient manager in a bank. An army general can effectively hold a position of a company or a country, although the nature of technical work is quite different in both the places; but the principles of performing the jobs are the same.
Arguments Against Universality
There are many management experts who oppose management principles as universal. Opposing arguments are as follows:
1. Though management functions, principles, techniques, and practices are equally acceptable in diversified environment and conditions, their practicability has some natural limitations. As far as human, analytical, managerial skills, and decision making abilities are concerned these are of course transferable. But if a job demands a particular technical skill, it can be performed only by its expert or specialist. Doctors and physicians cannot do engineer jobs. The pilot of an airplane cannot steer a ship. An accountant cannot as a production engineer. A manager of one culture, environment, or custom may not adapt to another.
2. Universality of management refers to transferability of its principles, techniques, functions, and skills from one time, place, or job to another. But in actual situation it is not practicable. An Army general who has acquired austere discipline and rigidity cannot become a successful head of a university. Applying this principle, experience and rigid discipline in the university will spoil the atmosphere of soft-disciplined university. Inversely, if the discipline of a university is applied in the army, what will happen? The army will be destroyed.
3. Objectives of every company are different. They may not be transferable. A manager, accustomed to a unique atmosphere in a charitable institution which has a liberal policy to distribute funds to the needy people, is sure to fail in a bank which has to be austere and rigid in advancing loans.
4. .Most management principles are based on personal experiences and have no scientific footing. Hence, they are conflictory or they have to be violated.
5. The principle of functional authority is actually a violation of the principle of unity of command. The first principle necessitates two bosses of a subordinate. The second principle, on the other hand, requires only one boss for a subordinate. Matrix organizations i also a violation of unity of command. Matrix allows a subordinates to have as many as five bosses over him.
Coordination is ever present at every level of management, and pervades all managerial functions. It has been defined as an orderly synchronization or unification of individual and group efforts. It facilitates harmonization of individual and group goals. the bigger the organization and the resulted complexity, the more essential becomes the coordination. Coordination is reconciling differences in approach, interpretation of plans, timing, efforts, and interests of individuals, subordinates, compeers, and superiors.
Principles of Coordination
Mary Parker Follett has great contribution in the development of coordination principles. These principles are:
1. Principle of Direct Contact
Direct contact plays a vital role in the accomplishment of coordination. direct contact may be top down, bottom-up, and horizontal. It facilitates face-to-face communication, understanding, exchange of ideas, and harmonized interpretation of plans, policies and procedures.
2. Principle of Achieving Coordination At Early Stages
Coordination is necessary to achieve at an early stage of planning. Unification of activities becomes difficult after plans are put to operation.
3. Principle of Reciprocity of All Factors
According to this principle all factors, affairs, matters, or problems are interrelated in a given situation. These factors are so much interwoven and correlated that they cannot be viewed and analyzed separately or they will mislead the manager.
4. Horizontal Coordination Is More Important Than Vertical
This principle states that vertical coordination is not so much difficult because of incessant, regular, and direct contact between the boss and his subordinates. The real test of coordination is at horizontal level. horizontal coordination is necessary to interchange information, interpret plans, implement schedules, accommodate the requirements of each other, and smooth the working of the company as a whole. All the heads and personnel of different departments should maintain links between themselves to exchange information, know changed situations and conditions, increase understanding, and make it sure that plans are going ahead as per schedules.
Techniques of Coordination
By the following techniques the manager can achieve coordination
1. Supervisor
Supervisors should teach their subordinates concept, principles and application of coordination. He should ensure that his subordinates and their work are related with other individuals and groups.
2. Organization
Good organization itself is a good device to accomplish coordination. Good organization means proper grouping of activities, clearly defined jobs and duties, clear-cut delegation of authority, distinct correlation between different divisions, and a well directed system of responsibilities.
3. Written Communication
Written communication is very useful and effective to achieve coordination. Written communication includes letters, memos, reports, bulletins, policies, procedures, programs, and other plans.
4. Group Meetings
Group meetings are conscious efforts to accomplish a high quality of coordination. Its purpose is to facilitating unification and relating the efforts of various groups and departments.
5. Liaison Officer
Like supervisor, liaison officer is a good medium for achieving coordination. A liaison officer is appointed to unify departmental and group activities. He keeps in touch with all departments and convey necessary information to them.
In this article i am going to tell you the functions of a manager. Every manger should follow and learn these functions:
1. Planning
It means selecting the objectives, formulating the policies, programs, and procedures to achieve these objectives. Objectives are grouped into those of individuals, departments, and the enterprise. Planning involves decision making and selecting a definite course of action from among various alternatives. The responsibility of planning goes on the shoulders of managers, whether they are at the top, middle or bottom of the organization structure. It is looking ahead and concerned with the future. Planning is what to do, when to do, how to do, who and why is to do. It provides yardstick against which actual performance is measured.
2. Organizing
The next function of the manager is organizing. It involves the establishment of definite structure of roles. It includes grouping of activities, assignment of these activities to organizational groups, the delegation of authority and co-ordination of the authority delegated. Since one man can not perform all the functions, the activity must be split off into buying, selling, producing, accounting to achieve business enterprise objectives. In organizing a business a full advantage of specialization is enjoyed. The organization must fit the task and not vice versa. The organization structure is not an end in itself but a means to an end.
3. Staffing
It includes hiring, selecting, placing, transferring, and firing. It is the function of a manager to define man power requirements for the job to be done, determine workman's compensation and train the workers. The objectives of staffing is to create such a team which is loyal to company and its objectives. Wage and salary administration, pension, bonus, gratuity, group insurance, provident fund, employees welfare, transfer, promotion, retirement, leave, medical come under the purview of personal administration. Personnel administration is the new term, used for staffing. Staffing starts even before hiring and continues even after firing.
4. Directing or Leading
It involves guiding, supervising of sub-ordinates. The superior manager must teach his subordinates the enterprise tradition, history, objectives and policies. Subordinates must learn the organization structure, interdepartmental relationship of activities and responsibilities. The should also know their duties and authorities.
Directing improves the performance of the workers. It motivates them to work them to work with zeal and confidence. The supervisor's leading, communicating, motivating, and persuading come under the function of directing. Now better term leading is used for directing.
5. Controlling
Controlling measures actual performance and corrects the weakness in the performance. It also ensures to accomplish plans. Control compel events to talk plays according to plan. Through controlling workers are made responsible for the errors they make and then they are corrected to improve the performance. controlling means to look back, while planning is to look ahead. There are three basic control processes.
Henri Fayol advanced the following fourteen principles of management which he considered as flexible and universal regardless of changing environment. 1. Division of Work When an organization come into existence work must be divided according to skill and specialization. Specialized activity when performed increases the efficiency of the organization. 2. Authority And Responsibility According to Fayol authority must be delegated to get the work done. Authority is the combination of official and personal factors. Official authority is the power which has been given by the company, and personal authority is the intelligence, experience, moral worth etc., which are personal. 3. Discipline Discipline is obedience and respect for obedient leading to company's goals. Without discipline there will be chaos and confusion, and company's goals will not be accomplished. Discipline requires good superiors at all levels. 4. Unity of Command According to Fayol, employees should receive orders from only one superior who is immediately above him in the line, otherwise there will be a clash of authority and activities owing to which the work will not be performed smoothly. 5. Unity of Direction According to it, each group of activities having the same objective must have one plan and one head. 6. Subordination of Individuals to General Interest When there is a clash between two employees the management must reconcile their differences, otherwise it would be difficult to reach company goals. 7. Remuneration Remuneration to the employees must be fair and based on equity. Salaries and fringe benefits must be enough to motivate workers. 8. Centralization By the principle of centralization Fayol means that how much authority should be delegated to the employees and retained by the super. The larger the organization the higher will be the degree of delegation of authority. Decentralization is the division of work and delegation of authority. 9. Scalar Chain There should be a chain of superiors down from the highest to the lowest echelon. Superfluous (excessive) levels should be avoided. 10. Order By order Fayol refers to material and social order. It means a place for every thing or everyone, and every thing or everyone in its or his place. 11. Equity Management must maintain equity among the employees. Equity will facilitate to draw maximum loyalty from employees. 12. Stability to Tenure Job security should be provided to the employees to get their maximum of output. High lobor turnover causes greater costs and involves many hazards. 13. Initiative It means thinking out and executing a plan. Those who are high achievers and have initiative should be encouraged. They get satisfaction only when there ideas are honored. 14. Esprit De Crops It refers to team work and collective force of employees which must be used in the best interest of the organization. Team spirit makes it possible to get maximum of output with a minimum of input.
Scientific management conducts a business or affairs by standards and norms established by facts, or truths inferred from systematic observations, experiences, or experiments. The following four management experts advocated scientific management:
1. Charles Babbage
2. Fredrick W. Taylor
3. Henry L. Gantt
1. Charles Babbage
Professor Charles Babbage was not only the pioneer scientific management but also the father of computer. In 1822 he invented difference machine which was a mechanical calculator. In 1833 he invented another device in the calculator which is still a basic element in the modern computers. He wrote many books in which "on the Economy of Machinery and Manufacturers" which he wrote in 1832 was the most popular.
Charles Babbage advanced the following principles of management:
1. Division of Labor
Labor should be divided according to specialization to increase efficiency.
2. Management And Production
Management activities should be separated from techniques of production. Scientific methods should be adopted in production.
3. Management Problems
Management should focus its attention on problems of production, employee relations, time-saving, time-study, control of waste, and use of by-products.
4. Marketing Management
Marketing management should be effective, Advertising, selling, product development, and reduction in unit price are necessary to capture market.
According to Charles Babbage the following are the advantages of the division of labor:
1. Since the worker learns only one skill learning and training time is reduced.
2. Shift from one trade or skill to another is possible in less time.
3. Because of repetition of work, the worker can gain proficiency and efficiency quickly.
4. Due to specification of each part of the job, the development of special equipment and tools are facilitated.
To evaluate its productivity and cost he developed the following questions:
1. What are the defects in the product made by the machine?
2. What are qualities in the product made by the machine?
3. What is the prime cost of the machine?
4. What is the maintenance and repairing cost of the machine?
5. What is the operating cost of the machine?
2. Frederick W. Taylor
Frederick W. Taylor is popularity known as the father of scientific management. In 1875 he started his career as apprentice. In 1878, he joined Midvale Steel Works, Philadelphia, as machine operator. During service he continued his studies in the evening and he obtained his degree in doctorate. Later he fetched the highest position in the same company. His contribution in management is great. He invented many implements and tools used in factory. His experience in laborer, apprentice, machine operator, foreman, head mechanic, and finally as chief engineer helped him understand the viewpoints, weakness, and strengths of not only workers but also the management. When he advance his theory of scientific management he had to face a great opposition not only from the laborers but also American congress. In 1912, he was called up by the Congress to clarify his position. the charge against him was that he wanted to overload the workers and wanted them to be unemployed. There he clarified his position, and said. "Scientific management is not a device of performance. It is not a new system to determine cost. It is not a wage payment scheme. It is not a bonus system. It is not a premium system. It is not a piece- rate wage system. It is not a time study or motion study."
"Scientific management is a mental revolution on the part of workers and management. It teaches the workers to know their duties, their co-workers and superiors. Management should also know its duties and responsibilities toward its workers."
3. Henry Gantt Henry L. Gantt is another pioneer of scientific management. As stated earlier that the main focus of scientific management is on the maximization of productivity ignoring human element, a more important aspects of management.
Henry Gantt was one of Taylor's colleagues. He, unlike Charles Babbage and Taylor., introduced human factor in his theory of scientific management. He gave due importance to self-respect, ego, and morale of the workers. He related morale of the worker with productivity. He introduced bonus payment system. He invented a chart known as Gantt Chart which is used even today. He put his particular attention on training to improve performance of workers. He was utterly against autocratic and incompetent management. He favored an action benefiting human cause , and opposed the one damaging it. He believed in democratic relations in business and industry.
Henri Fayol suggested the following the qualities that a manager should posses:
1. Physical
The manager as a leader should be healthy and free of any chronic disease that could be hinder his work. He should have vigor and dynamism. He should have good communication skills both spoken and written. He should be skilled and tactful in handling situations. He should be able to discharge his duties untiringly. They are high-achievers, energetic and maverick.
2. Mental
Manager's mental quality refers to those related to the mind or intellect. His mental powers include his ability to understand and learn. He should be able to go deep down the problem and come up with many alternative solutions. In other words, he should be resourceful. The manager is quickly adaptable and can adjust himself to new or changing circumstances. Whenever necessary he accommodates himself to superiors, subordinates, and others. He acts in harmony with standards and principles set by the society or company. He has the ability to undergo a gradual change in behavior to conform to societal patterns. Emotional stability is an essential quality of managers. They deal with difficult situations tactfully.
3. Moral
Fayol is emphatic on moral quality of the manager. This quality calls for willingness to accept responsibility. Managers have initiative and take lead in doing things in the best interest of the organization. They are able to originate new ideas and methods, and think and act without being urged or forced. Managers moral quality also includes their firmness and fairness in dealing with others. Integrity is another element in the moral characteristic. In addition, safety of company assets is his responsibility.
4. Educational
Managers should have educational qualities that can be acquired by training and experience. They should have understanding and familiarity of other matters not directly related to his job. His general knowledge and common sense make his education more worthwhile and productive. For business managers B.Com, B.B.A, MBA, C.A., ACMA degrees have gained momentum in the modern business world.
5. Technical
Managers are expert in their fields. They have thorough knowledge of their work far better than their subordinates. Their approach towards the work is analytical, deep, result-oriented, logical, and least risky. Before making any decisions they conduct thorough research and investigation.
6. Experience
Experience enrich the managerial qualities. They work and learn and use experience in dealing with the routine and unexpected situations.
7. Business Qualities
Henri Fayol emphasizes other qualities which are business centered. ( i ). Managerial The manager is the person who can plan, organize, hire, train, lead, and control. He sets objectives, formulates, policies, and procedures, determines activities, delegates work, guides, communicates, provides feedback, and measures the performance against the predetermined standards. ( ii ). Financial The manager should posses financial knowledge and be able to determine the sources and uses of funds. He should know what and how much business needs be financed out of capital, loans, or/ and retained earnings. ( iii). Commercial Commercial knowledge includes production, marketing, banking, insurance, transportation, and storage know-how and proficiency, that a manager must posses. ( iv ). Accounting The manager should posses accounting know-how too-so that he could not be misguided by his subordinates involved in it. He should know accounting principles, controlling techniques, and able to make and understand financial analysis. ( v ). Security The manager is the trustee of company assets. He should see to it that they are properly used and not wasted. He is the safeguard of organization assets. He is also concerned with the physical and financial security of his subordinates.
Managerial Qualities According To Fulmer
Robert Fulmer describes the following qualities necessary for managers.
1. Psychologist
The manager is psychologist because he is capable to read the minds of his superiors, subordinates, and others, and acts accordingly. In this capacity he is many persons. He can read in between the lines and can go deep down the problem using his knowledge of psychologist. He behaves according to situations and can adopt to them.
2. Logician
Logic is the science of correct reasoning by establishing relationship among propositions in terms of implications, contradictions, and conversions. Since he establishes cause and effect relationship in his decision making, he is logicians.
3. Historian
The manager is historian because he applies his past experience in the present circumstances and planing for future.
4. Mathematician
As a mathematician, the manager calculates the past, present and future. He makes budgets, prepares reports on the soundness of the company in relation to finance, marketing, and other fields. He decides about liquidity, profitability, and viability of the organization.
What does it mean to be a manager? A manager is the person who draws plans, determines objectives and standards, and takes decisions. He is responsible for the work of others.
A manager is many person. He is able to peep into future. He guides, persuades, motivates, communicates, leads. The manager does not create problems, rather solves them. He receives authority from his superiors, some amount of which he delegates to his subordinates. He commands authority over them. The manager creates an environment conducive to the efficient working of the workers. He creates team spirit among them. His all activities are directed toward the accomplishment of the organization's goals. He is many person because he is logician, historian, mathematician. He is master of contingencies and situations. The manager is also a physiologist because he able to study the minds of his subordinates and superiors. He act also as social scientist since he has to study environments prevailing within and outside the company.
He is logician because he establishes cause and effect relationship, that is, he justifies his decision under a given problem situation. He is historian because he best uses his past experience in the present situation. He act also as mathematician for he determines liquidity, profitability, financial soundness, and future prospects of the organization.
Qualities of A Manager
The manager is a leader by virtue of his personal traits, authority, and the expertise. He will fail to influence his subordinates if he does not have the following qualities/traits.
1. Knowledge of Business/ Expertise
The knowledge of his field makes a person manager who by which virtues supervises his subordinates. He should have knowledge about his job, department, company, market, industry, and competition in addition to international affairs. This quality enables him to make decisions.
2. Drive
Drive refers to dynamism, energy, ambition, desire to grow, and perseverance. A manager without this characteristics cannot be successful.
3. Integrity
It includes honesty, credibility, protection of firm's assets, fairness in all kinds of dealings towards employees, superiors, the government, and customers. The manager having integrity, easily wins the trust of others making his jobs easy.
4. Self-Confidence
In difficult situations the manager should not lose heart. Perseverence, emotional stability, self control infuse him with confidence leading him to cross all hurdles on the way. Self-confidence leads to emotional stability, an important and required quality of the manager.
5. Organization
It refers to manager's orderly state of mind and ability to think logically. Maturity and ability to analyze situation fall in this quality. He is able to get to the point quickly.
6. Intelligence
The manager should have the ability to learn and understand from experience. He should be able to acquire knowledge and respond to duty to new or uncommon situations. he uses faculty of reason in handling problematic situations and directing accordingly. As physiologist suggest, a person's intelligence is the measured success in using knowledge, faculty of reason, and experience in performing his duties making intelligence also shows keenness, cleverness, shrewdness, wisdom, alertness, and calculatedness
7. Health
Good health makes a person energetic, hardworking, dynamic, and efficient. A healthy manager can focus his all attention towards his and organizational goals.
8. Appearance and Manner
The manager's stature, grooming, dress, neatness, poise, courtesy, tact, and diplomacy make him successful and efficient.
9. Communication Skills
Managers cannot be successful until they can express themselves well. Communication skills, voice and expression make them prominent and efficient. They should be good both at writing and speaking with clarity, diction, and accentuation.
10. Sense of Humor
Modern management scientists give heavy weight to the sense of humor of managers. This quality makes them popular, averts monotony of the work, freshens up the listeners, revitalizes working atmosphere and stimulates and cheers up the workers. Humor can make the manager convincing to others. It should only be used at right time.
Many authors define management as "the challenge of creating environment where people work together to achieve a common objective"
"Fayol" defines management as "the concept, techniques and process that enable goals to be achieved efficiently and effectively."
According To Koontz And O'Donnell:
It is the basic task of all managers at all levels and in all kinds of enterprises to design and maintain an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, can accomplish selected missions and objectives. In other words, managers are charged with responsibility of taking actions that will make their best contributions to group objectives.
According To Bateman and Snell:
Management is the process of working with people and resources to accomplish organizational goals. Good managers do those things both effectively and efficiently. To be effective is to achieve organizational goals. To be efficient is to achieve goals with minimum waste of resources, that is, to make the best possible use of money, time, materials, and people."
According To Ivancevich, Donnelly And Gibson:
Management is the process undertaken by one or more persons to coordinate the activities of other persons to achieve results not attainable by any one person acting alone.
According To Peter Drucker:
A management philosopher defines management as the sum of three major tasks:
( i ). To decide the purpose and mission of the institutor.
( ii ). To make the work productive, and
( iii). To manage social impacts and responsibilities.
According To Samuel C.Certo:
Management is the process of reaching organizational goals by working with and through people and other organizational resources.
All the above definitions put emphasis on three basic and common features of management, which are mentioned below:
1. Management as a process.
2. Achieving organizational goals.
3. Working with and through human and other assets.
According To Some Other Experts:
Management is the function of executive leadership any where.
Others say that:
Management is a technique by means of which the purpose and objectives of a particular human group are determined, classified and effectuated.
According To D.S. Cambell:
Management embraces all duties and functions that pertain to the initiation of an enterprise.
According To Terry:
Management is a process used for accomplishment of desired objective. Management signifies the process of putting human aims, knowledge, and skill in the effective actions. It is a decisive and productive action that leads to successful accomplishment.
The objectives of an organization are achieved by managing the use of resources i.e. money, material e.t.c. effectively and efficiently.
