WHAT IS MANAGEMENT

Management has been interpreted to mean many things like other disciplines. There is no one generally accepted definition of management.

Management is “Getting things done through other people” Mary Parker Follet

Henri Fayol (1916) argues that to manage is to forecast and plan, to organize, to command, to co-ordinate and to control. 

E.F.L. Breach (1975) also sees management as a social process entailing responsibility for the effective and economical planning and regulation of the operations of an enterprise, in fulfillment of given purposes or tasks, such responsibility involving:

Judgement and decision in determining plans and in using data to control performance and progress against plans.

The guidance, integration, motivation and supervision of the personnel composing the enterprise and carrying out its operation.

Breach identifies four main elements of management. These are planning, controlling, coordinating, and motivation.

F.W. Taylor (1886) "Father of Scientific Management", has suggested that management is “The determination of the overall policy of a business organization”.

Herold Koontz, and Heinz Weilhrick (1990) view management as “the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected goals”

Laurie J. Mullins (1994) says management may be regarded as:

• Taking place within a structured organizational setting and with prescribed roles;
• Directed towards the attainment of aims and objectives.
• Achieved through the efforts of other people.
• Using systems and procedures.

Management is a process of planning, organizing, directing (leading), and controlling carried out by people at the topmost hierarchy of an organization to ensure that a proper environment is created to enable people working in an organization achieve successfully, the objectives of an organization through the proper utilization of scarce resources.

Implications of management definition.

Management has various meanings and interpretations.

The definitions above and others have given extended definitions and interpretations to management to cover the following:

•  The determination of the overall policy of an organization.
• A team or a group of people who are experienced in management who work together to get things done.
• An activity that takes place at the topmost hierarchy of an organization, i.e. board of directors.
• A career which people pursue to earn a living.
•  An activity that deals with critical and strategic policy decision issues.

DIMENSIONS OF MANAGEMENT

The various dimensions of management have come about as a result of the different levels of management activities in organisations. The level of management depicts the kind of decision that may be taken. The three main levels are: Strategic, tactical and operational.

Strategic Managers (top level management)

This level of management is more often charged with the responsibility of developing the vision, mission, objectives and the game plan of the entire organization. Vision, mission and objectives constitute the three main elements of strategic management direction.

This level is also responsible for determining, evaluating and adapting the aims or missions of an organization and the patterns of decisions that give direction and guidance to the achievement of these aims in the long-term.

Tactical Managers (middle level management)

This aspect of management facilitates the re-definition of the programmes of the Strategic Manager i.e. it ensures that the plans of the strategic manager are re-defined in unambiguous terms. It provides an opportunity for lower level managers to actually get things done. Tactical managers facilitate the implementation of the policies of strategic managers.

It should, however, be noted that, this level of management is being removed from most organisational hierarchies making organisations flatter. This is given the term delayering. This has come about as a result of improvement in information and communication technology, which makes subordinates able to perform their jobs. Organisational members therefore have access to information-which hitherto was provided by middle level managers-that facilitates their work. This process is also referred to as empowerment.

Operational Managers (Lower Level Management)

That aspect of Management is concerned with the actual implementation of the strategies evolved by strategic managers and re-defined by tactical managers. Operational managers may include assistants or deputies to tactical managers.