Meaning and need of Management!!

What do you mean by management?? Why it is required?? 

Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of coordinating the efforts of people to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources.
Since organizations can be viewed as systems, management can also be defined as human action, including design, to facilitate the production of useful outcomes from a system. This view opens the opportunity to 'manage' oneself, a prerequisite to attempting to manage others.

 

Basic functions:

Management operates through various functions, often classified as planning, organizing, staffing, leading/directing, controlling/monitoring and motivation.

• Planning: Deciding what needs to happen in the future and generating plans for action.
• Organizing: Pattern of relationships among workers, making optimum use of the resources required to enable the successful carrying out of plans.
• Staffing: Job analysis, recruitment and hiring for appropriate jobs.
• Leading/directing: Determining what must be done in a situation and getting people to do it.
• Controlling/monitoring: Checking progress against plans.
• Motivation: Motivation is also a kind of basic function of management, because without motivation, employees cannot work effectively. If motivation does not take place in an organization, then employees may not contribute to the other functions (which are usually set by top-level management).

Basic roles:

• Interpersonal: roles that involve coordination and interaction with employees
• Informational: roles that involve handling, sharing, and analyzing information
• Decisional: roles that require decision-making

Management skills:

• Political: used to build a power base and establish connections
• Conceptual: used to analyze complex situations.
• Interpersonal: used to communicate, motivate, mentor and delegate
• Diagnostic: ability to visualize most appropriate response to a situation
• Technical: Expertise in one's particular functional area.

Levels of management:

Most organizations have three management levels: first-level, middle-level, and top-level managers. These managers are classified in a hierarchy of authority, and perform different tasks. In many organizations, the number of managers in every level resembles a pyramid. Each level is explained below in specifications of their different responsibilities and likely job titles.

 

Top-level managers:

The top consists of the board of directors (including non-executive directors and executive directors), president, vice-president, CEOs and other members of the C-level executives. They are responsible for controlling and overseeing the entire organization. They set a tone at the top and develop strategic plans, company policies, and make decisions on the direction of the business. In addition, top-level managers play a significant role in the mobilization of outside resources and are accountable to the shareholders and general public.
The board may also have certain employees (e.g., internal auditors) report to them or directly hire independent contractors.
Helpful skills of top management vary by the type of organization but typically include a broad understanding competition, world economies, and politics. In addition, the CEO is responsible for executing and determining (within the board's framework) the broad policies of the organization. Executive management accomplishes the day-to-day details, including: instructions for preparation of department budgets, procedures, schedules; appointment of middle level executives such as department managers; coordination of departments; media and governmental relations; and shareholder communication.

Middle-level managers:

It consist of general managers, branch managers and department managers. They are accountable to the top management for their department's function. They devote more time to organizational and directional functions. Their roles can be emphasized as executing organizational plans in conformance with the company's policies and the objectives of the top management, they define and discuss information and policies from top management to lower management, and most importantly they inspire and provide guidance to lower level managers towards better performance. Their functions include:

• Design and implement effective group and inter-group work and information systems.
• Define and monitor group-level performance indicators.
• Diagnose and resolve problems within and among work groups.
• Design and implement reward systems that support cooperative behavior.

First-level managers:

Consist of supervisors, section leads, foremen, etc. They focus on controlling and directing. They usually have the responsibility of assigning employees tasks, guiding and supervising employees on day-to-day activities, ensuring quality and quantity production, making recommendations, suggestions, and up channeling employee problems, etc. First-level managers are role models for employees that provide:

• Basic supervision
• Motivation
• Career planning
• Performance feedback