An Introduction to Management

Definition of Management

Management’s primary function is to get people to work together for the attainment of an organization’s goals and objectives.

Learning Objectives

Recognize the difference between traditional, team, and servant management.

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• Management processes include planning, organizing, directing and controlling.
• An important aspect of management’s function is the allocation of finite resources.
• Resources can be human, financial, technological or natural.
• There are different management styles: Traditional, team, and servant.

Key Terms

• system: A whole composed of relationships among the members.
• resource: Something that one uses to achieve an objective. An examples of a resource could be a raw material or an employee.

Management: An Overview

Management is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. 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 pre-requisite to attempting to manage others.

There are several different resource types within management. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of:

• Human resources
• Financial resources
• Technological resources
• Natural resources

Different type of Management Styles

There are different types of management styles, and the management process has changed over recent years. The addition of work teams and servant leadership has changed what is expected from managers, and what managers expect from their employees.

Traditional Management

There is a hierarchy of employees, low level management, mid-level management, and senior management. In traditional management systems, the manager sets out expectations for the employees who need to meet goals, but the manager receives the reward of meeting those goals.

Team Managment

In a team management arrangement the manager is a guiding hand to help the members of the team work together to solve problems but doesn’t dictate policy and the entire team receives the reward of meeting those goals.

Servant Management

With this approach, the manager helps supply resources the employees need to meet company goals. In servant leadership, the organization recognizes employees as experts in their field and work to help them work efficiently.

No matter which type of management style is used by an organization, the main objective of managers is to help employees reach company goals and maintain company standards and policies.

Management’s primary function is to get people to work together for the attainment of an organization’s goals and objectives.Management is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. 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 pre-requisite to attempting to manage others.Management functions include: Planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal.There are several different resource types within management. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of:There are different types of management styles, and the management process has changed over recent years. The addition of work teams and servant leadership has changed what is expected from managers, and what managers expect from their employees.There is a hierarchy of employees, low level management, mid-level management, and senior management. In traditional management systems, the manager sets out expectations for the employees who need to meet goals, but the manager receives the reward of meeting those goals.In a team management arrangement the manager is a guiding hand to help the members of the team work together to solve problems but doesn’t dictate policy and the entire team receives the reward of meeting those goals.With this approach, the manager helps supply resources the employees need to meet company goals. In servant leadership, the organization recognizes employees as experts in their field and work to help them work efficiently.No matter which type of management style is used by an organization, the main objective of managers is to help employees reach company goals and maintain company standards and policies.

The Need for Management

Management is needed in order to facilitate a coordinated effort toward the accomplishment of an organization’s goals.

Learning Objectives

Explain the purpose of management

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively.
• Good managers are needed to keep their organizations on track by ensuring that everything that’s being done is ethically geared toward providing what customers want.
• Good management is needed to inject motivation, creativity, discipline, and enthusiasm into areas in which they either don’t exist or they’re not necessarily wanted.
• People who work for managers must realize that it is their job to make their managers value them.

Key Terms

• entrepreneurship: The art or science of innovation and risk-taking for profit in business.

The Purpose of Management

The purpose of management is to serve customers. Yet, if one looks through most management books for a definition of management, 99.9 percent of the time the word customer will not be mentioned. This is astonishing because serving customers in order to obtain a profit is the crux of every business organization. Equally remiss is the fact that most definitions of management neatly filter out service in their descriptions of management.

Good managers constantly streamline their organizations toward making a sale. In other words, good managers are needed to keep their organizations on track by ensuring that everything that’s being done is ethically geared toward providing what customers want. In this regard, a good manager is responsible for reducing waste and ambiguity, keeping costs down, and motivating others to do the same. In the same vein, good managers regularly take educated risks and exercise good judgement (the basis of entrepreneurship). These risks include:

• Trying new things;
• Successfully adjusting to constant change;
• Developing subordinates (good managers aren’t afraid of letting other people shine and, in fact, they encourage it);
• Improving their own skills.

The Need for Management

Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. 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. Therefore, management is needed in order to facilitate a coordinated effort toward the accomplishment of the organization’s goals.

Since most managers are responsible for more work than one person can normally perform, a good manager delegates and integrates his or her work (or the work of others). A manager does this by acting as a clear channel of communication within the business that he or she serves. Good management is needed to inject motivation, creativity, discipline, and enthusiasm into areas in which they either don’t exist or they’re not necessarily wanted.

The various functions of management are classified as:

• Planning
• Organizing
• Staffing
• Leading/Directing
• Controlling/Monitoring
• Motivation

Management is also responsible for the formation and implementation of business policies and strategies.

Management is needed in order to facilitate a coordinated effort toward the accomplishment of an organization’s goals.The purpose of management is to serve customers. Yet, if one looks through most management books for a definition of management, 99.9 percent of the time the word customer will not be mentioned. This is astonishing because serving customers in order to obtain a profit is the crux of every business organization. Equally remiss is the fact that most definitions of management neatly filter out service in their descriptions of management.Good managers constantly streamline their organizations toward making a sale. In other words, good managers are needed to keep their organizations on track by ensuring that everything that’s being done is ethically geared toward providing what customers want. In this regard, a good manager is responsible for reducing waste and ambiguity, keeping costs down, and motivating others to do the same. In the same vein, good managers regularly take educated risks and exercise good judgement (the basis of entrepreneurship). These risks include:Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. 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. Therefore, management is needed in order to facilitate a coordinated effort toward the accomplishment of the organization’s goals.Since most managers are responsible for more work than one person can normally perform, a good manager delegates and integrates his or her work (or the work of others). A manager does this by acting as a clear channel of communication within the business that he or she serves. Good management is needed to inject motivation, creativity, discipline, and enthusiasm into areas in which they either don’t exist or they’re not necessarily wanted.The various functions of management are classified as:Management is also responsible for the formation and implementation of business policies and strategies.

Trends in Management

Modern trends in management favor agile, iterative processes that focus on innovation, software development, and social impacts.

Learning Objectives

Understand the evolving nature of management perspectives and strategies

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• Management is a constantly evolving field, with a wide variety of formal and informal approaches and perspectives.
• While new management perspectives are emerging everyday in manufacturing, technology, software, and social entrepreneurship, some of the most notable new perspectives are in software development.
• Scrum and agile management styles focus primarily on iteration and the capacity to build non-hierarchical work structures that empower growth and innovation without the rigidity of traditional management.
• Social entrepreneurship is a recent emergence in management, in which entrepreneurial management styles are being taken to the non- profit and community development sectors.

Key Terms

• iteration: The process of repeating a process in pursuit of incremental improvement.
• Scrum: A management philosophy predicated upon a feedback-driven iterative evolution of process.

When looking at new management approaches, it’s useful to consider the area in which these organizations operate. Software, non-profit, and entrepreneurship are all seeing substantial deviations from standard corporate management approaches.

Software

The two big words in software management over the past decade or two have been Scrum and Agile. Each of these approaches is a management philosophy equipped for rapid construction, iteration, and implementation.

Development Team – This will be your functional specialists, all collaborating on a daily basis to construct a facet (or perhaps the entirety) of a new piece of software. In scrum, this is quite often cross-functional.

Scrum Master – A facilitator, this individual focuses on removing impediments and acting as a buffer between the team and external distractions (usually integration with other teams). The scrum master will also assess progress holistically, and ensure alignment with the scrum mentality.

Product Owner (PO) – The PO focuses on being a voice of the customer and the representation of stakeholders in the team environment. Stakeholders, in this context, represent anyone with an interest in the output of that team (primarily organizational owners and other teams). The PO is not a manager, but instead a bridge between the team and the external environment they operate in.

Social Entrepreneurship

Utilizing the ever-evolving perspectives of start up companies and entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations and other community-oriented groups have begun replacing traditional management approaches with a more grassroots perspective. A key metric to a social entrepreneur isn’t profit but community impact, usually in areas such as poverty alleviation, health care, education, and community development. This management style is small, focused, innovation-driven, and non-hierarchical.

Modern trends in management favor agile, iterative processes that focus on innovation, software development, and social impacts.Management is a rapidly evolving field. Even now startups all over the world are trying out new, innovative ways of looking at how to align their resources, how to make decisions, and what managerial approaches (or lack of managerial approaches) might yield the best culture for growth. It’s an intriguing time for management, and experimentation is constant.When looking at new management approaches, it’s useful to consider the area in which these organizations operate. Software, non-profit, and entrepreneurship are all seeing substantial deviations from standard corporate management approaches.The two big words in software management over the past decade or two have been Scrum and Agile. Each of these approaches is a management philosophy equipped for rapid construction, iteration, and implementation.Scrum has been around since the late 1980s, but not particularly prevalent until the early 21st century. Scrum is defined as a feedback-driven empirical approach that highlights transparency, inspection, and adaptation. In terms of values, scrum discards traditional hierarchy and promotes commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect in a team -oriented, objectives-driven environment. In terms of structure, you’ll find three groups:Development Team – This will be your functional specialists, all collaborating on a daily basis to construct a facet (or perhaps the entirety) of a new piece of software. In scrum, this is quite often cross-functional.Scrum Master – A facilitator, this individual focuses on removing impediments and acting as a buffer between the team and external distractions (usually integration with other teams). The scrum master will also assess progress holistically, and ensure alignment with the scrum mentality.Product Owner (PO) – The PO focuses on being a voice of the customer and the representation of stakeholders in the team environment. Stakeholders, in this context, represent anyone with an interest in the output of that team (primarily organizational owners and other teams). The PO is not a manager, but instead a bridge between the team and the external environment they operate in.Utilizing the ever-evolving perspectives of start up companies and entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations and other community-oriented groups have begun replacing traditional management approaches with a more grassroots perspective. A key metric to a social entrepreneur isn’t profit but community impact, usually in areas such as poverty alleviation, health care, education, and community development. This management style is small, focused, innovation-driven, and non-hierarchical.

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