The principles of Management

The Principles of Management THE PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT 1. What is Management? Definition The organising and controlling of human activity towards a specific aim. 2. Who is Management? We have defined what management is so it is now reasonable to suppose that “anyone concerned with the organising and controlling of human activity towards a specific aim is a manager or is a part of management”. For any enterprise there must be a clearly defined aim and bearing this aim in mind, it is management’s responsibility to set up an organisation capable of achieving this aim. Each section of the organisation should have its own clearly defined aim, which links up logically with the aims of the remaining sections. The steps in management activities necessary to progress from the aim to the result may be listed as follows: i) ii) iii) iv) v) Set up and define the aim. Plan the use of resources to achieve the aim. Initiate action to commit the plan into results. Measure and compare the results with the original plan. Correct or modify the action or plan to achieve the aim. Page 1 of 6 The Principles of Management This sequence of activities may be represented diagrammatically by the CYBERNETICAL cycle. (The word CYBERNETICS has been adopted to refer to control systems for machines and human beings, ie any system which uses “feedback” to modify an action.) AIM PLAN MEASURE & COMPARE INITIATE ACTION Management’s job in operating the activities within this Cybernetical cycle can be broken into four parts or functions: 1. Planning To use the resources of an enterprise as economically as possible to obtain the desired result. Resources are: Buildings and Space People (particularly their skills) Machines and Equipment Finance Materials Services & Energy Basically planning is to arrange that each activity is carried out at the right time in the right place with the right materials and facilities. Page 2 of 6 CORRECT OR MODIFY The Principles of Management 2. Directing and Co-ordinating This is primarily a process involving communications, or the transfer of meaning and purpose from the top to the bottom of the organisation. It involves: a) b) Personal relationships, hence the need for good human relations and knowledge of human behaviour. Interviewing processes, needing an ability to extract facts or, where opinions are involved, the ability to judge soundness of opinion and whether based on assumption or facts. Ability to conduct successful meetings, hence knowledge of the responsibilities of the Chair and of members of meetings. Ability to exercise discipline of a nature required by the situation. Ability to speak effectively. Ability to write effectively. Ability to listen. Ability to balance activities in the organisation for which responsible. Ability to make decisions having studied all the facts and make use of reasonable assumptions where necessary. Ability to delegate. c) d) e) f) g) h) i) j) Page 3 of 6 The Principles of Management 3. Controlling Checking to see if progress is in conformity with planned progress as regards quantity and quality. An effective control system should be: a) b) c) Simple in design, so that feedback information can be easily and quickly interpreted. Limited to as few returns as possible, so that management’s attention can be given to the important snags. Capable of allowing subordinates the maximum freedom and opportunity to utilise their resourcefulness, abilities and skill in accomplishing the end result delegated to them. Promptly available, in order that management has the maximum time in which to “correct or modify” as illustrated in the Cybernetical cycle. Controls can be applied to most management activities e.g. Finance (Budgetary Control), Materials, Safety, Production (Quality and Quantity). d) Page 4 of 6 The Principles of Management 4. Motivating To provide the general environment which induces people to want to work in the way management requires that they should. One of the “unknowns” of management. Motivation has been the subject of investigation by psychologists, sociologists and industrialists for many years. There is no set formula for successful motivation. Motivating involves: a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) j) k) l) m) n) o) p) q) r) s) t) Human Relations Participation Joint Consultation Personnel Policy Communications Suggestion Schemes Selection for promotion Selection for particular work Training Delegation or giving of responsibility to juniors Security Reasonable Wages Conditions of Work Status Pride in product and pride in organisation Discipline coupled with fair dealing Confidence of work people in management Known objectives Counselling Careful use of “drives” or “crises” Page 5 of 6 The Principles of Management u) v) Leadership. It can be seen that many of the above would be included in this one small word. Unity of purpose. This engenders sympathy or feeling with. 5. It is not possible in practice to isolate the functions of management. Any manager, when carrying out the job, is working under any combination of these functions, there is no definite division into watertight compartments, there is bound to be overlapping. It must be the aim of management to have a well-defined objective, to set up and set to work a satisfactory organisation, which can be controlled adequately. The principles of management, when employed to develop a successful enterprise, result in a corporate body the strength of which is greater than the sum of the strength of the individuals in it. Page 6 of 6