The concept management

Management ( derived from the French ménagement “the art of conducting, directing”, and from Latin manu agere “to lead by the hand”) characterises the process of leading and directing all or part of an organisation through the utilisation, effective and efficient use of resources -human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible (Needle, 2004:253). There are many words associated with the concept of management which include the following; administer, govern, administrate, lead, control, be in charge, be in power, handle, manipulate, direct, rule and organise. It has also been asserted that there are as many descriptions and

1999:62; Needle, 2004:252). Some of these descriptions and definitions are summarised in Table 2.1.

TABLE 2.1: Definitions of the concept management

Author Definition

Cooper (2011:8) “The conventional definition of management is getting work done through people, but real management is developing people through work."

Mello (2011: 13) “Management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims.”

Bush (2010: 15). The basic definition of management should therefore be extended to read “deciding what to do and then getting it done through the effective use of resources.”

Mullins and Christy (2010:29)

“Management is nothing more than motivating other people.”

Shead (2010:1) “Management is the process of setting and achieving goals through the execution of five basic management tasks: planning, organising, leading, controlling and staffing, that utilize human, financial and material resources”.

Hellriegel et al. (2008:7)

“Management includes “the tasks and activities performed by managers in managing an organisation.”

Bosch and Gray (2006:5)

“The concept management can be seen as a rational process of getting things done with the help of a community of other people.”

Needle (2004: 253)

“Management can also be seen as a broad term that is applied to a wide range of people and organisations and in different contexts. In essence, management is the balancing of external and internal influences, the coordination of activities and of people to achieve the goals of the organisation.”

Rees and Porter (2001:3)

“Management can also be defined as a set of competencies, attitudes, and qualities broadly distributed throughout the organisation.”

Bowman and Jarett (1996:7)

“Management is a process of working with and through people…and directing actions towards a common goal.”

Drucker (1994:325)

“Management is the organisation and coordination of the activities of an enterprise in accordance with certain policies and in achievement of clearly defined objectives.”

From the sample of definitions presented in Table 2.1, almost all the above definitions suggest the following:

• Management is a process, because: all managers irrespective of their levels in the organisation engage in certain interrelated activities in order to achieve the desired goals; it involves working with and through others to effectively achieve the goals of the organisation; and it is never ending and concerned with constantly identifying the problem and solving it by taking adequate steps.

• Management is also about coordination which involves the unification, integration, synchronisation of the efforts of group members so as to provide unity of action in the pursuit of common goals. It is a hidden force which binds all the other functions of management. Management seeks to achieve co-ordination through its basic functions of planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling.

• Management involves achieving goals through people. Therefore, managers have to interact with superiors as well as their sub-ordinates.

• Managers use all the resources of the organisation, both physical as well as human.

Management has different meanings to many professionals. It is considered as a factor of production by economists. Socialists view it as a class or group of persons, whilst management practitioners treat it as a process. The Trade Unionist, however considers management as an exploiting set of people (Helium, 2010: 1). In its simplest forms

‘Management is what a manager does’ and most importantly, a process by which an

organisation realises its objectives in a strategic way (Huczynski, 1996:11).

Mullins and Christy (2010: 29) define management in terms of being an art and a science. The art of management is determined by a manager’s style, personality and behaviour, influencing “how” a manager works with people to accomplish the organisational goals. On the other hand, the science of management is based on the body of management knowledge guiding successful job performance. The science of management is thus concerned with “what a manager does”.

‘Adminstration Industrielle Et Generale’ the seminal work published by Henri Fayol in 1916 identified fourteen generic managerial principles regardless of managerial level (Caroll & Gillen, 1987:41). According to Fayol, these principles were universal, because all managers

military, government, religious or humanitarian settings (Caroll & Gillen, 1987:41). These fourteen principles are: the division of labour, authority, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, the subordination of the individual interest to the company interest, proper remuneration, centralisation, the scalar chain, order, equity, stability of tenure, initiative and spirit de corps (Caroll & Gillen, 1987:41). These fourteen principles provided guidance and a point of reference for various authors and experts in respect of the scope of management activity, tasks and roles. As stated in Chapter One the concept of management will be used interchangeably with the concept of leadership and prior to discussing management competencies, a further conceptualisation of management will also be explained in terms of management versus leadership.