Management
| Author | Roger Luft |
| Pages | 466-470 |
Page 466
Throughout the years, the role of a manager has changed. Years ago, managers were thought of as people who were the boss. While that might still be true in the early twenty-first century, many managers view themselves as leaders rather than as people who tell subordinates what to do. The role of a manager is comprehensive and often very complex. Not everyone wants to be a manager, nor should everyone consider being a manager.
Some would define management as an art, while others would define it as a science. Whether management is an art or a science is not what is most important. Management is a process that is used to accomplish organizational goals. That is, it is a process used to achieve the goals of an organization. An organization could be a business, a school, a city, a group of volunteers, or any governmental entity. Managers are the people to whom this management task is assigned, and it is generally thought that they achieve the desired goals through the key functions of (1) planning, (2) organizing, (3) directing, and (4) controlling. Some would include leading as a managing function, but for the purposes of this discussion, leading is included as a part of directing.
The four key functions of management are applied throughout an organization regardless of whether it is a
Page 467
business, a government agency, or a church group. In a business, many different activities take place. For example, in a retail store there are people who buy merchandise to sell, people to sell the merchandise, people who prepare the merchandise for display, people who are responsible for advertising and promotion, people who do the accounting work, people who hire and train employees, and several other types of workers. There might be one manager for the entire store, but there are other managers at different levels who are more directly responsible for the people who perform all the other jobs. At each level of management, the four key functions of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling are included. The emphasis changes with each different level of manager.
Planning in any organization occurs in different ways and at all levels. A top-level manager, such as the manager of a manufacturing plant, plans for different events than does a manager who supervises a group of workers who are responsible for assembling modular homes on an assembly line. The plant manager must be concerned with the overall operations of the plant, while the assembly-line manager or supervisor is only responsible for the line that he or she oversees.
Planning could include setting organizational goals. This is usually done by higher-level managers in an organization. As a part of the planning process, the manager develops strategies for achieving the goals of the organization. In order to implement the strategies, resources will be needed and must be acquired. The planners must also then determine the standards, or levels of quality, that need to be met in completing the tasks.
In general, planning can be strategic planning, tactical planning, or contingency planning. Strategic planning is long-range planning that is normally completed by top-level managers in an organization. Examples of strategic decisions managers make include who the customer or clientele should be, what products or services should be sold, and where the products and services should be sold.
Short-range or tactical planning is done for the benefit of lower-level managers, since it is the process of developing very detailed strategies about what needs to be done, who should do it, and how it should be done. To return to the previous example of assembling modular homes, as the home is nearing construction on the floor of the plant, plans must be made for the best way to move it through the plant so that each worker can complete assigned tasks in the most efficient manner. These plans can best be developed and implemented by the line managers who oversee the production process rather than managers who sit in an office and plan for the overall operation of the company. The tactical plans fit into the
Douglas McGregor (1906–1964).
strategic plans and are necessary to implement the strategic plans.
Contingency planning allows for alternative courses of action when the primary plans that have been developed do not achieve the goals of the organization. In the economic environment of the early twenty-first century, plans may need to be changed very rapidly. Continuing with the example of building modular homes in the plant, the plant might be using a nearby supplier for all the lumber used in the framing of the homes but the supplier loses its entire inventory of framing lumber in a major warehouse fire...
To continue reading
Request your trial