Management is Goal-Oriented: The success of any management activity is retrieved by its achievement of the predetermined goals or objective. Management is a persistent activity and a tool which helps use of human & physical resources to fulfill the predetermined goals. For example, the goal of an enterprise is to maximize consumer satisfaction by producing quality goods at reasonable prices. This can be achieved by employing competent persons and making better use of scarce resources.
Management integrates Human, Physical and Financial
Resources: In
an organization, human beings work with non-human resources like machines, materials,
financial assets, buildings etc. Management integrates human efforts to these
resources. It brings harmony among the human, physical and financial resources.
Management is a Continuous activity: Management is an
ongoing process which involves continuous handling of problems and issues. It
is concerned with identifying the problem and taking appropriate steps to solve
it. For attaining this target various policies have to be framed but this is
not the end. Marketing and advertising is also done. For this policies have to
be framed again. Hence, this is an ongoing process.
Management is Universal: Management is
required in all types of organizations whether it is political, social,
cultural or business because it helps and directs various efforts towards a
definite purpose. Thus clubs, hospitals, political parties, colleges,
hospitals, business firms all require management. Whenever more than one person
is involved in working for a common goal, management is necessary. Whether it
is a small business firm which may be engaged in trading or a large firm like
Tata Iron & Steel, Infosys etc. management is required everywhere
irrespective of size or type of activity.
Management is a Group Activity: Management is very
much less concerned with individual’s efforts. It is more concerned with
groups. It involves the use of group effort to achieve predetermined goals of
management of ABC & Co. is good refers to a group of persons managing the
enterprise.
Organized Activities: Management is a process of organized
activities. Groups of people cannot be involved in the performance of activities
without organized activities. Management comes into existence where a group of
people are involved in achieving a common objective. The organized activities
may take a variety of forms ranging from a tightly structured organization to a
loosely-knit organization.
Existence of Objectives: The existence of
objectives is a basic criterion of every human organization. The organizational
objectives are the desired state of affairs which an organization attempts to
realize. This realization of objectives is pursued through the coordinated
efforts of the people constituting an organization.
Decision-making: Management process involves decision making
at all levels. Decision-making describes the process by which a course of
action is selected as the way to deal with a specific problem. If there is only
one alternative, the question of decision making does not arise. The quality of
alternatives which a manger selects determines the organization’s performance,
and the future of an organization.
Relationship among resources: The essence of
management is integration of various organizational resources. Resources
include money, machine, materials, and people. Management is concerned with the
proper utilization of human resources which, in turn, utilize other resources.
Working with and through people: Management involves
working with people and getting organizational objectives achieved through
them. Working through people is interpreted in terms of assigning activities to
subordinates.
Multidisciplinary: Management is multidisciplinary as it
includes knowledge and information from various disciplines such as economics,
statistics, mathematics, psychology, sociology, ecology, operations research,
history, etc. Management incorporates the ideas and concepts taken from these disciplines
and presents newer concepts which can be put into practice for managing the
organizations.
Management is dynamic: Management has framed certain
principles, which are flexible in nature and change with the changes in the
environment in which an organization exits.
Relative, Not Absolute Principles: Management principles
are relative, not absolute, and they should be applied according to the need of
the organization. A particular management principle has different strengths in
different conditions. Therefore, principles should be applied according to the
prevailing conditions.
Management is Scienceas well as an Art: Management likes other practices- whether
medicine, music composition, or even accountancy- is an art. It is know-how.
Yet managers can work better by using the organized knowledge about management.
It is this knowledge that constitutes science. Thus, managing as practice is an
art; the organized knowledge underlying the practice may be referred to as
science.
Management as Profession: Management has been considered
as a profession by many while many have suggested that it has not achieved the
status of a profession. Schein concluded that by some criteria management is
indeed a profession, but by other criteria it is not. Today we can see many
signs that management is working towards increased professionalism.