Management

There is no one definition for the term management. However, Fayol (1916)
defined the term management as;
To manage is to forecast and lan, to organi!e, to command, to co"ordinate and
to control.# $c %lwee.T and &o'erts %, (1991)( .g11)
$anagement is not homogeneo*s and is *nderta+en at all levels of the
organisation, as it is an integrating activity. $anagers have to manage in order to
achieve the overall o',ectives and strategy of the firm. -ll firms are see+ing
effective managers, and the .*ality of management is a +ey element of '*siness
s*ccess. %n this assignment, the resonsi'ility of management is going to 'e
addressed.
Henri Fayol (1961) introd*ced fo*r managerial roles and these were lanning,
organising, commanding. /oordinating and controlling.
0rgani!ing 'eing resonsi'le fo*r ,o's and tas+s 'eing carried o*t 'y individ*als.
/ommanding" giving orders and instr*ctions and e1ecting them to 'e carried
o*t. /oordinating all activities are arranged and ad,*sted in time and sit*ation to
ens*re smooth r*nning. /ontrolling" involves directing, insecting and reg*lating
wor+. 2lanning determines in advance, what sho*ld 'e accomlished and how it
sho*ld 'e accomlished.
3ood comm*nication is vital in organi!ations and lies at the heart of effective
management.
They have a rime resonsi'ility for see+ing that others do wor+. -t the a*thors
ar time ,o' 45oots the /hemist6 the s*ervisor constr*cts a rota, which entails
what each emloyee will 'e doing for the rest of the day at different times. For
e.g. 9"17 chemist co*nter 17"11 cash and wra 11"18 'rea+ etc.
To f*nction efficiently they m*st delegate. $anagement is a'o*t getting wor+
done thro*gh other eole, this entails delegation. 9elegation is one of the most
owerf*l management s+ills. %t is the rocess 'y which a*thority to ma+e secific
decisions are given to lower level management. %s involves s*'ordinates ma+ing
decisions. -t 45oots the /hemist6 some s*'ordinates are given the a*thority to do
e1changes and ref*nds. :ome are also given the a*thority to oen the co*nter
cache this is where all the notes in e1cess of the wor+ing float are laced.
However at times the co*nter cache does get 'loc+ed and we can inform those
s*'ordinates who are a*thorised to oen the co*nter cache. %t is very *sef*l as
most of the time the s*ervisor is not on the sho floor and therefore can get the
s*'ordinates who are a*thorised to do the ref*nds of e1changes. This wo*ld not
only maintain good c*stomer service '*t wo*ld also allow the s*ervisor to 'e
doing other things. %t is imortant that the manager chooses the right
s*'ordinates to whom to delegate a*thority and resonsi'ility and therefore
sho*ld 'e a'le to allocate imortant asects of their ,o's to s*'ordinates. The
limitation with delegation is the delegator might 'e *nwilling to delegate tas+s to
s*'ordinates.
/harlie, for e1amle, is 61 and deserate for some clear, straight forward
g*idance from his ;<"year old 'oss, $ary, who in t*rn, is *sing her trademar+
heartfelt, '*!!word"laden management style in an attemt to radically alter
/harlie6s wor+ rocesses. =ane, meanwhile, the 89"year old technical wi!ard of
the team, sits s*llenly in her c*'icle, *nimressed with either of them, nor they
with her.
>one of them *nderstands the other. >one of them +nows how to comm*nicate
with the other. -nd it6s ca*sing headaches and havoc for managers trying to mold
this hodgeodge of ages, faces, val*es, and views into a rod*ctive,
colla'orative gro*.