Management is key to success

Management is the process of getting activities completed efficiently and effectively with and through other people and that is the reason why management is just as important as leadership.

Management is like investment. Managers have resources to invest – their own time and talent as well as human and financial resources. The goal (function) of management is to get the best return on those resources by getting things done efficiently. This doesn’t entail being mechanical. The manager’s style is a contextual issue. With highly skilled and self-motivated knowledge workers, the manager can be very empowering. Where the workforce is less skilled or motivated, the manager may need to monitor output more closely. By saying that management is a function, not a type of person or role, we better account for self-managed work teams where no one is in charge. Skilled managers know how to coach and motivate diverse employees. Getting things done through people is what they do. Good management means doing the decent thing by both workers and consumers, not just amassing profits for bosses.

Management is a process which seeks to create synergy with organisations and is often defined in terms of planning, organising, co-ordinating and controlling of resources. It is a process that is engaged in, not only by people called managers, but by most professionals in a diverse range of areas, including education, engineering, medicine and the arts.

Some managers have specialisms but most manage a selection of resources such as people, materials, equipment, finance and technology. However, management is a human process and subject to human idiosyncrasies.

Management aims to increase the effectiveness of organisations. It's about making the most of the resources entrusted to you, and making sure the expectations of customers, employees and shareholders are met.

Management operates through various functions, often classified as planning, organizing, leading/motivating and controlling. Planning means deciding what needs to happen in the future (today, next week, next month, next year, over the next five years, etc.) and generating plans for action. Organizing is about making optimum use of the resources required to enable the successful carrying out of plans. Leading/Motivating refears to exhibiting skills in these areas for getting others to play an effective part in achieving plans. Controlling means monitoring — checking progress against plans, which may need modification based on feedback.

In the 21st century observers find it increasingly difficult to subdivide management into functional categories in this way. More and more processes simultaneously involve several categories. Instead, one tends to think in terms of the various processes, tasks, and objects subject to management.

In for-profit work, management has as its primary function the satisfaction of a range of stakeholders. This typically involves making a profit (for the shareholders), creating valued products at a reasonable cost (for customers), and providing rewarding employment opportunities (for employees). In nonprofit management, add the importance of keeping the faith of donors. In most models of management/governance, shareholders vote for the board of directors, and the board then hires senior management. Some organizations have experimented with other methods (such as employee-voting models) of selecting or reviewing managers; but this occurs only very rarely.

In the public sector of countries constituted as representative democracies, voters elect politicians to public office. Such politicians hire many managers and administrators, and in some countries like the United States political appointees lose their jobs on the election of a new president/governor/mayor. Some 2500 people serve at the pleasure of the United States Chief Executive, including all of the top US government executives.