Management  (or  managing) is the administration of an  organization , whether it is a  business , a  not-for-profit  organization, or government body.

Management includes the activities of setting the  strategy  of an  organization  and coordinating the efforts of its  employees  (or of volunteers) to accomplish its  objectives  through the application of available  resources , such as  financial ,  natural ,  technological , and  human resources . The term "management" may also refer to those people who manage an organization -  managers.

Some people study management at colleges or universities; major degrees in management include the  Bachelor of Commerce  (B.Com.)  Bachelor of Business Administration  (BBA.)  Master of Business Administration  (MBA.)  Master in Management  (MScM or MIM) and, for the public sector, the  Master of Public Administration  (MPA) degree. Individuals who aim to become management specialists or experts, management researchers, or professors may complete the  Doctor of Management  (DM), the  Doctor of Business Administration  (DBA), or the  PhD  in Business Administration or Management. There has recently  been a movement for  evidence-based management .

Larger organizations generally have three  hierarchical  levels of managers,  in a pyramid structure:

• Senior managers , such as members of a  board of directors  and a  chief executive officer  (CEO) or a  president  of an organization. They set the strategic goals of the organization and make decisions on how the overall organization will operate. Senior managers are generally  executive-level  professionals, and provide direction to  middle management , who report directly or indirectly to them.

• Middle managers  - Examples of these would include branch managers, regional managers, department managers and section managers, who provide direction to front-line managers. Middle managers communicate the strategic goals of senior management to the front-line managers.

• Lower managers , such as  supervisors  and front-line  team leaders , oversee the work of regular employees (or volunteers, in some voluntary organizations) and provide direction on their work.

In smaller organizations, a manager may have a much wider scope and may perform several roles or even all of the roles commonly observed in a large organization.

Social scientists  study management as an  academic discipline , investigating areas such as  social organization  and  organizational leadership .

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Definitions

Views on the definition and scope of management include:

• Henri Fayol  (1841-1925) stated: "to manage is to forecast and to plan, to organize, to command, to co-ordinate and to control."

• Fredmund Malik  (1944-) defines management as "the transformation of resources into utility".

• Management is included  as one of the  factors of production  - along with machines, materials and money.

• Ghislain Deslandes  defines management as "a vulnerable force, under pressure to achieve results and endowed with the triple power of constraint, imitation and imagination, operating on subjective, interpersonal, institutional and environmental levels".

• Peter Drucker  (1909–2005) saw the basic task of management as twofold:  marketing  and  innovation . Nevertheless, innovation is also linked to marketing (product innovation is a central strategic marketing issue). Peter Drucker identifies marketing as a key essence for business success, but management and marketing are generally understood  as two different branches of business administration knowledge.

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Front-line managers typically provide:

• Training for new employees

• Basic supervision

• Motivation

• Performance feedback and guidance

Some front-line managers may also provide career planning for employees who aim to rise within the organization.

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Training

Colleges and universities around the world offer bachelor's degrees, graduate degrees, diplomas and certificates in management, generally within their colleges of business, business schools or faculty of management but also in other related departments. In the 2010s, there has been an increase in online management education and training in the form of electronic  educational technology  (also called e-learning). Online education has increased the accessibility of management training to people who do not live near a college or university, or who cannot afford to travel to a city where such training is available.

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Requirement

While some professions require academic credentials in order to work in the profession (eg, law, medicine, engineering, which require, respectively the  Bachelor of Law ,  Doctor of Medicine  and  Bachelor of Engineering  degrees), management and administration positions do not necessarily require the completion of academic degrees. Some well-known senior executives in the US who did not complete a degree include  Steve Jobs ,  Bill Gates  and  Mark Zuckerberg . However, many managers and executives have completed some type of business or management training, such as a  Bachelor of Commerce  or a  Master of Business Administration  degree. Some major organizations, including companies, not-for-profit organizations and governments, require applicants to managerial or executive positions to hold at minimum  bachelor's degree  in a field related to administration or management, or in the case of business jobs, a Bachelor of Commerce or a similar degree.

Undergraduate

See  Business education  Undergraduate education .

At the undergraduate level, the most common business programs are the  Bachelor of Business Administration  (BBA) and  Bachelor of Commerce  (B.Com.). These typically comprise a four-year program designed to give students an overview of the role of managers in planning and directing within an organization. Course topics include accounting, financial management, statistics, marketing, strategy, and other related areas.

There are many other undergraduate degrees that include the study of management, such as  Bachelor of Arts  degrees with a major in  business administration  or management and Bachelor of Public Administration (BPA), a degree designed for individuals aiming to work as  bureaucrats  in the  government jobs . Many colleges and universities also offer certificates and diplomas in business administration or management, which typically require one to two years of full-time study.

Note that to manage technological areas, one often needs an undergraduate degree in a  STEM-area .

Graduate

See  Business education  Postgraduate education .

At the graduate level students aiming at careers as managers or executives may choose to specialize in major subareas of management or business administration such as  entrepreneurship ,  human resources ,  international business ,  organizational behavior ,  organizational theory ,  strategic management ,  accounting ,  corporate finance , entertainment, global management,  healthcare management ,  investment management , sustainability and  real estate .

A  Master of Business Administration  (MBA) is the most popular professional degree at the master's level and can be obtained from many universities in the United States. MBA programs provide further education in management and leadership for graduate students. Other master's degrees in business and management include  Master of Management  (MM) and the  Master of Science  (M.Sc.) in business administration or management, which is typically taken by students aiming to become researchers or professors.

There are also specialized master's degrees in administration for individuals aiming at careers outside of business, such as the  Master of Public Administration  (MPA) degree (also offered as a  Master of Arts  in  Public Administration  in some universities), for students aiming to become managers or executives in the public service and the  Master of Health Administration , for students aiming to become managers or executives in the health care and hospital sector.

Management doctorates are the most advanced  terminal degrees  in the field of business and management. Most individuals obtaining management doctorates take the programs to obtain the training in research methods, statistical analysis and writing academic papers that they will need to seek careers as researchers, senior consultants and / or professors in business administration or management. There are three main types of management doctorates: the  Doctor of Management  (DM), the  Doctor of Business Administration  (DBA), and the  Ph.D.  in Business Administration or Management. In the 2010s, doctorates in business administration and management are available with many specializations.

Good practices

While management trends can change so fast, the long-term trend in management has been defined by a market embracing diversity and a rising service industry. Managers are currently being trained to encourage greater equality for minorities and women in the workplace, by offering increased flexibility in working hours, better retraining, and innovative (and usually industry-specific) performance markers. Managers destined for the service sector are being trained to use unique measurement techniques, better worker support and more charismatic leadership styles.  Human resources finds itself increasingly working with management in a training capacity to help collect management data on the success (or failure) of management actions with employees.

Evidence-based management

Main article:  Evidence-based management

Evidence-based management  is an emerging movement to use the current, best evidence in management and  decision-making . It is part of the larger movement towards  evidence-based practices . Evidence-based management entails managerial decisions and organizational practices informed by the best available evidence. As with other evidence-based practice, this is based on the three principles of: 1) published peer-reviewed (often in management or social science journals) research evidence that bears on whether and why a particular management practice works; 2) judgment and experience from contextual management practice, to understand the organization and interpersonal dynamics in a situation and determine the risks and benefits of available actions; and 3) the preferences and values of those affected.

History

Some see management as a late-modern (in the sense of late  modernity ) conceptualization. On those terms it cannot have a pre-modern history - only harbingers (such as  stewards ). Others, however, detect management-like thought among ancient  Sumerian  traders and builders of the pyramids  ancient Egypt . Slave-owners through the centuries faced the problems of exploiting / motivating a dependent but sometimes unenthusiastic or recalcitrant workforce, but many pre-industrial  enterprises , given their small scale, did not feel compelled to face the issues of management systematically. However,  innovations  such as the spread of  Hindu numerals  (5th to 15th centuries) and the codification of  double-entry book-keeping  (1494) provided  tools  for management assessment, planning and control.

• An organization is more stable if members have the right to express their differences and solve their conflicts within it.

• While one person can begin an organization, "it is lasting when it is left in the care of many and when many desire to maintain it".

• A weak manager can follow a strong one, but not another weak one, and maintain authority.

• A manager seeking to change an established organization "should retain at least a shadow of the ancient customs".

With the changing workplaces of  industrial revolutions  in the 18th and 19th centuries,  military  theory and practice contributed approaches to managing the newly popular  factories .

Given the scale of most commercial operations and the lack of mechanized record-keeping and recording before the industrial revolution, it made sense for most  owners  of enterprises in those times to carry out management functions by and for themselves. But with growing size and complexity of organizations, a distinction between owners (individuals, industrial dynasties or groups of  shareholders ) and day-to-day managers (independent specialists in planning and control) gradually became more common.

Early writing

Management (according to some definitions) has existed for millennia, and several writers have produced background works that have contributed to modern management theories. Some theorists have cited  ancient military texts  as providing lessons for civilian managers. For example, Chinese general  Sun Tzu  in his 6th-century BC work  The Art of War  recommends (when re-phrased in modern terminology) being aware of and acting on strengths and weaknesses of both a manager's organization and a foe's. The writings of influential  Chinese Legalist  philosopher  Shen Buhai  may be considered to embody a rare premodern example of abstract theory of administration.

Various ancient and medieval civilizations produced " mirrors for princes " books, which aimed to advise new monarchs on how to govern.  Plato  described job specialization in 350 BC, and  Alfarabi  listed several leadership traits in AD 900. Other examples include the Indian  Arthashastra  by  Chanakya  (written around 300 BC), and  The Prince  by Italian author  Niccolò Machiavelli  (c. 1515).

Further information:  Mirrors for princes

Written in 1776 by  Adam Smith , a  Scottish  moral philosopher ,  The Wealth of Nations  discussed efficient organization of work through  division of labor.  Smith described how changes in processes could boost productivity in the manufacture of  pins . While individuals could produce 200 pins per day, Smith analyzed the steps involved in manufacture and, with 10 specialists, enabled production of 48,000 pins per day. 

19th century 

Classical economists such as  Adam Smith  (1723–1790) and  John Stuart Mill  (1806–1873) provided a theoretical background to  resource allocation ,  production (economics) , and  pricing  issues. About the same time, innovators like  Eli Whitney  (1765–1825),  James Watt  (1736–1819), and  Matthew Boulton  (1728–1809) developed elements of technical production such as  standardization ,  quality-control  procedures,  cost-accounting , interchangeability of parts, and  work-planning . Many of these aspects of management existed in the pre-1861 slave-based sector of the US economy. That environment saw 4 million people, as the contemporary usages had it, "managed" in profitable quasi- mass production  before  wage slavery  eclipsed chattel slavery.

Salaried managers as an identifiable group first became prominent in the late 19th century. As large corporations began to overshadow small family businesses the need for personnel management positions became more necessary. Businesses grew into large corporations and the need for clerks, bookkeepers, secretaries and managers expanded. The demand for trained managers led college and university administrators to consider and move forward with plans to create the first schools of business on their campuses.

20th century 

At the turn of the twentieth century the need for skilled and trained managers had become increasingly apparent. The demand occurred as personnel departments began to expand rapidly. In 1915, less than one in twenty manufacturing firms had a dedicated personnel department. By 1929 that number had grown to over one-third.  Formal management education became standardized at colleges and universities. Colleges and universities capitalized on the needs of corporations by forming business schools and corporate placement departments. This shift toward formal business education marked the creation of a corporate elite in the US.

By about 1900 one finds managers trying to place their theories on what they regarded as a thoroughly scientific basis (see  scientism  for perceived limitations of this belief). Examples include  Henry R. Towne 's  Science of management  in the 1890s,  Frederick Winslow Taylor 's  The Principles of Scientific Management  (1911),  Lillian Gilbreth 's  Psychology of Management  (1914), Frank  and  Lillian Gilbreth 's  Applied motion study  (1917), and  Henry L. Gantt's charts (1910s). J. Duncan wrote the first  college  management- textbook  in 1911. In 1912  Yoichi Ueno  introduced  Taylorism  to  Japan  and became the first  management consultant  of the "Japanese-management style". His son Ichiro Ueno pioneered Japanese  quality assurance .

The first comprehensive theories of management appeared around 1920. The  Harvard Business School  offered the first  Master of Business Administration  degree (MBA) in 1921. People like  Henri Fayol  (1841–1925) and  Alexander Church  (1866–1936) described the various branches of management and their inter-relationships. In the early-20th century, people like Ordway Tead (1891–1973),  Walter Scott  (1869–1955) and J. Mooney applied the principles of  psychology  to management. Other writers, such as  Elton Mayo  (1880–1949),  Mary Parker Follett  (1868–1933),  Chester Barnard  (1886–1961),  Max Weber  (1864–1920), who saw what he called the "administrator" as  bureaucrat ,  Rensis Likert  (1903–1981), and  Chris Argyris  (born 1923) approached the phenomenon of management from a  sociological  perspective.

Peter Drucker  (1909–2005) wrote one of the earliest books on applied management:  Concept of the Corporation  (published in 1946). It resulted from  Alfred Sloan  (chairman of  General Motors  until 1956) commissioning a study of the  organization . Drucker went on to write 39 books, many in the same vein.

H. Dodge,  Ronald Fisher  (1890–1962), and Thornton C. Fry introduced statistical techniques into management-studies. In the 1940s,  Patrick Blackett  worked in the development of the  applied-mathematics  science  of  operations research , initially for military operations. Operations research, sometimes known as " management science " (but distinct from Taylor's  scientific management ), attempts to take a  scientific  approach to solving decision-problems, and can apply directly to multiple management problems, particularly in the areas of  logistics  and operations.

Some of the later 20th-century developments include the  theory of constraints  (introduced in 1984),  management by objectives  (systematized in 1954),  re-engineering  (early 1990s),  Six Sigma  (1986),  management by walking around  (1970s), the  Viable system model  (1972), and various  information-technology -driven theories such as  agile software development  (so-named from 2001), as well as group-management theories such as  Cog's Ladder  (1972) and the notion of  "thriving on chaos" (1987).

As the general recognition of managers as a class solidified during the 20th century and gave perceived practitioners of the art / science of management a certain amount of prestige, so the way opened for  popularized systems of management ideas  to peddle their wares. In this context many  management fads  may have had more to do with  pop psychology  than with scientific theories of management.

Business management includes the following branches: 

1. financial management

2. human resource management

3. Management cybernetics

4. information technology management  (responsible for  management information systems  )

5. marketing management

6. operations management  and  production  management

7. strategic management

21st century 

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. 

Branches of management theory also exist relating to  nonprofits  and to government: such as  public administration ,  public management , and educational management. Further, management programs related to  civil-society  organizations have also spawned programs in  nonprofit  management and  social entrepreneurship .

Note that many of the assumptions made by management have come under attack from  business-ethics  viewpoints,  critical management studies , and  anti-corporate activism .

As one consequence,  workplace democracy  (sometimes referred to as  Workers' self-management ) has become both more common and more advocated, in some places distributing all management functions among workers, each of whom takes on a portion of the work. However, these models predate any current political issue, and may occur more naturally than does a  command hierarchy . All management embraces to some degree a democratic principle — in that in the long term, the majority of workers must support management. Otherwise, they leave to find other work or go on strike. Despite the move toward workplace democracy, command-and-control organization structures remain commonplace as  de facto  organization structures. Indeed, the entrenched nature of command-and-control is evident in the way that recent layoffs have been conducted with management ranks affected far less than employees at the lower levels. In some cases, management has even rewarded itself with bonuses after laying off lower-level workers.

According to leadership-academic  Manfred FR Kets de Vries , a contemporary senior-management team will almost inevitably have some  personality disorders . 

Nature of work

In profitable organizations, management's primary function is 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 great employment opportunities for employees. In nonprofit management, add the importance of keeping the faith of donors. In most models of management and  governance , shareholders vote for the  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 is rare.

Topics

Basics

According to  Fayol , management operates through five basic functions: planning, organizing, coordinating, commanding, and controlling.

• Planning: Deciding what needs to happen in the future and generating plans for action (deciding in advance).

• Organizing  (or staffing): Making sure the human and nonhuman resources are put into place.

• Commanding  (or leading): Determining what must be done in a situation and getting people to do it.

• Coordinating: Creating a structure through which an organization's goals can be accomplished.

• Controlling: Checking progress against plans.

Basic roles

• Interpersonal: roles that involve coordination and interaction with employees Figurehead, leader

• Informational: roles that involve handling, sharing, and analyzing information Nerve center, disseminator

• Decision: roles that require decision-making Entrepreneur, negotiator, allocator

Skills

Management skills include:

• political: used to build a power base and to establish  connections

• conceptual: used to analyze complex situations

• interpersonal : used to communicate,  motivate , mentor and delegate

• diagnostic: ability to  visualize  appropriate responses to a situation

• leadership : ability to lead and to provide guidance to a specific group

  • cross-cultural leadership : ability to understand the effects of culture on leadership style

• technical:  expertise  in one's particular functional area.

• Behavioral: perception towards others.

Implementation of policies and strategies

• All policies and strategies must be discussed with all managerial personnel and staff.

• Managers must understand where and how they can implement their policies and strategies.

• A plan of action must be devised for each department.

• Policies and strategies must be reviewed regularly.

• Contingency plans must be devised in case the environment changes.

• Top-level managers should carry out regular progress assessments.

• The business requires team spirit and a good environment.

• The missions, objectives, strengths and weaknesses of each department must be analyzed to determine their roles in achieving the business's mission.

• The forecasting method develops a reliable picture of the business' future environment.

• A planning unit must be created to ensure that all plans are consistent and that policies and strategies are aimed at achieving the same mission and objectives.

Policies and strategies in the planning process

• They give mid and lower-level managers a good idea of the future plans for each department in an organization.

• A framework is created whereby plans and decisions are made.

• Mid and lower-level management may add their own plans to the business's strategies.