Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Unit 1 Management
Unit 1 Management
1. What is management?
- In general management is the optimum utilization of available resources to attain certain pre-set
GOALS/OBJECTIVES
- Management is the art of getting things done by a group of people with the effective utilization of available
resources. It is the group of activities, which drafts plans, prepares policies, and arranges men, money,
machines and materials required to achieve the objectives.
- Management is the activity of man who struggles for better living in the complex and competitive world.
Management is the process consisting of the functions of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and
controlling the operations to achieve specified objectives. It rewards those who are engaged in this process to
ensure an excellent performance with continual improvement.
1.2 Management as a Process, coordination, and function
Management as a “Process”:
- McFarland defines management as “A process by which managers create, direct, maintain and operate
purposive organization through systematic, coordinated, cooperative human efforts”.
- An important term in this definition is “Process”. This term emphasizes the dynamic or ongoing nature of
management, an activity over varying span of time. The dynamic nature implies that change is reality of
organizational life. In managing organizations, managers create changes, adopt organizations to changes and
implement changes successfully in their organizations. Businesses fail and become bankrupt because managers
fail in their attempt to cope with the change.
Management as “coordination”:
Donally, Gibson and Ivancevich also support the view of management as a Process but their stress in more on
co-ordination. According to them, “Management is a process by which individual and group effort is
coordinated towards group goals”. In order to achieve goals, coordination is essential and management involves
securing and maintaining this coordination. This coordination effort is also stressed in the definition of Koontz
and O’Donnell. According to them, “Management is a process of designing and maintaining an environment in
which, individuals, working together in groups efficiently and effectively accomplish group goals”.
Authority: have the power to give orders to people
Responsibility → Accountability: responsibility to explain details of what you have to do to achieve goals or
what you have done (trách nhiệm giải trình)
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Management as a “Function”:
There are those who view management as a function rather than a process. Dunn, Stephens and Kelly contend
that “Management is a role which includes a set of duties, responsibilities, and relationships-involved in work
organizations”. These duties and responsibilities constitute the function a manager performs. The duties and
responsibilities a manager performs are quite different from those performed by managerial employees.
Management is getting things done through other people:
A simple definition of management that is often quoted and it sounds very simple. According to this definition,
managers do not do things; they get other people to do things. If managing is an individual ability to get things
done, then it is not a problem. We can plan and perform things according to our own convenience and interests.
When somebody else is involved and we want to get things done through him, there is a difficulty. All sorts of
problems arise; personalities come into contact and conflict. Interpersonal problems crop up. We have to
understand the behavior of other people and must have knowledge as to how to motivate them in order to get
things done through them. We have to consider the conveniences and interest of others also in planning and
implementing things. In getting things done through others, people have to be coaxed, they have to be shown,
they have to inspired, they have to be motivated and this is what management means. These activities are
performed not only by the people at the top but also from the chairman of the board to the front line supervisors
and foremen. They use the above-mentioned methods to get things done through other people.
1.3 Five M’S in the business
Efficient management is the lifeboat of any developed business. There are five M’s in the business, which can
be called as the resources of the business, viz. Man, Machines, Materials and Money as tangible ones and
Method as intangible one.
( 1) Man: Management is the art of getting things done by a group of people. Therefore, the availability of
qualified, trained, skilled, experienced and competent people is the most important factor in any management,
anywhere.
(2) Machines: Management is the art of knowing what you want to do, and then seeing that it is done in the best
and the cheapest way. It is needless to say that availability of capable machines and equipment is a must to do
the things in the best and the cheapest way.
(3) Materials: Quality, quantity, availability, cost/market price and transportation of raw materials, semi-
finished goods and finished goods need no emphasis. It is a clearly a very vital factor in success of management.
(4) Money: Financial capital (vốn) is money used by entrepreneurs and businesses to buy what they need to
make their products or to provide their services to the sector of the economy upon which their operation is
based. Availability of funds for running the business is extremely important particularly for procuring capital
goods, raw materials, tools and consumables (hàng tiêu dùng), and availability of working capital (vốn lưu
động).
(5) Method: If we have to do things in the best and cheapest way, it is also important how the things are
processed. That is, by which method the things are processed. The proper method will ensure required quality,
quantity and in-time delivery. It will ensure the accomplishment of management objectives.
1.4 Who are managers?
- Traditional theory: Top managers ensure the organization’s competitiveness and lower level managers’ and
employees’ job security while lower-level managers and employees implement top management’s strategy with
loyalty and obedience.
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- Contemporary theory: Empowered lower-level managers and employees are responsible for the
organization’s competitiveness and their own development while top management support personnel
development and ensure employability.
Types of managers
(1) Top managers are responsible for developing the organization’s strategy and being a steward for its vision
and mission. A second set of managers includes functional, team, and general managers.
(2) Functional managers are responsible for the efficiency and effectiveness of an area, such as accounting or
marketing.
(3) Supervisory or team managers are responsible for coordinating a subgroup of a particular function or a
team composed of members from different parts of the organization. Sometimes you will hear distinctions made
between line and staff managers
(4) A line manager leads a function that contributes directly to the products or services the organization creates.
For example, a line manager (often called a product, or service manager) at Procter & Gamble (P&G) is
responsible for the production, marketing, and profitability of the Tide detergent product line. A staff manager,
in contrast, leads a function that creates indirect inputs. For example, finance and accounting are critical
organizational functions but do not typically provide an input into the final product or service a customer buys,
such as a box of Tide detergent. Instead, they serve a supporting role.
(5) A project manager has the responsibility for the planning, execution, and closing of any project. Project
managers are often found in construction, architecture, consulting, computer networking, telecommunications,
or software development.
(6) A general manager is someone who is responsible for managing a clearly identifiable revenue-producing
unit, such as a store, business unit, or product line. General managers typically must make decisions across
different functions and have rewards tied to the performance of the entire unit (i.e., store, business unit, product
line, etc.). General managers take direction from their top executives. They must first understand the executives’
overall plan for the company. Then they set specific goals for their own departments to fit in with the plan. The
general manager of production, for example, might have to increase certain product lines and phase out others.
General managers must describe their goals clearly to their support staff. The supervisory managers see that the
goals are met.
1.5 The Nature of Managerial Work
Managers are responsible for the processes of getting activities completed efficiently with and through other
people and setting and achieving the firm’s goals through the execution of five basic management functions:
planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. Both sets of processes utilize human, financial, and
material resources.
Roles of managers
To meet the many demands of performing their functions, managers assume multiple roles. A role is an
organized set of behaviors, consisting of ten roles which are divided into three groups: interpersonal,
informational, and decisional.
The informational roles link all managerial (/ˌmænəˈdʒɪriəl/) work together. The interpersonal roles ensure
that information is provided. The decisional roles make significant use of the information.
The performance of managerial roles and the requirements of these roles can be played at different times by
the same manager and to different degrees, depending on the level and function of management. The ten roles
are described individually, but they form an integrated whole.
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The three interpersonal roles are primarily concerned with interpersonal relationships. In the figurehead role,
the manager represents the organization in all matters of formality. The top-level manager represents the
company legally and socially to those outside of the organization. The supervisor represents the work group to
higher management and higher management to the work group. In the liaison (/liˈeɪzn/; =contact: ngoại giao)
role, the manager interacts with peers and people outside the organization. The top-level manager uses the
liaison role to gain favors and information, while the supervisor uses it to maintain the routine flow of work.
The leader role defines the relationships between the manager and employees.
The direct relationships with people in the interpersonal roles place the manager in a unique position to get
information. Thus, the three informational roles are primarily concerned with the information aspects of
managerial work. In the monitor role, the manager receives and collects information. In the role of
disseminator, the manager transmits special information into the organization. The top-level manager receives
and transmits more information from people outside the organization than the supervisor. In the role of
spokesperson, the manager disseminates the organization’s information into its environment. Thus, the top-
level manager is seen as an industry expert, while the supervisor is seen as a unit or departmental expert.
The unique access to information places the manager at the center of organizational decision making. There are
four decisional roles managers play. In the entrepreneur role, the manager initiates change. In the
disturbance handler role, the manager deals with threats to the organization. In the resource allocator role,
the manager chooses where the organization will expend its efforts. In the negotiator role, the manager
negotiates on behalf of the organization. The top-level manager makes the decisions about the organization as a
whole, while the supervisor makes decisions about his or her particular work unit.
The supervisor performs these managerial roles but with different emphasis than higher managers. Supervisory
management is more focused and short-term in outlook. Thus, the figurehead role becomes less significant and
the disturbance handler and negotiator roles increase in importance for the supervisor. Since leadership
permeates all activities, the leader role is among the most important of all roles at all levels of management.
Practices
Practice 1 Answer the following questions
1. Why do organizations need managers?
2. What are some different types of managers and how do they differ?
3. What are the ten managerial roles?
4. What three areas does a company use to organize the ten roles?
5. What four general managerial functions do principles of management include?
Practice 2 Use ONE most suitable word to complete the text below
Managers are 1___________ for getting work done through others. We typically describe the key managerial
functions as planning, organizing, 2_____________, directing and controlling. The definitions for each of these
have evolved over time, just as the 3___________ of managing in general has evolved over time. This
4___________ is best seen in the gradual transition from the 5___________ hierarchical relationship between
managers and employees, to a climate characterized better as an 6___________ pyramid, where top executives
support middle managers and they, in turn, support the 7___________ who innovate and fulfill the
8___________ of customers and clients. Through all four managerial functions, the work of managers ranges
across ten roles, from 9___________ to negotiator.