The concept of Management

There have been many attempts to describe the contents of the “job” of management. It has been considered to be a separate activity from the technical functions of production, marketing and finance. Various economists separated it from other factors of production (land, labour and capital). The other economists also agreed with the idea that management was a separate entity, being concerned with innovation as well as administration.

In recent years, management deals with a number of variable that are dependent upon each other. These variables will surely increase as companies grow more complex and it will then become more difficult to trace the side-effect of a change in dealing with a specific are of management responsibility.

There are many problems to be solved. Some people try to solve them by considering changes in the structure of organizations and the locations of authority and responsibility. Others hope to do it by improving the quality of decisions by new technological ideas and the use of modern methods of data processing. Yet another group expects to solve the same problem by concentrating on human relations. 

The vital point to be considered is that the structural, technological and human aspects cannot be separated as they all interact. For example, if a firm changes from a functional to a product grouping, problems of interpersonal relations occur. This may in turn affect the techniques of control (i.e. new financial systems may be needed). A knowledge of the above fact should enable a manager to understand that it may not be easy to find a simple answer to a problem but, by acknowledging this fact and using available knowledge wisely, answers can be much more accurate and effective.

The development of any science needs a conceptual framework of theory and principle. Principles of management have existed for a long time, but an acceptable framework to encompass them was needed.  A management principle distils and organizes knowledge that has been built up through experience and analysis. Management is far from being an exact science at present but, by understanding and applying accepted principles, the quality of management will never become wholly an exact science as personal judgment will always be needed to supplement available knowledge, therefore, as practice, management will always be an art.