Definition-
In the words of Henry Fayol, “To manage is to forecast and to plan, to organise, to command, to co-ordinate and to control”.
According to Peter F Drucker, “Management is a multi-purpose organ that manages a business and manages managers and manages worker and work”.
In the words of J.N. Schulze, “Management is the force which leads, guides, and directs an organisation in the accomplishment of a pre-determined object”.
In the words of Koontz and O’Donnel, “Management is defined as the creation and maintenance of an internal environment in an enterprise where individuals working together in groups can perform efficiently and effectively towards the attainment of group goals”.
Management simple means to control or to administer. Office management is the method of controlling an office to achieve a given aim. In our modern society, all kinds of business are carried on by a group of people with adequate knowledge in their respective filed. However, a group of people working for a common object must be guided and controlled by a leader or an authority. This is the function of the management. Management is a technique of leadership or control of an office in order to attain the aimed result through the efforts of other people in grouped activities. This is possible only when the office is properly organized and managed. Office function is carried on by a group of people for a common result, by giving services to the organization. The management has to organize the office in such a way to attain the objectives. It is the function of the management to organize, guide, and control the activities of the office personnel. That is why in the present era, personnel management has become a specialized subject.
An analysis of the various definitions of management indicates that management has certain characteristics. The following are the salient characteristics of management:
• Management aims at reaping rich results in economic terms: Manager’s primary task is to secure the productive performance through planning, direction, and control. The management is expected to bring in the desired results. Rational utilization of available resources to maximize the profit is the economic function of a manager. A professional manager can prove his administrative talent by smartly using resources and enhancing profit. According to Kimball, “Management is the art of applying the economic principles that underlie the control of men and materials in the enterprise under consideration”.
• Management also implies skill and experience in getting things done through people: Management is a people- involving job. Profitable returns cannot be expected without enlisting cooperation and securing positive response from “people”. Hiring ones with specialized expertise is the significant aspect of the management. In the words of Koontz and O’Donnell, “Management is the art of getting things done through people in formally organized groups”.
• Management is a process: Management is a process, function or activity. This process continues until the objectives set by administration are actually achieved. “Management is a social process involving coordination of human and material resources through the functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling in order to accomplish stated objectives”.
• Management is a universal activity: Management does not apply to business undertakings only. It is applicable to political, social, religious and educational institutions as well. Management is necessary when group effort is required.
• Management is a science as well as an art: Management is an art because there are definite principles of management. It is also a science because by the application of these principles, predetermined objectives can be achieved.
• Management is a profession: Management is gradually becoming a profession because there are established principles of management being applied in practice, involves specialized training and is governed by ethical code arising out of its social obligations.
• Management is an endeavor to achieve predetermined objectives: Management is concerned with directing and controlling of the various activities of the organization to attain the predetermined objectives. Every managerial activity has certain objectives. Management deals particularly with the actual directing of human efforts.
• Management is a group activity: Management comes into existence only when there is a group activity towards a common objective. Management is always concerned with group efforts and not individual efforts. To achieve the goals of an organization, management- plans, organizes, coordinates, directs, and controls the group effort.
• Management is a system of authority: Authority means power to make others act in a predetermined manner. Management formalizes a standard set of rules and procedure to be followed by the subordinates and ensures their compliance with the rules and regulations. Since management is a process of directing men to perform a task, the authority to extract the work from others is implied in the very concept of management.
• Management involves decision-making: Management implies making decisions regarding the organization and operation of business in different dimensions. The success or failure of an organization can be judged by the quality of decisions taken by the managers. Therefore, decisions are key to the performance of a manager.
• Management implies good leadership: A manager must have the ability to lead and get the desired course of action from the subordinates. According to R. C. Davis, “Management is the function of executive leadership everywhere”. Management of the high order implies the capacity of managers to influence the behaviour of their subordinates.
• Management is dynamic and not static: The principles of management are dynamic and not static. It has to adapt itself according to social changes.
• Management draws ideas and concepts from various disciplines: Management is an interdisciplinary study. It draws ideas and concepts from various disciplines like economics, statistics, mathematics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc.
• Management is goal-oriented: Management is a purposeful activity. It is concerned with notes and the achievement of predetermined objectives of an organization.
• Different levels of management: Management is needed at different levels of an organization namely top level, middle level, and lower level.
• Need of organization: There is the need of an organizational setup for the success of management. Management uses the organization for achieving pre-determined objectives.
• Management need not be owners: Managers don’t need to be the owners of the enterprise. In joint-stock companies, management and owners (capital) are different entities.
• Management is intangible: It cannot be seen with the eyes. It is evident only through the quality of the organization and their results, i.e., profits, increased productivity, etc.
Before trying to understand management, it is essential to understand the meaning and definition of administration which is as follows:
Administration concerns determination of corporate policy, coordination of finance, production and distribution, settlement of the organization’s compass and the ultimate control of the executive.
According to schedule, “Administration is the force which lays down the object for which an organization and its management are to strive and the broad polices under which they are to operate. Management is the force which leads guides and directs an organization in the accomplishment of a predetermined object. Organization is the combination of the necessary human beings, materials, tools, equipment, working space and appurtenances, brought together in systematic and effective correlation, to accomplish some desired object.”
According to Milward, “Administration is primarily the process, an agency used to establish the object or purpose which an undertaking and its staff are to achieve. Secondarily, administration has to plan and stabilize the broad lines or principles which will govern the action. These broad lines are in their turn, usually called policies. Management is the process and the agency through which the execution of policy is planned and supervised. Organization is the process of dividing work into convenient tasks or duties, of grouping such duties in the form of posts of delegating authority to each post and of appointing qualified staff to be responsible that the work is carried out as planned.”
It is known through economics that the factors of production are divided into four- land, labour, capital and entrepreneur. The last one is important under the present study. The entrepreneur is the man who brings together the other factors in a business. The other factors can be called as an organization.
For example- consider a human body. The human body can be compared as an organization. It has various organs- ears to hear, eyes to see, hands to work, legs to walk, etc. Each organ has a specific work. Each of the organs works in coordination with the other organs. All the activities of the different organs combined can be considered as an organization. Finally, there is a top administrator i.e. the brain. Similarly, in business, production department, sales department, personnel department, etc have to do the proper function as directed by the management. The organization may refer to the function of organization or plans carried out through persons. Organization is concerned with and exists when an employee is selected, assigned jobs within his ability to work through a clear understanding. He must understand what he should do, how he should do and when he should do.
Office administration denotes the function of giving birth to major policies on which the enterprise is to be functioned. In a joint- stock company, the Board of Directors makes the major policies and in a partnership firm, partners lay down the policies. In all kinds of business, the function of administration is the same. Making policies is the function of administration.