The Processes of Management

1. The Processes of Management

2. Definition of Management • 'the technique, practice, or science of managing or controlling'

3. Areas of Management • General management of the organisation • Marketing • Finance • Production or Service • Personnel/Human Resources • Others (such as Research & Development)

4. Management Pioneers • F W Taylor - Scientific Management • Max Weber - academic approach to managing organisations. • Henri Fayol - listed 5 specific management operations • L F Urwick; whose list of 7 processes are now among the most commonly accepted basic management processes.

5. The Management Processes • Forecasting • Planning • Organising • Motivating • Controlling • Co‑ordinating • Communicating

6. Planning • Assumes alternative courses of action are available • Selection of the best course of action for the conditions which exist • Planning must take into account feedback data from previous plans

7. When planning is complete it should be possible to see: • The total job to be done • The total resources available.

8. Organising Comprises of: • Defining and distributing the responsibilities and duties of various personnel in the organisation. • Recording types of formal relationships that exist between personnel; the pattern of accountability and paths of communication. • The formulation and installation of standard procedures, preferred methods of working and operating instructions.

9. Motivating • This is essentially a social process involving the functions of cultivating morale, inspiring loyalty and producing a climate conducive to the fulfilment of the tasks to be undertaken

10. People are an organisation's most valuable asset • The workforce must have the necessary enthusiasm to work and fulfil the organisations plans • Motivators need to be designed to satisfy the needs of the work force and the organisation; either directly or indirectly.

11. Needs can be divided into: • Economic ‑ Wages, job-security and job-continuity, pensions, and future prospects. • Social ‑ The work environment, relationship with other employees or supervisors, acceptance. • Creative ‑ Achievement, job satisfaction.

12. Controlling • The object of control is to check current achievements against predetermined targets, and adjust deployment of resources to attain desired objectives.

13. A good control system should establish: • Realistic standards in terms of output, cost and quality. • A good system of measuring and checking current performance against plans, goals and objectives. • Action to be taken quickly by someone with the necessary authority. • It should concentrate on essentials, be economical, comprehensive, timely, and acceptable within the organisation.

14. Co-ordination • Co-ordination is the bringing together of people and the activities they perform, in order to achieve maximum efficiency and harmony. • It is an essential product of the organising function and must be achieved throughout the structure of the organisation.

15. Communicating • Communication is a common factor that links the other processes, allowing them to function effectively. • It involves the passing on of plans and instructions from executives to supervisors, the co‑ordination of activities, the control of operations by supervisors, and the feedback of results.

16. It should: • Be a two way process • Provide a medium for the circulation of knowledge, ideas, decisions and reactions, • Permit the free expression of suggestions at all levels of the enterprise • Be concise, unambiguous and clearly understood

17. Discuss the importance of management and the processes that are involved. Exercise