Various Definitions of Management (IEM Mgt 19April 2021)

Various Definitions of Management:

Management is defined in several ways depending on the purposes of the author. A number of definitions advanced by various experts can be put under the following categories:

 

1. Productivity or Efficiency-Oriented Definitions

2. People Oriented Definitions

3. Decision-making and Leadership Oriented Definitions

4. Result and Goal-Oriented Definitions

5. Functional or Process Oriented Definitions

 

Some of the important definitions of these categories are discussed below:

 

I. Productivity or Efficiency-Oriented Definitions

These definitions think of managers as important resources of production. Management is also valuable from a national viewpoint.

 

F.W. Taylor, who is called the father of scientific management, defines management as "the art of knowing what you want to do and then seeing that it is done in the best and cheapest way." He asserted that management consists of 75 per cent of analysis and 25 per cent common sense.

 

William F. Glueck has defined management as “the effective utilisation of human and material resources to achieve the enterprise's objectives."

These definitions ignore the “human side" of management.

 

II. People-Oriented Definitions

Recently, a lot of emphasis has been given to the “human aspect of management. In fact, the main subject of management is 'man'.

 

Lawerance Appley defines “Management is personnel administration." At another place, he writes, "Management is the development of people and not the direction of things". He further states, "Working satisfactorily with people is not part of the management job it is the entire job."

 

III. Decision-making and Leadership Oriented Definitions

Decision making and leadership are yet another important dimensions of management. This is the reason why some experts have defined management from this angle.

Ross Morre states "Management means decision-making."

 

Stanley Vance defines "In essence management is simply the process of decision-making and control over the action of human beings for the express purpose of attaining pre-determined goals.”

 

Some writers think of management as a kind of leadership - a leadership of ideas, knowledge, power and relationships. Thus. Davis has defined management as “Management is the function of executive leadership anywhere."

 

According to Prof. Clough, “Management is the art and science of decision-making and leadership”.

These definitions do not explain the whole nature of management

 

IV. Result or Goal-Oriented Definitions

Some writers define management as a result or goal-oriented activity. Mary Parker Follett defines, “Management is the art of getting things done through people.”

 

According to Lawrence Appley, “Management is the accomplishment of result through the efforts of other people.”

 

In the words of Harold Koontz, “Management is the art of getting things done through and with informally organized group.”

 

These definitions call attention to the basic difference between manager and other personnel in an organization. A manager is one who contributes to the firm's goals indirectly by directing the efforts of others.

 

V. Functional or Process-Oriented Definitions

Most of the writers have defined management in terms of functions it performs and jobs it undertakes. French writer Henri Fayol stated that “Management is a process of functions."

 

Some important definitions of functional nature are as under

Henri Fayol writes, “To manage is to forecast and to plan, to organize, to command, to coordinate and to control."

 

According to George R Terry, "Management is a distinct process consisting of planning, organising, actuating, and controlling, utilizing in each both science and art, and followed in order to accomplish pre-determined objectives."

 

Dalton E. McFarland defines management as “the process by which managers create, direct, maintain, and operate purposive organizations through coordinated, cooperative human effort."

These definitions imply that

(a) Management is dynamic.

(b) Management activities are continuous. Management process is on-going and unceasing.

(c) Management is universal.

(d) A primary task of managers is to perform.

 

After analyzing the above definitions, we may conclude that process-oriented view provides the best explanation of the real nature of management. To sum up, management is the social process of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling the work and resources for the achievement of organizational goals in a dynamic environment.