Monday, August 2, 2010

MANAGEMENT HIERARCHY AND TASK

Hierarchy in an organization is necessary and inevitable.The rationale of the hierarchy must however,be rooted in the requirements of the task.Each level of hierarchy in an organization must have a distinct level of responsibility.If the rationale for a certain level in the management hierarchy is not clear,and its responsibility is not distinct, the managers on these jobs may individually fail to give the expected results.In a situation of this kind,the persons concerned are likely to find faults with each other and pass on responsibility to another.

When superiors and subordinates are required to more or less the same work,the hierarchy would not be accepted.In practical terms,each level of the hierarchy must perform distinct tasks.The tasks at each hierarchy must be diff rent from what is being done at the level below.If the levels are not distinct, the probability exists that some of the levels are not required.The levels of hierarchy must be reviewed to determined how clearly one of different from the others.In the event a clearly defined area of responsibility does not exists between two levels.It is likely that only level is needed. Each level must be given clear responsibility and authority to carry out the assigned tasks because vagueness would be an obstacle for the managers to achieving the results expected of them.

MANAGEMENT FUNCTION AND STAGES OF CORPORATE GROWTH

The functions of management do not remain the same for all the types of organizations,They change in focus,emphasis, and importance with the size of the organizations.As the organization grows in size,management functions also become too complex.we can identify four different stages of corporate growth by following ways:

STAGE I-It represents the case of smaller business unit with one-person operation.There is neither Superior not subordinate in this situation.Hence,there is no body to assist the owner-manager in his or her work.

STAGE II-The owner-manager becomes a player-coach.This situation implies extensive participation of subordinates in the operation of the business.The owner-manager,in this case,has to allocate roles to different individuals,and coordinate their function,in addition to his or her own work.Thus, he or she has to perform all the managerial work bu himself or herself.

STAGE III-An additional level of supervision is added.Once this happens, some of the difficulties may arise.The owner-manager looses direst contact with his or her bottom- the staff.He or she has to work through an intermediate level of management.

STAGE IV-It is the stage of formal organization.This involves increase size and multi-layers organization.The plans,policies,budgets,personnel practices,organizational charts control systems,etc. have to be formulated.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

FUNCTION OF MANAGEMENT

The broad functions of management are : planning,implementation(organizing and directing), and evaluation (control,assessment and feedback).These threes functions of management can be related with the governance sub-systems of an organizations,planning function is related to the legislative sub system, the implementation function is related to the executive sub-system, and the evaluation function is related to the Judical sub-system.These functions of management are follows:

1.PLANNING:Planning is the important function of management .It is the process of determining mission, goals and targets, and the activities necessary to achieve them.Planning formulates the organization's future course of actions.Organizational plans contain the schedule of activities and show the allocation of resources for reaching goals and objectives .The basic purpose of planning is thus,to make the best possible use of organization's resources to attain the goals .There are basically two levels of planning strategic,dealing with the environment,and internal; dealing with activities with in the organization.All managers ate every level do their own planning.The outcome of planning is strategy.The actions or decisions that managers take to achieve goals are strategies.

2. IMPLEMENTATIONS:This function has two major parts.The first is organizing .Organizing involves execution of activities,allocation of resources, and processing information.It also involve the allocation .These divided function,which are similar,are then grouped together to form different units or departments.Organization structure ,staffing,division of work ,assignments of responsibility,work rules,commitment and coordination are integral parts of organizing function.
The second part of implementation is leading .A manager must be able to make employees want to participate actively in achieving an organization's goals.The leading function involves several activities,such as order giving,supervising,directing,motivating and communicating.Leading function is also responsible for an organizational climate that is conductive to superior performances.The outcome of leadership is high level of motivation and commitment among staff members.

3.EVALUATION:Evaluation is simply defined as finding the value of something.It means to assess,estimate and to appraise the achievements.The general methods of evaluation are,measurement, comparison ,judgement and feedback.Thus,control and management audit systems are crucial at this phase.
Controlling involves the evaluation of operating results as compared to the established standards.These evaluation are followed by prompt remedial actions when deviates from standards .Control is required in the areas of sales,costs,profits,output,quality,accidents,labour relations,employees morale, among others.The cornerstone of financial control is the budget,in which accurately set costs and performances standards are incorporated.The outcome of the control process is the ability to measure performances accurately and regulate organizational efficiency and effectiveness.The controlling function also allows managers to evaluate how well they themselves are performing the planning.

PROCESS OF MANAGEMENT

1.LEGISLATIVE SUB-SYSTEM-The legislative sub system consists of formulating goals,polices,common rules,procedure,plan,routines, and budget to given the world relationships in an organizations.This sub-system thus sets the limits (codes of conduct and discipline ) for what the executive sub-system can or cannot do.

2.EXECUTIVE SUB SYSTEM-This sub system con sists of allocating role between managers and operatives and defining the boundary of task performances of each individual.This is a phase of implementing the plans,programmes,political and polices as approved by the legislative sub system.

3.JUDI CAL SUB-SYSTEM-The sub system ensures that the executive sun-systems does indeed function as conceived by the legislative sub-system and also provides the mechanisms to deal with deviations.It identifies the deviations and provide the mechanisms to deal with deviations.It identifies the deviations and provide feed back to the legislative and executive sub-systems of the organization.

PRINCIPLE OF MANAGEMENT

1.MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES-An objectives is an end to be achieved.The objectives of a management system an of its sub-systems must be clearly identified ,defined,and understood.Merely saying where one intends to go does not tale one there;not is saying that one intends to produce some results enough to make it happens.Any confusion or lack of clarity in objectives for specifying objectives clearly is that it enables one to decide how to achieve them.

2.DIVISION OF WORK-Management is an assembly of groups and teams.The work is divided or distributed among the groups and also among members of the group.When there is specialization and division of labour,each member exercise his or her own skills towards achieving the objectives .Management should assign the right(balanced ) proportions and kind of work to groups and employees.It should attempt to bring about a balance among the different groups and employees.

3.SUBSTITUTION OF RESOURCES-Often ,when the resource that are normally used to provide services become scarce or too expensive ,different resources of a different resources or a different balance of the resources may be used to produce the intended results.One particular type of substitution of resource ois labour substitution.

4.SPAN OF CONTROL-For effective supervision and leadership ,the number of subordinates under the immediate supervision of one manager should be limited to manager able number.The span of control,which is also called span of management,can,however be determined depending upon the capacity and skill of the supervisor.

5.DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY-Authority is the right to command or right to act.it indicates the power enjoyed a person to make decision.Individuals in the organizations must be delegated authority commensurate with their assigned responsibilities.Delegating is the one of the aspects of management to facility getting done through others.It takes place when homebody's authority is lent to another.

CHARACTERSTICS OF MANAGEMENT

1.ACHIEVING THE OBJECTIVES-An organization comes into existence to attain certain objectives.Management deals with the achievement of these objectives.A manager's success is measured bu the extent to which these objectives are achieved.Hence,goal setting and goal attainment are the strategic parts of manager;s job.

2.WORKING WITH OTHERS-Organizational goals are achieved with the joint effect of people.Therefore, the managerial challenge lies in work in with people and managing group efforts.Management can provide effectiveness to human efforts only when team or group activities are managed properly.The emphasis or team work is very important.It involves a working environment in which team members interact each other.

3.ATTAINING EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS-Efficiency is the managerial ability to minimize or optimize the use of organizational resources in attain the objectives.Organizations are efficient when managers minimize the amount of input resources an the time to produce a given of goods or services Cost-benefits ratios measure such effacing of management.

4.ADOPTING SITUATIONAL APPROACH-Reg most effective and appropriate way of managing an organization depends upon the particular circumstance of each case .The implications here is that each case will be differ net.Therefore the solution to look for will As different organizations generally have systems and rakes for structures,leadership styles,planning functions,and other management practises.

5.COPING WITH THE ENVIRONMENT-The effectiveness of management also lies in its ability to cope with the changing environment.Thier are several internal an external forces influencing organizations.external environment is the most powerful influence on organizations.The changes taking place in the socio -cultural ,legal ,political ,technological , and economic environment affect organizations in various ways.

DEFINITION OF MANAGEMENT

Managerial skills and competencies are keys to organizational success.Managers play a significant role in facilitating organizational effectiveness.Thus,organizations need managers who have both the insight to see and understand the nature of organizations need managers who have both the insight to see understand the nature of organizational problems , and skills and ability to develop strategies for their survival and growth in the present competitive world.Through their work,managers not only make their organizations more defective and compete,but also contribute to nation's economic development and prosperity.The Job of managers is,undoubtedly,very challenging.

Management principles can be applied at all organizations and at all level of an organization.It is a common mistakes to regard management as a function to be carried only in business,commercial,or profit making enterprises.For the nation to prosper,good management is necessary in all organizations operating in the society.Managing well makes work easier;or improves relations with fellow workers; it improves the services the organizations provides to others; and it makes life and work more rewarding .managing well leads to harmonious work;it lessens the irrational and frustrations that arise from confusion and bad organization.managing well improves the quality of work and makes working life more pleasant and meaningful.Good management is to an organization what health to the body; the smooth efficient functioning of all its parts.
Management has existed ever man has been organized into communities.It is sometimes thought to be an innovation of the twentieth century.But this is not so whenever and where ever people worked together in groups-to grow crops and cattle's to buy sell to fight wars , to build temples,etc there was management.