Function of management

INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT:

Management indicates to the managing the internal as well as external environment of any company in order to obtain some target by working either individually or in a group.

Similarly, according to the management guru Peter Drucker, “the basic task of management is two fold: Marketing and innovation”

(Ref: http://www.businesdictionary.com/deinition/management.htm)

FUNCTION OF MANAGEMENT:

Every organisation and company goes through the five functions in order to run their company in a smooth manner and they are as follows:

Overall, we can say first of all every company set their objectives towards the destiny. That means planning is done before doing organising.
Later on, organising is done in a team to get the target in a combined effort. The main purpose of organisation is to create the environment of motivation.
After that staffing is done. It means recruiting, selecting and planning of the career. This really increases the high productivity.
Another main function is leading. Leading means handling the situation and it is done by the manager to encourage the employee to perform their work in a disciplined manner.
Last but not the least, controlling is one of the important functions of management because controlling can only maintain the environment of every company and checked whether the plan is systematic or not.

(Ref: koontz. H, Weihrich. H, 2005, P.26-27)

Hence, management plays the vital role in every field

MANAGER AND THEIR FUNCTION:

Managers are those people bearing all the responsibilities of the company by taking the decision and performing the action to make the clear outlay of work.

All managers conduct their managerial function along with the time management. There are actually two types of managers and they are of top level and the lower level. Top level managers spend more time for the management than the lower level managers.

Fig: Time spend in carrying out managerial function

(Ref: koontz. H, Weihrich. H, 2005, P.6-7)

We all know that the manager is the strong pillar of every company. They work for maximising the profit and maintain the internal as well as external environment of any company. Manager always want to make surplus in the company by managing the activities in the company.

The functions of management and the managers are actually the same because manager also involves in staffing, leading, controlling, planning and organising.

Manager should have the important skills in order to run any company. Some skills are as follows:

Technical skills
Interpersonal skills
Conceptual skills
Diagnostic skills
Communication skills
Decision-making skills
Time-management skills

(Ref: Griffin. W.Ricky, 2009, P. 28-29)

THINKERS OF MANAGEMENT:

Many more great thinkers have been borne in this world contributing a lot for us in the field of management. Some of them are described below:

v MICHAEL PORTER:

Michael Porter is the “founder of competitive advantages of Nation”. He has given the diamond model and also provided the five forces which are known as the Porter's five forces. His diamond model is actually used for major geographic sectors such as land, location, Natural resources etc.

Porter's Five Forces Diagram

Supplier Power

Barriers to entry Rivalry Threat of Substitutes

Degree of rivalry

Buyer Power

(Ref: http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/porters htm/)

HENRI FAYOL:

Henri Fayol is known as the “father of modern management theory”. He has divided the activities in to six groups and they are: technical, commercial, financial, security, accounting and managerial.

He has also provided the theory of bureaucracy. He has also given the 14 principles of management and they are:

Division of work
Authority
Discipline
Unity of command
Unity of direction
Sub ordination of individual
Remuneration
Centralization
Scalar chain
Order
Equity
Stability of tenure of personnel
Initiative
Esprit de corps.

(Ref: www.12manage.com/methods_fayol_14 principle_of_management.htm/)

Since we are getting assignment to do, so for this assignment I am going to discuss about two famous thinkers and they are:

F.W.Taylor

Elton Mayo

F.w.Taylor:

F.W Taylor is known as the “father of scientific management”. He always concentrates in his work in order to increase the effectiveness in the work then the efficiency. He has given many principles regarding scientific management and they are as follows:

Development of real science regarding the work of each person.

The scientific selection, training and development of the workers.

Work should be done with the co operation among the workers as well as according to the instruction given.

There should be the division of the work and responsibility in between the workers and the team of management.

(Ref: Mullins. J. Laurine, 6th edition 2002, Financial Times Pit man Publication, P.55)

Elton Mayo:

“Elton Mayo” (1880-1949) is the leader of the researchers. He has fully dedicated his work based on the human relation movement since he gave more focus to the characters of the workers in the company. He has given various experiment in the view of managing the human relation in the good manner because he believe that only the familiar relation among the managers and the workers in the company can emerge with the effectiveness in the work. This can only lead every company in the path of success.

(Ref: Mullins. J. Laurie. 6th edition, 2002, P. 64)

There are actually four main phases of “Hawthorne Experiments” which was conducted during (1927-1932) and they are:

Illumination experiments
Relay assembly test room
The interviewing programme
Bank wiring observation room.

Overall, in his Hawthorne experiment, for the illumination experiments he had divided the workers in the two groups and they were experimental group and the control group where the productivity was increased in the control group. Likewise, in the case of relay assembly due to the division of 13 periods work was effectively done with the implementation of friendly environment among the workers and the manager. In the same way, experiment regarding the interviewing of workers also helps the Mayo to know that respecting and understanding the employee's feelings, emotions really encourages the employee to work in company with the full dedication. Moreover, bank wiring among the 14 men also suggested that team work is very much effective and it can only raise the productivity level in the company.

(Ref: Mullins. J. Laurine, 6th edition 2002, Financial Times Pit man Publication, P. 64-65)

So I am taking the theory of “Elton Mayo”

The case given to us is about the redundancies that should be implemented regarding the current financial downturn in the economy. In this case, manager is actually trying to make over his downturn of the economy by reducing the unnecessary expenses.

Here we can see that to maintain the company's economic condition, manager is planning to cut the facilities of stationery, hospitality, internet since many workers are getting involved in face book, social networking and the games websites. Yes, it is good to cut down the unnecessary facilities like internet if it is not useful but it is not good to cut the stationery and hospitality facility because it is really essential. He also believe that freezing the salary is helpful to recover the economy crisis but that's not the nice idea because it is not digested by the workers and in order to operate any company in the smooth manner there must be the mutual relationship between the workers and the managers.

According to the Mayo only the good relationship can be established if the manager understands the feelings and the emotions of the workers because every person has his feelings and desire so if any one respect his emotions and spirit then that person get motivation. As a result, there will be high productivity which means the great achievement. Therefore, here the manager have to understand their workers feelings also.

Similarly, Mayo has said that team work is the effective way to complete every work. A combined effort means easiness in the work completion because of the more hand and brain. Not only that, it will also create the friendly environment in the company among the workers as well as manager which seems to be fruitful for the company. It is because if there is mutual relation among the employee and the workers then workers will surely obey the manager's instruction. For e.g. in this case also if there was the good relation between them then the employee will not have spent their time in face book and game instead of it they would have work with the full dedication in the company. Thus, it is important to have good relationship between the workers and the employees in the given case.

Mayo also said that workers does not want only the money, he also want the reward for his good doing works. This type of act actually encourages the workers. Every manager should follow this policy to have the good going company.

For e.g. if manager provide the reward to any worker if he done the great job then in the other workers are also motivated to perform the good work in order to get the reward next time.

Mayo always believed in encouraging and motivating the workers. His all experiment is based on the “Management Theory” which always provides the knowledge and ideas to maintain the good term between the managers and the employee.

(Ref: From the theory of Elton mayo mentioned in above book)

CONCLUSION

Hence, I think the application of Mayo's theory is relevant and it should be followed by all the company specially the manager in the view of managing the workers. This is the 21st century and in this era every company want to gain reputed status. So, to have the reputed status company should have the proper management. This proper management implies the good relation between the workers and every worker should work with the full dedication. This can only be happen if the workers feelings and emotions are understood by the managers. Increasing only the wages do not mean that. Understanding feelings emotions as well as rewarding for the good work can only make the employees happy which means there will be effective work with the high efficiency and it can obviously helps the company to walk in the path of development. It is because the workers play the vital role to uplift the company. So, there must be good and friendly atmosphere between the workers and the managers.

Last but not the least, unnecessary rumours should be discarded because that may really discourage the workers. Instead of doing this, manager should come out with the positive thoughts and views in order to motivate the employee because employee are also one of the strong pillar of the company and that must be well cared by the manager during management