What is Management?

Essay 1: What is Management?

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role and function of management in society and the workforce and to look into how it is implemented. Three main questions will be discussed, outlining, ”What is management? aWhat do managers do? And what skills do managers need?” We will define management as a profession, look into what managers undertake and deliver in their daily output of work, different levels of management, and what skills managers need in order to produce the desired beneficial outcome for their organization.

What is Management?

To begin with lets look at management through the last 30 years. In 1980 management was defined by Dale S. Beach, The management of people at work (1980, p5), as ‘The process of utilizing material and human resources to accomplish designated objectives’. Current day, management is defined by Robbins (2011, p7) as ‘The process of getting things done, effectively and efficiently, with and through other people’. It would appear that over the last 30 years that the basis of what management is and its definition hasn’t changed much, apart from the introduction of efficiency and effectiveness, which are quantifiably measureable. It can then be said that modern, current day management is the use of resources efficiently and effectively and that progress in the workplace can be constantly reviewed, measured and improved due to this. Management can then be defined as the continual process of measuring work output based on resource input and the effectiveness of said output on overall goals.

What do Managers do?

If management is doing things effectively and efficiently, then what does the manager actually do to achieve this? It has been widely accepted that Henri Fay...

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...ary Dessler (2004). Management: Principles and Practices for Tomorrows Leaders. 3rd ed. New Jersey: Pearson. p9.

Gary Dessler (2001). Management: Leading people and Organizations in the 21st Century. 2nd ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. p3.

Robbins, Stephen P. (2011). Management: The Essentials. Australia: Pearson. p7-13.

Bob Attrell. (2008). ‘Service Managers Need More Than Just Technical Skills. Toronto Star. Available: http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/ehost/detail?vid=4&sid=db48fedb-a40a-40ec-b679-aacdd0ff78a6%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4206&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=anh&AN=6FP2121059715. Last accessed 7/03/14.

Fred Luthans. (1988). ‘Successful vs Effective Real Managers’. University of Nevada. Available: http://www.be.wvu.edu/divmim/mgmt/blakely/homepage/BADM543Leadership/Summer07/Readings/LeadingvsManaging.htm. Last accessed 7/03/14.