Essay on Management: Top 10 Essays

Read this essay to learn about Management. After reading this essay you will learn about:- 1. Introduction to Management 2. Characteristics of Management 3. Levels 4. Importance 5. Objectives 6. Approaches 7. Challenges.

List of Essays on Management

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Essay Contents:

1. Essay on the Introduction to Management
2. Essay on the Characteristics of Management
3. Essay on the Levels of Management
4. Essay on the Importance of Management
5. Essay on the Management Objectives
6. Essay on the Approaches to Management
7. Essay on the Challenges Faced by Management

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Essay # 1. Introduction to Management:

Management is concerned with direction and control over the various activities and work for the attainment of the objectives laid by the administration. As per W.R. Spriegal manage­ment is an executive function, which is mainly concerned with carrying out the policies laid by the administration.

In any organisation there is a group of persons who manage its affairs for the attainment of its objectives. Management is the primary force within the organisation which tends to lead it towards the group goals. Persons working in an organisation need some system (which may be termed as management) to direct the activities of the organisation so that resources may be effectively utilised.

It is the management which plans, organises, coordinates and controls the affairs of the organisation. It brings all the resources (men, materials, machines and money) together and motivates the persons working in the organisation for the achievement of organisational objectives.

Management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims. This applies to all organisations and all levels, and is concerned with productivity, effectiveness and efficiency by performing various managerial functions, namely planning, organising, staffing, directing, and controlling.

Success of managerial functions depend upon two basic factors, firstly technical knowledge and skills, and secondly how to deal with human beings.

Management is Science and Art:

Management is a science in the sense, that it adopts a systematic approach through knowledge acquired by continuous and vigorous efforts in the field of management science. Management is an art, as it is an application of some skills to achieve the desired results. It is an art because it utilises the talent of the people, and also because it manages the human beings.

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Essay # 2. Characteristics of Management:

Following are some of the characteristics of good management:

1. To maintain discipline and to keep control over the employees of various sections.

2. To distribute work and machines among the workers in such a way so as to secure maximum output.

3. To keep co-ordination among the staff at various levels.

4. To improve efficiency, management keeps sufficient watch and strict inspection.

5. To suggest new ideas and improvements.

6. To arrange for the efficient storing and recording.

7. To make the arrangement of payments and their records etc.

8. To provide good training to staff for attaining high skill in all fields.

9. To impart the instruction timely and to provide consistent guidance.

10. By adhering to high standards of performance it must be able to provide facilities and wages to the workers and reduce the prices.

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Essay # 3. Levels of Management:

The term of management have three classifications:

1. Top Level Management:

It consists of Managing Director or General Manager and other high rank officers such as Deputy General Manger etc. They are the chief-men or heads in the concern.

2. Middle Level Management:

Different departmental heads such as Purchase Officer, Production Superintendent, Chief Store Officer, and Works Manager Etc. come under middle level. They are responsible for top management on one hand and on the other hand they have to control and supervise over the lower level management staff.

3. Lower Level Management:

It consists of Foremen, Supervisors, Inspectors, Charge-men and Office Superintendent and such other staff. They are just above the operational staff and their function is to get the work done from operational staff according to the instructions of middle management based on the policies or objectives decided by the top level management.

Managerial Skills for Different Levels of Management:

Managerial skills are the skills required of a successful manager. These can be viewed from the differing emphasis placed by various management thoughts. According to management science group, he is a decision maker and should use mathematical models and computers to help in arriving at optimum decisions. Behavioural scientists emphasise on the leadership and motivational skills.

Managerial skills can be classified as follows:

1. Technical Skills:

He should have proficiency in handling methods, processes and tech­niques required for his job.

2. Conceptual Skills:

He should be able to see the entire organisation, and recognise inter-relationship among different functions and should be able to guide effectively to his subor­dinates for organisational goals. Technical skills are required more for lower level managers, while conceptual skills are more for top managements, as shown in Fig. 2.1.

Conceptual skills are decision making skills and orgnisational skills. Decision making skills is the ability of a person to take timely and accurate decisions, while organisational skill helps to select and post different people at work best suited for them.

3. Human Relation Skills:

This is the ability of the manager to work effectively with others and build cooperation in his team so as to achieve organisational goals. For this purpose, he should have communicating skills, motivating skills and leadership skills.

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Essay # 4. Importance of Management:

A scientific management is most essential as it fulfills the following necessities:

1. It maintains discipline by keeping proper control over the employees of various de­partments.

2. It distributes the work and machines among the workers in such a way so as to secure maximum output.

3. It keeps co-ordination among the staff at various levels.

4. It improves efficiencies, as it keeps sufficient watch and strict inspection.

5. It suggests new ideas and improvements.

6. It arranges for the efficient storing and recording.

7. It makes arrangement for payment on scientific basis and to keep their records prop­erly.

8. It develops means of marketing and publicity.

9. It gives due importance to labour grievances and study their psychology of the pur­pose of maintaining the good human relations and for achieving the goals.

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Essay # 5. Management Objectives:

Organizations are created by their members as a means for satisfying their personal objec­tives, but organizations also have objectives, other than the members’ objectives. An organiza­tion can also exist when it achieves both types of objectives, first its own and then of members. Thus organizational or management objectives give purpose and meaning of the organization.

Importance of Management Objectives:

The importance of well-defined objectives is well recognized, such as:

1. Objectives serve as reference points for the efforts of management.

2. Objectives are needed for coordinating effort.

3. For co-ordination the first step is to state the objectives, the organization desires to achieve.

4. The organization that wishes to compete effectively and grow, must continually re­new its objectives.

5. Management objectives are the ends towards which all organizational action is di­rected.

6. Management objectives define the destination of the organisation, they move forward as rapidly as they are attained.

7. Well-defined management objectives are similar to a star which can be used for navi­gation by ships and airplanes.

For the determination of the objectives of a concern, large number of complex questions is to be decided. What is to be produced and how is to be produced are very simple matters. Other questions may either be related to the internal structure of the concern.

Following are some of the factors which must be considered for establishing the company’s objectives:

1. Government rules and regulations and other government control like, taxes, restric­tions, price control etc.

2. Political atmosphere.

3. Personnel available.

4. Level of productivity.

5. Total expected demand.

Objectives of a concern are determined by Board of directors. Main object of management is to secure the maximum prosperity of the employer which means a state of highest productivity.

While for the employees it means the development of each person to his highest state of effi­ciency through proper training and taking proper work from him. Objectives determination is concerned with establishing the targets for all levels of staff.

Objectives are needed in every area where performance directly and vitally affects the sur­vival and prosperity of the business. The areas in which objectives of performance have to be set are market standing, innovation, productivity, financial and physical resources, profitabil­ity, managerial performance and attitude, public responsibility etc.

As per latest thinking objectives for the management are set in order to increase manage­rial efficiency by following logical techniques, the existing rating system, which use rating for measuring objectives such as good, better, normal, outstanding, describe manager’s personality rather than measure for his productivity. The objectives for managers use quantitative ap­proach to deal actual results than traditional rating system.

Management by objectives places great importance on defining of responsibilities and thereby establishing targets. For this purpose managerial performance is measured objectively and quantitatively by using statements of responsibility which have a very specific targets. The individual manager becomes familiar with the expectations from him by contributing to the achievement of company goals.

The objectives set for the managers are useful when the interest of both the manager and the company are taken into account. For the company, objectives should measure performance in terms of contribution to profits and other significant goods. For the managers, objectives must be such that they can be understood by the manager, and they are attainable with the authority he exercises.

Performance objective programmes must be designed in such a way that they can easily be adaptable to changing conditions.

Performance Objectives should be Realistic:

There had been a disappointment in the past because none of the techniques for perfor­mance measurement was fool-proof. For deciding performance objectives some thought should be given to the relationship between the company and manager, and the authority of manager.

Performance objective is a statement describing the conditions that will exist when a job is being done. The statement includes measure to determine clearly the extent to which the objec­tive is to be achieved. An example of an objective is “scrap loss will not be more than A per cent of the total value of the material used.”

Important aspect of performance objectives is that this should have clear relation with company goals. Some of the concepts which are of significance for the manager and company as well, and should be incorporated in the objective are savings, costs, over-heads, profits, sales etc.

Normally a rating of objectives is fixed to provide suitable coverage of manager’s responsi­bilities. To assess his overall achievements, relative values are assigned for each objective, depending upon their importance over each other. Hence if a manager has done very well in objectives having a high value but not too well in objectives of lesser importance, his assessment for overall achievement would be considered quite well.

Basic idea of performance objectives is, therefore, to provide a systematic method of mea­surement to indicate how well or how poorly each manager is doing. To know his role, a man­ager should have objectives which he and his boss understand and agree on and which the manager can relate to company goals. These objectives will provide, a manager, with the great­est satisfaction.

The performance objective also provides satisfaction to the manager’s boss. Manager’s boss also does not want uncertainty as to what his subordinates are supposed to do or how well they are doing it.

Principles for Setting Objectives:

Following are the principles for setting objectives:

1. Manager and his boss determine the objectives jointly.

2. Objectives set must be able to modify if conditions change substantially.

3. Appraisal of performance is done by comparing results attained with agreed upon objectives.

4. Results depending upon the unpredictable circumstances, which affect the ability of manager to attain any objective, may also be considered.

5. Get good coverage of the manager’s job to avoid loop-holes.

6. Objectives set should be meaningful and realistic in terms of company goals, and important results expected from manager’s job.

7. Number of objectives must be limited.

8. Objectives must focus on the job, not the man.

9. Objectives must be set at high level, so as to get better results than that achieved last year. But the level must not be so high which is impossible to achieve.

10. Objectives must be stated in a language that managers will understand.

11. Give more weightage to the most important objectives.

Some Typical Examples of Objectives:

1. Decrease the hours required for producing the item by X per cent.

2. To increase the efficiency for productive labour (ratio of actual hours to standard hours) by X per cent.

3. Overtime should not exceed X per cent of total hours.

4. More than X% of total productive hours should not be spent on rework.

5. Total scrap loss must be under X per cent of total material.

6. Items rejected must be under X per cent of total acceptable units produced.

7. Keep hours of absentee with pay below X per cent of total productive hours.

8. There will be no lost time by accident.

9. The new business of Rs. X shall be obtained in the year in the Zone ‘A’.

10. (a) Sales overheads, including sales efforts, market research, advertisement, training etc. not to exceed X per cent of the volume of new business.

(b) Increase overall sales volume by X per cent.

11. No procurement of items having more than 6 months stock on hand.

12. Increase production of A’ units by X per cent.

13. Find dependable, stable and economical sources of raw material.

14. Increase production of export quality and promote sales in foreign market by X per cent.

15. Reduce operating cost by X per cent, through mechanisation of operations.

Minimum number of objectives must be set:

A good performance objective programme for managers must include minimum number of objectives but with more specific targets. This makes the programme easy to administer, easy for the manager to have a better grasp over the objectives, and eliminate the vagueness and unreality.

Types of Objectives:

There are many ways to categories performance objectives, but most meaningful and useful categories which can be made are:

(i) Direct objectives, and

(ii) Indirect objectives.

1. Direct objectives:

These are those objectives which pertain to tasks in which perfor­mance can be measured directly and quantitatively. These are measured in terms of results. Manager’s performance in respect of quality and quantity of output, which can be measured directly are dealt in this category. Examples of this category ire reduction of cost, improvement in sales and profits, increase in turnover.

2. Indirect objectives:

These objectives pertain to the characteristics of the manager him­self. These are related to his technical or administrative skills, his personal traits and behaviour. Indirect objectives include his attitudes, his motivation, his leadership qualities, his health and his stamina.

These are the qualities which are not possible to measure although they are of importance while setting of objectives for complete measurement of manager’s objectives. These indirect objectives are graded in terms of objective rating system, rather than measuring in terms of results.

For complete coverage of managerial objectives generally a balance between direct and indirect objectives is taken.

As already explained, direct objectives measure results, while indirect objectives measure managerial skills required for discharging his duties.

Following are some of the indirect objec­tives regarding managerial abilities:

Managerial Abilities:

Some of the important and frequently used indirect objectives about managerial abilities are:

(i) Leadership ability

(ii) Integrity

(iii) Technical skill

(iv) Administrative ability

(v) Intelligence

(vi) Initiative

(vii) Resourcefulness

(viii) Judgment

(ix) Ability to organise

(x) Tactfulness

(xi) Ability to organise

(xii) Physical health and stamina

(xiii) Ability to develop other man and motivate subordinates

(xiv) Spirit of co-operation

(xv) Ability to plan, and 

(xvi) Reliability.

How to Measure Indirect Objectives:

Till recently rating system was used to measure these indirect objectives. In the rating system these objectives are rated in terms of excellent, very good, good, average, poor, very poor etc. Now-a-days the technique of measurement for these indirect objectives is based on a numerical scale. In this technique a value of 100 is assigned for excellent performance of that ability.

This excellent performance is defined clearly in words as performance objective and agreed to by the manager and his boss. When the 100 point level of performance is clearly defined, there is no difficulty in driving a series of definitions for several other levels of work above and below excellent. The values are then assigned with reference to this value of 100 point for the defined excellent performance.

Value Objectives:

The values are assigned to each objective on the basis of the importance of the related company goals, the degree of difficulty of achieving the various objectives. This method is a refinement of the performance objectives and is a new approach. Thus this is a method of modifying, adjusting and updating objectives by reviewing or revising the objectives quarterly or monthly.

The annual objectives retain their importance as a guideline, but relative values of these objectives may be changed during monthly or quarterly review from the point of view of relative importance. This helps the boss to communicate his manager as to what degree of efforts should be made for each objective.

In the value objectives methods, the boss and manager jointly determine and assigns the value for each target, considering the relative importance of each objective for the entire year. Thereafter every month or every quarter the boss and the manager jointly determine if the values previously decided are appropriate, otherwise if felt necessary the values are changed but the total of values for all the objectives, must always be equal to 100.

Harmony of Objectives:

Harmony of objectives means to harmonise the ‘primary and ‘collateral’ objectives. Man­agement is to put this theory into practice for attaining two goals. Primary objectives are the producing and selling of products or services, thus these are in the interest of the business. While collateral objectives are the financial rewards and job satisfaction for the individuals.

These two types of objectives must have positive link e.g., status of individual, satisfaction in the work performed, pride in belonging to a particular concern, feeling of justice from the management, are all cases of harmonisation of objectives. Thus each manager is required to understand the requirements of each individual and the group as a whole.

Harmony of objectives reconciles the objectives of the business and those of the employees, so that they both aim for a common goal. Thus it inspires the persons to work hard. For know­ing the individual objectives, it is essential to understand their basic needs from psychological aspects.

These basic needs are following:

1. Physiological Needs:

These are the necessities of food, cloth and shelter. These needs must be fulfilled so as to keep worker worry-less. Worker also desires a guarantee that these needs will also be met in future.

2. Safety Needs:

An employee also wants security for his job and protection against dan­ger and threat.

3. Social Needs:

Main social desires of a man are reputation, confidence, appreciation, status, independence and strength. These needs can be recognised by providing the participa­tion of employees in the organisation.

4. Self-realisation Needs:

Man desires that he should be put to such job for which he is fit. A person will not remain happy on the post which is lower than that for which he is suited.

Factors for the Achievement of Harmony of Objectives:

Following are some of the important factors which affect the harmonisation of objectives:

1. Leadership:

For the harmonisation of objectives, a manager and a foreman must have all the properties of a good leader, i.e. intelligence, good technical knowledge, managerial skills, maturity, loyalty and drive. A manager, who is very successful in the plant having no union, may find himself in difficulty in the plant having one or more unions. To overcome these difficulties, he must possess the properties of a good leader.

2. Sound Organisation:

Workers who are working together tend to form their own groups and it leads to the formation of variety of relationships. It is very essential to recognise this informal relationship as well as the formal organisation. Therefore, a manager or a for man must learn this informal relationship for effective management and he has to take the two together and harmonise them to work for the common goal.

For knowing informal relation it is necessary to recognise the unofficial leader (as official leaders are managers or foreman), who commands the labour. A good communication system helps in understanding the views and attitude of each other.

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Essay # 6. Approaches to Management:

(A) Functional Approach to Management:

Henry Fayol (1841-1925):

Henry Fayol, a French industrialist and Manager, was one of the first writers who devel­oped his theory of management. He is regarded as the Father of modern management theory, because he was the first who suggested the functions of management. These functions have been recognised as the main tasks of manager in modern management theories.

Management thoughts of Fayol can be classified into following three categories:

1. Functions of Management:

(i) Forecasting:

As soon as an idea comes in the mind for manufacturing, and attempt is made to assess possible quantities, price etc. Forecasting is concerned with the estimation of quantities, the sales forecast, cost, finance problems, capital expendi­ture, profit or loss alternatives available and planning is started.

(ii) Planning:

Planning means “thinking before doing”. Before actual work is started, it is decided that, what is to be produced, how much is to be produced, how to be pro­duced, when to be produced and who are to produce it, etc. The planning should aim at eliminating the wastage of material, idleness of men, machinery and capital.

(iii) Organizing:

When complete planning is done, next step is to arrange the men, money and material, for actual execution of manufacture.

(iv) Directing:

It means the system of directing the plan to operation. The person who directs must have dynamic leadership and must guide the subordinates. The instruc­tions must be simple, clear, complete and as far as possible in writing.

(v) Motivating:

Suppose a person is a highly capable, physically strong and technically qualified, but if he is not willing to work hard his output will be much less. So the function of the motivating is to find out the motives of work in a man and then he should be encouraged to do work by keeping his moral high.

(vi) Coordinating:

In an enterprise, there may be large number of workers, all engaged with the object of producing particular product. This is the task of co-ordination to integrate and harmonise them to achieve a common object.

(vii) Controlling:

It is the function of the management to see that other functions are being done perfectly alright. Controlling means to watch actual performance with the plans and to point out defective work, to rectify them and to prevent recurrence. Some of the controls are Quality Control, Cost Control, Material Control and Production Control etc.

(viii) Communication:

This function transmits the information and instructions to all concerned parties, i.e., to employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders and to gen­eral public. Without this there are chances of mistrust, fears etc. and therefore man­agement must stress on better communication system.

Communication must include the acceptance of good ideas coming from the persons who are direct in touch with practical use. Therefore, for sound communication, joint consultations and works committees must be formed for free exchange of views.

(ix) Leadership:

All the managers are supposed to have the quality of leadership as they are leaders of concern.

(x) Decision Making:

As managers are required to take decisions very frequently, and the efficiency of the concern, loss or profit etc. are affected by these decisions, great amount of attention is required to be paid to this function.

2. Principles of Management:

Fayol, the founder of the movement for better organisation, in 1916 gave the following principles of management:

(i) Division of Work:

It promotes efficiency, because it permits the work to be executed in limited space or area. Division of work permits all the work to be performed more effectively.

(ii) Authority and Responsibility:

Authority and responsibility always go together. Authority means “right to act, decide and command”. Hence whenever a task is as­signed to a manager, he must be given sufficient powers (i.e. authority) to exercise control to achieve the task.

Responsibility is the obligations of a subordinate for the performance of any job allotted by the superior.

(iii) Discipline:

It means obedience, application, energy and respect. There are many examples that poor performance is due to the lack of these four mentioned factors or say discipline.

(iv) Unity of Command:

A subordinate should take orders from only one superior. If not, then according to Fayol authority is undetermined, discipline is in jeopardy, or­ders disturbed and stability threatened.

(v) Unity of Direction:

According to Fayol, each management objective should have only one plan.

(vi) Subordination of Individual Interest to General Interest:

This means that the interest of the organisation is important over the interests of individual.

(vii) Remuneration of Personnel:

Payment to workers should be fair, and some proper method should be adopted.

(viii) Centralisation:

According to this principle, there should be one central point in the organisation which has power to control overall work.

(ix) Equity:

Kindness and justice on the part of management to create loyalty and devo­tion among employees.

(x) Stability:

Efficiency can be achieved by having stable work force.

(xi) Initiative:

To have success, plans should be well made before starting the actual work.

3. Activities of Managers:

Concept developed by Fayol in General and Industrial Management is identified into following six activities. Managers must have ability to perform these activities well to give good results.

(i) Managerial:

Managerial activity means to follow management functions like, plan­ning, organising, commanding, co­ordinating and controlling etc.

(ii) Technical:

Technical know-how and pro­duction work.

(iii) Commercial:

Buying, selling and ex­change functions.

(iv) Financial:

Utilisation of capital in an op­timum way.

(v) Security:

Property and interests of the organisation must be secured.

(vi) Accounting:

To keep accounts properly so as to determine financial position of the organisation.

(B) Scientific Management Approach:

a. Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1912):

F.W. Taylor is a most significant figure in the his­tory of management thoughts. He is known as founder of “Scientific management”. He reformed the management through a thoughtful and systematic approach to its problems. Taylor found that much of waste (man, long time, energy, efficiency etc.) is due to the lack of order and system in the management.

He emphasized that usually management was ignorant about the amount of work performed by a worker in a day, and also about the best way of doing the job. Hence it remained at the mercy of the workers. Taylor, therefore, suggested that management should adopt scientific methods for achieving higher efficiency.

Some significant achievements of Taylor are listed below:

1. Work Study:

This is a work measurement and work improvement technique. Taylor scientifically conducted Time and Motion Studies, Method Study and Fatigue Studies. Work study is used to determine the standard time that a qualified worker should take to perform the operation when working at a normal pace. Work study also determines the best method of performing each operation and to eliminate wastage so that production increases with less fatigue.

2. Standardisation of tools and equipment or workman and working conditions:

Taylor carried out several experiments, out of which following is the famous shoveling experi­ment of Taylor:

In 1898, at the works of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Taylor gave his attention to the best size of shovel for different types of materials. After several experiments he selected 21½ lb as being the optimum shovel load and then he designed shovel of such a size sufficient to hold this quantity of material. He designed small shovel for heavier material and larger shovel for lighter materials so that each man can lift 21½ lb of material so as to achieve maximum output.

3. Incentive Scheme:

The Taylor differential Piece Rate scheme provides an incentive for a worker to achieve high level of optimum output.

4. Principles of Management:

Taylor introduced the idea of functional management. He recommended that greater productivity and improved efficiency is possible through the use of specialised knowledge and skill.

5. Application of Scientific methods:

Taylor introduced the scientific method in man­agement to solve various problems. He observed, recorded the facts, applied knowledge and avoided mistakes, and thus was able to solve problems. Thus he was able to apply his thought to improve the efficiency of workers and increased productivity, and higher wages were also possible for workers.

b. Frank B. Gilbreth and Lilian M. Gilbreth:

Frank Bunker Gilbreth (1868-1924) did work with his wife Lilian M. Gilbreth (1878-1972) regarding modern management. Frank B. Gilbreth started his carrier from the apprenticeship as a bricklayer and rose to the position of having his own contracting business. His wife Lilian was a trained psychologist. She helped Mr. Gilbreth in the matters related to the fatigue and monotony.

Some of the important works of Gilbreth are:

1. Development of Motion Study:

Gilbreth did development of motion study part of the work study. His thought was to find “one best way of doing a work”.

2. Development of New Techniques:

They invented several techniques, out of which following are important:

(a) Micromotion Study:

Motions are taken on picture films with the help of picture cam­era, which helps in measuring the time of a motion up to 0.0005 min. This procedure of motion study is known as Micromotion Study.

(b) Therbligs:

For the purpose of recording motions, he split up different motions of a process into fundamental events made by various members of human body and each event was allotted a symbol and letter abbreviation. These, 17 therbligs are: Search, Hold, Select, Grasp, Release, Load, Transport loaded, Transport empty, Posi­tion, Preposition, Assemble, Disassemble, Use, Inspect, Avoidable delay, Unavoid­able delay, Rest to overcome fatigue, Plan.

(c) Cronocycle graph:

This is an improvement over cycle-graph. Cyclegraph and cronocyclegraph both invented by Gilbreth, are explained as under.

A small electric bulb is attached to the finger, hand or other part of the body of the operator, and it is photographed to record the path of motion. With a still camera, the path of light so photographed is called cyclegraph.

If an interrupter is placed in the electric circuit with the bulb and the light is flashed quickly and off slowly, then the path of bulb shall appear as a dotted line with pear- shaped dots indicating the direction of motions. The space between the dots will be according to the speed of the hand or finger. The number of dots will give the time taken by that motion. Such a record is called chronocyclegraph.

(d) Study of fatigue:

Gilbreth suggested that fatigue can be reduced by allowing rest periods, planning seating arrangements and working conditions.

c. Henry Gantt (1861—1919):

Gantt made many improvements in production planning and control. He is mainly remem­bered for the production control chart, known as Gantt chart or Bar chart. Gantt also suggested an incentive scheme. 

(C) Human Relations Approach:

a. Robert Owen (1771 —1858):

Robert Owen played an important role in the field of Personnel Management. He being a social reformer helped in the development of the management thoughts. He emphasized that good results can be obtained through “positive motivation”. Positive Motivation means that employees should be given a fair treatment and they should also feel that they are being given fair treatment. Owen is mainly responsible for getting Factory Act introduced for the first time in 1891.

b. Elton Mayo (1880—1949):

Elton Mayo, the director of Hawthrone studies is considered as the father of the human relations management thought. Mayo headed a team of researchers from the Harvard Univer­sity, who conducted experiments at the Hawthrone plant of the Western Electric Company, between 1927 to 1936. He recognised that emotional factors are more important in determining production efficiency.

Mayo was of the opinion that the increase in productivity is due to the combination of several factors such as giving autonomy to workers, cooperation between work­ers and management, opportunity to be heard, participation in decision-making etc. Mayo also recognised that role of work arrangements for the satisfaction of the employees.

c. Mary Parker Follet (1868-1933):

Mary Parker Follet, an American philosopher, had her approach to the study, of manage­ment essentially psychological.

Her main contributions are:

1. Mary Follet rejected the remedies during conflict through:

(i) Domination and

(ii) Compromise, on the plea that domination leaves the feeling of having been domi­nated and compromise gives a feeling of loss and surrender to both sides. She was for the integration of desires of both the sides as a solution during conflict since this gives a more stable solution to problem of conflict.

2. She was of the view that for achieving good results, various parts of the organisation should be well coordinated and closely knitted so that they work as a single entity. She also pleaded for integrating the interests of the workers, investors and consum­ers. She pleaded for the application of scientific methods to the solution of personnel problems.

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Essay # 7. Challenges Faced by Management:

(i) Changes in Social Environment:

Social factors which will shape future management strategies are as follows:

(a) Population Explosion:

Population is increasing rapidly. Increasing population will require new jobs, new methods of production and distribution and new modes of living. The population mix will also change. There will be an increase in the proportion of older people due to increase in the average life span.

(b) Education Level:

The governments of various countries are taking steps to eradicate illiteracy and to increase the education level of their citizens. Educated consumers and workers will create very tough tasks for the future managers.

(c) Leisure Time:

People will have more leisure time because of reduced working hours, increased automation and quick means of transport and communication. The effects of this trend are many and varied. For some people, more leisure time means higher spending in pursuits of leisure which is leading to the growth of tourism and entertainment industries. For others, it means an opportunity for earning more by doing some part-time jobs.

(d) Public Opinion:

Public opinion about business will shape the attitudes of future managers. If the people have distrust in the market system, they will prefer government controls to green competition. The public opinion is going to be very complex because of changes in values of society, increased international competition, increased government interference in business, rise of consumerism, use of industrial robots, etc.

(ii) Changes in Economic Environment:

The degree of resource exploitation will have a direct bearing on the economic environment and through this on the business. As is obvious from the present trends, environment will not remain confined to land only, but would extend to oceans and space also.

In the future, oceans will be developed via farming and mining operations; and space flights and missions will concentrate on studying causes of changes in atmospheric conditions and finding reserves of natural resources on land and water.

Business competition will no longer be restricted to national boundaries. It will become international because of growth of multinational corporations. Big organisations will continue growing through diversifications and takeovers. Despite growth of giant corporations, opportunities for small business will not be reduced.

Small firms will be needed to serve as feeder to large ones and to supply non- standardised goods. All these will increase the complexity of decisions in the future. Public sector will play a key role in most of the economies to safeguard the interests of the consumers. They will also compete with private sector in many areas and will run on commercial principles.

The increasing degree of industrialisation will require more managers, skilled personnel and technocrats.

(iii) Changes in Technological Environment:

Technological changes will affect management in the future. In future, all big organisations will be actively engaged in technological forecasting. Automation and information technology will assume new proportions.

(a) Automation:

Automation has created new problems. Jobs have become reutilized and unchallenging. Introduction of industrial robots has created a feeling of job insecurity among workers. Once industrial robots take over from workers, the primary task of the worker would be to set up production runs, to programme the robots and to run them under computer control. Thus, future organisations will have highly automated man-machine systems.

(b) Information Technology:

There will be remarkable impact of computerised information systems on management:

(i) There will be use of electronic equipment to collect and process data,

(ii) Computers will help applications of quantitative techniques to management problems,

(iii) There will be simulation of higher order thinking through computer programmes.

Thus, improved and innovative use of information technology would be an essential factor in future management. “In view of the fact that information technology will challenge many long-established practices and doctrines, we will need to rethink some of the attitudes and values which we have taken for granted. In particular, we may have to reappraise our traditional notions about the worth of the individual as opposed to the organisation and about the mobility rights of young men on the make. This kind of inquiry may be painfully difficult, but will be increasingly necessary.”

It may be noted that technological changes are not an independent force. They overlap the social changes and affect the organisational relationships. For instance, improved technology would reduce total employment which will create social reactions.

(iv) Changes in Political Environment:

There will be greater Government’s interference in business to safeguard the interests of workers, consumers and the public at large. Government’s participation will also pose many challenges before management.

The Government may restrict the scope of private sector in certain areas. It does not mean chances of co-operation between the Government and private sector are ruled out. In fact, there will be more and more joint sector enterprises.

The fear of nationalisation of the mismanaged units will continue. Financial institutions will not be silent spectators; they will take active part in the policy formulation of the firms whom they have advanced funds.

(v) Changes in International Environment:

Multilateral trade among the nations will increase. The role of IMF, World Bank and other international institutions will change and a new economic order will take place leading to globalisation of economies. The number of multinational corporations will increase which will draw nations closer together and make them interdependent.

The internationalisation of organisations will continue for the following reasons:

(a) Transfer of technical know-how;

(b) Resources advantages (labour and raw material); and

(c) Fast communication and transport systems.

Management of subsidiaries of such corporations in different countries will be difficult because of differences in cultural patterns.

Future managers will have to be more skillful in the transfer of management know-how to different countries.

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