Management as the force that leads an organisation to its objectives, and a definition of management

Meaning of the statement

The statement looks at management from the point of view of what it does to an organisation. An organisation is a group of people with different needs and purposes; left to themselves they would pull in different directions. Management is what holds them together, points them at the goals the enterprise has chosen in advance and keeps them moving towards those goals. Each of its three parts can be examined in turn.

Management as a force

Management cannot be touched or seen, but its presence shows in the way an organisation works: targets are met as planned, employees are satisfied, and there is order rather than confusion. Calling it a force is therefore apt. It is also all pervasive, at work in every kind of organisation. A Bengaluru software firm and a district hospital both have people, money and equipment; what turns them into a working unit is the management that coordinates them.

Leading, guiding and directing

These three words describe the directing function. Directing means instructing, guiding, counselling, motivating and leading people so that the organisation reaches its objectives. While the other functions prepare the setting, it is directing that starts action, and it goes on at every level wherever a superior has subordinates. It is more than passing on instructions: it takes in supervision, motivation and leadership, the ways in which a manager leads, inspires and communicates with subordinates.

Predetermined objectives

Management is goal-oriented. Every organisation exists for a set of basic goals, which should be simple and clearly stated, and management unites the efforts of different individuals towards them. The objectives are fixed first, which is why the statement calls them predetermined. Reaching them is not enough on its own: management must reach them effectively, by completing the right task, and efficiently, at the least cost of resources, keeping the two in balance.

What the statement leaves out

The statement is true but partial. It stresses the human, directing side of management and says little about the rest of the process. Management is a continuous series of separate but connected functions, namely planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling, performed by every manager all the time. A manager cannot direct people towards objectives until those objectives and the route to them have been planned, the work has been divided and staffed, and there is a way of checking results against the plan. The statement also does not mention efficiency, the economical use of resources. In the same way, a definition that sees management only as the art of getting work done through people covers its human side but not its process.

An apt definition of management

No single definition covers every aspect of management. A fuller one keeps the statement's point about objectives and adds the process and the resources. George R. Terry's definition, which the study material treats as comprehensive from the process point of view, describes management as a distinct process of planning, organising, actuating and controlling, carried out to determine and accomplish stated objectives by the use of human beings and other resources. Put in one line: management is the process of planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling the resources of an enterprise so that its goals are achieved effectively and efficiently. Its elements are a distinct process, the five functions, the use of both human and other resources, and objectives fixed in advance.

Conclusion

Management is indeed the force that leads, guides and directs an organisation towards its objectives, but directing is only one of its functions. A complete view sees it as the whole process of planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling, through which people and other resources are combined to reach those objectives effectively and efficiently.