What Is Management

Management in business and organizations is an individual or a group of people that accept responsibility to direct the efforts of employees to accomplish objectives and goals using available resources efficiently and effectively. Management consists of four functions; planning, organising, leading and controlling. Managers encompass and deploy these functions in all industries and fields of work. There are managerial roles; these are the behaviours or actions expected of a manager in any hierarchical position. Not only are managers expected to behaviour or act in a certain manner but they must also possess skills to achieve an organizations goal. These skills include; technical, interpersonal and conceptual skills. Managers are very important and play a huge part in the running of an organization and its success.

Management can be defined as ‘the process of administering and coordinating resources effectively and efficiently in an effort to achieve the goals of the organization’ (Lewis et al, 2007). Effectiveness and efficiency is a key factor in management as it measures the performance and success of the organization (Schermerhorn, 2009). Management involves interacting with other people on a daily basis of varying situations and circumstances (Longenecker et al, 1981). French industrialist Henri Fayol proposed four management activities that are still relevant in the profession today (Robbins et al, 2012). Planning, organizing, leading and controlling, these form the four management functions (Robbins et al, 2012). Planning is the activity of setting performance goals and determining the appropriate action to be taken to achieve the goals. Organizing allocates resources, assigns tasks as well as coordinating activities to groups or individuals to implement plans. Leading involves provoking employees passion of working hard and motivating their efforts to achieve plans and attain the organizations goals.   Controlling evaluates the overall performance of work,...