Management fundamentals

Management is a process of coordinating resources to meet organizational goals. It includes planning, organizing, leading and controlling resources (land, labour, capital and information) to efficiently reach those goals. Planning is the primary management function on which all others depend. It involves establishing objectives and goals for an organization and determining the best ways to accomplish them. A goal is a broad, long-range target of the organization, and an objective is a specific, short-range target or aim. A key planning activity is forecasting – making educated assumptions about future trends and events that will have an impact on the organization. Organizing, the second management function, is the process of putting the plan into action. This involves allocating resources, especially human resources, so that the overall objectives can be attained. The third is leading – the day-to-day direction and supervision of employees. In leading managers guide, teach and motivate workers so that they reach their potential abilities and at the same time achieve the company goals that were established in the planning process. In the last management function, controlling, managers evaluate how well company objectives are being met. Controlling is the process of measuring progress against goals and objectives and correcting deviations if results are not as expected.

Managers are able to perform these four basic functions necessary for the organization’s success through total quality management. Total quality management (TQM) is a strategic management process that focuses on delivering the optimal level of quality to customers by building quality into every organizational activity. TQM redirects management to focus on four key elements: employee involvement, customer focus, benchmarking and continuous improvement. Employee involvement includes team building and sharing of information at all levels of organization. Focusing on the customer simply means finding out what customers really want and providing them with it. Benchmarking is comparing your company’s processes and products to the standards of the world’s best companies and then working to match or exceed those standards. Continuous improvement requires an ongoing effort to reduce defects, cut costs, slash production and delivery times, and offer customers innovative products.

Management plays a vital role in any business or organized activity. It has eight major areas of concern: market standing, innovation, human resources, financial resources, physical resources, productivity, social responsibility, and financial performance. Management is composed of a team of managers who perform the management functions and have charge of the organization at all levels. Most achievements and failures in business are the achievements and failures of individual managers. As Gates demonstrated, when managers possess the right combination of vision, skill, experience and determination, they can lead an organization to success.