It is difficult to define management. In fact, no definition of management has been universally accepted.

One popular definition is by Mary Parker Follett, Management, she says, is the "art of getting things done through people."

According to George R. Terry. He defines management as a process "consisting of planning, organising, actuating and controlling, performed to determine and accomplish the objectives by the use of people and resources," According to this definition, management is a process-a systematic way of doing things. ‘The four management activities included in this process are: planning, organising, actuating and controlling.

Finally, this definition states that management involves the act of achieving the organisation's objectives. These objectives will, of course, vary with each organisation. The objective of a hospital might be to provide comprehensive medical care to a community.

1.2 Functional Areas

As shown in below Figure , the management functions are applicable equally well to the organization functions or organizational areas (at times referred to as the functional "areas" of management).

The organizational functions are:

◎ operations,
◎ marketing,
◎ finance,
◎ strategy,
◎ human resources, and
◎ management information systems (MIS)

Operations are constituted by the transformation process which coverts various types of inputs into desired products and services.

Marketing is a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationship in ways that benefit the Organization and its stakeholders. In practice, marketing includes activities like advertising, branding, selling, distribution, etc.

The organization function of finance is about time, money, risk, and the interrelationships thereof.

In layman's terms, strategy is all about long-term planning for achieving the long-term goals of the organization.

Human resources is the organizational function which deals with selection and recruitment of employees, performance appraisal, compensation, rewards, recognition, training and development, etc.

The MIS focuses on providing needed information to the managers in a useful format and at a proper time by using contemporary information technologies.

While Taylor is considered the Father of Scientific Management, Henri Fayol (1841-1925) is considered the Father of Administrative Management theory with focus on the development of broad administrative principles applicable to general and higher managerial levels.

Fayol wrote that all activities of business enterprises could be divided into six groups: technical, commercial, financial, accounting, security and administrative or managerial.

Fayol's primary focus, of course, was on this last managerial activity because he felt managerial skills had been the most neglected aspect of business operations.

He defined management in terms of five functions: planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and controlling.

Fayol also presented 14 principles of management as general guides to the management process and management practice. These are discussed below:

i. Division of Work: Division of work in the management process produces more and better work with the same effort. Various functions of management like planning, organising, directing and controlling cannot be performed efficiently by a single proprietor or by a group of directors. They must be entrusted to specialists in related fields.

ii. Authority and Responsibility: As the management consists of getting the work done through others, it implies that the manager should have the right to give orders and power to exact obedience. A manager may exercise formal authority and also personal power. Formal authority is derived from his official position, while personal power is the result of intelligence, experience, moral worth, ability to lead, past service, etc. Responsibility is closely related to authority and it arises wherever authority is exercised.

iii. Discipline: Discipline is absolutely essential for the smooth running of business. By discipline we mean, the obedience to authority, observance of the rules of service and norms of performance, respect for agreements, sincere efforts for completing the given job, respect for superiors, etc.

iv. Unity of Command: This principle requires that each employee should receive instructions about a particular work from one superior only. Fayol believed that if an employee was to report to more than one superior, he would be confused due to conflict in instructions and also it would be difficult to pinpoint responsibility to him,

v. Unity of Direction: It means that there should be complete identity between individual and organisational goals on the one hand and between departmental goals inter se on the other. They should not pull in different directions.

vi. Subordination of Individual Interest to General Interest: In a business concern, an individual is always interested in maximising his own satisfaction through more money, recognition, status, etc. This is very often against the general interest which lies in maximising production. Hence the need to subordinate the individual interest to general interest.

vii. Remuneration: The remuneration paid to the personnel of the firm should be fair. It should be based on general business conditions, cost of living, productivity of the concerned employees and the capacity of the firm to pay. Fair remuneration increases worker's efficiency and morale and fosters good relations between them and the management.

viii. Centralisation: If subordinates are given more role and importance in the management and organisation of the firm, it is decentralisation. The management must decide the degree of centralisation or decentralisation of authority on the basis of the nature of the circumstances, size of the undertaking, the type of activities and the nature of organisational structure. The objective to pursue should be the optimum utilisation of all faculties of the personnel.

ix. Scalar Chain: Scalar chain means the hierarchy of authority from the highest executive to the lowest one for the purpose of communication. It states superior-subordinate relationship and the authority of superiors in relation to subordinates at various levels. As per this principle, the orders or communications should pass through the proper channels of authority along the scalar chain. & so on.

Planning is the beginning of the process of management. A manager must plan before he can possibly organise, staff, direct or control. Because planning sets all other functions into action, it can be seen as the most basic function of management. Without planning other functions become mere activity, producing nothing but chaos. This has been called the principle of primacy of planning.

Planning is an intellectual process which requires a manager to think before acting. It is thinking in advance. It is by planning that managers of organisation decide what is to be done, when it is to be done,

done, how it is to be done, and who is to do it, Decision-making is thus an integral part of planning. It is defined as the process of choosing among alternatives. Obviously, decision-making Will occur at many points in the planning process.

Planning is an all-pervasive function. In other words, planning is important to all managers regardless of their level in the organisation. There are, however, some differences in involvement by managers at different levels. One major difference concerns the time period covered. Top level managers are generally concerned with longer time periods. Much of their planning involves activities that will take place six months to five years later, or even after that, Lower level managers are more concerned with planning activities for the day, week, or the month.

The steps generally involved in planning area follows:

i. Establishing Verifiable Goals or Set of Goals to be Achieved : The first step in planning is to determine the enterprise objectives. These are most often set by upper level or top managers, usually after a number of possible objectives have been carefully considered. There are many types of objectives managers may select: a desired sales volume or growth rate, the development of a new product or service, or even a more abstract goal such as be coming more active in the community. The type of goal selected will depend on a number of factors: the basic mission of the organisation, the values its managers hold, and the actual and potential abilities of the organisation.

ii. Establishing Planning Premises: Plans are made to operate in the future. Hence, the second step in planning is to establish planning Premises, i.¢., certain assumptions about the future on the basis of which the plan will be ultimately formulated, Planning premises are vital to the success of planning as they supply pertinent facts and information relating to the future such as population trends, the general economic conditions, production costs and prices, probable competitive behaviour, capital and material availability, governmental control and so on,

iii. Deciding the Planning Period: Once upper level managers have selected the basic long term goals and the planning premises, the next task is to decide the period of the plan. Businesses vary considerably in their planning periods. In some instances, plans are made for a year only while in others they span decades.

iv. Finding Alternative Courses of Action: The fourth step in planning is to search for and examine alternative courses of action. For instance, technical know-how may be secured by engaging a foreign technician or by training staff abroad. Similarly, products may be sold directly to the consumer by the company's salesmen or through exclusive agencies. There is seldom a plan for which reasonable alternatives do not exist, and quite often an alternative that is not obvious proves to be the best.

v. Evaluating and Selecting a Course of Action: Having sought alternative courses, the fifth step is to evaluate them in the light of premises and goals and to select the best course or courses of actions. This is done with the help of quantitative techniques and operations research, Note that substantial costs are involved in keeping two alternatives open.

vi. Developing Derivative Plans: Once the plan for the organisation has been formulated, middle and lower-level managers must draw up the appropriate plans for their sub-units. These are the plans which are derived from the basic plan and not prepared independently. Thus, where an airline decides to acquire a fleet of new planes, a number of derivative plans dealing with the hiring and training of various types of personnel, the purchase of spare parts, the development of maintenance facilities, scheduling, advertising, financing and insurance need to be drawn up.

vii. Establishing and Deploying Action Plans: Actions represent the "lowest level of execution". Managers possessing little understanding of how the organisation operates may not know how to turn the derivative plans into action. The action plan identifies particular activities necessary for this purpose and specifies the who, what, when, where and how of each action item. A draft version of the action plan should be communicated to inform those directly affected and gain their cooperation.

viii. Measuring and Controlling the Progress: Obviously, it is foolish to let a plan run its course without monitoring its progress. Hence the process of controlling is a critical part of any plan. Managers need to check the progress of their plans so that they can (a) take whatever remedial action is necessary to make the plan work, or (b) change the original plan if it is unrealistic.

A committee is a group of people who have been formally assigned some task or some problem for their decision and/or implementation. Committees are often set up for group participation when we have:

(i) a recurring problem which the same group of people should confer about at regular intervals; or

(ii) a major problem that can be resolved only after a series of discussions with a group whose work is closely interrelated. For most other situations which may be essentially individual functions (such as the following) a committee is not warranted:

(a) To make a sharp, clear and prompt decision with unqualified responsibility;

(b) To consider an unimportant question where a particular decision is a foregone conclusion;

(c) To pool the splintered authority of several managers;

(d) To gather data requiring independent study and investigation. A committee does well in criticising the result of a research study but not in conducting it.

Committees can be broadly classified into advisory committees and executive committees. Whenever committees are vested with staff authority they are known as advisory committees. Advisory committees have only a recommendatory role and cannot enforce implementation of their advice or recommendation Some of the usual advisory committees formed in business enterprises are: works committees, sales committees, finance committees, etc. Whenever committees are vested with line authority, they are called executive committees or plural executives. Unlike advisory committees, executive committees not only take decisions but also enforce decisions and thus perform a double role of taking 2 decisions and ordering its execution. The Board of Directors of a company is an example of an executive committee.

ADVANTAGES:

i. Where committees consist of all departmental heads as members, people get an Opportunity to, better understand each other's problems and to move (cooperatively) towards organisational goals.

ii. Committees provide a forum for the pooling of knowledge and experience of many Persons of, different skills, ages and backgrounds. As George Bernard Shaw has said, "If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each one of us will have two ideas." This helps in improving the quality of decisions.

iii. Committees provide an opportunity to many persons to participate in the decision-making Process. As the members of a committee participate in discussions and decisions, they also take interest, in implementing their decisions. It is by no means certain that deliberations always kindle enthusiastic support, for they can also result in the deepening of existing divisions among participants. Should this occur, use of a committee may be a mistake.

iv. Committees are excellent means of transmitting information and ideas, both upward and downward. They allow people to participate in discussion on solution of a problem and to be informed simultaneously concerning it.

v. By exposing members to different viewpoints, committees contribute indirectly to their training and development.

vi. Committees are impersonal in action and hence their decisions are generally unbiased and are based on facts. There is no fear of a single individual taking a biased decision.

DISADVANTAGES OR WEEKNESSESS:

i. It is said that committees keep minutes and waste hours. One of the best administrative procedures to delay action is to say, "Let us set up a committee to study this matter." Almost without exception it takes longer to get action from a committee than from an individual manager.

ii. In case a wrong decision is taken by a committee, no member can be individually held responsible. Urwick made an analogy that a committee is like a corporation with neither a soul to be damned nor a body to be kicked.

iii. A huge amount is spent in convening meetings and giving allowances to the members. Hence, committees are an expensive form of administration.

iv. AS committees consist of a large number of persons, it is difficult to maintain secrecy regarding the decisions taken at the committee meetings.

v. As the chairman of a committee often changes, influence accumulates in the hands of the permanent secretary of some other person or persons who may then dominate the committee. This may bring about resistance from others.

Source of Recruitment:

The source of recruitment can be broadly classified into two categories: Internal & External. Internal sources refer to the present working force of a company. Vacancies other than at the lowest level may be filled by selecting individuals from amongst the existing employees of the company. Among the more commonly used external sources are the following:

i. Re-employing former employees: Former employees who have been laid-off or have left for personal reasons may be re-employed. These people may require less initial training than that needed by total strangers to the enterprise.

ii. Friends and relatives of present employees: Some industries with a record of good personnel relations encourage their employees to recommend their employees to recommend their friends and relatives for appointment in the concern where they are employed.