This document discusses management theory and practice. It defines management as "a set of activities directed at achieving organizational goals efficiently, including planning, organizing, leading, and controlling resources." Organization science focuses on organizational structure and functions, while management science focuses on managing individuals and stakeholder relations. Effective management requires a blend of both the science of rational decision making and analysis as well as the art of personal experience and intuition. Managers must have skills in technical areas, motivating people, and conceptual thinking. The primary responsibilities of managers are to carry out the management process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling work.

1. MGT 101 – Management: Theory and practice
What is management?
“Management is a set of activities (including planning and decision making, organizing,
leading, and controlling) directed at an organization’s resources (human, financial,
physical, and information) with the aim of achieving organizational goals in an efficient
and effective manner.” (Griffin)
Organizations get inputs from the environment and process (management) them to
achieve goals.
 It is a process or series of continuing and related activities.
 It involves and concentrates on reaching organizational goals.
 It reaches these goals by working with and through people and other organizational
resources.
 Manager is the person who allocates and oversees the use of resources in an
organization.
 Management is “The process of planning, organizing, leading and controlling the
work of organization members and using all available organizational resources
productively to reach stated organizational goals.”
Organization and management
 The organization and management sciences are interrelated disciplines.
 Organization science focuses on the organization, and deals with organizational
models, organizational design, organizational structure and functions, inter-
organizational relations, organizational fields and the organizational environment.
Literature on this concerns the concepts and definitions of organizations.
 Management science focuses on the individual and relations among individuals. It
concerns with the management of organizational functions, organizational
employees, and the organization’s external stakeholders and environment. More
literature on management roles and strategies.
 Although their viewpoints and emphasis differ, the two sciences have developed
closely and share many of the same concepts and models.

2. The nature of management
Management is explained as a science, a profession and an art.
 As a Science- Management issues and problems can be approached in ways that are
rational, logical, and systematic.
 As a Profession- There are certain skills and knowledge necessary for a successful
manager.
 As an art- Managers often make decisions and solve problems on the basis of
experience, personal insights and sense.
Effective management is a mix of the above three.
Is management a science?
Effective management is a blend of both science and art.
The science of management:
 Many management issues and problems can be approached in ways that are
rational, logical, and systematic.
 Managers can gather data and information. Can use quantitative models and
decision making techniques to arrive correct decisions.
The art of management
 Managers often make decisions and solve problems on the basis of experience,
personal insights and instinct.
Successful managers recognize the importance of combining both the science and the art
of management as they practice.

3. The Manager: Role, competencies, and skills
Manager’s primary responsibility is to carry out the management process. How
successfully an organization achieves its objectives depend to a large extent on its
managers.
Robert Heller and Tim Hindle in his Essential Manager’s Manual notes, “a full
understanding of what makes people perform well and of the problems that they may
affect performance in the workplace is essential for any manager. S/he will need to
employ a wide range of skills, both interpersonal and professional, in order to resolve
problems.”

4. Managerial Skills
Henry Fayol identified three basic skills.
 Technical skill: Ability to work with tools and specific
 Human Skill: Ability to work with others, understand and motivate others.
 Conceptual skills: Ability to recognize significant elements in a situation, and to
understand the relationship among the elements.
The relative importance of these skills may differ at various levels in the organizational hierarchy.
Challenges to modern managers:
 Global business
 Developing and maintaining social responsibility and ethical practices that are
appropriate for their particular organizations.
 Involving diversity in organizations. Diversity is defined as differences in people
such as age, gender, ethnicity, nationality, and ability.
 Challenge of developing and maintaining high quality in the goods and services they
offer.

5. The Management Process
Management is a process of planning, organizing, leading and controlling. In practice, the
management process does not involve four separate or loosely related sets of activities
but a group of interrelated functions.
PLANNING
Planning involves choosing tasks that must be performed to attain organizational goals,
outlining how the tasks must be performed, and indicating when they should be
performed.
Planning activity focuses on attaining goals. Managers outline exactly what organizations
should do to be successful. Planning is concerned with the success of the organization in
the short term as well as in the long term.
Purposes of Planning
 Helps to use scarce resources economically.
 Provides direction to the organizational members.
 Reduces uncertainty.
 Reduces unnecessary, wasteful activities.
 Provides goals or standards for controlling.

6. Barriers to Planning
 Inability to plan
 Lack of commitment
 Lack of focus on the long run
 Lack of information
 Uncontrollable variables
 Lack of cooperation from various divisions in the organization
Decision Making
A process of selecting a best course of action among the alternatives to solve a specific
problem Managers make decisions in the presence of opportunities as well as problems.
Types of Problems & Decisions
 Structured problems : straight forward, familiar and easy to define.
 Unstructured problems : infrequent and managers have less experience with such
problems.
The decision
maker faces
Certai Risk Uncerta
Level of uncertainty and chances of