Management is the direction of an entity, whether it’s a corporation into a nonprofit organization, or even a government agency. It is usually defined as the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The management of an organization can be divided into various aspects: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The planning aspect of management is concerned with the strategic direction and planning of the organization. Organizing is concerned with the processes that lead to organizational goals and objectives. Leading is concerned with taking action to achieve these goals and objectives.
There are several distinctions among these four elements. Some managers exercise direct control over their organizations, others have managerial authority through formal means, and some do both. The management of a non-profit group would likely be considered the latter since its purpose is to further the public good rather than purely the private interest of a single person. In a business administration context, there would likely be some degree of direct control by management and a little indirect control through lower level managers and supervisors.
One of the main functions of management is organizing. A large corporation may be led by one CEO who takes the role of overall manager and enacts the company goals and objectives. In this case, the company’s management structure is seen as “directly” organized, but in reality the various managers each operate within a framework of organizing and lead their own activities. This is not to say that there aren’t any chain management functions within the larger organization. The key is to understand that the management roles and functions are interdependent and that some managers exercise more control over a company than others.
Another important distinction between good management and bad management is that good management focuses on long-term viability and profitability while bad management is more concerned with short-term profits. Bad management also tends to focus on acquiring assets and disposing of them. Typically, good management focuses on long-term value creation and realizes the importance of owning assets and using those assets to create value for the company over the long term. Good management focuses on making investments that will yield sustainable long term results. Again, it is the difference between the two that can make the difference between entrepreneurship and failure.
Finally, one of the key takeaways from the study of management is that it is important to get people together in order for any organization to be successful. In other words, if you are trying to create a company or run an organization, you will need to have good managers and employees work together in order to get the company goals accomplished. This also ties into teamwork.
As with all areas of management, it takes a combination of a good CEO, strong business leadership, and good supervision to get the job done. It takes even more innovation, drive, commitment, collaboration, and teamwork in order to get better results. In addition, there are some key points that need to be understood across all levels of the organization. Chief among these is that top management functions as an executive team and needs to understand their own personal and organizational value and responsibility. They must work as a team to assure that everyone is getting the benefit of the organization’s vision and mission.