Click here to get this post in PDF
Introduction
What is management? Are they people or activities? Well, it’s a little complex process but a crucial one. In today’s world, every business needs good management. The extent of the management’s effectiveness decides the growth of any business. So, let us understand what management is, its nature, and its scope.
Management can be explained as a process of designing and maintaining a constructive environment in which individuals are working together amicably and efficiently to achieve their set goals of the organization and desired personal aims as well.
It also involves all those activities that enable them to achieve the organization’s objectives. To achieve these aims effectively and efficiently, proper planning, organizing, controlling, leading, and decision-making are required. With the help of the organization’s human, financial, information, and physical resources, the goals are achieved.
Nature of Management
Nature of Management is the systematic process of management, which does not operate individually but includes a whole set of activities like planning, decision-making, etc. The nature of management also helps to identify the group of people who are best suited to carry out the particular activities to enhance the organization’s efficiency and effectiveness on the whole.
The salient features of the nature of management are:
- Universality– The nature of management is universal. All human activities need to have proper management. Irrespective of the size or location of the business, management principles are applicable to everyone. The Universal principle is also applicable because management skills are transferable and have an improvement scope.
- Social Process– The nature of management also includes social, behavioral processes like organizing people in groups and managing them. It requires the management to be empathetic, understanding, and dynamic in nature. With these attributes, the management subtly helps the employees’ development, motivation, and retainment.
- Purposeful– The nature of management should be purposeful. The objective is designed in such a manner that they are realistic, attainable, and time-bound. Managers take proactive and purposeful steps to attain the goals. The success of management is measured by the extent to which an organization achieves its target.
- Situational– Management may not always be able to advise the best ways of doing things. Effective management is always situational. A manager needs to stick to principles, approaches, and techniques of management after taking into consideration the existing situations.
- Combination of art, science, and business– Management uses scientific approaches in the ways it collects data, analyzes, and measures it. The decision taken is also experimental in nature unless proved right with time. It is a systematic body of knowledge. Art, as we know, is an application of knowledge for solving various problems. Hence management is an art in itself. There is both ownership and management in modern times, so it also seeks professional expert opinions.
- Intangible– Management, good or bad, can’t be accessed in physical terms. It is virtual, and only results show and prove whether the management is successful or not.
- Coordination– One of the major functions of the management is to bring together different teams and departments. Without coordination from the management, the organization would run into chaos.
- Creativity– Creativity holds a crucial part in the nature of management. Without creative solutions, the organization would look stale. Every independent component in the management contributes in unique ways. Group efforts encourage creative ideas and limitless imagination. The sum of individual efforts/ideas creates synergy, and something new is born. Hence, ensuring the growth of the business.
- Dynamic Function– The organization/ business is dependent upon many external factors. These can be economic, financial, technological, or political. Such factors affect the working of the organization in a lot of ways. Here, the management needs to be dynamic in order to handle the situations.
The Nature of the Organizational Environment
To understand the nature of the organizational environment in management, one can take up management courses. Majorly, the organizational environment is categorized into two main broad categories: the external environment and Internal Environment. The external environment consists of factors affecting from outside, and the internal environment is the opposite, i.e., of the factors affecting the inside.
External Environment depends upon:
- The General Environment- The general environment consists of economic dimensions (inflation, interest rates, unemployment, demand), technological dimension (methods that convert resources to products/services), socio-cultural dimension (demographic or cultural factors like customs, morals etc.), political–legal dimension ( government regulations, legalities, etc. ), international dimension (the relations with other countries affecting the business).
- The Task Environment- The task environment consists of many factors like competitors, customers, suppliers, regulators, regulatory agencies, interest groups, strategic allies, laborers, and owners.
Internal Environment depends upon:
- Board of directors– The board of directors is elected by the stockholders and is charged with overseeing the general management of the firm in order to ensure that it is being run in a way that serves the best interests of the stockholders.
- Employees– The management and employees, when working hand in hand and looking after each other’s interests, the results are wondrous. Good management ensures that the employees get a good working environment so that they can work effectively.
- Culture– The culture of an organization refers to the set of values that helps its members understand what the organization believes in and stands for and what it considers important. A strong organizational culture can shape the firm’s overall effectiveness and long-term success, help employees to be more productive and in alignment with its beliefs. However, the culture can be changed as well, and here, the manager must know what part to play.
Conclusion
Today, the nature of management is considered an indispensable part of management. Hence, understanding the nature of management comprehensively is one of the top priorities of today’s working managers and aspiring future professionals. It provides them with an extra qualification and a ladder up to the core management. There are many online executive MBA courses provided by the top universities of the world, which gives them all the qualifications needed, with world-class standards and that too in the vicinity of their homes.
You may also like: How Can Business Management Courses Help In Today’s Business?
Image source: Pexels.com
