The
Purpose of Management
The purpose of
management is to serve customers. Yet if one looks through most management
books, or even a dictionary, for a definition of management, ninety-nine point
nine percent of the time the word customer will not be mentioned. This
is astonishing because serving customers in order to obtain a profit is the
crux of every business organization. Equally as remiss is the fact that most
definitions neatly filter out service in their descriptions of management.
Instead, when it comes to explaining what management is about, words and terms
such as leading, controlling, planning, organizing, and setting goals and
objectives are used. Let’s face it, aseptic words and terms are great for
dictionaries and academic tomes, but they fall terribly short when it comes to
explaining, warts and all, the full scope of what management entails. So how
can the art and science of management be summed up in a few succinct words?
Well, the truth be told, it can’t because management is about more than
leading, controlling, planning, organizing, and setting goals and objectives. A
lot more.
Perhaps the best way to
present a richer and more accurate concept of management is to look at what
good managers do – or are supposed to do – in the course of a typical
working day. Good managers constantly streamline their organizations toward
making a sale. In other words, good managers keep their organizations on track
by ensuring that everything that’s being done is ethically geared
towards providing what customers want. In this regard, a good manager is
responsible for reducing waste and ambiguity, keeping costs down, and
motivating others to do the same. In the same vein, good managers regularly
take educated risks and exercise good judgement (the basis of
entrepreneurship). These risks include trying new things, successfully
adjusting to constant change, developing subordinates (good managers aren’t
afraid of letting other people shine - in fact they encourage it), and
improving their own skills.
Since most managers are
responsible for more work than one person can normally perform, a good manager
delegates and integrates his or her work (or the work of others) by acting as a
clear channel of communication within the business that he or she serves. Good
management is therefore also about rising above the often monotonous grind of a
working day and injecting motivation, creativity, discipline, and enthusiasm
into areas in which they either don’t exist or they’re not wanted. Management
entails doing difficult and time-consuming tasks the manager does not want to
do in order to get the results he or she wants. And while all that’s going on,
the ups and downs of life in general have to be dealt with including fear,
insecurity, births, deaths, romances, divorces, physical injuries, bad hair
days, bad-manner days, personal failings, and attitude problems to name a very
few. Again, I’m talking about good managers. These are the people who face
problems, put in long productive hours, set a good example, and have an
inherent knack to create something from nothing. Good managers work well with
others (including those they don’t like) and can be counted on to be honest and
upstanding. They concentrate on goals and results rather than showing who’s
boss because the creed they live by is integrity, responsibility, and maturity.
This means financial figures aren’t manipulated and production numbers aren’t
fiddled with. That’s not to say that good managers always score; they most
certainly do not. But when good managers don’t succeed the first time, they
pick themselves up, brush themselves off, learn from what happened, and then
score. In other words, good managers create value; they don’t make excuses or
blame others, they produce results.
Cut
Amanda Tava
1EA15
NPM
11213965
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