Introduction to Management:

The term “management” origins from the French “Management” which means, the directing and from the Latin “menu agree”, this means to lead by the hand. This clearly indicates that management is necessary to direct and lead organization. It directs, coordinates and integrates the individual activities of group and secure teamwork to accomplish organizational goal.

According to Ricky W. Griffen, “Management is a set of activities (including planning, organizing, leading and controlling) directed at an organization’s resources (human, financial, physical and informational) with the aim of achieving organizational goals effectively and efficiently in a changing environment.

Similarly, according to Sherlekar and Sherlekar, “Management is a process involving coordination of human and material resources through the functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling in order to accomplish stated objectives.”

Thus, management is what manager does in an organization to accomplish the pre- determined goal in the changing environment.

Characteristics of Management:

The various characteristics of management are:

1. Management is universal: It means that management is required for every type of organization. It may be a business organization or social or political. It may be a small firm or a large one. Management is required by a school or a college or university or a hospital or a big firm like Reliance Industries Limited or a small variety store in your locality. Thus, it is a universal phenomenon and is common and essential element in all organizations.
2. Management is goal directed: Every organization is created to achieve certain goals. For example, for a business firm it may be to make maximum profit and/or to provide quality products and services. Management of an organization is always aimed at achievement of the organizational goals. Success of management is determined by the extent to which these goals are achieved.
3. Management is a continuous process: Management is an ongoing process. It continues as long as the organization exists. No activity can take place without management. To perform all activities like production, sale, storage, operation etc. management is required. So, as long as these activities continue the process of management also continues to operate.
4. Management is an integrating process: All the functions, activities, processes and operations are intermixed among themselves. It is the task of management to bring them together and proceed in a coordinated manner to achieve desired result. In fact, without integration of men, machine and material and coordination of individual efforts to contribute successfully as a team, it will be difficult to achieve organizational goals.
5. Management is intangible: Management is not a place like a graphic showing Board meeting or a graphic showing a school Principal at her office desk which can be seen .It is an unseen force and you can feel its presence in the form of rules, regulation, output, work climate, etc.
6. Management is multi-disciplinary: Management of an organization requires wide knowledge about various disciplines as it covers handling of man, machine, and material and looking after production, distribution, accounting and many other functions. Thus, we find the principles and techniques of management are mostly drawn from almost all fields of study like – Engineering, Economics, Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, Mathematics, Statistics etc.
7. Management is a social process: The most important aspect of management is handling people organized in work groups. This involves developing and motivating people at work and taking care of their satisfaction as social beings. All managerial actions are primarily concerned with relations between people and so it is treated as a social process.
8. Management is situational: The success of management depends on, and varies from, situation to situation. There is no best way of managing. The techniques and principles of management are relative, and do not hold good for all situations to come.