LU 6 – Introduction to Management
6.2 Role of Management
An organisation may be described as consisting of people and resources, and certain
goals that have to be achieved. The goals form the purpose of an organisation.
Management is required to achieve goals. One of the most common causes of failure in a
business is poor management.
Main causes of business failure
- Bad - Poor marketing - No feedback from
management/manageri - Poor business location customers
al incompetence - Economic conditions - Absence of
- Lack of managerial - Failure to adapt to a performance
experience changing environment monitoring
- Lack of industry - Inadequate pricing - Poor debtor
experience - Poor human resource management
- Lack of clear objectives relations - Overborrowing
- Poor business planning - Failure to understand - Lack of financial skills
- Poor cash flow your market and - Failure to innovate
management customers - Competition
- Over expansion - Inadequate financing
The success of a business depends on the quality of its management, management is
indispensable – management directs a business towards its goals. Management
sets and keeps the operations of the business on a balances course.
In a microenvironment (within business), a balance must be maintained between the
goals of a business, the resources it needs to realise those objectives, the personal goals
of the employees and the interests of the owners
Basic resources used by an organisation:
Organisation Human Financial Physical Information
Resources Resources Resources Resources
Vodacom Managers, Equity provided Cell phone Market
engineers, by towers, base research
technical and shareholders stations, reports,
admin staff Vodacom office forecasts
parks
Sasol Managers, Profits, Refineries, Forecasts and
engineers, shareholders’ coalfields and market info
technical and equity and plants
admin staff loans
UNISA Teaching and State subsidies, Buildings, Research
administrative contributions libraries, reports, annual
staff from private computers reports and
sector calendars
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, BMNG – Business LU 6
Management keeps the organisation in equilibrium with its environment.
- Management adapts the organisation to environmental change.
o Aligning its employment policy with the requirements of the employment
equity act
- Management may try to achieve a better equilibrium with the environment by
trying to change the environment itself in an attempt to reach the organisations
objectives.
Management is necessary to reach the goals of the organisation at the highest
possible level of productivity. Greatest possible output with the least possible input
is the reason for the existence of business management.
6.3 A Definition Of Management
Management = process followed by managers to accomplish a business’s goals and
objectives.
Activities Terminology
Management does 4 Management decides Planning
things: what should be done
Decides how it should Organising
- Decides what has be done
to be done
Says how and when it Leading
- Decides how this is should be done
should be done Checks whether the Control
- It orders that it be tasks have been carried
done out
- Checks that its orders have been carried out
These are the basic tasks of a manager. The basic tasks are performed in a sequence, it
would not make sense to perform them in any other order.
Fundamental activities and resources of business, goals should not be viewed as
separate entities, rather as an integrated process that has to do with planning goals
and the resources to accomplish them, organising the resources and people, leading the
people and controlling the resources and the activities of the people.
Planning: determines the missions and goals of the business, how to reach the goals in
the long-term and the resources needed. Included determining the future position of the
business, and guidelines or plans on how that position is to be reached.
Organising: resources of the business have to be allocated by management to the
relevant departments, duties must be defined, procedures must be fixed. Organisation
involves developing a framework or structure to indicate how people, equipment and
materials should be employed to reach goals.
Leading: directing human resources of the business and motivating them.
Control: managers should constantly establish whether the business is on a proper
course towards its goals. Control allows management to detect any deviations from the
plans and to correct them.
Managers have to be engaged in all these management activities simultaneously.
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