Management. Views of Fayol and Mintzberg Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management. Views of Fayol and Mintzberg - Essay Example This research paper explains what management is and examines basic management theories and definitions to compare and contrast each of them with others. This paper addresses management as an organizational function as well a topic for academic research and study. Management Managing is an extremely important and perhaps one of the most challenging activities in today’s complex society and especially in the contemporary business contexts. Various factors and forces such as globalization, competition, quality-concerns of customers about goods and services, changes in consumer requirements etc make ‘managing’ a more challenging and rather highly rewarding task. Management is generally defined as an ‘art of getting things done through others’ (Dessler and Phillips, 2007, p. 4). This definition by Herold Koontz denotes to various underlying concepts of managing such as delegation of authority, planning for some things to be done and executing them through people and available resources and coordinating and controlling it. Management is an art, science, technique, method, process or strategy by which people work with others and available resources to help the organization reach its destination. Management is therefore a goal oriented process. As Bateman and Snell (2003) described, management is the process or practice by which people (managers) work with other people and resources in order to accomplish the already set goals of the organization both effectively and efficiently. To be efficient means to achieve goals and organizational objectives with minimal waste of resources by making best use of money, time, technology, materials and people, whereas effectiveness refers to achieving the right organizational goals at right time through right ways. Managers do things differently with effective strategies and techniques and by using the organized knowledge that in turn help them make their organizations unique and ultimately successfu l. The general management thought can be affected largely by demographic, geographic and social influences from business to business. However, management theories and definitions are still applicable to varying situations in firms around the world. In today’s complex business contexts, it is very evident that management is merely the process of managing the total resources of an organization. Herold Koontz’s definition talks about delegation of authority and making people work for getting in to the ultimate goals. It is thus related to how effectively managing both people and other resources. People are used by managers to get their things done through. They moreover effectively and efficiently utilize the available materials as well. When it comes to the management practices in place today, Bateman and Snell (2003) argued that no manager is always right or always wrong, but some managers are getting it in to the right path more often than some other managers are doing (p. 6). Views of Fayol and Mintzberg In management study, the views of Henry Fayol and Henry Minzberg have gained considerable attention as their studies and findings have explored management as a function and role that managers do. Henry Fayol, famously renowned as father of modern management, defined management as â€Å"to forecast and plan, to organize, to command, to coordinate and to control† (Cole, 2004, p. 6). He asserted that management was characterized by five specific functions; that are planning, organizing, commanding,