Adminstration Function

CHAPTER

1 NATURE AND SCOPE OFMANAGEMENT

Every human being has several needs and desires. But no individual can satisfy all his wants. Therefore, people work together to meet their mutual needs which they cannot fulfil individually. Moreover, man is a social being as he likes to live together with other people. It is by working and living together in organized groups and institutions that people satisfy their economic and social needs. As a result there are several types of groups, e.g., family, school, government, army, a business firm, a cricket team and the like. Such formal groups can achieve their goals effectively only when the efforts of the people working in these groups are properly coordinated and controlled. The task of getting results through others by coordinating their efforts is known as management. Just as the mind coordinates and regulates all the activities of a person, management coordinates and regulates the activities of various members of an organization.

2 Management. Principles and Practices

1.1 DEFINITION OF MANAGEMENT

It is very difficult to give a precise definition of the term ‘management’. Different scholars from different disciplines view and interpret management from their own angles. The economists consider management as a resource like land, labor, capital and organization. The bureaucrats look upon it as a system of authority to achieve business goals. The sociologists consider managers as a part of the class elite in the society. The definitions by some of the leading management thinkers and practitioners are given below:

I. Management consists in guiding human and physical resources into dynamic, hard-hitting organisation unit that attains its objectives to the satisfaction of those served and with a high degree of morale and sense of attainment on the part of those rendering the service. —Lawrence A. Appley

II. Management is the coordination of all resources through the process of planning, organising, directing and...