MAN 703
MANAGEMENT THEORY AND PRACTICE
BY
DR MALAMI MUHAMMAD MAISHANU
READING MATERIALS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. MEANING AND NATURE OF MANAGEMENT
3. HISTORY AND THEORIES OF MANAGEMENT THOUGHT
4. DECISION MAKING PROCESS
5. LEADERSHIP AND LEADERSHIP THEORIES
6. MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM (MIS)
7. MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES (MBO)
8. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
9. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN MANAGEMENT
10. COMPARATIVE MANAGEMENT
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Nigeria is blessed with abundant human and material resources and has very rich culture. Nigerians are known to be energetic, ambitious and resourceful. Yet, the country is experiencing low technological progress and extremely low labour productivity. The most pronounced problem hindering the economic growth and development of this country is absence of enough qualified high level manpower especially at the management levels.
Consequently, Nigerian employees have over the years exhibited certain characteristics that serve as deterrent to economic growth. These include:
i. Very poor attitude to work. This is evidenced in the fact that the average employee is “not on seat” fifty percent of the time.
ii. Poorly trained and lacking in experience.
iii. Inadequate motivation.
iv. Poor supervision
Because of these and other similar problems, there is a clear lack of managerial know-how in most of Nigerian organisations. This further led to other problems such as indiscipline, authoritarian leadership style, over concentration of decision making in one person, absence of delegation, idle gossips etc.
To surmount these problems, there is need for effective and efficient management which will unlock the forces of economic growth and development in this country. This will consequently lead to better human resources utilisation capable of achieving results. The aim of this course is to impart the necessary managerial knowledge and skills that can improve the performance of managers operating in all the levels of managerial hierarchy. To this extent, certain important areas have been selected to help us achieve our aim.
2. MEANING AND NATURE OF MANAGEMENT
2.1 WHO ARE MANAGERS?
Managers are people who work in a place called an organisation. Hence, understanding who managers are begins by exploring the meaning of an organisation. Several definitions abound. But for the purpose of this course organisation is defined as a systematic arrangement of people to accomplish some specific purpose (Robbins: 1991). Examples of organisations include: university, government agencies, Petroleum station, churches etc. These are all organisations because they all have three common characteristics:
· First, each has a distinct purpose i.e. goal or set of goals;
· Second, each is composed of people; and
· Third, all organisations develop a systematic structure that defines and limits the behaviour of its members such as creating rules and regulations, authority and responsibility, job description, procedure for employment, discipline and dismissal etc.
Thus, an organisation refers to an entity that has a distinct purpose, includes people or employees, and has a systematic structure. However, while it is true that all managers work in organisations, not all those who work in organisations are called managers. Members of an organisation can therefore be divided into two groups for simplicity sake: managers and operatives. The latter are people who work directly on a job or task and have no responsibility for overseeing the work of others e.g. typists, cleaners etc. Managers however, direct the activities of other people and are operating in three levels of management: top (e.g. president, vice president, chancellor, managing director, chairman of board etc.), middle (e.g. departmental heads, project leader, bishop, district manager etc.) and lower (foreman, coach, teachers etc.) levels.
2.2 WHAT IS MANAGEMENT?
From the classical to modern management, writers have given their various views of what the term ‘management’ is. It should however be noted that all studies of managerial works are inescapably guided by the interest and values embodied in the researcher’s frame of reference. This justifies the current wave of crisis and debate that loom in the minds of management experts and practitioners on the conceptual ambiguity associated with the concept of management.
One of the classical writers – Henri Fayol defines management as the process of achieving the organisational aims through the activities of planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and control. Management is also defined as the art of getting things done through and with people in formally organised groups. It is the art of creating an environment in which people can perform as individuals and yet cooperate toward the attainment of group goals. It is the art of removing blocks to such performance, a way of optimising efficiency in reaching goals (Koontz: 1962).
Management can also be seen as the process of getting activities completed efficiently with and through other people. The process represents the functions of managers and is often labelled as planning, organising, leading, and controlling. Efficiency is a vital part of management and it refers to the relationship between inputs and outputs. For e.g. if you get more output for a given input, you have increased efficiency. Therefore since managers deal with input resources that are scarce - people, money, equipment – they are concerned with minimising resource costs. However, being efficient is not enough. Management is also concerned with getting activities completed; that is it seeks effectiveness. When managers achieve their organisation’s goals, we say they are effective. So efficiency is concerned with means and effectiveness with ends.
2.3 WHAT ARE THE FUNCTIONS OF MANAGEMENT?
The functions of management are planning, organising, directing and controlling. It should however be noted that these are not the only functions. The listing of these functions depends on the personality doing the listing. For example, Henri Fayol a French industrialist identified five management functions; plan, organise, command, coordinate and control. The functions are also called elements or tasks of management. When these elements are combined together they make up the management process. Some of these functions are further elaborated below:
· Planning – This simply involves setting objectives and goals of the enterprise and determining in advance the methods of achieving them. It is the first function on which all others depend.
· Organising – This is concerned with the arrangement and division of work among groups or members of the organisation. It also involves breaking down of the organisation into parts in such a way that each part contributes to the organisational goals. Forms of organising are departmentation and division of labour.
· Staffing – This is concerned with the organisation’s human resources. It deals with recruitment, selection, placement, training and development and appraisal of the employees.
· Directing – This involves guiding and supervising subordinates. That is to encourage subordinates to work toward the attainment of organisation’s goals and objectives. This is normally done through motivating, leading and communicating.
· Controlling – This is the monitoring of performance to ensure occurrence of same with standards and the prompt detection and correction of any deviations.
2.4 WHAT ARE MANAGEMENT ROLES?
Henry Mintzberg in the late 1960s undertook a careful study of five executives at work and he discovered challenged several long-held notions about the manager’s job. For example, in contrast to the predominant views at the time that managers were reflective thinkers who carefully and systematically processed information before making decisions, he found that his managers engaged in a large number of varied, unpatterned, and short-duration activities. There was little time for reflective thinking because the managers encountered constant interruptions.
Mintzberg therefore concluded that the managers perform ten different but highly interrelated roles. The term ‘management roles’ refers to behaviour attributable to a job or position. These ten roles are however grouped under three captions: interpersonal, informational and decisional.
Interpersonal
Ø Figurehead – Here all managers are required to perform duties that are ceremonial and symbolic in nature i.e. they are obliged to perform a number of routine duties of a legal or social nature. For example ceremony, status requests, solicitations etc.
Ø Leader – All managers are responsible for the motivation and activation of subordinates; they are responsible for staffing, training, and associated duties.
Ø Liaison – Managers here maintain self-developed network of outside contacts and informers who provide favours and information.
Informational
Ø Monitor – Managers seek and receive wide variety of special information (much of it current) to develop thorough understanding of organisation and environment; emerge as nerve centre of internal and external information of the organisation.
Ø Disseminator – All managers transmit information received from outsiders to members of the organisation; some information factual, some involving interpretation and integration of diverse value positions of organisational influencers.
Ø Spokesman – Here, managers transmit information to outsiders (e.g. Board meetings) on organisation’s plans, policies, actions, results etc.; serve as experts on organisation’s industry.
Decisional
Ø Entrepreneur – Managers search organisation and its environment for opportunities and initiates “improvement projects” to bring about change; supervise design of certain projects as well.
Ø Disturbance handler – Managers are responsible for taking corrective actions when their organisations face important, unexpected disturbance.
Ø Resource allocation – Managers are also responsible for the allocation of organisational resources of all kinds – in effect, the making or approval of all significant organisational decisions.
Ø Negotiator – Manager are responsible for representing the organisation at major negotiations.
2.5 IS MANAGEMENT SCIENCE OR ART?
There have been great debates as to the controversy of whether management is a science or art. Science involves seeking new knowledge through the use of rigorous method of collecting data, classifying and measuring them, and setting up hypotheses and testing them. Art on the other hand means the sum total of the applications of skills and knowledge by individuals to achieve an objective. It can for instance be improved by working closely with an expert or through continual practice.
Management over the centuries had remained an art. As a result, managers depend on past experiences and judgement instead of depending on any testable technical knowledge as in the case in engineering, physics or survey. Aspect of management such as choice of strategies or policies remains a matter of interpretation of situations and application of personal judgments.
Science has equally been directed to certain areas of management and the reservoir of findings in diverse fields has grown providing sound bases for performing certain managerial functions. Management is science when it employs systematic procedure or scientific methods to obtain complete information about a problem under consideration.
Management cannot be regarded as an exact science because personal knowledge is needed to bridge the gap of available knowledge. It is therefore an inexact science. A successful manager blends experience with science in order to achieve a desired result.
3. HISTORY AND THEORIES OF MANAGEMENT THOUGHT
3.1 HISTORY OF MANAGEMENT THOUGHT
Before we consider some theories of management, let us briefly look at the history of management thought. Management is as old as mankind. It existed since time immemorial. In fact it is said to have began since when men started to organize his requirements. Organize his immediate environment and appreciative the need to relate and co-operate with one another.
However, in terms of chronological account of the evolution of management, the earliest known evidence of management has been traced to Egyptian civilization 4000-2000 BC. Some early material ideas such as planning organizing, controlling and co-ordination are attributed to the Egyptians, which had their origin in the construction of the Great Pyramids of Egypt. But because of the absence of documented evidence of their contribution to modern management thought, it has not been prominently discussed in management studies.
Next in our chronology of event is the role of the Church especially the Catholic Church in the development of management thought. Ideas and contributions to the management thought from the Church include: concepts and principles of decentralization, task specification, authority and responsibility etc. which were adopted by the church in conducting its affairs.
The military is another important force in the development of management thought. This has evidenced in the writings of Socrates. The military gave to management foundation upon which the concepts and principles of discipline, order, unity of command, unity of direction, departmentation, and strategy formulation are built.
Beyond the military is a succession of theories and ideas by practical managers and academics as to how peace and progress can avail in the industry. This trend became possible because management especially toward the end of the 19th century had became quite manifest as a distinct field in the art and science of administration and human activities.
Perhaps if one is to be unbiased, the greatest and most important to the contribution of modern management was the government of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the seventh century. To date, his principles and ideas in religious, public administration and government is still emulated by even secular states in the world. He was the Commander in Chief of the greatest government that ever existed in the world and authoritatively commanded respect by both his believers and his enemies.
3.2 THEORIES OF MANAGEMENT THOUGHT
There are several theories of management and in fact schools of thought. These theories and schools can be examined in different ways:
· looking at each in terms of historical chronology;
· examine them in terms of the major thesis advanced; and
· Examine the major issues in relation to the different aspect of the management process to which they relate.
It is to the latter that the discussion of these theories and schools of thought would be based. These issues will be examined yet from about three other perspectives:
· Technical
· Administrative
· Institutional issues.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
Technical issues involve productivity methods and operations which organisation use to produce its product or services. They are theories regarding methodologies of work, performance and approaches to decision making. They raise issues and set procedures that are supposed to lead to efficient and most economical operation if followed by managers. So they are task oriented. Two of the best known technical theories are discussed here ( i ) scientific management and ( ii ) operations-research school.