Management as a practice gained ground when the concept of working together in groups to achieve common objectives was realized by men. But the study of management as a systematic field of knowledge began at the advent of the Industrial Revolution, which ushered in a new era of serious thinking and theorizing on management.
Management is the act of directing and controlling a group of people for the purpose of coordinating and harmonizing the group towards accomplishing a goal beyond the scope of individual effort. Management encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources.
Managers are charged with making decisions that will impact an organization on every level. These decisions range from hiring a new employee to taking a company public. Management is not an easy field, and good managers are highly sought after. Planning is a process consisting of several steps. The process begins with environmental scanning which simply means that planners must be aware of the critical contingencies facing their organization in terms of economic conditions, their competitors, and their customers. Planners must then attempt to forecast future conditions. These forecasts form the basis for planning.
Decision making is an integral part of every aspect of life. This also applies to organizations. It is one of the key factors that pave the way for its success or failure. Every manager is required to execute decisions at various levels of the management cycle beginning from planning to control. It is the effectiveness and quality of those decisions that determine how successful a manager is.
Forecasting is the key to planning. It generates the planning process. Planning decides the future course of action which is expected to take place in certain circumstances and conditions. Unless the managers know these conditions, they cannot go for effective planning.
As an organized organization grows in size, the same existence of informal relationships and formal relationships becomes inevitable. Informal organizations have always existed with legal entities. They arise because of the inevitable social and personal needs that cannot be satisfied by the principles of a legal entity. They represent informal, unlawful encounters, interactions between people working in organized structures. They come from the common interests of the people.
This book provides deep insight to various dimensions of issues relating to the subject.