Final Essay
Management is the organization and coordination of the activities of a business in order to achieve defined objectives.1 Included in management are the four basic functions: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Planning by definition is a basic management function involving formulation of one or more detailed plans to achieve optimum balance of needs or demands with the available resources.2 An example of planning is a business plan, which is a document that sets operational and financial objectives and is a blueprint or guide to the policies and strategies of the company. Organizing is arranging several elements into a purposeful sequential or spatial order.3 For example, a contract manager hires subcontractors and orders materials; he must schedule the subcontractors in a specific order to be efficient.
The definition of leading is the management function that involves the use of influence to motivate employees to achieve the organizations goals.4 A good leader can lead by example, which helps inspire subordinates and gains the leader respect; this is an example of leading. The final function of management is controlling which sets standards, compares actual performance against these standards, and takes corrective action if needed. An example of controlling is the balanced scorecard which is helps companies compare their performance against their standards and correct their performance if need be. The second part of management is organizational performance, which is ability to meet organizational goals effectively and efficiently. A SWOT analysis is a report that can be used to determine the overall company performance and is a good tool for organizational management systems.
Management cannot be efficiently without management skills, such as conceptual, technical, and human. Conceptual skills are the ability to creatively think, analyze, and understand complicated and abstract ideas. An example of these skills would be a manager’s ability to view their company as a holistic entity, to see the interrelationships between divisions, and to understand how the firm fits into and affects its overall environment. 5 Technical skills are the understanding of and proficiency in the performance of specific tasks.6 An example of a technical skill would be the knowledge to use a machine, computer, or make the right side of a 50-caliber gun. The last of these I am going to discuss is the human skill, which is the ability to work with and through other people and to work effectively as a group member. The ability for managers to motivate, facilitate, coordinate, lead, communicate, and resolve conflicts are examples of human skills.
The internal organizational environment affects management in many aspects. Such as the ability to hire the right person for the right job, if the company is horizontally or vertically structured, and providing the tools necessary for the employees to complete the job is part of the internal environment. Effective communication in all levels of the organization, motivating the employee to ensure top production, appropriate technology to maintain the effectiveness of the company, authentic leaders and the visible and invisible culture of the company also affect management. There are also external organizational environment, such as the general and task environment that affects management. The general environment by definition is the factors and conditions (such as economic, legal, political, and social circumstances) that generally affect everyone in an industry or market in more or less similar manner. 7 While an example of a task environment is competitors, customers, suppliers, or labor supply.
Globalization implies the opening of local and nationalistic perspectives to a broader outlook of an interconnected and interdependent world with free transfer of capital, goods, and services across national frontiers. However, it does not include unhindered movement of labor and, as