Principles of Management Chapter 1

My good friend Dr. Ramachandra Aryasri brought out the adaptation of Essentials of Management by Harold Koontz and Heinz Weihrich. I am going through this book to prepare for the course “Management of Securities Market Intermediaries” and I am writing the ideas that are coming to me as more useful explanations of functions of management.

Chapter 1. Management: Introduction

Definition of Management: Its Nature and Purpose

Management of an organization is the process of establishing objectives and goals of the organization periodically, designing the work system and the organization structure, and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, accomplish their aims and objectives and goals of the organization effectively and efficiently.

The definition implies the following.

(i) Management is a process.
(ii) Management applies to every kind of organization, government, profit making, or nonprofit making.
(iii) It applies to managers at all levels in the organization.
(iv) Management is concerned with effectiveness and efficiency which can be captured in one word productivity.

Functions of Management

The process of management can be better understood by breaking it down into the five basic functions of a manager – planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. All the management concepts, principles, theories and techniques can be grouped under these five functions.

Management Functions at Different Organizational Unit Levels

All managers carry out managerial functions. However the proportion of time spent for each function may differ from level to level. The top managers may spend more time on planning in choosing the corporate objectives and business unit objectives and in developing the work system and the organization structure. The first level supervisors may spend more time in leading the staff under them and in doing operational control.

Managerial Skills

Managers require four kinds of skills: technical, human, conceptual and design.

1. Technical skills are knowledge of and proficiency in working with the tools and specific techniques on given processes. For example, mechanics work with tools, and their supervisors should have the ability to train them how to use these tools and periodically evaluate and improve the skills of the staff under them. Similarly accounts use various formats of accounting records like journal, ledger, trial balance, balance sheet and use various procedures like entry, posting, reconciliation and reversing etc. and the supervisor of the accountants has to know these records and procedures to train the staff under him and evaluate their work for accuracy. The first level supervisors have to demonstrate or use their technical skills on a day to day basis as managers.

2. Human skills are the concepts, methods and techniques that facilitate working with people. Managers have to create an environment in which people feel comfortable, motivated, secure, and committed to the objectives and goals of the group or the organizational unit in which they are members.

3. Conceptual skill is the ability to see the “big picture.” It is the ability to recognize significant issues or elements in a situation and to understand the relationships among these key issues.

4. Design skill is the ability to solve problems in ways that benefit the enterprise. To be effective managers in the organization must be capable of doing more than just seeing a problem (If they merely confine their attention to the problem, they become ‘problem watchers’ and they will not fulfill their responsibility). They Must have, in addition to the skill of identifying key problems, the skill of a good design engineer to work out a practical solution to a problem in the light of the realities they face in the situation.


The intensity or frequency with which these groups of skills are applied varies with the managerial level.

First line supervisors use their technical skills on a day to day to basis to observe the working of the staff in the department or section and guide them in carrying out the allotted tasks as per the specification of the customer or the design and in proper use of machines and tools. Quality and quantity control on a continuous becomes the important responsibility of first line supervisors and technical skills play a very important part in this role.

At the top level, conceptual skills and design skills have to be employed to recognize the opportunities and threats that keep on emerging in the environment. Solutions to benefit from the opportunities and contain the ill effects of threats have to be developed.