Management of Organizations
The Nature of Management| Management is an important area of study from both the personal and the global perspective. Formally defined, management is the process of working with and through others to achieve organizational objectives in a changing environment. Central to this process is the effective and efficient use of limited resources. Managerial ability is...
The evolution of management thought| Management thought has evolved in bits and pieces over the years. Although the practice of management dates back to the earliest recorded history, the systematic study of management is largely a product of the twentieth century. An information explosion in management theory has created a management theory jungle. Five conventional approaches to management are: ...
Planning and decision making| Planning has been labeled the primary management function because it sets the stage for all other aspects of management. Recent research has uncovered the following trends in corporate planning: more planners with actual management experience; greater teamwork, customizing, and...
Organizing| Organizing is an important managerial function that translates strategy into a systematic structure of authority relationships and task responsibilities. Contingency organization design has grown in popularity as environmental complexity...
Strategic management| Strategic management sets the stage for virtually all managerial activity. Managers at all levels need to think strategically and be familiar with the strategic management process for three reasons: farsightedness is encouraged, the rationale behind top-level decisions becomes more...
Organizations| Organizations need to be understood and intelligently managed because they are an ever-present feature of modern life. When people gather together and formally agree to combine their efforts for a common purpose, an organization is the result. All organizations, whatever their purpose, have four characteristics:...
Staffing and Human Resource Management| A synergistic relationship exists between individuals and their employing organizations. But students have strong concerns about their future organizational life, especially about the quality of supervision they will experience. Apart from...
Communicating| Observational research indicates that managers at all levels spend the majority of their workday communicating. Communication is a social process involving the transfer of information and understanding. Links in the communication process include sender, encode, medium, decode, receiver, and...
Motivation| Motivation refers to psychological process that gives behavior purpose and direction. It is an important area of study for managers because it helps them better understand our most valuable resource, people. (Realistically, motivation is just one of many explanations of work behavior, such as...
Group dynamics| Managers need a working understanding of group dynamics because groups are the basic social building blocks of organizations. Both informal (friendship) and formal (work) groups are made up of two or more freely interacting individuals who have a common identity and...