Principles of Management

INTRODUCTION

What is management? The famous Henri Fayol, a French management theorist and a managing director of a mining company, defined management by 4 elements of functions which are planning, organizing, command, coordination, and control around 1900 in order for the goals and objectives of the organization to be achieved. Through the years, this classical management function, also known as Fayolism, has been the way of analyzing the task of management. However, in recent years Fayolism has been challenged by a professor of management, Prof Henry Mintzberg in 1979, Mintzberg posed the question: is it the objectives of management or the roles one undertakes as a manager that best describes the work of managers? Mintzberg established this contemporary theory as a result of a detailed analysis of managers by walking around and observing what managers did at work, which clearly differed from Henri Fayol’s Fayolism, he considers management roles as the benchmark of things that managers cover in their jobs. As a result of his observation-based research on CEOs, middle managers, and supervisors, Mintzberg concluded that a manager’s job cannot be solely defined by their functions but rather by the various important roles that they play within and outside the organization.

In 1990, Mintzberg published his Ten Management Roles in his book, "Mintzberg on Management: Inside our Strange World of Organizations’. Roles of managers are constantly switching as tasks, circumstances and expectations change. A manager holds the role of a figurehead, one who is necessary to inspire a person within the organization or the scope of work, who also carries out responsibilities in the form of social, ceremonial and legal activities as a symbolic leader. To unify and motivate members, for example by taking on the duty of meeting and greeting clients or business partners, attends award ceremony or ground breaking ceremony and giving a speech of inspiration. Manager holds the role as a leader indirectly, with motivation and encouragement, to stoke the will and passion of subordinates in working together to achieve the goals of the unit and ultimately the objectives of the organization. A leader sets the tone of example within the organization; strive for performance improvement in existing direction whether it is quality, customer service, and efficiency. In addition, manager plays the role as a liaison officer, which emphasizes on the manager’s interpersonal skills in communicating with people outside their area of responsibility. The manager acts a liaison officer that involves the provision of resources, links to other contacts and a channel for communication to take place between his or her department, within the organization and also outside the organization. Take for example, a manager who provides a source of contact to an event company for the organization as preparation for the company

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