In ancient times, people knew that one of the leading areas of human activity is management. Indeed, without proper planning and control of what is happening, no business can be done. Management science is an almost comprehensive concept. Anything can be an object in this process: from making oatmeal to launching spaceships.
Over the century of its existence, management has evolved from an exclusively practical activity into science. Studying the experience of specialists and theoretical positions of researchers, we can deal with the postulates of management and successfully implement them.
From practice to theory
We constantly manage something: a car, browser settings on a computer, our knowledge and abilities. Often we successfully apply management techniques without even realizing their existence. This is a constant, sometimes completely invisible process. Objects can be both physical objects and people, and various phenomena.
Until the middle of the 20th century, the concept of control was related more to people than to technological processes and devices. In the explanatory dictionaries, “management” is interpreted as direction and leadership. And if you study the terminology a little deeper, it turns out that the semantics of the word are as follows: "perform something on behalf of, execute and dispose of."
In the 60s of the last century, they started talking about the emergence of a new science - cybernetics, whose main tasks were the study of managerial processes in all areas of human life. Cybernetics is on the verge of psychology and mathematics. Using mathematical logic and apparatus, specialists were able to combine the achievements of computer science and automatic regulation of process control with the achievements of other areas of scientific knowledge.
Today, this science deals not only with management issues, but also with communications, control, regulation, reception, storage and processing of information in almost all dynamic systems. Moreover, the main attention is paid to the principles and patterns on the basis of which management procedures are formulated.
System and organization
But for quality management, it is necessary to create a system that clearly, competently and effectively describes the relationship between the object and subject of management.
The concept of "system" in this case should be characterized by such signs:
- subjects and objects of management;
- organizational structure of the system;
- interconnectedness, but independence of constituent elements;
- objectives and goals;
- forms and methods of activity.
Textbooks offer us to distinguish between such systems:
- Technical - information and computer network, technological process, power system.
- Socio-economic - a separate enterprise, a service sector.
- Organizational - any system whose main element is people.
It is human nature to be part of some organization. Even our family is an organizational system. After all, it is characterized by a hierarchical structure, consistency, the achievement of certain social goals. And if so, it means that here you can use management methods to solve public tasks.
The founder of management and its terminology
For all the time of development, the essence of management has remained the same. The six basic operations, originally determined by the classic of this science A. Fayole, have not undergone any changes. The management functions are still formulated as follows:
- Technical
- A commercial.
- Financial.
- Insurance.
- Accounting.
- Administrative
The latter is of most interest, since it is the coordinating and interconnecting all the others. A. Fayol himself argues that the management of an organization is an understanding of the situation, foresight, organization and control.
Explaining why he called these management operations the main ones, the scientist focused on the fact that understanding the situation makes it possible to correctly assess all factors of influence; to foresee means to develop a program of activities taking into account the future. Next, you need to organize - not only create a system, but also manage its resources; and to control means to ensure that everything conceived and calculated is implemented within the specified time frame.
The management process is characterized by such features:
- functioning of the constructed system;
- targeted impact of the subject - so that the tasks are carried out as quickly and efficiently as possible;
- the presence of information links;
- the presence of various forms of subordination within the framework of the created hierarchy.
Kinds
Theorists divide organization management into three types. Each is characterized by specific characteristics and the intensity of the required intervention in the process. So, “mechanical” is focused on the features of controlling machines and conveyors and optimizing production technologies and practically does not require managerial influences. The next type - "biological" - studies all the nuances of the life of the company (team). Its main task is to coordinate the activities of animated and inanimate elements of the system. And finally, the third is social management. Here we are already talking about social processes and the high level of involvement of the manager, since the main element of such an organization is a person.
The most complex is a dynamic system with a large number of different elements. The management process in such organizations is necessary to prevent and eliminate chaos, increase the efficiency of its functioning and resistance to external stimuli.
Each organization must ensure a dynamic balance between the system and the outside world, preserve its signs and certainty, regardless of the strength of the destructive external influences and overcome the contradictions between the elements of the organization and the environment. The subject must be able to not only strengthen (weaken) his teams, but also combine them in order to maintain the equilibrium state of the system.
Who owns the information - owns the world
Often, we mistakenly believe that the concept of management is associated with the quality performance of the basic operations of the production process. In the modern world, changes in the environment occur so quickly that it is sometimes impossible to even track them all. Not that responsive.
Therefore, for successful survival in a competitive environment, an enterprise needs to create a flexible vital information system. The information itself does not perform any production and technologically important functions. But the better the interconnected controls with the executors, the faster it is possible to adjust the production process.
Information is transmitted in the form of simple signals that force the system to be rebuilt to perform assigned tasks. Due to the correct direction of the signals, the enterprise has the opportunity to quickly respond even to the smallest disturbances in the external environment. Moreover, one of the properties of communicative processes is selectivity. That is, the organization only responds to certain types of signals.
In any management, feedback is considered the most important sign of impact effectiveness. The concept of management is to develop a mechanism for correlating goals, impact and outcome.The subject should receive information not only about what is happening “above him”, and transmit his instructions “below”, but also about how his commands are implemented in practice. Feedback provides circuit closure; and this, in turn, allows organically and holistically use management mechanisms to counter the environment.
In those situations where management functions are performed independently, the initiative for change comes from within the organization, and all mechanisms function without external intervention, theorists talk about self-government. Most often, these systems include biological and social. Although you can find many examples of people-created systems that will not be self-governing: jurisprudence, driving, etc.
Social management
The most difficult recognized social management. After all, it represents the interaction of both individuals and groups. Its main objective is the streamlining of socially significant processes, ensuring the stability and development of the system. How to highlight the main management in such an organization? To do this, you need to understand several differences:
1. People management is a certain type of relationship. Since man is a collective being, the basis of his being is recognized as joint activity in all spheres of life; and grouping is one of the possible means of struggle for survival. Any team consisting of people takes the form of an organization with all its inherent attributes: governing bodies, methods of influence, etc. Indeed, the effectiveness of an activity depends on the orderliness and coordination of the work of all elements of the system.
2. Each person commits actions according to his will and education. Therefore, all actions must be considered as volitional and appropriate. Since joint activities require orderliness, personnel management should focus on coordinating the interests and will of different people. After all, social management is carried out through the impact on the will of various personalities.
This effect is carried out through power - hierarchical vertical coordination of the activities of individual individuals.
Power and degree of freedom
The presence of objects of management will, autonomy and independence significantly complicates the main thing - the management of the organization. After all, each person is able to analyze the current situation and choose the most appropriate option for behavior. In social management, we are talking about such objects as collectives and peoples. And this means that it is necessary to influence the will and mind of people united by something. The situation is further aggravated by the diversity of needs and tastes, traditions and habits, peculiarities of thinking, etc. Public administration is recognized as one of the most difficult areas of human life.
The main goal of any biological system is to adapt to environmental conditions. Social is different in that the organization adjusts external conditions according to its needs. In this case, management methods are to improve the system and change its quality.
Behavior uncertainty
The behavior of individuals cannot be placed in a rigid framework. And this means that social management is probabilistic in nature. Conscious leadership is simply not able to capture all the nuances of the life of an individual. Yes, this may turn out to be a certain amount of harm: the creation of obstacles in the development of the individual often leads to the degradation of society as a whole. Of course, the degree of independence and choice is different for everyone - a soldier is different from a hired employee, and he, in turn, is different from a freelancer. But personnel management, for example, is not capable of controlling all aspects of life without exception.In addition, in addition to the authorities, there are such regulators as science and culture.
And another feature of social systems is that the object and subject can partially merge - to act simultaneously in several roles. And in some situations, a change of place is not excluded, when the object becomes a subject, and vice versa.
State and government
Management is characterized by the complexity of relationships that develop under the influence of many factors. Depending on the degree of restriction of external influence, it is customary to distinguish between city management, healthcare, finance, etc. In addition, the type of property becomes significant: state or commercial enterprises will fundamentally differently respond to environmental fluctuations. And, accordingly, control actions will also be private in each case.
Public administration is subjective in nature - in fact, it is the result of the mental activity of a group of people in power. It should be remembered that almost all states independently determine the identities of those people who are provided with this power through electoral processes. In this way, the primary management principle social systems - submission of the will of the individual to public interests.
State management is called upon to determine public needs and, through the developed algorithm, act in the direction of their satisfaction. Therefore, the management of services responsible for the implementation of socially significant programs should be represented by a single chain of phenomena: needs - goals - decisions - actions - result.
Industry management
The specificity of management is inherent in all sectors. So, in the manufacturing sector, we are faced mainly with mechanical and biological systems. Financial management requires a combination of biological and social structures. And in the service sector, social management prevails.
All these actions are regulated by administrative law, which establishes procedures and determines the legality of the activities of enterprises and people. For each industry, its own rules and regulations are being developed - after all, even financial management cannot be put on a par with insurance.
Arguing about whether management has development prospects, it is worth recalling once again that any human action can be described from a management perspective. In other words, any specialist studying management should receive not only professional knowledge in this area, but also a number of special skills that will allow to understand and effectively correct the organization's activities.