Nature and Significance of Management

Lesson

Part 1: the four meanings of management, its objectives and its characteristics.

In this lesson you will

Part 1 at a glance

Concept

Four ways to read the word

Management is the process of getting things done effectively and efficiently through others, to achieve the goals of an organisation.

Table of the four meanings of management: as an activity, a group, a discipline and a process, with what each means and how it is heard
Management as…	What it means	You hear it as…
An activity	What managers do: interpersonal, informational and decisional tasks	A manager's busy day
A group	The body of persons who manage an organisation	"The management has decided…"
A discipline	An organised field of study with its own principles	"I am studying management"
A process	A chain of functions: plan, organise, staff, direct, control	How work moves from idea to result

Diagram

Controlling feeds back into the next round of planning.

The five functions follow one another, and controlling feeds back into the next plan.