Levels of management

In today modern world,where globalization is taking place at every step ,organizations are expanding more rapidly than ever before. Management and the managers IE the people who perform the act of management (management about 2009 ) are an important part of the organization.

Management can be defined as the process of Organization and coordination of the activities of an enterprise in accordance with certain policies and in achievement of clearly defined objectives
(businessdictionary 2009 ). Management can also be described as an art or a science. The four key functions of management are (1) Planning ,(2) Organising ,(3) Directing and (4) Controlling.

Planning in an organization occurs in different ways and at all levels.It consists of setting objectives,making plans and helping the organization plan for the future.Organising refers to the way organization allocates resources,assigns tasks and accomplishing goals.Directing is managing or supervising workers of the organization to accomplish the goals of the organization.To effictively carry out the function of directing,managers must posses good leadership skills.Controlling ensures that the companies goals and objectives are being met.The manager must ensure that standards set for the workers are being met in the correct way.

Managers are another importan resource for an organization.A manager can be defined as a person who is responsible for planning and directing the work of a group of individuals, monitoring their work, and taking corrective action when necessary (about.com 2007).Although over the years,the role of managers has changed significantly.Earlier ,managers were thought of as “the boss.”.Eventhough that might hold true for today ,managers view themselves as leaders rather than as people who tell subordinates what to do.The role of a manager is often very complex and comprehensive.

In an organization,there are 3 levels of management :top level,middle level and lower level.”These three levels of management form a hierachy in an organization,in which they are ranked in order of importance “(Persus Book Group 2002)

Top level management : It consists of board of directors ,president of the company ,CEO’s etc

Role :

1. Lays down the objectives and policies of the company
2. Controls and Coordinates activites of all departments
3. Prepares strategic plans and policies for the enterprise

Middle level management: It consists of branch and departmental managers

Role :

1. They excecute the plans of the organization which are set by the top management
2. Act as a link betweek top and lower levels of management
3. Help in motivating the lower level employees to work efficently and effictively

Lower level management : It consists of supervisors,foremen,superintendent etc.

Role :

1. Assigning of jobs and duties to various workers
2. Guide and instruct workers for day to day activites
3. Foremen help to solve the grievances of the workers

Also,managers play an important role in the management theories which exist in an organization.Organizational culture, education of managers and employees and the environment determine the management theories of a group or a company(Deresky 1998).Some of the management techniques which have been used in the past as well as the techniques which are currently in use are Scientific Management,Contingency Theory,Hawthrone Effect and Human Relations etc

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT:

At the turn of the 19th century,the most notable organizations were large and industrialised.They often included ongoing and routine tasks that manafactured a variety of products.Frederick taylor devloped the scientific management theory ie “theory of management that analyses and synthesies workflows, with the objective of improving labour productivity “(taylor 1947,p.36).

This theory aimed at the careful analysis of tasks and time and motion studies in conjunction with the piece rate pay schemes in order to improve productivity.(Management study guide 2007).

The tasks were standardized as much as possible and the workers were rewarded on the basis of their productivity.This approach worked well for organizations with assembly lines and other mechanised activities.

The principles of scientific management are :-(thompson and mcchugh 2009)

1. Devloping a science for each element of work
2. Scientific selection and training of workers
3. Cooperation between management and workers
4. Equal divison of work and responsibility between management and workers

According to Taylor,management had to reverse existing power relations in production and hence the manager of an organization is responsible for gathering together all of the traditional knowledge and reducing this knowledge to rules law and formuale (tompson and mcchugh 2009)

Taylor also believed that workers were motivated by the pursuit of rational self interest and monetary incentives and thus a manager should work out compensations and rewards for the workers.Also a manager should ensure that he places the right worker in the right job

In today’s world scientific management has been merged with other ideas and is used by managers in the form of time and motion studies to eradicate wasted motions, incentive schemes based on performance and hiring the best qualified workers for each job