What Is Management?

�The term management can be and often is used in several different ways. Mary Parker Follett, described management as "the art of getting things done through people." �From Peter Drucker's viewpoint, managers give direction to their organizations, provide leadership, and decide how to use organizational resources to accomplish goals.�The term management in this thesis refers to the definition of management described by Richard L. Daft:

�"Management is the attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organizing, leading, and controlling organizational resources"

There are two important ideas in this definition: (1) the four functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling and (2) the attainment of organization goals in an effective and efficient manner.�

The Management Process: Management Functions

The successful manager must actively perform basic managerial functions. One of the earliest classifications of managerial functions was made by Fayol, who suggested that planning, organizing, coordinating, commanding, and controlling were the primary functions. �Some others theorists identify additional management functions, such as staffing, communicated, or decision making. �But now generally, there is agreement that the basic managerial functions are: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. �The additional functions (e.g., communicated, or decision making) will be discussed as subsets of the four primary functions.