Management Functions, Science, and Principles

Management Functions: Execution

Activities involved in putting into practice the philosophy of empowerment for all concerned:

• Drive and challenge others to do their best.
• Motivate members.
• Communicate effectively.
• Develop members who realize their potential.
• Communicate effectively with recognition and reward; provide good pay for a job well done.
• Supervise the efforts of execution in the light of monitoring results.

Management Functions: Control

To check and monitor what is being done to ensure that the work of others is progressing satisfactorily toward the predetermined goal.

Activities:

• Compare the results with the general plans.
• Evaluate the results against performance standards.
• Effectively devise means to measure operations, which are the means to communicate metrics.
• Suggest corrective actions where necessary.
• Inform members responsible for the performances.

Relationship Between Functions

The four functions (planning, organizing, leading, and controlling) are interrelated. The performance of one function does not stop completely before the next begins. While a company may establish a specific order for functions, such as in a process flow, a manager can handle control activities concurrently and feed information back into planning and execution.

Administration and Science

Science is a body of knowledge obtained through the scientific method, comprising principles of universal value in time and space.

Classification of Science

• Formal: Logic and mathematics.
• Factual:
  • Nature: Biology.
  • Social: Economics.
  • Biosocial: Psychology.

Etymology: "scire" means wisdom and knowledge.

Features of Science

• Descriptive
• Explanatory
• Predictive
• Methodical
• Systematic
• Testable
• Clear and precise
• Objective
• Provisional
• Critical

Objective of Science

• Discover answers and solutions to research problems.
• Description, explanation, prediction, and control of phenomena.

Management: Art, Science, Discipline

Management is the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the work of members of the organization and using available resources. The scientific method is a basic tool of administration, helping to manage variables that determine the outcome of the company.

Scientific Management

Pioneered by Frederick Winslow Taylor, Scientific Management involves the time and motion study, which is the division of all the movements necessary for the execution of various operations of a task.

Taylor's Principles

• Planning
• Preparation
• Control

Fayol's 14 Principles

• Authority
• Discipline
• Unity of Direction
• Unity of Command
• Remuneration
• Subordination of Individual Interest to the Common Good
• Centralization
• Hierarchy
• Order
• Equity
• Stability of Personnel
• Initiative
• Esprit de Corps