Management Science
Management Science
UNIT-I
INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCTION:-
MEANING:-
Management is the function of getting things done through people and directing
the efforts of individual towards a common objective.
DEFINITION:-
Management is the art of getting things done through and with the people in formally organized
groups.
-Harlod Koontz
In the words of Henry Fayol – “To manage is to forecast and to plan, to organize, to command, to
co-ordinate and to control”.
According to F.W Taylor, management is the art of knowing what you want to do and then seeing
that is done in the best and cheapest way.
Concepts of Management:-
Management as an academic discipline: Discipline refers to a field of study having well defined
concepts and principles. When we refer to management as a discipline, we include in it the various
relevant concepts and principles, the knowledge which aids in managing. From this point of view,
management can be treated either as an art or science, the two basic and broad principles.
Management as a process: Perhaps the best way to describe management is in terms of what
managers do. It involves organizing, directing and controlling human efforts to accomplish
predetermined goals. As a process, management refers to a series of interrelated elements or
functions. These are:
Defining the aims or objectives of the organization.
Formulating policies, procedures, programmes, etc. to attain these objectives efficiently and
economically.
Bringing together men, money, materials, machinery and other factors of production.
The study and application of management techniques in managing the affairs of the
organizations have changed its nature over the period of time. Various contributions on the field
of management have changed its nature, for example for merely a practice to science also.
Similarly other changes have also occurred. Thus nature of management can be described as
follows:
Existence of Objectives: An objective or set of objectives should exist towards which the
organized group activities are directed. Without objectives, it becomes difficult to define the
direction where organized group activities should lead to. The existence of objectives is a basic
3
criterion of every human organization because all organizations are deliberate and purposive
creation and, therefore, they should have some objectives
Relationship among Resources: Organized activities meant to achieve common goals are
brought about to establish certain relationship among the available resources. Resources include
money, machine, materials and people. All these resources are made available to those who
manage; they apply knowledge, experience, principles for getting desired results. Thus the essence
of management is integration of various organizational resources.
Working with and Through People / management is people oriented: Management involves
working with people and getting organizational objectives achieved through them. The idea of
working through people is interpreted in terms of assigning activities to subordinates. The superior
– subordinate relationships are created because of organized activities. Through the process of
assignment and reassignment of activities, the actual work is performed by people at the operative
level which is the lowest level in an organization
Decision-Making: Management process involves decision making at various levels for getting
things done by others. Decision making basically involves selecting the most appropriate
alternative out of the several. The entire future of organizations resets on the degree to which the
right decision are made by managers. There fore, the success or failure of managers can be judged
by the quality of decisions that the make.
Management is a Multidisciplinary: Management is basically multi disciplinary. This implies
that, although management has been developed as a separate discipline, it draws knowledge and
concepts from various disciplines .It draws freely ideas and concepts from such disciplines as
psychology , sociology, anthropology, economics ecology, statistics, operation research, history
etc.,. Management integrated the ideas and concepts taken from these disciplines and presents
newer concepts which can be put in practice for managing the organizations
Management is Dynamic in Nature: Principles are a fundamental truth which establishes cost
and effect relationships of a function. This principal is flexible in nature and change with the
changes in the environment. In which an organization exists.
Management is situational in Nature: Management principals are relative not absolute and their
should be apply according to the need of the organization. Each organization may be different of
from others. The differences may be existence because of type, place, and socio-culture factors.
Etc. How ever, includes working with the same organization may also differ.
Management Science or art: Science means body of knowledge acquired by making through
experiments. Art means application of skills in finding a desired results. There is controversy
weather management is science or art. However, management is both a science and an art.
Management as Profession: Management has been regarded as a profession by many why many
have suggested that it has not achieved to status of a profession.
Management is Goal Oriented: Management is goal oriented every organization tries to fulfill its
own goals. For reaching its goals it requires efficient management.
4
IMPORTANCE OF MANAGEMENT:
Management plays a unique role in modern society. It regulates our productive activities by
organizing factors of production. A business which has all the resources like men, money, material
and machinery cannot satisfy customers unless they are efficiently managed. Thus, every business
needs repeated stimulus which can only be provided by management. The following points further
highlight the significance of management.
Management has been important to the daily lives of people in groups since long.
Therefore, a question is raised that if the management has been so important for human lives, that’s
why it has assumed added importance in present day society.
To Incorporative Innovations: Today, changes are occurring at very fast rate in both technology
and social process and structure. These changes need to be incorporated to keep the organizations
alive and efficient. Business organizations are moving from primitive to sophistication. Therefore,
they required high degree of specialization, high level of competence, and complex technology. All
these require efficient management so that organizations work in the most efficient way.
Integrating Various Interests Groups: In the organized efforts, there are various interests groups
and they put pressure over other groups for maximum share in the combined output. For example,
in the case of business organization, there are various pressure groups such as shareholders,
employees, government etc. These interests have pressure on an organization. In a more advanced
and complex society, much more such pressure is on the organization. Management has to balance
these pressures from various interests groups.
Meeting challenges: All the policy decisions of an enterprise are taken by the management. It
keeps in touch with the current environment and predicts what is going to happen in future.
Through better planning and control, management steers a concern to meet the demands of the
changing environment.
Smooth running of business: Management helps in smooth running of business through better
planning and control.
Establishes Sound Organization: No overlapping of efforts (smooth and coordinated functions).
To establish sound organizational structure is one of the objective of management which is in tune
with objective of organization and for fulfillment of this, it establishes effective authority &
5
responsibility relationship i.e. who is accountable to whom, who can give instructions to whom,
who are superiors & who are subordinates. Management fills up various positions with right peers.
Essentials for Prosperity of Society: Efficient management leads to better economical production
which helps in turn to increase the welfare of people. Good management makes a difficult task
easier by avoiding wastage of scarce resource. It improves standard of living. It increases the profit
which is beneficial to business and society will get maximum output at minimum cost by creating
employment opportunities which generate income in hand sons, having right skills, training and
qualification. All jobs should be cleared to everyone. Organization comes with new products and
researchers beneficial for society.
LEVELS OF MANAGEMENT
The term ‘level’ means arrangement of persons in series. Thus the term level of
management refers to the arrangement of managerial positions in an organization. There is fixed
number of management levels for a particular organization. It all depends upon the size, technology
and the range of production of the organization. If the management levels are increased to an
unlimited extent, three main problems to be faced by the organization are:
Top Level Management: Top Management is the head of an organization. It consists of Board of
Directors and the Chief executive or the Managing Director. In the operation of an organization,
top management is the final source of authority. At this level, mission goals, corporate strategies,
Policies, Plans and Objectives are formulated. The performance of middle management is
evaluated and controlled by the top management.
lower level management. Here, the managers plan, organize, direct, and control for the activities
with in their respective departments only.
Functions of middle level management:-
a. To interpret and explain the plans and policies formulated by the top level management to lower
level management.
b. Selecting suitable operative and supervisory Personnel.
c. Assigning duties and responsibilities for timely execution of plans.
d. To establish departmental goals and decide various ways and means for achieving these goals.
e. Achieving coordination between different departments.
f. To train and Motivating personnel to achieve higher productivity.
g. To make recommendations to top management for better implementation of plans and policies.
Lower Level Management: Lower level / Supervisory management is the lowest level in the
hierarchy of management. It consists of Supervisors, Foremen, Accounts officers, and Sales
officers and so on. They are directly touched with “core group” of workers such as operators,
assemblers, mechanics, salesmen and clerk. They educate the core group about the method of
doing work. They assign specific jobs to the workers, supervise their activities, and evaluate their
performance and report to the middle management.
Functions of lower level management:-
s
u
p
e
r
v
i
s
o
r
.
)
FUNCTIONS OF MANAGEMENT
Management is a dynamic process consisting of several actions or activities or
elements. The activities or elements which every manager has to perform are known as the
Functions of management. These management functions have been classified by different experts.
Henry Fayol - The Father of modern management theory, have listed the management functions as
—
Koontz and O’Donnell: Have classified Managerial functions are classified into five groups of
activities of Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing and Controlling.
Luther Gullick: has given a catch word “POSDCORB” for functions of management.
“P” means Planning, “O” means organizing, “S” means Staffing, “D” ” means Directing,
Most of the modern authors agree with this view. Thus the functions of the management may be
classified as following.
Functions Organizational
Subordinates
Manager
Planning Efficiency
Organizing
Staffing
Directing
Controlling
Coordination
8
ORGANIZING: As a function of management the term “organizing” refers to the process of---
a) Bringing together human and non- human resources, like materials, machines, and money
b) Defining and establishing authority- responsibility relationships for the achievement of
goals.
The outcome of organization process is creation of “organization structure and to establish the
relations among the organizational people to work for the achievement of organizational goals”.
STAFFING: The Managerial function of staffing involves manning the organizational structure
through proper and effective selection; appraisal and development of personnel to fill the role
designed in the structure.” staffing is a process of filing all positions in the organization with
adequate and qualified personnel”. It is a managerial function of attracting, acquiring, activating,
developing, and maintaining, human resources for achieving organizational goals efficiently.
Staffing includes well recognized activities as follows Human resource planning,
recruitment, selection, training, placement and orientation, training and development, Performance
appraisal, motivation, promotion and transfer, remuneration, of employees etc.
9
(a)Leading: It is a decisive function of the management in which the workers/employees are led
and directed so that the objectives of the organization will be successfully achieved. it is quite
likely that the workers willingly and enthusiastically perform their job, if they like their leader.
(b)Motivating: The process of stimulating the employees to perform more effectively using their
abilities and full potential is called motivating. The employee gets stimulated when his social and
physiological needs are met, in the process of contributing to the organizational goals.
(d)Coordinating: Organization structure provides for division of labor. This calls for linking the
different parts of the organization in terms of performance to help achieve the given goals.
Coordination refers to the process of arranging group efforts in such a way that the common
purpose is achieved effectively and efficiently.
CONTROLLING: Controlling is the process of checking actual performance against the agreed
standards with a view to ensuring satisfactory performance. Controlling is the last function of
management. Planning is identifying the activities where as controlling is regulating that activities.
Controlling activities involves
(a) Measuring the actual performance of the employee,
(b) Comparing it with the target, and
(c) Taking follows up action, that is, corrective or remedial action for improving the performance,
if necessary.
PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT
Fayol has given fourteen principles of management. He has made distinction
between management principles and management elements. While management principle is a
fundamental truth and establishes cause effect relationship, management element denotes the
function performed by manager. While giving the management principles, fayol has emphasized
two things:
1. The list of management principles is not exhaustive but suggestive and has discussed only those
principles which he followed on most occasions.
2. principles of management are not rigid but flexible .according to him ,”there is nothing rigid or
absolute in management affairs; it is all a question of proportion .
10
Therefore, principles are flexible and capable of being adapting to every need.
It is a matter of knowing how to make use of them which is a difficult art requiring intelligence,
experience, and proportion.” Various principles of management are as follows:
1. Division of work: It refers to the division of work among various individuals in the
organization to bring about specialization in every activity. Specialization tends to increase
efficiency and help to avoid waste of time and effort caused by changes from one work to another.
2. Authority and Responsibility: Authority is the power to give order to the subordinates.
Responsibility means the duty which the subordinates are expected to perform. Fayol suggested
that authority and responsibility should go hand in hand. Authority without responsibility promotes
irresponsible behavior on the part of management. Similarly responsibility without authority makes
management ineffective. Thus there should be parity between authority and responsibility.
3. Discipline: Discipline is highly essential for the smooth running of the organization. It
means obedience to rules and regulations of the organization. Maintenance of discipline in the
organization depends upon the quality of leadership, clear and fair agreement and so on.
4. Unity of command: An employee should receive orders from one superior only for action
or activity. This principle is necessary to avoid confusion and conflict. Besides, when there is unity
of command it is easy to fix responsibility for mistakes. If this principle is violated, authority will
be undermined, discipline will be jeopardy, order will be disturbed and stability will be threatened.
5. Unity of direction: The principle of unity of direction states that for a group of activity
having the same objective. There should be one head and one plan. It alone can produce a sense of
loyalty and devotion among the employees.
6. Subordinates of individual interest to general interest: Common interest is above the
individual interest. Individual interest must be subordinate to general interest when there is conflict
between these two. So management should make sure that individual’s goals and objectives are
always matching to the organization goals and objectives. Management should take proper care
about the individual interest and motivate the subordinates towards group interest and group cause.
7. Remuneration of personnel: The remuneration of employees should be fair and just.
Employees who are paid decent wages will have high morals.
8. Centralization: Centralization refers to the concentration of authority at one level in the
organization. On the other hand decentralization is the dispersal of authority to the lower levels in
the organization. The degree of centralization may be different in various organizations in various
cases. But a balance should be maintained between centralization and decentralization to ensure the
best results.
9. Scalar chain: Scalar chain refers to the chain of superiors ranging from the final authority
to the lowest level in the concern. Scalar chain states superior – subordinate relationship through
11
out the concern. It is highly essential to ensure unity of command and effective communication in
organization. A
B L
C M
D N
E O
F P
Information flow from A to B, B to C and so on and vice versa.
A is superior to B; B is superior to C and so on.
B –L, C-M, D-N, E-O, F-P are peer groups.
10. Order: This principle implies “right man inn right place”. Fayol said there should be place
for every thing and every one. The management should get order in work through suitable
arrangement of men and materials.
11. Equity: It means justice and kindness. Management should practice equity and equality of
treatment while dealing with the people. Equity ensures healthy industrial relations between
management and employee. It brings loyalty in organization.
12. Stability of tenure: No employee should be removed within short time. There should be
reasonable security of jobs. Stability of tenure is essential to get an employee accustomed to new
work and succeed in doing it well. Unnecessary turn over is both cause and effect of bad
management.
13. Initiative: With in the limits of the authority and discipline, managers should encourage
their employees for taking initiative. Initiative increases zeal and energy on the part of human
being.
14. Esprite de Corps: This is the principle of “union is strength” and extension of the unity of
command for establishing team work. The manager should encourage esprite de corps among the
employees.
SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT
The concept of scientific management was introduced by Fredrick Winslow Taylor in USA in the
beginning of 20th century. Taylor joined Midvale steel company in USA as a worker and later on
became supervisor. During this period he continued his studies and eventually completed his M.E
master of engineering in 1883. Later he joined Bethlehem steel company. At both these places he
carried experiments about how to increase the efficiency of people. All his contributions were
compiled in his book “Scientific Management”.
12
“Scientific Management is concerned with knowing exactly what you want men to do and then see
in that they do it in the best and cheapest way.”
Since Taylor has put the emphasis on solving managerial problems in scientific way. Hence
he is called as Father of scientific management.
Replacement of old rule of thumb method: The substitution of rule of thumb by scientific
approach is one of the chief contributions of Taylor. Under scientific approach, decisions are made
on the basis of facts as developed by the application of scientific method to the problem concerned.
The scientific methods consist of research and experimentation, collection of data, analysis of data
and formulation of certain principles on the basis of such analysis.
Scientific selection and training: The selection of the right type of worker for the right job is very
significant. Under scientific management, the task of selection is entrusted to a central personnel
department. Then the selected workers are trained to teach the right methods of work.
Maximum output: The management and worker should try to achieve maximum output. This
will prove highly beneficial and useful to workers, management and society at large.
Equal division of responsibility: If management is responsible for planning and organizing, the
workers are responsible for the execution of work as per the instructions of management. This
principle is known as “equal division of responsibility”.
Mental Revolution: All the principles of scientific management will prove futile unless there is a
healthy cooperation between the workers and the employees. The idea behind the principle of
scientific management, therefore, is to change the mental attitude of the workers and employers
towards each other. Taylor called it ‘Mental Revolution’. He wanted to bring a revolutionary
change in the mental attitude of workers and employers, mainly to accomplish the enterprise
objectives of maximum productivity and prosperity. Thus the main aspects of mental revolution
are the following
1. Illumination Experiments:
This group is formed With 6 girls. The girls were placed in a separate test
room. An observer was associated with the girls to supervise their work. The changes were made
14
with durations ranging from 4-12 weeks. Whenever a change is introduced, the girls were allowed
to express their views and opinions.
Group’s bonus incentive scheme was the first change made. Under this, thus the
productivity is increase when compare to before.
The changes of the variation of rests were the second one. They provide 2 rest breaks for
5min after this increase to 10min. It gives high production.
The rest period was reduced to five minutes but frequency was increased. The Productivity
decreased slightly and the girls complained that frequent rest intervals affected the rhythm
of the work.
The number of rest was reduced to two of ten minutes each, but in the morning, coffee or
soup was served along with sandwich and in the evening, snack was provided. The
productivity increased.
After they withdraw snacks and increase breaks i.e. 4 times. The productivity is decrease
because of breaks.
The changes in working hours is the next step Saturday work will eliminated and half an
hour will be cut in working hours i.e. The girls were allowed to leave at 4:30 p.m. instead of
usual 5:00 p.m. and later at 4:00 p.m. This leads to high productivity.
In this stage the researcher cut the benefits that are offer to group girls. It is found that
interestingly productivity increase further instead of going down.
During the course of experiments, about 20,000 interviews were conducted between 1928 and 1930
to determine employees’ attitude towards company, supervision, insurance plans, promotion, and
wages. Only direct questions are asked by the researcher .so, the researcher was not able to find the
gross root of the problem. Hence the interview method was changed. The employees were asked to
discuss freely those issues which are relevant to the topics of their own choice. The interview
programme gave valuable insights about the human behavior in the company.
(b)The personal situation of the worker is arising out of mode of arrangement of his desires.
There experiments were carried on between November 1931 and May 1932 with a view to analyze
the functioning of small group and its impact on individual behavior. For this 14male members
group was taken. In this 9 were wiremen, 3 were solider men and 2 inspectors. The aim of this is to
analyze how a group could influence a worker to restrict his output even in face of attractive
incentive schemes.
SYSTEM APPROACH
15
The concept of organization has been perceived differently by different persons. The
biologists consider the human body as an organization. The sociologists think of society as an
organization and the political scientists think of government as an organization.
Definition:
McFarland has defined organization, “as an identifiable group of people contributing their efforts
towards the attainment of goals.
16
In the words of Klotz and O’Donnell, “organization involves the grouping of accomplish
goals and plans, the assignment of these activities to appropriate departments and the provision for
authority delegation and coordination.”
Organization as a process, therefore, is an executive function that consists of:
Breaking up the entire work into different segments
Assigning each segment to the qualified individuals
Coordinating the efforts of job-holders to attain the organizational goals.
Significance of Organizations:
An organization is not merely a chart or a lifeless structure. It is the mechanism
through which management directs, coordinates and controls the business. It is indeed the
foundation of management.
1. It facilitates administration.
2. It makes growth and diversification possible.
3. It stimulates independent, creative thinking, and initiative through well-defined areas of work.
4. It provides for the optimum use of technological improvements.
FORMS OF ORGANIZATION:
There are mainly two different forms of organizations they are as follows:
Formal Organization: The formal organization refers to the structure of jobs and positions with
clearly-defined functions and relationships as prescribed by the top management. This type of
organization is bound by rules, systems and procedures and is deliberately built by the management
to accomplish organizational goals.
The formal organization is built around the key pillars of Division of labor, scalar
process, structure, and span of control. These may also be called the principles of formal
organization.
Features:
Features:
It arises spontaneously.
Its formation is a natural process.
It reflects human relationships.
Its membership is voluntary.
DESIGINING ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE:
Organization Structure: An organization structure denotes the pattern of relationship among the
positions and jobs within an organization. It is the structure of human relationships or the network
of horizontal and vertical dimensions designed to achieve common goals. It is a systematic
combination of people and facilities which may take the from of line, staff and line and staff.
Organization structure helps in the efficient functioning of concerns on account of the following
reasons:
Features:
1. It is a diagrammatical presentation.
2. It shows the relationship between different authorities.
3. It shows the kind of relationships prevailing in the organization.
4. It shows the authority and responsibility of various authorities.
The organization chart should not be confused with the organization structure. The organization
chart is a schematic representation of the formal organization as given in Figure:
Board of Directors
General Managers
Board of directors
General Manager
Purchase
Merits: Production Sales manager Finance manager
manager manager
1. Simplicity: This organization is quite simple in both understanding and implementation. Every
person knows clearly from whom he receives commands it avoids confusion in the workers mind.
2. Discipline: Since each position is subject to control by its immediate superior position, often the
maintenance of discipline is easy.
3. Orderly communication: This system of communication is easy to maintain, orderly in nature,
supports the authority of superior, and provides for closeness of contact thereby reducing changes
of miscommunication.
4. Easy supervision and control: The line organization provides for easy supervision and because
each subordinate is controlled by a single superior.
5. Economical: The line organization is quite economical because it does not use staff specialists
whose appointment is a costly affair especially for small organizations.
6. Stability: It is stable.
Demerits
1. Not suitable: It is not suitable for big organizations as specialization is absent.
2. Rigidity: It is rigid and inflexible.
20
Line and staff organization refers to a pattern in which staff specialists advice line manages to
perform that duties when the work of an executive increases , its performance requires the services
of specialists which he himself cannot provide because of his limited capabilities on these fronts
The line and staff system strikes a happy balance between the two in this system the administrative
work is divided into two divisions namely the
4. Training Ground for Personnel: It provides training ground for the personnel in two ways.
First, since everybody is expected to concentrate on one field, one’s training needs can easily be
identified.
5. Flexibility: The line and staff organization is highly flexible because new activities may be
introduced through additional staff without disturbing the line procedure.
Disadvantages of the line and staff organization [or] Demerits:
1. Lack of well defined Authority: Though it is easy to say about line and staff authority, often in
practice, it becomes difficult to differentiate clearly between line and staff because, in actual
practice, the authority is often diffused.
2. Conflict between line and staff: The line and staff relationships are often tenuous and lead to
numerous frictions and jealousies. There is a danger that the staff officers may encroach on the line
authority.
3. Confusion: Confusion may prevail when the line and staff relationship is not properly
understood
4. Loss of judgment and initiative: Line managers may depend to much on staff experts. it may
therefore lead to loss of judgment and initiative on the part of line officials.
5. Ineffective staff: The staff experts may feel ineffective as they do not get the authority to
implement their recommendations.
6. Expensive: This type of organization may prove very expensive as a large number of specialists
are appointed.
Committees are found in every large organization. Exact definition of a committee is slightly
difficult because there are too many variations in the scope and functions of committees.
In an organization, there can be several types of committee, for examples, finance
committee, budget committee, purchase committee, grievance committee, and welfare committee
and so on.
Def: A committee is a group of people who meet by plan to discus or to make a decision for a
particular problem or subject.
Committee can be defined as body of persons appointed to meet on an organized basis for the
discussion and dealing of matters brought before it.
Based on this definition, following features of committee are identified.
Features of committee
1. A committee as a group of persons. It implies that there should be at least two persons.
There are no limitations on the maximum number of persons in a committee.
2. A committee can deliberate only on matters that are brought before it. It cannot go for
action in all spheres of activities. When a committee is constituted, there are strictly defined
jurisdictions within which it is expected to justify its existence.
3. Members of the committee draw authority though delegation. The authority of members is
usually expressed in terms of one for each member for deciding the matters.
4. The type of authority delegated to a committee may vary from making final decisions on a
matter to mere submission of relevant information on the matter concerned
5. A committee may be constituted at any level of the organization and its members can be
drawn from any level or function.
Reasons for use of committees
1. Pooling of knowledge and experience: The most important advantages in using committees are
that knowledge and experience can be pooled together and decisions can be arrived at through
group deliberations judgment. A committee works on the theme that “two heads are better than
one”.
2. Facility for coordination: Committees are very useful for coordinating activities among various
functional units. When it is necessary to integrate and unify various viewpoints which cannot
conveniently and effectively be coordinated by individuals, the committee may be useful in
bringing all those concerned together.
3. Representation on Interest Groups: Committees are often used to give representation to
various interest groups. Such types of committees are quite popular in government, educational and
other institutions where people from diversified groups should have their say in the functioning of
the organization. Even in business organization such committees may be set up,
25
Production superintendent
\
Workers Workers Workers
Benefits of committees:
1. Integrated group knowledge and judgment.
2. Representation of different interest groups.
3. Coordination of plans and policies.
4. Executive team work and personal interactions.
5. Wider participation and motivation.
6. Improved communication.
7. Training ground for executives.
Limitations of committees [or] Problems in committees
1. High cost: Constitution of a committee may be costly both in terms of time and money.
Committee meetings may take time of various managers which can be spent otherwise for the
organization
26
2. Slow Decisions: Committee decisions are essentially slow because of the basic nature of
decision-making process in a committee. This may require staff work to prepare a report giving
members the basic facts. It may take time. Similarly, in the meeting, deliberations take lot of time.
Each member is expected to be heard.
3. Splitting of Responsibility: People work more efficiently when they have clear authority and
responsibility. A major drawback in committee decision is that it splits the responsibility and no
member really feels responsible for group action.
MATRIX ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
Matrix organization structure is essentially a violation of unity of command and,
therefore, whole classical concepts related to the principle of unity of command are violated.
Matrix structure is the realization of two- dimensional structure which emanates directly from two
dimensions of authority. Two complementary structures -pure structure and functional structure-are
merged together to create matrix structure. Thus, matrix structure not only employs a multiple
command but also related support mechanism and associated organizational culture and behaviour.
Thus, it shows many organizational overlaps not only in terms of command system but also in
terms of whole organizational processes and behavior.
Design of Matrix Structure:
In matrix organization structure, a project manager is appointed to coordinate the activities of the
project. Personal are drawn from their respective functional departments. Upon completion of the
project these people may return to their original departments for further assignment. Thus, each
functional staff has two bosses-his administrative head and his project manager.
Suitability of Matrix Structure:- Matrix structure is of recent origin but its use has spread in
various fields. For example, Davis and Lawrence have observed that matrix structure can be
successfully applied to the following types of activities: manufacturing activities - aerospace,
chemicals, electronics, heavy equipment, industrial products and pharmaceutical; service activities-
banking, brokerage, construction, insurance and retailing; professional activities-accounting,
advertising, consulting, and law; and non -profit organizations-government agencies, hospital,
united nations and universities.
Merits of Matrix Structure: 1. Matrix structure focuses resources on a single project, permitting
better planning and control to meet the project deadline. In project management, time is of prime
importance and, therefore, it should be completed within the specified time.
2. It is quite flexible structure as compared to traditional hierarchical structure.
3. It emphasizes on professional by elaborating authority of knowledge rather than authority of
position.
4. It improves motivation because people can focus more directly on completion of one project
than they can in the traditional functional structure. It also improves communication.
27
CEO / President
Project
R&D Finance Marketing Personnel Production
B
specialist specialists specialists specialists specialists
s
The chart illustrates the permanent functional structure of the organisation, consisting of
production, finance, marketing, engineering and research departments. There are two project
managers for project I and II. Each project manager has a project team consisting of personnel
drawn from various functional departments; and working under the leadership and control of their
project managers.
Advantages of Project Organization
1. It is an effective way of producing highly complex product systems.
2. Project organization, based on team concept, is the best means of getting the right things done
right.
3. In a turbulent environment, such organization is preferable for planning, implementing and
control of costs projects.
4. Diverse interests are consolidated to the above problems.
5. Creativity is developed through interaction with various specialists.
6. It leads to the development of strong team-work and teams with identity fully with project
goals.
Disadvantages of Projects Organization
1. A deliberate conflict is established between the project officer and the existing department
heads because of the overlapping of authority delegation.
2. At the close of the project, there is every likelihood of insecurity of employment.
3. There always lurks and danger of over-specialization in the course of project involvement.
4. Rotation from project to project reduces employees’ loyalty to the parent functional
department.
· Arts needs practical application of knowledge as learning theory is not sufficient to make good
manager, as one need to know how to apply management knowledge in real life situation.
· Since artistic work is not limited to simply practical knowledge, he need to think out of the box
and need to do extra ordinary things every day, managers have to regularly think out of box to
derive possible solution to complex problem.
· Management need to be goal or result oriented
· Artist becomes perfect with practice and so do the managers also need to regularly learn from their
mistakes in past to become more expert with management thought process.
Management as Science
Science is a systematic body of knowledge which establishes cause and effect relationship between
two or more variables and based on principles governing their relationship. These principles are
derived through scientific method of observation and verification through testing. Science is
obtaining information about a particular object by a systematic pattern of observation, study,
practice, experiments and investigation.
Management also follows the same pattern as science where one gathers the data, possess facts and
figures and make right decision based on analysis done by managers. Management needs to follow
systematic method to find the possible solutions to a problem. Though management cannot be
termed as pure science due to involvement of human elements, but study of scientific foundations of
management practice can definitely improve one’s management skills. Managers who attempt to
manage without management science have to trust their intuition or luck at their peril rather than
their expertise or skill.
Management as Art and Science both
Science teaches us to know certain principal while art teaches us how to do things differently and
creatively. In order to be successful, managers have to know and do things effectively and
efficiently. This requires a unique combination of both science and art of managing in them while
managing the scarce pool of resources and human talent in the organization. It is rightly termed that
art of managing begins where the science of managing stops. Since the science of managing is
imperfect, the manager must turn to the artistic managerial ability to perform a job satisfactorily in
real time situation.
Thus, it may be said that managing in practice is definitely an art but the body of knowledge,
methods, principles etc. underlying the practice is science making it complementary to each other
rather than conflicting one.
Social Responsibilities of Managers
Social responsibility is defined as the obligation and commitment of managers to take steps for
protecting and improving society’s welfare along with protecting their own interest. The managers
must have social responsibility because of the following reasons:
1. Organizational Resources - An organization has a diverse pool of resources in
form of men, money, competencies and functional expertise. When an organization
has these resources in hand, it is in better position to work for societal goals.
2. Precautionary measure - if an organization lingers on dealing with the social
issues now, it would land up putting out social fires so that no time is left for
realizing its goal of producing goods and services. Practically, it is more cost-
efficient to deal with the social issues before they turn into disaster consuming a
large part if managements time.
3. Moral Obligation - The acceptance of managers’ social responsibility has been
identified as a morally appropriate position. It is the moral responsibility of the
organization to assist solving or removing the social problems.
4. Efficient and Effective Employees - Recruiting employees becomes easier for
socially responsible organization. Employees are attracted to contribute for more
socially responsible organizations. For instance - Tobacco companies have difficulty
recruiting employees with best skills and competencies.
5. Better Organizational Environment - The organization that is most responsive to
the betterment of social quality of life will consequently have a better society in
30
which it can perform its business operations. Employee hiring would be easier and
employee would of a superior quality. There would be low rate of employee
turnover and absenteeism. Because of all the social improvements, there will be low
crime rate consequently less money would be spent in form of taxes and for
protection of land. Thus, an improved society will create a better business
environment.