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Read the text: The Nature of Management

Lesson 1

THE READING MODULE

 

Management is an important area of study from both the personal and the global perspective. Formally defined, management is the process of working with and through others to achieve organizational objectives in a changing environment. Central to this process is the effective and efficient use of limited resources. Managerial ability is the demonstrated capacity to achieve organizational objectives both effectively and efficiently. Effectiveness entails achieving a stated objective. Efficiency enters the picture when the resources required to achieve an objective are weighed against what was actually accomplished. The more favorable the ratio of benefits to costs, the greater the efficiency.

The basic formula for managerial success is S=A x M x O (managerial success = ability x motivation to manage x opportunity). Managerial ability results when theory and practice are systematically integrated.

A small business is defined as an independently owned and managed profit-seeking enterprise employing fewer than 100 persons. Small business and public sector organizations afford managers some unique opportunities and challenges. Research indicates that small busi­ness managers have a different managerial role profile than do managers in larger businesses. The axiom of the small business generalist and the large business specialist appears to be valid. "Lack of management expertise" was found by researchers to be the primary cause of the high failure rate in small businesses. In spite of a good deal of evidence to the contrary, public sector managers must cope with a negative image. Many people assume that bureaucrats are incompetent and wasteful. Four major constraints public sector managers must deal with are: legislated purposes (government agencies are told what to do by law-making bodies), no compe­tition (public sector organizations do not have to pass the test of the competitive marketplace) , weak incentives, and organizational inflexibility (large governmental bureaucracies have to be highly structured to provide standard services to millions of clients nationwide, reams of procedures and regulations can stifle innovation).

Slumping productivity growth in the United States took an upward swing in 1983-84 largely due to a maturing work force, lower inflation and cheaper energy, technological advancement, and increased labor-manage­ment cooperation. Still, there is much room for improvement if the United States is to match Japan's record of productivity growth. It is important for managers to translate the productivity problem into organizational terms. Organizational productivity is the ratio of total input to total output, adjusted for inflation, for a specific period of time. Japan, with the world's highest rate of productivity growth, is an inspiring example of how to do more with less.

In our increasingly complex and rapidly changing world, the need for intelligent management is greater than ever before. A modern manager faces a variety of pressures and challenges. Adequately informed and competent managers are needed to help us move ahead by seeing our problems as opportunities rather than obstacles.



Effective management helps promote a better world, but mismanagement squanders our recourses and jeopardizes our well-being. Every manager, regardless of his level or scope of responsibility, is either part of the solution or part of the problem.

 

I. Reading Exercises:

 

Exercise 1. Read and memorize using a dictionary:

 

 

objective, opportunity, challenge, valid, rate, productivity growth, labor, input, output, incentive, purpose, ratio, competition, room, improvement, advancement, inflexibility, evidence, failure

 

Exercise 2. Answer the questions:

 

1) What does management study?

2) What is the primary cause of the high failure rate in small businesses?

3) What are four major constraints public sector managers must deal with?

4) What is organizational productivity?

 

 

Exercise 3. Match the left part with the right:

 

1. Small business and public sector organizations a) afford managers some unique opportunities and challenges.  
2. Management is the process of working with and through others   b) are incompetent and wasteful.
3. There is much room for improvement if the United States is   c) to achieve organizational objectives in a changing environment.
4. Many people assume that bureaucrats d) to match Japan's record of productivity growth.  

 

Exercise 4. Open brackets choosing the right words:

 

(Rising/slumping) productivity growth in the United States took an upward swing in 1983-84 largely due to a maturing work force, lower inflation and (cheaper/more expensive) energy, technological advancement, and increased labor-manage­ment cooperation.

 


Date: 2015-01-12; view: 1564


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