main task of business management

• 6.1 The Role of Management
• Introduction
• 1.1 The Nature of Business
• 1.2 Understanding the Business Environment
• 1.3 How Business and Economics Work
• 1.4 Macroeconomics: The Big Picture
• 1.5 Achieving Macroeconomic Goals
• 1.6 Microeconomics: Zeroing in on Businesses and Consumers
• 1.7 Competing in a Free Market
• 1.8 Trends in the Business Environment and Competition
• Summary of Learning Outcomes
• Preparing for Tomorrow's Workplace Skills
• Ethics Activity
• Working the Net
• Critical Thinking Case
• Hot Links Address Book
• 2.1 Understanding Business Ethics
• 2.2 How Organizations Influence Ethical Conduct
• 2.3 Managing a Socially Responsible Business
• 2.4 Responsibilities to Stakeholders
• 2.5 Trends in Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
• 3.1 Global Trade in the United States
• 3.2 Why Nations Trade
• 3.3 Barriers to Trade
• 3.4 Fostering Global Trade
• 3.5 International Economic Communities
• 3.6 Participating in the Global Marketplace
• 3.7 Threats and Opportunities in the Global Marketplace
• 3.8 The Impact of Multinational Corporations
• 3.9 Trends in Global Competition
• 4.1 Going It Alone: Sole Proprietorships
• 4.2 Partnerships: Sharing the Load
• 4.3 Corporations: Limiting Your Liability
• 4.4 Specialized Forms of Business Organization
• 4.5 Franchising: A Popular Trend
• 4.6 Mergers and Acquisitions
• 4.7 Trends in Business Ownership
• 5.1 Entrepreneurship Today
• 5.2 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs
• 5.3 Small Business: Driving America's Growth
• 5.4 Ready, Set, Start Your Own Business
• 5.5 Managing a Small Business
• 5.6 Small Business, Large Impact
• 5.7 The Small Business Administration
• 5.8 Trends in Entrepreneurship and Small-Business Ownership
• 6.2 Planning
• 6.3 Organizing
• 6.4 Leading, Guiding, and Motivating Others
• 6.5 Controlling
• 6.6 Managerial Roles
• 6.7 Managerial Skills
• 6.8 Trends in Management and Leadership
• 7.1 Building Organizational Structures
• 7.2 Contemporary Structures
• 7.3 Using Teams to Enhance Motivation and Performance
• 7.4 Authority—Establishing Organizational Relationships
• 7.5 Degree of Centralization
• 7.6 Organizational Design Considerations
• 7.7 The Informal Organization
• 7.8 Trends in Organizational Structure
• 8.1 Achieving High Performance through Human Resources Management
• 8.2 Employee Recruitment
• 8.3 Employee Selection
• 8.4 Employee Training and Development
• 8.5 Performance Planning and Evaluation
• 8.6 Employee Compensation and Benefits
• 8.7 The Labor Relations Process
• 8.8 Managing Grievances and Conflicts
• 8.9 Legal Environment of Human Resources and Labor Relations
• 8.10 Trends in Human Resource Management and Labor Relations
• 9.1 Early Theories of Motivation
• 9.2 The Hawthorne Studies
• 9.3 Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
• 9.4 McGregor's Theories X and Y
• 9.5 Herzberg's Motivator-Hygiene Theory
• 9.6 Contemporary Views on Motivation
• 9.7 From Motivation Theory to Application
• 9.8 Trends in Employee Motivation
• 10.1 Production and Operations Management—An Overview
• 10.2 The Production Process: How Do We Make It?
• 10.3 Location, Location, Location: Where Do We Make It?
• 10.4 Pulling It Together: Resource Planning
• 10.5 Production and Operations Control
• 10.6 Looking for a Better Way: Improving Production and Operations
• 10.7 Transforming the Factory Floor with Technology
• 10.8 Trends in Production and Operations Management
• 11.1 The Marketing Concept
• 11.2 Creating a Marketing Strategy
• 11.3 Developing a Marketing Mix
• 11.4 Buyer Behavior
• 11.5 Market Segmentation
• 11.6 What Is a Product?
• 11.7 Creating Products That Deliver Value
• 11.8 The Product Life Cycle
• 11.9 Pricing Strategies and Future Trends
• 11.10 Trends in Developing Products and Pricing
• 12.1 The Nature and Functions of Distribution (Place)
• 12.2 Wholesaling
• 12.3 The Competitive World of Retailing
• 12.4 Using Supply Chain Management to Increase Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction
• 12.5 Promotion Strategy
• 12.6 The Huge Impact of Advertising
• 12.7 The Importance of Personal Selling
• 12.8 Sales Promotion
• 12.9 Public Relations Helps Build Goodwill
• 12.10 Trends in Social Media
• 12.11 Trends in E-Commerce
• 13.1 Transforming Businesses through Information
• 13.2 Linking Up: Computer Networks
• 13.3 Management Information Systems
• 13.4 Technology Management and Planning
• 13.5 Protecting Computers and Information
• 13.6 Trends in Information Technology
• 14.1 Accounting: More than Numbers
• 14.2 The Accounting Profession
• 14.3 Basic Accounting Procedures
• 14.4 The Balance Sheet
• 14.5 The Income Statement
• 14.6 The Statement of Cash Flows
• 14.7 Analyzing Financial Statements
• 14.8 Trends in Accounting
• 15.1 Show Me the Money
• 15.2 The Federal Reserve System
• 15.3 U.S. Financial Institutions
• 15.4 Insuring Bank Deposits
• 15.5 International Banking
• 15.6 Trends in Financial Institutions
• 16.1 The Role of Finance and the Financial Manager
• 16.2 How Organizations Use Funds
• 16.3 Obtaining Short-Term Financing
• 16.4 Raising Long-Term Financing
• 16.5 Equity Financing
• 16.6 Securities Markets
• 16.7 Buying and Selling at Securities Exchanges
• 16.8 Trends in Financial Management and Securities Markets
• 17.1 Learn the Basics of Business
• 17.2 Developing Interpersonal Skills Is Key to Your Success
• 17.3 Make Your Future Happen: Learn to Plan
• 17.4 Going to College Is an Opportunity of a Lifetime—Never Drop Out
• 17.5 Get Your Career Off on the Right Track
• 17.6 Self-Test Scoring Guidelines
• A | Understanding the Legal and Tax Environment
• What is the role of management?

Management is the process of guiding the development, maintenance, and allocation of resources to attain organizational goals. Managers are the people in the organization responsible for developing and carrying out this management process. Management is dynamic by nature and evolves to meet needs and constraints in the organization’s internal and external environments. In a global marketplace where the rate of change is rapidly increasing, flexibility and adaptability are crucial to the managerial process. This process is based in four key functional areas of the organization: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Although these activities are discussed separately in the chapter, they actually form a tightly integrated cycle of thoughts and actions.

From this perspective, the managerial process can be described as (1) anticipating potential problems or opportunities and designing plans to deal with them, (2) coordinating and allocating the resources needed to implement plans, (3) guiding personnel through the implementation process, and (4) reviewing results and making any necessary changes. This last stage provides information to be used in ongoing planning efforts, and thus the cycle starts over again. The four functions are highly interdependent, with managers often performing more than one of them at a time and each of them many times over the course of a normal workday.

The four management functions can help managers increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency is using the least possible amount of resources to get work done, whereas effectiveness is the ability to produce a desired result. Managers need to be both efficient and effective in order to achieve organizational goals. For example in 2016, Delta , one of the most efficient network U.S. airlines, operated at revenue of 12.15 cents per seat-mile, which is the revenue the company makes on one seat (occupied or not) the distance of one mile. No other airline came close to operating this efficiently except Southwest , which flew seats that produced 12.51 cents a mile, the best performance of all U.S. airlines. 1 There are many ways that airlines can manage to produce higher revenue per seat-mile. For instance, they can raise ticket prices, fill more of their seats, operate more efficient aircraft that utilize less fuel, or negotiate favorable salaries with their employees. While efficiency and effectiveness are sometimes lauded by investors, airlines also need to account for customer satisfaction, which can mean extra costs. 2

To meet the demands of rapid growth, Skechers hired a new chief financial officer, John Vandemore, which allowed their existing CFO (David Weinberg) to concentrate on international expansion. Skechers CEO Robert Greenberg commented: “As international now represents more than 50 percent of our total business, we must continue to ramp up operations and infrastructure to meet the demand. David (Weinberg) understands how to do it the right way at the right speed to maintain our forward momentum. With John (Vandemore) handling CFO responsibilities, David will now have the bandwidth to travel and find opportunities to maximize our efficiencies around the globe.” 3

As these examples and Table 6.1 show, good management uses the four management functions to increase a company’s efficiency and effectiveness, which leads to the accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives. Let’s look more closely at what each of the management functions entails.

Concept Check

• Define the term management .
• What are the four key functions of managers?
• What is the difference between efficiency and effectiveness?

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Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/introduction-business/pages/1-introduction

• Authors: Lawrence J. Gitman, Carl McDaniel, Amit Shah, Monique Reece, Linda Koffel, Bethann Talsma, James C. Hyatt
• Publisher/website: OpenStax
• Book title: Introduction to Business
• Publication date: Sep 19, 2018
• Location: Houston, Texas
• Book URL: https://openstax.org/books/introduction-business/pages/1-introduction
• Section URL: https://openstax.org/books/introduction-business/pages/6-1-the-role-of-management

© Apr 5, 2023 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.