INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT

THE IMPORTANCE AND APPLICATION OF MANAGEMENT

IN THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION

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n the normal process of military organizations, the leader is never successful alone.
He achieves success by effectively and efficiently marshaling the efforts of many
people and focusing them on the unit’s mission. Thus, the determinant of military
leadership is the individuals ability to manage people. All other aspects of
organizational functioning have little significance unless the people are effectively
managed.

The style of leadership (management) adopted by a leader is tremendously

influenced by his feelings about people. In turn, his adopted style exerts tremendous
influence on the behavior of his people. Stated simply, if he feels that his people are
responsible individuals, he will act accordingly in his direction of their efforts, and they
will tend to act as they sense he expects them to act. If, on the other hand, he feels that
people are “ no damned good”, they will sense it and respond in kind. In brief, it can be
said that leadership is a relationship that exist between people, and that relationship is
most certainly affected by the feelings of the people involved.

Throughout history, military leaders have contributed immeasurably to

management philosophy and managerial techniques. Their more recent contributions
have been adapted and adopted worldwide in the areas of system management, matrix
organization, project management, personnel training, quantitative techniques,
operations research, and inventory management, for a few examples. In return, of
course, military leaders have borrowed concept and philosophies from their
contemporaries in non-military and non-government enterprises. The history of military
organization reflects both give and take in management thought, and no military leader
in today’s Armed Forces should consider his job beyond help format side sources:
reported research, expository articles, or accounts of successful and unsuccessful
leadership management. Moreover, improved use of people should be a major
personal goal of every military leader. Doing a consistently good job of managing
people is not accidental. It requires considerable effort, a real interest, the ability to
understand people, a lot of time, and a willingness to share. Further, the leader must
adopt an outlook that permits him to change because every interpersonal contact offers
that possibility. Therefore, the leader must approach the people-management task with
desire and dedication if he is to succeed with efficiency.

Successful management of people is an exercise in involvement. Detachment is

not a stepping-stone to success even though it may sometimes be a worthwhile
strategy. Most of the time, however, the leader must be sufficiently involved with his
people so that he is consciously working to help them improve their ability to perform on
the job. This demands his commitment to helping subordinates grow in competence, in

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ability to handle responsibility, and in capability to identify needs that must be satisfied
for organizational success.

An effective leader is able to evaluate the situation in which he finds himself and
determine how his people’s individualities can be used in that situation. Most do this
automatically, seldom consciously thinking about what process is taking place.
Obviously, knowing the individualities of the people means that much has gone before
much learning about people as distinctive persons with greatly different backgrounds.
The people manager aspiring to a high probability of continuing effectiveness will make
a concerted effort to know his people so that he can intelligently face any situation
coming his way.

SUMMARY

The military leader is not successful alone. He needs and relies upon the efforts
of other people to accomplish the units mission. Accordingly the military leader is, in
fact, a manager of people, and to be effective he must provide himself a conscious
program aimed at knowing his people and how best to use them in the current and
projected situations. It should be emphasized that the leader’s efforts to better his
ability to use people must not be left to chance. He may, in fact, over time become
quite proficient by random situational learning; but not many would disagree that, in
sum, this is likely to be an expensive and often disappointing process. Therefore, every
military officer should try a purposeful effort to learn and apply learned knowledge to the
task of managing people - a task that can be physically and tangibly rewarding when
done well and successfully.

NATURE AND EVOLUTION OF MANAGEMENT THOUGHT

AND STYLE

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anagement is a vast and challenging field. It has also many approaches.
However, to a large extent, the approach one takes will depend upon the way
he defines the field and estimates its scope.

But what is management? There are many definitions given. Some authors say
it is managing of men or manager plus men. Business entrepreneurs say it is the
effective utilization of the factors of production, men, money and material to produce
profit. Others would say it is an art and a science. However, we should remember that
we all live in an environment, that we live and move with human beings. So for our
definition, we would define management as the process of achieving desired results by
influencing human behavior within a suitable environment.

From this definition, what major aspects of management emerged?

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 MAJOR ASPECTS OF MANAGEMENT

A) Management is a process - it is a series of interrelated functions leading to

a definite goal.

B) Management can be practiced only where an objective or a goal has to be

achieved. The objectives of an organization may vary over a wide range, and they may
not even be properly stated; but in order to have management, there must be a goal -
oriented behavior.

C) Management involve influencing people, directly or indirectly. In all aspects,

People are involved whose behaviors are channeled toward a goal.
D) Management involves establishment of an environment best suited to
efficiency and effectiveness for applying the process to achieved the desired results by
influencing behavior.

But, how did management, as an art and as a science start? Let us trace its
beginning.

EVOLUTION OF MANAGEMENT THOUGHT

PERIOD I - Before 1880 - This is a period of pre - scientific management. It is

characterized by CASTE SYSTEM and the emergence of the church as a position of
authority.

If you will note, CASTE refers to the division of society based on differences of
wealth, inherited rank or privilege, profession or occupation. Such social stratification
was sanctioned by customs, laws, or religion. Using this characteristics, the CASTE
SYSTEM was employed (Hindus) as a mean of managing people resources.

This period was followed by the emergence of the church as a position of

authority. History will attest that early powers, Spain, Portugal, France, etc. used
church as a source of authority. It exercised management particularly on occupied
territories. Example is the Philippines.

PERIOD II - 1880-1930 - This is the period commonly termed as the Scientific

Management Era. It is characterized by the rise of industrial barons, doctrines of private
property and pay for work done.

Many management scientists emerged in this era. However, for our discussion,
we will concentrate on four (4) scientists who made contribution to the scientific
management.

A) Frederick Taylor (1856-1915) - The acknowledged father of scientific

management.

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 Taylor’s views were strongly influenced by the Protestant ethic of the time. He
emphasized the value of hard work, economic rationality, individualism, and the view
that each person had a role to play in the society. His focus was on increasing workers
efficiency.

Taylor thought that work could be analyzed scientifically and that was the
management’s’ responsibility to provide the specific guidelines for workers performance.
This led to the development of the one best method of doing the task, standardization of
this method, selection of workers best suited to perform scientific tasks and training
them in the most efficient method of performing the work. The assumption was that of
workers would be motivated by greater economic rewards which would come from
increasing productivity accordingly:

a) Science; not rule of thumb or “trial and error”

Develop a science for each element of a person’s work, which replaces the old -
thumb rule.

b) Harmony; not discord

Scientifically select, and the train teach and develop the workers. Whereas in the
past, they choose their own work and trained themselves as best as they could.

c) Cooperation; not individualism

Cooperate with the workers to ensure that all the work would be done in
accordance with scientific principles.

d) Maximum output on the place of restricted output.

Development of each man to his greatest efficiency and prosperity.

e) Divide responsibility between management and workers.

Management needs to plan, organize and control task performance. It must take
over the functions for which they are better fitted than the workers.

B) Henry Gantt (1861-1919) - Associate of Taylor and a follower of the

scientific management. In addition, he dealt on labor - management relations and the
development of charting techniques for scheduling of work / workers, task and bonus
pay plan. Workers should be provided by the means to find in their jobs a source of
both income and pleasure.

C) Frank Gilbreth (1868-1924) - Another follower of the scientific management

theory who introduced the time - motion study to industry. It emphasizes economy in

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time as related to movements in order to attain efficiency, increasing output by reducing
effort.

D) Henri Fayol (1841-1925) - Father of the Theory of Administration. He made

universal generalizations about management experience. He was the pioneer of the
concept of viewing management as being made up of functions, and his work supplied
a comprehensive framework from which management could be studied and develop.
As a leading French industrialist Fayol defined administration in five primary functions:
Planning, Organizing, Command, Coordinating, and Control. He and his follower
advocated the idea that management was a universal function that could be defined in
terms of the various processes that the manager performed. He emphasized that the
managerial processes and the principles that he developed where applicable not only to
business but to the government, military, religious, and other organization. He also
developed a comprehensive list of principles to provide guidelines for the managers.
This is known as Fayol’s fourteen (14) principles of Administration. These are :

1. Division of Labor
The more people specialize, the better they are at their jobs. Division of labor increases
production by simplifying the tasks required of each worker.

2. Authority
Authority is the right to give orders and power to exact obedience. There needs to be a
balance between authority and responsibility. A manager's authority must be directly
tied to his competence as a manager and to his knowledge of the operation under his
supervision.

3. Discipline
The essence of discipline is respect for the organization's rules and regulations.
Discipline requires effective leadership at all levels. It also requires managerial fairness
and managers' willingness to penalize employee promptly for breaking the rules. These
rules must be clearly stated.

4. Unity of Command
Under this principle, the worker reports to one supervisor. To avoid confusion, a chain of
command must be maintained.

5. Unity of direction
Operations with the same goal should proceed with one unified plan under the direction
of a single authority.

6. Subordination of individual interest to common goal

The interests of any worker, group of workers, or all workers must not take precedence
over the interest of the organization as a whole.

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7. Remuneration
Employees should be paid according to a plan designed to reward good performance.
Workers who increase their output should receive more pay, in the form of either a
bonus or an increase in their wages.

8. Centralization
Managers must maintain final responsibility but should delegate certain authority to
subordinates.

9. Scalar chain
There should be a clear a chain of command from the top to the bottom of the
organization. Workers and managers should follow this chain of command in matters of
routine supervision or in the solution of special problems that arise in the workplace.

10. Order
The orderly supervision of workers and efficient use materials should be a top priority.
Managers recognize the importance of scheduling work properly and making timetables
for its completion. Workers and materials must be in their place, at the right time.

11. Equity
Employees must be treated equally and fairly. This fairness helps inspire worker
diligence and loyalty. Established rules are important, but problems should be evaluated
in terms of overall fairness and sympathy with the worker.

12. Stability of tenure of personnel

Organizations should work toward achieving long-term commitments form their
employees and managers goal. When turnover is minimized - especially at the
management level - the organization is more likely to be successful.

13. Initiative
Workers should be permitted to develop and implement their own plans of action to
solve problems in the workplace. This helps them to realize their own capacities to the
fullest and to feel like an active part of the organization. One way to foster such initiative
is to schedule periodic meetings in which managers and workers discuss job-related
problems.

14. Esprit de Corps

All these principles help bring workers and management together through awareness of
the interest they share.

These principles, however, were emphasized as flexible and capable of

adaptation to every need. It is a matter of knowing how to make use of them, which is
difficult art that requires intelligence, experience, decision, and proportion.

Luther Gullick / Lyndall Urivick - followed Fayol’s pattern. They popularized

such principles as (1) fitting people to the organization (2) organizing one top executive
as the source of authority (3) adhering to the unity of command (4) using special and

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general staffs (5) departmentalizing by purpose, process, person and place, (6)
delegating and utilizing the people, (7) making responsibility commensurate with
authority and (8) considering appropriate span of control

PERIOD III - Human Relations (1930-1950) - Development of thought emphasizing

human relations in organizations. This contradicts earlier theories like that of Taylor
because said Theories failed to take into consideration the aspects of human behavior
in organizations.

Mary Parker Follet - although a contemporary of other administrative

management theories (Fayol), her approach was significantly different. She was unique
in emphasizing the psychological and sociological aspects of management. She viewed
management as a social process and the organization as a social system.

Elton Mayo - stressed the importance of human factors in industrial relationship.

He started thru his associates, research work at the Hawthorne Plant of the Western
Electric Company between 1927 and 1932. Their experiments related the relationship
of work environment to productivity. Studies of fatigue, rest periods and physical
surroundings were made. Series of studies were made to determine the effects on
output of working conditions, length of working day, frequency and length of rest
periods, and other factors related to the physical environment. Their studies found out
that continued increase of production was a result of changes in social relations,
motivation, and supervision of workers.

Mayo and his associates, Roethlisberger and Whitehead and early human
relationists developed many concepts about human behavior in organizations, such as:

1. The business organization is a social system as well as a technical -

economic system.

2. The individual is not only motivated by economic incentives, but is motivated

by diverse social and psychological factors. Behavior is affected by feelings,
sentiments, and attitudes.

3. The informal work group became a dominant unit of consideration. The

group has an important role in determining the attitudes and performance of individual
workers .

4. Leadership patterns based on the formal structure and authority of position in

the organization under the traditional view should be modified substantially in order to
consider psycho - social factors.

5. The human relations school generally associated workers satisfaction with

productivity and emphasized that increasing satisfaction would lead to increase
effectiveness.

6. It is important to develop effective communication channels between the

various levels in the

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hierarchy that allow the exchange of information. Thus, participation becomes an
important approach of the human relations movement.

7. Management requires effective social skills as well as technical skills.

8. Participants can be motivated in the organization by fulfilling certain social -

psychological needs. (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs).

Much of the modern development in the management can be traced to the

theoretical work of practicing executive who in 1938 published a classic management
literature - The Functions of Executive. In this work he introduced the concept of
informal organization status and communication that became the aspects and topics of
management consideration.

Chester Barnard (1886-1961) - emphasized the sociological aspects of

management concepts of authority and communications. He developed a broad
conceptual model based on practical experiences and a wide intellectual contact with
economics, sociology, philosophy, and other fields. He was among the first to consider
the organization as a social system. He found and theorize the existence of the
organization depends on the maintenance of an equilibrium between the contributions
and the satisfactions of the organizational participants.

MAJOR SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT THEORY

FROM THE PRACTICE AND STUDY OF MANAGEMENT A NUMBER OF

PATTERNS OF MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS OR SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT HAS
EMERGED. THESE PATTERNS OR SCHOOLS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. The Empirical School. This school analyzes management through

experience. It heavily uses cases in its study of management. As a study of
experience, it draws generalization but usually as a means of teaching experience to
the practitioner or student. The empiricists work on the promise the students of
management would better understands the field of management. In this sense, it
resembles the study of law.

2. The Human Behavior School. This school analyzes management from the
standpoint of interpersonal relations represented by human relations, leadership, and
behavioral sciences. This school emphasizes the study of human interactions in
organization and draws heavily from the fields of psychology, sociology, and social
psychology for its techniques. This school is anchored on the belief that management is
founded on delegation, that is, “ getting things done through other “. The primary focus
of the school therefore, is the individual.

Practitioners of this school vary from those who see motivation as a portion of the
manager’s function to enable him to understand and get the best from people by
meeting their needs and responding to their aspirations, to those who see the
psychological behavior of individuals and groups as the totality of management. There
are those in this school who focus their attention on the manager as a leader and

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sometimes equate management with leadership. On the other hand, there are those
who see the study of group dynamics and interpersonal relationship as simply the study
of socio - psychological relationships and there attaches the term management with the
field of social psychology.

According to Haynes and Massie (1961), the stress on human relations was
initiated largely by Mayo and Roethlisberger (1933) whose work in the famous
Hawthorne studies triggered a major influence of management thought. The works of
Whyte (1956), MacGregor (1960), and Likert (1961) are considered the major
contributions to this school.

Over the years, a branch of this school has developed where the focus of
this attention is on the group rather than on the individual. This branch studies primarily
the behavioral patterns of small as well as large groups in organizations. The approach
is sometimes called “ organizational behavior”. The term organization, in this branch, is
loosely used and may mean a host of things including systems, groups, patterned
relationships, or sets of behavior. Organizational Development or simply OD is another
management tool which is widely used today.

3. The Social Systems School. This school looks at management as a social

system and consider the organization primarily as a social organism subject to pressure
and conflicts which come from the social environment. Its basic tenets include the
concept of cooperation, adaptation, segregation, and differentiation. Vilfredo Paredo
and Chester Bernard are considered the pioneer of the school.

Cooperation is the main trust in the organization of the social systems school.
Organizations in this school is defined as the “ system of inter-0 dependent activity,
encompassing at least several primary groups, by a high degree of rational direction of
behavior toward ends that are objects of common knowledge” (Simon 1952).

4. The Systems School. A system may be defined as a set of interacting

elements bound together by a common objective and operating within a given
environment. The systems school, looks at management as a system operating within
an internal and external environment.

In the systems school, management is viewed to be divided and composed of

subsystems such as the systems of planning, organizing, controlling, budgeting,
staffing, monitoring, decision - making. For example, jobs in an organization may
constitute a system. Environment may also be viewed as internal and external to the
firm. For instance, the working condition of a factory is an internal environment while
the market or the economy, in general, is an external government. The term systems,
particularly with the advent of the computer, is widely used in modern management.

5. The Decision Theory School. This school considers management as a series

of decisions and the analysis of decisions as the central function of management . It
concentrates on the development of rational decision - making in organizations -
selection from possible options of a course of action. The school emphasizes the

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importance of the decision itself, the person or a group making the decision, and the
process of decision - making. These three serves as the basic units of analysis of this
school.

Rooted in economics, the school heavily relies on the use of economic principles
such as utility optimization, indifference curves, marginal utility, economic behavior
under risks and uncertainties, among others. Many Practitioners of this school concern
themselves also with the entire sphere of human activity, including the nature of
organizational structure, psychological and social reactions of individual and groups, the
development of basic information for decisions, analysis of values in relation to goals,
communication networks, incentives, among others. The school therefore, draws
principles from sociology and psychology whenever analyses of environmental setting
of decisions are involved.

6. The Mathematical School. This school considers management as a system

of mathematical models and processes. It expresses management problems into goals
and objectives and derives factor relationships and combinations which could possibly
optimize the stated goal or objective of the organization. This school is best
represented by operations researchers or operations analysts. Moreover, the
applications of the probability theory, which are not a sampling character, to determine
optimum policies for the future on the basis of the past experiences are also employed.
These have been made possible with the use of computer systems today. While the
models developed by this school served as tools for management, they themselves do
not constitute management itself. It should be pointed out, however, that mathematical
modeling has been used widely in an array of problem areas in modern management.

7. The Socio - Technical System School. It was E. L. Trist (1951) of the British
Tavistock Institute who developed this school. This school contends that management
should not only be preoccupied with the people and their interaction but also be
concerned with the technical environment in which the workers work or with the
technology that the workers use. Technology should be made to harmonize with
workers and that changes in technology should be adopted in case of operational
difficulties. The application of socio - technical systems schools has been rather limited
at the shop or production level. It is said to be strongly influenced by industrial
engineering techniques. While the importance of this approach cannot be understand,
management is definitely more than the social and the technical systems combined.

8. The Situational School. Also known as the contingency approach. This

school emphasizes the fact that the practice of management depends upon a given set
of circumstances. Management, in this school, is situation - bound, and management
principles become situational. For example, A family - owned business is seen as
differently managed from a large public corporation. Or, a function - oriented
organization is seen not to be suited for project - type undertaking. This school has
largely contributed to the development of such management approaches a brand
management in marketing, product management in pharmaceuticals, account
management in banking, client management in service organizations, and project
management in engineering and development undertakings.

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 9. The Managerial Roles School. Popularized by Henry Mintzberg of McGill
University, this school focuses on the activities or roles that managers do in
organization. Mintzberg (1973) analyzed the roles and activities of five chief executives
and came to the conclusion that managers do not really act on the basis of classical
functions of management but instead engage in various roles but which may be
summarized into three, namely: (1) interpersonal roles, e.g., leader, (2) informal roles,
e.g., communicator, and (3) resource elector, e.g., entrepreneur.

10. The Operational School.

This school considers management as a universal process and analyses

management through the functions of management, namely: planning, organizing,
staffing, directing, motivating and controlling. It draws together the concepts, principles,
theories, and techniques of management through the actual practice of management in
organizations.

Another important features of this school is its drawings of relevant knowledge

acquired by other fields such as mathematics, social sciences, physical and biological
sciences. While this school is eclectic in character, it focuses and organizes knowledge
which is directly and importantly relevant to the manager’s work. It discard factors
which are considered “ non - managerial “ in character. As universalists, practitioners of
this school believe that management fundamentals are applicable to all kinds of
organization and to all types of culture.

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