READ AND TALK
TEXT 1
ART OR SCIENCE?
Management is the art and science of making appropriate choices. To one degree or another, we are all involved in managing and are constantly making decisions concerning how to spend or use our resources.
Like most things in our modern, changing world, the func–tion of management is becoming more complex. The role of the manager today is much different from what itwas one hundred years, fifty years or even twenty-five years ago. At the turn of the century, for example, the business manager's objective was to keep his company running and to make a profit. Most firms were production oriented. Few constraints affected management's decisions. Governmental agencies imposed little regulations on business. The modern manager must now consider the environment in which the organisation operates and be prepared to adopt a wider perspective. That is, the manager must have a good understanding of management principles, an appreciation of the current issues and broader objectives of the total economic poli–tical, social, and ecological system in which we live, and he must posses the ability to analyze complex problems.
The modern manager must be sensitive, and responsive tothe environment – thatis he should recognize andbe able to evaluate the needs of the total context in which his business functions, and he should act in accord with his understanding.
Modern management must posses the ability to interact in an ever-more-complex environment and to make decisions that will allocate scarce resources effectively. A major part of the manager’s job will be to predict what the environment needs and what changes will occur in the future.
Organizations exist to combine human efforts in order to achieve certain goals. Management is the process by which these human efforts are combined with each other and with material resources. Management encompasses both science and art. In design–ing and constructing plans and products, management must draw on technology and physical science, of course, and, the behavioral sciences also can contribute to management. However much you hear about «scientific management» or «management science», in handling people aid managing organizations it is necessary to draw on intuition and subjective judgment. The science por–tion of management is expanding, more and more decisions can be analyzed and programmed, particularly with mathematics. But although the artistic side of management may be declining in its proportion of the whole process it will remain central and critical portion of your future jobs. In short:
• Knowledge (science) without skill (art) is useless, or dangerous;
• Skill (art) without knowledge (science) means stagnancy and inability to pass on learning;
Like the physician, the manager is a practitioner. As the doctor draws on basic sciences of chemistry, biology, and physiology, the business executive draws on the sciences of mathematics, psychology, and sociology.
1. The function of management is becoming more complex. Why?
2. What must management possess nowadays?
3. Management encompasses both science and art. In what can we see it?
TEXT 2
PRINCIPLES OF THE MANAGEMENT
Different scholars offer different sets of principles of management. The most famous are the following fourteen. But the main principle should be read as follows: «there is nothing rigid or absolute in management affairs, it is all a question of proportion». Accordingly if you view the following list of these principles as a set of important topics and sometimes applicable guidelines for managers, you will be keeping close to the spirit in which they were originally suggested.
1. Division of work. Within limits, reduction in the number of tasks a worker performs or the number of responsibilities a manger has can increase skill and performance.
2. Authority. Authority is the right to give orders and enforce them with reward or penalty. Responsibility is accountability for results. The two should be balanced, neither exceeding nor being less than the other.
3. Discipline. Discipline is the condition of compliance and commitment that results from the network of stated or implied understandings between employees and managers. Discipline is mostly a result of the ability of leadership. It depends upon good supervisors at all levels making and keeping clear and fair agreements concerning work.
4. Unity of command. Each employee should receive orders from one superior only.
5. Unity of direction. One manager and one plan for each group of activities having the same objective is necessary to coordinate, unify, and focus action.
6. Subordination of individual interests to general interest. Ignorance, ambition, selfishness, laziness, weakness, and all human passion tend to cause self-serving instead of organization-serving behavior on the job. Managers need to find ways to reconcile these interests by setting a good example and supervising firmly and fairly.
7. Remuneration of personnel. Various methods of payment may be suitable, but amounts should reflect economic conditions and be administered to reward well-directed effort.
8. Centralization. Like other organisms, organizations need direction and coordination from a central nervous system. But how much centralization or decentralization is appropriate depends upon the situation. The degree of centralization that makes best use of the abilities of employees is the goal.
9. Scalar chain (line of authority). The scalar chain is the chain of command ranging from the top executive to the lowest ranks. Adhering to the chain of command helps implement unity of direction, but sometimes the chain is too long, and better communications and better decisions can result from two or more department heads solving problems directly rather than referring them up the chain until a common superior is reached.
10. Order. Both equipment and people must be well chosen, well placed, and well organized for a smooth-running organization.
11. Equity. Kindliness and justice will encourage employees to work well and be loyal.
12. Stability of tenure of personnel. Changes in employee assignments will be necessary, but if they occur too frequently they can damage morale and efficiency.
13. Initiative. Thinking through a plan and carrying it out successfully can be deeply satisfying. Managers should set aside personal vanity and encourage employees to do this as much as possible.
14. Esprit de corps. Build teamwork.
1. Dwell on the importance of each principle in the work of a manager. Try to exemplify your answer.
TEXT 3
SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT
No one has had more influence on managers in the 20th century than Frederick W.Taylor, an American engineer. He set a pattern for industrial work which many others have followed, and although his approach to management has been criticized, his idea are still of practical importance.
Taylor founded the school of Scientific Management just before the 1914-18 war. He argued that work should be studied and analyzed systematically. The operations required to perform a particular job could be identified, then arranged in a logical sequence. After this was done, a worker’s productivity would increase, and so would his/her wages. The new method was scientific. The way of doing a job
