Management

If you went looking for the definition of Management, I suspect that you will find the Wikipedia definition is as good as any ...the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively.

Henri Fayol, in his 1916 book "Administration Industrielle et Générale" presents his general theory of management. He considers management to consist of six functions: forecasting, planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling. While we may think a book written in 1916 can't possibly be relevant in 2011, even today, it's difficult to dispute his findings. Many management experts, a wide array of academics and authors have tried to refine and modernize the definition of management, Mr. Fayol's work continues to have relevance.

The long-term success of any organization is closely tied to how well management is able to foresee its organization future and to develop appropriate strategies to deal with likely future scenarios.

In soon to follow posts, the six functions of management will be individually discussed and in detail using a favorite business (a now defunct golf club) as a case study.