Mary Parker Follett, who wrote on the topic in the early twentieth-century, defined management as “the art of getting things done through people”. One can also think of management functionally, as the action of measuring a quantity on a regular basis and of adjusting some initial plan; or as the actions taken to reach one’s intended goal. This applies even in situations where planning does not take place. From this perspective, management consists of five functions:
- planning
- organizing
- leading
- co-ordinating
- controlling
Some people, however, find this definition, while useful, far too narrow. The phrase “management is what managers do” occurs widely, suggesting the difficulty of defining management, the shifting nature of definitions, and the connection of managerial practices with the existence of a managerial cadre or class.
One habit of though regards management as equivalent to “business administration”, although this then excludes management in places outside commerce, as for example in charities and in the public sector. Nonetheless, university departments which teach management usually get called “business schools”.
Speakers of English may also use the term “management” as a collective word describing the managers of an organization, for example of a corporation.
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