MANAGEMENT, ORGANISATIONS AND
LEADERSHIP NOTES (TOPIC 1-10)
TOPIC 1: INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Lecture Notes — Concepts 1.1 to 1.4
Concept 1.1 — What is Management?
Definition
Management is defined as the organisation and coordination of the activities of a business in
order to achieve defined objectives.
Why Study Management?
• Managers face changing workplaces, ethical issues, global economic uncertainties, and
rapidly evolving technology.
• Managing effectively requires understanding people's behaviour — foundational to
building management skills.
• Formally studying management provides a toolkit of perspectives and approaches
managers can draw upon.
The Four Management Functions
1. Planning
○ Defining goals for future organisational performance and deciding on the tasks and use of
resources needed to attain them.
2. Organising
○ Assigning tasks, grouping tasks into departments, and allocating resources to departments.
3. Leading
○ Using influence to motivate employees to achieve the organisation's goals.
4. Controlling
○ Monitoring employees' activities, keeping the organisation on track towards its goals, and
making corrections as needed.
Topic 1: Introduction to Management | Page 1
,Organisational Performance
The organisation's ability to attain its goals by using resources in an efficient and effective
manner.
• Organisation — a social entity that is goal-directed and deliberately structured.
• Effectiveness — the degree to which the organisation achieves a stated goal.
• Efficiency — the use of minimal resources (raw materials, money, people) to produce a
desired volume of output.
Concept 1.2 — The Manager
Manager Activities
• Managers perform a wide variety of tasks that are fragmented, each often brief — their
life can feel like it's on 'speed dial'.
• Requires good multitasking skills and effective time management to handle diversity,
complexity, and an often unrelenting pace.
What is it Like to be a Manager?
• A manager's job is highly varied.
• Henry Mintzberg studied differences in job characteristics and roles.
• New managers often find the transition stressful — it requires new skills not always
intuitive, and expectations are often mismatched.
Mintzberg's 10 Managerial Roles
Interpersonal Roles:
○ Figurehead — ceremonial duties representing the organisation.
○ Leader — motivating and directing employees.
○ Liaison — networking with people inside and outside the organisation.
Informational Roles:
○ Monitor — seeking and receiving information.
○ Disseminator — passing information to others.
○ Spokesperson — transmitting information to external parties.
Decisional Roles:
○ Entrepreneur — initiating change and new projects.
○ Disturbance handler — responding to unexpected problems.
○ Resource allocator — deciding who gets resources.
○ Negotiator — participating in negotiation activities.
Management Skills
Topic 1: Introduction to Management | Page 2
, • Conceptual skills — cognitive ability to see the organisation as a whole and understand
relationships among its parts. (Most important at top level)
• Human skills — ability to work with and through other people; to work effectively as a
group member. (Important at all levels)
• Technical skills — understanding of and proficiency in performing specific tasks. (Most
important at lower/supervisor level)
Levels of Management
• Top level (e.g., CEO) — primarily conceptual and human skills.
• Middle management — balance of all three skills.
• Supervisor level — primarily technical and human skills.
Concept 1.3 — History of Management
Overview
• Managers learn from recognising and understanding past mistakes.
• Management practices and perspectives evolve in response to social, political, and
economic environmental forces.
Classical Perspective (19th–early 20th century)
Emerged in response to industrialisation. Has three sub-fields:
1. Scientific Management
• Key figure: Frederick W. Taylor (Father of scientific management).
• Focus: improving efficiency and labour productivity.
• Approach: scientifically study each job to determine the 'one best way' to perform it
(time-motion studies).
Key principles:
○ Develop a standard method for each job.
○ Select and train workers scientifically.
○ Support workers through careful planning.
○ Provide incentives (wages) for performance.
In use today:
○ Standardised work methods, retail re-engineering, use of technology for efficiency and
standardised products/processes.
2. Bureaucratic Organisations
• Key figure: Max Weber.
• Focus: rational authority and formal structure.
• Employee selection and advancement based on merit, not personal connections.
Topic 1: Introduction to Management | Page 3
, • Rules, written records, and authority based on position/legal power.
Characteristics of an 'ideal' bureaucracy:
○ Division of labour, hierarchy of authority, formal rules, impersonality, career orientation.
3. Administrative Principles
• Focus: the total organisation.
• Key figure: Henri Fayol — developed 14 principles of management.
Key principles still influencing management today:
○ Unity of command — each employee receives orders from only one superior.
○ Division of work — specialisation increases productivity.
○ Scalar chain — clear line of authority from top to bottom.
○ Unity of direction — one plan for activities with the same objective.
Humanistic Perspective
• Emphasised the importance of understanding human behaviours, needs, and attitudes
in the workplace.
• Early advocates: Mary Parker Follett and Chester Barnard.
Human Relations Movement
• Suggested effective control comes from within individuals, not authoritarian control.
• Early response to social pressure for enlightened treatment of workers.
• Gained momentum from the Hawthorne Studies.
The Hawthorne Studies:
○ Conducted at Western Electric Company.
○ Key researchers: Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger.
○ Highlighted a positive link between humane treatment of workers and productivity.
Human Resources Perspective
• Further developed ideas of considerate leadership and worker participation.
• Combined prescriptions for job design and theories of motivation.
• To be discussed in detail later in the course.
Concept 1.4 — Contemporary Management Approaches
Overview of Recent Historical Trends
• Systems thinking
• Contingency view
• Total quality management (TQM)
• Technology-driven organisations
Topic 1: Introduction to Management | Page 4
LEADERSHIP NOTES (TOPIC 1-10)
TOPIC 1: INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Lecture Notes — Concepts 1.1 to 1.4
Concept 1.1 — What is Management?
Definition
Management is defined as the organisation and coordination of the activities of a business in
order to achieve defined objectives.
Why Study Management?
• Managers face changing workplaces, ethical issues, global economic uncertainties, and
rapidly evolving technology.
• Managing effectively requires understanding people's behaviour — foundational to
building management skills.
• Formally studying management provides a toolkit of perspectives and approaches
managers can draw upon.
The Four Management Functions
1. Planning
○ Defining goals for future organisational performance and deciding on the tasks and use of
resources needed to attain them.
2. Organising
○ Assigning tasks, grouping tasks into departments, and allocating resources to departments.
3. Leading
○ Using influence to motivate employees to achieve the organisation's goals.
4. Controlling
○ Monitoring employees' activities, keeping the organisation on track towards its goals, and
making corrections as needed.
Topic 1: Introduction to Management | Page 1
,Organisational Performance
The organisation's ability to attain its goals by using resources in an efficient and effective
manner.
• Organisation — a social entity that is goal-directed and deliberately structured.
• Effectiveness — the degree to which the organisation achieves a stated goal.
• Efficiency — the use of minimal resources (raw materials, money, people) to produce a
desired volume of output.
Concept 1.2 — The Manager
Manager Activities
• Managers perform a wide variety of tasks that are fragmented, each often brief — their
life can feel like it's on 'speed dial'.
• Requires good multitasking skills and effective time management to handle diversity,
complexity, and an often unrelenting pace.
What is it Like to be a Manager?
• A manager's job is highly varied.
• Henry Mintzberg studied differences in job characteristics and roles.
• New managers often find the transition stressful — it requires new skills not always
intuitive, and expectations are often mismatched.
Mintzberg's 10 Managerial Roles
Interpersonal Roles:
○ Figurehead — ceremonial duties representing the organisation.
○ Leader — motivating and directing employees.
○ Liaison — networking with people inside and outside the organisation.
Informational Roles:
○ Monitor — seeking and receiving information.
○ Disseminator — passing information to others.
○ Spokesperson — transmitting information to external parties.
Decisional Roles:
○ Entrepreneur — initiating change and new projects.
○ Disturbance handler — responding to unexpected problems.
○ Resource allocator — deciding who gets resources.
○ Negotiator — participating in negotiation activities.
Management Skills
Topic 1: Introduction to Management | Page 2
, • Conceptual skills — cognitive ability to see the organisation as a whole and understand
relationships among its parts. (Most important at top level)
• Human skills — ability to work with and through other people; to work effectively as a
group member. (Important at all levels)
• Technical skills — understanding of and proficiency in performing specific tasks. (Most
important at lower/supervisor level)
Levels of Management
• Top level (e.g., CEO) — primarily conceptual and human skills.
• Middle management — balance of all three skills.
• Supervisor level — primarily technical and human skills.
Concept 1.3 — History of Management
Overview
• Managers learn from recognising and understanding past mistakes.
• Management practices and perspectives evolve in response to social, political, and
economic environmental forces.
Classical Perspective (19th–early 20th century)
Emerged in response to industrialisation. Has three sub-fields:
1. Scientific Management
• Key figure: Frederick W. Taylor (Father of scientific management).
• Focus: improving efficiency and labour productivity.
• Approach: scientifically study each job to determine the 'one best way' to perform it
(time-motion studies).
Key principles:
○ Develop a standard method for each job.
○ Select and train workers scientifically.
○ Support workers through careful planning.
○ Provide incentives (wages) for performance.
In use today:
○ Standardised work methods, retail re-engineering, use of technology for efficiency and
standardised products/processes.
2. Bureaucratic Organisations
• Key figure: Max Weber.
• Focus: rational authority and formal structure.
• Employee selection and advancement based on merit, not personal connections.
Topic 1: Introduction to Management | Page 3
, • Rules, written records, and authority based on position/legal power.
Characteristics of an 'ideal' bureaucracy:
○ Division of labour, hierarchy of authority, formal rules, impersonality, career orientation.
3. Administrative Principles
• Focus: the total organisation.
• Key figure: Henri Fayol — developed 14 principles of management.
Key principles still influencing management today:
○ Unity of command — each employee receives orders from only one superior.
○ Division of work — specialisation increases productivity.
○ Scalar chain — clear line of authority from top to bottom.
○ Unity of direction — one plan for activities with the same objective.
Humanistic Perspective
• Emphasised the importance of understanding human behaviours, needs, and attitudes
in the workplace.
• Early advocates: Mary Parker Follett and Chester Barnard.
Human Relations Movement
• Suggested effective control comes from within individuals, not authoritarian control.
• Early response to social pressure for enlightened treatment of workers.
• Gained momentum from the Hawthorne Studies.
The Hawthorne Studies:
○ Conducted at Western Electric Company.
○ Key researchers: Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger.
○ Highlighted a positive link between humane treatment of workers and productivity.
Human Resources Perspective
• Further developed ideas of considerate leadership and worker participation.
• Combined prescriptions for job design and theories of motivation.
• To be discussed in detail later in the course.
Concept 1.4 — Contemporary Management Approaches
Overview of Recent Historical Trends
• Systems thinking
• Contingency view
• Total quality management (TQM)
• Technology-driven organisations
Topic 1: Introduction to Management | Page 4
