Business Management consultancy

The verb manage comes from the Italian maneggiare (to handle — especially a horse), which in turn derives from the Latin manus (hand). The French word mesnagement (later ménagement) influenced the development in meaning of the English word management in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Scope:
planning
organizing
leading
co-ordinating
controlling
staffing

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 thought regards management as equivalent to "business administration" and thus excludes management in places outside commerce, as for example in charities and in the public sector. More realistically, however, every organization must manage its work, people, processes, technology, etc. in order to maximize its effectiveness. Nonetheless, many people refer to university departments which teach management as "business schools." Some institutions use that name while others (such as the Yale School of Management) employ the more inclusive term "management."English speakers may also use the term "management" or "the management" as a collective word describing the managers of an organization, for example of a corporation. Historically this use of the term was often contrasted with the term "Labor" referring to those being managed.

Nature of managerial work
In for-profit work, management has as its primary function the satisfaction of a range of stakeholders. This typically involves making a profit (for the shareholders), creating valued products at a reasonable cost (for customers), and providing rewarding employment opportunities (for employees). In nonprofit management, add the importance of keeping the faith of donors. In most models of management/governance, shareholders vote for the board of directors, and the board then hires senior management. Some organizations have experimented with other methods (such as employee-voting models) of selecting or reviewing managers; but this occurs only very rarely.
In the public sector of countries constituted as representative democracies, voters elect politicians to public office. Such politicians hire many managers and administrators, and in some countries like the United States political appointees lose their jobs on the election of a new president/governor/mayor.
Public, private, and voluntary sectors place different demands on managers, but all must retain the faith of those who select them (if they wish to retain their jobs), retain the faith of those people that fund the organization, and retain the faith of those who work for the organization. If they fail to convince employees of the advantages of staying rather than leaving, they may tip the organization into a downward spiral of hiring, training, firing, and recruiting. Management also has the task of innovating and of improving the functioning of organizations. As the general recognition of managers as a class solidified during the 20th century and gave perceived practitioners of the art/science of management a certain amount of prestige, so the way opened for popularized systems of management ideas to peddle their wares. In this context many management fads may have had more to do with pop psychology than with scientific theories of management.

Towards the end of the 20th century, business management came to consist of six separate branches, namely:

Human resource management
Operations management or production management
Strategic management
Marketing management
Financial management
Information technology management responsible for management information systems

Branches of management theory also exist relating to nonprofits and to government: such as public administration, public management, and educational management. Further, management programs related to civil-society organizations have also spawned programs in nonprofit management and social entrepreneurship.
Many of the assumptions made by management have come under attack from business ethics viewpoints, critical management studies, and anti-corporate activism.
As one consequence, workplace democracy has become both more common, and more advocated, in some places distributing all management functions among the workers, each of whom takes on a portion of the work. However, these models predate any current political issue, and may occur more naturally than does a command hierarchy. All management to some degree embraces democratic principles in that in the long term workers must give majority support to management; otherwise they leave to find other work, or go on strike. Hence management has started to become less based on the conceptualization of classical military command-and-control, and more about facilitation and support of collaborative activity, utilizing principles such as those of human interaction management to deal with the complexities of human interaction. Indeed, the concept of Ubiquitous command-and-control posits such a transformation for 21st century military management.

Basic functions of management:
Management operates through various functions, often classified as planning, organizing, leading/motivating, and controlling.
Planning: Deciding what needs to happen in the future (today, next week, next month, next year, over the next 5 years, etc.) and generating plans for action.
Organizing: (Implementation) making optimum use of the resources required to enable the successful carrying out of plans.
Staffing: Job Analyzing, recruitment, and hiring individuals for appropriate jobs.
Leading/Motivating: Exhibiting leadership and motivational skills in order to encourage others to play an effective part in achieving plans and ensure willing participation in the organization on the parts of workers.
Controlling: Monitoring, checking progress against plans, which may need modification based on feedback.

Formation of the business policy
The mission of the business is its most obvious purpose -- which may be, for example, to make soap.
The vision of the business reflects its aspirations and specifies its intended direction or future destination.
The objectives of the business refer to the ends or activity at which a certain task is aimed.
The business's policy is a guide that stipulates rules, regulations and objectives, and may be used in the managers' decision-making. It must be flexible and easily interpreted and understood by all employees.
The business's strategy refers to the coordinated plan of action that it is going to take, as well as the resources that it will use, to realize its vision and long-term objectives. It is a guideline to managers, stipulating how they ought to allocate and utilize the factors of production to the business's advantage. Initially, it could help the managers decide on what type of business they want to form.

Implementing policies and strategies
All policies and strategies must be discussed with all managerial personnel and staff.
Managers must understand where and how they can implement their policies and strategies.
A plan of action must be devised for each department.
Policies and strategies must be reviewed regularly.
Contingency plans must be devised in case the environment changes.
Assessments of progress ought to be carried out regularly by top-level managers.
A good environment is required within the business.

The development of policies and strategies
The missions, objectives, strengths and weaknesses of each department must be analyzed to determine their roles in achieving the business's mission.
The forecasting method develops a reliable picture of the business's future environment.
A planning unit must be created to ensure that all plans are consistent and that policies and strategies are aimed at achieving the same mission and objectives.
Contingency plans must be developed, just in case.
All policies must be discussed with all managerial personnel and staff that is required in the execution of any departmental policy.

Where policies and strategies fit into the planning process
They give mid- and lower-level managers a good idea of the future plans for each department.
A framework is created whereby plans and decisions are made.
Mid- and lower-level management may add their own plans to the business's strategic ones.

Managerial levels and hierarchy
The management of a large organization may have three levels:
Senior management (or "top management" or "upper management")
Middle management
Low-level management, such as supervisors or team-leaders
Foreman
Rank and File

Top-level management
Require an extensive knowledge of management roles and skills.
They have to be very aware of external factors such as markets.
Their decisions are generally of a long-term nature
Their decisions are made using analytic, directive, conceptual and/or behavioral/participative processes
They are responsible for strategic decisions.
They have to chalk out the plan and see that plan may be effective in the future.
They are executive in nature.

Middle management
Mid-level managers have a specialized understanding of certain managerial tasks.
They are responsible for carrying out the decisions made by top-level management.

Lower management
This level of management ensures that the decisions and plans taken by the other two are carried out.
Lower-level managers' decisions are generally short-term ones

Foreman / lead hand
They are people who have direct supervision over the working force in office factory, sales field or other workgroup or areas of activity.

Rank and File
The responsibilities of the persons belonging to this group are even more restricted and more specific than those of the foreman.

Areas and categories and implementations of management

Accounting management
Agile management
Association management
Capability Management
Change management
Communication management
Constraint management
Cost management
Crisis management
Critical management studies
Customer relationship management
Decision making styles
Design management
Disaster management
Earned value management
Educational management
Environmental management
Facility management
Financial management
Forecasting
Human resources management
Hospital management
Information technology management
Innovation management
Interim management
Inventory management
Knowledge management
Land management
Leadership management
Logistics management
Lifecycle management
Management on demand
Marketing management
Materials management
Office management
Operations management
Organization development
Perception management
Practice management
Program management
Project management
Process management
Performance management
Product management
Public administration
Public management
Quality management
Records management
Research management
Resource management
Risk management
Skills management
Social entrepreneurship
Spend management
Spiritual management
Strategic management
Stress management
Supply chain management
Systems management
Talent management
Time management
Visual management