What is management

Peter Drucker, a well-known American business professor and consultant, suggests that the work of a manager can be divided into planning (setting objectives), organizing, integrating (motivating and communicating), measuring, and developing people.

· First of all, managers (especially senior managers such as company chairmen and directors) set objectives, and decide how their organization can achieve them. This involves developing strategies, plans and precise tactics, and allocating resources of people and money.

· Secondly, managers organize. They divide the work into manageable activities and then into individual jobs. They select people to manage these units and perform the jobs.

· Thirdly, managers practice the social skills of motivation and communication. They also have to communicate objectives to the people responsible for attaining them. They have to make people form teams. They make decisions about pay and promotion. As well as organizing and supervising the work of their subordinates, they have to work with people in other areas and functions.

· Fourthly, managers have to measure the performance of their staff, to see whether the objectives are being achieved.

· Lastly, managers develop people – both their subordinates and themselves.

Obviously, objectives occasionally have to be modified or changed. It is generally the job of a company’s top managers to consider the needs of the future, and to take responsibility for innovation. Top managers also have to manage business’s relations with customers, suppliers, distributors, bankers, investors, neighbouring communities, public authorities, and so on. Top managers are appointed and supervised and advised (and dismissed) by a company’s board of directors.

But management is not entirely scientific. It is a human skill. Business professors obviously believe that intuition and ‘instinct” are not enough; there are management skills that have to be learnt.

II. Find the English equivalents of the following:

распределять ресурсы, сообщать информацию, разрабатывать стратегию, принимать решение, оценивать работу персонала, побуждать людей, выполнять работу, ставить цели, руководить работой подчиненных, достичь цель.

III.Answer the following questions:

1. How do managers set objectives and achieve them?

2. How do managers divide the work?

3. How do managers measure the performance of their staff?

4. What people do managers develop?

5. What is the job of a company’s top managers?

IV. Read the texts and translate them: