THE NEED FOR THEORY AND TECHNIQUES OF MANAGEMENT

THE NEED FOR THEORY AND TECHNIQUES OF MANAGEMENT

The need for a clear concept of management and for a framework of related theory and principles was recognized many years ago by early practical schorlars of management such as Henri Fayol, Chester Bernard and Alvin Brown. Machine efficiency surpasses that of human cooperation and efficiency of group efforts, so this therefore makes the application of management knowledge essential to further human progress.

Obviously, Knowledge of the basic principles and techniques of management can have a tremendous impact upon its practice clarifying and improving it. The need for theory and techniques of management has been increasingly recognized by intelligent managers and they include:

a) To increase efficiency: Managerial efficiency would be inevitably improved when management principles and techniques can be developed, proved and used. Having a tested or ready made principles and technique reduces the time management spends in solving problems and also laborious research or risky practice of trial and error. Although it would be argued that this principle might not be suitable for some environment because the kind of experience on which many managers rely too heavily is only a hodepodge of problems and solutions existing in the past and never exactly duplicated. Two management solutions are seldom alike in all respects, and managers cannot assume that exact techniques applicable in one situation will necessarily work in another. However it is said that managers can filter experience, analyse and recognise the fundamental causal relationship in different circumstances, then they can apply this knowledge to the solution of new problems.

Therefore if there is a fundamental structure in place for solving problems, then solutions become simplified. The value in understanding management as a conceptual scheme of concepts, principles and techniques is that it lets one see and understand what would otherwise remain unseen. Theory and science can solve future problems arising is an ever changing environment.

b) To crystallize the nature of management: Without understanding the concepts, principles and techniques of management, it would be increasingly difficult to train managers and analyse the managerial job. The the need for fundamentals arises, which without the training of managers results in a hapazard trial by error. In business , government and other enterprises, a considerable body of management knowledge has already come into being and serves increasingly to crystallize the nature of management and to simplify management training.

c) To improve research: With the establishment of a structural framework, research can be undertaken to build further theories or otherwise to expand horizons of knowledge. With a structural framework, research is better channelled to be more productive because new theories would be an improvement of the old ones.

Management deals in part with people and since groups of people are unpredictable and complex, effective research is difficult. Then the need for tested knowledge of organized enterprise is great and anything which makes management research more pointed out would help to improve management practice.

d) To achieve social goals: Management largely involves the interaction and coordination of the efforts of people so that individual objectives become translated into social attainments. When management is developed in such a way that would impact positively the efficiency in the use of human as well as material resources, it would unquestionably have a revolutionary impact on the cultural level of the society.