Management
Management consists of the act of organizing and managing resources, people, processes and strategies in a standardized way under the proposal of achieving a pre-established human language. The objective by the team or organization.
The professional in charge of this activity is the manager and, within a company for example, is responsible for working and guiding the team so that the main goals are met effectively.
This must happen in a sustainable way to the organization. That is, it needs to value the resources and people involved in the activities , while maintaining the synergy of the whole.
The three levels of management?
- Strategic management: is responsible for defining the organization’s long-term strategy and objectives.
- Tactical management: is responsible for implementing the strategy and achieving the objectives established by the strategic management.
- Operational management: is responsible for ensuring that the daily operations of the organization are carried out efficiently and effectively.
Management in History
Society has always needed to organize itself into true “efficient organisms” for survival to be possible. Accumulating an x amount of food to face cold or dry seasons was already a management principle. Empires and kingdoms used military strategy tactics that, given the due poetic licenses, were equated to management practices in large proportions.
For decades, different management models emerged and improved. And, as we advanced in time, the perception that better management techniques did not only come from a bottom-up hierarchy, but it was also possible to take advantage of knowledge created horizontally, emerged.
Today, for the market, the person qualified to exercise the role of manager is the one who can define paths and set goals that serve in the identification and analysis of the problematic elements to be solved, or those that are subject to improvement within an organization.
In short, it needs to be aligned with constant strategic thinking and have KPI analysis as a mantra while exercising people leadership . Increasingly, efficient managers are seen as not only knowledge aggregators, but also knowledge dispersers .
They keep their areas of activity in constant harmony and relevance with the other internal departments of a company. Always evaluating the short and long term and, more than ever, with Lean and sustainable thinking .
What is the difference between Management, Administration and Planning?
The definition of concepts is often confusing. With some frequency, professionals and organizations treat them as synonyms, however, there are some differences in the practical profile.
Management consists of the act of managing and stimulating. Always in search of the fulfillment of a common and pre-established human language. The objective within, of course, the reality of the organization and its resources. That is, the concept of management is much more linked to the use of human mechanisms based on analyses, hypotheses and monitoring of goals.
Administration is configured in activities of planning, leading, controlling and decisions. Administrative techniques are directed to technical aspects and focus on the processes of a specific department or company.
Planning is a strategic process of setting goals and defining the actions needed to achieve them. This includes identifying resources, setting priorities, and setting deadlines.
What are the types of management?
The concept is quite flexible and applicable to different sectors and business levels. Therefore, it has variations that meet the needs of each sector and organization . But all maintain the central human language. The objective: to improve your company’s results , increasing productivity while being able to control information . Check out the main types:
Business
Its purpose is to unite the management, administration, analysis, forecasting and coordination of assets and people within an organization. Under this model, it is imperative that the organization work with tangible goals, always monitoring the indicators that enable their achievement.
The most used KPIs are: identifying and measuring problems, mitigating failures and correcting errors. In short, the professional who assumes the position of business manager has the main specific skills of each management that we will describe below.
Of people
It involves everything about an organization’s human resources . In short, it concerns the analysis and monitoring of skills, practices, techniques, methods and ethical policies adopted by employees, in order to understand their behavior throughout their experience in the company.
People management begins at the time of the contract and ends when the employee leaves the company . Therefore, it accompanies the entire intellectual and professional advancement of the individual.
Logistics
Logistics management is essential for the organization to organizational culture. Only with this data will HR be able to receive and dispatch products, while meeting deadlines and storage standards. Logistics is naturally linked to these three points: storage, handling and transport of goods.
Therefore, managing the department and logistics processes consists of meeting and controlling external (stakeholder) and internal (shareholder) expectations, with greater traceability and market intelligence.
of Projects
It is connected to all the planning and development of activities that take place in the company. For this, analyze the resources of each project, its production time, costs, internal and market risks, schedule and quality factors.
Successful project management improves the organization’s performance and productivity – as it impacts processes – and contributes to measuring general and specific KPIs, which generates new knowledge and improves those already present in the company.
Financial
Financial management is similar to business management, but focuses its records and analyzes on activities involving financial resources , such as: transactions (payments and receipts), cash flow, budgets, investments, tenders and, in some cases, partnerships.
The manager identifies and integrates all this data to the other sectors of the company. In addition, its analysis is important to improve the company’s goals and corroborates the financial health and growth of the enterprise over time.
Commercial
Commercial or sales management is closely connected to the marketing and finance areas of a company, as they base their activities on the same “flow” of information and have similar goals.
When successfully practiced, it manages to work together with the survey of opportunities, carried out by the marketing team, so that a large percentage of these opportunities (leads) are “converted” into business for the company, reflecting in good financial health at the end of the month , quarter , semester and year.
It is also essential that the manager responsible for the commercial area be someone who, in fact, knows how to encourage his team and himself to adapt to market demands and maintain the business scale.
of routine
Also known as time management , it aims, in short, at controlling the tasks assigned to you and your team through standardization. Achieve this standard through spreadsheets and schedules.
Standardizing routine activities avoids wasting time , increasing your team’s productivity and improving response time to new projects, failures and possible emergencies.
It is very much in line with the precepts of business and people management, as it marks out activities and projects based on the return generated and the availability of the team.
of Processes
Carefully structure and monitor the functioning of activities that take place in the company, from the moment they arise to the moment they are considered finished. The professional manager of this area must guide his leadership from the perspective that well-structured processes are what allow people (employees) to carry out their routines fully and effectively.
Incidentally, the quality of processes is highly important, as this model focuses on optimizing time, resources and delivery, while wanting to reduce waste , bureaucracy and rework .
What are the main management methodologies?
As you noticed, the management proposal adapts to the different sectors and activities of the market. And, for this to be possible and carried out effectively, tools are necessary.
Precisely for this reason, methodologies linked to quality , productivity and business routine have been improved over time and successfully applied to different types.
However, given the variety of approaches, the need for different methodologies is also necessary. Therefore, we have selected four main management methodologies for you to learn about. Check out:
PDCA
The widespread PDCA (Plan – Do – Check – Act) is a very efficient problem solving methodology developed by Deming after the First World War. In summary, it aims, through a cycle of repetitions, to make the manager plan changes, execute his hypotheses, perform success or failure tests and then adapt his proposal to repeat the positive results or optimize the negative ones.
Agile Methodologies
Until recently, only IT companies adopted these methodologies on a daily basis. However, today all companies that value constant innovation can and should adopt this set of methodologies in almost all of their management and routine processes.
In short, its human language. The objective is to change the common approach to processes for a more dynamic and interactive one. Deliveries, in this model, are carried out according to their minimum obligations, and after being applied and in operation, they receive improvements and attention so that the previously planned result is achieved.
GDP
Use the GDP methodology – Management by Guidelines when you want to map aspects that directly impact your organization’s survival. This methodology provides you with a strategic vision based on previous analysis, in order to evaluate internal systems already in progress.
For example: quality of processes, products or services, compliance or continuous improvement systems. As it is more closely linked to the details and results of each specific stage of a project, the GDP gives you room to make necessary improvements over a longer period of time.
DMAIC
Not every change results in improvement. Therefore, the best way to guide the management team in proposing solutions is a structured plan, a roadmap. DMAIC is what best enables us to visualize steps for improvement projects .
If your steps: Definition, Analysis, Improvement and Control, are well structured, there is a high probability that the changes will result in improvements.
SWOT Analysis
The Analysis, or Matrix, SWOT is a well-known market analysis methodology not only in industrial circles, but in all other sectors. Precisely for this reason, its aspect is not to act punctually on projects, but rather on scenarios in which the organization finds itself. That is, it actually performs a competitive benchmarking.
SWOT stands for: Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats. Which, in Portuguese, is: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This is also why you can find content about SWOT in its “brazilianized” abbreviation FOFA.
It is interesting that every company defines its guidelines based on SWOT analysis, whether for the business plan or for the preparation of a new product. Adopt this methodology in order to favor the company regarding the focus and dedication that will be assigned to these tasks, and define what deserves more attention for mitigating threats.
Importance and benefits of good management
Before concluding, we must reinforce that good management does not depend on the isolated attitudes of a manager, but rather on structuring teams and departments . The focus should be on favoring the questions related to the sector and thematic to be evaluated. You can ask about everything, such as beliefs about the job, dynamics within it, performance of that person or team, as well as the synergy of their work with other employees.
The company must act in harmony so that everything planned is, in fact, put into practice, reaching the objectives. In addition, we can mention other benefits, such as:
- Improved overall productivity;
- Predictability of results;
- Greater organization of people;
- Process control;
- Flexibility in the face of changes;
- Increased control of resources and profit-making;
- Assertiveness in decision-making;
- More quality in deliveries;
- Greater learning and knowledge exchange;
- Increased market competitiveness;
- Reduced costs and failures.