(1) Achieving Group Goals: Management creates team work and coordination in the group. Managers give common direction to individual efforts in achieving the overall goals of the organization.

(2) Increases Efficiency: Management increases efficiency by using resources in the best possible manner to reduce cost and increase productivity.

(3) Creates Dynamic organization: Management helps the employees overcome their resistance to change and adapt as per changing situation to ensure its survival and growth.

(4) Achieving personal objectives: Management helps the individuals achieve their personal goals while working towards organizational objectives.

(5) Development of Society: Management helps in the development of society by producing good quality products, creating employment opportunities and adopting new technologies.

Planning Process

1. Setting Objectives:
– Objectives specify what the organization wants to achieve.
– Objectives can be set for the entire org. & stated to each dept. within the org. very clearly, to determine how all depts. would contribute towards overall objectives.
-Then these have to percolate down to all employees at all levels so that they understand how their actions contribute to achieving objectives.
– E.g. Objective could be to achieve sales, expansion of business etc.

2. Developing Premises:
– Plans are made on the basis of some assumptions.
– These assumptions, which provide the basis for planning, are called premises.
– All managers involved in planning should be familiar w/ them, cuz plans are expected to operate & reach their destination subject to these. They can be:
• Internal premises: Cost of products, capital, machinery, profitability etc.
• External premises: Changes in technology, population growth, competition, govt. policies etc

3. Identifying Alternative Courses Of Action:
– After setting the objectives, managers make a list of alternatives through which the org. can achieve its objectives as there can be many ways to achieve the objectives & managers must know all of them.
– E.g. Sales could be increased through any of the following ways:
• By enhancing advertising expenditure
• Appointing salesmen for door-to-door sales
• By offering discounts
• By adding more product lines.

4. Evaluating Alternative Courses Of Action
– Positive & negative aspects of each &every proposal need to be evaluated to determine their feasibility and consequences in the light of each objective to be achieved.
– E.g. In financial plans, risk-return trade-off are imp. Riskier the investment, higher the returns it is likely to give. To evaluate such proposals, detailed calc. of earnings, taxes, earnings per share etc. should be done.

5. Selecting The Best Alternative
– Real point of decision-making→ Best plan has to be adopted and implemented.
– The ideal plan = most feasible, profitable and with least negative consequences.
– Most plans may not be subjected to mathematical analysis. In such cases, subjectivity & manager‘s experience, judgment and intuition are important to select the most viable alternative.
– Sometimes a combination of plans may be selected instead of one best course.

6. Implementing The Plan
– Concerned with putting the plan into action.
– For implementing the plans, managers start organizing & assembling resources for it.
– E.g. If there is a plan to ↑ production, then more labour, more machinery will be reqd. This step would also involve organizing for more labour and purchase of machinery.

7. Follow Up Action
– This involves monitoring the plans and ensuring that activities are performed according to the schedule.
– Whenever there are deviations from plans, immediate action has to be taken to bring implementation according to the plan or make changes in the plan.

Management can be defined as, the process of getting things done with the aim of achieving organizational goals effectively and efficiently.
Characteristics of Management: Following are the main characteristics of management:
Management is a Goal Oriented Process:  No goal in the hand-no need of management. In other words, we need management when we have some goals to be achieved. A manager on the basis of his knowledge and experience tries to achieve the goals which are already decided. Hence, nothing is wrong to say that management is a goal oriented process.
Management is all Pervasive:  Anything minus management is nothing or zero. Here, by anything we mean all types of activities-business and non-business. If we deduct management out of these activities, the result will be failure or zero. It means management is necessary to conduct any type of activities. Hence, it is pervasive or universal.
Management is a Group Activity: It means that it is not a single person who con-summates all the activities of an organisation but it is always a group of persons (Managers).Hence, management is a group effort.
Management is an Intangible Force: Management is that power which cannot be seen. It can only be felt. If any organisation is heading toward higher levels of achievement, it signifies an existence of good management and vice-versa.
Management is based on some principles which are dynamic:  Principles of management are changing according to the changing business environment. For the reason that environment is dynamic, many old principles have been replaced by new ones.

Principles of Management developed by Fayol

1. Division of work: Work is divided in small tasks/job and each work is done by a trained specialist which leads to greater efficiency, specialization, increased productivity and reduction of unnecessary wastage and movements.

2. Authority and Responsibility: Authority means power to take decisions and responsibility means obligation to complete the job assigned on time. Authority and responsibility should go hand in hand. Mere responsibility without authority, makes an executive less interested in discharging his duties. Similarly giving authority without assigning responsibility makes him arrogant and there is fear of misuse of power.

3. Discipline: t is the obedience to organizational rules by the subordinates. Discipline requires good supervisors at all levels, clear and fair agreements and judicious application of penalties.

4. Unity of Command: t implies that every worker should receive orders and instructions from one superior only, otherwise it will create confusion, conflict, disturbance and overlapping of activities.

5. Unity of Direction: Each group of activities having the same objective must have one head and one plan. This ensures unity of action and coordination.