Management is a broad term that encompasses many different aspects of a business. There is financial management, personnel management, marketing management, strategic management, production management, operations management and management of information. The common thread in each of these areas, as with the many other areas of management, is the need to control and understand the information associated with each area. As companies strive to become more competitive, there is increasing pressure on managers to understand not only their particular sphere, but also the interaction that their department or group has with other areas of the company. For example, it is no longer sufficient for a marketing manager to be proficient only in marketing goods; the manager must also understand how his forecasts and activities affect other areas of the organization.
This research examines the role of management in general, and considers the increasingly critical function of the manager as supervisor, including ways in which supervisors can work so that their effectiveness, and the effectiveness of their organization, is maximized.
Managers were once largely concerned only with the events and personnel within their own organization. Until this century, managers had little interference from outside agencies, particularly the government, and were largely able to set their own rules and determine the best way for their organizations to run. In the twentieth century, however, a number of factors came into being w hich greatly complicated life for American managers. These factors included labor unions, which brought increased pressure from workers, and government agencies, which brought increased pressure from oversight organizations. In the latter part of the twentieth centuries, consumer groups have also begun to be a formidable power in the marketplace, with the result that managers must now consider how their products and processes affect...