Characteristics of Management

2. Characteristics (Nature) of Management

Management, across every kind of organisation it is found in, consistently shows the same set of core characteristics:

1. Goal-oriented process — management never exists for its own sake; it exists to achieve specific, pre-decided goals of the organisation (profit for a business, service delivery for a hospital, learning outcomes for a school). Every managerial activity is ultimately judged against whether it moved the organisation closer to its goals.
2. Continuous process — management is not a one-time act that finishes once a decision is taken. Planning, organising, directing, and controlling happen in a never-ending cycle, because organisations keep facing new situations, new competition, and new goals.
3. Pervasive — management is needed in every kind of organisation (business, non-profit, government, educational, religious, sports) and at every level within an organisation (from the shop floor supervisor to the Managing Director). No organisation of any real size can function without it.
4. Group activity — management is meaningful only in relation to a GROUP of people working toward a common goal. A single individual working entirely alone does not "manage" in the organisational sense — management is fundamentally about coordinating the efforts of many.
5. Intangible — management itself cannot be seen or touched; only its RESULTS can be observed — a well-run, orderly, profitable organisation is evidence of good management, even though the "management" itself has no physical form.
6. Dynamic function — management must constantly adapt its methods and decisions to changes in the environment — technology, government policy, competition, customer tastes — rather than following one fixed formula forever. …