Read Between the Lines of Management

The dilemma is management for the man or man for the management. Each person has to find his own answer for this often-posed question, and no one is wrong.

The word management should be studied in a little more details. Classically, management in early seventeenth century was an act of managing or manipulating. (Surprisingly, manus in Latin means hand.) Moreover, it was in the context of training the horses. If we extend the line of thinking, we may split the word as Man+ age + ment. The first part the man is the most vital as without man nothing matters. More likely, we are concerned with the man who is coming of age. The man who is maturing or ripening is more suitable for the process. Ment is the part of mentoring. So, Management can be helping a person to grow, and to mature by proper mentoring. such a person would be more suitably equipped to handle the pressures, the stresses and the deadlines.

So, what is Management? Achieving the pre-decided goals with available resources over an extended period is management. Watch for two words. The first is "pre-decided" and the second is "available" resources. A manager cannot wait for ideal package of resources or for ideal time, because such a thing never exists. He remembers that the magic wand by itself has no magic and unless the manager pulls some trick, the magic fails. There comes his charisma and he only knows how to waive his magic wand to produce results from the proverbial hat.