What is management?

Really, what is it? And I mean it in the professional sense. I’m looking at the manual The Foundation of Management and it has 840 pages of small font. What is this manual about? Is it about things that are easy to describe and very hard to do? You know, management is a really easy thing to define.

I believe the right answer can be found in the day-to-day meaning of the word. Especially for non-english speaking persons like me because there’s no word manage in Ukrainian. For instance, the phrase We’ve managed to clean out the kitchen confused me because it’s not about professional work.

I have plunged into Cambridge Dictionary, Thesaurus by Merriam-Webster, Collins Online Dictionary and others, and found something interesting. To manage means to have abilities

• to succeed in doing or dealing with something, especially something difficult
• to succeed in living on a small amount of money
• to be able to use something, for example time or money, in an effective way
• if you manage, you succeed in coping with a difficult situation
• to succeed in being able (to do something) despite obstacles; contrive
• to exercise control or domination over, often in a tactful or guileful manner

Isn’t it the easiest definition that can be applied to professional management? Do we need then to read thick books to understand management?

The manager is more like a fixer, but an honest one. And we all know that often non-managers have those abilities and non-managers often manage difficult situations. This is because to professionally manage means to have responsibilities. So, managers just

• persons who are responsible for running part of or the whole of a business organization

Abilities and responsibilities. Is it possible to obtain abilities? Are these abilities a natural gift the manager has to have? I have no answer. I only know that if you obtained responsibilities the only job you have to do is just answer five question

• What? This is about task/problem identification. Sometimes it’s so difficult to identify what you or the organization should do that is necessary to work with external consultants / advisers / mentors.
• Who? It could be crucial if the task is assigned for a person who is not able or not motivated to resolve it.
• How? This is the favorite question for managers who know everything and know better how to perform. And they are planning and controlling the execution as hard as they can. In contradiction to managers who don’t control the execution at all. The result… is not predictable for both.
• When? The most hated question. Everything has to be done by yesterday. And it’s not necessary to have acceptance criteria to understand if work is done.
• Why? Most forgotten question. The question that motivates to find the best solution. It means the manager has to sell the task.

And that’s it. You don’t need to learn anything else to become a manager. It’s sufficient. But…

The manager’s responsibility is to make these answers real. And it’s really hard to do. It’s necessary to have a lot of experience, to have knowledge of hundreds of professional things, to have an understanding of human beings. It’s so hard to do that often only a group of managers and specialists together can do it.

Sometimes it seems the processes can simplify the management. But they don’t. The manager is not an engineer who can apply the known process for the case. The manager is a ropewalker who is balancing the process and creativity. Even so, tricky managers can use processes to hide their inabilities to manage. If you are interested you can read my thoughts about processes here.

Eventually, to manage is easier to say than to do. This is why I have to read tons of books, trying to grow up my abilities to manage, so they can correspond to my responsibilities.

P.S. Based on Collins Dictionary the usage of the word manage is rising and recently reached the level of 1708. Isn’t it interesting?