Business Lessons 5: Management Guides

Management in business textbooks signifies any operations which deal with the organization, functions of employees, systems of administration, and internal structures of a particular business.

Internal structures would mean any activity in the course of operation of a business. “Management” is different from “Business” because management refers to the administration while business refers to a transaction.

 

Management, most of the time, deals with problems in the arrangement of functions and employment systems.

 

By this virtue, the author suggested seven management guides in the proper treatment of management problems:

 

1. Allocate time to listen on suggestions.

    It is not necessary that you should follow anyone’s suggestion. The purpose of asking their suggestions is to discern how they perceive the management problems. You must not discriminate on who will give suggestion; there is a tendency that you can learn best things from the lowest ranked employee.

 

2. Be skeptical in all kinds of dealings.

    In management, a hasty decision is the most dangerous action. It is not necessary that you should believe in all myths of effective administrations or the most effective solutions to a particular problem.

 

3. Before making a decision, determine whether it is reasonable and practical.

    The conjunction “and” is important to note. It is not enough that it is only reasonable; there is a tendency that a decision may be practical but not reasonable or reasonable but not practical. The two must coexist. What is reasonable and what is practical are questions of facts determined only by situations and circumstances.

 

4. Before defining a problem, the cause must first be determined.

    I call this as PRIORITY OF THE CAUSE PRINCIPLE. Logic proves that a problem is only a result of a cause, solving a problem without knowing its cause is the same as aiming at an unknown target.

 

5. Apply this method in addressing a particular management problem:

    a.]     understand the cause of the problem

    b.]     define the problem and its complications

    c.]     gather relevant facts, informations and data

    d.]     conduct studies, research, observations and experiments

    e.]     eliminate undesirable suppositions

    f.]      formulate the most simple solution

 

6. If there are many solutions formulated, try the most efficient.

    I call this as EFFICIENCY PRINCIPLE. When there are many solutions, the confusing and complicated must be discarded. What is needed is only the most efficient.

 

7. If the problem is resistant to any solution, REORGANIZE the management system.

    I call this as CONTAMINATED MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLE. The only practical solution is restart the whole operation should there be a lethal virus in the management system.

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