1.1 Introduction

Most of you have jobs and a degree of understanding of the role of management in an organization. Based on experience, some of you may believe that the role of a manager is to "screw up" the organization. In this chapter we will idealize the role of management. What should the role of management be? Simply put, management is the way we get things done within an organization. It involves the efficient use of resources to effectively achieve objectives through organizing and controlling activities, leading constituents, managing tasks, and planning for the future in an ever changing environment.

Think of some of the more successful companies with which you are familiar. Their success is inevitably a result of good management. Some might claim they were lucky or in the right place at the right time, but such things are fleeting and momentary. Luck is not a viable management model. Competition is too fierce to allow one firm all the luck. Diligence and discipline are two words that describe today's successful managers. With these two components a manager may be "lucky" but luck is then defined as the confluence of preparation and opportunity. The following story illustrates this point.

Several years ago a group of graduate students were traveling on a tour bus from Coventry to London, England. Along the way they stopped in Oxford. It was late on a summer afternoon in June and school was out of session. As they pulled down the somewhat deserted street they noticed that each successive shop turned its closed sign on. As the bus rolled to a stop, the students wondered what they would do with the hour they had in Oxford if all the shops and the university were closed. As they exited the bus they saw one man out on the sidewalk waving his arms in the air to invite them into his store. With no other option, the students marched down the road and entered his small clothing store. For the next hour the man and his wife eagerly served their foreign customers. After the students loaded the bus, they added up how much each had spent in the man's shop. It totaled several thousand pounds. One student commented, "Wow, we made that man's week."

Now, one might ask, was the shop owner lucky that the tour bus of students came by? The answer is no. Every shop on the street had the opportunity to host the students, but only one shop owner was willing to keep his shop open past closing time, stand on the sidewalk, and wave the students in. Diligence and discipline are essential in today's competitive environment. Understanding all the components of management is part of the discipline.