Importance of Management Skills to Individuals and Organizations

IMPORTANCE OF MANAGEMENT SKILLS TO INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS
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Introduction
Daft (2016) defines management as the attainment of organizational goals effectively and efficiently through planning, organizing, leading, and controlling organizational resources. Gulati et al. (2017, p. 8) define management as the act of working with and through a group of people to accomplish a desired goal or objective efficiently and effectively. Thus, the goal of management is to utilize resources effectively and efficiently to attain set objectives. Management skills are important to organizations and individuals. The importance of management in any organization and individuals cannot be overstated. This article describes the importance of management and individuals, describing how it affects business processes and personal life.
Importance of Management in Business Processes
Optimum Utilization of Resources
The key goal of management to organizations and individuals is to control the utility of resources to attain set goals and objectives efficiently and effectively. Resources have very key characteristics that compel the need for utilizing them efficiently and effectively. Resources are limited, have economic value, and are depletable when consumed, and require capital to extract and use CITATION Jon17 \l 1033 (Jones, 2017). All these characteristics compel individuals and organizations to use them efficiently. For example, fossil fuels have been extracted from the earth’s crust in the last century, and most experts have predicted when they will be depleted. Their depletion has compelled manufacturers of internal combustion engines to create more efficient engines to ensure the optimal energy utilization in every fossil fuel unit. This has made vehicles to be more efficient over the years. Similarly, management is meant to find ways to increase the efficiency of available resources for maximum benefit since they can be depleted CITATION Gra19 \l 1033 (Grantham University, 2019). Additionally, since they are rare, they are expensive and hence costly. Thus, there is a fundamental need to use them sparingly and effectively to attain said objectives. Management teaches how to achieve these goals. Proper management of resources leads to optimum utilization and achieving the set objectives. Optimum utility of resources also reduces expenditure, and therefore, the firm can realize higher profit margins.
Minimize expenditure and cost of goods and services
One characteristic of resources is that they have limited availability. Any commodity that has limited availability is expensive because demand is high and supply is low. If the resource is not well managed, it could go to wastage since it is not fully utilized. The wastage still has economic value, and if it is not extracted, money is lost. Thus, to minimize expenditure, all resources ought to be fully utilized to extract every economic value before disposal. For example, vehicles cannot always be disposed of once they need repairs and replaced with new units. Any sensible individual, company, or government is spending to repair its vehicles to ensure operating and extracting all their economic value. They are only disposed of when their cost of repairs is higher than the economic benefit they offer the company or individual. At which point, the same vehicles are sold after full depreciation though the buyers continue to extract the remaining economic value. The money earned from the fully depreciated vehicle is an advantage to the business. Management entails planning how to fully extract the economic benefit of the resource to minimize expenditure (Kim and Park, 2006). Minimizing expenditure is very important to businesses because the cost is always transferred to the customer. In a very competitive market, pricing is very important. Hence, companies strive to bring their expenses very low to reduce the cost passed on to the consumer and price their products and services competitively.
Increase company’s agility
Most business environments are dynamic, and companies need to be very agile to remain competitive and operational. To adapt to expected and uncertain changes, proper management of resources is very key. If a surplus of one commodity is no longer needed or a needed resource is scarce, the company cannot adapt effectively to meet new market demands CITATION Jef21 \l 1033 (Gothelf, 2021). This is especially important for perishable goods. Management ensures that only what is required is availed in the right quantities to avoid wastage. Getting stuck with dead stock is costly and reduces the company’s profit margin, and increases wastage of resources that could be used in other areas. For this reason, managers have to be wary of how to utilize their resources to allow the company to be agile enough to meet consumer needs.
Creating a smooth running of an organization
In any organization, many elements need control and management. Proper management helps ensure there are smooth and coordinated functions. Each resource and process in the organization has to work to attain a set objective. There are four primary functions of managers. They are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. They work together to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their employees, processes, projects, and organizations as a whole (Gitman et al., 2018). This establishes a clear, effective authority and responsibility relationship within the company. It stipulates who is accountable to whom, who can give instructions to whom, who is in charge of a particular resource, the superiors and subordinates, who is responsible for a particular task, etc. Management ensures that everyone knows his/her responsibility and has the resources to accomplish it. The organization also ensures that all the resources it needs are availed at the right time and the right place. The management also ensures that all positions are with the right person, who has the right skill set, experience, and resources to accomplish the task. Eventually, the organization runs like a well-oiled machine where every system and subsystem works harmoniously to achieve the set objectives.
Improves the prosperity of the society
Efficient management of resources improves the quality of goods and services produced, increases the company’s profitability, and improves the economic value of resources available to the immediate community CITATION Har14 \l 1033 (Mackay, 2014). All these factors improve the welfare of the people in that community. If the company is well managed and prudent, it can pay higher wages and protect the resource for the community, which can still earn from it in the future. For example, a well-managed lumber company can employ locals to work for the firm as well as helping plant more trees for the future of the community. If the company is prudent, it can extract the resources sparingly to avoid wastage and increase pro...