What is the purpose of a manager? What role do they fulfill in a small business, a corporation, government and society? What roles and responsibilities does a manager have and most importantly why is management a practice and an existing part of our lives? These were all questions asked by many throughout the years post World War II and through on until today. Whether you were a customer, an employee, a shareholder, a middle manager or a chief executive officer, questions such as these were asked in order to find out:

1. Is management necessary or an unnecessary cost?
2. Who are managers and what attributes fit that role?
3. In what role do they play in an organization and to what degree can they be effective?
4. What end results and outcomes will show in an effective manager and how can society benefit?

Peter Drucker throughout the years as a leader in the study of management has spent his entire life finding out the answers; whether singular or multiple, and how the answers can help impact the source in effect impacting the result of managers across the globe. A few core ideas that came from these questions are:

• Managers are necessary when a variety of tasks all have to be performed with communication, cooperation, synchronization and understanding between teams
• Managers define a position and an authority; however, their main goals are to be a function of the people within to contribute to the success of the organization
• Management is put before a “business owner” and can outrank the “business owner” in order to sustain the skeleton of the business and prevent it from collapse
• Managers are not defined by their role in the organization, but moreso on the impact on people within that organization
• Effective managers are defined by certain criteria; mainly:

1. Objectives
2. Organizational skill
3. Communicative and motivational skill
4. Measurements and analysis
5. People growth and development

What is the turning point of a business that started off from an entrepreneur and has blossomed into a fully fledged team of individuals? How does one know when management is needed and when it is most effective? To give a realization of business structure and how management fits within that structure we can relate to biology. An “owner” business that is sustained with helpers would be related to an invertebrate species such as an insect and a business that requires management would be the vertebrate species such as a land animal. The insect’s body and integrity is held together by a tough, rigid skin designed to hold and contain the vital processes inside the insect such as an owner/entrepreneur acting as the hard skin within her business. While this remains effective in keeping a business intact; unfortunately, for the business to increase its potential it needs to increase in size. To be larger than an insect and still maintain the primary function of business, one needs to evolve into a skeleton which would relate to a large mammal.

One needs to note that during this evolutionary process that the skeleton within a larger animal does not replace the skin that is on the outside; merely the skeleton there is meant to support and supplement and eventually replace the easier penetrable skin on the outside unable to sustain the organs with it alone. An added benefit of the skeleton now is the ability to add an extra layer of protection against the vital organs and greater flexibility of movement within the environment. As the business increases and becomes more complex due greater demands of excellence, the management “skeleton” then enters in and helps drive and move the organization forward as a single unit. Management is in place as part of a business’s changing process, otherwise the business can stay stagnant and fail.

The transition between “hard shell” to “skeleton” is part of why management is necessary and the role management plays in an organization’s success. The next segment will begin on who managers are and what attributes do effective managers possess and initiate.