FST 2403: Business Management for Food

Technologists

INTRODUCTION

Business is the activity of making, buying, selling or supplying goods and services for money;

As such in this unit we may not be interested in;

 Government functions.
 Firms engaged in philanthropic activities.

Management is defined as;

 The act of getting things done through and with people in formally organized groups.H.
Koonz
 It is the design or creation or maintenance of an internal environment in an enterprise
where individuals working together in groups can perform efficiently and effectively
towards the attainment of group goals. Koontz and O’Donnell.
 It is the process of getting things done through the efforts of other people – Mondy et al
 It is the process of achieving an organization’s goals through coordinated performance of
five functions namely, planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling, David
Schwartz

This existence of many different definitions and meanings of management implies that no one
definition will suffice.

NATURE (CHARACTERISTICS) OF MANAGEMENT

 Management is dynamic- Management is not a static concept. It depends and changes

with time.
 Management is multidimensional- Managers make decisions based on an environment
that has economic, social, political, technological and other components.
 Management applies to all levels of the organization.
 Management is purposeful – managers have the same aim i.e. to achieve a certain
objective.
 Management is an art – (remember an art is the application of human creative skills and
imagination to produce works that can be appreciated primarily for their beauty or
emotional power) – in this case management is an art as it is the application of human
creative skills and imaginations to solve the organizational problems.
 Management as a science - This views that all aspects of management can be measured
e.g. profits, productivity, costs etc
  Management as a function – It entails the tasks performed by a manager i.e. planning,
organizing, staffing, directing and controlling.
 Management as a factor of production i.e. Y = f(Land, labour, capital, management)
 Management involves the allocation and control of human, money and other physical
resources; however it excludes the actions of a person working alone; a person is not a
manager unless involved in the process of getting things done through others.

Management is also
 A profession
 A process
 Etc
MANAGERIAL FUNCTIONS
A function is a type of work activity that can be individually identified and described in the
organization. The management is thought to generally have five functions namely;
 Planning – This is selecting missions, goals and objectives and formulating strategies to
attain them. It involves determination (in advance) what should be accomplished and how
it will be realized. The management develops short-term plans, medium and long term
plans.
 Organizing – This is the process of prescribing formal relationships among people and
resources in order to accomplish goals.
 Staffing – This is the act of equipping the organization with all the necessary human
resources and developing them to ensure no deficiency in the life of the organization.
 Directing – This is the process of determining or affecting the behavior of others. It
involves motivation, leadership and communication and other aspects of organizational
behavior.
 Controlling; - This is the process of measurement and comparison of the actual
performance against the standard or plans