The meaning of management is important to be able to establish whether the term management is generic.

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Abstract

The meaning of management is important to be able to establish whether the term management is generic.  In my opinion, management is generic, since after having acquired the right skills to become a manager, the skills can be transferable to another position in the managerial level.

Hospitality management is a combination of all services and products sold to people outside their houses.  Management is a group of individuals taking decisions about how the business is run. The basic skills include problem solving and decision making, planning, meeting management, delegation, communications and managing yourself.  Despite similarities in the general activities of management, the jobs of individual managers will differ widely.  The work of the manager is varied and fragmented.

Generic means common, general, these skills can be transferable. Mullins states that management is a generic term and subject to many interpretations.  There are two main categories of skills, technical skills and generic skills.  Technical skills are specific to perform a particular task, as for example computer skills, language skills, and laboratory skills. Yet generic skills are often referred to as transferable, since they can be easily transferred from situation to another.

  1. Introduction

Working in a research department of a consultancy, which specialises in the hospitality sector of the economy, my senior has requested myself to write a report for a further presentation that she will undertake in the nearest future. These presentations are on “management skills in the hospitality industry”.

I have been requested to examine the concept of management and tell her what I understand by the term.  The second task of the report is to study whether management skills are generic, depending on the sector and the industry.

My senior expects to read my view and adequate justifications for whether side of the argument I decide upon.

  1. Understanding “management” and application of generic term in management  

  1. Meaning of Management

Hospitality management is a combination of all services and products sold to people outside their houses.  Hospitality as an industry could well be defined as: the serviced provision of food, beverages, accommodation, leisure and other facilities purchased out of home.  Such services provide for a myriad of occasions and styles ranging from the single cup of tea, to the evening in the pub, to the sports and fitness leisure activity or the luxury hotel. (See Appendix A)

In my opinion, the word 'management' evokes power. Management is a group of individuals taking decisions about how the business is run. The negative reactions can be caused by having one person superior to every one else, such as a president would take the decision to go to war, even though not everyone would be happy with that idea, since there are different ways to solve problems.  The managerial skills are categorised according to four major functions of management, including planning, organising, command, co-ordinating and control but also Reporting and budgeting. (Appendix B) However, the four main functions are actually highly integrated when carried out in the day-to-day realities of running an organisation. Management is the process of getting activities completed efficiently and effectively with and through other people. The basic skills include problem solving and decision making, planning, meeting management, delegation, communications and managing yourself.

The manager must provide the right level of motivation, has to be able to build teamwork for the best of his employees.  Without these main tasks a manager can not manage his organisation.  It is important to understand his employees and to achieve their goals for a win situation. According to Mullins, a manager should be strategically aware and appreciate the origins and nature of change.  They should process a comprehensive set of skills and competencies and be able to deal effectively with the forces which represent opportunities and threats to the nature of demand of the environment, the organisation’s culture and values, and the resources that the organisation has at its disposal.  

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Usually, management refers to the activities involved in enhancing leaders', managers' and supervisor's abilities to plan, organise, lead and control the organisation and its members.  There are a variety of views about this term. Traditionally, the term "management" refers to the set of activities, and often the group of people, involved in four general functions, including planning, organising, leading and co-ordinating activities.

McNamara states that Some writers, teachers and practitioners assert that the above view is rather outmoded and that management needs to focus more on leadership skills, e.g., establishing vision and goals, communicating the vision and ...

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