Management is an essential activity, ensuring that the company is both viable on a long-term scale and profitable in a competitive market. This approach encompasses several fields linked to a project’s viability (administration, human resources, production, marketing, etc.) to create an environment conducive to growth. To achieve this, a good manager must possess excellent management skills. We explain the importance of management in this article and help you measure your skills as a manager.
What is management?
Management is the implementation of processes and tools to optimize a company’s resources and achieve its objectives. It is based on 5 fundamental pillars:
Objectives
This involves defining SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) objectives. They must be consistent with the company’s overall vision and its economic environment.
Action Plan
An action plan is a document that identifies the main tasks to be undertaken in order to achieve defined objectives. It includes:
- Responsibilities;
- Resources;
- Calendar;
- Follow-up indicators.
Controlling
It’s a day-to-day activity for operational management, enabling performance indicators to be tracked and variances between actual and forecast figures to be calculated. The greater the number of measurements, the more effective management control will be.
Strategy Optimization
The manager modifies the strategy according to the results obtained and any changes in the company’s internal or external environment.
Responding to Unforeseen Events
Management enables us to deal with the challenges and unforeseen events that can disrupt business operations. It establishes corrective actions and a forward-looking risk management plan.
Difference between Management and Administration?
Management focuses on day-to-day administration and specific activities (human resources management, financial management, purchasing management, etc.), while organizational or company management refers to the guidelines for achieving strategic objectives.
What types of management are available?
Administrative Management
Administrative management covers the tasks involved in keeping a company running smoothly. It includes documentation, human resources, regulatory compliance, external communication (public relations), etc.
Human Resources Management
Human Resources Management is mainly concerned with recruitment, ongoing training and employee payments. The HR department often includes a career management service. This aims to optimize internal mobility by making adjustments between available skills and functions within the company.
Project Management
Project Management involves planning, executing and completing projects, ensuring that they are delivered on time and within budget. Project managers tend to break down the project into more manageable components.
Financial management
Financial management involves planning, directing and controlling a company’s financial resources:
- Financial planning: Anticipates the need for funds to ensure the company’s growth and stability, namely preparing budgets and long-term financial plans;
- Cash and liquidity management: The aim is to ensure that the company has the necessary liquidity to meet its short-term commitments;
- Financial analysis: Involves using financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, etc.) to assess a company’s financial health, profitability, solvency and other key performance indicators;
- Tax management: Managing tax returns in the best possible way, while complying with current obligations and regulations;
- Financial risk management: Identifying, assessing, and implementing strategies to mitigate financial risks such as fluctuations in interest or exchange rates.
Stock Management
Stock management involves monitoring and organizing the flow of goods and raw materials by carrying out various tasks such as:
- Monitoring stock levels: Use computerized systems to track quantities of items in stock, movements, expiry dates, etc.;
- Stock rotation: Ensure that old stock is used up first to avoid aging or expiry (FIFO principle, First In, First Out);
- Stock control: Carry out periodic inventories to check that actual stock levels correspond to those recorded in the system;
- Optimize warehousing: Organize storage space to facilitate rotation and handling of goods.
Commercial Management
Sales management encompasses all activities related to the sale of products or services, including Sales Strategy, client relationship development and after-sales service.
Supply Chain Management
Supply chain management includes the planning, control and execution of production, distribution and delivery processes.
Quality Management
Quality management refers to processes that ensure quality conforms to predefined standards and customer expectations:
- Quality control;
- Continuous quality improvement;
- Audits and certifications;
- Etc.
Environmental Management
Environmental management involves identifying, assessing and reducing the impact of a company’s activities on the environment.
What is the role of management?
Tool for Managers
Irrespective of the industry, management tools provide executives with the precise information they need to run their business effectively, both in the short and long term.
Steering Tool
Management optimizes corporate strategies by ensuring that they are consistent with day-to-day operations and available resources, also taking into account opportunities and threats in the external environment.
Monitoring Tool
Managers are required to monitor and assess their project task performance. Management control is essential for checking compliance with best practices and taking corrective action in the event of anomalies.
Communication Tool
Good business management stimulates communication between different departments, as well as between managers and employees. This is a fundamental asset in ensuring coherence between all stakeholders.
What are the advantages of management?
- Optimizing resources: Effective management means making the best possible use of available resources, whether human, financial, material or technological;
- Informed decision-making: Solid management based on accurate data and relevant analyses enables informed strategic and operational decisions;
- Improved competitiveness: Good management helps to improve quality and stimulate innovation, which is important in the face of competition;
- Sustainable growth: Through strategic vision and effective implementation, corporate management contributes to stable, sustainable growth;
- Positive corporate culture: managerial culture can have a positive impact on motivation and the working environment within a company;
- Stakeholder satisfaction: Successful management aims to meet the needs and expectations of customers, resources, shareholders and other stakeholders.
How do you determine if a candidate is a good culture fit?
Am I interested in management?
To answer this question, you need to know how well your managerial skills match your profile:
- Leadership skills: ability to lead, inspire and motivate a team;
- Strategic skills: a deep vision to anticipate market trends and establish long-term plans;
- Communication skills: ability to convey information fluently and convincingly;
- Technical skills: necessary to master the workings of the business in question (finance, taxation, production, human resources, etc.).
If you have an interest in management, you can take management training courses to develop the new skills required in this field.
What conditions maximize learning?
Discover your management interests
Specializing in the development of assessment tools, HRid offers you the ID-Interest Management Test to measure your management skills. This test also helps human resources managers to propose an ideal career choice to employees based on their interests and professional experience. For a complete assessment, you can take other related tests, such as: