Importance of management studies in today’s competitive environment
Why study management in current competitive environment: Check out reasons here
Management has, is and will always be an essential component for the well-being of a country, organisation, society, including the personal growth of an individual. Management as a discipline ensures that resources are optimally deployed, while delivering a product, service or experience. At a country level, management skills enable the growth of the GDP, which in turn facilitates enhancing the quality of life of the citizens.
Management is valuable when there is a gap between ideal and that which is available. If this creative tension between resources and aspirations was nonexistent, competition would not flourish and hence the customers and consumers would have had to settle for something less. In today’s competitive environment, there is little differentiation between two or more competing products/services, across categories. The only way to stand out in the clutter is to have a clear differentiator that enables them to carve specific brand imagery.
Management therefore means the pulsing of customers/consumers regularly to identify and accentuate differentiating elements. These include sensory dimensions, source of raw/packaging material, downstream sustainability of the product, including environment impact. Consumers and customers want to know much more about the products/services they buy. They also want to know how people’s lives are being affected- positively and not so positively- by using the products/services. Hence, management discipline is increasingly important to craft layers of sustainable & competitive differentiation, around the undifferentiated core product/service.
It has also become essential for citizens to be more competitive, in order to find value in the emerging society. As the world is getting more interconnected, there is always someone somewhere in the world, who is performing your role more efficiently. Hence, be it a teacher, judge, traffic policeman, customs official or a home maker, the importance of managing one’s resources is becoming critical. Hence, management studies are pervading all professions and walks of life. Management programs tailored to the needs of particular groups have also made their mark, eg; lawyers, women entrepreneurs, government officers etc.
The newer ways to study management -including high quality e-learning courses, satellite-supported multi-location delivery, distance education, part time mode – has expanded the reach of management studies. Management discipline has pervaded academic institutions too. Hitherto, teachers/faculties were largely responsible for imparting education to students. Increasingly, teachers and faculty are expected to bring contemporariness in the curriculum and equip the students to be industry ready.
According to Peter Drucker, “Management is the dynamic life-giving element in every business. Without it the resources of production remain resources and never become production”. Management is the catalyst without which no organisation can work or survive. Management is an important organ of an industrial society. The management principles stress on scientific judgements and logical thinking that lead to scientific decision making by taking in account meeting changing environment requirements ,effective administration, optimum utilisation of resources and help in fulfilling social responsibilities of the business.
At a national level, management has become a central part of service delivery of government and related public institutions to its citizens. Increasingly, government departments too are expected to balance their budgets and be less reliant on financial grants from the central and/or state governments. Management at the national level is an all-important agent of change and economic growth. The prosperity, power and prestige of a nation depend upon the competence and dedication of its managers and administrators.
Franklin D Roosevelt, President of U.S.A. once said : “A government without good management is a house built on sand.” Management makes a significant social contribution by supplying goods and services, employment, tax revenue, rescue and succour in times of disasters etc.
In a developing country like India, the significance of management can hardly be over emphasised. Higher efficiency and higher productivity is the only hope of the people, as more than 60 per cent of them are living below the poverty line.
According to the late President John F. Kennedy, “The role of management in our society is critical in human progress. It serves to improve standards of living of all people through effective utilisation of human and material resources. Efficient management leads to better economical production which helps in turn to increase the welfare of people. Good management makes a difficult task easier by avoiding wastage of scarce resource. It improves standard of living. It increases the profit which is beneficial to business and society will get maximum output at minimum cost by creating employment opportunities which generate income in hands. Organisations come up with new products and researches beneficial for society”.
The importance of management studies in corporates/ business/ entrepreneurship has been recognised many decades ago. What has changed rapidly is the growing influence and impact of management studies in other walks of life.
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Authored by Prof Vijayan Pankajakshan,
Dean-HR,WeSchool
