Responsibilities of ‘management’

IT IS STILL SEEN by many, as it used to be, a master in the master/slave relationship, but management has evolved into functions, to plan and execute a successful mission.

The term “management” does not refer to the highly trained and experienced people involved but to the roles. The staff, which management instructs and depend on, must consist of highly productive and motivated people. The investors, who approve the strategic plan and receive periodic reports, are people who take the risk but need a return on their investment. The mission is designed by management to bring together and benefit productive staff and investment resources.

The roles of management are many: strategic planning, human resource, accounting and finance, purchasing and procurement, sales and promotions, to name a few, and within such roles come numerous responsibilities, all of which can, in the case of a sole proprietor, fall upon one person or be delegated to a team. Such individuals, having spent years undergoing training and having years of experience, are hired to achieve preset targets within a specific time frame. These individuals are assigned the title “executives” to be reminded to achieve their targets or be fired.

The staff must be top performers who are skilled and disciplined, respectful of the job opportunities and rewards, and dedicated to helping management achieve each objective in its corporate mission.

Such individuals must undergo orientation; be instructed via the job description and regular staff meetings, while cognisant of management dependency, and must share responsibility for both success and failure.

These individuals are the workforce; skilled or non-skilled, experienced or inexperienced, which can cause management to achieve or be dismissed.

The investors must be fully aware of the risk involved, the failure to generate expected returns and the total loss of their investment. Such individuals must be understood as to their mindset and current circumstances. Many may not have inherited wealth or be investment savvy and intend to pay living expenses from this investment. Management must communicate proper risk management strategies, to protect such investors.

The mission, which the management develops into a prudent, confidential strategic plan; with extracts covering each management role, is an achievable, and measurable statement linking staff and investors, and gauging success. Such success is based on management’s stated promises, made in its strategic plan, to and approved by its elected, from investors, board of directors, before the period starts, and executed by management engaging its workforce and reporting to investors, at the end of and about the same period.

The targets having been met, the mission judged a success; bonuses are paid across the board to staff and returns to investors.

– TERRANCE A. JENNINGS