GEG 502 (LAW AND MANAGEMENT) ASSIGNMENT

SUBMITTED TO THE

FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

BY

NWANI CHIKAMSO ANTHONY

MATRIC NUMBER: 14040136

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND PETROLEUM ENGINEERING

OCTOBER 2019
 PART A

1. The view that management is both an art and science imply that management is filled as a
science because it works on some principles and techniques that are testable and verifiable
and it is as an art because it involves application of knowledge and skill to accomplish desired
results.
2. Science offers knowledge and art deals with the application of the knowledge and skills.
3. The distinction between management and administration is in terms of scope and nature.
4. Organizing is a managerial function that ensure that effort is coordinated towards task
accomplishment.
5. Managers capability to break down problem into its components and examine its magnitude
for problem solving and decision making is known as Analytical skills.
6. Formal study of management is a 19th century phenomenon.
7. Management transits in the 19th century from entrepreneurial capitalism to the early 20th
century management capitalism by Industrialization.
8. The transition of management from entrepreneurial capitalism to managerial capitalism was
stimulated by Industrialization.
9. The lower level management is also referred to as Operational management
10. Mary Porker Follet (1969) defined management as the art of getting things done through
others.
11. Henry Fayol advocated 14 principles of management
12. Max Webber is credited with Bureaucratic theory of organization
13. The experiment that promoted humans’ relations movement is known as The Hawthorn
experiment.
14. The company where Elton Mayor conducted experiment that promoted human relations
movement is known as The Western Electric Company.
15. Scientific approach to management condenses knowledge into testable laws and principles.
PART B

The functions of management relate to the major roles or tasks perform by managers. Fayol’s in his
1916 book Administration Industrielle et Generale, identified the functions of management along five
dimensions. The five functions are:

1. TO FORECAST AND PLAN

Forecasting regulates what is likely to be required by the organization; opportunities and demands
for its services or products, this helps define the set of prioritized objectives. Planning on the other
hand is a decision in advance of what, how, when and by whom is to be done combine unity,
continuity, flexibility and precision given the organization’s resources, type and significance of work
and future trends. Essentially, planning involves determining the best course of action for
accomplishing the prioritized objectives of the organization. Planning or plans can be categorized
into:

i. strategic planning,

ii. tactical planning,

iii. operational planning,

iv. project and program planning.

For instance, Dr Alabi’s job involves planning function. Understandably, he is the top-level manager,
so he has to get involved in all the manufacturing process like designing, process planning and
material planning. The purpose of planning is to provide directions, so that employees can coordinate
activities and work with each other to achieve the goals of the organization and what they have to
contribute to reach the goals. Hence, Dr Alabi’s plan is an operational plan that specify details clearly
defined of how the overall goals are to be achieved. He set goals of the organization which are further
broken down into sub goals of each level of the organization.

Creating a plan of action is the most difficult of the five functions and requires the active participation
of the entire organization. Planning must be coordinated on different levels and with different time
horizons; A good plan of action should be flexible, continuous, relevant and accurate, as it unifies the
organization by focusing on the nature, priorities and condition of the business, longer-term
predictions for the industry and economy, the intuitions of key thinkers, and strategic sector analyses
from specialist staff groups.

2. TO ORGANIZE

Organizing encompasses developing an organizational structure (hierarchy, divisions, departments,

etc.) and allocating human and material resources to ensure the accomplishment of the
organization’s objectives and implementation of its strategic plan. Organizing as management
functions ensure that effort is coordinated towards tasks accomplishment.
For instance, Dr Alabi’s job also involves organising function. He needs to manage and divide all the
tasks equally to his workers in order to save time and increase efficiency. Dr Alabi divides all the work
activities into separate jobs task assigning them to different departments like design department,
product department, processing department and customer support. He also holds meetings weekly
to discuss current problems, motivate employees and appoint a team at committees.

Ideally, current organizations face stiff competition and high employee demand. In organizing, of two
organizations similar in appearance, one may be excellent, the other bad, depending on the personal
qualities of those who compose them. Man is an incurable trouble maker, but efficient organizations
force him to cooperate with other. For effective performance, Dr Alabi has to recruit the right
personnel for specific duties. Securing the highly skilled and learned human resource is a vital
organization role that must be conducted by the managers.

Fayol lays down the following organization duties for managers:

i. ensure the plan is judiciously prepared and strictly carried out,

ii. see that human and material structures are consistent with objectives, resources and general
operating policies
iii. harmonize activities and coordinate efforts,
iv. formulate clear distinct and precise decisions
v. arrange for efficient personnel selection and define duties clearly
vi. make use of sanctions in cases of fault and error to maintain discipline
vii. ensure that individual interests are subordinated to the general interest
viii. supervise both material and human order for optimum control.
ix. fight against an excess of regulations, red tape and paperwork.

3. TO COMMAND AND DIRECT

This function involves providing direction and leadership to lower level managers and employees so
that they are aware of their obligations and are willing to carry them out efficiently and effectively.

For example, within the present-day organizational management, there must be an outlined
command system within all cadres. Dr Alabi’s job includes the command function. He ensures all his
workers are in a friendly and comfortable work environment. He also gives training and guidance to
employees by counselling whenever necessary. Dr Alabi motivates his employees by offering sales
commission and bonuses to high performing staff. All level of management needs human skills in
order to interact and communicate with other people successfully. Thus, Dr Alabi reflects the
requirement of leading functions and human skills needed as a top manager.

4. TO COORDINATE

Coordination is intrinsic in every aspects of management and is predominantly focused on the

different elements of the organization, or an activity, so as to enable them to work together
effectively. Poor coordination is attributed to failure in performance. Coordination deals with
harmonizing work relations and efforts at all levels for achieving some common purpose. It may be
described as unifying and achieving harmony among individual efforts for the purpose of
accomplishing group goals. The whole idea of coordination is to adjust, reconcile, and synchronize
individual efforts so that group efforts become more effective and help to achieve some common
objectives.

For instance, Dr Alabi ensures that work flow between all levels of the organization is in sync with
the activities taking place in the organization. He ensures that team work and cooperation between
staff is high by understanding of interpersonal relationships and encouraging horizontal rather than
vertical relationship. He acts to settle disputes that can lead to failure or poor performance of staff.
He must understand differences in approach, understanding, timing, interests, or efforts for each
staff to work effectively.

5. TO CONTROL

A business manager or executive must receive feedback about a process or activities within the
organization in order to analyze any deviations from the plan and make necessary adjustments to
correct negative deviations and prevent future deviations. Controlling involves of three intricate
steps:

i. establishing the plan or required performance standards;

ii. comparing actual performance against the required standards

iii. take corrective or preventative action when necessary.

For example, Dr Alabi’s job also includes the controlling function. He has to make sure that the
transportation or delivery of goods is safe and fast. Orders must also be taken correctly and
accurately. Besides that, he also has to make sure that the monthly targeted sales are achieved and
the company continues to make profit. In addition, he has to ensure the whole process is effective
and efficient and also product quality is maintained to satisfy customers. Thus, the objective of
controlling is to point out weaknesses and errors before and after work is done in order to resolve
them and prevent recurrence. Besides, the other objective is to contribute the smooth working of
each department in particular and of the concern in general. Dr Alabi is involved in job like trouble
shooting for rejected goods and work force shortage. He needs to think of a way to solve rejected
goods by finding out the problems, minimize the losses and maintain customer’s trust and loyalty
towards the organisation. When there is work force shortage, he needs to make decision whether to
hire more employee or pay staff for working overtime. With these, Dr Alabi reflects the requirement
of the control function and human skills needed as a top manager.