CHAPTER 11 - Resources and Their Management

Abstract

This chapter discusses management as an element in social dynamics rather than the presence or absence of resources themselves, because obtaining, identifying, and using resources is a management act. A manager is someone who combines resources through the use of organization involving more persons than him. This leaves open the question as to the degree to which the manager is dynamic, repetitive in his acts, expansive, profit-taking, risk-taking, willing to innovate in his enterprise by learning from others, innovative in the sense of doing things that have not been done before or carrying out his management in a nonmonetary or nonprofit framework, such as an army or a civil service. All of these characteristics are variables. In its intellectual aspect, management consists in recognizing characteristics that can be ascribed to resources—both material and nonmaterial. These characteristics are used as bases for synthesis, combination, and movement. Management is dependent on cultural symbols, information, and communication.