Management: General

Abstract

Management describes the complex behavior of those responsible for the decisions that determine the allocation of resources, both human and physical, within an organization. The role of general managers is a multifunctional role: decision-maker, strategic leader, human relations expert, custodian of institutionalized values, mediator between business and society, negotiator and power broker. Managers act in a set of institutional contexts and display specific cultural attitudes and styles of action. According to the simplified model of firm behavior under perfect competition, the managerial function is limited to a set of highly rigid decision rules for determining price and output. In real market situations which deviate from the perfectly competitive, market forces are only one of the variables in the complex context where business management takes place. Other key variables concern the corporate organization, the larger group of organizations in which the firm is embedded, state policies and legal systems, and the stategies of both internal and external stakeholders of the firm. The general management function is therefore a very complex one, that includes a set of managerial roles and implies various forms of managerial behavior and style. The focus of this article is on general management, on managerial behavior and managerial roles in organizations. Four main questions are discussed: (a) the rise of managerial capitalism and the separation of ownership and control; (b) what managers really do, i.e., the main features of managerial behavior; (c) the role of managers in business organizations; (d) managerial ideologies and managerial styles.