Management System Concept:
Every practicing manager knows from experience that whatever actions and decisions s/he takes in any area of activity; the results extend well beyond which specific activity. The impact of decisions in some cases may affect the entire organization and even the external environment. An easy decision to throw out an inefficient and lazy worker can trigger off union activity that can, in extreme situations, even result in a strike. The condition may become so hot which the union forces the neighboring units also to join the strike. Therefore while a manager takes a decision, s/he never views its impact in isolation but tries to understand and anticipate its repercussions on the entire organization and the environment. The manager understands in which her/his organization is a totality of various inter-associated, inter-dependent parts, put together for achieving the organizational goals. In a nutshell, this is the essence of the systems concept in management.
A system has the following elements:
- A number of parts or sub-systems, that when put together in a specific manner form an entire system;
- Boundaries within that it exists;
- A specific goal(s) expressed in terms of an output, that is achieved through receiving an input and processing it to form the output; and
- A close inter-relationship & inter-dependency amongst several sub- systems.
The inter-relationship of sub-systems can be described in terms of the as follows:
a) Flows such as of information, materials, funds, etc. The most important of these is the information flow;
b) Structure within which they associate to everyone. The structure might be physical, geographic or organizational;
c) Procedures through that the sub-systems relate to each other. By procedures we mean those planned activities that influence the performance of the whole system. In the context of an organization, this denoted to planning; and
d) Feedback and the control process mechanisms that ensure that the system is moving towards its desired goals.