Essay on
What Management Is
by Joan Magretta
I heard about Joan Magretta in the context of her book on understanding Michael Porter. I have come across that book already in the first year so I was curious about her view on management from a broader perspective.
Joan explains that management is not just the responsibility of the top-level executives in a company but it's a shared responsibility of everyone in the organization. She speaks about the fact that management is all about making strategic decisions, setting goals, and guiding the organization to achieve them. It is a process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling resources to achieve a company's objectives. These are some well-accepted facts about management, I think. What is interesting for me is that even in a more classic approach to management, she sees the responsibility of management on everyone in the company.
What Joan discusses is also the importance of having a clear understanding of the organization's purpose and how it creates value for its customers. The author explains that the purpose of the organization is not just to make a profit, but to serve a larger social and economic goal. From what I read before about what the purpose of a company is, I think it comes down to two main things: creating value for a customer and being profitable. I believe that companies play a big social and economic goal but to pay attention to these aspects inside the company usually happens only after the first two aspects are being fulfilled, from my observation.
Effective communication and collaboration within an organization is key according to Joan.. She highlights the need for managers to communicate effectively with the employees. That is also something I read in many resources and what is quite a given. Not in practice though, to figure out what is effective communication for us in a company and how to build it and maintain it is a whole other thing. Company culture based on trust and collaboration is important for achieving success as well. I see the two points in this paragraph closely interlinked.
What I really liked about the book was the emphasis on the ethical side of doing business that Joan showed in the book. She claims that it is important for managers to be responsible towards people outside of the company as well and observe the impact of the company's activities. It is important that they act ethically and make decisions aligned with their values and policies. I think it helped me understand that it should not be just an extra thing for when your company is doing very well but should be just as important as other aspects. Because once we go sideways from our values, what are we even doing?
