Management Systems Theory

Management Systems is both theoretical and practical activity, involving the science of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, communicating, controlling, motivating, and decision-making. These activities are managerial processes which are systematically applied. Management Systems can be defined as the main structures, pillars, or poles upon which an organization is built and functions. These structures are are apparently necessary for the performance of any managerial function and successful realization of any managerial goals or targets. These structures or pillars include: production, marketing, personnel, finance, communication, research and development and any other structure deemed appropriate and necessary in an organization.

The importance and value of management systems are immeasurable and cannot be fully quantified. This is because, the benefits begin with the commencement of the organization and flows along with its successes or failures, and seemingly addresses the challenges which confronts managerial initiatives, innovations, decision-making and strategies. The relevance of management systems is therefore as explained above and also includes the following scenarios as well.

Firstly, all organizations work with certain quantities and types of resources which must be used judiciously and sometimes converted into consumable goods and services. According to Howard Barnett (1992), all organizations have five different kinds of resources to work with, and they are equipment, material, money, people and time. The basic idea of resorce conversion into usable goods and services involves the adoption of these management systems, coupled with the utilization and improvement of managerial functions to achieve the desired goals.

Secondly, modern portfolio theory postulates a trade-off between risk and return. This means that the establishment of any business entity entails some level of risk, and the quantification of any net return will depend on the efficient functioning of these management systems, such as the finance, marketing, personnel system, etc. In other words, modern investment management is based on the efficient risk management and this is only achievable through the establishment of a functional management system in the organization.

Thirdly, management systems in some industries are facing acute challenges, leading to low productivity. This is because, the management systems are ill-established and therefore continue to fall off from their peak-best to low-best scenarios, in terms of earnings and capitalization. This problem is peculiar with small-firms which are sometimes managed haphazardly by their owners. Moreover, as they are mostly run by their owners they do lack the requisite talents and skills toa apply modern managerial techniques. Story (1982), explains that, studies conducted in the past proved that firms established by graduates performed better in terms of turn-over than similar ones established by non-graduates. An enterprise is run as an an art of skill acquired through orientation or otherwise, and not as an opportunistic venture.

In addition, bigger firms have their own peculiar set-backs which downplays some of their activities. One of them is management systems are not applied in a vacuum, instead, they require the application of certain resources and managerial techniques to raise productivity. The antidote for bigger firms in this respect is for them to apply the correct tools of management systems to match adequate resources at the same time.

The management systems resources are people, technology, money and assets, and information. Whereas the management systems tools are research data, team work, strategic planning, and timely decisions. These tools are applied to ensure the judicious use of scarce resources and the ability of the organization to realize its goals and targets.