Chapter 2: Managing Life
We go through life without realizing that each one of us are acting as managers. The reality is that we are acting as managers all the time. Managing is getting things done or getting others to do things so that you get what you want. When you do something by yourself like shaving, bathing or driving you are not acting as a manager. When another person is involved, you become a manager.
To manage life smoothly, we must understand how things are done and learn the basics of management. The fundamental relationship between output, process and input is diagrammatically represented below.
OUTPUT <————– PROCESS <——— INPUTS
The output is the end result we want. It can be design of a house, a chicken dish or passing examinations.
Process is the method we adopt to get the output we desire. Let us say that the output we want is a new dress. We can adopt different processes to get the output. We can buy a ready made one at a shop; we can go to a tailor and get one stitched or stitch it our self.
Inputs can be classified into five categories; men, material, money, machines and time.
For managing men, we have man management or personal management or human resource management. At domestic level it involves communicating, motivating or get ting others to do what you want them to do. It is also the skill to make others like children and domestic staff give their best.
For managing materials, we have material management. Material management involves inventory management, purchasing, storing etc. At a domestic level it involves calculating what you need to run the house, having a policy on buffer stocks, purchasing and storing what has been bought. Considerable thought needs to go into this or you may find that you do not have what you need or perishables go bad and food stuff are not used by due date. If storage is not proper, perishables will perish and rats and other pests or humidity will spoil what you have bought.
For managing money, you need financial management. When there is no shortage of money, this is not an issue. But where money is short, we need to understand the concepts of cash flow planning, opportunity cost and prioritization of expenditure. We must understand that money is essential to get things done. One must understand the importance of money and not over spend or waste it on things we do not need. “Shop till you drop” is a very bad idea. Spending money to show off is also a very bad idea.
For managing machines, we have to understand the concepts of preventive and break down maintenance, maintenance contracts, warranty etc.
Managing time is most critical. Time that is gone never comes back. Managing time is most difficult. Good managers understand how to do things simultaneously by good planning and create spare time to think or relax and enjoy. One example is cooking on two or three stoves at the same time. One must manage time so that you have enough spare time to forecast, plan and do problem solving.
Everyone in the house is a manager. Everyone must understand the functions of a manager.
The first function of a manager is forecasting. Forecasting is looking into the future and see what has to be done and when. A working person has to be aware of what is going to happen at the workplace like meetings, targets, tours, possible strikes etc. The house wife has to plan meals, shopping, entertaining etc. Children have to be aware of dates of examinations, annual days, tuition schedules etc. We have to remember birthdays and anniversaries etc.
The next task of a manager is planning for the events which are forecast. Let us take the example of a birthday function. We have to decide where it is to be held, who all are to be invited, what will be the menu, what will be bought and what will be cooked, when is the cake to be ordered and by whom? One will have to decide on the dress, entertainment, presents and so on.
The next function of a manager is directing. The manager has to brief all those who are involved in organizing the function or doing a task and allot tasks and time by which they are to be completed. He also has to allot resources like money, time, transport etc. to those tasked.
The next function of a manager is monitoring and controlling. A manager has to supervise the execution of the task and see that things are progressing as planned. Quite often there will be problems. These will have to sorted out or the task will not be achieved or the aim will not be fulfilled. Please remember that you can delegate authority or work; you can never delegate responsibility.
Please spend some time and effort in understanding management process and functions and try to be an effective manager. It will go a long way in making life fruitful and enjoyable.
We will teach you 12 chapters written by Col Bhaskar Sarkar in 12 different posts on Khabaratganj.com
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