On entering your MBA the first lesson you learn is that management equals Planning, Monitoring, and Controlling. I've been trying to replace this simple definition with something equally compelling linguistically.
I tried words like Architecting, Acting, etc. That is, my definition involved 'verbs'. I couldn't do it and decided that my current motif of 'Management = Operationalised Brands + Technology-Augmented Markets + Collaboration Architectures' still holds true.
I think the trick is to use nouns in the definition. You can't equate management itself with something people actually do. That sort of definition deteriorates into 'rule by man' instead of 'rule by brand'. Also, if we equate the definition of management with something that people actually do we run into another problem...
The generally accepted model of 'management' has no decent feedback mechanism (except more management). Once something is designated a 'management' task it suddenly doesn't require a value proposition or justification. Because of this the distinction between mediocre and exemplary performance of the task is blurred and continuous improvement is never achieved.
David Weinberger once suggested to me that my Planning, Monitoring, Controlling definition of management was a little limited. Off the top of his head he added things like mentoring, performance management, etc.
However, I believe that David himself was responsible for the view expressed in Cluetrain that heaven forbid we come up with 'conversation management'. With the current model of management; management equals death.
This death by management can already be seen for planning, monitoring, and controlling functions. For all the talk I really don't think these functions have improved in years. Even in technology related to these functions (such as ERPs) the improvements in techniques, user interfaces, etc have left a lot to be desired.
Granted, management tasks suffer from a mystic that they cannot be automated. Oh dear; I'm going to loss some subscribers who think I'm being 'technocratic'. But this is just a result of the mystic around so-called management tasks.
Technocratic rule is simple rule by the experts � rule by the scientists or engineers. But we tend to think 'information technology' when we see 'techno' these days. We think such thinking is coming from the computer specialists.
But technocratic rule is rule by ANY particular specialised group. Rule by the specalisation know as 'managers' is equally as technocratic as rule by the engineers.
(Hey, this blog thing is great. I can write without making too much sense but it's all okay because it's not an 'article' :-)
