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IB Business Management Extended Essay: The Complete Guide

by  Antony W

June 8, 2024

The extended essay in business management requires you to demonstrate your ability to analyze commercial activities at different economy levels.

A business management extended essay requires you to choose a topic, develop a research question, conduct in-depth research, and write a critically analyzed argument with credible data and evidence.

In this guide, we look at the research question, structure, assessment criteria, grade descriptors, and tips you can use to write a high quality EE report in business management.

Research Question

An extended essay research question is important because the entire business management report hinges on it.

A good RQ for this report should align with the scope, concepts and techniques, research materials, usefulness and application, and engagement in the subject.

1. Focus on the Scope of the Topic

Scope refers to the breadth of the topic you choose.

Don’t select a topic that lacks sufficient materials to cover the 4,000 words limit. Instead, select a highly specific business management EE topic , one for which you can find sufficient information to write a more comprehensive report.

Then come up with a research question that aligns with it.

2. Apply Business Concepts and Techniques

Develop a research question for which you can apply business analysis methods, terminologies, and techniques you’ve learned in the classroom.

Ensure the question has a tight link to the syllabus while allowing you to draw direct link to theoretical concepts taught in the business management course.

Your task here isn’t to show off your knowledge. Your teacher expects you to prove you understand and can apply what you’ve learned. 

3. Ensure Availability of Research Materials

Ignore a research question that lacks depth of materials and knowledge base to warrant a 4,000-word treatment.

If you can’t access highly relevant records or useful research data for the question, look for a different one.

4. Make Your RQ Useful and Applicable

Ensure your RQ, or issue, is relevant and applicable to the current business environment.

You must draw your inspiration only from journals and newspapers that give you current ideas.

5. Make Your Research Question Engaging

Don’t develop a research issue based only on the merit of ease and personal interest.

Focus on something you’ve actually investigated or have always wanted to research. By doing so, you’ll have an easy time fulfilling the engagement part of the grading criteria.

IB Business Management Extended Essay Structure

The structure of a business management extended essay features a title page, table of contents, introduction, methodology, body, conclusion, and bibliography.

The title page doesn’t contribute to the overall world count of the EE. However, the title page is an import part of the structure because it includes the following significant information:

• Title: It should not be a question but a clear, summarized statement of the research question.
• Research Question: Write the RQ in this part.
• Subject: The subject should be “Business Management”.
• Word Count: Indicate the number of words in your essay.

Don’t write your name, candidate name, date, or school name on the title page, as they’re no longer part of the new structure.

Table of Content

Table of contents is also not part of the word count, but it’s an essential part of the assignment. Include all the parts of your business management EE in this section with their respective page numbers.

Introduction (About 250 Words)

Your introduction should provide a clear context for your research question.

• Describe why your research is interesting, as well as why it’s important to your audience.
• Ensure your audience understands what you’ll be exploring, how you intend to explore your research question, and how valuable your research is to them.

Methodology (About 350 Words)

Divide the methodology in two parts, one for the source and one the other one for the tools. Also, ensure you mention the limitations and drawbacks of these sources and tools.

• Sources: State and explain the primary and secondary sources of your research. The sources can include news articles, company annual reports, magazine articles, and encyclopedia. Include the benefits and drawback of each source, keeping in mind that a majority of your research should come from secondary sources.
• Tools: State the tools you’ll use for analysis, discussion, and evaluation. Explain why you’re going to use these tools and how relevant they’re to your business management assignment. Mention any changes to your toolset should there be any, along with an explanation on why such changes were necessary.

Main Body (About 2800 Words)

The main body of the business management extended essay is at most 2,800 words long. It’s in this section that you share your research, analysis, discussion, and evaluation.

Divide the main body into two sections, one for the tools and the other for your research:

• Tools: Show your teacher you know how to do what you’ve learned in a business management class.
• Research: Make an impression with your research, even if it goes beyond what you’ve learned in the classroom.

Each paragraph should relate to the research question. Therefore, the analysis, discussion, and evaluation have to include relevant tools and research.

The conclusion ties everything together to show what you’ve done to answer your research question. Mention the limitation of your research and explain any other unresolved question.

However, the conclusion of your EE shouldn’t introduce new ideas (ideas you haven’t addressed in the body parts of the essay. 

Bibliography

Aim for 3 or 4 pages of sources for the bibliography. However, keep in mind that the bibliography isn’t part of your word count.

Business Management EE Rubric

IB evaluates business management extended essays based on the following 5 criteria:

• Focus and method 
• Knowledge and understanding
• Critical thinking
• Presentation

The grades range from A to E, with the top grade having a maximum of 34 points and anything worse than a C being a fail.

While the professional judgment of selected instructors can affect your grades, these descriptors used to determine the actual grade that you get in the end.

Criterion A: Focus and Method 

Criterion A examines how unique, focused, intelligent, and analytical you’re when using techniques learned in the course and outside the classroom.

Evaluators expect you to demonstrate your scholastic ability to apply theories in practical situations, come up with answers to you research issue, and offer a possible solution to the problem at hand.

To score a 6 for focus and method:

• Develop a clear, focused research question.
• Use secondary sources for topic research.
• Support your arguments with relevant, recent, and credible evidence or data.
• Develop a well-organized, logical methodology leading up to your conclusions. 

Criteria B: Knowledge and Understanding

Knowledge and understanding focuses on not only how much you’ve learned in the course but also how well you can apply the concepts taught in class to the real world.

To show a business-oriented thinking, use business terminologies.

You can use abstract concepts in the paper, but you should also add thorough explanation your process using a simple language that readers can understand.

Diagrams and charts can help explain concepts that would be hard to explain in words, but it’s important to explain each so that your ideas are clear.

As you explain business trends linked to your research topic, ensure your ideas follow an analytical process while remaining grounded in the case you’re exploring.

Criteria C: Critical Thinking

To score high on this criterion, show a unique application of business concepts, technique, theories, and methods to analyze the problem under investigation.

• Back your argument with in-depth, credible research.
• Be self-critical, making sure you evaluate the accuracy and reliability of your sources.
• Comment on the gaps or weaknesses your arguments don’t solve and suggest what you think researchers can do to solve these issues.
• Use the analytical techniques learned in the course to follow up every point you make in your business management extended essay.

Criterion D: Presentation

The presentation criterion looks at how well you organize and communicate your ideas. The common academic standards evaluated include:

• A clear and easy to understand language
• Clearly labeled charts, graphs, figures, and images
• A well-structured essay with headings and subheadings

Criterion E: Engagement

Criterion E evaluates how you engage with the research topic based on the subject’s intersection in your life.

Avoid using a third-person perspective because doing so will earn you few points.

Quite instances of personal interactions instead, and show that the research question you choose is relevant to you and others.

Extended Essay Grade Descriptors

The following are the grade descriptors used for IB Business Management Extended Essay:

Descriptor A

To get an A, you must have a clear research question, conduct relevant research, and demonstrate expert knowledge and understanding of the materials taught in the classroom.

Also, show a comprehensive engagement to and explanation of the problem.

Your extended essay in business management should feature a logical, structural layout, include key reflections, and have relevant, accurate conclusions.

Descriptor B

To score a B, you need to demonstrate good knowledge of research, appropriate research skill, and a reasonable application of the business concepts and techniques learned in the classroom.

Also, offer a synthesis of an effective research question, a satisfactory presentation, and conclusion supported by evidence presented in the IB business management extended essay.

Descriptor C

Students who score a C for their extended essay in business management are those who display some knowledge and understanding of the key concepts involved, including reasonable application of the topic.

However, the essay fails to synthesize the research question, it offers descriptive instead of an evaluative discussion, there are errors in the arguments use, and structure used is poor.

Descriptor D

Business management extended essays that score a D reflect poor research that lead to a general focus.

Although the essay shows some relevant knowledge of the topic, the content is full of discrepancies and inaccuracies.

In addition to the lack of a logical structure and coherent readability, the essay lacks a critical evaluation of the topic and the conclusions are inconsistent.

Descriptor E

An E is the grade awarded to an unclear essay with an unsystematic approach. The essay lacks a clear focus because it portrays limited knowledge of key concept, not to mention it has an inconsistent analysis and an inaccurate conclusion.

Tips to Write a Compelling IB Business Management Extended Essay

1.  Choose Your Research Question

The research question for your IB Business Management Extended essay should not be practical or actionable.

This is applicable only in the Internal Assessment.

Also, make your research question focused, not too broad and not to narrow. While you should be asking relatively simple questions, make sure they aren’t too obvious.

2.  Formatting Your Work

Your IB teacher will also look into how you format your work. So it’s important to make sure you get this right from the start.

Use the Times New Roman font type and 12-point font size. Double space your work and make sure every page has a number.

3.  Citing Sources

You need to cite all the sources you use in writing your IB Business Management Extended Essay. You can use any citation format, but it’s preferable to MLA.

And don’t worry if you find citing sources somewhat confusing. Our  guide on sources and citation   should be enough to point you in the right direction.

4. Sticking to the Word Count

Your piece of research should not exceed  4,000 words.

Even if you feel like you have a lot to write to  make your ideas clear ,  you should trim down during revision if your work is more than 4,000 words already.

5. Write a Great Reflection

The   reflection   for your IB Business Management Extended essay is not only important as the other parts of the assignment.

It’s also about 18% of the total grade. So you should give it your best shot.

6. Edit Your Work Thoroughly

Reading a 4,000-word IB Business Management Extended Essay after spending so many hours writing it can be rather boring and much less time consuming.

But doing so is the only way to make sure your essay is good enough for submission and ready for marking.

• Look out for grammar and spelling mistakes and fix them. Use a tool such as Grammarly to make your work easier
• Rewrite longer sentences, making them short and concise.
• Don’t hesitate to trim down word count in a sentence if you can say the same thing but in fewer words
• Do parts of your essay sound redundant? Delete them, regardless of where they appear in the essay
• Have you used a source you haven’t cited? Go back and fix the error

Editing your work thoroughly isn’t the fun part of working on an IB Business Management Extended Essay. However, it goes a long way to make your essay read better.

Can I Buy a Business Management Extended Essay Online?

You can buy an extended essay on Help for Assessment and one of our top writers will work on it from start to finish. We focus on in-depth research, proper structure, custom writing, in-depth editing, and timely submission.

Our writing services are affordable, and it’s not an exception for the extended essay in this subject. You pay as low as $12.99 to $40 per page depending on the urgency. There’s even a 10% discount for customers new to Help for Assessment.

About the author 

Antony W is a professional writer and coach at Help for Assessment. He spends countless hours every day researching and writing great content filled with expert advice on how to write engaging essays, research papers, and assignments.

How to Write a Conclusion for a Business Essay

by Priti Ramjee

Published on 26 Sep 2017

Writing a business essay allows you to represent your professional opinion on a particular subject. A business essay requires gathering data and researching the topic to support your statements with credible facts. The essay does not need to be formal, but it must be clear. The opening statement should carry the purpose of the essay. The body tells the reader what to do with the information you are providing. The last paragraph should be an effective and memorable conclusion informing or persuading the reader with the action you would like her to take.

Prepare your conclusion of the business essay by drafting the important points you are making on your area of expertise. Creatively restate the points in the body of your essay in different words. Experiment with memorable phrases such as a quotation or a poetic element if it suits the essay. Strive to leave the reader wanting to know more information about your field, product or service.

Formulate the points into a clear paragraph to create awareness of the purpose of your essay with elements of persuasion. Promote and recommend a particular product or service if applicable. Use logical reasoning to support your recommendation. Persuade your reader to consider your recommendations by emphasizing your opinion of the product or service as the final statement with clear and precise language. Suggest actions that you would like your reader to take such as purchase the product, try the service or just be informed.

Edit and proofread your business essay. Present your material in a logical order. Ensure that your conclusion ties in to the purpose in the introduction. Verify facts for accuracy and relevance to the product, service or other business material you are discussing. Support your main points with examples wherever possible. Reference your sources for credibility. Proofread for spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors.

To arrive at a clear conclusion, avoid irrelevant ideas and wordiness. Stay with your purpose and key points. Avoid ending your essay with phrases like "in conclusion," or "to sum up" because you may irritate the reader by stating the obvious.

Keep information up-to-date, as old information can be misleading and take away from your professional credibility.

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Guide: How to Create an Amazing Management Essay

By: Henrique Bertulino

A management essay is not unlike any other academic article. As with any academic assignment, the essay's primary purpose is to assess students' knowledge in the subject "Management." The main difference lies in understanding whether a student has some practical skills versus the vast majority of academic assignments that first assess theoretical knowledge.

What Does a Management Essay Mean?

Example: duties of corporate managers, example: human resource management, example: knowledge management, example: leadership and management, example: mba in global management, example: network management, example: organizational behaviour, example: performance management, example: real estate risk management, example: risk management, example: strategic management, models of management, five components of management, four processes of management.

To create this essay, follow the structure:

• The essay introduction , which explains the relevance of the topic. Why is this topic exciting and requires special consideration?
• A thesis is a statement within the framework of the topic, which would be formulated by you. The thesis, not the topic, is your essay's central idea, which you have to justify.
• Arguments. There must be at least three of them. Each argument should support your thesis from different sides. Each argument should be self-contained and complete.
• Conclusion. Here you should evaluate the potential of the topic. Perhaps there are other points of view? Do I need to raise it in the future? In conclusion, there is a return to the introduction and a search for ways for a possible discussion.

A management essay is a small piece of work written by a given structure and in strict accordance with a management program . The essay reflects the author's subjective point of view, based on the analysis of theoretical and analytical materials.

Some students still think that governance is research in which only executives or true management professionals can benefit, but governance is a skill that everyone uses every day. Organization and planning are essential for any corporation. However, they can come in handy in our day to day interactions with people and even when planning and evaluating the various tasks we face.

In a real business environment, any employee with governance skills becomes a precious asset. Even so, many students mistakenly believe that reading a book or two on the subject will teach them everything they need to know about governance. In practice, this is a skill that can only be learned outside the university. The good news is that having a strong theoretical background helps a lot in a real professional environment. And writing management essays is one of the surest ways to gain much-needed knowledge.

Interesting Management Essay Topics

Management is needed to define and set goals, achieve them with people and resources, coordination, and control. Without a competent governance system or self-organization, effective economic activity in any area is impossible: business classes , public administration, non-commercial projects. If you are at the Faculty of Management, then you need to consider topics from experts:

• The conceptual evolution of management.
• Labor motivation in modern conditions.
• A psychological portrait of personality. Assessment of the manager's business qualities.
• Influence of information technology on the success of the firm.
• Power and leadership: essence and meaning.
• The nature of work and requirements for the professional competence of managers.
• Business plan of the company: essence, structure, characteristics of the main sections.
• Limitations of the manager's effectiveness and their overcoming.
• The central dilemma of the American manager: revitalization of people and the importance of ideas.
• The state of the US economy: does the manager have maneuver?

Now that you have an idea of what to write about, consider a business paper template .

Legal entities are corporate clients with whom representatives of any business want to cooperate. A corporate account manager usually contacts them. Many commercial organizations build their business precisely on such cooperation.

The main task of a modern company is to attract and retain a corporate client. Certain programs and techniques are implemented, employees are introduced to the staff, whose duties include attracting profitable partners and interacting with them. This position is called a corporate account manager.

Based on the results of psychological observations and surveys, I determined the following typology of managers:

• Melancholic. This type of manager is slow. His communication style is impassive and apathetic, which gradually arouses the client's dissatisfaction and pushes them to an early conclusion of the negotiations.
• Erudite. Managers of this type inspire buyers' confidence since they can answer all their questions, draw many analogies, and quickly navigate the situation.
• Executor. The creative approach is not his element. A manager of this type will act strictly "by the instructions."

I can conclude that no company can exist without corporate managers. Such people must have the ability to communicate and attract customers.

The leaders of most organizations focus on production management, finance, marketing. At that time, human resources continue to be the weakest link in the overall governance system. I want to prove that the importance of human resource governance should come first.

First, human resource management directly affects a company's capitalization. The share of intangible assets in the total assets of the organization is growing.

Secondly, as the organization's most important internal competence, human resource governance ensures leadership in the competitive struggle. Since it is one of the most important competitive advantages of the organization, it becomes a guarantee of its success and survival in the face of increased competition.

Thirdly, according to several experts, human resource governance allows companies to move from the number of goods successfully working to the number of leaders in a certain market segment.

As you can see, we cannot do without human resource management. I believe that every company should take care of this.

Knowledge management is a concept that emerged about two decades ago, sometime in the 1990s. Perhaps one can immediately define the term "knowledge management" - it is the organization and systematization of information and knowledge in a company.

What does a knowledge management system consist of? The obvious answer is from information and data available to all organization members through special portals and content governance systems. A content governance system is the most evident and operational component of a knowledge governance system.

Does knowledge governance have a future? Of course. Let's take the bibliometric analysis results: we count the number of articles in business literature that describe certain business concepts. Most of these concepts are gaining popularity quickly, reaching their peak in about five years, and then their performance almost as rapidly falling. Knowledge management is not just a modern trend. This concept has a future.

There are too many managers globally, and also few leaders are ready to prove themselves. A leader is needed wherever you need to initiate and manage change. Where it is necessary to maintain an established order of things, you can limit yourself to management.

An effective leader does the right thing and focuses on the top priorities. It creates an inspiring vision for the future and sets a strategic direction. The leader empowers employees, motivates them, and energizes them.

An effective manager performs the tasks assigned to him, organizes the work, and does things right, offers a market research proposal for a new product. As a manager, you plan, give directions, manage work, measure performance, and control people and processes.

In terms of the spectrum of actions, management is broader than leadership. The leader deals mainly with the behavioral aspects. The manager deals with both behavioral and non-behavioral. I believe that a person working in a large company should be a leader and a manager at the same time. After all, if a person has such skills, then the company's growth will increase significantly.

Global management is a relatively new phenomenon resulting from globalization's rapidly developing process in the objective strengthening of international economic, political, scientific, technical, and spiritual and cultural ties. Global governance emerged due to the transformation of international relations and the functional necessity of managing the spontaneous globalization processes.

Global management is a system of institutions, principles, standards, political, legal, and moral norms. With the help of which relations and processes of the global, transnational level are regulated. The first who gave global governance an academic sound was J. Rosenau, an American specialist in international relations, a political science professor at George Washington University. He immediately separated the concept of global governance from the UN system. He presented global governance as something more than formal institutions and organizations through which international affairs governance is carried out through the UN system and its bodies.

Thanks to this system, international organizations increase their global governance participation with limited political authority. The development of such a system should be at a high level, and each country should contribute.

Even a five-minute network downtime can lead to significant losses. Therefore, to prevent unforeseen situations, it is necessary to apply an integrated and structured approach to network management, including, among other things, the implementation of proactive actions.

Managing a computer network is an integral and, in many cases, the primary responsibility of a network engineer or administrator. At first glance, what is challenging about this work? From an ordinary employee's perspective, it looks like this: after receiving a message from network users about certain malfunctions, the network engineer eliminates them. Such work can be characterized as reactive support.

Unfortunately, a reactive approach is often insufficient for servicing an extensive network. At some point, the number of error messages starts to increase like an avalanche, which can cause the failure of critical network services.

Since the computer network is a business-critical tool for any modern enterprise, even a five-minute network downtime can lead to significant losses. Therefore, the network engineer must exclude the possibility of such situations occurring.

Organizational behavior manifests itself in a social, technological, and ecological environment, its activities, relationships with other organizations, and individuals. The science of organizational behavior provides a set of tools used at various levels of analysis. For example, it allows managers to analyze individuals 'behavior in an organization and understand interpersonal relations problems in two individuals' interactions.

Also, knowledge of organizational behavior is instrumental in examining the dynamics of relationships within small groups. In situations where it is necessary to coordinate two or more groups' efforts, managers are interested in emerging intergroup relationships.

Finally, organizations can be viewed and managed as holistic systems, which are formed by intra-organizational relationships.

Organizational behavior as science grew out of behaviorism - a direction in psychology that studies the experimental behavioral responses of a person's mental organization to external stimuli. I believe that every manager should study this direction for his development.

Company performance management is a list of processes that help develop and implement a business strategy, analyze processes, track results, make informed decisions, and draw the right conclusions. These processes' main task is to control employees' work so that individual contribution helps in achieving the company's overall goals.

Individual efforts must be consistent with the organization's overall objectives: you need to link individual activity with a common business goal, establish performance metrics, and help employees understand how well they perform. For this, tools and incentives are used, such as rewards, bonus and rating systems, personal growth plans, and key indicators discussion.

Analytical tools such as time tracking, productivity analysis, and key metrics are also used to achieve this goal. I believe that the company's efficiency should be in every company because teamwork will not work without this.

Among the elements of the market economy, real estate occupies a special place, which acts as a means of production and an item or object of consumption. Real estate acts as the basis of personal existence for citizens. It serves as the basis for economic activity and the development of enterprises and organizations of all ownership forms.

Any enterprise bears the risks associated with its production, commercial, and other activities. Any entrepreneur is responsible for the consequences of governance decisions. The risk factor forces the entrepreneur to save financial and material resources, to pay special attention to the calculations of the effectiveness of new projects and commercial transactions.

Risk can be managed. Various measures can predict a risk event's occurrence to a certain extent and take steps to reduce the degree of risk. The classification of risk largely determines the effectiveness of the organization of risk governance.

Ultimately, all types of risks in one way or another have a financial dimension, either increasing the costs of a project or transaction, or reducing income, or leading to exceeding the planned investment timeframe, or, in the extreme case, to the loss of not only income but also the capital.

When starting a new business or project, it is necessary to prepare for force majeure situations. Competent risk management methods will help minimize losses and not miss out on profits even in a critical situation. Therefore, competent risk governance in the financial sector is worth its weight in gold.

To manage risks, they are first identified and measured. For each organization, the set of inherent threats differs depending on the type of activity, the environment. It is necessary to identify them, analyze them, and select suitable methods of dealing with them.

A competently built risk management system will allow you to extract benefits for the enterprise from any threat and adequately cope with crises. The risk manager must select suitable hazard governance techniques and make quick, non-standard, but strategically sound decisions.

Strategic management is a company's series of actions to achieve long-term goals that allow a business to survive in competition and thrive in any external environment. The more unstable the conditions in this environment, the more the company needs a clear strategy.

The strategic management system includes developing the company's mission and goals and actions to achieve them. To develop an effective corporate strategy - the company's governance needs to answer three key questions: What is its current situation, and what opportunities and resources does it have? Where are you planning to move to in the future? How can we achieve these goals?

As you can see, strategic management is a powerful governance system and a priority task for the company's governance team. Learning its foundations allows the manager to develop the so-called "helicopter view" thinking. A manager who possesses strategic governance tools can actively shape its future, so he will always value it.

What Management Means: Simple And Understandable

Management is the process of managing an organization or part of it, and the people involved in this process - managers. Management is a social science that includes psychological and economic aspects, so a talented manager knows how to outwit a competitor in harsh market conditions.

The object of management's work is people, the team in a company, an authority, or a non-profit organization.

Management is an activity carried out by heads of companies, enterprises, or people among whom leadership positions are distributed.

The task of governance is to organize the well-coordinated work of the team within the company or enterprise. The internal and external elements function as efficiently as possible, minimizing time and financial costs for certain actions and processes.

The management model is a set of principles and governance strategies developed, taking into account national, historical, geographical, socio-cultural, and other factors. There are three main or traditional management models:

• The American model of management. Americans' national traits greatly influenced its development and formation as a disposition for success and freedom of expression, confidence in their exclusivity, exclusivity struggle for leadership, and the obsessive assertion of their superiority.
• The Japanese model of management. Typical national traits of the Japanese: restraint, modesty, refusal to stick out their own "I," diligence, diplomacy, frugality, accuracy. The formation of the Japanese governance model was influenced by their specific culture and features of economic development.
• The European model of management. Their methods and models of governance appeared and developed in Western Europe in the post-war period. The development of European management is a merit of several countries at once: Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Norway. This governance model is based on the principles of social harmony.

There are five main components of management:

• marketing is a social process aimed at meeting the needs and requirements of individuals and groups by creating and offering valuable goods and services and exchanging them with other people;
• business planning - a document for the development of an enterprise, defining its further path of work;
• accounting - modern management accounting provides managers with the information necessary for making governance decisions;
• finance - a well-defined financial function is necessary for successful work in conditions of tough business competition and will allow the enterprise to achieve tangible material results;
• organization - issues of managing various flows (human, material, energy, financial).

Management processes are divided into four types:

• planning and approach to solving situations;
• organization of team activities;
• leading and managing people for a common goal;
• controlling and evaluating team performance.

This is where our journey into the world of management ends. We have provided you with many examples and tips. Use the information in your essay, and you will get an A +.

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How to Write a Great Business Report Conclusion: Everything You Need to Know

Table of contents

To see what Databox can do for you, including how it helps you track and visualize your performance data in real-time, check out our home page. Click here .

When creating a comprehensive business report for your company, most of your time and energy will go into writing the main section of your report.

Once you come to the conclusion, you will probably be exhausted and you may feel the urge to just ‘wrap it up’ as soon as possible.

This can be a costly mistake.

Your conclusion carries the same importance as all the other sections of the report since it leaves the final impression on the reader.

How you conclude your business report has a direct impact on the way in which the readers will respond to the important information you gathered.

The business report may be spectacular, but without a convincing conclusion, all your efforts may deteriorate.

In this article, we are going to teach you how to write a compelling conclusion that will leave a huge impression on all your readers.

What Is Conclusion in Business Report Writing?

How do you write a conclusion for a report, types of business report conclusions, improve business reporting with databox.

No matter which type of business report you have written, you will need a good conclusion to sum up all the critical information.

A business report conclusion is the last section of the document used for summarizing the most important information, providing a final word to the readers.

Through the conclusion, you are able to convey the main message of your business document. You use it to outline the report as a whole, remind the readers of the main pain points, and present the key findings and decisions.

Depending on whether you have written a shorter or longer business report, the conclusion length may vary, but it should always be included. It is a sign of good organization and it can make the readers understand the pain points much easier.

To put it simply, the conclusion is supposed to create the impression among the readers that the purpose of the report has been achieved.

Business report conclusions have a lot of similarities to executive summaries, which is why a lot of people tend to confuse these two.

However, there are some important things that differentiate them. These include:

• Executive summaries are mainly focused on displaying what the report will be about, while conclusions are an overview of what was discussed in the report.
• Executive summaries provide readers with a broad overview of the business report, while the conclusion summarizes the key pain points and most important data.
• Executive summaries should convince the readers to continue reading the report, while the conclusion should persuade them to take certain action.
• Conclusions tend to include CTAs (Call to Action), which isn’t the case with executive summaries.

Related : Executive Reporting: Management Reporting Best Practices & Report Examples

Now that you understand what a conclusion is and why it’s so important to include it in your report, let’s show you how you can write the perfect one and impress your readers.

Follow these steps to create a great business report conclusion.

Choose the Position

Include the right information, summarize the contents, facts and statistics, maintain a positive tone, develop a cta.

There are two places where conclusions are most commonly placed – at the end of the executive summary and at the end of the entire report.

For business plan reports, the common practice is to place the conclusion at the end of the executive summary.

This way, you make the first step through the executive summary template and introduce the plan’s main pain points and funding needs. Then, you create a conclusion to summarize these numbers to your potential investors, which directly impacts their decision to go over the executive summary once more, this time reading it more thoroughly.

For other types of business reports, the conclusion will generally be placed at the end of the whole report. Established companies use these business reports to track performances and data from important departments, which is why the conclusion should primarily focus on briefly reviewing the key metrics you included and emphasizing the company’s main strengths.

The information you put into the conclusion also depends on whether you are a new startup looking to attract investments or an established company that wants to track performances and asses objectives.

To raise money, startups should include this type of information:

• Financial needs
• The benefits of their product and how it can affect the market
• Target audience/ideal customer persona
• How the product can attract new customers
• Marketing and sales strategy
• Competitive landscape and analysis
• The expertise of the main members of the company
• Financial forecasts (next 3-5 years)
• Launching plan

Existing companies should include information such as:

• Mission statement
• Performance history
• Data that showcases business growth
• Financial summary
• Overall goals and objectives

While these types of details are important, they aren’t universal for all reports. Your primary goal should be to include the most important data from your specific document and keep the conclusion concise and understandable.

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• Sales (Gross) Volume: How much revenue did your sales team bring in this month, this quarter, or this year?
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The best way to convey your main message is by explaining it in detail throughout the business report and then summarizing it to recap the main points.

When creating the business report, take notes of the most important information that you should later highlight in the conclusion.

Make sure to avoid any extra details since they are already provided within the report. Only include the key points that explain why the business report itself is useful to the company.

Also, don’t use any additional information that you didn’t include in the report. This can only confuse your readers and send mixed messages.

You should prepare some facts, statistics, and data to support the statements in your conclusion. No matter if the reader is a potential investor or the key stakeholders in your company, you will want to include some evidence to back up your claims.

This makes the conclusion much more convincing and the audience will see that your forecasts aren’t based only on vague assumptions.

The tone in your conclusion should match the rest of the document and the best way to leave an impression on the audience is by using a professional and positive tone throughout the whole report.

After going through the conclusion, the readers should feel interested and enthusiastic to support the growth of your organization.

Make sure you exude confidence by using strong and active language.

Including a call to action at the end of your conclusion helps you persuade the readers to support the goals you set up.

This can be anything from “Join us at X enterprises” or “Invest in X and become a part of the success”.

A good CTA includes strong action words through which you emphasize the benefits of investors joining your firm or key stakeholders supporting your objectives.

After you are finished writing the conclusion, go over it once again to make sure there aren’t any spelling, grammar, or punctuation mistakes you overlooked. The conclusion should be clear, precise, and easy to go understand.

You can even ask a colleague or a friend to read it since it’s always helpful to have an extra set of eyes. Ask their opinion on how the conclusion makes them feel and whether it was easy to go through.

As we said, depending on which type of business report you have written and what is included in it, there are a few different types of conclusions you should differentiate.

Let’s walk you through them.

Conclusion with a Prediction

Conclusion with a major problem, conclusion with a quote, conclusion with a summary.

If your report focuses on a decision or strategy that already took place, you can write a conclusion that predicts the outcomes of that specific strategy.

You can include financial forecasts, sales expectations, and overall growth predictions. Make sure to also back up your predictions with sufficient evidence.

Writing this type of conclusion can be a bit tricky. You don’t want to come off strong and repeat the same issue over and over again. However, you do want the readers to take the issue seriously and realize why it is important that everyone focuses on solving it as soon as possible.

Be direct, but also lenient. Describe why that issue is important and provide a few ways on how you can solve it. Keep it brief and memorable.

Ending your conclusion with a powerful quotation can leave a great impression on the readers. However, you should be very careful when choosing the right quote.

You can’t just throw in some saying from Shakespeare and wrap it up. It is best to quote someone influential in the industry in such a way that it reinforces your message.

When writing your short but meaningful summary, don’t go into detail about your main points again. Keep it as brief as possible and only remind the readers of the most important information.

Also, you should remember that a conclusion doesn’t have to include only one of these things. Mixing up a summary and a prediction can be a powerful combination, so always try to figure out a few different ways to convey your message and then choose the right one.

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Assignment on Business Management: Quick Guide

What is Business Management Assignment

College curriculums are loaded with unfamiliar subjects, and students often feel lost. The first assignments are usually the hardest to get done, and a little help would be nice. If you are a beginner facing this challenge and are asking all around 'what is business management' or how it differs from business administration, you have come to the right place. This quick guide will explain the basics of the management of business and will provide topics of business management essays.

To put it simply, business management is a process of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the organizational resources to achieve the company's objectives. While business administration concentrates on the organization's day-to-day operations, business management focuses on the overall process.

Business management is vital for a successful business. A business manager's job is to make strategic decisions, allocate resources, hire the best employees, and ensure the company meets its business objectives.

A business management assignment helps students demonstrate their ability to apply theoretical knowledge to real scenarios and prepare them for future challenges. While the structure of the assignment is not foreign to experienced students, it covers a wide range of topics. It could involve operations management, financial and human resources management, organizational behavior, etc.

In the following chapters, you will find useful tips, a formal structure, and a general outline of a business management essay. Down below, there is a list of essay topics you could write a magnificent essay about. To clarify things, here is a business assignment sample essay. Our college essay writing services will provide a business essay crafted to meet the highest standards of your university.

How to Write a Business Assignment: Helpful Tips

Even though every essay structure and general outline resembles one another for each type, there are still many intricate details that you should consider when writing a business management assignment.

Let's move on to discuss constructing an impressive business paper without wasting time making mistakes. The following guide will save you the trouble of extensive research on how to polish an academic paper and help you reach the academic success you deserve.

If you don't have much free time on your hands, our exceptional custom essay writing service is also a great option. Let us know what is due, and we will deliver unforgettable reports on business management.

Choose Relevant Business Management Topics

Start by implementing a general to a specific approach. Think about the areas of your expertise and how it links with the business assignment. A topic you feel comfortable writing will help you construct a high-quality and meaningful research paper.

Writing about the topics of business you feel passionate about will make the process more engaging and enjoyable. Consider your audience, and make the topic meet their needs. This will help you write an informative and engaging paper. Be relevant. Stay up to date with trending topics of business management. Choose a topic about an important issue and provide new perspectives or even a solution. Filling in the existing gaps will help your essay stand out.

Narrowing down the scope is always a good idea. The specific topic will make your work more manageable and keep you focused. A broad topic is always difficult to cover, but narrowing it down too much can limit your research options. Thus, balance is the key!

Maintain Your Management Assignment Structure

Maintaining the structure of the assignment is crucial. Make sure to keep your ideas coherent and your essay easy to follow. Whether you are writing about international business management or organizational structure, the most important thing is simply communicating your ideas to the readers.

Start by following the course guideline. Make sure you understand every component. Usually, professors give out this kind of map to determine the structure, format, and length of the management of business assignments.

Before you start writing, create an outline. Organize your thoughts and ideas and stay on track. Use headings and subheadings to break up your assignment into sections. Start with a strong introduction and an easy-to-digest thesis statement. Follow it with comprehensive body paragraphs. Here you can provide your arguments, show other people's work, and communicate with the audience about the problems you've discovered. Use transitional sentences to connect your ideas and eventually to the bigger picture. Finally, write a powerful conclusion that ties everything up. Showcase your ability to link various arguments to one another.

Following our guidelines will bring clarity and coherence to your writing. Well-structured and easy-to-follow essays always get positive feedback from their readers.

Analyze Topics of Business, Don't Repeat

Analyzing business paper topics can get tricky, especially for beginners who have to develop their writing style. Chances are you will repeat the same argument several times to make it look more convincing. But answering the question 'what is business management' several times with different words will only make your paper look unprofessional.

It's tricky, but there are ways to avoid repeating the arguments. Do the prior research. Acquiring knowledge will expand your horizon, and you won't feel the need to repeat the same sentence couple of times. Create the general outline. Knowing the order of your essay elements will help you avoid restating the same information twice.

Besides the general outline, it's a good idea to list all the key points and prioritize them. This way, you will cover every important detail in your essay. Last but not least, consider alternative perspectives. If you incorporate opposing viewpoints, you will enrich the paper and show off your writing skill level.

Provide Rationale for Your Business Assignment

It is trivial, but for safety reasons, let's point out: an argument without supporting evidence is not valid. The same goes for the topics of business management essay. You must provide a rationale for every stage of the essay.

Being able to provide supporting evidence demonstrates strong research abilities. Writing a well-reasoned essay requires thorough research. Providing rationale and citing sources in the assignment shows that the writer has done their best. Besides looking professional, it will be easier to convince the reader about the credibility of your argument if they can see the reasoning behind it. If you can explain why you think what you think, it shows that you have considered opposing viewpoints. Critical thinking is one of the most important aspects of the writing process.

Writing essays about the management of business takes extensive research. If the deadline is too close and there is not enough time to master the art of writing, you can go to the website and check out our custom research papers writing service . Our team of professional writers is always here to help you.

Use Formal Language in Your Business Assignment

In business, academia, or any other professional setting, we use formal language. It strictly adheres to the rules of grammar, tone, and vocabulary.

Formal language helps to establish a professional tone in A management assignment which supports creating a positive impression on the reader. Using formal language also increases the clarity of the arguments. Formal language is more precise, which can help avoid ambiguity and confusion.

No matter which business management topic assignment you write, having a respectful relationship with your audience is crucial. Formal language and correctly chosen vocabulary can take you a long way. It shows respect to the reader and the topic also.

Thus, you must avoid using slang, vocabulary unsuitable for the audience, contractions, and other unprofessional language or tone forms. And if you are reading all these, you are thinking, 'why can't somebody else write an essay for me ,' visit our website, and your wish will become a reality in no time. Get top-notch essays tailored to your specific requirements.

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Business Management Topics

Mastering the art of constructing an impressive essay is only one-half of the job. First of all, you need an engaging topic. Our team has prepared a comprehensive list of business management topics to write about. From operations to business process management, explore a list of topics covering a wide range of fields, choose the one that excites you the most, and start implementing the freshly acquired knowledge.

International Business Management Topics

Our experienced writers have gathered the 20 most engaging topics about international business management. Explore the list and find the most attractive one:

• Exploring management concepts in international business
• Cross-cultural challenges in achieving Organizational goals
• The challenges of the first line managers in international organizations
• Key strategies for managing international business operations in an efficient and effective manner
• Maximizing international business success through effective human resource management strategies
• Navigating global business challenges through effective management of cultural intelligence
• Effective leadership strategies for international business management
• Cross-cultural communication as an essential part of international business management
• The link between happy employees and successful international business management
• Maximizing global business performance through effective staff managers
• Leveraging various resources for competitive advantage
• Understanding the universal phenomenon of cross-cultural communication challenges
• Foreign direct investment and risks for international businesses
• Sustainability in international business
• Challenges of corporate governance in international businesses
• The role of ethical leadership as an essential part of international business management
• Developing a high degree of cross-cultural competence
• Managing global value chains: integrating all the activities in international business management
• The importance of cultural awareness in international business management
• The role of self-confidence in international business management

Operations Management Assignment Topics

Below you will find the most relevant and moderns operations management assignment topics:

• Enhancing Organizational Performance through Effective Operations Management and Managerial Skills
• The role of organizational chart in effective operations management
• The impact of executive functions on operations management
• The role of operations management in achieving success at a shareholder meeting
• The importance of understanding human behavior in operations management
• Leveraging consumer insights based on market research
• Optimizing group dynamics in operations management
• Leadership and strategies of general managers in operations management
• Planning effectively: best practices for operations management
• Tools, techniques, and approaches for a good knowledge base in operations management
• How to manage an organization effectively: operations management strategies
• The role of operations management in organizational development
• Achieving efficiency and productivity through simple form and process
• The role of independent decision-making in operations management
• Management theories: How to plan effectively toward organizational success
• Optimizing human activities for the entire organization's success
• Streamlining operations management for a particular job: important strategies for effectiveness
• From plans decided to action implemented: the importance of effective operations management
• Provide guidance for upper management: strategies for leadership and direction
• Balancing technology and human beings for global success

Business Process Management Topics

Explore 20 more topics about business process management:

• Strategies for implementing effective business process management principles across the entire organization
• The role of human effort and organizational structure in achieving operational excellence
• How successful managers utilize basic principles for achieving operational excellence
• Interplay between management principles and executive function in driving business process
• Achieving synergy between top management and other employees for improved operational efficiency
• The crucial role of company leadership in aligning objectives and strengthening decision making
• A critical analysis of management theories: exploring the role of functional managers in achieving goals
• Optimizing the management process to achieve organizational goals
• Effective business process management consists of strategic allocation for company growth
• How to manage challenges created by leadership and top management
• Optimizing business process management through collaborative efforts between top managers and the best employees
• Crucial managerial skills: Optimizing processes through nurturing talent and celebrating human efforts
• The role of the functional manager in talent acquisition and optimizing human resource management
• Why business process management involves determining the journey, not just the destination
• Aligning employee decision-making with business objectives
• How process-centered leadership empowers organizations to manage change
• Process improvement through agile methodologies
• The evolution of process management thought
• The role of information technology in business process management
• The impact of business process management on customer satisfaction and retention

Additional Interesting Topics of Business

If you can choose from a wide range of topics, this list is for you. Impress your professor with an intriguing topic assignment:

• Measuring the ROI: Key metrics and techniques for demonstrating value to stakeholders
• Effective change management: how to implement and adapt
• Digital transformation in business management
• Strategies for handling and overcoming business crises
• Strategies for reducing environmental impact and promoting social responsibility
• Best practices and emerging trends for effective online branding
• Strategies for driving innovation and creating a culture of creativity
• Managing human resources in small business
• Strategies for managing cash flow, budgets, and investments
• The importance of market research and analysis for effective business management
• Using game mechanics to improve employee performance and engagement
• Strategies for effective time management and priorities in a busy workplace
• Strategies and tactics for successful business deals
• Emerging trends in remote work, automation, and AI
• Benefits and best practices for reducing stress and improving productivity
• Creating a workplace culture that fosters happy employees
• How understanding human behavior can inform business decision making
• Is servant leadership a new paradigm for effective business management?
• Techniques for handling uncertainty and complexity in an organization
• The role of entrepreneurial mindset and creativity in business success

Business Assignment Sample Essay

In the next section of the article, you will find a sample business management essay to help you understand how to structure and write a successful business assignment. Read through it carefully and take notes on the techniques used.

Further Academic Help

Are you struggling to come up with an assignment on management topic? Let us help you! Our online assignment writing service provides a comprehensive list of essay titles across various subjects to choose from, whether it's topics of business management or history assignment.

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Annie Lambert

specializes in creating authoritative content on marketing, business, and finance, with a versatile ability to handle any essay type and dissertations. With a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a passion for social issues, her writing not only educates but also inspires action. On EssayPro blog, Annie delivers detailed guides and thought-provoking discussions on pressing economic and social topics. When not writing, she’s a guest speaker at various business seminars.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

Related Articles

Four Functions of Management

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Controlling.

Every organization, in spite of its enormity, has fully developed and implemented management concepts that enable smooth running of activities aimed at realising the projected vision, goals and objectives.

The functions of management break down into four areas that take care of strategic, tactical and operational pronouncements of an organization. Thus, management in an organization is a creative tool of solving problems through planning, organizing, leading and controlling. In essence, the functions of management solve a particular problem facing an organization.

Consequently, the results will provide an avenue of accomplishing the goals, objectives and mission of the organization. The functions of management in an organization is to provide a framework of focussing both short and long term views hence, foster it towards success.

Additionally, management as a decision-making process entails a premeditated vision, fixed goals, a crafted plan, all which if executed and implemented properly, will see an organization achieve its mission.

From in-house operations to industry, the functions of management serve to address issues affecting a certain organization for example, effective utilization of resources, appraisal of core competencies, evaluation of the present and prospect participants, and strategic control among others (Himanshu, 2009, p.1).

Nevertheless, the four function of management cannot bring success into an organization minus sound leadership from the mangers. In most cases, the manager’s style of leadership affects the operation of an organization, positively or negatively. Thus, good managers should exhibit certain traits and skills, which will enable an organization, achieve its mission, goals and objectives.

For example, an organization with highly skilled workers makes managers to be allowing, while an organization with less skilled workforce mandates the manager to take a closer look on production.

Thus, god managers are the ones who flex their style, train and inspire employees to work towards the realization of vision, goals and objectives. The paper will examine the four functions of management namely: planning, organizing, directing and controlling within an organization (Haridimos, 2004, pp. 289-301).

This is the first contrivance of the four function of an organization’s management process. Primarily, the success of an organization depends on the planning procedure. The planning procedure is the one that determines whether a manager is successful or not. Planning provides logical understanding on how to make decisions, which will drive an organization towards the path of attaining its objectives.

Good managers use a planning process to plan for expectations, and as a blueprint to predict quandaries, which might hinder an organization form achieving its objectives.

In addition, the planning process provides measures for prevaricating intricate issues and a framework of beating competition. Thus, planning is an essential tool of management in that it facilitates control, which is a valuable strategy in decision-making hence averting business ravage.

A good planned business example is GlaxoSmithKline. This is an international pharmaceutical company with a vision of providing superior healthcare services. Both the mangers and employees of this company commit themselves to excellence in line with its mission and vision statement.

The planning process of GlaxoSmithKline entails how to attain quality results, respecting others, and teamwork in order to achieve goals. Since the commencement of this plan, GlaxoSmithKline has grown into an international pharmaceutical company with branches all over the world and a healthcare leader (Bateman &Snell, 2007, p. 16).

Organizing helps managers to attain all objectives as delineated in the planning procedure. Primarily, organisation involves appointing of individuals to perform certain assignments, which are paramount in developing a uniform rationale of accomplishing goals.

Thus, this calls upon the manger to exercise personal traits and skills in order to choose competent subordinates who are capable of organising the valuable resources of the organisation to produce results.

A good organisation is the one characterised by management staffing, several trainings among employees, inflow of resources and a prolific workforce. Managers also ought to discuss the developed plans with the subordinates, and break the assignments into smaller segments manageable by one person. In so going, the organisation will have well-structured and manageable units working towards achieving objectives.

For example, the organisation of Microsoft presents one of the best business examples. Characterised by flexibility, changeability and new products, Microsoft has achieved its goals and objectives through its planning process and organisation. Moreover, the managers of Microsoft offers direction for staff that is paramount to personal success hence, organizational success.

Based on experience and personal traits, the managers use communication as a tool of solving any arising issues. In fact, Microsoft would not be a world leader in IT had it not been its exceptional organisation (Bretti, 2009, pp. 15-18).

The third function of management is direction or leading. This aspect of management helps managers to supervise the actions of the workforce and set the path of achieving goals and objectives of the company. Leading also promotes incentive, good communication, leadership and unit dynamics necessary in attaining goals and objectives.

Many people understand the role of leadership to an organisation as it is the one, which inspires actions in the direction of goals and objectives. Thus, good mangers are those who motivate employees to an eminent aspiration and assign them responsibilities as stated in the planning process. In addition, managers must also maintain a close contact with the employees in order to realise the vision, goals and objectives of the company.

For instance, managers at GlaxoSmithKline motivate employees to work towards achieving the goals and objectives of the corporation and surpass their market competitors. The managers have a daily contact with the staff either individually or as a team.

Thus, the management team plays an important role in the management process by unearthing innovative mechanisms, which solve problems that might hinder the process of achieving goals (Gomez, Luis, Balkin, & Robert, 2008, pp. 18-21).

The final stage of a management process is controlling, which involves the implementation of the developed plan. This process involves the establishment of recital standards pedestal to the company’s vision, goals and objectives. In addition, it engrosses evaluating and reporting of all actions within the company and gauging whether they lime with the goals and objectives.

A good control process within a management system is the one that eases the delegation of duties and holds each skilled worker responsible. For example, in GlaxoSmithKline, managers hold departmental meetings on a daily basis. Thus, they are in apposition to review the daily schedule, evaluate any emanating problem, and solve it before it becomes too late.

In GlaxoSmithKline, control sets the standards for performance of the workforce thus, mandating workers to work towards goals and objectives.

It also ensures that workers take and complete assignments within a given duration while following the laid guidelines. Otherwise, workers are liable for disciplinary measures should they fail to comply. In most cases, managers employ work performance evaluations as a form of control aimed at attaining the set goals (Blue, 2007, 135-136).

For any business to achieve its vision, goals and objectives, planning, organizing, leading and controlling are necessary. These four functions of management provide a framework of achieving the company’s objectives. Nevertheless, without guidance from the management team and individual contribution from employees, success is cannot be a reality.

Bateman, T. & Snell, S., 2007. Management: Leading and collaborating in a Competitive World. (7th ed.). New York: McGraw – Hill.

Blue, R., 2007. Functions of management. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 40(2), 135-136.

Bretti, A., 2009. Four Functions of management, Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics, 1(1), 15-18.

Gomez, M., Luis, R., Balkin, B. & Robert L., 2008. Management: People, Performance, Change . (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Haridimos, T., 2004. What is Management? An Outline of a Metatheory. British Journal of Management, 5(9), 289-301.

Himanshu, J. 2009. Functions of Management Web.

• GlaxoSmithKline (GSK): Company Analysis
• GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Financial Reporting
• GlaxoSmithKline: Moral Reasoning
• Should Voluntary Work Be Paid?
• The Three Steps in Business Re-Engineering Process
• Business Situation Analysis Models
• Smucker’s: Strategic Management
• Cause of Conflict in Organisation
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, June 24). Four Functions of Management. https://ivypanda.com/essays/four-functions-of-management/

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1.7 Conclusion

This chapter provides an overview of strategic management and strategy. Ideas about strategy span many centuries, and modern understanding of strategy borrows from ancient strategies as well as classic military strategies. You should now understand that there are numerous ways to conceptualize the idea of strategy, and that effective strategic management is needed to ensure the long-term success of firms. The study of strategic management provides tools to effectively manage organizations, but it also involves the art of knowing how and when to apply creative thinking. Knowledge of both the art and the science of strategic management is needed to help guide organizations as their strategies emerge and evolve over time. Such tools will also help you effectively chart a course for your career as well as to understand the effective strategic management of the organizations for which you will work.

• Think about the best and worst companies you know. What is extraordinary (or extraordinarily bad) about these firms? Are their strategies clear and focused or difficult to define?
• If you were to write a “key takeaway” section for this chapter, what would you include as the material you found most interesting?

Strategic Management Copyright © 2020 by Reed Kennedy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Essay Service Examples Business Leadership and Management

Business Management Essay

Table of contents

Executive summary, introduction, the role played by business management, basic roles of the business management process:, business management issues, local business management issues, issues in the sadc region, security issues, global issues, cyber attacks on u.s. companies, impact of recession on businesses, business management professional, the taxonomic approach, the neo-weberian approach, effective business management.

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• Flexible prices and money-back guarantee

• Decisional Roles: Carried out by the company’s directors, the decisional roles are required for decision-making purposes.
• Interpersonal: These roles are necessary to effectively coordinate and interact with the employees. Interpersonal roles are used to bridge the gap between the businesses’ senior managers and their employees; they are also used to create a sense of uniformity and a team environment.
• Administration: These roles are implemented to handle, analyze and share information that is important to the business.
• Conceptual: These skills are required to effectively evaluate complex situations.
• Interpersonal: A series of skills needed to boost motivation and communication among the senior managers and employees of a company. Interpersonal skills are a fundamental aspect of the business management process because they allow executives to mentor employees and delegate tasks (A GUIDE TO BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, n.d.).
• Increasing levels of corporate taxation would have negative impacts on business
• Increasing levels of individual taxation could reduce consumer demand for goods and services.
• Public sector procurement will decline with implications for businesses that have significant public sector customers (Lowth, Prowle, & Zhang, 2010).
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• Acheampong, D., & Tseane-Gumbi, D. (2016). Tourism in the SADC region and challenges facing the youth market: the Mozambican experiences. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 5(4). Retrieved July 16, 2019, from http://www.ajhtl.com/uploads/7/1/6/3/7163688/article 19 vol 5 4 .pdf
• Cunningham, N. (Ed.). (2014). Rethink Growth and Learning through Coaching and Organisational Development. Randburg, Randburg, Republic of South Africa: Knowles Publishing (Pty) Ltd. Retrieved July 16, 2019
• DeMers, J. (2016, January 11). The 10 Golden Rules of Effective Management. Retrieved July 16, 2019, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/254547
• Gordon, J. (2018). TOP 10 QUALITIES OF AN EXCELLENT MANAGER. Retrieved from https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/top-10-qualities-of-an-excellent-manager.php
• Harare, T. F. (2019, May 06). Botswana to host elephant summit. THE NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA. Retrieved July 16, 2019, from https://southerntimesafrica.com/site/news/botswana-to-host-elephant-summit
• How to Manage a Business Effectively (7 Key Elements). (n.d.). EDUCBA. Retrieved July 16, 2019, from https://www.educba.com/how-to-manage-a-business-effectively/
• Lagace, M. (2019, June 07). Are You a Digital Manager? Retrieved July 16, 2019, from https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/how-to-be-a-manager-in-the-digital-digital-age
• Landry, A. O. (2018, April 30). 5 issues facing business management. Business Report. Retrieved July 16, 2019, from https://www.businessreport.com/business/5-issues-business-management
• Lowth, G., Prowle, M., & Zhang, M. (2010, September). The impact of economic recession on business strategy planning in UK companies. 6(9). Retrieved July 21, 2019, from https://www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/Thought_leadership_docs/Research%20Funding/R268%20Economic%20recession%20final%20V2.pdf
• Manny, P. (2019, June 18). Oil Execs Explore Solutions to Africa's Security Threats. (M. V. Veazey, Interviewer) Nigeria: Rigzone Staff. Retrieved July 14, 2019
• Saks, M. (2012, May 06). Defining a Profession: The Role of Knowledge and Expertise. PROFESSIONS & PROFESSIONALISM, 2(1), 1-10. Retrieved July 16, 2019, from http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-30970
• Strydom, J. W. (2007). Basics of Business Communication (First ed.). Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa: Red Pepper Books. Retrieved July 16, 2019
• Tebele, M. (2019, July 5). Bots to enact laws to root out corruption, and woo investors. Gaborone, Botswana: Southern Times. Retrieved from https://southerntimesafrica.com/site/news/bots-to-enact-law-to-root-out-corruption-woo-investors
• The Role of Management. (n.d.). Rice University. Retrieved July 16, 2019, from opentextbc.ca/businessopenstax/chapter/the-role-of-management/

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IB Business and Management EE examples

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Management Notes

Conclusion for Management – Explanation in Detail | Management Notes

Conclusion for management.

Table of Contents

The management function is the backbone of any organization, guiding and coordinating resources in order to achieve its goals. In a dynamic and complex business environment, effective management is essential for organizations to remain competitive, adapt to change, and drive innovation.

An in-depth analysis of management is presented here, covering its core principles, functions, and theoretical frameworks.

Key Concepts and Functions of Management:

An organization’s success depends on several key concepts and functions within management. As part of planning, goals are set, strategies are defined, and actions are mapped out to reach them. It serves as a roadmap and guides resource allocation.

To optimize efficiency and effectiveness in an organization, it is important to organize its resources, tasks, and responsibilities. Organizational structures are designed, reporting relationships are established, and resources are allocated appropriately.

Effective leadership involves effective communication, motivation, and the development of strong relationships between managers and employees to inspire and influence others to work towards shared goals.

Employee engagement and a positive work environment are fostered by leaders who provide guidance, support, and direction to their teams.

In controlling, performance is monitored, compared, and corrected as necessary based on predetermined standards. Establishing performance metrics, gathering and analyzing data, and ensuring that organizational activities are aligned with objectives are all important components.

By implementing effective control mechanisms, managers can assess progress, identify areas of improvement, and ensure that the organization remains on track.

Management Theories:

Management theories help you understand and practice management by providing frameworks and perspectives. A variety of classical management theories emerged during the early 20th century, including scientific management (Taylorism) and administrative management (Fayolism).

The goal of scientific management was to improve efficiency through systematic analysis of work processes and the application of standard methods.

The concept of administrative management emphasizes the importance of managerial functions, coordination, and management principles.

Employee satisfaction and motivation were recognized as important by humanistic management theories, such as Hawthorne studies and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

A conducive work environment, supportive social relationships, and addressing employees’ psychological needs were all emphasized in these theories.

In response to the complexity and interdependence of organizations, modern management theories emerged later, such as the systems theory and contingency theory.

According to systems theory, organizations are interconnected systems, and understanding how their components interact and interact is crucial. In contingency theory, management practices are determined by the organization’s size, industry, and external environment.

Leadership Styles and Approaches:

Leadership styles are defined as the characteristic behaviors and approaches of leaders. In autocratic leadership, decisions are made independently, without input from subordinates.

When dealing with inexperienced employees or situations requiring quick decision-making, this style is effective. However, it may stifle creativity and limit employee autonomy.

Leadership that is democratic encourages employees to participate in decision-making processes. This style fosters collaboration, creativity, and ownership among employees. Laissez-faire management provides employees with a high degree of autonomy and freedom.

Despite its effectiveness when dealing with highly skilled and self-motivated individuals, it can lead to a lack of direction or coordination if not properly managed.

In today’s leadership world, empowerment and fostering positive organizational cultures are at the forefront. In transformational leadership, individuals are motivated and inspired to exceed their own self-interests for the benefit of the organization.

As part of transactional leadership, clear expectations are set, rewards are given based on performance, and accountability is maintained. Leadership as a servant emphasizes serving and supporting employees’ needs, promoting their growth and development.

Effective Management Strategies:

Organizations need effective management strategies to achieve their goals and stay competitive. The strategic planning process involves setting long-term goals, developing strategies, and allocating resources to achieve those goals.

To achieve this, it is necessary to identify opportunities and potential challenges within the organization as well as its internal and external environments.

A change management strategy focuses on successfully navigating organizational changes, such as mergers, acquisitions, and changes in market conditions. A smooth transition and minimal resistance can be achieved by planning, communicating, and engaging stakeholders throughout the change process.

Innovating within an organization fosters creativity, encourages experimentation, and drives continuous improvement. In addition to establishing processes for idea generation and evaluation, innovative ideas must also be implemented and scaled by creating a culture that supports and rewards innovation.

Management of talent involves attracting, developing, and retaining skilled workers. In addition to recruiting and selecting effectively, creating a supportive work environment that recognizes and rewards high performance, it also involves providing opportunities for growth and development.

The Evolving Landscape of Management:

As globalization, technological advancements, and societal shifts continue to influence management, it is constantly evolving. Due to globalization, markets have increased and competition has increased, requiring managers to adapt to diverse cultural contexts and develop a global mindset.

Organizations are forced to adapt to new tools and technologies due to technological advancements, such as digitization, automation, and artificial intelligence.

Corporate social responsibility and ethical management practices have become increasingly important due to changing demographics, increased social consciousness, and evolving consumer preferences.

Additionally, the rise of remote work and virtual teams has necessitated new approaches to communication, collaboration, and employee engagement.

Management Trends for the Future:

Several trends are expected to shape management’s future. Sustainable management focuses on integrating environmental, social, and governance aspects into business operations.

It is becoming increasingly apparent to organizations that addressing environmental challenges, promoting social well-being, and practicing responsible governance can build long-term value.

In response to changing market conditions, agile management emphasizes adaptability, flexibility, and rapid decision-making. The agile methodology was originally developed for software development, but is now being adopted in a variety of industries to improve organizational responsiveness and innovation.

A culture of inclusive leadership emphasizes diversity, equity, and inclusion in order to drive organizational performance. A culture of inclusive leadership fosters a sense of belonging throughout the organization, embracing diverse perspectives, ensuring equal opportunities, and fostering a sense of diversity.

In conclusion, effective management is essential for the success of an organization. Organizations can navigate the complexities of the modern business landscape by adopting appropriate strategies and leadership styles if they understand key management concepts, theories, and functions.

In order to thrive and make a positive impact on society, organizations will need to embrace sustainable practices, agile methodologies, and inclusive leadership as the field of management continues to evolve.

It is imperative that organizations constantly adapt and innovate in order to be successful in a world that is constantly changing.

• Coordination is the Essence of Management – POM | Management Notes
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Essay on Management: Top 9 Essays

Here is a compilation of essays on ‘Management’ for class 9, 10, 11 and 12. Find paragraph, long and short essays on ‘Management’ especially written for school and college students.

Essay on Management

Essay Contents:

• Essay on the Importance of Management

1. Essay on the Introduction to Management :

Management is a vital aspect of the economic life of man, which is an organised group activity. It is considered as the indispensable institution in the modern social organisation marked by scientific thought and technological innovations. One or the other form of management is essential wherever human efforts are to be undertaken collectively to satisfy wants through some productive activity, occupation or profession.

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It is management that regulates man’s productive activities through co-ordinated use of material resources. Without the leadership provided by management, “the resources of production remain resources and never become production”.

In the words of Drucker manager is the life-giving dynamic element in every business. Productive resources-men, money, materials-are entrusted to the organising skill, administrative ability and enterprising initiative of the management.

Modern business is the complex scene of forces of change constantly at work. The size, strategy, structure, motivation of modern enterprises underline the need of creative touch in successfully piloting their affairs. New products, new methods and techniques appear day-after-day to cater to the ever-changing trends of consumers’ tastes and needs. The ceaseless competitive drive to capture markets necessitates intellectual handling of refined requirements of consumers.

Management today is not just an exercise of blind authority or bossism but it implies scientific thinking, accurate planning and meticulous control to ensure quick and better results. Management has become a profession in view of the modern business becoming more sophisticated.

As ownership gets divorced from management, specialisation in business operations becomes more marked. Proprietors, shareholders and even their directors remain comparatively in the background and experts specialising in delicate and intricate matters of industrial techniques play increasingly positive and prominent role in running the business. Professional experts like engineer, scientist, market surveyor, trained executive, researcher, technician, occupy important place in running the affairs of an enterprise today.

Management now a days, therefore, consists of cadre of experts who performs a profitable job to build-up the competitive strength of the firm and they strive to “develop and expand the assets and profits” of the proprietors. According to Drucker, “Management, which is the organ of society specially charged with making resources productive, that is, with the responsibility for organised economic advance, therefore, reflects the basic spirit of the modern age.”

2. Essay on the Meaning and Definition of Management:

It is not an easy job to give the exact meaning of management.

Different writers have used the term “Management” in different senses, which will be clear from the following discussion:

Management as a Process :

In the words of George R. Terry, “Management is a distinct process consisting of planning, organising actuating and controlling performed to determine and accomplish objectives by the use of human beings and other resources.” The elements of management are: planning, organising, actuating (directing) and controlling.

These are also called the functions of management. It is through the performance of these functions that management is able to effectively utilise manpower and physical resources such as capital, machines, material, etc. to produce goods and services required by the society.

This has been shown in Fig. 1:

Henri Fayol has defined management as a process consisting of five functions: “To manage is to forecast and plan, to organise, to command, to coordinate and to control.”

However, modern authors do not view coordination as a separate function of management. They consider it as the essence of managing. Koontz and O’Donnell have classified the functions of management as follows: planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling. These functions are inter-dependent and interrelated. There is no fixed sequence of their performance. They are performed more or less simultaneously.

Management is regarded a process because it involves a series of functions as shown in:

It starts with planning and ends with controlling. But it does not mean that managerial functions are followed in a specific sequence. A manager performs all the managerial functions simultaneously. Moreover, Management is a never-ending process.

There are three features of management as a process:

(i) Management is a social process as it deals with human beings.

(ii) Management is an integrating process as it organises human resources for the efficient use of other resources like capital, materials, technology, machines, etc.

(iii) Management is a continuous process. It is always involved in identifying the organisation problems and solving them.

“Management is the technique of getting things done.”

“Management is the art of getting things done.”

Marry Parker Follet defined management as “an art of getting things done through others”. This is a traditional definition of management. It emphasises that management directs the workers for getting results from them and supervises their performance. The workers are treated merely as a factor of production like materials, machines and capital.

This definition is insufficient in the modern world because of the following reasons:

(i) The above definition is incomplete because workers are treated as a mere means to organisational goals.

(ii) The management tries to manipulate the behaviour of the workers.

(iii) The needs and aspirations of the workers are not considered.

People are not mere cogs in the wheel and so they should not be treated as commodity or mere means to certain ends. Needs and aspirations of the people working in an organisation should not be overlooked. They must be satisfied so as to obtain sustained and consistent effort towards organisational objectives.

Management may be defined as a technique of getting things done through others by satisfying their needs and providing them opportunity for growth and development. According to Harold Koontz, “Management is the art of getting things done through and with people in formally organised groups. It is the art of creating environment in which people can perform as individuals and yet cooperate towards attainment of group goals.”

In order to accomplish results, management must create opportunities, and encourage growth and development of employees and provide guidance and assistance, wherever necessary. All this demands skillful application of the basic principles of the science of management. Managers must have conceptual, technical and social skills in translating the abstract organisational philosophy into concrete action.

Management is the dynamic life-giving element in every organisation. It is the activating element that gets things done through people. It provides the force necessary to transform the resources of a business organisation into desired goods and services. The primary job of management is to convert the disorganised resources of men, machines and materials into a productive organisation.

Management as a Group :

In the words of sociologists, management is a group or a class who together carry out various managerial activities.” Thus, management refers to the group of people in an enterprise who are carrying out management functions.

In other words, all individuals occupying managerial positions are collectively known as management. A manager is a person who performs the managerial functions of planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling.

Since a manager performs the managerial functions, he is a member of the management of the organisation. Used in this sense, management includes all those who manage the affairs of an organisation. But in practice, the term ‘management’ is used to indicate the top management consisting of chairman, managing director or chief executive and Board of Directors.

Management as a Discipline :

As a discipline, management refers to the body of knowledge and a separate field of study. Management is an organised body of knowledge which can be learnt through instructions and teaching. It entails the principles, practices, techniques and skills of management which help in achieving organisational objectives. This discipline is taught widely in schools and colleges in most of the countries of the world.

Management has acquired the status of a discipline because of the following two reasons:

(i) A lot of research is being carried out by the scholars in the field of management. The results of research will be useful for future managers.

(ii) It is a specialised body of knowledge, which is studied and practised in management institutions.

Management as an Activity :

Management is an activity concerned with getting things done through people and directing the efforts of individuals towards a common objective. In the words of Harold Koontz, “Management is the art of getting things done through and with people in formally organised groups.”

Management gets results from the people by satisfying their needs, and expectations, and providing them opportunity for their personal growth. Management is a distinct activity in any organisation which is necessary for the achievement of its objectives.

According to another functional classification management activities are classified as:

Classification of Management Activities

1. Informational Activities:

Management has to act as a communicative link between subordinates and superiors. On one hand management receives, requests explanations, statements and suggestions from their subordinates and on the other hand it also receives orders and instructions from superiors. In their informational role as managers the requisite information is passed on to both subordinates and superiors.

2. Decisional Activities:

Management being both administrative and executory has to take routine and strategic decisions regarding various operational activities so that the organisation work is executed smoothly. In their decisional role as managers, management can also be termed as innovators, resource allocators, negotiators and crisis managers.

3. Inter personal Activities:

Management being a team work and group activity requires cooperation, coordination and harmonious relationship between individuals and departments. In order to integrate and charrelise best efforts of individuals to attain predetermined objectives of the enterprise, managers in their interpersonal role act as a figure head of the enterprise, as a leader and as a liason.

Other Definitions of Management:

Various writers have given various definitions of the management.

The following are some of the important definition:

According to E.F.L. Brech, “Management is the process of planning and regulating the activities of an enterprise.”

According to Lawrence A. Appley, “Management is the development of people and not the direction of things management is personnel administration.”

According to Koontz and O’Donnell, “It is the task of manager to establish and maintain an internal environment in which people working together in groups can perform effectively and efficiently towards the attainment of group goals.”

According to Kimball and Kimball, “Management embraces all duties and functions that pertain to the initiation of an enterprise, its financing, the establishment of all major policies, the provision of all necessary equipment, the outlining of the general form of organisation under which the enterprise is to operate and the selection of the principal officers. The group of officials in primary control of an enterprise is referred to as “the management.”

According to William Spriegel, “Management is that function of an enterprise, which concerns itself with the direction and control of the various activities to attain the business objectives.”

According to Keith and Gubellini, “Management is the force that integrates men and physical plant into an effective operating unit.”

According to S. George, “Management consists of getting things done through others. Manager is one who accomplishes the objectives by directing the efforts of others.”

According to Newman, Summer, Warren, “The job of management is to make cooperative endeavour to function properly. A manager is one who gets things done by working with people and other resources in order to reach an objective.”

3. Essay on the Characteristics of Management:

The main characteristics of management are as follows:

(i) It is Goal-Oriented:

The important goal of all management activities to achieve the objectives of a business concern. The objectives of the business may be economic, social and humane.

(ii) It is a Process:

When it is used in the sense of a process, it refers to what management does. In other words, it refers to the process of managing, planning, organising, staffing, guiding, directing supervising and controlling.

(iii) It is a Group Activity:

For the success of a business, it is necessary that all human and physical resources are co-ordinated to achieve the maximum levels of productivity. We all know that the combined productivity of various resources will always be higher than the total productivity of each resources.

(iv) Management is Universal:

It is required in all types of organisations, e.g., family, club, university, government, army, business. The basic principles of management are applicable in business as well as in other organisations. However, these principles are flexible and they can be modified to suit different situations.

(v) It is an Art and Science:

It consists of both the elements of science and art. The science of management gives a body of principles or laws for guidance in the solution of specific management problems and objective evaluation of results. The management as an art consists of this use of skill and effort for producing desirable results or situations in specific cases.

(vi) It is a Factor of Production:

Not only the land, labour and capital are of effective use for the production of goods and services but the managerial skills are also used effectively for this purpose.

(vii) Management is Dynamic:

Management denotes is an ever-changing environment, It involves adoption of an organisation to changes in its environment, and modifying the environment for the benefit of the organisation. Therefore, management is a constantly growing process.

(viii) Management is a Profession:

Management is considered to be a profession as it possesses all the attributes of profession as:

(i) A systematic corpus of knowledge,

(ii) A period of apprenticeship, and

(iii) A code of conduct.

(ix) Management is an Important Organ of Society:

Management has become an important organ of society. Management of large scale undertakings influence the economic, social, moral, religious, political and institutional behaviour of the members of the society.

(x) It is a System of Authority:

In every organised group supreme authority must rest somewhere. There should be a clear line of authority from the supreme authority to every individual in the group.

4. Essay on the Nature of Management:

A study of literature of management often gives rise to a question as to whether management is a science or an art. The brief discussion which follows leads us to the conclusion that it is both a science and an art.

Management as a Science :

Science is by definition a body of knowledge gathered by experimentation and observation, artificially tested and expressed in the form of general principles.

Following are the essential features of science:-

1. Systematised Body of Knowledge:

Science being ‘systematic’ is based on cause and effect relationship. It consists of theories and principles which have the capacity to give reasons for past happenings and at the same time, can be used to predict the result of specification in future.

2. Scientific Methods being used:

Personal opinions and individual likes and dislikes don’t influence scientific principles. They are obtained through scientific investigation and reasoning. They are critically tested and can be scientifically proved at any time.

3. Principles based on Experiments:

Observation and testing the validity and truth through experimentation makes a statement, a principle.

4. Universally applicable:

Scientific princAples may be applied in all situations and at all times, exceptions though may be logically explained. These principles, under required given conditions never fail at any place or point of time.

The debate about whether or not managing is a science continues. The answer to this question depends largely on the degree to which the scientific method is used to determine managing principles and solve managing problems.

Management satisfies many of the scientific principles, for e.g.:

1. Management is a systematised body of knowledge. Its principles explaining cause and effect relationship between various variables, e.g., Principle of Unity of Command if not followed leads to inefficiency, confusion and duplication of work.

2. Management principles are evolved on the basis of observation and repeated experimentation. For instance, it is being observed through experiments that if stability in tenure of an employee is not there, his working efficiency decreases.

But, at the same time, there exists many scientific features which do not coincide with those of management.

Briefly, the method of science consists of the following steps:

1. Facts or data are collected in an objective manner.

2. These facts are classified in some way, usually on the basis of similarities or dissimilarities, in an attempt to make the data more meaningful.

3. From the classifications, hypotheses are formulated establishing cause and effect relationships between various given factors.

4. The hypotheses are then tested to determine their reliability and validity.

5. After the hypotheses are verified and if they stand the test of time, they then have interpretive or predictive value when applied to similar phenomena.

In referring to the hope of dream that a true science of management may someday be achieved. Professor Mee states, “This hope probably will be realized in another chapter in another book in another century.” Perhaps the best that can be said is that a science of management is just beginning to emerge.

It has often been stated that even when management attempts to use the method of science (from which managing principles are also derived), management is neither as precise nor as comprehensive as the natural and social sciences.

There are several reasons why this is true:

1. The rational approach and the application of the method of science are relatively new in business and industry. As a result, managing has not developed the comprehensiveness found in other disciplines that have used the scientific approach for a much longer time.

In fact, one of the more significant developments in the last seventy-five years in the field of management has been the tendency toward using the rational approach in solving management problems.

2. Relatively few managers are trained or experienced in using the method of science. Those who are trained may find it too time-consuming and, because of this as well as other limiting factors, seek other ways to reach decisions and to solve problems.

3. Precision measuring instruments and tools are not always available in management. A manager is forced to use relative measurement where absolute measurement is not possible or feasible. To evaluate the performance of a group of supervisors, for example, he may have to use a relative measuring device such as a carefully prepared rating scale. For his purposes, however, the relative measuring technique is just as useful and effective.

4. In the physical sciences, the researcher works with a single variable, holding all other factors constant. Managers can seldom do this. They almost always deal with people, the human element with all its weaknesses. The human element can never be treated as a constant; hence precision is less than in the physical sciences, though equal to that of the social sciences. Businessmen are always dealing with the unpredictable: people, governments and nature.

5. Most importantly, managerial decision-making, unlike problem solving in the sciences, stresses action rather than truth. A manager’s decisions must have practical application. Managers strive for reasonable results under uncertain conditions rather than for perfection. A method, technique, or device only has to be “good enough” to get the job done.

Management as an Art :

Art refers to the skill to put into action a systematized body of knowledge for the achievement of a given task. To get mastery in any skill it is necessary to have the thorough knowledge of the principles of doing the particular task. At the same time it is necessary to possess the tact, the care to be taken, the discretion and proper judgement in applying the principles involved.

Presence of mind, promptness to react to the given situation and correct response demanded by the prevailing condition are all essential to perform skillfully the task undertaken.

Experiences and judgement add to this skill. Management is also an art as it is necessary to apply the principles of management in planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling the whole series of activities all through the managerial process.

Throughout the stages of the process of decision-making and execution of these decisions all the individuals occupying various positions at different levels of management need all the skills involved.

Briefly, these skills are called the planning skills, the organising skills, the staffing skills, the directing skills (how to motivate, to communicate, and to lead) and the controlling skills. Sometimes it is said that a good manager is born and not made. But it has been now established and accepted that it is through learning and training process that skilled managers are developed.

As Koontz and O’Donnell have rightly pointed out the work of managing a business or any group activity is an art. But for this the organised body of knowledge is required. It is certainly a science. Thus art and science are not exclusive terms but complementary ones.

Management as an art has the following features:

(a) Personal Skill:

Human beings apart, there are other factors which vary in their effect and role in the achievement of the managerial tasks. Managers have to apply their skill to deal with them.

(b) Practical Knowledge:

Business enterprises involve risks. Only those who have experience can deal effectively with such risks.

(c) Result Oriented Approach:

Management as an process aims at achieving concrete goals. It aims at utilising available resources optimally by creating a congenial atmosphere.

(d) Personal Judgement:

No doubt there are useful principles of management, but it needs individual judgement to apply them properly and at appropriate time. It means art is necessary.

(e) Continuous Practice:

The art of management is much older than the science of management which as an organised body of knowledge is hardly about ninety to hundred years old.

Management: Both Science and Art :

Management is a combination of an organised body of knowledge and skillful application of this knowledge. According to Brech, “A systematic body of knowledge underlies the competent practice of management”.

Much of this knowledge are to be found in various academic disciplines. Competent performance of various management functions necessarily needs an adequate basis of knowledge and a mature scientific approach.

Thus management is both a science and an art. It is a science because it uses certain principles. It is an art because it requires continuous practice to ensure the best possible result. Thus science and art in management are not mutually exclusive. Both of them exist together in every function of management.

Management as a Profession:

Profession is defined as a composite of intellectual and executive qualities applied to carry out successfully the specified activities for the benefit of others. It is an intellectual field. One enters into it to work without any expectation of a direct share in the profits earned out of the activities to carry out which one might be contributing his specialist knowledge or intellect.

According to George, “Profession is that which has a well-defined body of knowledge, which is learned, intellectual and organised, to which entry is restricted by examination, or education and which is primarily concerned with service to others above self-award.”

Features of Profession:

The above statement makes the following features of profession clear:

1. Existence of a body of knowledge, techniques, skills and specialised knowledge.

2. Formalised methods of acquired training and experience.

3. The establishment of a representative organisation with professionlisation as its goal.

4. The formation of an ethical code for the guidance of its conduct.

5. The charging of fees based on the nature of service extended.

In the light of what has been said above management can be said to be a profession.

The arguments in favour of this statement are given below:

1. Body of knowledge:

All over the world there is marked growth of an organised systematic body of knowledge about management as a process.

2. Formal methods of teaching:

The establishment of professional schools of management in which management as a body of knowledge can be taught is seen everywhere. India is no exception to it as is clear from the establishment of Indian Institutes of Management at Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Bangalore, Lucknow and Post­graduate Departments of Management as well as Institutes/Colleges of Management being established in different parts of the country.

3. Fee as remuneration:

The number of management consultants is increasing Even a large number of well reputed firms are establishing their consultancy agencies.

4. Existence of ethical code:

There is growing emphasis on the ethical basis of management behaviour.

5. Establishment of representative organizations:

Both at the national and international levels management associations have been formed with their membership rules, codes of conduct, etc. All India Management Association, New Delhi.

National Institute of Personnel Management, Calcutta, Institute of Marketing and Management, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, New Delhi, Institute of Costs and Works Accountants of India, Calcutta are the well established associations in India. And many more organisations in the specialised fields/ branches of management are being organised.

Management as Profession: A Controversy :

However, there is no agreement on this point. Questions are asked: Is management a profession? Is it becoming a profession? As it is well known, a large number of business units are operating as sole traders and single entrepreneurship enterprises. By definition and in practice they are managed by proprietor-managers. So is the case with partnership firms and joint Hindu family firms.

But company form of business enterprises in India and corporate organisations in USA and other countries are even by definition the enterprises in which ownership is divorced from management. Even then question remains if all of them are managed by professional managers. As things stand, under law it is the shareholders who elect the Board of Directors from amongst themselves.

Thus the topmost group at the top level management of a company or corporate body are not professional managers. But all the big companies operating on large scale do appoint executives and managers on salary-cum-perks basis. Thus they are the professional managers.

In large companies even the Vice Presidents of marketing, finance, etc. who are on the Board of Directors are the professional managers. So are all those working at the middle level and lower level of management. In case of public undertakings management is in effect with the professional managers. Exceptions to it are Departmental Undertakings such as Railways. Posts & Telegraphs etc. which are controlled by the various departments of the Government.

But there also other than the Minister-in-charge all those looking after the management are professionals. A new trend is becoming more and more marked. Proprietary managers are becoming more interested in acquiring the latest knowledge and technique of management. They are sending their own sons, daughters and other close relatives abroad to acquire degrees and diplomas in management.

Others are joining short- term courses in management run by organisations like Administrative Staff College, Hyderabad. All India Management Association etc. Such persons are now occupying positions at the topmost layers of the managerial hierarchy.

Are these persons to be regarded as proprietary managers or professional managers ? No doubt all the features of profession are not applicable to them. But they do possess other features.

In conclusion, it may be said that all the requirements of profession are not satisfied by managers at the top. But management is, by and large, becoming professionalised, it is more so in the developed nations. But even in India large number of managerial cadres are getting professionalised.

This is applicable to both the public and private sectors. Even the case of smaller enterprises, which are run by proprietary managers, assistance of professionals such as chartered accountants, cost accountants and lawyers are being utilised to a great extent.

5. Essay on the Objectives of Management:

Objectives can be divided into three categories: Individual, Social and Organisational. Recognising the three categories and reacting appropriately to each is a challenge for all modern managers.

(I) Individual Objectives :

Individual objectives are the personal goals each organisation member would like to reach through activity within the organisation. These objectives might include high salary, personal growth and development, peer recognition, and societal recognition.

(II) Social Objectives :

Social objectives deal with the goals of an organisation toward society. Included are obligations to abide by requirements established by the community, such as those pertaining to health, safety, labour practices and price regulation.

Further, they include goals intended to further social and physical improvement of the community and to contribute to desirable civic activities.

It should be noted that most business houses in achieving their primary goals also contribute to their respective communities by creating needed economic wealth, employment and financial support to the community.

(III) Organisational Objectives:

Drucker indicates that the very survival of management may be endangered if managers emphasize only a profit objective. This single-objective emphasis encourages managers to take action that will make money today with little regard for how a profit will be made tomorrow.

In practice, managers should strive to develop and attain variety of objectives in all management areas where activity is critical to the operation and success of the system. Following are the eight key areas in which Drucker advises managers to set management objectives.

1. Market Standing:

Management should set objectives indicating where it would like to b£ in relation to its competitors.

2. Innovation:

Management should set objectives outlining its commitment to the development of new methods of operation.

3. Productivity:

Management should set objectives outlining the target levels of production.

4. Physical and Financial Resources:

Management should set objectives with regard to the use, acquisition and maintenance of capital and monetary resources.

5. Profitability:

Management should set objectives that specify the profit the company would like to generate.

6. Management Performance and Development:

Management should set objectives that specify rates and levels of managerial productivity and growth.

7. Worker Performance and Attitude:

Management should set objectives that specify rates of worker productivity as well as the attitudes workers possess.

8. Public Responsibility:

Management should set objectives that indicate the company’s responsibilities to its customers and society and the extent to which the company intends to live up to those responsibilities.

6. Essay on the Levels of Management:

More of the authors have conceived of three levels of management in any fairly-sized business undertaking.

These are as follows:

1. Top Level Management

2. Middle Level Management

3. Lower level Management

Management is considered as a Three-tier activity. The top tier centres round the determination .of objectives and policies, the middle tier concerned with implementation of policies through the assistance of lower tier of the organisation.

The various tasks in a business enterprise “become structured somewhat like a pyramid, with the highest level of management centred at its apex”.

The managerial set-up of any undertaking, therefore consists of three levels – Top Management, Middle Management and Operating Management or Lower Level Management.

The following chart illustrates Levels of Management in a company form of enterprise of fairly large size:

This gradation of level of management is not a watertight arrangement but represents a hierarchy of authority and responsibility designed to secure a systematic sequence of operations. Each level is blended into another through its functions and all the layers of authority constitute an integrated arrangement.

The demarcation of the levels is only to analyse the range of responsibility and span of control and it underlines the principle of specialisation in administrative executive processes.

A. Top Level Management:

Top level management is made up of Board of Directors, its Chairman, Managing Director or General Manager and other key officers responsible for smooth and systematic conduct of the affairs of the enterprise.

The top level management is a concept of functions concerning the manner in which the enterprise should be shaped.

In view of large size of modern companies, the key functions cannot be performed by a single person, and hence a compact group of elected office-bearers, experts and executives form the top management level of enterprises these days. Board of Directors is assisted by Managing Director, General Manger etc. in directing the company’s operations.

Top level management’s work is a creative process and it also involves commitments of high order of responsibility. As Allen observes “top-management work is a work which must be performed at the apex of the organisational pyramid because it cannot be carried out effectively at lower levels.”

Top management is also described “as the policy-making group responsible for the overall direction and success of all company activities.” It is a chief custodian of the property of the enterprise. It is the main mobiliser of resources in men and materials essential for the inception, maintenance, operations and expansion of the undertaking.

It is more basically a panel of planning the company’s operations and in due course shall develop into an evaluating and controlling medium for securing the maximum possible performance. It is concerned with the problems and policies of the entire enterprise.

The functions of top management include:

“Identifying key factors for the survival and growth of the company and devising basic objectives, policies and programmes for dealing with these factors: being sensitive to the inter-dependence of the numerous actions and maintaining a strategic balance in these actions; and keeping an eye on how current activities of the company will cutting with predicted changes-social, political, technological and competitive-and adopting company plans to the anticipated environment.”

Functions of the Managers at the Top Level Management :

The fundamental functions of mangers of the top management may be classified into the following categories:

(1) Determining the objectives.

(2) Framing the policies and making plans to carry out the objectives and policies.

(3) Setting up an organisational framework to conduct the operations as per plans.

(4) Assembling the resources needed to put the plans into operation.

(5) Controlling the operations through organisation.

1. Determining the Objectives :

Objectives are goals which every enterprise seeks to achieve. Most of the companies describe in detail the nature of their activities in the objects clause of their Memoranda of Association. But by and large the general objectives which top management should aim at are survival, profit, business growth, prestige or status and social acceptance.

Production of particular product of specific quality, satisfaction of customer’s needs, earning of profit by production and sales, looking out for expansion and diversification of business, building up an image or reputation of the company in the eyes or estimation of the society are the broad objectives set up by top management.

Objectives also may be specific. They relate to types of activities. Specialty in workmanship, competitive pricing, marketing method, widening the area of sales abroad, relations with the workers, customers, public, government, etc.

2. Framing of Policies :

The objectives are realised through policies framed by the management. Policies signify the decisions taken by the management on different strategic aspects of company’s operations or activities.

Production policy indicates the schedules of production to meet the market demand.

Product policy lays down the standards, specifications, size, design, colour shapes etc. of the product.

Marketing policy describes the channels of selling the product (direct sale or dealership, agency etc.), advertising and sales promotions techniques to be adopted, the sales targets to be attained etc.

Pricing policy emphasises the quality aspect of the product as well as the comparative competitive nature of the rates quoted, discounts allowed etc.

Personnel policy deals with recruitment, placement, training, remuneration, promotion, rewarding and regulating the productivity of the personnel.

Financial policy is concerned with procuring funds required for investment in fixed assets or required to be held over for working capital needs, sources of finance, e.g., borrowing, self-financing, issuing additional capital etc.

Top management has also to devise plans and schemes for precise execution of policies within a given time. Plans set out the course along which operations in different departments are to be conducted as per the criteria laid down in the respective policies.

production schedule, sales campaign, financial arrangements, personnel motivation have to be drawn as to focus and guide the activities of the company in the direction of the realisation of the basic objectives.

3. Organising:

Organisation means division of functions, allocation of duties to the personnel, fixation of range of their responsibility and the scope of their authority and co­ordination of the activities of the departments of the undertaking. Standardisation of administrative procedures is the main task of organising the enterprise.

Systems and procedures are the methods intended to govern the departmental activities of a company. Organisation ensures smooth flow of work from one stage to another, or from one department to another, so that the whole undertaking is enabled to achieve the targets to the benefit of the company and satisfaction of customers.

4. Assembling the Resources:

Prior to the launching of the plans, the resources of money, men and materials have to be assembled. Executives and operatives are appointed after careful selection on the basis of their merits and the nature of jobs to be handled.

Money capital has to be raised through issue of shares, debentures, etc. and arrangement for working capital has to be made through reserves, bank advance etc.

Then the physical resources-machinery, tools, furniture, buildings, water supply, power, other ancillary equipment-have to be collected as per estimated needs. The management has to find out the sources of finance for implementing the plans and programmes.

5. Controlling :

Top level management does not directly execute work. But the Chief Executive in the top management has the responsibility of exercising supervision over all the departments to make sure that the middle and lower managements are functioning as per the plans.

By controlling we mean instituting checks or comparisons of actual results with the planned targets. It implies evaluation or measurement of the work turned out in each section or department with reference to the goals envisaged in the basic plans and policies of the company.

The top level management lays down the standards of performance for the purpose of comparison of the actual results with the planned performance. Standard cost per unit, sales quotas, net profit per unit of sales are some of the reliable criteria for comparison.

Top level management finds out to what extent the performance has been upto the mark and identifies in the course the sources of strength and weakness in the different phases of organisation and operations.

Top level management has to act as coordinator and regulator of the activities of the undertaking in its different dimensions. It will call for reports, statistical data, special studies, accounting records to know the position of performance and to apply regulatory checks wherever and whenever necessary.

B. Middle Level Management:

Middle level management is concerned with the task of implementing the policies and plans chalked out by the top management. Middle management comprises departmental heads and other executive officers attached to different departments.

These departmental managers and officers are expected to take concrete steps for actual realisation of the objectives and operational results visualised in the plans finalised by the top officers of the organisation. “This group is responsible for the execution and interpretation of policies throughout the organisation and for the successful operation of assigned division or departments.”

Managers at the middle level management level exercise the usual functions of management in respect of their own departments. They have to plan the operations, issue instructions to their assistants, collect the resources required and control the work of the men under them and evaluate the results achieved by their department with reference to the plans formulated by the top management.

If the top management is endowed with the authority of policy-making, middle management is entrusted with the programming of efforts essential for implementing the basic pre-determined policies.

Functions of Managers at the Middle Level Management :

The functions of the managers at the middle level management can be broadly summarised as follows:

(i) Interpretation of policies framed by top level management.

(ii) Preparing the organisational set-up in their departments for fulfilling the objective implied in various business policies.

(iii) Finding out the suitable personnel and assigning duties and responsibilities to them for the execution of the plans of the concerned departments.

(iv) Compiling detailed instructions regarding operations and issuing them to the assistants and operatives to focus and guide their efforts accordingly.

(v) Motivating the personnel for higher productivity and rewarding them for their merit, capacity or calibre.

(vi) Cooperating with other departments so as to evolve a smoothly functioning organisation.

(vii) Collecting reports, statistical information and other records about the work turned out in respective departments and forwarding the same with their observations to the top level management.

(viii) Recommending to the top management, new or revised policies for their departments to secure better performance.

Middle level management managers are responsible for all the leading functions within each department. They provide “the guidance and the structure for a purposeful enterprise”.

The top management’s plans and ambitious expectations cannot be fruitfully realised without the key officers at the middle level management.

Managerial Structure at the Middle Level Management :

Generally the following functions at the middle level management are performed through the various departments under the departmental managers or heads.

1. Production department headed by works manager is concerned with the following functions:

(i) To collect the work orders and issue them to concerned sections.

(ii) To guide the foremen, and prescribe methods and process to be followed in execution of the work allotted.

(iii) To devise a system of inspection of factory functioning, the components, semi-finished and finished products.

(iv) Assembling the tools, equipment, plant, qualified personnel etc. to execute the production’s plan.

(v) Controlling the factory expenses.

2. Engineering Department headed by chief engineer has to perform the following functions:

(i) Production-planning, routing, scheduling.

(ii) Plant layout suited to the execution of production plans.

(iii) Designing the products, their specifications, standards, quality, workmanship etc.

(iv) Research in methodology of production for improving technical efficiency.

(v) Plant and tools maintenance and development of the full capacity of production.

(vi) Economy in production costs and resource consumption.

3. Personnel Department:

It is headed by the chief personnel officer, labour officer. He has to devise selection procedure and training schemes: he has to maintain service records of the staff and formulate methods of remuneration in conformity with the productivity and cost of living. He has to assure wholesome working conditions to the personnel and look after their social and economic security and welfare.

4. Stores Department headed by stores manager is concerned with systematic organisation of purchasing raw materials, stores articles, tools, equipment, spare parts, etc. and proper custody of the materials with the responsibility of issuing them to the requisitioning departments.

He has to sort and arrange neatly the stockpile of materials etc. and keep an up to date record of materials, stores, tools, etc. received, issued, consumed, balance held in stock, etc.

5. Office Manager is in-charge of secretarial work of correspondence, filing, indexing, use of office appliances, maintenance of records and reports pertaining to the different departments.

6. Accounts Department:

The chief Accountant is responsible for maintaining up-to-date accounts of financial transactions and recording sales, purchases, receipts and payments.

He is also required to compile periodically the Trading Account, Profit and Loss Account and Balance sheet of the firm.

He should ensure that monthly financial statements indicating the position of the firm are placed before the Board and other top management officials.

7. Costing Department:

In bigger enterprises a separate department for costing is constituted and cost accountant is appointed to administer the functions of the section.

Costing department is entrusted with the main functions of ascertaining the prime and supplementary costs and submission of cost-sheets to the top level management for appraisal.

Costing department keeps detailed records of costs of completed jobs in progress, costs of materials, labour, factory overhead costs and sales on cost. It helps the management to find out the disparity between estimated costs and actual costs and the reason thereof so that remedial measures can be adopted.

8. Sales Department:

This section is the life-blood of the enterprise because the sales are the barometer of business profits and reputations of the firm. The work of the department is to create demand for the goods for promoting maximum possible sales at quick pace in wider markets.

The vital functions of the department are as follows:

(i) Market research to find out the needs, tastes and buying habits of the consumers.

(ii) Looking out for new markets for the goods.

(iii) Organising advertisement campaigns and other sales promotion activities for creating, maintaining and expanding the demand.

(iv) Collecting orders from the customers through agents, dealers or salesmen.

(v) Executing the orders by timely despatch of goods.

(vi) Supervision of salesmen’s efforts, training and stimulation of salesmen.

(vii) Organising after-sale service and similar sales promotion efforts.

(viii) Looking after proper warehousing, packing and despatch of goods.

(ix) Attending to customers’ complaints and suggestions.

C. Lower Level Management (Operating Management) :

It is described as the lowest level in the administrative framework and actual operations are the responsibility of the rank and file constituting this level of management.

Foremen, supervisors and sub-departmental executives assisted by a number of workers, clerks etc. carry out the actual operations as per schedule. Their authority and responsibility is limited and they have to follow the lines drawn by the higher levels of management.

The plans and policies of the top level management will fail if the foremen and operatives do not fully realise the spirit of sustained work. The quality of the workmanship and quantity of output will depend on the hard labour, discipline and loyalty of the operating personnel. The foremen or supervisors are responsible for executing the work orders allotted to their respective sections.

They pass on the instructions of middle level management to the working force, procure the materials, tools etc. required for the jobs, assign specific duties to individual workmen and guide them in acting upon the instructions and handling the job on hand with ability and accuracy.

They seek to maintain precise standards of quality, prevent wastage of materials by negligent workmen, look to the safety of machines and equipment and ensure steady flow of output as per plans and programmes prescribed by the top level and middle level managements.

They are also responsible for maintaining discipline among the respective batches of workers, preserving and boosting their morale and fostering the team spirit in them.

7. Essay on Theo Haimann’s Three Notions about Management:

According to Theo Haimann management is used in three different senses:

(i) It is used as a noun. It refers to the group of managerial personnel of an enterprise.

(ii) It refers to the processes of managing, planning, organising, staffing, guiding, directing, supervising and controlling.

(iii) It is used apart from the above two—personnel and activity- but it describes the subject, the body of knowledge and the whole practice, the discipline.

I. Management is an art of getting things done through other people :

It is a process of activity consisting of some basic techniques for getting the objective of an enterprise fulfilled through the efforts of people. It is the activating element in any concern for getting things done through people. But today it is thought to be against humanity. At present: “It is the art of getting things done through and with the people informally organized groups.”

The job of management is to give active leadership that unites the productive but passive resources into a fruitful organization.

As per E. Peterson and E.G. Plowman:

“It is a technique by means of which the purposes and objectives of a particular human group are determined, clarified and effectuated.”

As per E.F.L. Breach it has been said as:

“A social process entailing responsibility for the effective of efficient planning and regulation of the operations of an enterprise, such responsibility involving a judgement and decision in determining plan and using data to control performances and progress against plans. The guidance, integration, inspiration and supervision of the personnel comprising enterprise and carrying out its operations.”

Breach signifies that it is not possible to take management in relation to things or mechanical operations of machines but only in relation to the people who are employed to operate or use such things.

As per Prof. Harold Koontz it is:

“The art of getting things done through and with people informally organized groups. It is the art of creating an environment in which people can perform as individuals and yet co-operate towards attainment of groups’ goals. It is art of removing blocks to such performance, a way of optimizing efficiency in reaching goals.”

II. Management is what management does:

The three functions of management are:

(i) Planning,

(ii) Implementing, and

(iii) Controlling.

Planning includes formation of policy and its translation into plans. Implementing includes the execution. Controlling means exercising administrative control over the plans.

In the words of Dr. James Lundy:

“Management is principally a task of planning, co-ordinating, motivating and controlling the efforts of others towards a specific objective. It involves the combining of the traditional factors of production (land, labour and capital) in an optimum manner, paying dues attention, of course, to the particular goals of the organization.”

This definition includes three major management activities of:

(1) Planning is the ascertainment of the course or objectives of a business, division or department to attain maximum profit effectiveness, the establishment of policies and continuous seeking and finding out new and better ways to do things.

(2) Implementing seeks to the doing phases, after preparation of plans, personnel attend their jobs with training of motivation not do rightly. Activities must run to the planning, supervision and direction of the subordinates and at the same time groups efforts are coordinated.

(3) Lastly, controlling seeks to evaluate acts of those who are responsible for executing the plans agreed upon. It consists of: (a) Controlling adherence to plans (b) appraising performance.

III. Management is the development of the people:

Business is not the management of things. As Appley Lowrence puts it: “The development of people and not the direction of things.” It is the selection, training supervision and development of people. These days most of the large as well as medium-sized enterprises are managed by the professional managers i.e., the managers who have got either little or no share in the ownership of the enterprise. They take management as a career.

Mcforland has noted following characteristics of a profession:

1. A body of principles, techniques, skills and specialised knowledge.

2. Formal methods of acquiring training.

3. Laying down of certain ethical codes of guidance of conduct.

4. Charging of fees according to the nature of services rendered.

And management is truly a profession in the sense that it fulfills all these conditions. Management these days is very much a systematised body of knowledge (science) and is an identifiable discipline. It has also developed a number of its tools and techniques.

In India, now there are a number of management institutes and university departments imparting formal management training. But management still, at last so in our country, does not fulfill the last time requirements of being a profession. There is, for example, still no unified ethical code of conduct for the managers as is there for the doctors and lawyers.

8. Essay on the Functions of Management:

Various authors have given various functions of management according to the time and development of the management science.

All these can be classified into the following categories:

(i) Planning

(ii) Organisation

(iii) Direction

(iv) Co-ordination

(v) Control.

These functions of management have been discussed in detail in the following paragraphs:

(i) Planning:

It is deciding in advance what is to be done, how it is to be done and when it is to be done. Planning involves projecting the future course of action for the business as a whole and also for the different sections within it. It helps in bridging the gap between the present and the future.

Planning is possible whenever there is a question of choosing and planning process is possible only when alternatives are there. In fact planning is an intellectual process. It signifies use of rational approach to the solution of problems. The important aspects of planning process are defining and establishing objectives, policies, procedures methods, rules, budgets, programmes and strategies.

(ii) Organisation:

Organisation is the structural relationship in an enterprise between the various factors i.e., men, material and management which combine to achieve the objectives set by the enterprise. In a dynamic society like ours, the organisation is not fixed. If it does not promote the objectives of the enterprise, it must be modified.

(iii) Direction:

Direction consists of command, execution, control, supervision and motivation i.e., achieving the good results. It is concerned with to use Lawrence H. Appley’s maxim “that management is essentially getting things done through the efforts of other people.”

It needs the personal touch. A good manager has to see that his orders are properly carried out and have achieved the desired results. It will need proper supervision by him and control of all the levels below him.

Moreover, his order must always create motivation among subordinates. It is only possible when his orders are of the right type and at the right moment. For it, more of initiative, sincere and tact is required than aggressiveness. A good executive must always be a good leader.

(iv) Co-Ordination:

Co-operation permeates all operating organisations and makes their entire structure more effective by harmonizing and property timing the various activities. It means synchronising the activities of all persons and functions in the enterprise and rooting out personal prestige and vested interests.

Proper co-ordination presupposes a number of conditions which can be summed up as:

(i) Fixed responsibility

(ii) Adequate authority at each executive level

(iii) Organisational structure facilitating

(iv) Co-ordination.

(v) Control:

This includes the setting of the targets or standards and comparing the actuals with standards in order to know the deviations, analysis and probing the reasons for such deviations, fixing of responsibility in terms of persons responsible for negative deviation, and correction of employees performance so that group goals, and plans devised to achieve them are accomplished.

9. Essay on the Importance of Management:

Management is absolutely essential if human efforts are to be effective to meet all round development of the society through productive activity, occupation or profession. It is essential in all organisations and at all levels of organisation in an enterprise. Without the enlightened guidance and leadership made available by management “the productive resources will remain resources and shall never become production”.

Management is a dynamic element which gives life to a business enterprise. The productive resources such as materials, men, and money are entrusted to the administrative ability, enterprising initiative and organising skill of management.

In short, management is important for the following reasons:

(i) Provides Effectiveness to Human Efforts:

It helps achieve better equipment, plants, offices, products, services, human relations. It keeps abreast of changing conditions, and it supplies foresight and imagination. Improvement and progress are its constant watch-words.

(ii) Critical Ingredient in Nation’s Growth:

An underdeveloped nation usually lacks adequate managerial know-how. National development is not solely one of transferring capital, technology, and education to citizens of an undeveloped nations. It is also supplying or developing management which provides the generation and direction of effective human energies. Management know-how utilizes the available resources effectively toward achievement of basic needs.

(iii) Brings Order to Endeavours:

By means of management, apparently isolated events or factual information or beliefs are brought together and significant relationships discerned. These relationships bear on the immediate problem, point out future hurdles to be overcome, and assist in determining a solution to the problem.

(iv) Provides Judgement and Courage:

To determine worthwhile goals, carefully select and utilize resources efficiently by means of applying planning, organising, directing and controlling require a high degree of judgement and the exercise of great courage.

From time to time, gadgets and aids are offered to replace management, but actually at best they assist and do not represent management. Serious consideration of such devices usually points out the need for more management judgement and courage to be used. Nothing takes the place of management.

(v) Helps in Achieving Group Goals:

Management touches and influences the life of nearly every human being. Management makes us aware of our potentials, shows the way toward better accomplishment, reduces obstacles, and causes us to achieve goals that we probably would not otherwise attain.

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Business Management essay

Business management is essential for me because I have a great desire to successfully manage people and business projects, as well as to develop effective business-related policies.  I want to major in business in order to pursue my Bachelor’s Degree and become a true professional in business management. The reason that I am applying for the scholarship is that it will help me to pay for my academic tuition, academic resources (books, programs, etc.) and spend much more time on my studies.

Today I have to work full time in order to advance myself with a degree in business management. I am currently pursuing my Associate’s Degree, but I am not going to stop my education. To become a true professional in business management, it is necessary to learn more about the key business strategies that will help to enhance management practices and develop the proper skills and abilities. I am going forward to achieve my Bachelor’s Degree.

I am currently pursuing a career course that will help me to advance my leadership and management skills and have the opportunity to work in an advanced management field.  My specific academic goals contribute to my professional growth. Some of my academic goals include:

• To develop effective leadership and management skills in order to apply these skills in practice;
• To improve my academic performance in order to become more professional in decision making and goal setting practices;
• To develop good technical skills in order to apply new technologies in business practices;
• To learn more about business management strategies that could be applied in practice;
• To learn how to identify and successfully resolve various organizational and business problems;
• To develop my communication skills that are necessary in achieving strategic goals;
• To learn more about strategic planning in business;
• To use my skills and abilities to continue maintaining a “B” average;
• To do everything possible to keep satisfactory attendance.

My career plans depend on my academic achievements and work experience. I know that business management is not an easy field to work in.  I will be focused on my professional development. My work experience involves dealing with conflicts within management, problem solving, decision making, critical thinking, discrimination, as well as personal development. I have been well trained to deal with standard operating procedures and implementation of such standards, to satisfy the Department of Defense and be in compliance with the established laws and regulations of our Federal Government.

In addition, I will do my best to develop professional skills in business management practices that will help me to make good management decisions in my future career. To be a good manager, it is very important to develop not only effective interpersonal communication skills, but also good intuition, which helps to make effective management decisions.  I need general knowledge in HR management, finance and accounting operations. I know that Bachelor’s programs in this field are effective in achieving the established academic goals. The greatest pleasure for me would be to pass exams successfully. I believe that my personal skills and abilities will be useful in achieving my academic goals. I am self-confident, hard-working and persistent. I know that to become a good manager I should study hard. I know that a good manager should be competent in three key areas: managing people; managing and developing processes and policies; and managing and developing oneself. I believe that my Bachelor’s program in business management will help me to develop the proper skills to become competent in the above mentioned areas. Today I pay due attention to my personal development. I successfully deal with stresses and conflicts. A good manager should know how to avoid stressful situations which may lead to conflicts in the workplace. Besides, I use my creativity in decision making process to demonstrate the best traits of my character. Innovative ideas in business management provide massive opportunities for successful implementation of the established strategic goals.

Thus, it is necessary to conclude that my specific academic goals and career plans will motivate me to study hard. I know that to become a professional in business management, it is necessary to never give up and be quick about solving any problem or overcoming any barrier.  I realize that my academic and career goals are the essential goals I should achieve in the nearest future. Achieving these goals will help to succeed in the realization of my personal potential in profession and career. Business management practices guarantee professional success if a manager is goal-oriented and creative. One of my great desires is to pursue my Bachelor’s Degree in order to become a true professional in business management. I believe that I will be able to apply my best skills and abilities to succeed in academic performance and become a well-trained specialist. My work experience will help me to be confident in everything I need to do to attain my academic goals and career plans.

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In summation, the role of leadership and management can work in different capacities, yet be the same when developing an organization. Leadership is nothing if it doesn’t build a systems’ based management structure, and management would have no support without the work of leadership as the backbone of ideals.

A review of this chapter’s major conclusions, include:

• Being ethically sound and sacrificing comforts for goals and objectives (classical ideals) make leaders strive for innovation and the improvement of society (contemporary ideals).
• Developing and systematically organizing hiring philosophies, institutional policies, budgeting processes, rewards, and decision-making styles are effective measures for managing organizations into the future.
• Leadership and management are both the same and different.
• Using the iceberg analogy and the five disciplines, leadership and management are both independent and dependent from each other, especially when achieving goals in a learning organization.

To offer parting words after this journey, it is important to understand that whatever leadership or management style chosen, it has to relate to inherent beliefs. Essentially, the iceberg below the surface is not just made in one day, it is shaped and cultivated throughout life through natural and social occurrences, assumptions, and inherent beliefs. It is very important for leaders to find their own icebergs and self-reflect on what their beliefs mean to their leadership styles and how they develop their management strategies. As prospective leaders and managers in society, it is highly important to locate and cultivate a personal leadership style to become successful in a future society.

Leadership and Management in Learning Organizations Copyright © by Clayton Smith; Carson Babich; and Mark Lubrick is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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80+ International Business Research Paper Topics With Samples

Business students who look for academic paper topics have a great variety of subjects to choose from. International business research paper topics are one of the options. We’ve gathered the collection below to inspire you and give you some ideas about your future paper. You can also check out our examples of business research papers – follow the links in our list!

The list is quite impressive – more than 80 examples of research paper topics about business from our college paper writer . Good luck finding your perfect idea!

International business topics for research papers on general concepts

• What are the main business cycles and how do they affect world economics?
• Why are master programs in international business popular among applicants?
• How does social media affect international business activity?
• How do modern technologies affect international business?
• How does e-commerce affect international business?
• What is cultural imperialism? Is it caused by international business?
• What structures are available to international business?
• How does the foreign exchange market work?
• How does terrorism affect global economics?
• The importance of strategic management in international business.
• How does shadow banking affect global financial stability?
• List and analyze three advantages and disadvantages of international business.

International business research paper topics on companies

• How does BBC get profits from the Olympic Games?
• International eBay business.
• Toyota company: value chain model.
• Zara company: international business case study .
• Apple Inc.: the role of social media marketing .
• How does Disney enter the Chinese market?
• International business: General Electric.
• How did Walmart become internationally successful?
• Competitive advantage theory: McDonald’s.
• How did IKEA become international?
• Give examples of companies that have failed on the international market but succeed on the national market. Why have they failed?
• The soap company Savon de Marseille insists that the government should give them the label of originality because cheap Chinese and Turkish knockoffs try to force them out from the market. What should the government do in this case?

International business research paper topics for college students about countries

• Imitation jewelry business in India.
• Why is it so hard to do business with Chinese?
• The government policy toward international companies in Indonesia.
• How does political lobbying in the USA affect international business?
• Analyze the international business environment of Bahrain.
• Expanding international business to Great Britain: pros and cons.
• What is the business relationship between the USA and South Africa?
• How does international business evolve in Saudi Arabia?
• Is India an appropriate environment for international companies?
• Indian companies in Arab states of the Persian Gulf.
• What impact did the election of Donald Tramp have on international business in the USA?
• Why is China essential for global business?
• How do social systems in Arab countries affect international business?
• International trade in Costa Rica.
• China has advanced much further in mobile technologies than the US. What are the factors that influence the development of the mobile industry in China?
• The economic impact of immigration in the United States in the last five years: How do immigrants affect the US economy in general?
• How does Brexit influence the economics of the EU?
• The British government has rejected the deal on a nuclear power station. Predict the economic consequences of this decision.
• Try to explain why the prices on houses have increased after Brexit.

Argumentative business topics for research papers

• What will be the most important digital marketing trend.
• Do cultural differences have an impact on international business relationships?
• The importance of cryptocurrency for international companies.
• What country is a leader in the international cocoa industry?
• What ethical dilemmas are the most frequent when it comes to international business?
• Is globalization coming to the end, and how should international companies react?
• Should managers in international companies concentrate on the cultural similarities or differences more?
• What are the main reasons for internationalizing of business?
• What is the best strategy of cross-cultural negotiations?
• What are the most common political risks for international companies?
• What countries have the biggest influence in the global energy industry?
• Should expatriate employees be a part of international HR strategy?
• Should international companies have different standards for customer service?
• What were the most effective advertising campaigns in 2016?
• Which big international companies are likely to go bankrupt if they fail to change their strategy as soon as possible?
• Do you think that all big companies should be present in social media?
• What ways do you know to predict US recessions? Which of them is the most effective in your opinion?
• The US government urges wars in Africa with the aim to distribute guns. Prove or disapprove this opinion.

Analytical business research paper topics for college students

• How to bring a product into a new country successfully?
• How to start an international business?
• Describe and analyze three possible levels of involvement in international business.
• How was international business possible without online trading?
• What role does climate change play in international business development?
• Explain why aviation has always been treated as a special case in international business.
• How do different religions affect international business?
• Describe and analyze three attitudes that managers might have toward international business.
• Describe how regional trading alliances are reshaping the international business environment.
• How do governments profit from war? What kinds of companies grow in the conditions of constant war?
• What would be the consequences for the poor if all countries live only on the products that they manufacture?
• There’s a tendency in logo design to change the shape of the design to flat. Who started doing this first and why?
• What other languages besides English could be international languages for business?

Examples of research paper topics about business: definitions

• Define the abbreviation MNC.
• What are the BRICS countries? What role do they play in international business?
• What is an export credit guarantee?
• Define “international business” and “international trade” and compare these terms.
• Define the term “relationship marketing.” Is it important for international business?

Compare and contrast business topics for research papers

• Compare and contrast international business development in Eastern Europe and Western Europe.
• Is there any difference between the decision-making in international and national companies?
• Compare and contrast economic environments for the international businesses in China and USA.
• Does business ethics in international companies differ from local businesses?

It’s hard to pick one option when you have so many of them. Need some help with your choice? Read the tips below!

Choosing business topics for research papers

If you are assigned to write a research paper, your primary task is to choose your topic. You should consider the following things:

– Even if your professor offers several topics, try to choose the one that interests you. – Ensure that your international business research paper topic isn’t too narrow or too general.

– You’ll find a lot of materials if you are looking for information on broad topics, and not enough facts in the latter case. – Once having chosen a subject, look through the library catalog and internet databases for good ideas. – Look up current events and news on international business sites. – Look through several reference books (handbooks, encyclopedias, reports, dictionaries) when choosing international business research paper topics. They will provide you with the necessary background information and general topic overview.

How to research business research paper topics

Your topic is chosen! Now, make sure you plan and conduct your research properly:

• Determine the sources and materials within the particular time frame and other limitations.
• Pay special attention to the supervisor’s assistance and a working bibliography.
• Start data collecting at once after choosing a particular topic.
• Ensure the quality of your resources.
• Check the age of the source – it is extremely important when you are going to write a research paper on a relevant international business topic.

We hope that our instructions will make the whole writing process easier for you! If you need write my college essay help, you can get academic assistance at EssayShark.com!

International business research paper topics help

Business research papers are usually assigned to college and university students. This type of paper is a part of a student’s semester work and influences the final marks. From the very beginning of the semester, supervisors put an emphasis on the importance of writing well-thought-out research papers.

If you can’t cope with academic writing on international business research paper topics, the best way out is to apply for assistance. EssayShark.com business essay writing service is there for you! You will never regret asking for help from our academic custom writing service. Just fill in the order form, write your specifications, and wait for the delivery. Business research paper writing has never been so easy!

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The Big List of Essay Topics for High School (120+ Ideas!)

Ideas to inspire every young writer!

High school students generally do a lot of writing, learning to use language clearly, concisely, and persuasively. When it’s time to choose an essay topic, though, it’s easy to come up blank. If that’s the case, check out this huge round-up of essay topics for high school. You’ll find choices for every subject and writing style.

• Argumentative Essay Topics
• Cause-and-Effect Essay Topics
• Compare-Contrast Essay Topics
• Descriptive Essay Topics
• Expository and Informative Essay Topics
• Humorous Essay Topics

Literary Essay Topics

• Narrative and Personal Essay Topics
• Personal Essay Topics
• Persuasive Essay Topics

Research Essay Topics

Argumentative essay topics for high school.

When writing an argumentative essay, remember to do the research and lay out the facts clearly. Your goal is not necessarily to persuade someone to agree with you, but to encourage your reader to accept your point of view as valid. Here are some possible argumentative topics to try. ( Here are 100 more compelling argumentative essay topics. )

• The most important challenge our country is currently facing is … (e.g., immigration, gun control, economy)
• The government should provide free internet access for every citizen.
• All drugs should be legalized, regulated, and taxed.
• Vaping is less harmful than smoking tobacco.
• The best country in the world is …
• Parents should be punished for their minor children’s crimes.
• Should all students have the ability to attend college for free?
• Should physical education be part of the standard high school curriculum?

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• Schools should require recommended vaccines for all students, with very limited exceptions.
• Is it acceptable to use animals for experiments and research?
• Does social media do more harm than good?
• Capital punishment does/does not deter crime.
• What one class should all high schools students be required to take and pass in order to graduate?
• Do we really learn anything from history, or does it just repeat itself over and over?
• Are men and women treated equally?

Cause-and-Effect Essay Topics for High School

A cause-and-effect essay is a type of argumentative essay. Your goal is to show how one specific thing directly influences another specific thing. You’ll likely need to do some research to make your point. Here are some ideas for cause-and-effect essays. ( Get a big list of 100 cause-and-effect essay topics here. )

• Humans are causing accelerated climate change.
• Fast-food restaurants have made human health worse over the decades.
• What caused World War II? (Choose any conflict for this one.)
• Describe the effects social media has on young adults.

• How does playing sports affect people?
• What are the effects of loving to read?
• Being an only/oldest/youngest/middle child makes you …
• What effect does violence in movies or video games have on kids?
• Traveling to new places opens people’s minds to new ideas.
• Racism is caused by …

Compare-Contrast Essay Topics for High School

As the name indicates, in compare-and-contrast essays, writers show the similarities and differences between two things. They combine descriptive writing with analysis, making connections and showing dissimilarities. The following ideas work well for compare-contrast essays. ( Find 80+ compare-contrast essay topics for all ages here. )

• Public and private schools
• Capitalism vs. communism
• Monarchy or democracy
• Dogs vs. cats as pets

• Paper books or e-books
• Two political candidates in a current race
• Going to college vs. starting work full-time
• Working your way through college as you go or taking out student loans
• iPhone or Android
• Instagram vs. Twitter (or choose any other two social media platforms)

Descriptive Essay Topics for High School

Bring on the adjectives! Descriptive writing is all about creating a rich picture for the reader. Take readers on a journey to far-off places, help them understand an experience, or introduce them to a new person. Remember: Show, don’t tell. These topics make excellent descriptive essays.

• Who is the funniest person you know?
• What is your happiest memory?
• Tell about the most inspirational person in your life.
• Write about your favorite place.
• When you were little, what was your favorite thing to do?
• Choose a piece of art or music and explain how it makes you feel.
• What is your earliest memory?

• What’s the best/worst vacation you’ve ever taken?
• Describe your favorite pet.
• What is the most important item in the world to you?
• Give a tour of your bedroom (or another favorite room in your home).
• Describe yourself to someone who has never met you.
• Lay out your perfect day from start to finish.
• Explain what it’s like to move to a new town or start a new school.
• Tell what it would be like to live on the moon.

Expository and Informative Essay Topics for High School

Expository essays set out clear explanations of a particular topic. You might be defining a word or phrase or explaining how something works. Expository or informative essays are based on facts, and while you might explore different points of view, you won’t necessarily say which one is “better” or “right.” Remember: Expository essays educate the reader. Here are some expository and informative essay topics to explore. ( See 70+ expository and informative essay topics here. )

• What makes a good leader?
• Explain why a given school subject (math, history, science, etc.) is important for students to learn.
• What is the “glass ceiling” and how does it affect society?
• Describe how the internet changed the world.
• What does it mean to be a good teacher?

• Explain how we could colonize the moon or another planet.
• Discuss why mental health is just as important as physical health.
• Describe a healthy lifestyle for a teenager.
• Choose an American president and explain how their time in office affected the country.
• What does “financial responsibility” mean?

Humorous Essay Topics for High School

Humorous essays can take on any form, like narrative, persuasive, or expository. You might employ sarcasm or satire, or simply tell a story about a funny person or event. Even though these essay topics are lighthearted, they still take some skill to tackle well. Give these ideas a try.

• What would happen if cats (or any other animal) ruled the world?
• What do newborn babies wish their parents knew?
• Explain the best ways to be annoying on social media.
• Invent a wacky new sport, explain the rules, and describe a game or match.

• Imagine a discussion between two historic figures from very different times, like Cleopatra and Queen Elizabeth I.
• Retell a familiar story in tweets or other social media posts.
• Describe present-day Earth from an alien’s point of view.
• Choose a fictional character and explain why they should be the next president.
• Describe a day when kids are in charge of everything, at school and at home.

Literary essays analyze a piece of writing, like a book or a play. In high school, students usually write literary essays about the works they study in class. These literary essay topic ideas focus on books students often read in high school, but many of them can be tweaked to fit other works as well.

• Discuss the portrayal of women in Shakespeare’s Othello .
• Explore the symbolism used in The Scarlet Letter .
• Explain the importance of dreams in Of Mice and Men .
• Compare and contrast the romantic relationships in Pride and Prejudice .

• Dissect the allegory of Animal Farm and its relation to contemporary events.
• Interpret the author’s take on society and class structure in The Great Gatsby .
• Explore the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia.
• Discuss whether Shakespeare’s portrayal of young love in Romeo and Juliet is accurate.
• Explain the imagery used in Beowulf .

Narrative and Personal Essay Topics for High School

Think of a narrative essay like telling a story. Use some of the same techniques that you would for a descriptive essay, but be sure you have a beginning, middle, and end. A narrative essay doesn’t necessarily need to be personal, but they often are. Take inspiration from these narrative and personal essay topics.

• Describe a performance or sporting event you took part in.
• Explain the process of cooking and eating your favorite meal.
• Write about meeting your best friend for the first time and how your relationship developed.
• Tell about learning to ride a bike or drive a car.
• Describe a time in your life when you’ve been scared.

• Share the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you.
• Tell about a time when you overcame a big challenge.
• Tell the story of how you learned an important life lesson.
• Describe a time when you or someone you know experienced prejudice or oppression.
• Explain a family tradition, how it developed, and its importance today.
• What is your favorite holiday? How does your family celebrate it?
• Retell a familiar story from the point of view of a different character.
• Describe a time when you had to make a difficult decision.
• Tell about your proudest moment.

Persuasive Essay Topics for High School

Persuasive essays are similar to argumentative , but they rely less on facts and more on emotion to sway the reader. It’s important to know your audience, so you can anticipate any counterarguments they might make and try to overcome them. Try these topics to persuade someone to come around to your point of view. ( Discover 60 more intriguing persuasive essay topics here. )

• Do you think homework should be required, optional, or not given at all?
• Everyone should be vegetarian or vegan.
• What animal makes the best pet?
• Visit an animal shelter, choose an animal that needs a home, and write an essay persuading someone to adopt that animal.
• Who is the world’s best athlete, present or past?
• Should little kids be allowed to play competitive sports?
• Are professional athletes/musicians/actors overpaid?
• The best music genre is …

• Is democracy the best form of government?
• Is capitalism the best form of economy?
• Students should/should not be able to use their phones during the school day.
• Should schools have dress codes?
• If I could change one school rule, it would be …
• Is year-round school a good idea?

A research essay is a classic high school assignment. These papers require deep research into primary source documents, with lots of supporting facts and evidence that’s properly cited. Research essays can be in any of the styles shown above. Here are some possible topics, across a variety of subjects.

• Which country’s style of government is best for the people who live there?
• Choose a country and analyze its development from founding to present day.
• Describe the causes and effects of a specific war.
• Formulate an ideal economic plan for our country.
• What scientific discovery has had the biggest impact on life today?

• Analyze the way mental health is viewed and treated in this country.
• Explore the ways systemic racism impacts people in all walks of life.
• Defend the importance of teaching music and the arts in public schools.
• Choose one animal from the endangered species list, and propose a realistic plan to protect it.

What are some of your favorite essay topics for high school? Come share your prompts on the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

Plus, check out the ultimate guide to student writing contests .

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The state of AI in early 2024: Gen AI adoption spikes and starts to generate value

If 2023 was the year the world discovered generative AI (gen AI) , 2024 is the year organizations truly began using—and deriving business value from—this new technology. In the latest McKinsey Global Survey  on AI, 65 percent of respondents report that their organizations are regularly using gen AI, nearly double the percentage from our previous survey just ten months ago. Respondents’ expectations for gen AI’s impact remain as high as they were last year , with three-quarters predicting that gen AI will lead to significant or disruptive change in their industries in the years ahead.

About the authors

This article is a collaborative effort by Alex Singla , Alexander Sukharevsky , Lareina Yee , and Michael Chui , with Bryce Hall , representing views from QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, and McKinsey Digital.

Organizations are already seeing material benefits from gen AI use, reporting both cost decreases and revenue jumps in the business units deploying the technology. The survey also provides insights into the kinds of risks presented by gen AI—most notably, inaccuracy—as well as the emerging practices of top performers to mitigate those challenges and capture value.

AI adoption surges

Interest in generative AI has also brightened the spotlight on a broader set of AI capabilities. For the past six years, AI adoption by respondents’ organizations has hovered at about 50 percent. This year, the survey finds that adoption has jumped to 72 percent (Exhibit 1). And the interest is truly global in scope. Our 2023 survey found that AI adoption did not reach 66 percent in any region; however, this year more than two-thirds of respondents in nearly every region say their organizations are using AI. 1 Organizations based in Central and South America are the exception, with 58 percent of respondents working for organizations based in Central and South America reporting AI adoption. Looking by industry, the biggest increase in adoption can be found in professional services. 2 Includes respondents working for organizations focused on human resources, legal services, management consulting, market research, R&D, tax preparation, and training.

Also, responses suggest that companies are now using AI in more parts of the business. Half of respondents say their organizations have adopted AI in two or more business functions, up from less than a third of respondents in 2023 (Exhibit 2).

Gen AI adoption is most common in the functions where it can create the most value

Most respondents now report that their organizations—and they as individuals—are using gen AI. Sixty-five percent of respondents say their organizations are regularly using gen AI in at least one business function, up from one-third last year. The average organization using gen AI is doing so in two functions, most often in marketing and sales and in product and service development—two functions in which previous research  determined that gen AI adoption could generate the most value 3 “ The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier ,” McKinsey, June 14, 2023. —as well as in IT (Exhibit 3). The biggest increase from 2023 is found in marketing and sales, where reported adoption has more than doubled. Yet across functions, only two use cases, both within marketing and sales, are reported by 15 percent or more of respondents.

Gen AI also is weaving its way into respondents’ personal lives. Compared with 2023, respondents are much more likely to be using gen AI at work and even more likely to be using gen AI both at work and in their personal lives (Exhibit 4). The survey finds upticks in gen AI use across all regions, with the largest increases in Asia–Pacific and Greater China. Respondents at the highest seniority levels, meanwhile, show larger jumps in the use of gen Al tools for work and outside of work compared with their midlevel-management peers. Looking at specific industries, respondents working in energy and materials and in professional services report the largest increase in gen AI use.

Investments in gen AI and analytical AI are beginning to create value

The latest survey also shows how different industries are budgeting for gen AI. Responses suggest that, in many industries, organizations are about equally as likely to be investing more than 5 percent of their digital budgets in gen AI as they are in nongenerative, analytical-AI solutions (Exhibit 5). Yet in most industries, larger shares of respondents report that their organizations spend more than 20 percent on analytical AI than on gen AI. Looking ahead, most respondents—67 percent—expect their organizations to invest more in AI over the next three years.

Where are those investments paying off? For the first time, our latest survey explored the value created by gen AI use by business function. The function in which the largest share of respondents report seeing cost decreases is human resources. Respondents most commonly report meaningful revenue increases (of more than 5 percent) in supply chain and inventory management (Exhibit 6). For analytical AI, respondents most often report seeing cost benefits in service operations—in line with what we found last year —as well as meaningful revenue increases from AI use in marketing and sales.

Inaccuracy: The most recognized and experienced risk of gen AI use

As businesses begin to see the benefits of gen AI, they’re also recognizing the diverse risks associated with the technology. These can range from data management risks such as data privacy, bias, or intellectual property (IP) infringement to model management risks, which tend to focus on inaccurate output or lack of explainability. A third big risk category is security and incorrect use.

Respondents to the latest survey are more likely than they were last year to say their organizations consider inaccuracy and IP infringement to be relevant to their use of gen AI, and about half continue to view cybersecurity as a risk (Exhibit 7).

Conversely, respondents are less likely than they were last year to say their organizations consider workforce and labor displacement to be relevant risks and are not increasing efforts to mitigate them.

In fact, inaccuracy— which can affect use cases across the gen AI value chain , ranging from customer journeys and summarization to coding and creative content—is the only risk that respondents are significantly more likely than last year to say their organizations are actively working to mitigate.

Some organizations have already experienced negative consequences from the use of gen AI, with 44 percent of respondents saying their organizations have experienced at least one consequence (Exhibit 8). Respondents most often report inaccuracy as a risk that has affected their organizations, followed by cybersecurity and explainability.

Our previous research has found that there are several elements of governance that can help in scaling gen AI use responsibly, yet few respondents report having these risk-related practices in place. 4 “ Implementing generative AI with speed and safety ,” McKinsey Quarterly , March 13, 2024. For example, just 18 percent say their organizations have an enterprise-wide council or board with the authority to make decisions involving responsible AI governance, and only one-third say gen AI risk awareness and risk mitigation controls are required skill sets for technical talent.

Bringing gen AI capabilities to bear

The latest survey also sought to understand how, and how quickly, organizations are deploying these new gen AI tools. We have found three archetypes for implementing gen AI solutions : takers use off-the-shelf, publicly available solutions; shapers customize those tools with proprietary data and systems; and makers develop their own foundation models from scratch. 5 “ Technology’s generational moment with generative AI: A CIO and CTO guide ,” McKinsey, July 11, 2023. Across most industries, the survey results suggest that organizations are finding off-the-shelf offerings applicable to their business needs—though many are pursuing opportunities to customize models or even develop their own (Exhibit 9). About half of reported gen AI uses within respondents’ business functions are utilizing off-the-shelf, publicly available models or tools, with little or no customization. Respondents in energy and materials, technology, and media and telecommunications are more likely to report significant customization or tuning of publicly available models or developing their own proprietary models to address specific business needs.

Respondents most often report that their organizations required one to four months from the start of a project to put gen AI into production, though the time it takes varies by business function (Exhibit 10). It also depends upon the approach for acquiring those capabilities. Not surprisingly, reported uses of highly customized or proprietary models are 1.5 times more likely than off-the-shelf, publicly available models to take five months or more to implement.

Gen AI high performers are excelling despite facing challenges

Gen AI is a new technology, and organizations are still early in the journey of pursuing its opportunities and scaling it across functions. So it’s little surprise that only a small subset of respondents (46 out of 876) report that a meaningful share of their organizations’ EBIT can be attributed to their deployment of gen AI. Still, these gen AI leaders are worth examining closely. These, after all, are the early movers, who already attribute more than 10 percent of their organizations’ EBIT to their use of gen AI. Forty-two percent of these high performers say more than 20 percent of their EBIT is attributable to their use of nongenerative, analytical AI, and they span industries and regions—though most are at organizations with less than $1 billion in annual revenue. The AI-related practices at these organizations can offer guidance to those looking to create value from gen AI adoption at their own organizations.

To start, gen AI high performers are using gen AI in more business functions—an average of three functions, while others average two. They, like other organizations, are most likely to use gen AI in marketing and sales and product or service development, but they’re much more likely than others to use gen AI solutions in risk, legal, and compliance; in strategy and corporate finance; and in supply chain and inventory management. They’re more than three times as likely as others to be using gen AI in activities ranging from processing of accounting documents and risk assessment to R&D testing and pricing and promotions. While, overall, about half of reported gen AI applications within business functions are utilizing publicly available models or tools, gen AI high performers are less likely to use those off-the-shelf options than to either implement significantly customized versions of those tools or to develop their own proprietary foundation models.

What else are these high performers doing differently? For one thing, they are paying more attention to gen-AI-related risks. Perhaps because they are further along on their journeys, they are more likely than others to say their organizations have experienced every negative consequence from gen AI we asked about, from cybersecurity and personal privacy to explainability and IP infringement. Given that, they are more likely than others to report that their organizations consider those risks, as well as regulatory compliance, environmental impacts, and political stability, to be relevant to their gen AI use, and they say they take steps to mitigate more risks than others do.

Gen AI high performers are also much more likely to say their organizations follow a set of risk-related best practices (Exhibit 11). For example, they are nearly twice as likely as others to involve the legal function and embed risk reviews early on in the development of gen AI solutions—that is, to “ shift left .” They’re also much more likely than others to employ a wide range of other best practices, from strategy-related practices to those related to scaling.

In addition to experiencing the risks of gen AI adoption, high performers have encountered other challenges that can serve as warnings to others (Exhibit 12). Seventy percent say they have experienced difficulties with data, including defining processes for data governance, developing the ability to quickly integrate data into AI models, and an insufficient amount of training data, highlighting the essential role that data play in capturing value. High performers are also more likely than others to report experiencing challenges with their operating models, such as implementing agile ways of working and effective sprint performance management.

About the research

The online survey was in the field from February 22 to March 5, 2024, and garnered responses from 1,363 participants representing the full range of regions, industries, company sizes, functional specialties, and tenures. Of those respondents, 981 said their organizations had adopted AI in at least one business function, and 878 said their organizations were regularly using gen AI in at least one function. To adjust for differences in response rates, the data are weighted by the contribution of each respondent’s nation to global GDP.

Alex Singla and Alexander Sukharevsky  are global coleaders of QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, and senior partners in McKinsey’s Chicago and London offices, respectively; Lareina Yee  is a senior partner in the Bay Area office, where Michael Chui , a McKinsey Global Institute partner, is a partner; and Bryce Hall  is an associate partner in the Washington, DC, office.

They wish to thank Kaitlin Noe, Larry Kanter, Mallika Jhamb, and Shinjini Srivastava for their contributions to this work.

This article was edited by Heather Hanselman, a senior editor in McKinsey’s Atlanta office.

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Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot – your copilot for work

Mar 16, 2023 | Jared Spataro - CVP, AI at Work

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Humans are hard-wired to dream, to create, to innovate. Each of us seeks to do work that gives us purpose — to write a great novel, to make a discovery, to build strong communities, to care for the sick. The urge to connect to the core of our work lives in all of us. But today, we spend too much time consumed by the drudgery of work on tasks that zap our time, creativity and energy. To reconnect to the soul of our work, we don’t just need a better way of doing the same things. We need a whole new way to work.

Today, we are bringing the power of next-generation AI to work. Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot — your copilot for work . It combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with your data in the Microsoft Graph and the Microsoft 365 apps to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet.

“Today marks the next major step in the evolution of how we interact with computing, which will fundamentally change the way we work and unlock a new wave of productivity growth,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “With our new copilot for work, we’re giving people more agency and making technology more accessible through the most universal interface — natural language.”

Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 in two ways. It works alongside you, embedded in the Microsoft 365 apps you use every day — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more — to unleash creativity, unlock productivity and uplevel skills. Today we’re also announcing an entirely new experience: Business Chat . Business Chat works across the LLM, the Microsoft 365 apps, and your data — your calendar, emails, chats, documents, meetings and contacts — to do things you’ve never been able to do before. You can give it natural language prompts like “Tell my team how we updated the product strategy,” and it will generate a status update based on the morning’s meetings, emails and chat threads.

With Copilot, you’re always in control. You decide what to keep, modify or discard. Now, you can be more creative in Word, more analytical in Excel, more expressive in PowerPoint, more productive in Outlook and more collaborative in Teams.

Microsoft 365 Copilot transforms work in three ways:

Unleash creativity. With Copilot in Word, you can jump-start the creative process so you never start with a blank slate again. Copilot gives you a first draft to edit and iterate on — saving hours in writing, sourcing, and editing time. Sometimes Copilot will be right, other times usefully wrong — but it will always put you further ahead. You’re always in control as the author, driving your unique ideas forward, prompting Copilot to shorten, rewrite or give feedback. Copilot in PowerPoint helps you create beautiful presentations with a simple prompt, adding relevant content from a document you made last week or last year. And with Copilot in Excel, you can analyze trends and create professional-looking data visualizations in seconds.

Unlock productivity. We all want to focus on the 20% of our work that really matters, but 80% of our time is consumed with busywork that bogs us down. Copilot lightens the load. From summarizing long email threads to quickly drafting suggested replies, Copilot in Outlook helps you clear your inbox in minutes, not hours. And every meeting is a productive meeting with Copilot in Teams. It can summarize key discussion points — including who said what and where people are aligned and where they disagree — and suggest action items, all in real time during a meeting. And with Copilot in Power Platform, anyone can automate repetitive tasks, create chatbots and go from idea to working app in minutes.

GitHub data shows that Copilot promises to unlock productivity for everyone. Among developers who use GitHub Copilot, 88% say they are more productive, 74% say that they can focus on more satisfying work, and 77% say it helps them spend less time searching for information or examples.

But Copilot doesn’t just supercharge individual productivity. It creates a new knowledge model for every organization — harnessing the massive reservoir of data and insights that lies largely inaccessible and untapped today. Business Chat works across all your business data and apps to surface the information and insights you need from a sea of data — so knowledge flows freely across the organization, saving you valuable time searching for answers. You will be able to access Business Chat from Microsoft 365.com, from Bing when you’re signed in with your work account, or from Teams.

Uplevel skills. Copilot makes you better at what you’re good at and lets you quickly master what you’ve yet to learn. The average person uses only a handful of commands — such as “animate a slide” or “insert a table” — from the thousands available across Microsoft 365. Now, all that rich functionality is unlocked using just natural language. And this is only the beginning.

Copilot will fundamentally change how people work with AI and how AI works with people. As with any new pattern of work, there’s a learning curve — but those who embrace this new way of working will quickly gain an edge.

The Copilot System: Enterprise-ready AI

Microsoft is uniquely positioned to deliver enterprise-ready AI with the Copilot System . Copilot is more than OpenAI’s ChatGPT embedded into Microsoft 365. It’s a sophisticated processing and orchestration engine working behind the scenes to combine the power of LLMs, including GPT-4, with the Microsoft 365 apps and your business data in the Microsoft Graph — now accessible to everyone through natural language.

Grounded in your business data. AI-powered LLMs are trained on a large but limited corpus of data. The key to unlocking productivity in business lies in connecting LLMs to your business data — in a secure, compliant, privacy-preserving way. Microsoft 365 Copilot has real-time access to both your content and context in the Microsoft Graph. This means it generates answers anchored in your business content — your documents, emails, calendar, chats, meetings, contacts and other business data — and combines them with your working context — the meeting you’re in now, the email exchanges you’ve had on a topic, the chat conversations you had last week — to deliver accurate, relevant, contextual responses.

Built on Microsoft’s comprehensive approach to security, compliance and privacy. Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 and automatically inherits all your company’s valuable security, compliance, and privacy policies and processes. Two-factor authentication, compliance boundaries, privacy protections, and more make Copilot the AI solution you can trust.

Architected to protect tenant, group and individual data. We know data leakage is a concern for customers. Copilot LLMs are not trained on your tenant data or your prompts. Within your tenant, our time-tested permissioning model ensures that data won’t leak across user groups. And on an individual level, Copilot presents only data you can access using the same technology that we’ve been using for years to secure customer data.

Integrated into the apps millions use every day. Microsoft 365 Copilot is integrated in the productivity apps millions of people use and rely on every day for work and life — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more. An intuitive and consistent user experience ensures it looks, feels and behaves the same way in Teams as it does in Outlook, with a shared design language for prompts, refinements and commands.

Designed to learn new skills.  Microsoft 365 Copilot’s foundational skills are a game changer for productivity: It can already create, summarize, analyze, collaborate and automate using your specific business content and context. But it doesn’t stop there. Copilot knows how to command apps (e.g., “animate this slide”) and work across apps, translating a Word document into a PowerPoint presentation. And Copilot is designed to learn new skills. For example, with Viva Sales, Copilot can learn how to connect to CRM systems of record to pull customer data — like interaction and order histories — into communications. As Copilot learns about new domains and processes, it will be able to perform even more sophisticated tasks and queries.

Committed to building responsibly

At Microsoft, we are guided by our AI principles and Responsible AI Standard and decades of research on AI, grounding and privacy-preserving machine learning. A multidisciplinary team of researchers, engineers and policy experts reviews our AI systems for potential harms and mitigations — refining training data, filtering to limit harmful content, query- and result-blocking sensitive topics, and applying Microsoft technologies like InterpretML and Fairlearn to help detect and correct data bias. We make it clear how the system makes decisions by noting limitations, linking to sources, and prompting users to review, fact-check and adjust content based on subject-matter expertise.

Moving boldly as we learn  

In the months ahead, we’re bringing Copilot to all our productivity apps—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Viva, Power Platform, and more. We’ll share more on pricing and licensing soon. Earlier this month we announced Dynamics 365 Copilot as the world’s first AI Copilot in both CRM and ERP to bring the next-generation AI to every line of business.

Everyone deserves to find purpose and meaning in their work — and Microsoft 365 Copilot can help. To serve the unmet needs of our customers, we must move quickly and responsibly, learning as we go. We’re testing Copilot with a small group of customers to get feedback and improve our models as we scale, and we will expand to more soon.

Learn more on the Microsoft 365 blog and visit WorkLab to get expert insights on how AI will create a brighter future of work for everyone.

And for all the blogs, videos and assets related to today’s announcements, please visit our microsite .

Tags: AI , Microsoft 365 , Microsoft 365 Copilot

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