How to Spot a Manager in a Crowd

This is the second in a series of essays that addresses major topics in the field of management. The author bases these essays on countless provocative lectures and irreverent discussions as a nutty professor of business administration.

When I teach Introduction to Management courses, I always challenge myself to elicit some level of interest or intrigue before starting any day's lecture. At the very beginning of the course, I pose the following question:

"You walk into an organization as an outsider with a vested interested in being there, and need or want to talk to 'the manager.' There are a number of people milling around, looking as if they are all doing tasks that they are supposed to do. Most people would stop the first person they see and ask who the manager is, or where the manager's office is. But picture yourself trying to identify the manager just from observation, using your eyes and ears. What would you look for in order to decide which person should be approached as the most likely person to be the manager you want to talk to?"

When I ask that in class, answers are "the manager is the one who's giving the orders," "the manager is the one with a lot of important papers in his hand," "the manager is dressed better than everyone else," and "the manager is the one who looks most stressed out and in a big hurry."

Let's not bet the ranch on any of those criteria, OK? Let's define management. Now, there are lots and lots of formal definitions of management. That's fine, because the point is not to define management correctly. The point is to adequately define management for present purposes, so you know what I mean by it and so the rest of my discussions will be framed in a consistent way. My definition of management, from experience and from borrowing bits and pieces of other definitions, is this:

Management is the art and science of planning, organizing, motivating and controlling the effective and efficient use of resources in goal-oriented organizations.

It took me years to come up with that one, though most of it is stolen. So let's deconstruct it so that you understand my thinking.