THE CONCEPT OF MANAGEMENT IN ADVANCED SOCIETIES: The concept of management as an economic process in essence and by function is a modern one, dating from the Industrial Revolution which began in Europe with the invention of the first power loom in the mid-eighteenth century. During the tens of centuries preceding the birth and growth of the industrial system, the only form of management known to humanity was military leadership. It was only in this area that managerial skills were apparent, and where one commander could excel over another by dint of better management. But with the development of the industrial system, that is, with the shift from an agriculturally-based economy to one based on industry, employers in the societies where the system was born discovered that the output of workers varied in terms of both quantity and quality according to the person of the shift foreman. In other words, the same workers who produced a certain volume of a given quality under the supervision of one foreman produced a different volume and quality under the supervision of another. This brought home to employers the importance of sup vision, which is essentially a primitive form of management, in the process production. They realized that it was not a marginal factor limited to imposing formalistic discipline on workers, but that it actually added value to the production process. The Industrial Revolution introduced whole new set of values, like the importance of observing schedules an meeting specifications. It also marks the discovery by employers of the first of to modern forms of management. As the production process grew ever more complex, as it expanded into a chain correlated stages comprising planning, production and marketing, each with its own sub-stages, the value of management as a decisive element in the success of the roduction process grew. It is important to emphasize here that the main axis of management in its modern sense has from the start been commercial and economic one, in the sense that employers discovered that certain supervisors and managers yielded higher output than others and that this translated into a higher commercial return. Thus the concept of management in industrial societies was linked from the start to the idea of profit, which is the basis of what is today termed economic management, or the enhancement of efficient and profitable operation of the production process through sound management . In fact, the criterion or unit used in industrial societies to measure the success of management is an economic one. This takes the form of specific economic criteria by which the efficiency of management can be measured, i.e., rules now exist to measure the profitability of work as an economic criterion by which to determine the success or failure of management. II-     THE ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT: Although management began in the form of supervision, it has since evolved far beyond this primitive stage. It would be totally erroneous today to regard supervision and management as being one and the same thing. Supervision is the most elementary form of management, while modern economic management as we know it today is a complex process that can only be carried out by persons displaying specific traits, some innate, others acquired through training and experience. These traits can be defined as follows: 1.   LEADERSHIP SKILLS: A study of economic life as it has evolved the advanced world shows that society can be roughly divided into two categories or groups: The first, and by far the largest, group is made up of people who are temperamentally suited to work either as part of a team under the leadership of an individual, or in isolation from others, like scholars, researchers or laboratory technicians. The productivity of the members of both these sub-groupings - those who are suited to work closely with others in a spirit of cooperative team-work and those who, being temperamentally un-suited to work with others, prefer to work alone - can be greatly enhanced through sound management. In the case of those who prefer working as part of a team, this could be achieved through providing them with training, fostering an esprit de corps and offering them motivation, and in the case of those who prefer to work alone, through providing them with opportunities to specialize in their chosen field so that they can in time become experts in that field. The second group is made up of a limited number of individuals blessed with a natural ability to lead others. This quality, however,  is a necessary but not sufficient condition for effective leadership. Like any talent,  leadership must be nurtured and honed if it is to realize its full potential. In much the same way that musical talent can only develop through study, training and practice, so too a talent for leadership must be cultivated and directed. Indeed, there is a risk that, without proper guidance, a talent for leadership could degenerate into a form of tyranny. One of the tasks of management in any organization, corporate or otherwise, is to constantly scout out the potential leaders   among its pool of employees by closely monitoring employees to discover those among them with leadership qualities.  In advanced industrial societies, the right to occupy leading positions is not determined by reference to such factors as age, academic qualifications and seniority but depends, in the first instance, on the candidate's aptitudes and talents, especially on his possession of the rare quality of leadership, plus of course experience and training.  The more an organization selects its managers according to their leadership abilities, the more  successful will be that organization. There is a firm belief in the West that the  driving force which impels society forward is the spirit of competition among its members.  Another firm belief is that something like the theory of natural selection, propounded by the eminent naturalist Charles Darwin over a hundred      years ago, should prevail in society.  In this logic, the higher levels of management must constantly on the lookout for individuals in the organization who exhibit leadership abilities. At the same time, encouraging the spirit of competition makes the process of natural selection much easier. 2.  VISION: The word vision inevitably crops up today in any talk of leaders or managers. As used in this context, it refers to the ability of some individuals to make projections of the future from the facts at hand. This ability is made up of several component elements: A comprehensive grasp of the givens of reality, together with the ability to assess what impact prevailing and potential conditions could have on the course of events. A flair for making the optimum choices on the basis of this  comprehensive grasp of present reality. The capacity to rise above the  minutiae of day to day reality and formulate an overview of the general picture, to ignore the trees and see the forest, as it were. Management experts in giant    international corporations have coined the term "helicopter ability" to describe this capacity. There is no doubt that vision in this sense is an indispensable prerequisite for both top- and medium-level managers. 3.   INNOVATION  AND CREATIVITY: Management experts in advanced societies have noticed from their study of thousand of annual reports on large numbers and sectors  of employees in various corporations and economic organization that most people perform their work according to set patterns, without trying to introduce variations from time to time. to their techniques of work or  to the idea behind these techniques. They  also noticed that, in marked contrast to the vast majority, a small percentage of employees constantly reexamine their technique and performance, making for a corresponding renewal in the form and substance of their work. Constantly trying to break out of the mould in which most of  their colleagues are content to remain throughout their working life, these  employees seek always to renew, create and innovate. Those who reach the pinnacles of power in the biggest corporations come from this small group or innovative and creative people who refuse to be typecast and who are driven by a compulsion to renew and develop themselves continuously. 4.   BUSINESS SENSE: People in public employment, particularly in government departments. often lose sight of the fact that the ultimate goal of any work is the realization of profits. For economic corporations and establishments in advanced industrial societies, on the other hand, the  profit-making ethic reigns supreme. As they see it, each and every employee, however humble his position in the organizational structure, should focus his sights on that  ultimate goal of realizing profits and economic success. Business sense is one of those elusive attributes that separate effective managers from less effective ones. As any economic unit in. advanced industrial societies is  appraised in terms of its commercial success, a manager's business sense is constantly called into play as he strives to expand the horizons of his unit's success. This should become the norm in a country like Egypt today, where business sense is woefully  lacking. Managers of companies and establishments and key executives in these   units must be called to account for the   economic performance of their units according to standardised criteria.  Units which fail to meet these criteria should be subject to sanctions, at the very least, salaries and bonuses should be linked to the degree of economic success achieved by the unit. Moreover, the continued occupation of positions of responsibility should be made conditional on the incumbent's success in achieving targeted commercial results. If a company that is losing annually,    or even showing profits below those protected,  remains under the same management year after year, this does not make for a healthy climate of work. Quite the contrary, it dampens the enthusiasm and commitment of most, if not all, the members of the company's work force and strips them of all initiative. 5.  ABILITY TO DELEGATE: Management In underdeveloped societies differs from that In advanced societies In many ways. One of the most important is that in underdeveloped societies management tends to be highly centralized, often authorisation If not outright autocratic. Power Is usually concentrated In the hands of the man at the top of the organizational structure, the "boss", while subordinates are relegated to carrying out orders without being involved at any stage of the decision-making process. As a result, large numbers of  employees become so alienated that they are unfit for any but the most undemanding work. In advanced societies, on the other hand, the concept of modern management has greatly evolved in the direction of delegating authority to middle-level managers. Today, delegation has become one of the fundamental principles of successful management. It is a principle founded on the belief that delegation is highly beneficial to all parties: manager, subordinates and organization. The more day-to-day responsibilities a manager can delegate, the more time he has to pursue a strategic role, defined more in  terms of planning, visualizing long-term perspectives and following up the attainment of organizational goals than of actual  execution. The scope of vision of a manager who applies the principle of delegation in his organization Is definitely broader than that of the manager who gets bogged down in details. The subordinate to whom some of the  manager's responsibilities are delegated develops strong loyalty to the organization, becomes more effective and shows greater initiative. An organization run according to the principle of delegation is one in which a harmonious spirit of healthy cooperation,  devoid of in-fighting and power struggles, prevails. Delegation reflects self-confidence on the part   of the manager assigning part of his work-load to others, as well as his confidence in the ability of others to carry out the tasks delegated to them. By the same token, a manager who does not delegate authority is an insecure man who lacks confidence in his own abilities, let alone in the abilities of subordinates. Extensive research proves that a manager who does not believe In delegation ends up running an organization that is fraught with internal tensions, between himself and his subordinates on the one hand and among  these subordinates on the other. 6.  ABILITY TO MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES: An essential qualification of a successful manager or leader is his ability to stimulate enthusiasm and dedication in the people  working with him. Employee motivation is of crucial importance to managers, mainly because of the role it plays in performance. Basically, a motivated employee is one who   sees organizational goals as part of his own  goal sets and works hard to achieve them.   Loyal and dedicated, he is eager to rise to the challenges of his job and unstinting in his  efforts to maintain a high performance rate. An unmotivated employee, on the other hand, is one who will do only the bare  minimum necessary to get by, and no more. A manager who demotivates his employees  ends up with a demoralized and inefficient staff, unwilling to make any meaningful contribution to the organization. Motivating employees is thus beneficial not only for the workers themselves, but also, and equally, for the organization and the manager. There are several methods by which employees can be motivated, including financial rewards and other benefits that reflect management's satisfaction with an employee's performance. However, while the role of material incentives in the motivational factors have proved equally effective: a)  Future prospects, promotion and advancement: An employee's will to work can be greatly stimulated (especially during the first two-thirds of his working life) if he believes that his efforts will result in his promotion and elevation to a higher level within the organizational hierarchy. b)   Moral appreciation: Motivation can be greatly enhanced through job satisfaction, which is the employee's feeling that management is satisfied with his performance and appreciates the value of his input. 7.  ABILITY TO CREATE BELIEVERS, NOT FOLLOWERS: One of the main ideas put forward in contemporary management perspectives is that an effective manager is one who succeeds in. making the people working for  him believe in what they are doing. rather than follow orders blindly. A subordinate  who is convinced of the value of his work and of the aims of the organization by which  he is employed will strive to achieve those aims. The reverse is equally true: a subordinate who does not identify with his organization's goals will not perform  effectively. In the same way an army that believes in the justness of its cause will fight better than an army whose soldiers are simply following orders, an organization in which there is a high degree of belief and commitment among the staff will operate at  high capacity to achieve its goals. 8.  CHARISMA: The term charisma has come to be widely used over the last two decades to describe an intangible attribute in a person's personality that inspires loyalty and enthusiasm in his peers or subordinates. As applied to leaders or managers, it denotes the ability to influence the behaviour of others. Charisma-based influence can be clearly discerned in the case of orators: the same speech delivered by two different people can elicit very different responses. Where one speaker can sway his audience through sheer force of personality, or charisma, the other might leave them  totally unmoved. A necessary attribute in leaders, orators and preachers, a certain  measure of charisma is also an asset in organizational leadership or management. 9.  ABILITY TO ACHIEVE THE DIFFICULT EQUATION OF HORIZONTAL & VERTICAL JOB- ENRICHMENT: A significant contribution to management theory and practice came from a noted professor of management at Harvard  University, who noticed that most top leadership positions in the United States are not filled by technocrats.  For example, the current Defence Secretary, Dick Cheney, is not a military man, the Health Secretary is not a doctor and the Education Secretary was never pedagogue.  After extensive research, the author concluded that all cabinet ministers and top executives of major corporations in the US (who are even more powerful in American society than cabinet ministers) are drawn from a pool of public figures know in contemporary management terminology as "generalists". The survey conducted by the Harvard professor covered   the chief executives of such giant corporations as General Motors, Esso,  General Electric and Ford as well as hundreds  of top public officials. According to the study, this is in direct contrast to the pattern prevailing in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Third World countries - especially those applying a command economy - where all ministerial and top economic and managerial posts are filled by specialized technocrats.  For example, the Minister for Electrical Power in the Soviet Union is an electrical engineer who began his career in a power plant thirty years ago and moved up gradually to his present post. His case is a typical example of how most of the leading administrative and economic posts are filled in these countries. Analyzing this phenomenon. the author notes that only a free and effective management climate such as that prevailing in advanced societies can produce the generalist manager, whose dependence on his field of specialization ends some ten years  after graduation. Following that period, he begins to learn new skills - managerial, economic and technical - that broaden his horizons and enhance his job-enrichment potential. It is the experience and skills he acquires at this time that qualify him for leadership. To illustrate how the concept of management has evolved from that of the specialized manager, or technocrat, to that of the  generalist breed of managers, the author points to the field or hospital management in the United States. The exclusive province  of doctors in the past, has, over the last fifty years, come to be seen more as a managerial than a medical function and hospitals are  now administered by managers drawn from outside the medical profession. The author drives home the point that the  responsibilities of running a hospital are  more managerial than medical in nature by listing the functions of any hospital administrator. These include, for example: -          the supply and purchase of material and equipment, including furniture, kitchens, generators, computers, etc. -          personnel affairs: recruiting, hiring and training of hospital staff, as well as dealing with doctors and surgeons. -          administrative affairs: the organizational structure of the hospital, departmentalization, spans of control, etc. These functions make it abundantly clear that hospital management is a specialty that is quite separate and distinct from that of the medical profession. What applies to hospitals applies equally to any organization, where the scope of management, especially at the highest levels, extends far beyond that of narrow  specialization. An effective manager must be skilled in administrative, economic and commercial matters, skills that can only be acquired after long years of training and experience outside the area of narrow specialization. It is these general qualifications which, together with predisposition and talent. create the successful manager. Accordingly, one of the most important tasks of management is to  strike the appropriate balance between horizontal and vertical job-enrichment in order to create a small group of generalists capable of realizing effective, creative, productive and developed management. 10.   ABILITY TO TEACH OTHERS: The ability to teach others is a vital component of the successful leader or manager.   It is impossible for a person lacking this aptitude to lead large numbers of employees. The transmission of experience, ideas and acquired skills to others within an organization, and hence the continued development of that organization, can only be achieved through the process of teaching. III-          MANAGEMENT'S ROLE IN   REFORMING SOCIETY. An enormous gap separates the developed industrial countries from those of the Third World, as well as from those of what is  known as the Second World, which comprises the Soviet Union and the  countries of Eastern Europe. The gap arose as a result of the general and comprehensive development of the former and the back-wardness and regression of the latter. Even if  the countries of the Third World were to attain the same rates of productivity and progress as those prevailing in the countries of the advanced world, this would not narrow the gap between the two worlds, because the latter will also continue to move forward.    The situation lends itself to one of three possibilities: 1-            Either that Third World countries  continue to move forward at the same sluggish pace, while those of the advanced world maintain their current rates of development. 2-            Or that they succeed in achieving the same rate of progress as the advanced countries. 3-            Or that they succeed not only in progressing at the same pace but in actually narrowing the gap separating them from the advanced countries. In the first case, the gap between the two worlds will widen still further, exposing Third World countries to acute social problems, which could take the form of social upheavals or even civil war. In the second case, the gap between the two worlds will remain the same, with the result that the Third World will continue to be dependent on the advanced industrial world in the area of science and technology. Should the third scenario come to pass, then the Third World could approach the Japanese model and, at a later stage, the South Korean model, both examples of countries which, while not belonging to the advanced Western world, have nevertheless caught up with and stand on an equal footing with the countries  of that world. The third scenario can only be achieve through creative and effective management.  In as much as the main challenge for Third World countries is to change individual and group behavioural norms and to modify certain sets of values hindering progress, the only tool capable of effecting the desired changes within a reasonable time-frame is  sound management. It is impossible to effect changes in societal patterns of behaviour through political and legislative tools, and  all attempts to do so in contemporary history have proved singularly unsuccessful. A country like Egypt cannot hope to  overcome the multitude of problems besetting without a revolution in  management that would replace the civil servants currently occupying top management posts by economic managers in  the contemporary sense of the word. The bureaucratic prototype of the manager produced by Third world countries in the fifties and sixties under the influence of  socialist ideas has become one of the main diseases plaguing these countries. Keeping glorified civil servants in top management posts can only compound the economic problems of Third World countries, which must rid themselves of these poor excuses for managers without further delay. IV-          FACTORS IMPEDING MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT. 1-   A strong sense of rights without a corresponding sense of obligations: The members of any society that has gone through a period of socialist rule are highly conscious of their rights without developing  a sense of duty and obligation. Much of the blame can be traced to labour legislations  whose strong bias in favour of employees and hostility to employers is reflected in the respective scope of the rights granted to each. This makes for a sharp discrepancy between the rights of employees on the one hand and those of employers on the other. In Western societies on the other hand, where the spirit of competition is pervasive and where an employee knows he will remain in    his job only as long as his performance is satisfactory, the sense of obligation which employees feel towards their place of work is  as well-developed as their sense of rights. 2-   Perceiving employment as a social right:  In advanced industrial societies, a job is regarded both as a component element of the production process and as the means by which individuals can earn a living through contributing to this process. In societies with a socialist orientation, jobs are widely regarded as one of the rights of citizenship that is the due of any citizen regardless of the value of his work or the manner of its performance. 3-   A weak commitment to work: Management experts in advanced industrial societies talk of a special bond that should exist in the relationship between the worker  and the place of work, referring to it  sometimes as loyalty and sometimes as commitment. Whatever the term used, an employee who is highly committed to his work is a great asset. When this intangible bond is absent, it is not the fault of the  employee alone, but the natural result of a disbalance in his relationship with his place of work. Here management's responsibility  is undeniable. 4-  Eastern life-style hinders adoption of work ethic prevailing in advanced societies: Life in Eastern societies is characterised- by a high degree of social intercourse, which represents an important value in people' lives and takes up a great deal of their time The  tempo of life in these societies being what it is, it is difficult for work to be the focal  point of people's lives. While nobody wants our society to become a replica of the West, where individualism has taker precedence  over the communal spirit and where social and family ties are disintegrating, a middle course can surely be struck between the two  life-styles, one in which social life need not function a the expense of dedication to work. 5-   Misconceptions concerning the  prerogatives of management: The citizens of developed societies recognize that one of the prerogatives of managers and employers is the right to decide, at their sole discretion, to terminate an employee who fails to produce the required quantity or quality of work. This is far from axiomatic in our society, where management's dismissal of an employee for poor  performance invariably arouses furious hostility, that is further exacerbated by the absence of a system of unemployment  insurance like that available in advanced societies. This immature understanding of the prerogatives of management is yet  another constraint hampering the freedom of managers. 6-   Decline in general and technical education and in standards of crafts: Egypt's introduction to education in its contemporary sense dates back to the era of Mohamed Aly, who sent the first of many missions of Egyptian students to Europe in 1826. By the third decade of this century, general and university education in Egypt was quite advanced. In fact, the Egyptian educational system at the time was on a par  with the systems in the most advanced  countries. But with the political trend of the fifties and sixties to expand education quantitatively, that is, to make it available to hundreds of thousands, rather than tens of thousands, came a sharp decline in the quality of education and in the standards of teachers and students. The decline in the standard of the teaching profession was further exacerbated by the political and economic conditions prevailing in the fifties and sixties. This was followed by a sharp rise in the demand for teachers, both internally and in the Arab countries, a development that contributed to the deterioration in standards of performance. As the demand for quantity grew, quality declined. and teaching came to be seen more as a craft than a profession. The decline in general and technical education and in  standards of crafts is naturally reflected in the quality of the labour pool from which management is forced to recruit staff  members. 7-   Absence of a spirit of competition: The continued progress of Western industrial societies can be largely attributed to the spirit of competition which pervades all walks of life. Starting from primary school  and on through all stages of education, training and work, the citizens of these societies are spurred on by their competitive drive. It is this mechanism which allows advanced societies to constantly sift through their human resources for the best and most efficient elements who can lead society and push the the wheel of progress forward. The spirit of competition is sadly lacking in  Third World societies (as well as in those of     the Second World), with the result that mediocrity has become the order of the day. Competing for excellence has been replaced    by rivalry in forming cliques and power groups and in fomenting intrigues. 8-   Unfamiliarity with the Western model of the executive manager: The idea of the executive manager, or CEO,  so firmly established in the West, is unknown in Third World countries. In Western industrial societies, the executive manager is a person who has proved himself a generalist capable of achieving economic success for his organization and possessed of  all the attributes of an effective manager. In Third World societies, on the other hand, those who go by the title of manager are  actually civil service staff who are totally unversed in the science of management in its contemporary sense. Advanced societies have turned their back on this model of the civil servant manager who has proved incapable of achieving economic success. 9-   Weakness of professional training: One of the most effective formulae by which employee productivity can be maximised is the development of work-related skills through training.  Most organizations in advanced industrial societies provide regular training programmes for their staff, which are a key element in the progress   and development of these societies.  The  importance of training  is  poorly understood  in Third World countries, where the civil  servant mentality has give rise to such adverse side-effects as promotion by seniority regardless of merit.  By developing the potentials of employees, training allows employers to pick the best among them for assignment to special tasks.  The current state of the Egyptian labour force in general and of the technical labour force in general  and of the technical labour force in particular makes it imperative to focus on training as the means by which society's potential for development can be unleashed. 10-   Prevalence of the autocratic model of manager: In Third World countries, the autocratic style of management is predominant.  Power is concentrated in the hands of the manager,  who relegates those immediately below him in the chain of command to the status of lowly soldiers taking orders without question from their general. There are many reasons for the prevalence of this phenomenon, the  most important being that in a society  dominated by the civil servant mentality, top positions are all too often filled by  incompetent people who could never have risen to positions of responsibility if advancement depended on competence. In fact, the refusal of the autocratic manager to delegate any of his powers is more revealing of his lack of confidence in his own abilities than it is of a lack of confidence in the  abilities of others. 11-   Tendency to personalize objective  factors: In Eastern cultures, the lines of demarcation between the objective and the personal are often blurred. This curious phenomenon can  be seen in any debate between people holding different viewpoints. Instead of arguing their case on the basis of its objective merits, we find them launching personal attacks against the proponent of the opposing point of view. Mixing the objective with the personal is a negative characteristic of tribal cultures which can only be overcome through raising the educational and cultural level of society as a whole. 12-   The attitude to promotions: Promotion in our society proceeds according to outdated notions that   need to be totally revolutionized. In the advanced world, promotion and leadership are no longer a function of seniority, age or chronological sequence of graduation or employment,  but  are based on ability and performance. In our society, on the other hand, age is unduly venerated, perhaps because of our long  history. This perception of seniority must change if we are to progress. 13-   Failure to differentiate between performance and potential: Research has clearly indicated that most managers in Third World countries do not distinguish between performance and potential. In advanced industrial societies a manager will try to appraise an employee's performance (that is determine how effective he is in attaining the goals of his actual job) separately from his potential (which is the possibilities of future advancement). High performance merits such rewards as raises, bonuses and moral appreciation but on its own is not grounds for promotion. What determines an employee's promotion is management's judgement of his potential. An employee with a high performance rating could lack the attributes necessary for his promotion to a higher level of responsibility. 14-   Weakness of management system: Lack of discipline within an organizational framework is a major defect of Third World societies. It falls to effective management  and the educational institution to remedy this defect and thereby remove one of the main obstacles in the way of progress. 15-   Lack of assimilation of values governing Industrial societies: The transition of Western countries from an agricultural to an industrial system, a process which began over two centuries ago, wrought radical changes in society, especially in what sociologists call the system of values. The industrial revolution brought with it a whole new set of values, headed by an enhanced appreciation of time, precision and productivity, values which are today firmly established in industrial societies. One of the most pressing tasks of our educational institution is to implant these values in society. The notion of time in an agricultural society, where life revolves around the cycle of the seasons and the  vagaries of nature,   is much more fluid than it is in Western societies, where time is money  and schedules and deadlines must be strictly observed. Until we adopt the values of industrial societies, we cannot effect the required changes in individual and group patterns of behaviour.