Is management is a profession?

[luttu]

Do you agree that management is a profession?

[nbm]

A profession has following five characteristics:

1. Existence of knowledge.

2 Formal teaching of knowledge.

3. Existence of representative body.

4. Ethical standards.

5. Reasonable Remuneration.

(1) Existence of knowledge—There exists a rapid expanding body of knowledge underlying the management field. For being a successful manager one has to study this set of knowledge. A systematic body of knowledge that can be used for professional development has evolved during the last sue decades. However, the concept of management is still evolving and continuously new principles are
being established.

(2) Formal teaching of knowledge—An individual can enter in a profession only after possessing certain knowledge and skills through formal training. To impart management education there are many formal institutes in the world. In India, there are various institutions and universities running management programmes. There are many institutions, associations, and organisations running short- time management programmes. Now-a-days there is an emphasis on taking management graduates in the managerial cadre because of their availability.

(3) Existence of representative body-A representative body of professional is needed to regulate
and develop the professional activities. Many countries have Management Associations. In India too
there are Indian Management Association and All India Management Development Association. These
associations manage and coordinate researches in management areas.

(4) Ethical Standards—For every profession, some ethical standards are provided and every
individual professional is expected to maintain conformity with these standard. There is lack of
universally accepted formal ethical standards of management. However, they are socially responsible
and it is their duty to protect the interests of all parties—owners, labour, suppliers, consumers,
government etc. In this respect, they are expected to maintain code of conduct.

(5) Reasonable Remuneration—Professionals in management require money to satisfy their needs.
However, their success is not measured in terms of money which they receive by way of rendering their
services but the contribution which they make to the welfare of society. The management's contribution
by way of integrating various resources into productive units is very important for the stability of
society.

From the above discussion, it is clear that management has some characteristics of profession fully
while other exists partially. Management is a comparatively new field of knowledge and has been
developed as a result of rapid industrialisation. It is increasingly being treated as a profession because
of the need for acquiring management skills to solve the complex problems of the organisations.
Professional status for management should not be viewed as a matter of definition. The basic elements
of professionalisation are important irrespective of whether they lead to professional status. So we can
conclude that management is a profession.