Oliver Sheldon: The Philosophy of Management

In the preceding chapter, industrial management was treated as a necessary activity, developing with the progressive complexity of industry, covering certain well-defined areas, executed by certain general methods and involving particular faculties. The combination of these was the basis of organization. Organization, however, is not management, nor is the task of organizing a business the same task as managing a business. The organization of the factory is the design of the garden before management plants and nourishes the seeds which are to form the garden produce. Administration makes the design; organization is the design; management uses the design. Management, however, is not simply a function concerned with machines, layout, accounts and scientific methods. It is primarily an art—" the art of managing by direction or regulation." (Century Dictionary.) Above all it is a human art. Management is, indeed, above all, the art of directing and regulating the activities of human beings, during great portions of their waking hours, for the satisfaction of the material needs of their fellows, and for the satisfaction and development of their own material requirements and moral and mental faculties.