Following are the characteristics of management:
Organized Activities: Management is a process of organized activities. Groups of people cannot be involved in the performance of activities without organized activities. Management comes into existence where a group of people are involved in achieving a common objective. The organized activities may take a variety of forms ranging from a tightly structured organization to a loosely-knit organization.
Existence of Objectives: The existence of objectives is a basic criterion of every human organization. The organizational objectives are the desired state of affairs which an organization attempts to realize. This realization of objectives is sought through the coordinated efforts of the people constituting an organization.
Decision-making: Management process involves decision making at all levels. Decision-making describes the process by which a course of action is selected as the way to deal with a specific problem. If there is only one alternative, the question of decision making does not arise. The quality of alternatives which a manger selects determines the organization’s performance, and the future of the organization.
Relationship among resources: The essence of management is integration of various organizational resources. Resources include money, machine, materials, and people. Management is concerned with the proper utilization of human resources which, in turn, utilize other resources.
Working with and through people: Management involves working with people and getting organizational objectives achieved through them. Working through people is interpreted in terms of assigning activities to subordinates.