Management and Leadership

What problems does this field exist to solve?

Management and leadership exists to address the problem of coordinating people, money, information, assets and other resources so that an organisation can achieve defined objectives.

Organisations contain different functions, employees, priorities and resources that must operate together. Management provides the structures and processes for deciding what must be achieved, allocating resources, organising work, monitoring performance and correcting problems.

The field therefore deals with problems such as:

Management also connects senior organisational strategy with day-to-day work. Research on people management, for example, describes managers as a link between senior management and employees and identifies implementation of organisational strategy, management of daily activities and organisational change as parts of the role.

What are the main subjects, theories and concepts in this field?

Management is multidisciplinary. The exact subjects differ according to the qualification and specialisation, but the core areas commonly include the following.

General management

This introduces how organisations function and how managers plan, organise, coordinate and control organisational activities.

Typical concepts include:

The University of Pretoria's business management curriculum, for example, covers managers and managing, decision-making, organisational structures, organisational functions and the interaction between finance, marketing, operations, human resources and general management.

Strategic management

Strategic management examines the long-term direction of an organisation.

It includes:

Organisational behaviour

This area examines behaviour within organisations, including:

Wits includes managing individuals, groups and teams, organisational behaviour, organisational development and leadership within its management discipline.

Leadership

Leadership studies how individuals and groups are directed towards organisational objectives.

Common concepts include:

Operations and value-chain management

This concerns how organisations transform resources into products or services.

Topics include:

The University of Pretoria includes value-chain management, purchasing, transformation processes, operations and production within business management studies.

Project management

Project management deals with temporary programmes of work that have defined objectives, resources, budgets and timeframes.

It includes:

The Project Management Institute defines project management around applying knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to plan, organise and execute work required to produce a particular project outcome.

Financial management

Managers generally require an understanding of:

Management study does not necessarily train a person as an accountant, but financial information is used extensively in management decision-making. Financial management appears explicitly in South African business-management curricula.

Human resource and people management

This covers the management of people within organisations, including:

Governance, ethics and risk

Management study also includes:

In the South African context, business-management curricula may also include corporate governance, transformation-related issues and the wider social and regulatory environment in which organisations operate.

Entrepreneurship and innovation

This area covers:

Both Wits and the University of Pretoria include entrepreneurship within management studies.

What does a typical student or professional in this field spend most of their time doing?

As a student

A management student typically spends time:

Because management covers several organisational functions, students normally encounter subjects from finance, human resources, operations, marketing, strategy, governance and information management rather than studying only one technical discipline.

As a professional

Professional work depends substantially on management level and industry. Common activities include:

Project managers, for example, commonly identify project objectives and scope, plan tasks, manage resources, communicate with stakeholders, manage risks and monitor project delivery.

The balance changes with seniority. Supervisory and operational managers normally spend more time on daily execution and staff coordination, while senior managers generally spend more time on strategy, organisational performance, resource allocation, governance and major decisions.

What kinds of assignments, projects, research or practical work are common?

Management education commonly uses work that requires students to apply concepts to organisations rather than only reproduce theory.

Typical assignments include:

Case-based work is particularly relevant because management decisions often require several areas to be considered simultaneously. A strategy decision, for example, may have financial, operational, human-resource and risk consequences.

Practical management work may include developing project schedules and budgets, defining deliverables, allocating resources, identifying stakeholders, analysing risks and monitoring progress. These activities correspond with established project-management practice.

What knowledge must a person understand before they can progress in this field?

Progress in management normally requires increasingly integrated knowledge rather than mastery of a single subject.

A foundation generally includes:

More advanced management study builds on these foundations through areas such as strategic management, advanced organisational behaviour, project management, organisational development, entrepreneurship and specialised forms of management.

Which parts of the field are theoretical, and which parts are practical?

Management contains both.

Theoretical components

Theory is used to explain organisations and management behaviour.

Examples include:

Students learn these concepts in order to interpret organisational situations and understand why different management approaches produce different outcomes.

Practical components

Practical management involves applying those concepts to actual organisational work.

Examples include:

Wits explicitly describes management as involving both the theory and practice of areas such as management, organisational behaviour, project management, strategic management and entrepreneurship.

Theoretical knowledge therefore provides frameworks for understanding organisations, while practical management concerns applying those frameworks under actual organisational constraints.

What tools, technologies, equipment or software are commonly used?

Management is primarily an information- and decision-based field, so its tools are predominantly digital rather than specialised physical equipment.

Common categories include:

Office productivity software

Project-management systems

Project-management systems commonly support scheduling, resource planning, cost management, monitoring and reporting.

Enterprise systems

Data and reporting tools

Communication and collaboration technologies

Management frameworks and analytical tools

Not all management tools are software. Common analytical tools include:

The precise software used depends on the organisation, sector and type of management position.

What are the most important skills required to succeed in this field?

Management requires a combination of analytical, organisational, interpersonal and technical management skills.

Important skills include:

Planning and organisation

Managers must be able to translate objectives into activities, schedules, responsibilities and resource requirements.

Decision-making

Management involves choosing between alternatives when resources, information and time may be limited.

Problem-solving

Managers regularly identify operational problems, determine causes, evaluate alternatives and implement responses.

Communication

This includes:

Leadership and people management

This includes:

CIPD research identifies people management as involving both day-to-day team responsibilities and the implementation of organisational strategy and change.

Analytical skills

Managers must interpret:

Time and priority management

Managers frequently deal with multiple activities, deadlines and competing demands.

Stakeholder management

Different groups may have different objectives and expectations, requiring managers to identify interests, communicate decisions and coordinate relationships.

Risk management

Managers need to identify uncertainty, evaluate potential consequences and establish controls or responses.

Financial literacy

Even managers outside the finance function commonly work with budgets, costs and financial performance.

Digital literacy

Managers increasingly work through information systems, dashboards, communication technologies, spreadsheets and other digital platforms.

For project-management roles specifically, PMI identifies organisation, time management, communication, leadership, adaptability, team management and problem-solving among the relevant capabilities.

Which skills can be developed through training, and which are expected at entry?

There is no universal entry-level skill standard for every management occupation. Requirements depend on the occupation, qualification and organisation.

However, a useful distinction can be made.

Skills commonly developed through education, training and workplace experience

These include:

Management capability develops substantially through experience because applying management knowledge requires exposure to actual employees, organisational systems, resources and decisions. CIPD notes that people-management capabilities require development, training, coaching and opportunities to apply learning in practice rather than simply being acquired when someone receives a management title.

Capabilities commonly expected when entering management-related study or junior professional work

At entry level, organisations and educational programmes may generally expect a basic level of:

Higher-level managerial capabilities are normally developed progressively through formal study, professional development and work experience.

What personal qualities are commonly useful in this field?

Personal qualities are not formal technical qualifications, and possessing them does not by itself qualify a person for a management occupation. However, characteristics that are commonly useful include:

Different management positions place different emphasis on these qualities. For example, project-management work places substantial emphasis on organisation, coordination, adaptability and communication, while senior corporate management may place greater emphasis on strategic judgement, governance and resource allocation.

Occupations in high demand in this field in South Africa

The South African government document referred to is the Department of Higher Education and Training's National List of Occupations in High Demand: 2024. The DHET defines occupations in high demand using evidence including employment growth, wage growth, vacancy growth and the likelihood of recruitment activity in the medium term.

Using the Management and Leadership field grouping developed for this project, the occupations appearing on the 2024 national list are:

The first group is recorded in the DHET table among its management occupations. Quality Manager, Small Business Manager and Facilities Manager also appear in the national table. The consulting, organisational analysis, business development, risk-management and business-administration occupations are recorded later in the same list.

*In the DHET document, the asterisk identifies occupations with comparatively high numbers of registered unemployed work seekers on the Employment Services South Africa database. It does not represent a higher demand ranking. The DHET also states that the ordering of the 350 occupations does not indicate priority.