ABSTRACT
Only a few managements today adequately discharge their responsibilities, although there is no shortage of tools, gadgets and techniques for the job. The first obstacle lies in the nature of management itself. The job of top management is radically different from the work and responsibility of the operating executives. The top executives will find themselves under great pressure to spend their time and energy on activities which only they can perform, but which are at best incidental to the top-management job. The problem is likely to be much less serious if the operating executives take part in the formulation of policy and of decisions. The obstacles to the formation and to the effectiveness of a functioning management explain the great prevalence of one-man rule and of overcentralization as forms of management organization despite their universal condemnation.
