It is the purpose of the organization, and the grounds of management authority, to make human strength productive.
It is the task of management to make the institutions of the society of organizations, beginning with the business enterprise, perform for the society and economy, for the community, and for the individual, alike. This requires, first, that managers know their discipline. It requires that they know management. The first task of the manager is indeed to manage the institution for the mission for which it has been designed. The first task of the business manager is, therefore, economic performance. But at the same time she faces the tasks of making the work productive and the worker achieving, and of providing for the quality of life for society and individual. But a leadership group also has to have legitimacy. It has to be accepted by the community as “right.” They need to ground their authority in a moral commitment, which at the same time, expresses the purpose and character of organizations. There is only one such principle of morality. It is the purpose of organization, and, therefore, the grounds of management authority, to make human strength productive. Organization is the means through which man, as an individual and as a member of the community, finds both contribution and achievement.
ACTION POINT: Use your position of authority to bring out whatever strength there is in the people you are responsible for.
Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices
* Source: The Daily Drucker by Peter F. Drucker