Frankline Oyese Omuse
National Defence University, Kenya
Management is a process of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling the available resources of an organization in order to achieve the set goals in a dynamic and unpredictable environment. The process is guided by management thought, which is a body of knowledge that consists of theories and principles. Management theories are concepts that outline different approaches to business management. Essentially management theory provides logical reasoning in the form of a set of broad principles that provide a general frame of reference by which management practice can be evaluated. The most important goal of management theory is to provide a coherent set of logical principles that form the general frame of reference for the evaluation and development of sound management practices. Management therefore, in some form or the other has been practiced in various parts of the world since the dawn of civilization. Without theories and principles learning managerial practice would depend upon haphazard trial and error. It is however worth noting that even with the continued application of carefully crafted and tested management theories, managers still grapple with the management of businesses and organizations in general. The pervasive and universal nature of management has seen application of its concepts and principles in civilian as well as military organizations. However, a review of extant conceptual and empirical literature brings out clear gaps in terms of theoretical anchorage of military decision making tools as well as lack of comprehensiveness in the existing theories of management which guide project planning and implementation including public policy making process. This is partly attributed to lack of clarity on the minimum threshold required of a management theory. It is in view of the a foresaid that this study was carried out with the following objectives: First, to review extant conceptual and empirical literature on existing management theories and models with intent of establishing existing gaps in their contribution towards decision making and organizational management. Second, to establish existing gaps with reference to theoretical anchorage of military decision making tools, project planning logic models and public policy making processes. Lastly, to propose a comprehensive theoretical model, management theory and supporting principles as a basis upon which the above decision making tools and processes would be anchored.
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