AGRIBUSINESS MANAGERS
Management is both an art and a science. Managers must efficiently combine
available human, financial, and physical assets to maximize the long-run profits of an
operation by profitably satisfying its customer’s demands. Management requires
individuals be technically knowledgeable about the organization’s product and/or
function. They must be good and effective communicators. The ability to motivate people
is also essential. They must be proficient in the technical skills of management such as
accounting, finance, forecasting, and so on.
In addition to a strong background in management, agribusiness managers need a
strong understanding of the biological and institutional factors surrounding the
production of food and fiber. In other words, not only must they excel at the normal
concerns of business management, but agribusiness managers must also factor in the
uncertainty of the weather, the perishable nature of many agriculture’s products,
government policies, and the rapidly changing technology employed in agriculture. They
must possess the ability to quickly adapt to changes in market conditions that result from
changes in these uncertain factors of weather, product perishability, government
policies, technology, etc. managers must be able to mix each of these skills and
perspectives in the right proportion to deliver the greatest long-run net benefit for the
firm.
Defining management in agribusiness
Successful managers feel like managers, see themselves as managers, and are
both ready and willing to play the managerial role. When successful managers look in the
mirror, they see a leader, a person who is willing to accept the responsibility for change
and become the catalyst for action. The success-minded manager is comfortable with
this managerial role and accepts responsibility and authority as a challenge rather than
as a curse. Nicholas Murray Butler, the longtime president of Columbia University, once
placed managers in three classes: “the few who make things happen, the many who
watch things happen, and the majority who have no idea what has happened!”
We define management in this text as the art and science of successfully pursuing
desired results with the resources available to the organization. Several key words in this
definition are italicized to stress the elements of successful management.
Art and science are the first two key words, and as mentioned above, management
is both an art and a science. Because management deals largely with people,
management principles must be viewed as imperfect, at best. Yet many management
principles and tools can help us make better decisions in an imperfect world. Everyone
cannot become the top manager for a firm, but everyone can use management principles
to foster continual growth and progress toward their personal managerial potential. The
third key word is successful. Whatever else good management is it must be successful in
meeting desired and predetermined goals or results. Managers must know where they
are headed in order to achieve such success.
Finally, consider the resources available. Each organization possesses or has at its
command a variety of resources — financial, human, facilities, equipment, patents, and
so on. Successful managers coax the highest potential returns from the resources
available. They recognize the difference between what should be and what is. At the same
time, they know how to expand the firm’s resource base when resource constraints
hamper potential. They use what they must get what they want and need, and deal in the
realm of the possible.
A manager can be defined as that person who provides the organization with
leadership and who acts as catalyst for change. He or she is responsible for the
management of the organization. Good managers are most effective in an environment
that permits creative change. Such managers live to make things happen. Such as
manager, then, necessitates the ability to understand and be comfortable with the
managerial role, to accept responsibility, and to provide leadership for change.
