Most would agree that the purposeful act of managing a business, an organization, or another type of entity is critical to overall successful operations. The lingering issue, however, is that the practice of management cannot be fully defined or described because no two circumstances are the same. The responses and outcomes to each issue are likely to be different. Researchers attempt to harness the phenomena surrounding management activities in order to understand the essence of effective management and to teach the concepts relative to practicing management.

Theorists and researchers such as John Kotter and Peter Senge, focus their research efforts on organizational change. Bates and Khan similarly study organizational issues, and like Kotter and Senge, both set forth frameworks to define and guide the ever-fluid practice of management.

Khan’s message is clear; every resource must be maximized in the operation of a business or organization. The approach to achieving efficiency focuses on issues regarding people, the process, and the project (P3). Bates’ theory challenges Khan’s theory further by asserting that efforts must not only be focused on the mission, but they must also be sustainable. Activities such as grant funding are too narrowly focused; they do not consider the bigger picture; and they ultimately undermine organizational development because they offer one-shot opportunities to change an organization without the continued support of necessary grant funds to sustain the mission.

The primary challenge to this line of thinking is how to accurately identify the most efficient processes that exist. What specifically are the common characteristics associated with efficiency. There are more than just financial benefit when considering efficiencies. The strength for consumers is that Bates, Khan, and other researchers contribute to the collective body of knowledge about and the continuous study of management and managerial issues. The efforts of expert researchers contribute to a deeper understanding of the topic of management. Multiple perspectives offer diverse interpretations to various learning-styled students, and the mission of developing effective managers in multiple fields of study becomes more realistic.

The weakness is that social studies such as management are not exact sciences in many regards. As such, researchers like Bates, Khan, Kotter, and Senge will continue to be needed to inform and to advise practitioners on management theory, research, and effective practices.

With some work, practice, and possible tweaking, I believe that Khan’s P3 framework and Bates’ project management framework would both work in the pre-k through grade 12 public school organization where I work. Schools could benefit from the type of planning that Khan supports. The challenge will be in finding the time for the people to participate. For many years, public schools have supplemented their operational cash funds with competitive grant funding. The problem with this is that the focus and requirements of the grant may not be what the school needs, but it does provided needed resources. The ill-effect is that valuable time is diverted from the instructional leaders to compete for and to administer grant funds. Activities such as these are not efficient and are misaligned to the recommended practices of effective management.