Housewife and Successful Managers - Term Paper Example

Running head: HOUSEWIFE AND SUCCESSFUL MANAGERS Housewife and Successful Managers Insert Insert Grade Insert 05 May Housewife and Successful Managers Housewife or homemaker is a term, which describes a married woman who is not employed in any of the corporate sectors, her main work being the overall household responsibilities at home. The women in this category are responsible for their entire households. Some of the women around the world decide to leave the paid workforce to concentrate on household responsibilities at their homes. These women may quit either partially, to provide childcare for their younger children, they may also be involved in part-time work from the paid workforce and they may return to either partial or fulltime work when their children have reached the schooling age. As they stay home, homemakers may increase their skills by either joining institutions to gain more knowledge on certain fields. Roles of Housewife As the mothers stay home, some embrace the traditional role of housewife (cleaning the home, cooking, childcare - supporting the intellectual, spiritual, physical and emotional development). In the rural setting, there has been an increase in the number of housewives; this is because most women in the rural areas have no employment. This is possible due to low educational levels and poverty, with such women perceiving marriage as the only solace to their existing difficulties and they submit themselves fully to homecare, this being their only option. The rural homemakers perceive their primary role as that of childcare, as they share and outsource all the other aspects of homecare. Such rural housewives are usually faced with a variety of difficulties in their daily lives. The first is lack of income due to poverty, as majority of them get married with the hope to whisk away poverty only to find that it still cripples their daily lives. The second is illiteracy whereby majority of the rural housewives are within the illiteracy bracket. Thirdly, such women have inadequate information and its access to improve the living standards of their livelihoods. Fourthly, they are prone to many of the diseases due to poor hygienic practices and also the poor hygiene within the rural environments, inaccessibility to services such as health care whereby, either the services are located very far from them and or there is a limited supply of such services. Such challenges makes the lives of such women miserable everyday; however, despite such challenges, most of the rural housewives tend to organize, manage and take great care of their children and homes. For the modern homemakers such as the majority of the married urban women, some will tend to their homes while working part time while others will dedicate themselves fully to household chores in their homes. Modern homemakers have minimal illiteracy levels as they have access to information, better services at their doorsteps and numerous advantageous aspects that make their livelihoods up to standard with the current demands in life. At their various homes, these homemakers usually have numerous things to look after, manage, plan, and decide among the available options that directly and or indirectly affect the family members and the entire society. Management is a term that describes the organization and co-ordination of various activities in order to achieve a common goal. Such activities may be individual or other people’s activities. As a discipline, management would consist of formulating policies and organizing, planning, controlling and directing all the resources so to achieve the desired objectives. Managerial work consists of the following; forecasting and planning, setting the objectives, organizing, motivating and communicating, measuring the amount of accomplishment and developing the people (Witzel, 2004). Home management calls for organizing and controlling the use of the available human and non-human resources, delegation of different responsibilities and providing motivation to members of the family. It consists of a series of decisions, and all managerial activities are geared towards the realization of goals that maximize any given family’s satisfaction. Homemakers can become very successful in terms of management; this is because most of their daily chores have something to do with management. The entire home can be viewed as an organization, company or a firm, where she is responsible in overseeing all the activities taking place (Varghese, 1985). Modern management techniques refer to the systematic and the analytical methods that are used to assist in improvement of efficiency and effectiveness in decision-making. Such techniques are objective in terms of systematic and analytical nature (Armstrong, 2001). Systematic Homemakers (stay at home moms) are systematic in the way they conduct their daily activities and chores and the general management of the home; they have plans for the entire day and all the activities therein. Such a technique ensures an orderly and purposeful manner of performing different tasks in a sequential manner. They have incorporated this technique as required in any management field in order to achieve the desired goals. Homemakers have become systematic in terms of time allocation to the numerous chores such as providing and caring for the family (entails cooking, washing). Just like in modern management of corporate organizations requires a systematic way of approach to ensure that all the activities are performed as required. Homemakers ensure systematic planning to ensure that there exists a balance in demand and available resources, decisions made are appropriate to the individual situations in the family and ensure the plans are realistic and flexible. Analytical Identifying and dissection of large problems and breaking down into logical patterns enables homemakers to make judgments within a clearly defined framework. A home is a large entity that will usually have more spontaneous problems with time, homemakers are very analytical to know how, and when to deal with such problems that arise. Resources of the family must be analyzed to ascertain the best outcomes expected. For example, the food to be served to family members is determined by the amount of money available, people’s requirements, and facilities available. Analysis of various available opportunities and options ensures an accurate and adequate planning within the family and through such a process, the homemaker is able to visualize outcomes of various procedures and choose a satisfactory solution. Homemakers have a wide range of analytical skill required in any management position in the society. Quantitative The woman manages the numeric measure in terms of financial considerations in the family budgets. Such management technique is used by homemakers in both short and long-term planning and managing of finances, allocation of family resources in terms of the needs of all the members. Since the homemakers on several occasions use such techniques in running their families, it has ensured that family resources are well-controlled and planned for with focus on the future, hence making them efficient in terms of management. Objective All the sectors involving planning and controlling have an objective; housewives exhibit objectivity technique in home management by systematic analysis and concentrating on facts about the available resources that ensure that proper and accurate decisions are taken in consideration of the variation of future changes that have an impact on the family. The objective of housewives is to ensure efficient allocation of resources without infringement of either any member of the family or available human and non-human resources. Managerial responsibilities in a family by homemakers involve duties such as; provision of food and shelter, maintaining members’ health, nurture growth and development, purchase of goods/services, identifying family values and goals, guidance (both educational and social), home maintenance (for the health of home and community), financial management, time and energy management (Varghese, 1985). Housewives have used all these management techniques in management of their homes. With systematic planning and analysis, they have efficiently managed the family and its members in terms of provision of basic needs (education, food and shelter), in considering what should be given priority, the have managed time between different short and long term activities more efficiently. In decision-making, they have used analysis and planning technique to involve all members of the family in deciding the decisions that are taken so that none of the members’ values and goals are infringed. Quantitatively, housewives have been able to plan for financial needs of the family and ensured that the financial security of members is guaranteed in future in terms of purchasing of both basic and luxury goods and services and plan for the future changes in the tastes and preferences of members. In general, housewives have become the general managers of all the activities within the family. Conclusion Management is a way in which a family identifies and deals with current and the anticipated future changes. It involves a series of decision-making processes that influence the general objectives and goals of the family. Regardless of numerous limitations of various resources, effective home management can guarantee achievement of desired objectives and goals. It involves planning, controlling and evaluation using the modern management techniques (systematic, analytical, objective, and quantitative techniques).The family as an entity or organization needs management. Housewives are regarded as the successful managers of their own homes, as they are the principle members of the family involved in the overall foresight of activities within a given family, which they have done with utmost efforts to ensure that the families have at least, if not all, the basic requirement needs and that the families are driving towards a given direction towards a given goal. References Armstrong, M. A. (2001). Handbook of Management Techniques: The Best Selling Guide to Modern Management Method. NY: Kogan Page. Retrieved May 4, 2011, from http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=-jZGVIcCaDMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=modern+management+techniques&cd=4#v=onepage&q&f=true. Varghese, A. (1985). Home Management. New Delhi: New Age International. Retrieved May 4, 2011, from http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=ECFi_xJUSTEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=home+management&hl=en&ei=HyHBTYOEDYbNswbfw6zCBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=true. Witzel, M. (2004). Management: the basics. New York: Routledge. Retrieved May 4, 2011 from http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=4LakKBQYDpcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=management&hl=en&ei=wwbBTaDRGo_4sgaX6vnCBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false. Read More