National Economy of the usa

The American economy is a free enterprise system, the result of labour (Am. labor) of millions of American workers; the results of the wants that American consumers usually express in the marketplace; the efforts of private business; and the results of government officials activity at all levels aiming to make the Americans' quality of life the best one and living standards high.

The United States of America is a highly developed industrial country. It is' the world's leading producer of copper and oil and the world's second producer of iron ore and coal. Among the most important manufacturing industries are the production of aircrafts, cars, computers and other hi-tech equipment, textiles, radio and television sets, armaments, furniture and paper. Together, all sectors of the American economy produce almost $5,000 billion worth of goods and services annually, and each year they turn out almost twenty five times more. The consumption of these goods and services is spread widely. Most Americans consider themselves members of the middle economic class.

The government supports the development of transportation in the country: the railroads and the airlines make the country's transport network the best one. It checks the purity of foods and drugs, insures bank deposits and guarantees long-term loans and mortgages to its citizens.

With increasingly improved farm machinery, seed and fertilizers, farmers produce more food each year, although the number of farmers decreases annually. America exports about 550,000 mln worth of farm products each year, it produces as much as half the world's soybeans and corn, and vegetable oil.

American industries have become increasingly more service-oriented. Of 16 million new jobs created lately, almost 85 per cent have been in service industries: selling, stocks and goods speculations, hotel and tourism services, financial and auditor's advise, medical services and others.

The USA is the world's largest exporter of different goods and services, investor and creditor, so its trade balance is favourable (Am. favorable), it guarantees high living standards to the Americans.

Management

Management is the achievement of organizational objectives through people and other resources. The manager's job is to combine human and technical resources in the best way possible to achieve these objectives. Managers are not directly involved in production; they do not produce a finished product. Instead, they direct the efforts of others toward the company goals.

There are three levels of management in most organizations. Top management, the highest level of the management pyramid is comprised of the president, executive vice president and other key company executives. These people devote their time to developing long-range plans for the company. They make broad decisions such as whether to manufacture new products, to purchase other companies or to begin international operations. Middle management, the second level of the management pyramid, includes plant managers and division heads. Middle managers are responsible for developing detailed plans and procedures to implement the general plans of top management. They may, for example, determine the number to salespeople for a particular territory, operate a branch of a department store chain, select equipment for a new facility, or develop techniques for evaluating employee performance. Supervisory management, or first-line management, includes supervisors, foremen, department heads, section leaders who are directly responsible for details of assigning workers to specific jobs and evaluating daily - even hourly - performance. This first level of the pyramid has direct and continuing contact with production personnel and is responsible for putting into action the plans developed by middle management.

Every manager must possess three basic managerial skills: technical skills, human relation skills, and conceptual skills.

Technical skills refer to the manager's ability to understand and use techniques, knowledge, and tools of a specific discipline or department.

Human relations skills are "people" skills. They involve the manager's ability to work effectively with and through people. The ability to create a work environment in which organizational members will contribute their best efforts to achieve objectives is a crucial managerial skill at every level.

Conceptual skills refer to the ability of the manager to see the organization as a unified whole while also understanding how each part of the overall organization relates to other parts. These skills involve a manager's ability to "see the big picture" by acquiring, analyzing, and interpreting information.

Managers at every level in the organization perform four basic functions - planning, organizing directing and controlling - and they must be skillful in performing them if they are to accomplish their goals.

Planning is the process of setting goals for the organization and developing strategies to accomplish them. It encompasses decisions about the activities the organization should perform; the production, marketing, and financial strategies it should use in reaching its objectives; and the resources needed to accomplish its goals. Thus, planning involves the determination of courses of action to answer the questions of what should be done, by whom, where, when, and how.

Organizing involves coordinating the efforts of employees and assigning work activities in such a way that the goals of the organization can be accomplished.

Directing is the process of supervising and guiding employees so that plans are completed and goals are accomplished. It involves motivating people to do their best, explaining procedures, issuing orders, and seeing that mistakes are corrected.

Controlling is the function of evaluating the organization's performance to determine whether it is accomplishing its objectives. Controlling is linked closely to planning; in fact, the basic purpose of controlling is the determination of how successful the planning function has been.