Islamic Management

1. State any four of the principles of Islamic management.

* Preference to the organization interest.
* Justice for all.
* Honesty.
* Right man in the right place.

2. To be an effective leader, illustrate any six of the nine principles that Islamic leaders should follow. a) Tolerance , justice and selective adaptation.
* Leaders should not , misuse their power and authority to practice injustice and unfairness. * Differences of opinion should be tolerated as long as it is within the boundaries of Islam . * Discriminatory practices in an organization in terms of gender, race, religion and colour is not permissible in Islam as they demoralize those affected and negatively influence their quality of work and productivity. b) Building Human Relations and a Strong Team

* Tasks will be done effectively and efficiently when there are strong bonds between the leaders and their subordinates. * Leaders who are concerned with the welfare of their subordinates will be close to the hearts of their subordinates. * Leaders will gain respect when they are close to the hearts of their subordinates. c) Shared Mission, Vision and Values.

* Internalization of shared mission, vision and values in an organization is an indicator of good leadership. * This approach can result in cooperation, spirit de corps and job satisfaction among members of the organization. * Clear goals can enable leaders and managers to gauge what has been achieved and learn from failures. d) Character Building.

* Leaders, managers and subordinates with strong moral characters, leadership qualities and personal and group accountability will enhance the productivity of the organization. * Leaders should walk the talk.

* It also requires leaders with a strong sense of accountability to God and to the organization.

e) Permanence and Dynamism.
* Although change is inevitable but the core purpose and values should remain the identity of the organization. * With the presence of a permanent value system, unity in diversity due to a common purpose can be preserved to achieve the desired goals. * Change must come from within the individuals and must begin from the leaders themselves. f) Controlling.

* Although leaders and subordinates are selected based on their honesty and capability to do a particular job, human nature and weaknesses are unavoidable. * Leaders, managers and subordinates have to be constantly monitored and controlled through internal and external mechanism to minimize the gap between what is desired and what is actually achieved. * Islam considers self control as more effective than other forms of controlling mechanism set up by the organization.

3. Define management from Islamic perspectives.

The ability to utilize resources both material and human, optimally in order to achieve goals, be it short term goals or long term goals.The Islamic management has been practised since the era of Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. It was based on the teachings generated from the holy Al-Quran and As-Sunnah. The holy Al-Quran and As-Sunnah were sources that provided guidance in making decisions. The Islamic leadership under Prophet Muhammad s.a.w had created strong (Muslim) society with prominent characteristics such as: * Team spirit that practised teamwork

* A strong clear vision and mission
* Values for loving and caring
* Emphasis for trust and relationship, cooperation and teamwork.
* The practice of consensus decision making

4. Discuss the concept of short term and long term goals of Islamic management.
a) Long term
* If you find a task tedious you should think about how doing it fits into your goals. Making your daily tasks become choices can ease some of the burden because we are in control of our day rather than having it control us. * Your long term goal maybe to spend more time with your family. Make your goal specific and give it a date to be accomplished. Perhaps you determine to work part time. * On the other hand, if we realize many of the time consuming activities we do have no bearing on reaching our goals perhaps we have to take them out or at least reduce the time we spend on them.

b) Short term
* These short term goals will help you measure your progress towards your long term goal. They will shape how you plan your time and clarify the value of your time. * Continuing with our illustration of working part time you may decide that you must first complete certain projects you have already committed to. * You will also need to be more selective about what assignments you can handle or need to ask for an assistant so you can focus on the main business and get help with minor tasks.

5. Describe motivation from Islamic perspectives.

a) Working is ‘ibadah’ .
b) To understand that working is not only to get the salary but to do virtuous deed (amal salih) c) The purpose of motivation in Islam is to have a good worker and to produce an excellence service. d) To attain Al-Falah (true success).