The business environment is dynamic and challenging. Any manager, whether in the public or private sector, and whatever the size and type of organisation, has to have some basic management knowledge and skills to cope with the ever-increasing complexity of the organisational world. General management is a back-to-basics textbook that provides the grounding that managers and entrepreneurs need to survive and prosper in today’s fluid and competitive global marketplace.

General management incorporates the fundamental concepts found in any general management course, including the basic functions of planning, organising, leading (activating) and control. The discussion is augmented with updated, real-life examples of management in action, from an Afrocentric perspective where applicable.

The editor, Kobus Lazenby, is a retired associate professor from the University of the Free State. He is currently applying his management knowledge in the agricultural industry. His focus in the Department of Business Management was strategic management, project management and general management at undergraduate as well as postgraduate level. In addition, he lectured project and strategic management at the Business School at the University of the Free State. He is also the editor of the book The strategic management process: A South African perspective and the co-editor of the book Strategic management: Southern African concepts and cases, both published by Van Schaik.