Four Functions Of Management

The Four Functions of Management is a key component in today's rapidly changing business world. It's a challenge that requires managers to focus on being able to run an organization at its highest level. With proper skills and knowledge, managers must follow the four functions of management to create and maintain an effective and efficient organization. Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling are the four functions of management which can make a manager a good one or a bad one for the organization. These functions correlate with each other and should all be used equally and daily be a great manager. Neglecting any of the four functions can put the organization in jeopardy.

Planning is an ongoing process of developing the business's mission, objectives, goals and determining how they will be accomplished (www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~mgtexcel/Function.html). Planning includes both the highest and lowest view of the organization. Planning is concerned with the future impact of today's decisions. It is the most important fundamental function of management from which the other three stem. However, planning is easy to be postpone in the short-run. Postponement of planning can cause failure to the organization. Planning is very important at all levels of management and is a continuous process. However, its characteristics and process vary by level of management.

Organizing is establishing the internal and external organizational structure of the organization (www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~mgtexcel/Function.html). The organization structure focus on the division, delegation, coordination, and control of tasks and the flow of information within the organization (www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~mgtexcel/Function.html). Each organization has an organization structure and/or chart where it indicates the relationships among tasks and the authority to do the tasks. By developing an organizational structure and distribution authority, managers's decisions reflect the mission, objectives, goals and tactics that grew out of the planning function by distributing authority and work order to employees.

Leading is influencing people's behavior through motivation, communication, group dynamics, and leadership and discipline (www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~mgtexcel/Function.html). It's purpose is to have all employees accomplish the organization's mission, goals and objectives while at the same time helping employees accomplish their individual career objectives. Each organization has different names for this function such as influencing, coaching, motivating, interpersonal relations and human relations, and in my current job, we called it coaching just like in sports. It's one of the most active roles for manager where they see their employee performance, conduct and accomplishments because managers accomplish their objectives through employees (www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~mgtexcel/Function.html). A manager is denying leading responsibilities by blaming other of his or her problems. Organizations do not succeed while their people are failing. It's also important