Functions Of Management

In any successful organization, company, or business you need a management chain that drives the company towards its goals. In order to have effective management, you need to have the four functions of management. The four functions of management are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Each function plays a vital role in ensuring the companys goals are met. These functions need to work independently as well as together. With one or more of these functions missing in an organization, its long and short term goals will not be met. In the following paragraphs I will define each individual function and explain how each relates to the organization I am involved with.

The first function of management is planning. Planning is setting goals for the organization and knowing what steps must be taken in order to successfully meet those goals. The most common type of planning is known as strategic planning. Strategic planning is basically setting the stage for where the company wants to go and how it's going to get there. I work for a very large technology corporation. In my organization planning starts from the very top manager and trickles down to the daily operations managers. In my organization, our main goal is to deliver the best products to our customers at the same time keeping the newest products affordable. At the same time, we want to deliver top-notch customer service to keep our customer base happy and coming back for more. Planning sets the tone for my organization.

The next function of management is organizing. Organizing is putting together and matching all resources to align with the organizations goals. Some common examples of organizing are defining job functions, grouping together specific jobs into a collaborative business unit, and keeping daily operations running at their most efficient way. In my organization, every single job belongs to a specific business unit. Each business unit has their own goals that align with the overall success of the company. The organizational structure can actually be drawn out in a hierarchy or "tree" graph. The CEO is at the top and covers everything from customer service representatives to engineers to warehouse workers. Each job has specific job responsibilities. Our company even has what they call BKM's. This stands for best known methods. At every level, there is a procedure to do everything. If you discover that there is a more efficient way to do something, you can submit a BKM. The company then takes a look at your submission and if it is truly a better way to do something, the process to do this specific task is changed worldwide. Every employee that does this specific process is required to learn the new way and continue using the new process from that point on.

The next function of management is leading. Leading is doing specific things to get the most out of your employees. This involves communicating with employees, giving employees direction, and giving them the proper tools to be successful. Leadership is one of the most important aspects of management. Without leadership, employees have no direction, no standards, and nobody to tell them they are doing an outstanding job or that they need to improve. In my organization leadership is apparent everywhere. I have multiple leaders and am a leader to about 15 employees. My leadership role is fairly