The Four Functions Of Management

Management

“Management is creative problem solving. This creative problem solving is accomplished through four functions of management: planning, organizing, leading and controlling. The intended result is the use of an organization's resources in a way that accomplishes its mission and objectives.”(1) Management focuses on the entire group from both a short and a long-term viewpoint. Management is the decision-making process of forming a planned vision, setting goals, crafting a plan and then implementing and executing the plan. Management goes beyond the group’s in-house operations to include the industry and the general surroundings. The key emphasis is on issues connected to environmental scanning and industry study, assessment of current and future participants, assessment of core competencies, strategic control and the effective portion of organizational resources. The manager's style is a personal or situational matter and it has evolved over time. With highly skilled and go-ahead knowledge workers, the manager must be very allowing. Where the workforce is less skilled or not very motivated, the manager may need to monitor production more closely. Skilled managers know how flex their style, coach and motivate diverse employees. Getting things done through people is what they do. By saying that management is a task, not a type of person or role, we can better account for self-managed work teams where no one is in charge. In a self-managed team, management is a group effort with no one being the designated manager.

Planning

“Planning is concerned with the future impact of today’s decisions. It is the fundamental function of management from which the other four stem. The need for planning is often apparent after the fact. However, planning is easy to postpone in the short-run. Postponement of planning especially plagues labor oriented, hands on managers.”(1) The manager is ready to categorize and appoint team, only after goals and plans to reach the goals is in place. Likewise, the leading purpose, powering the behavior of people in the group, depends on the goals to be achieved. Finally, in the controlling function, the determination of whether or not goals are being accomplished and standards met is based on the planning roles. The planning role provides the goals and standards that drive the controlling role. “The order from general to specific is: vision-mission-objectives-goals”

Organizing

“Organizing is establishing the internal organizational structure of the business. The focus is on division, coordination, and control of tasks and the flow of information within the organization. Managers distribute responsibility and authority to job holders in this function of management.” (2) Each group has a grouping structure. By action and/or inaction, managers structure businesses. Ideally, in developing a grouping structure and distributing authority, managers’ decisions reflect the mission, objectives, goals and tactics that grew out of the planning role. Specifically, they decide: “Division of labor, Delegation of authority, Departmentation, Span of control, and Coordination.”(2) Management must make these decisions in any organization that has more than two people. Small may not be simple. The eParty.com managerial alternatives, The eParty.com has one managerial chart alternative for the two person business. Who reports to whom and why may not be apparent in a slightly more complex business with two managers and three interns involved.

Leading

Leading is influencing people’s behavior through motivation, communication, group dynamics, leadership and discipline. The purpose of leading is to channel the behavior of all personnel to accomplish the organization’s mission and objectives while simultaneously helping them accomplish their own career objectives. The leading function gives the manager an active rather than a passive role in employee performance, conduct and accomplishments. Managers accomplish their objectives through people. In blaming others for her or his human resource problems, a manager is denying the management responsibilities inherent in the leading function. The leading function gives managers a second responsibility: helping people in the organization accomplish their individual career goals. Organizations do not succeed while their people are failing. Helping people in the organization with career planning and professional development is an integral part of the directing function. Motivation probably tops the list of complex activities with which labor manager’s deal. Their intuition suggests an easy