Functions of Management
The Functions of Management
Management is the process of directing and allocating human and physical resources to complete the goals of any group effort, whether it is in a corporation or a volunteer group. According to Bateman and Snell, management consists of four basic functions; planning, organizing, leading and controlling. (2004, p14) In order to effectively and efficiently manage a function, one needs to understand the difference between them. That function could be the completion of a major corporate project or the ongoing goals and responsibilities of my personal life.
The first function is planning. Planning is determining the goals and deciding what has to be done to achieve these goals. It will include analyzing all the resources available whether they are materials, knowledge-based or human. During the planning stage management needs to divide the project in to smaller parts and determine which parts have to be completed before others. I use the planning stage to determine my goals and how I want to achieve them. I decide which goals need to be reached first and create plan to complete them. On a daily, weekly and monthly basis, I determine what needs to be completed and what resources will be required to effectively reach my immediate deadlines, whether personal, business or for education.
Once completing the planning stage, the manager has a list of resources needed to complete the project. Now it is time to organize, which starts with acquiring everything needed to go ahead. The manager may have to build the team to work on the project, or organize the people she has available to her to the right parts of the project. Raw materials may have to be purchased or produced. The skill sets, materials and people need to be analyzed so that they are divided up for maximum efficiency in each unit of the project. In my own personal organization, it is usually quite a bit easier because most of the time I am the only human resource I have to consider. What knowledge I will need to complete my tasks I will acquire through research using the vast amount of knowledge resources available to me. I will then acquire whatever raw resources I need and decide how I will divide them among the projects I have to complete.
Management is the basis of how any given organization operates and how each activity preformed is organized that makes each day possible and profitable for the overall good of the company. Power and responsibility levels are ranked amongst each individuals own skill set, education, and experience level in an organization. Management has many levels depending on each individual company and its size. This can consist of several people answering to one main head of operations, or thousands upon thousands answering to several different tiers of management (Bauer & Erdogan, 2012).
Murray and Dicroce (2003) suggest that management is a process that uses resources to achieve specific goals effectively; basic management functions including planning, organising, coordinating, directing and controlling. The term of manager can be appointed to the person to plan, organise, coordinate, supervise, negotiate, evaluate and use resources available in the best way possible to achieve the best service. Alternativ...
The first function of management is planning. "Planning is systematically making decisions about the goals and activities that an individual, a group, a work unit, or overall organization will pursue." (Bateman & Snell) In my organization, planning takes up the most time. Objectives must be laid out, potential products must be examined and the timing and type of marketing must all be planned out before we provide our product to our customers. This function should be first and foremost to all individuals involved in the organization. Poor planning will result in your organizations demise.
In the world of business, management can be stated as a pursuit towards an overall goal that is effective and efficient. Management also has the ability to integrate work from different workforces through planning, and organizing. Ultimately, management is a theory that is put into practice by a team to create a successful organization. The individuals in these teams are known as managers. It is the job of these individuals to guide a company towards the goal.
The four functions of management are planning, organizing, leading and controlling. While these functions are applied to the business world, they are also applied to everyday family and household matters. The accepted labels attached to these kinds of managers are Domestic Engineers. These managers never leave their humble abodes to work for someone else's company, but hold just as important and responsible positions within their own company. These individuals make up a company within themselves and are responsible for making life acceptable for their families and themselves. This paper will attempt to describe how the four functions of management apply to domestic engineers.
“Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind” a famous quote about our goal by Seneca. It is a metaphor about the achievement goal and objectives by good planning skills. One has to plan for what one wants to achieve and where one wants to go. One of the most important things is to have good planning, before taking any project the first think you should do is to create project plan. Planning can be defined as preparing a sequence of action to achieve specific goals and objectives. According to Kerzner (2009), “project planning is desirable that the project manager is involved from project conception through execution. It must be systematic, flexible to handle, closely disciplined through reviews and control and capable of accepting multi functional inputs (pg. 412)”. The importance of planning a project is to describe the work so that it will be easily identifiable to the project team member.
Managers have five major functions to perform, namely planning, staffing, organizing, controlling, and coordinating. These roles or functions of the management separate management from other roles such as marketing and accounting among others. The lessons that I have currently learned will help me in becoming a manager who will be capable of making various decisions that will have an impact on the whole firm. Additionally, the area where I have much interest in is the function of controlling in management.
However, in some cases we need to develop strategies for them to improve their efficiency, improve their machinery, install backup generation, etc. In these scenarios, a team is developed with the consultant being the project manager or point man. Therefore, these projects require the four functions to be followed so we can develop the best possible solution. The first function used is “Planning”, which allows us to outline a strategy catering to the specific needs of our client. The “Planning” function also gives us a time table on how long the project will take to complete, who needs to be involved, and how we expect to accomplish each goal.
The first function of management is planning. Planning is a process that managers use to identify and involve goal setting and decide the best way to achieve the goal.(Bartol 2007) Planning connect the gap between where we do, where we intend to go. It predict the possible things to happen which would not otherwise happen (MSG 2012). There are several steps to the planning process, which are determine the goals of the organisation, evaluate the current position, consider possible future conditions, identify possible alternative actions and choose the best. Planning is the criteria thinking through goals and making decision to achieve the goal of the organisation’s objective, which requires a systematic way. Also objectives focus the managers how to achieve the final result as managers have to predict anything will happen, avoid the problem and fight back to competitors. An example of planning, which is the President Canon Inc Tsuneji Uchida and lead Canon Company become the no.1 in the global business (Canon.Inc 2011). Tsuneji Uchida has to understand what is the company objective and goal. First, make decision to protect the position and the aim of canon, improve the operation more diversity. Second, he creates the new design of camera and new technology, he plan to do these things to maximise profit.
A manager has four principal functions or duties of management. These include; the process of planning, organizing and leading an organizations human, financial, material, and others resources to increase its effectiveness. (George & Jones, 2005)
"In everyday language usage, management refers to the people in organizations who manage, and to the activities they perform." (Fulop, Frith, Hayward 1992 p. 187) To be more specific, management is the process of organizing work activities with and through people to ensure the activities are completed efficiently and effectively (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter 2006, p. 9). Through management, the goals of the organization or business are to be achieved. Henri Fayol, one of the most influential contributors to modern concepts of management, proposed that there are five primary functions for management, which consist of planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Nonetheless, the functions of commanding and coordinating have metamorphosed into leading (Crainer 2003).
An organisation is a deliberate arrangement of team consisting different personal identities to accomplish some specific goals and managers are the ones who hold the responsibility of mastering and placing them together to strive for that purpose (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, and Coulter, 2008). Robbins et al. (2008) have stated that managers are people who coordinate and oversee the work activities of others so that the goal is accomplished effectively and efficiently. Managers usually possess qualities such as having strong communication skills, flexibility, imagination, enthusiasm, problem solving skills, and of course the desire to be a great leader (Phdinmanagement.org, 2014). The structure of management conducted by a manager is often influenced by the four functions introduced by Henri Fayol (planning, organising, leading, controlling); how Henry Mintzberg’s management roles play in the organisation and also the three essentials management skills proposed by Robert L. Katz (Robbins et al., 2008).
As Schermerhorn states in Management planning, organizing, leading, and controlling are the tools needed by managers to accomplish performance goals. It is crucial that managers be able to recognize and act upon problems or opportunities as they arise. Planning is perhaps the cornerstone of the four processes. All good processes were at some point given great detail so as to anticipate possible problems and solutions to those problems. When the Honda Motor Company decided it needed to refine its inventory they didn't just jump at the first idea that was proposed; they first set their objectives and discussed ways to meet those objectives. After giving careful consideration to processes and the streamlining of those processes human error rose as the top need for change. Sounds simple you might respond; in reality it is much more complicated.
Management - is one of the areas of modern economics, aimed at the creation, planning and implementation of development plan for businesses, organizations, and firms in order to maximize the potential profit of the company, creating a sustainable enterprise management system (Drucker, 1993). Management helps companies to achieve a certain goal step-by-step. In order to achieve targets companies demand managers. “A Manager is the person responsible for planning and directing the work of a group of individuals, monitoring their work, and taking corrective action when necessary” (Reh).
Management is vital for any organisations regardless of the size and the types of the organisations. In general, management is defined as “the application of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling functions in the most efficient manner possible to accomplish meaningful organizational objectives.” (John M. Ivancevish and Thomas N. Duening, 2007)