Functions of Management

(A Report for Engineering Management – ENGG423)

Summary

This report presents the different functions of management. Management is the process
of reaching organizational goals by working with and through people and other
organizational resources. Management has the following 3 characteristics, it is a process
or series of continuing and related activities, it involves and concentrates on reaching
organizational goals and it reaches these goals by working with and through people and
other organizational resources.

Introduction

Every business entity or organization, whether big or small, needs to develop and
implement the basic four management functions. The success of any business
organization depends on how the four functions of management are implemented.
These management functions allow an organization to handle its business strategy,
tactical and operational decisions. The aim of this report is to discuss the four functions
of management namely: Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling.
1. Planning

This is the first management function and it is a very important area of all the four
functions of management. This is the core foundation of management from which other
management functions are derived and built. Planning requires the management of an
organization to do thorough evaluation of the current state of the company and where
the company will be in future. It involves setting goals and objectives to be achieved by
an organization within a specified duration. During the planning process, management
evaluates both internal and external factors that affect the company.

Looking ahead into the future and predict possible trends or occurrences which are
likely to influence the working situation is the most vital quality as well as the job of a
manager.

Planning means setting an organization’s goal and deciding how best to achieve them. It
is also a decision making, regarding the goals and setting the future course of action
from a set of alternatives to reach them. The plan helps to maintain the managerial
effectiveness as it works as a guide for the personnel for the future activities. Selecting
goals as well as the paths to achieve them is what planning involves. Planning involves
selecting missions and objectives and the actions to achieve them, it requires decision-
making or choosing future courses of action from among alternatives.

In short, planning means determining what the organization’s position and the situation
should be at some time in the future and decide how best to bring about that situation.
Planning helps maintain managerial effectiveness by guiding future activities. For a
manager, planning and decision-making require an ability to foresee, to visualize, and to
look ahead purposefully.

2. Organizing

This is the second function of management. It requires management to organize all the
available resources in an organization towards the achievement of the set goals and
objectives set during the planning stage. This stage helps management to be able to
organize resources in the best way, organize human resource and other factors within
the organization for it to achieve the set goals. Organizing helps management to
determine the internal structure of the company and the best way in which it can
achieve good results.

Organizing can be defined as the process by which the established plans are moved
closer to realization. Once a manager set goals and develops plans, his next managerial
function is organizing human and other resources that are identified as necessary by the
plan to reach the goal. Organizing involves determining how activities and resources are
to be assembled and coordinated. The organization can also be defined as an
 intentionally formalized structure of positions or roles for people to fill in an
organization. Organizing produces a structure of relationships in an organization and it is
through these structured relationships that future plans are pursued. Organizing, then,
is that part of managing which involves: establishing an intentional structure of roles for
people to fill in the organization. It is intentional in the sense of making sure that all the
tasks necessary to accomplish goals are assigned to people who can do the best.

The purpose of an organization structure is to create an environment for best human

performance. The structure must define the task to be done. The rules so established
must also be designed in the light of the abilities and motivations of the people
available.

Staffing is related to organizing and it involves filling and keeping filled, the positions in
the organization structure. This can be done by determining the positions to be filled,
identifying the requirement of manpower, filling the vacancies and training employees
so that the assigned tasks are accomplished effectively and efficiently.

The managerial functions of promotion, demotion, discharge, dismissal, transfer, etc.

are also included with the broad task “staffing”. Staffing ensures the placement of the
right person at the right position.

Basically organizing is deciding where decisions will be made, who will do what jobs and
tasks, who will work for whom, and how resources will assemble.

3. Leading

This is the third function of management. Leading helps management to monitor staff
and direct resources to influence the conduct of staff to work towards achieving the
goals of the organization. Leading also assists management to help employees in
accomplishing their career objectives and being part of the organization. It needs
effective communication and building of positive interpersonal relationships between
management and staff.

Leading is considered to be the most important and challenging of all managerial

activities. Leading is influencing or prompting the member of the organization to work
together with the interest of the organization. Creating a positive attitude towards the
work and goals in among the members of the organization is called leading. It is
required as it helps to serve the objective of effectiveness and efficiency by changing the
behavior of the employees. It involves a number of deferment processes and activates.

The functions of direction, motivation, communication, and coordination are considered

a part of leading process or system. Coordinating is also essential in leading. Most
authors do not consider it a separate function of management. Rather they regard
coordinating as the essence of management for achieving harmony among individual
 efforts towards accomplishing group targets. Motivating is an essential quality for
leading. Motivating is the function of management process of influencing people’s
behavior based on the knowledge of what cause and channel sustain human behavior in
a particularly committed direction.

Efficient managers need to be effective leaders. Since leadership implies fellowship and
people tend to follow those who offer a means of satisfying their own needs, hopes and
aspirations it is understandable that leading involves motivation leadership styles and
approaches and communication.

4. Controlling

This is the last stage of function of management. It includes setting and establishing
standards to be achieved within the organization. It also involves evaluation of results in
comparison with the set standards and incase of any variations, it helps management to
come up with the appropriate measures.

Monitoring the organizational progress toward goal fulfillment is called controlling.

Monitoring the progress is essential to ensure the achievement of organizational goal.

Controlling is measuring, comparing, finding deviation and correcting the organizational

activities which are performed for achieving the goals or objectives. It consist of
activities, like; measuring the performance, comparing with the existing standard and
finding the deviations, and correcting the deviations.

Control activities generally relate to the measurement of achievement or results of

actions which were taken to attain the goal.

Some means of controlling, like the budget for expenses, inspection records, and the
record of labor hours lost, are generally familiar. Each measure also shows whether
plans are working out. If deviations persist, correction is indicated. Whenever results are
found to differ from the planned action, persons responsible are to be identified and
necessary actions are to be taken to improve performance. Thus outcomes are
controlled by controlling what people do. Controlling is the last but not the least
important management function process.

It is rightly said, “Planning without controlling is useless”. In short, we can say the
controlling enables the accomplishment of the plan.

All the management functions of its process are inter-related and cannot be skipped.
The management process designs and maintains an environment in which personnel’s,
working together in groups, accomplish efficiently selected aims.
All managers carry out the main functions of management; planning, organizing,
staffing, leading and controlling. But depending on the skills and position on an
organizational level, the time and labor spent in each function will differ.

Conclusion

The four functions of management are crucial for an organization to succeed. Therefore
these functions should be properly developed and implemented for an organization to
succeed.