Military Mangament and the Four Functions

Effective management is the ability to make people who work under your authority become more productive than they would be without you in charge. Managers have different methods of managing but all types usually include the four functions of management. Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling are the four functions. The Army branch of United States Government employs me. In my military job, I utilize these functions to accomplish difficult assignments in the field or in battle missions while stationed in Iraq.

The first function of management is planning. Planning, according to the wikipedia encyclopedia is “deciding what needs to happen in the future and generating plans for action.” Planning involves development of short or long -term plans that have objectives, goals, strategies, procedures, and standards.

As a staff sergeant, I am usually given orders from higher up on what mission I am to complete with my squad of men. It is my job to then come up with a plan on how I intend to complete this mission, gather my team and share the mission, strategy, and plan that will be followed. Many policies and standards are preset in the army, which helps minimize any resistance from the men in my squad.

It is also my job to plan for the possibility of a problem arising in the course of a mission and to give orders for an alternative course of action should “plan A” fail. No mission runs completely smooth in the midst of a battle because your plan relies on information that is constantly changing. Having a strategy for change in you plan is so important.

The second function in management is organizing. Once there is a plan established, putting all the pieces in the right place and in the right order will better prepare a team to complete the objective. A good manager will “ make optimum use of the resources required to enable the successful carrying out of plans.” (wikipedia) Also, each member of the team needs to be assigned responsibilities and held accountable for the work they are supposed to do. The manager isn’t supposed to do it all but rather matches each part of the whole job with the right person.

I organize best by assessing each member of my squad and deciding which job is best for each person based on their training, abilities, attitude, and motivation. First, I organize the preparation phase of any project or mission. For instance, a convey operation from Kuwait to Baghdad requires me to assess the number of vehicles that will be needed to carry equipment. Then I need to assign men to service and maintenance vehicles. Assignments will be issued for food and water supply gathering, individual weapon handouts, crew-serve weapons attachment, and finally I will brief the squad on the complete mission and safety briefing.

Leading others to get them to play an effective part in achieving a mission is the third function of management. In my role as Staff Sergeant, I could just issue orders and because of the nature of the military, I could rely on the fact that orders must be followed. This is certainly not the way to be most effective. My orders should be filled with positive words that build up the team members with confidence and inspire them to do the best that they can do.

The soldiers that are under my command follow my lead because they trust me and they have seen that I back my convoy up and would march into dire situations for and with them no matter the cost. I do not just bark out orders that I would