The Functions of Managers

The Functions of Managers

Managerial functions provide a useful framework for organizing management knowledge. There have been no new ideas, research findings, or techniques that cannot readily be placed in the classifications of planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.

1.Planning

Planning involves selecting missions and objectives and the actions to achieve them; it requires decision making that is, choosing future courses of action from among alternatives. There are various types of plans, ranging from overall purposes and objectives to the most detailed actions to be taken, such as to order a special stainless steel bolt for an instrument or to hire and train workers for an assembly line. No real plan

exists until a decision—a commitment of human or material resources or reputation—has been made. Before a decision is made, all we have is a planning study, an analysis, or a proposal, but not a real plan.

2.Organizing

People working together in groups to achieve some goal must have roles to play, much like the parts actors fill in a drama, whether these roles are ones they develop themselves, are accidental or haphazard, or are defined and structured by someone who wants to make sure that people contribute in a specific way to group effort. The concept of a "role" implies that what people do has a definite purpose or objective; they know how their job objective fits into group effort, and they have the necessary authority, tools, and information to accomplish the task.

Organizing, then, is that part of managing that involves establishing an intentional structure of roles for people to fill in an organization. It is intentional in the sense of making sure that all the tasks necessary to accomplish goals are assigned and, it is hoped, assigned to people who can do them best

The purpose of an organization structure is to help in creating an environment for human performance. It is, then, a management tool and not an end in and of itself. Although the structure must define the tasks to be done, the roles so established must also be designed in light of the workers' abilities and motivations

3.Staffing

Staffing involves filling, and keeping filled, the positions in the organization structure. This is done by identifying workforce requirements, inventorying the people available, recruiting, selecting, placing, promoting, planning the career, compensating, and training or otherwise developing both candidates and current job holders to accomplish their tasks effectively and efficiently.

4.Leading

Leading is influencing people