Functions of Management

Functions of Management

The four functions of management are to plan, organize, lead and control. Successful managers use all four of these functions in order to be effective as well as efficient at their jobs. Some managers excel at one criterion or the other, but only managers who accomplish both truly achieve success. These four functions are the foundation of management. As Peter Drucker stated, "Management means, in the last analysis, the substitution of thought for brawn and muscle, of knowledge for folklore and tradition, and of cooperation for force."

Planning is defined as specifying the goals to be achieved and deciding in advance the appropriate actions needed to achieve those goals (Bateman & Snell, 2000). Traditionally, planning is done by executives of a firm and passed down to other managers to be implemented. Planning is also the management function of systematically making decisions about the goals and activities that an individual, a group, a work unit, or the overall organization will pursue in the future. In the author's organization, planning is done by the COO, Director of Operation and the President of the company. The plans decided by these individuals are then passed down to the workers in the organization through department managers.

Organizing is assembling and coordinating the human, financial, physical, informational, and other resources needed to achieve goals (Bateman & Snell, 2000). Organizing can take many forms such as scheduling employee work times, developing a hierarchy, specifying individual responsibilities and identifying business functions. In the author's professional environment, organizing can be done by the executive management or the middle management, depending on the specific needs of the organization. The more complex the task to be organized, the higher the level of management that is required. The individual requirements of each department also dictate who in the organization will be directly responsible for the organizational structure within each department.

Leading is the management function which involves the manager's efforts to stimulate high performance by employees (Bateman & Snell, 2000). Leading also involves communicating, motivating and energizing the employees of an organization. There are different levels of leadership within any organization. Generally, the CEO of a company is the one tasked with leading the company with his or her ideas and thoughts. These ideas are then transferred down to middle managers and front line manager for interpretation and communication with the employees within the company. In the author's place of employment, the COO is the person responsible for the leadership role within the company, not the CEO. The author's COO manages the daily functions of the company and controls almost all aspects of the leadership from an executive level. There are also leadership roles with in the ranks of the middle management of the author's employer. Each department's manager is responsible for leading his employees