The Four Functions Of Management
Management
“Management is creative problem solving. This creative problem solving is accomplished through four functions of management: planning, organizing, leading and controlling. The intended result is the use of an organization's resources in a way that accomplishes its mission and objectives.”(1) Management focuses on the entire group from both a short and a long-term viewpoint. Management is the decision-making process of forming a planned vision, setting goals, crafting a plan and then implementing and executing the plan. Management goes beyond the group’s in-house operations to include the industry and the general surroundings. The key emphasis is on issues connected to environmental scanning and industry study, assessment of current and future participants, assessment of core competencies, strategic control and the effective portion of organizational resources. The manager's style is a personal or situational matter and it has evolved over time. With highly skilled and go-ahead knowledge workers, the manager must be very allowing. Where the workforce is less skilled or not very motivated, the manager may need to monitor production more closely. Skilled managers know how flex their style, coach and motivate diverse employees. Getting things done through people is what they do. By saying that management is a task, not a type of person or role, we can better account for self-managed work teams where no one is in charge. In a self-managed team, management is a group effort with no one being the designated manager.
Planning
“Planning is concerned with the future impact of today’s decisions. It is the fundamental function of management from which the other four stem. The need for planning is often apparent after the fact. However, planning is easy to postpone in the short-run. Postponement of planning especially plagues labor oriented, hands on managers.”(1) The manager is ready to...
Please login to view the full essay...