Functions of Management

Functions of management requires more than just overseeing and managing a team, they should also have skills to plan, organize, lead, and control the process to help achieve the organizational goals. An effective manager should be able to encourage and inspire the team to work effectively and efficiently in order to accomplish their organizational goals.

Management has been described as a social process involving responsibility for economical and effective planning & regulation of operation of an enterprise in the fulfillment of given purposes. It is a dynamic process consisting of various elements and activities. These activities are different from operative functions like marketing, finance, purchase etc. Rather these activities are common to each and every manger irrespective of his level or status (www.managementstudyguide.com). Nowadays, organizations expect all level of managers to do more and more, so they are not as successful in using all the required management skills as they should be.

There are four fundamental functions to management. The fundamentals functions of management are: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling (Bateman & Snell, 2009, pg 19). These four functions of management will help all level of managers to maintain focus and have a clear vision of the organizational goals. Each of the functions has a role in how managers should manage their employees to work toward achieving the organizational goals and measure results.

The first function of management is planning. The management functions of systematically making decisions about the goals and activities that an individual, a group, a work unit, or the overall organization will pursue (Bateman & Snell, 2009, pg 19). Within my organization, when we are preparing for a new product or implementing a new service, upper management will gather all the key players that will provide strategic ideas and inputs on how to achieve the goals. Part of our planning we will analyze the data, reviewing the objectives, determine the benefits for our clients and the organization, determine how to implement the idea, and how much resources and funds are needed to achieve the organization's goals.

The second function of management is organizing. The management functions of assembling and coordinating human, financial, physical, informational, and other resources needed to achieve goals (Bateman & Snell, 2009, pg 20).

Once our organization establishes a plan, then we proceed to the next step by organizing the resources such as the key players, funding, and data that is needed to complete the project. We will create a timeline or data chart to identify all the key players showing their responsibilities and deadlines. We will then schedule meetings on a bi-weekly or monthly basis to discuss the status of the project. This is to ensure that the project is moving along and staying on target to meet the deadline. This formula has