Functions of Management Nicole Gregg MGT/330 August 16, 2010 Kelly Wagner

Functions of Management Management is a career with an extremely broad range of duties. All managers must always abide by the principles of the 4 basic management functions when achieving his/her goals. I will briefly explain what the four functions of management are. I consider this as something everyone should know. Also if you are not a manager, following this four steps will help you accomplish your goals in life much sooner and much easier. Planning (Bateman, 2009) Specifying the goals to be achieved and deciding in advance the appropriate actions needed to achieve those goals. Planning activities include analyzing current situations, anticipating the future, determining objectives, deciding in what types of activities the company will engage, choosing corporate and business strategies, and determining the resources needed to achieve the organizations goals. No matter what the situation or goal is it has to be planned out, whether at work or in your private lives. Goals have to be set and it has to be determined how these goals are going to be accomplished. This is where planning comes into play. It has to be decided as to who is capable of helping you accomplish said goal and if, when and how resources will be utilized. This includes people, money, internet etc. Organizing (Bateman, 2009) Assembling and coordinating the human, financial, physical, informational, and other resources needed to achieve goals. Organizing activities include attracting people to the organization, specifying job responsibilities, grouping jobs into work units, marshaling and allocating resources, and creating conditions so that people and things work together to achieve maximum success. Organizing is very important in my line of work. The first thing that has to be organized is our mail. Within the mail are our vendors invoices that need to be processed and paid in a certain amount of time. In the Accounts Payable department, it is up to processors to organize our pre-determined vendors by name and once that is accomplished, we must then organize within our own responsibility

of vendors by priority, which constitutes organizing chronologically. FIFO is how our office operates when making payments to our vendors. We must also organize any discrepancies by priority which constitutes the most urgent. Leading (Bateman, 2009) Stimulating people to be high performers. It includes motivating and communicating with employees, individually and in groups. Leading involves close day-to-day contact with people, helping to guide and inspire them toward achieving team and organizational goals. Leading takes place in teams, departments, and divisions, as well as at the tops of large organizations. In my experience of leading I had to start leading people to my goal. In my line of work when it comes to leading the first thing is to put on a game face, which in turn means to be firm but understanding. Motivating myself then my subordinates was also a very important part of leading. While in the capacity to leading it is also important to communicate with the people that are helping you. In my experience, communication is key. Without communication there is no leadership. It was also very important that I appointed sub-leaders to make sure that the less complicated work was completed to satisfaction. If there was a person that did not meet the requirements of competency within the group that person had to be replaced, by someone that could aid in the effective completion of the project or goal. It is very important to set up teams properly, which means putting the right person into the right team.

Controlling (Bateman, 2009) Monitoring performance and implementing necessary changes. By controlling, managers make sure the organizations resources are being used as planned and that the organization is meeting its goals for quality and safety. In my experience with controlling I needed to make sure that everyone was doing their best and if needed, replace someone if their best was not good enough for my intended outcome and goal. It is very important not to be too controlling, for the response will be negative and so will the outcome of the project or goal. The four functions of management need to be productively applied if a manager is to endure and succeed in the swift paced market of today. Compassion and understanding is also a good quality to have in a manager.

Reference Bateman, T. S. (2009). Management: Leading and Collaborating in a Competitive World (8th ed.). Phoenix, AZ: McGraw-Hill.