Functions of Management
University of Phoenix
Functions of Management
When the term “management” comes to mind, the first thought that most people have is a group of people, such as executives and managers that are responsible for leading an organization and making the decisions. There is more to management then what first comes to mind. Management consists of four different functions that allow leaders of an organization to do their part and to do it correctly as well as to ensure the organization’s success. The four functions of management are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. These four traditional fundamentals of management have always been practiced in management and are needed in every business.
The first function, which is planning, is “specifying the goals to be achieved and deciding in advance the appropriate actions needed to achieve those goals” (Bateman & Snell, 2009, p. 19). In an organization, planning is an important function. During this stage, management comes up with goals for the organization and how those goals can be achieved. For example, in the organization that I work for, goals are always being set on a daily basis. One important goal of my organization is reaching our daily sales forecast. When the sales forecast is set, management comes up with ideas of how to drive sales daily in order to reach our sales goal. Those ideas are then implemented daily to associates. This is known as delegation. If the ideas do not work and the organization does not reach the goal, management will convene once more and see what else can be done to achieve the sales goal for the following day. They make critical decisions not knowing where it will lead the store. Kallman (2005) states, “Making decisions under uncertainty is a critical managerial skill” (¶ 2).
The second function is organizing, which is “assembling and coordinating the human, financial, physical, informational, and other resources needed to achieve goals”...