What are the four functions of management? What do the four functions of management have in common? How do managers at different levels apply the four functions of management? Functions of Management
The management of organization is based on the four main functions such as planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Each function plays an important role to consolidate the management in the organization (Burrow, Everard & Kleindl, 2007). Planning is the process in which organization develops goals and objective and determines appropriate course of action to achieve these goals. Organizing is the internal structure that includes organizing people and resources. In this, manager focuses on division, how employees should coordinate, control of tasks, identifying different roles and choosing the right people for these roles. Moreover, manager also ensures that employees have enough resources to perform their tasks better.
Many people use managing and leading synonymously. Managing tasks means making people to do their jobs and leading tasks means influencing and inspiring people to perform their jobs. So, manager should become a good leader, because leader is a person that motivate council, instruct employees and guide them to achieve organizational goals (Hill & Jones, 2009). In contrast, controlling is the process that insures the work is done in the desired way and evaluate that the plans are properly executed.
If plans are not executed in desired way, corrective action should be taken to do things rights at the right time. Commonality of Management Functions The four management functions like planning, organizing, leading and controlling have common denominator that these functions are done by managers. When they are executed properly, it leads to an organization or company’s success (Burrow, Everard & Kleindl, 2007).
These management functions are common to all managers at different levels in organizational hierarchy. There are three levels in organizational hierarchy: Top management level: This refers to the top one or two hierarchical levels in the organization structure. Managers have responsibility for organizational performance and various business activities. Middle management level: These are managers between top and first level management. These managers are responsible for only a single activity or single segment of the total work (Daft & Marcic, 2010). First level management: These managers belong to lowest level of hierarchy.
They are responsible for directly supervising the work of operational staff and form a link between them and management. Application of Four Management Functions Managers are organizational members, who are responsible for the work performance of other organizational members. Managers have formal authority to use organizational resources and make decisions. In organizations, there are three levels of management: Top level management: Top level managers have charge of overall management and focus on long term goals and external relationships (Byrnes, 2008). Top level managers issue necessary instructions for the preparation of department budgets, procedures, schedules etc. It prepares strategic plans, control and coordinates the activities of all departments and provides direction to middle level managers.
They plan the overall goal of the company, organize resource and people, lead the middle level management and control over the decisions. Middle level management: Managers of middle level turn broad goals into more specific goals and strategies. They execute the plans of the organization according to the policies and directives of the top management. They also participate in employment and training of lower level management (Daft & Marcic, 2010). They communicate between the top management and frontline management. Middle level managers plan the goals of first level managers, organize resources and assignments, lead the frontline managers, and have control over the decisions of the first level managers.
First level management: First level is known as supervisory and operative level of management. First level managers are people that organize and manage the operations of an organization and deal with the majority of non management employees (Hill & Jones, 2009). Frontline managers set plans into action, organize their resources and employees, lead non-managerial employee and control the decisions in their branch.
References
Burrow, J. L., Everard, K. E. & Kleindl, B. (2007).
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USA: Cengage Learning. Byrnes, W. J. (2008). Management and the Arts.
UK: Elsevier. Daft, R. L. & Marcic, D. (2010). Understanding Management.
USA: Cengage Learning. Hill, C. & Jones, G. (2009). Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach.
USA: Cengage Learning.