FUNCTIONS OF MANAGEMENT

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. 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.  In Management Excel, this standard definition is modified to  align more closely with our teaching objectives and to  communicate more clearly the content of the organizing  function. Organizing is divided into organizing and staffing so  that the importance of staffing in small businesses receives  emphasis along side organizing. In the management literature,  directing and leading are used interchangeably Different experts have classified functions of management.  According to George & Jerry, “There are four fundamental  functions of management i.e. planning, organizing, actuating  and controlling”. According to Henry Fayol, “To manage is to  forecast and plan, to organize, to command, & to control”.  Whereas Luther Gullick has given a keyword ’POSDCORB’  where P stands for Planning, O for Organizing, S for Staffing,  D for Directing, Co for Co-ordination, R for reporting & B for  Budgeting. But the most widely accepted are functions of  management given by KOONTZ and O’DONNEL i.e. Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing and Controlling. PLANNING It is the basic function of management. It deals with chalking  out a future course of action & deciding in advance the most  appropriate course of actions for achievement of  pre-determined goals. According to KOONTZ, “Planning is  deciding in advance - what to do, when to do & how to do. It  bridges the gap from where we are & where we want to be”.  A plan is a future course of actions. It is an exercise in  problem solving & decision making. Planning is  determination of courses of action to achieve desired goals.  Thus, planning is a systematic thinking about ways & means  for accomplishment of pre-determined goals. Planning is  necessary to ensure proper utilization of human &  non-human resources. It is all pervasive, it is an intellectual  activity and it a also helps in avoiding confusion,  uncertainties, risks, w                                  Planning is decision making process. It is making decisions on future course of actions. Planning involves taking decisions on vision, mission,  values, objectives, strategies and policies of an  organization. Planning is done for immediate, short term, medium  term and long term periods. It is a guideline for execution/implementation. It is a measure to check the effectiveness and efficiency  of an organization. ORGANISING It is the process of bringing together physical, financial and  human resources and developing productive relationship  amongst them for achievement of organizational goals.  According to Henry Fayol, “To organize a business is to  provide it with everything useful or its functioning i.e. raw  material, tools, capital and personnel’s”. To organize a  business involves determining & providing human and  non-human resources to the organizational structure.              Identification of activities. Classification of grouping of activities. Assignment of duties. Delegation of authority and creation of responsibility. Coordinating authority and responsibility relationships. Organizing involves determination and grouping of the activities. Designing organization structures and departmentation based on this grouping. Defining the roles and responsibilities of the departments and of the job positions within these departments. Defining relationships between departments and job positions. Defining authorities for departments and job positions. STAFFING It is the function of manning the organization structure and  keeping it manned. Staffing has assumed greater importance in  the recent years due to advancement of technology, increase in  size of business, complexity of human behavior etc. The main  purpose o staffing is to put right man on right job i.e. square pegs  in square holes and round pegs in round holes. According to  Kootz & O’Donell, “Managerial function of staffing involves  manning the organization structure through proper and effective  selection, appraisal & development of personnel to fill the roles  designed un the structure”. Staffing involves MANPOWER  PLANNING                        Recruitment, selection & placement. Training & development. Remuneration. Performance appraisal. Promotions & transfer. It includes manpower or human resource planning. Staffing involves recruitment, selection, induction and positioning the people in the organization. Decisions on remuneration packages are part of staffing. Training, retraining, development, mentoring and counseling are important aspects of staffing. It also includes performance appraisals and designing and administering the motivational packages. DIRECTING It is that part of managerial function which actuates the organizational methods to work efficiently for achievement of organizational purposes. It is considered life-spark of the enterprise which sets it in motion the action of people because planning, organizing and staffing are the mere preparations for doing the work. Direction is that inert-personnel aspect of management which deals directly with influencing, guiding, supervising, motivating sub-ordinate for the achievement of organizational goals. Direction has following elements:                                       Supervision Motivation Leadership Communication Supervision- implies overseeing the work of subordinates by  their superiors. It is the act of watching & directing work &  workers. Motivation- means inspiring, stimulating or encouraging the  sub-ordinates with zeal to work. Positive, negative,  monetary, non-monetary incentives may be used for this  purpose. Leadership- may be defined as a process by which manager  guides and influences the work of subordinates in desired  direction. Communications- is the process of passing information,  experience, opinion etc from one person to another. It is a  bridge of understanding. It is one of the most important functions of management to translate company's plans into execution. It includes providing leadership to people so that they work willingly and enthusiastically. Directing people involves motivating them all the time to enthuse them to give their best. Communicating companies plans throughout the organization is an important directing activity. It also means coordinating various people and their activities. Directing aims at achieving the best not just out of an individual but achieving the best through the groups or teams of people through team building efforts. CONTROLLING It implies measurement of accomplishment against the  standards and correction of deviation if any to ensure  achievement of organizational goals. The purpose of  controlling is to ensure that everything occurs in  conformities with the standards. An efficient system of  control helps to predict deviations before they actually  occur. According to Theo Haimann, “Controlling is the  process of checking whether  or not proper progress is being made towards the objectives and  goals and acting if necessary, to correct any deviation”.  According to Koontz & O’Donell “Controlling is the  measurement & correction of performance activities of  subordinates in order to make  sure that the enterprise objectives and plans desired to  obtain them as being accomplished”. Therefore controlling  has following steps                                 Establishment of standard performance. Measurement of actual performance. Comparison of actual performance with the standards and finding out deviation if any. Corrective action It includes verifying the actual execution against the plans to ensure that execution is being done in accordance with the plans. It measures actual performance against the plans. It sets standards or norms of performance. It measures the effective and efficiency of execution against these standards and the plans. It periodically reviews, evaluates and monitors the performance. If the gaps are found between execution levels and the plans, controlling function involves suitable corrective actions to expedite the execution to match up with the plans or in certain circumstances deciding to make modifications in the plans.

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