Functions of Management

Posted in Business Management, Principles of Management on Feb 15th, 2014 | 0 comments

Functions of Management

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MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS 

The objective of this topic is to make students understand the functions of management and the role of managers in an organization.

The five  basic management functions are listed below:

·  PLANNING

·  ORGANISING

·  STAFFING

·  LEADING

·  CONTROLLING

PLANNING:

The managerial activities aid in selecting the objectives, examine and forecast changes, develop policies, procedures and choose future course of action from among alternatives.  Planning proceeds from “Where we are” to “Where we want to go.”

 

 

Planning activities are

1.       Analysing the current situation (also called the SWOT Analysis)

2.       Anticipating or predicting the future based on the analysis

3.       Determination of organizational objectives to be achieved

4.       Deciding on the action plan

5.       Evolving proper strategies

6.       Pooling the resources (physical, financial and monetary)  to accomplish enterprise objective

 

 ORGANISING:

It is a process which integrates people and tasks; In order to achieve their tasks people are given sufficient authority, tools and information.

 

 

Organising activities include

1.       Specification of job responsibilities

2.       Grouping of jobs into respective work units

3.       Allocation of resources

 

STAFFING:

Human resource management is one of the key areas that decides the success of a firm’s activity. Staffing involves the selection of “Right person for the right job.”

 

The activities are

1.       Recruitment

2.       Selection

3.       Training and Development

4.       Compensation

5.       Promotion

6.       Evaluation and

7.       Rewarding people to achieve enterprise goals.

 

LEADING:

Leadership is the set of interpersonal behaviors that influence people to contribute to the organization and group goals.

 

 

The activities under this category are

1. Providing proper direction

2. Guidance and Motivation

3. Clarity in communication  to the work force

 

CONTROLLING:

This is a process that is necessary to keep track of the performace of individuals by setting some standards for direction.

 

 

The activities include

1. Establishing performance standards enabling the work force to achieve the goals (both short term and long term)

2. Enhancing the employee performance through performance appraisal or rating of work

3. Comparison of performance against the standards to  identify deviation  or work problems and take corrective measures

4. Bench marking is one of the management techniques that facilitates an organization to uplift its performance levels to the best of industry standards and also catch hold of the strengths of the competitors and rectify the weaknesses prevailing in one’s own firm.

 

CO-ORDINATION:

It is regarded as a key function of a manager to bring in harmony among individuals and an effort towards accomplishment of goals.

1. Marginal decision making and

2. Sub Optimisation are some of the new approaches developed in the field of decision making.

 

MANAGERIAL SKILLS:

Skill is the resultant effect of knowledge, experience and expertise. It is the ability of an individual to perform a task which is obvious from the results he/ she shows.

 

 

There are 3 kinds of skills that a manager should possess in order to excel.

 

1. The Conceptual Skill: Assessing a situation and acting accordingly depicts the manager’s perceiving ability of the abstract elements in  force. A manager has to improve this kind of skill as he moves up the ladder in the management level or let us say that he can move up the ladder only if he possesses this kind of skill.

· Management Consultants

· Managing Director of a firm

· President of a company

· Economists

· Startegists are conceptual analytic experts

 

2. The Technical Skill: This skill is purely based on one’s knowledge and  on the job experience. This is needed at  a lower level of management

· Computer Operators

· Engineers

· Accountants

· Machine Operators possess this kind of skill

 

3. The Human Relations Skill: This is needed at all levels of management as it is all pervasive and represents the ability of a manager to interact efficiently with individuals.

· Counselling

· Performance Appraisal

· Feedback

· Human Resource management

· Conflict management

· Negotiations need this skill set.