What are the four basic activities that comprise the management process

Essay by AmBeddUniversity, Master's November 2004

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Chapter 1

Discussion Questions 1, 3, 5, 7, 9

Pages 28-29

Week/Session 1

Questions for Review

1. What are the four basic activities that comprise the management process? How are they related to one another?

" The four basic activities that comprise the management process are as follows:

Planning and Decision Making, Organizing, Leading, and Controlling. Managers engage in these activities to combine human, financial, physical, and information resources efficiently (using resources wisely and in a cost-effective way) and effectively (making the right decisions and successfully implementing them) and to work toward achieving the goals of the organization.

Planning and Decision Making set the organization's goals and decides how best to achieve them. Organizing then determines how best to group activities and resources. Leading motivates members of the organization to work in the best interests of the organization. Controlling monitors and corrects ongoing activities to facilitate goal attainment."

3. Briefly describe the ten managerial roles identified by Mintzberg.

Give an example of each.

"Mintzberg concluded that managers play ten different roles and that these roles fall into three basic categories: Interpersonal, Informational, and Decisional.

There are three Interpersonal roles in the manager's job:

Figurehead: Taking visitors to dinner, attending ribbon-cutting ceremonies, etc.

Leader: Hiring, training, and motivating employees.

Liaison: Serving as a coordinator or link between people, groups, or organizations.

There are three Informational roles in the manager's job:

Monitor: Actively seeking information that may be of value.

Disseminator: Transmitting relevant information back to others in the workplace.

Spokesperson: Formally relaying information to people outside the unit or outside the organization.

There are four Decisional roles in the manager's job:

Entrepreneur: Voluntarily initiating change.

Disturbance Handler: Handling such problems as strikes, copyright infringements, or problems in public relations or corporate image.

Resource Allocator: Deciding how resources are distributed, and with...