The Four Functions of Management

Essay by shuanhUniversity, Bachelor's April 2004

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Functions of Management

Management is defined as "the process of working with people and resources to accomplish organizational goals (Bateman and Snell, 2004, p.11)". The four functions of management are to plan, organize, lead, and control. Without a manager to plan, organize, lead and control an organization, what would be the effect on that organization?

Planning is "specifying the goals to be achieved and deciding in advance the appropriate actions needed to achieve those goals (Bateman and Snell, 2004, p.11)". Planning is a central management function, which charts an organization's direction. Plans outline goals and missions and if there was no planning, goals would not be set . I once had a manager that would always say "either you plan to succeed or you plan to fail by failing to plan". In three years of working in the Automotive Industry as a salesperson this was proved true daily. Planning in the sales industry requires the consideration of many variables.

For example it is necessary to look over past records carefully, to target the market with effective advertising, and to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the employees by using their past performance as a benchmark. Taking into account all these considerations is how a manager proceeds to the next function of management.

The next role of a manager is that of organizing. Organizing is defined as "assembling and coordinating the human, financial, physical, informational, and other resources needed to achieve goals (Bateman and Snell, 2004, p.12)". The concept of organizing includes the implementing of plans which the manager has formulated, allocating resources and assigning jobs to those who are to help carry out the desired objectives . A manager does this by assigning tasks and responsibilities in a way that enables employees to do their work efficiently and effectively and...