Management functions Free Essay Example

Henry Payola was the first person to Identify elements or functions of management In his classic 1916 book Administration Industrially et General. Payola was the managing director of a large French coal-mining firm and based his book largely on his experiences as a practitioner of management. Payola defined five functions, or elements of management: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling.

Payola argued that these functions were universal, In the sense that all managers performed them In the course of their Jobs, whether the managers worked in business, military, government, religious, or philanthropic undertakings.

Payola defined planning in terms of forecasting future conditions, setting objectives, and developing means to attain objectives. Payola recognized that effective planning must also take into account unexpected contingencies that might arise and did not advocate rigid and inflexible plans.

Payola defined organizing as making provision for the structuring of activities and relationships within the firm and also the recruiting, evaluation. And training of personnel. According to Payola, commanding as a managerial function concerned the personal supervision of subordinates and involved inspiring them to put forth unified effort to achieve objectives.

Payola emphasized the importance of managers understanding the people who worked for them, setting a good example, treating subordinates in a manner consistent with firm policy, delegating, and communicating through meetings and conferences.

Payola saw the function of coordination as harmonize all of the various actively of the firm. Most later experts did not retain Payola’s coordination function as a separate function of management but regarded it as a necessary component of all the other management functions.

Payola defined the control function in terms of ensuring that everything occurs within the parameters of the plan and accompanying principles. The purpose of control was to Identify deviations from objectives and plans and to take corrective action.

Payola’s work was not widely known outside Europe until 1949, when a translation of his work appeared In the united States. Nevertheless, his discussion of the practice of management as a process consisting of specific functions had a tremendous influence on early management texts that appeared in the sass. Management pioneers such as George Terry, Harold Kenton, Cyril O’Donnell, and Ralph Davis all published management texts in the sass that defined management as a process consisting of a set of interdependent functions.

Collectively, these and several other management experts became Identified with process school, management is a distinct intellectual activity consisting of several functions. The process theorists believe that all managers, regardless of their industry, organization, or level of management, engage in the functions of management. The process school of management became a dominant paradigm for studying management and the functions of management became the most common ay of describing the nature of managerial work.

CRITICISM OF THE FUNCTIONAL By the early sass, some experts suggested that the functions of management as described by Payola and others of the process school of management were not an accurate description of the reality of managers’ Jobs. Chief among the critics of the functional approach was Henry Mentoring. Mentoring argued that the functional or process school of management was “folklore” and that functions of management such as planning, organizing, leading, and controlling did not accurately depict the chaotic nature of managerial work.

He felt that the functional approach to the managerial Job falsely conveyed a sense that managers carefully and deliberately evaluated information before making management decisions. Based upon an observational study of five executives, Mentoring concluded that the work managers actually performed could best be represented by three sets of roles, or activities: interpersonal roles, informational roles, and decision-making roles. He described the interpersonal roles as consisting of figurehead, leader, and liaison. He identified three informational roles: monitor, disseminated, and spokesperson.

Finally, he described four decision-making roles that included entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource locator, and negotiator. Midwinter’s challenge to the usefulness of the functions of management and the process school attracted a tremendous amount of attention and generated several empirical studies designed to determine whether his or Payola’s description of the managerial Job was most accurate. While this research did indicate that managers performed at least some of the roles Mentoring identified, there was little in the findings that suggested that the functions f management were not a useful way of describing managerial work.

Scholars continue to debate this question. Research by David Almond suggests that both approaches had some validity, with Payola’s approach describing the ideal management Job and Mentoring describing the day-to-day activities of managers. Thus, the general conclusion seems to be that while Mentoring offered a genuine insight into the daily activities of practicing managers, the functions of management still provides a very useful way of classifying the activities managers engage in as they attempt to achieve organizational goals.

PLANNING Planning is the function of management that involves setting objectives and determining a course of action for achieving these objectives. Planning requires that managers be aware of environmental conditions facing their organization and forecast future conditions. It also requires that managers be good decision-makers. Planning is a process consisting of several steps. The process begins with environmental scanning, which simply means that planners must be aware of the critical contingencies facing their organization in terms of economic conditions, their competitors, and their customers.

Planners must then attempt to forecast future objectives, which are statements of what needs to be achieved and when. Planners must then identify alternative courses of action for achieving objectives. After evaluating the various alternatives, planners must make decisions about the best courses of action for achieving objectives. They must then formulate necessary steps and ensure effective implementation of plans. Finally, planners must constantly evaluate the success of their plans and take corrective action when necessary. There are many different types of plans and planning. STRATEGIC PLANNING.

Strategic planning involves analyzing competitive opportunities and threats, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, and then determining how to position the organization to compete effectively in their environment. Strategic planning has a long time frame, often three years or more. Strategic planning generally includes the entire organization and includes formulation of objectives. Strategic planning is often based on the organization’s mission, which is its fundamental reason for existence. An organization’s top management most often inducts strategic planning.

TACTICAL PLANNING. Tactical planning is intermediate-range planning that is designed to develop relatively concrete and specific means to implement the strategic plan. Middle-level managers often engage in tactical planning. Tactical planning often has a one- to three-year time horizon. OPERATIONAL PLANNING. Operational planning generally assumes the existence of objectives and specifies ways to achieve them. Operational planning is short-range planning that is designed to develop specific action steps that support the strategic and tactical plans.

Operational planning usually has a very short time horizon, from one week to one year. ORGANIZING Organizing is the function of management that involves developing an organizational structure and allocating human resources to ensure the accomplishment of objectives. The structure of the organization is the framework within which effort is coordinated. The structure is usually represented by an organization chart, which provides a graphic representation of the chain of command within an organization.

Decisions made about the structure of an organization are generally referred to as “organizational design” decisions. Organizing also involves the design of individual jobs within the organization. Decisions must be made about the duties and responsibilities of individual Jobs as well as the manner in which the duties should be carried out. Decisions made about the nature of Jobs within the organization are generally called “Job design” decisions. Organizing at the level of the organization involves deciding how best to departmental, or cluster Jobs into departments to effectively coordinate effort.

There are many different ways to departmental, including organizing by function, product, geography, or customer. Many larger organizations utilize multiple methods of differentiations. Organizing at the level of Job involves how best to design individual Jobs to most effectively use human resources. Traditionally, Job design was based on principles of division of labor and specialization, which assumed that the more narrow the Job content, the more proficient the individual performing the Job could become.

However, experience has happens, negative outcomes result, including decreased Job satisfaction and organizational commitment and increased absenteeism and turnover. Recently many organizations have attempted to strike a balance between the need for worker specialization and the need for workers to have Jobs that entail variety and autonomy. Many Jobs are now designed based on such principles as Job enrichment and teamwork. LEADING Leading involves influencing others toward the attainment of organizational objectives.

Effective leading requires the manager to motivate subordinates, communicate effectively, and effectively use power. If managers are effective leaders, their subordinates will be enthusiastic about exerting effort toward the attainment of organizational objectives. To become effective at leading, managers must first understand their subordinates’ personalities, values, attitudes, and emotions. Therefore, the behavioral sciences have made many contributions to the understanding of this function of management.

Personality research and studies of job attitudes provide important information as to how managers can most effectively lead subordinates. Studies of motivation and motivation theory provide important information about the ways in which workers can be energize to put forth productive effort. Studies of communication provide direction as to how managers an effectively and persuasively communicate. Studies of leadership and leadership style provide information regarding questions such as, “What makes a manager a good leader? And “In what situations are certain leadership styles most appropriate and effective? ” CONTROLLING Controlling involves ensuring that performance does not deviate from standards. Controlling consists of three steps, which include establishing performance standards, comparing actual performance against standards, and taking corrective action when necessary. Performance standards are often stated in monetary terms such as revenue, costs, or profits, but may also be stated in other terms, such as units produced, number of defective products, or levels of customer service.

The measurement of performance can be done in several ways, depending on the performance standards, including financial statements, sales reports, production results, customer satisfaction, and formal performance appraisals. Managers at all levels engage in the managerial function of controlling to some degree. The managerial function of controlling should not be confused with control in the behavioral or manipulative sense. This function does not imply that managers should attempt to control or manipulate the personalities, values, attitudes, or emotions of their subordinates.

Instead, this function of management concerns the manager’s role in taking necessary actions to ensure that the work-related activities of subordinates are consistent with and contributing toward the accomplishment of organizational and departmental objectives. Effective controlling requires the existence of plans, since planning provides the necessary performance standards or objectives. Controlling also requires a clear understanding of where responsibility for deviations from standards lies. Two traditional control techniques are the budget and the performance audit.

Although controlling is often thought of in terms of financial criteria, managers must also control production/operations processes, other activities within the organization. The management functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling are widely considered to be the best means of describing the manager’s Job as well as the best way to classify accumulated knowledge about the study of management. Although there have been tremendous changes in the environment faced by managers and the tools used by managers to reform their roles, managers still perform these essential functions.