What Is The Four Functions Of Management?

Though there are many factors that can contribute to an organization’s accomplishments, a strong system of management is perhaps the single most valuable element to an organization’s success. The act of management is defined as the efficient and effective pursuit of organizational goals by integrating the work of people through planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the resources of the organization (Kinicki & Williams, 2013). By heavily incorporating the four functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling, a strong system of management can be built, thereby bringing a unified sense of direction to unorganized chaos by establishing goals and measuring the progress made in the accomplishment of those goals. Planning is the first function of management and is valuable because of the way it is used to coordinate multiple activities and gauge progress. Planning consists of setting goals and deciding how to achieve them, or is also defined as, formulating future courses of action to achieve specified results and cope with uncertainty (Kinicki & Williams, 2013). With effective planning, multiple groups can work on many different areas of the same task without impeding on each other’s efforts, all in order to accomplish the same goal in a shorter amount of time. A manager can then measure the progress of the plan and make adjustments if necessary. This measurement of the progress on set goals also helps in learning to more effectively designate tasks and more efficiently use resources for future projects. Organizing is the second function of management and is defined as the act of arranging the tasks, people, and resources necessary to accomplish the set goal. Organizing entails everything from determining which type of management structure will be the most effective in a particular business or organization, to placing employees in the environments they would be most productive in. With the proper management structure in place, the chain of command is streamlined, unnecessary or redundant positions are eliminated, and the solid lines of communication that are established begin to move at a rapid pace. Proper organizing also places employees in environments where they can thrive and are the most productive. This efficient use of organizational resources cannot only increase productivity, but can also do so at lower costs. Leading is the third function of management and entails motivating, directing, and influencing people to achieve organizational goals. …show more content…
The most valuable element of leading is possessing the ability to perceive the personal motivators of others and incorporating those motivators into incentives, as well as using those motivations to establish clear goals for employees to reach. By identifying if an employee responds better to praise, financial reward, or just the act of a job well done, a manager can more easily designate tasks and adjust rewards towards employee interests, in order to motivate them towards accomplishing organizational goals. Controlling, the fourth function of management, involves monitoring performance, comparing the progress made towards achieving the set goal, and taking any corrective action necessary. This function involves evaluating the working process for flaws and then making any improvements necessary in order increase efficiency and to reach the set goals. By employing all four of these functions of management, a business is able to build a focused work ethic and well defined culture that not only motivates, but also encourages communication. Just as management plays a key role in the success of an organization, motivation and communication play key roles in management. Communication allows us to transfer information in order to express the needs of the organization, as well as our own, in order to set goals and accomplish tasks. Detailed communication ensures that our message is understood and directives are clear and also allow the manager to more easily identify the behaviors and needs of their employees. Communication and …show more content…
It is relatively easy for me to step back and look at a project from a distance in order to evaluate the best path to complete it. Evaluating those steps in order to identify weaknesses and correct them is also something that requires little effort. However, my organizing and leading skills could be improved. I enjoy staying busy and have a tendency to take on more than I need to. I tend to be much more comfortable completing multiple tasks myself rather than delegating them out. Passing on less important tasks to be accomplished by others in order to focus on more important and elaborate tasks would be extremely beneficial to