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Lesson 2 Management Functions There is enough disagreement among management writers on the classification of managerial functions. For our purpose, we shall designate the following six as the functions of a manager: planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating and controlling. 2.1 Planning The planning function is the primary activity of management. Planning is the process of establishing goals and a suitable course of action for achieving those goals. Planning implies that managers think through their goals and actions in advance and that their actions are based on some method, plan, or logic rather than on a....... Plans give the organization its objectives and set up the best procedures for reaching them. 2.2 Organizing After managers develop objectives and plans to achieve the objectives, they must design and develop an organization that will be able to accomplish the objectives. Thus the purpose of the organizing function is to create a structure of task and authority relationships that serves this purpose. Organizing is the process of arranging and allocating work, authority, and resources among an organization’s members so they can achieve the organization’s goals. Stoner defines “organizing as the process of engaging two or more people in working together in a structured way to achieve a specific goal or set of goals. 2.3 Staffing Staffing is a continuous and vital function of management. After the objectives have been determined, strategies, policies, programs, procedures and rules formulated for their achievement, activities for the implementation of strategies, policies, programs, etc. identified and grouped into jobs, the next logical step in the management process is to procure suitable personnel for manning the jobs. Since the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization significantly depends on the quality of its personnel and since it is one of the primary functions of management to achieve qualified and trained people to fill various positions, staffing has been recognized as a distinct function of management. 2.4 Directing Directing is the function of leading the employees to perform efficiently, and contribute their optimum to the achievement of organizational objectives. Jobs assigned to subordinates have to be explained and clarified, they have to be provided guidance in job performance and they are to be motivated to contribute their optimum performance with zeal and enthusiasm. The function of directing thus involves the following sub functions: (a) Communication (b) Motivation (c) Leadership Once objectives have been developed and the organizational structure has been designed and staffed, the next step is to begin to move the organization toward the objectives. The directing function serves this purpose. It involves directing, influencing and motivating employees to perform essential tasks. The best human resources employed will be of house if they are not motivated and directed in the right direction to achieve the organizational goals. Managers lead is an attempt to persuade others to join them in pursuit of the future that emerges from the planning, and organizing steps. By establishing the proper atmosphere, managers help their employees to do their best. Effective leadership is a highly prized ability in organizations and is a skill that some managers have difficulty in developing. The ability requires both task-oriented capabilities and the ability to communicate, understand and motivate people. 2.5 Coordinating Coordinating is the function of establishing such relationships among various parts of the organization that they all together pull in the direction of organizational objectives. It is thus the process of tying together all the organizational decisions, operations, activities and efforts so as to achieve unity of action for the accomplishment of organizational objectives. The significance of the coordinating process has been aptly highlighted by Mary Parker Follet. The manager, in her view, should ensure that he has an organization "with all its parts coordinated, so moving together in their closely knit and adjusting activities, so linking, interlocking and interrelation, that they make a working unit that is not a congeries of separate pieces, but what I have called a functional whole or integrative unity". 2.6 Controlling Finally, the manager must be sure that actions of the organizations members do in fact move the organization towards its stated goals. This is the controlling function of management. The controlling is the process of ensuring that actual activities confirm to plan activities. Questions: 1. "There is no important area of human activity than management since its task is that of getting things done through people". Discuss the statement and explain with examples. 2. "Management starts from planning and ends up with controlling". Discuss this statement, giving suitable examples. 3. What are the functions of a manager? Is mere knowledge of management enough to become successful manager? 4 Discuss the important functions of management which support the philosophy of modern management thinkers.