Functions of Management -Planning,Organizing,Leading and Controlling

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Success and failure of every organization is measured by its ability to attain its objectives and mission. Every organization has a predetermined set of objectives to achieve. If they are able to achieve those assigned objectives, they are considered to be success otherwise they are considered as failures.

Beside this, these success and failure rates of organizations are measured in terms of its efficiency  and effectiveness.Where,efficiency   implies how best the management has utilized the available resources to achieve those mission and objectives and the extent of achieving those  organizational objectives.While,management is said to be effective when they are able to attain those set objectives.

Functions of management are an effective way of achieving organizational goals and objectives. It can be can be categorized into mainly four basic functions –

• Planning
• Organizing
• Leading
• Controlling

Planning forms the base of the management functions. It is the first step towards achieving organizational goal .Therefore, it involves a lot of managerial thinking .Its requires a lot of brain storming, assessing the present situation of the organization and in determining the correct move towards their pre set goal. So  this stage, involves assessing the strengths,weaknesses,threats and opportunities of the organization(SWOT analysis).

Beside this, there are various external factors like political, social, economical, demographic etc which  effects the functioning of an organization in some way or the other.So,while planning every organization ,must take  into account these opportunities  and other favoring factors and encash  them to attain those  set objectives.

This helps in determining and implementing corrective course of action to attain organizational goals.However, sometimes the prevailing situations may not be same. Change is constant.So, during those time, planning must also change accordingly .Hence, planning must be a flexible process and not rigid.

Planning is a futuristic process and so it must be always goal and objective oriented .It is a continuous process. That is, even after achieving a set an objectives and goals, another set of higher goals and objectives are set up for another financial year. This goes on.So,depending upon the organizational objectives and other governing factors, both micro and macro factors, they are broken into short term and long term goals .This in return ,requires forming and implementing short term as well as long term plans to accomplish the final objective.

Planning has numerous benefits and hence its importance should  be ignored by any management.It not only helps in assisting  and achieving the organizational objectives clear and specific but it also reduces the chances of uncertainty .This in turn encourages decision making process ,increases the efficiency of coordination and hence team work. All this ultimately leads to the organization towards growth and profitability.

All though; thought process involved in planning is the same in all organization, but the strategies adopted  in achieving those  goals and objectives ,vary from one set up to other. It’s entirely based upon the assigned organizational objectives and the other micro and macro factors.

Organizing, is the process of bringing together all the available  resources like  financial ,man power resources ,technical skills and support, raw materials, machines etc within the organization structure and utilizing them in the best way to achieve objective .This implies that, organizing  step involves determining , providing  and utilizing all the resources needed to accomplish organizational objective. The entire focus is on running the business smoothly without any hindrance such that the ultimate aim is achieved.So, it involves –

• Organizing the various resources of an organization
• Identifying  activities to achieve organizational objectives
• Dividing and grouping the different task.
• Identifying different role
• Choosing correct people for correct job and assigning duties to them
• Delegation of authority
• Developing coordination and sense of authority ,responsibility amongst them
• Proper flow of information across both the lines of hierarchy —horizontal as well as upward and down ward line.

Thus, going by its literal meaning, organizing means getting organized. In this step, management takes into account; all the various internal divisions, departments, their staff and all the related information. Based on planning, they assign and establish the best way to handle the tasks to achieve the objective. During this process, management  opt for developing cordial relationship amongst the employees, develop sense of authority,responsibility ,strong communication etc. Depending upon the work requirement there is division of work amongst the various departments and hence the employees.

Therefore, organizing helps in defining the job of its staff members, facilitates coordination, develops sense of job satisfaction, reduces communication gap, and provides authority and power.

Leading or directing is the third function of management. As the meaning goes, leading is a way of motivating and influencing the employees to perform their work. The basic function of this step is to inspire the employees to work. This helps in increasing the work efficiency of the employees.

This step, not only contributes in achieving organizational goals and objectives but it also helps the employees in attaining their personal goal. So, growth and achievement of employees in return help in attaining the organizational growth. Therefore, it’s very essential to motivate employees to perform.

The main objective in this stage is to utilize the maximum efficiency of human power to fulfill the overall organizational goal and objective. So, it’s very important for managers to understand their employee’s work attitude, behavior, problems etc and deal with them accordingly by providing necessary support.

Management must adopt and follow management tools like motivation, strong and effective communication etc to handle and encourage their employees.

Beside this, it’s also important to maintain a very healthy and cordial relationship amongst the employees as well as between the supervisor and its staff. This helps in providing, healthy and happy working conditions. This in return contributes towards increasing the productivity and hence organization’s growth.

Controlling is the last and final function of management. The basic function of controlling is to ensure that the path taken to achieve the organizational objective is in correct line. This helps in examining the performance, following it up,comparing with the planned action, knowing the  loop holes and taking corrective actions respectively.Therefore,controlling involves –

• Setting a standard performance, based on objective
• Measurement of actual performance
• Frequently comparing the standard and actual performance to find out the deviations
• Evaluating the deviations
• Taking corrective action in accordance with the deviation found.

Controlling is a continuous process and hence performance is evaluated and monitored regularly to take corrective action then and there itself. It is generally categorized into preventive control and corrective control. Preventive control is the one where undesired performances are prevented from occurring .While corrective control is the one where corrective actions are taken when deviations occur.

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