Activities That Comprise Management (Essay Sample)

THE FOUR BASIC ACTIVITIES THAT COMPRISE THE MANAGEMENT PROCESS AND HOW THEY ARE RELATED TO ONE ANOTHER
Introduction
Henri Fayol was the first person to identify functions of management in his classic 1916 book Administration Industrielle et Generale. Fayol defined five functions of management: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling.
Management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals work together, in-groups, efficiently to accomplish selected aims. Managers engage in these activities to combine human, financial, physical, and information resources efficiently (using resources wisely and in a cost-effective way) and effectively (making the right decisions and successfully implementing them) and to work toward achieving the goals of the organization.
1 The Functions of Management
1 Planning
Planning involves setting objectives and determining a course of action for achieving these objectives. It 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 involves choosing tasks that must be performed to attain organizational goals, outlining how the tasks must be performed, and indicating when they should be performed. Planning activity is concerned with the success of the organization in the short term as well as in the long term.
2 Organizing
Organizing can be thought of as assigning the tasks developed in the planning stages, to various individuals or groups within the organization. Organizing is to create a mechanism to put plans into action. It involves developing an organizational structure and allocating human resources to ensure the accomplishment of objectives. 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.
3 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.
4 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.
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.
2 How the Functions of Management are related to one another.
Management pioneers such as George Terry, Harold Koontz, Cyril O'Donnell, and Ralph Davis all published management texts in the 1950s that defined management as a process consisting of a set of interdependent functions.
The four functions of management are very distinct but closely interrelated. They are generally carried out in the sequence of steps presented above. At the same time these are iterative steps. That is, after a manager has completed one step and moved to another, he or she may revisit an earlier step in response to the developments occurring in subsequent steps. Also management is an ongoing process, and therefore these steps are performed in a repetitive cycle in a spiraling pattern.
Planning and Decision Making set the organization's goals and decides how best to achieve them. Organizing then determines how best to group activities and resources. Leading motivates members of the organization to work in the best interests of the organization. Controlling monitors and corrects on-going activities to facilitate goal attainment.
Conclusion
Managing is concerned with productivity, effectiveness and effi...