Functions of Management

Functions of Management

University of Phoenix Online

MGT/330

2009

Dick Amabile

Functions of Management

Introduction

In today’s business world, there are four traditional functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling (Bateman & Snell, 2009). Managers need to know how to plan for the present as well as for the future. The managers of today should also be able to organize their teams and departments, lead them through difficult situations, and control how their teams perform within their organizations.

Understanding these functions is one thing, but knowing them and executing them is a whole other story. This paper will focus and discuss these four main functions of management and go into further details on how using all four will help lead today’s managers into a successful career.

Planning

A successful manager starts with the ability to properly plan. “Planning is specifying the goals to be achieved and deciding in advance the appropriate actions needed to achieve those goals” (Bateman & Snell, 2009, p. 19). Another area of importance in reference to planning is sharing the information. Sawyer (1998) noted that one of the biggest failures with managers is their inability to share why something needed to be done, for instance implementing a new policy or procedure. Making rules was easy, but understanding the reason behind them takes the changes to a new level. By sharing this information with the employees, there is an increased chance that the employees will be on board with the direction the manager is taking the department.

To further explain proper planning, take for instance a manager reviewing the current structure of his team and coming to the conclusion for the need for additional headcount. To receive the additional headcount, the manager would need to plan, in advance, his reasoning before he has to meet with the top level management. Without developing sound reasons for the additional headcount,...