Functions of Management

Merriam Webster defines “manage” as “to handle or direct with a degree of skill, as to make and keep compliant” (manage, define. 1a). Specifically, as it deals with real-world application, management is the process of knowing the objective at hand and using specific skills to attain to that objective. Management deals with people as well as other resources (i.e., technology), and often there is crossover between both.

Management can be comprised of four functions: Planning, Organizing, Leading, and Controlling. With these four functions serving as pillars in the management process, one can most effectively know necessary goals, gather and arrange the resources available, take directive action, and achieve, maintain, and increase the excellence of those goals.

In the realm of police work, management is multifaceted. There is internal management – dealing with employees in each of their functions. There is also external management – dealing with factors outside the organization. On any given day, both internal and external management are concurrent. The general goal in the external is “keeping the peace”, and the internal usually includes teamwork for the same purpose. There are many other sub-goals beneath that umbrella, such as fighting crime and overseeing the efficiency of traffic-ways, and each of these also have sub-goals. An assignment in any given bureau is based on the needs of the community without as well as the needs of the department within. For the purposes of specificity, my current assignment of patrol will serve as the management setting.

Planning in patrol is probably the most important function of management. It is arguably also the most difficult, as there are numerous factors that can never be completely predicable. While certain goals can be specified and achieved, the capability of deciding in advance how to apply the most appropriate actions needed for success can be extremely difficult. While the ability to anticipate and...