Functions of Management
Management refers to the act of operating and controlling activities within an organization to achieve success. It is the act of making things complete by the people working in the organization to attain the set goals and objectives. Management is a systematic process involving setting up, organizing, leading and controlling the effort of others and employing all the assets present to achieve personal goals and objectives. Management is important in individual life experiences as it enables individuals to fully utilize their resources in the most effective and efficient manner. Organizational management involves the development and recognition of employees’ stratagems that are included in the company stratagems. It guarantees the culture, ideals, and creation of the organization, its members’ commitment, and motivation and can contribute richly to the accomplishment of the organization’s objectives. Lack of proper management can lead to business failure. All the company success is achieved by ensuring that the company attains goals and objectives. The paper will analyze the various management functions in the organizational operations.
Planning is a process of deciding in advance what to do, how to do it, as well as when and where to accomplish certain activities. It is based on the choice of the course of actions. Planning enables the manager or the individual to choose from the available alternatives to attain predictable outcome. The organizational goals and objectives are achieved through following the set procedures within the specified time, for instance, expanding the production of the organization. A cyclic procedure employed by the organization enhances the establishment of harmony of goals, the stability of energy outlay, and a chance to reduce indecision and possibility functions; for instance, planning the organizational strategies of expanding the organization by increasing its production, employing qualified workers and following the right procedure in undertaking the activities. The organization ensures it has adequate planning to avoid failure of process and personal management, and to ensure that the objectives are met. The supervisors within the organization are always planning their activities to ensure success in their performance, for example, planning how they undertake supervision of stock take (Turner, 2006). Employees undertake stock take under the supervision of their managers based on the specific period and always adhere to the organizational plan, which enables them to accomplish their objectives on time. The adequate planning helps avoid time constraints and identify priorities among activities, which ensure the success of the organization is achieved.
The organization under question has been undertaking the performance appraisal procedures to measure their workforce performance; the organization code of conduct is planned by the front office of the organization. For example, designing and implementing organizational procedure was employed in performance appraisal such as measuring personal performance based on experience and qualification. The response was obtained during one-to-one meetings with an employee. The planning enabled the managers to ensure adequate interest and sincerity while communicating with workers, and thus, the appraisal process did not lose credibility.
The employee engagement was used by managers, with employees playing a significant role in the process of planning. The managers were able to develop an organizational culture amongst their teams. It was achieved by promoting free communication, focusing on the personal strengths and consequently encouraging their workers by engaging and motivating them. Employee engagement was measured by the human resource personnel via surveys, but the lack of employee engagement accounted for the failure of management to communicate with the employees.
Discipline was established by the managers by setting out their expectations supported by the procedures and rules formed by the responsible department. The managers demonstrated dedication towards the enactment of rules and also showed good discipline and acted as a role model in a bid to avoid being criticized by the workers whenever they attempted to take disciplinary actions against any of them.
Organizing entails the establishment of a formal structure that will provide the best coordination and use of time and physical resources to accomplish the set goals and objectives. The organization managers were well organized and tried to prioritize their goals, which made them achieve the urgent and important objectives of the organization (Woods & West, 2010). Organization managers organize the organizational structure such as protocol in the organization. They identify the relationships outlying the procedures and assigning tasks appropriately, which enabled employees to perform stated tasks. Similar tasks were grouped together to enhance the management of interdependence and provide for a smooth flow of activities. The organizational process identified the activities to be carried out, division of the tasks involved, developing a chain of actions and commands, and assigning the activities of the employees. The organization ensured that planning has the combination of possible ways to manage labor to complete different tasks and coordinate them to achieve a common goal. The organizational planning ensured that their tasks were of high importance because they undertake their activities in time, without any disruptions. Planning enabled the supervisors to organize their activities to cover their objectives effectively in appropriate time. Thus, an organization plan was a crucial management function that was not taken for granted (Luthans & Doh, 2011).
Staffing is the selection and recruitment of human resource for the organization. The organization is recruiting the qualified applicants to fill job vacancies and in the selection, they select suitable candidates to be hired from those who applied for the post. The organization personnel have developed and administered methods that allow them to decide, which applicants to reject and which to select for a given job.
The organization provides orientation to enable new employees to adjust themselves to the new job and employer. For example, they provide manual of the organizational activities based on the designation such as accounts assistant, how to keep books of accounts and prepare financial statements. The management ensures they acquaint new employees with particular aspects of their new work including working hours, pay, and benefits programs, as well as company rules and regulations.
The company provides its employees with training to improve their knowledge and skills thus to enhance efficiency in carrying out their duties. In addition, new employees go through specific training by experienced workers (Caruth, Caruth & Pane, 2009). Their training and development programs provide a useful avenue ensuring its employees are capable of performing their jobs at acceptable level. The managers carry out the performance appraisal function to monitor the performance of employees to ensure their performance is at acceptable levels. The personnel develops and administers performance appraisal systems that cover the supervisors and managers and ensure the actual appraisal is undertaken. The organization managers provide a basis for pay, promotion, and disciplinary action. The organization’s performance appraisal is important because it enhances employee development and feedback (knowledge of results), which is necessary to motivate and guide improvement in performance.
The organization carries out the career planning function through assessing the potential of an individual employee for growth and advancement. Development of career planning is attributed to the desire of many employees to advance in their careers and grow in their jobs. For example, they list the qualification of staff and experience required before they are employed.
The organization provides compensation to its employees by employing a fair method for calculating how many the employees should be paid for carrying out certain duties. Compensation is a major consideration in organizational management since it is a major cost to many organizations. Through compensation, the organization provides an important incentive in motivating employees to apply for higher paying jobs and higher levels of job performance. For example, designations are presented with different salary scales and varying benefits based on the job group. The organization provides compensation to its employees through direct pay for work done and benefits such as medical ensurance, education, housing and holiday pay. These benefits include both the legally required items and those offered at the discretion of the organization.
The organization management ensures it complies with the labor relations rule and regulation that represent the organization. They ensure the trade union as representative of a group of employees who join to get more voice in decisions concerning pay, benefits, working conditions, and other aspects of employment does not exploit the organization by raising the employees pay and other benefits.
In the organization, managers trained their employees on how to maintain and keep records (Racy, 2014). The basic personnel function of keeping records of employees is well undertaken by the concerned staff. It involves recording, storing and retrieving information related to employees for various purposes. These records include application forms, employment history, medical records, earnings and hours of work, and other employee data. Record keeping provides raw materials for statistics that check and guide personnel policies.
Leading involves the process of motivating others and showing them the way to get work done. The organization managers are providing guidance on how to run in a specific direction, to direct, to go ahead of, to be the first, or to move towards a specific goal. The organization ensures their leaders apply the power, level of authority, and the type of leadership style, which are important factors in determining their ability to lead others. Leadership enables managers to show and provide directions to their subordinates. The managers lead in undertaking organizational activities such as marketing, they are responsible for promotion together with their junior staff. Through leadership, managers can influence a group to pursue the objectives outlined. It is also the course of actions to empower, believe, and teach others to use their full capabilities. The organization utilized leading functions by empowering their employees to their goals. The managers are able to exercise empowerment to the organizational staff and subordinate staff. Managers lead their employees towards success through motivation to work and achieve more as the result of their performance (Marquis & Huston, 2009).
The primary function of control is to measure the performance against the aim, objectives, and standards. The organization manages employees to enable them establish the right action and keep in line with the goals and objectives. The organization control enables managers to establish standards of performance, determining the means of measuring the performance, evaluating, and providing feedback to subordinates for success (Luthans & Doh, 2011). The managers control unethical behaviors in the organization by exercising ethical code of conduct such as acting honest, and provide valid and actual information that reflects organizational activities such as providing the actual profit. In most organizations, resources form the bulk of their performance income. Controlling such resources effectively is paramount for economic development of an organization. The ability of an organization to control its natural resource and resource allocation in the budget is a key element in its development.
Organizational management function is a crucial part of the management in any company since it comprises major responsibilities that shape the company positively. These include shaping of the organizational culture, planning for change, training and development, health and safety, and recruitment and retention of employees. Management process is important in every organization and in life as it helps individuals attain organizational and personal goals and objectives. For effective management and leadership, there ought to be creative problem solving, motivation of individuals, and following of four functions described by Henri Fayol.