Functions and Management Paper University of Phoenix Management Theory and Practice April 15, 2013

Management functions have changed over the years. French industrialist Henri Fayol first proposed using five functions; planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling. During the mid-1950ʼs a management text book suggested planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. Today the functions have been condensed to four important functions that make up an organization: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling (articlebase.com,2009). These functions are present in any small business or large corporation and the one thing that all of these functions have in common they are all performed by a manager. Planning is the first management function that a manager will use to "make decisions about the goals and activities that an individual, a group, a work unit, or the overall organization will pursue (Bateman-Snell, 2009)." In order for the manager to reach set goals he or she must plan well by "analyzing current situations, anticipating the future, determining objectives, deciding in what types of activities the company will engage, choosing corporate and business strategies, and determining the resources needed to achieve the organization's goals. Plans set the stage for action and for major achievements (Bateman-Snell, 2009)." The second management function is organization; assembling and coordinating the human, financial, physical, informational, and other resources needed to achieve goals. Organizing activities include attracting people to the organization, specific task and responsibilities, grouping jobs into work units, allocating resources, and creating conditions that people and things work together to achieve maximum success (Bateman-Snell, 2009)." In this process managers are looking for the best way to achieve the objective. In order for the third management function to work well leading

must be effective. Leading is stimulating an employee to a higher level of performance. It includes motivating and communicating with employees, individually and in groups. Leading involves close day-to-day contact, guiding, and inspiring them to reach team goals (Bateman-Snell, 2009). Leading can be difficult due to the diversity of cultures employed by an organization. If the leadership is not good it can lead to high turnover in the department. I had a supervisor with poor leadership skills and a micromanager. Just about all the people in the department transfered out or found other employment. “Not all managers are good leaders. A manager should inspire employees to work better for their personal gain, as well as the organization. A leader that employees can look up to, that will guide them, and help them with hurdles in the job, discipline and control them when required, is someone who is required in every organization (buzzle.com,2013).” On the other hand when the leadership is good employees are loyal that supervisor prior was excellent, Sheri was encouraging and organized. There were very few call outs or tardiness I loved going to work while she was in charge it was a calm place to work. The fourth management function is controlling it monitors performance and implements any necessary changes. By controlling managers make sure the organization resources are being used as planned and that the organization is meeting its goal for quality and safety (Bateman-Snell, 2009). If the organization is not having success reaching the goal this function allows mangers to change whatever is causing the problem. These four functions are used by managers in different organizations to reach success. My previous employer has an annually scheduled meeting. In the meeting they discuss the goals that were reached and the ones that were not. The functions

used in this meeting are planning and leading, the managers are setting goals to achieve for the following year. The store departments are set up to