Functions of Management

Functions of Management

Management is defined as an individual of group of individuals that work together to

reach a common goal and make decisions to improve the operations within an organization. The

four basic aspects of management are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Each

function serves a specific purpose that can be used to achieve goals and are essential to the

success of an organization.

Planning

The first function of management is planning. Planning involves specifying the goals

that need to be achieved and deciding in advance the appropriate actions needed to achieve those

goals. Planning activities include analyzing current situations, anticipating the future,

determining objectives the company will engage, choosing corporate and business strategies, and

determining the resources needed to achieve the organizations goals (Bateman; Snell, 2009).

Planning is related to my organization because managers have to plan for upcoming

tasks each day. This involves knowing how many workers will be absent or on vacation the

following day or weeks in advance, and then deciding what coverage will be needed. This is

necessary to ensure that each shift has the enough workers to properly operate machinery,

clean, and cover for lunch breaks.

Organizing

Organizing is the function of management that follows planning and involves

developing an organizational structure and allocating human resources to ensure the

accomplishment of objectives (eNotes, 2011). Managers use organizing to structure information

gathered into a specific order. Organizing is used at my workplace in many ways. It is mainly

used by managers to assign responsibilities and place workers in areas where they are needed

most and have the highest strengths. Managers also have to organize by preparing for employee

meetings and training sessions. This involves scheduling the appropriate day there will be

enough down-time to allow employees