Functions of Management

Functions of Management

Businesses and organizations worldwide must be well-managed to remain competitive. Small and large businesses, non-profit companies, government entities, and even social organizations all have one thing in common, they have management. Management is the process of using resources to achieve the organizations goals. These resources may be human, physical, monetary, or even intangibles such as knowledge. The four functions of management - planning, organizing, leading, and controlling are the means by which a manager performs his or her duties. This paper will discuss the functions of management within Anonymous Co., the company for which I work.

Planning

Planning is defined by Bateman and Snell (2003) as "The management function of systematically making decisions about the goals and activities that an individual, group, a work unit, or the overall organization will pursue in the future." Planning occurs continuously at Anonymous Co. Company-wide goals are established by upper management before the beginning of each fiscal year. These goals are generally very broad, and made up of many smaller goals, projects, or initiatives to be accomplished within the company's various divisions and/or departments. Meeting the goals of the Annual Operating Plan becomes important to each employee because performance reviews, and therefore bonuses and merit pay increases, are based partly on how well the company achieved its goals.

Organizing

Organizing is the process of putting something together in an orderly, functional and structured whole (Dictionary.com, 2005). Bateman and Snell (2003) further defined the business function of management as assembling and coordinating the resources needed to achieve goals. The organization at Anonymous Co. is determined primarily by location. The company has divisions in many locations around the globe. The top executives in the company are located at company headquarters in Anytown, U.S.A. The organization of the company also quite naturally centers itself around our products as we are in the process of implementing Life Cycle Value Stream Management where the same groups of resources are responsible for each product type from cradle to grave. This type of organization would, of course, exclude specific shared services types of departments such as accounting, payroll, and shipping/receiving.

Leading

"Leading is the management function that involves the manager's efforts to stimulate high performance by employees (Bateman & Snell, 2003). Examples of leadership at Anonymous Co. can be seen on a daily basis. The CEO regularly communicates with the "masses" via email and personal visits to various locations. He also conducts an annual "State of the Company" presentation at each location. At Western Regional Division, where I work in Yourtown, the division manager has an open