Management’s Four Functions: Effective When Used Properly
It takes training, many skills, and much knowledge to be effective as a manager in today’s business environment. Both women and men in upper level positions are finding that it takes much more than the ability to delegate responsibility to keep a small department or large company running correctly. They must be able to come up with new ideas and develop the way to achieve them before going to their superiors with any proposition. They must know how to inspire their employee’s creativity as well as monitor their progress. An effective manager must even know how to relate to people in order to keep their subordinates happy. According to Sawyer (1998), “almost every deviation or deficiency an internal auditor encounters results from the violation of some principle of management or good administration in these four areas” (¶ 3). Therefore, directly linked to the success or failure of a supervisor in any organization is her ability to implement successfully the four functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.
Planning
Planning is important when it comes to success in the remaining supervisory functions. Bateman and Snell (2007) state planning is the function of management in which decisions are made about the actions and aims that one or all parts of an organization will follow (Chap. 1 p. 16). Without diligent and knowledgeable planning, any strengths a manager exhibits in the other areas necessary to be effective in her role as the other three functions of management, organizing, leading and controlling, rely on efficient planning. A department currently evolving and making large expansions will have gone through extensive planning in its early phases. ...