Management is a process designed to achieve an organization’s objectives by using its resources (human, financial, material, intellectual, or intangible) effectively and efficiently in a changing environment. It touches lots of fields, such as government, the military, labor unions, hospitals, schools, and religious groups.
There are lots of functions of management that are performed by managers.These functions are:
1. Planning: It is the process of determining the organization’s objectives and deciding how to accomplish them. There are three general types of plans used to meet objectives-strategic, tactical, and operational. Strategic plans establish the long-range objectives and overall strategy by which a firm fulfills its mission. Tactical plans are restricted plans used to execute the activities and objectives specified in the strategic plan. Operational plans are very temporary plans that indicate what actions individuals, work groups, or departments need to undertake to achieve the tactical and strategic plans.
2. Organizing:
It is the structuring of resources and activities to accomplish objectives in an efficient and effective manner.
3. Staffing:
It is the hiring of people to perform the work of the organization. Downsizing is another kind of staffing. This is the removal of a significant number of employees from an organization.
4. Directing:
It is giving motivation and helping employees to achieve organizational objectives.
5. Controlling:
It is the process of evaluating and correcting activities to keep the organization heading in the right direction.
To perform these functions, managers need skills- leadership, technical expertise, theoretical skills, analytical skills, and human relations skills. Leadership is the ability to influence employees to work toward organizational goals. Technical expertise is the specific knowledge and training needed to perform jobs that are related to particular areas of management. Theoretical skills refer to the ability to think in abstract terms and to see how parts fit together to form the whole. Analytical skills refer to the ability to identify relevant issues, recognize their importance, understand the relationships between them, and perceive the fundamental causes of a situation. Human relations skills refer to the ability to deal with people, both inside and outside the organization.
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