Interrelationship Between Management Functions

 MANAGERIAL FUNCTIONS

Since various management scholars studied different organisations at different times, they identified the functions of management in their own ways. For instance, Henri Fayol, the father of functional or administrative management remarked: “To manage is to forecast and plan, to organize, to command, to coordinate and to control.” Thus, Fayol classified management functions into five categories as follows:

i. to forecast and plan,

ii. to organize,

iii. to command or to give orders.

iv. to co-ordinate, and

v. to control.

Luther Gullick offered a list of administrative functions under the catchword “PODSCORB”. Each alphabet of this keyword “PODSCORB” stands for the following activities: P for Planning, O for Organisation, D for Directing, S for Staffing, CO for Coordinating, R for Reporting, and B for Budgeting.

According to Koontz and O’Donnell, “The most useful method of classifying managerial activities is to group them around the functions of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling.” They think that co-ordination is not a separate function, but is the essence of management. Thus, for the sake of analysis of the management process, we can classify the management function into the following categories.

i. Planning

ii. Organizing

iii. Staffing

iv. Directing

v. Controlling.

Planning

Planning lays down the objectives to be achieved and the step to be followed to achieve them. It is a mental process requiring the use of intellectual faculties, foresight and sound judgement. It involves selecting and relating of facts and making and using of assumptions regarding the future in the visualization and formation of proposed activities believed necessary to achieve the desired result. It involves deciding in advance what to do, when to do, where to do, how to do and who is to do and how the results are to be evaluated. Thus, planning is the systematic thinking about the ways and the means for the accomplishment of predetermined objectives.

 Planning involves the following steps:

i. Determination of objectives;

ii. Forecasting;

iii. Formulation of policies and programmes;

iv. Preparation of schedules and Procedures; and

v. Budgeting.

Planning includes determination of the objectives, policies, rules, programmes, strategies, budget and procedures. The purpose of planning is to minimize the risk and to make at the same time full advantage of the available opportunities. It bridges the gap from where we are and where we want to go. Good planning is flexible in nature as it can adjust to changes in business conditions. It covers both short-term and long term periods.

Organising

Organizing is an important function of management by which management brings together the human and material resources. This function must be performed when an activity involves two or more persons. Organizing involves determining the activities to be done, grouping the activities, assigning the group activities to individuals, and creating a structure of authority, and responsibility among the people to achieve the objectives of the enterprise.

Urwick defined organizing as determining what activities are necessary to achieve the purpose and arranging them in groups which may be necessary to assign to the individuals. The process of organisation involves the determination of authority and responsibility relations in the organisation. It is an important function of every manager to determine the nature of the activities required to attain the group goals, the grouping of these activities and the assignment of the activities to the individuals with necessary delegation of authority.

The process of organisation involves the following steps:

a) Determination of objectives;

b) Identification and grouping of activities;

c) Assignment of duties to individuals; and

d) Development of relationships.

 Staffing or Human Resource Management

After organizing the various activities to be performed, management is in a position to know the manpower requirements of the enterprise at different levels in the organization structure. After determining the number and type of personal to be selected to fill different jobs, management proceeds with recruiting, selecting and training the people to fulfill the requirements of the enterprise. In a running enterprise, staffing is a continuous process because new jobs are created in the enterprise and existing employees leave the enterprise.

Staffing comprises of those activities which are essential to keep manned the positions created by the organisation structure. It includes the task of determining the requirements with regard to number and types of people for the job to be done, laying down qualifications for various jobs and recruiting, selecting and training people to perform those jobs efficiently.

Staffing is concerned with both managers and non-managers. It is a function performed by managers at all levels. Earlier, staffing was considered a part of organizing. But with the recognition of the importance of the human factor in industry and business, it began to be considered as a separate function. Staffing usually includes the following activities.

i. Human resource planning.

ii. Deciding sources of recruitment.

iii. Receiving applications.

iv. Testing and interviewing.

v. Final selection an appointment letter.

vi. Orientation and placement.

vii. Training and development.

Directing and leading

Direction is the process of guiding, supervising, leading and motivating the subordinates to work in a way that is beneficial to the enterprise. The manager not only shows the right path, but also leads the subordinates to achieve the objectives of the enterprise. He creates a sense of belongingness, faith and loyalty among the subordinates.

The direction function involves the following four elements:

i. Leadership. Leadership is the process by which a manager guides and influences the work of others in choosing an attaining specified goals. According to Chester Barnard, leadership is the quality of the behavior of the individuals, whereby they guide people towards the accomplishment of some common goal.

ii. Communication. A manager has to tell the workers what they are required to do, how to do and when to do it. It has to create an understanding in the minds of the subordinates of work to be done. This is done by the process of communication.

iii. Motivation. It is the function of a manager to motivate the people working under him to perform the work assigned. A successful manager motivate the people to work harmoniously for the attainment of desired objectives.

iv. Supervision. Supervision is the process by which conformity between planned and actual results is maintained. Effective supervision ensures greater output of high quality. It teaches the subordinates the way their tasks are to be performed.

Controlling

According to Fayol, “In an undertaking, control consists of verifying whether everything occurs in conformity with the plan adopted, the instructions issued and the principles established.” Controlling is that management activity whereby the managers compare actual performance against the planned one, find out the deviations, take corrective action to remove the deviations, incorporate positive deviations in the plans and help ensure the realization of the specific goals.

In a running concern, planning and control go together because planning seeks to set consistent, integrated and articulated goals or programmes, while control seeks to compel events conform to plans. The most notable feature of the process of control is that it is forward-looking. A manager can not control the past but can avoid the problems in future by taking actions in the light of past experiences. The control process consists of the following steps:

i. Setting up of standards.

ii. Measuring performance.

iii. Comparing performance with standards.

iv. Taking corrective action.