4 functions of management

4 functions of management

4 functions of management are so easy to remember they are a useful pointer for any new manager and adaptable for existing and more experienced managers to keep them focused and motivated.

I will go through each of them with a short commentary (and leave out all the boring stuff..)

So, what are the four functions of management?

Plan

Many places I have worked have lots of planning and navel contemplating but not a lot of action. They generally seem to make things harder that they need to be.

As I did with the leadership styles, I will try to make this as simple as possible.

Plan – what is to be done, by whom, how and by when?

This brings considerations of organisation goals and objectives (what is to be done and by when), training and health and safety considerations (by who & how).

Consequently, quite a lot for the new manager to think about…

Organise – Unfortunately, many people confuse organisation with delegation.

All managers should be able to organise HOW things are done. Good ones can often leave most of this to staff. (I don’t really care what time staff go to lunch as long as a ) they have one and b) continuous cover remains over the lunch period.

What the good manager needs to be able to do is work towards delegating some tasks. Where they actually get a junior member of staff to do part of the management job instead of the manager doing it themselves.

Monitor – OK yes, I know that in most other places, the third function is leading/ leadership but I am going to write about monitoring.

Suppose the planning is making 200 widgets of 3 different sizes, in 3 different colours by the end of the week.

Each widget is quite expensive to make so a good manager will not want to get to Friday lunch time and have 195 in the same size and colour and none in the other colours and sizes.

Therefore, they need some way of monitoring production, output, staff input etc.

This could be as simple as instructing one member of staff to keep tabs on the colour, another on the sizes, another on the safety. (notice how, already, this has started on the delegate route…)

Control – Suppose that the early warning system outlined above worked like clockwork and the manager did receive “early warning” of possible defects.

They must have sufficient power to over rule the production process to safely intervene.

Without control over the production process, the manager will fail.

So, has the 4 functions of management struck a cord with you?

Maybe it has, but even if it hasn’t, believe me this was a lot less boring than the academic version…

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