INTRODUCTION

Management as explained by Marvin D. Dunnette (1976) is the process of working with and
through other people while balancing efficiency and effectiveness in a changing environment.
A process is a set of activities that are ongoing and interrelated. Ongoing means that the
activities are not done in a linear, step by step fashion where responsibility is passed from
activity to the next. Instead the activities are continued as new activities are started. According
to Marvin D. Dunnette (1976) Interrelated means that the results of each activity influence the
other activities and tasks. It is the responsibility of management to see that essential activities
are done efficiently (in the best way possible) and effectively (doing the right thing). In order
for an organisation to meet its objectives, there should be efficient and effective management.
The management process consists of eight primary functions that managers must perform:
planning, organising, decision making, communicating, staffing, leading, controlling and
motivation. Howe M.A. (1989) further illustrated that these functions give management its
distinct quality as a productive activity. It’s important to realise that the management process
is not always linear. It does not always start with planning and continuing through each step
until organizational goals are achieved because it’s not possible to plan for every problem the
organisation will face. As the management process proceeds, changes and modifications are
made when unforeseen events arise. Managers make sure the necessary changes are
implemented and that the unity and integrity of the entire process is maintained.

The functions of management are those elements of the management process that give
management its distinctive quality as a productive activity. Fayol, writing in 1916, enumerated
these functions as planning, organizing, commanding, co-coordinating and controlling. Over
the years Fayol’s list of managerial functions has been updated and expanded by management
scholars. Eight managerial functions have been identified: planning, decision making,
organizing, staffing, communicating motivating, leading and controlling. However, four basic
management functions have described from the eight and these are:

PLANNING (DECISION MAKING – DETERMINING COURSES OF ACTION)

Planning is commonly referred to as the primary function of management. It involves the
formulation of courses of action that an organisation will take in order to attain the desired
organisational goals. When planning, management will select the set of objectives that are in
line with organisational goals, examine them, evaluate them, select the best strategies that will
ensure that these objectives are attained and formulate future courses of action. A company has
to have both strategic and tactical plans. Strategic plans are long term and affect the entire
organization. A strategic plan bridges the gap between what an organization is and what it will
become. Tactical plans translate strategic into specific actions that need to be implemented by
departments throughout the organization. The tactical plan defines what has to be done, who
will do it, and the resources needed to do it. If, for example, an organisations goal was to
improve the sales of the company, management will first decide on the steps necessary to
accomplish this goal such as increasing inventory, sales staff and advertising then finally
develop these steps into a plan. Argyris C. (1962)

Internal and external factors that may affect how the plan is executed, such as customers,
economic growth and competitors, should also be considered and evaluated. A timeline for
achieving goals should also be established as well as finances, personnel and other resources
available. Furthermore, managers should also take an additional step such as seeking approval
from other executives, departments or the board of directors before the plan can be
implemented.

If for example BC Company Limited wants to set up a restaurant, our example of planning
would be a situation where the objective of BC Company Limited, is to increase the sales by
20% in the following month. We will need to look at the different ways the team could achieve
this goal. This might include things like creating a new advertisement campaign, reducing
prices and making lists of special meals and or speaking to customers about the nutritional
benefits of our special meals. The role of the manager is to pick the processes that he or she
finds the most appropriate and to organize them into a logical pattern. they must also identify
the timeline as well as the people (cashier and waiters) for these processes.

ORGANIZING (COORDINATING ACTIVITIES AND RESOURCES)

The purpose of organising is to distribute the resources and delegate tasks to personnel to
achieve the goals established in the planning stages, and defining how the activities of groups
and individuals will be coordinated. Once plans are made, decisions must be made about how
to best implement the plans. The organizing function involves deciding how the organization
will be structured (departments, teams, job responsibilities, etc). Ashburner L. (1990) says
Organizing involves assigning authority and responsibility to various departments as well as
allocating resources across the organization.
Under organizing can also fall Staffing, it is related to organizing and it involves filling and
keeping filled, the positions in the organization structure. This can be done by determining the
positions to be filled, identifying the requirement of manpower, filling the vacancies and
training employees so that the assigned tasks are accomplished effectively and efficiently. The
managerial functions of promotion, demotion, discharge, dismissal, transfer, etc. Are also
included with the broad task “staffing.” staffing ensures the placement of the right person in
the right position. George J.M. (1990)

For example, in the example of BC Company limited setting up a restaurant, when the company
has opened up other restaurants throughout the province, management may plan to split up the
restaurants into territories and this will result in the need to re organize and divide the current
team working in the territory and hire additional staff members such as as needed to efficiently
cater for the restaurants operations.

LEADING (MANAGING, MOTIVATING AND DIRECTING PEOPLE)

Nearly everything that is accomplished in an organization is done by people. The best planning
and organizing will not be effective if the people in the organization are not willing to support
the plan. Leaders use knowledge, character, and charisma to generate enthusiasm and inspire
effort to achieve goals. Managers must also lead by communicating goals throughout the
organization, by building commitment to a common vision, by creating shared values and
culture, and by encouraging high performance. Managers can use the power of reward and
punishment to make people support plans and goals leaders inspire people to support plans.
Leadership and management skills are not the same but do appear in the most effective people.
It’s very difficult to motivate people when plans involve radical change, particularly when they
include downsizing and layoffs. Many people are naturally resistant to change. when the
change means loss of jobs or status people will be very resistant. Boss R.W. (1989)

For example, the general manager in BC Company Limited may assigns responsibilities and
sets targets for each station manager in all the newly opened restaurants. He or she will review
the performance of each station manager from time to time and gives them instant feedback so
that targeted sales are achieved, as well as locate sales bounces in the event that a particular
restaurant surpasses their given sales target.

CONTROLLING
French W. and Bell C. (1978) defined Controlling as the process of evaluating the execution
of the plan and making adjustments to ensure that the organizational goal is achieved that’s to
say monitoring activities, measuring performance, comparing results to objectives and making
corrections and modifications when needed. This is often described as a feedback loop. There
is a well-known military saying that says that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.
This implies that planning is necessary for making preparations, but when it’s time to
implement the plan, everything will not go as planned. Unexpected things will happen
observing and responding to what actually happens is called controlling.

In our example of BC Company Limited having the objective to increase sales in a particular
month, controlling would be the function that measures whether the sales are increasing and
helps to correct the situation if the specified target is not getting closer. As a manager, you
would examine the processes you set forward and take note whether they are enhancing your
sales records. The marketing campaign’s effectiveness would be evaluated and measured. If
you find the price reductions being inefficient during the process, you might consider swapping
the products on sale, reduce the reduction, or abort the discount campaign altogether as
inefficient

All these four basic functions of management are closely interrelated. However, these functions
are highly indistinguishable and virtually unrecognizable on the job. It is necessary, though, to
put each function separately into focus and deal with it.

REFERENCES

Argyris C. (1962) “Interpersonal competence and Organisational Effectiveness”,

Irwin, Homewood III

Ashburner L. (1990) “Impact of Technological and Organizational Change”,

Personnel Review U.K.

Bernard M. Bass and Edward C. Ryterband (1979) “Organizational Psychology”,

(2nd Ed) Allyn and Bacon, Boston.

Howe M.A. (1989) “Using Imagery to Facilitate Organisational Development and

Change”. Group and Organization studies. John B. Nicholas, (1982) “The Comparative

Impact of Organization Development Interventions on Hard Criteria Measures”, Academy

of Management Review, October 1982.

French W. and Bell C. (1978) “Organisation development”, (2nd Edition) Prentice

Hall Englewood Cliffs N.J.

George J.M. (1990) “Personality Effect, and Behaviour in Groups”, Journal of Applied

Psychology, vol. 75.

Marvin D. Dunnette (1976) “Handbook of Industrial and Organizational

Psychology”, Rand McNally, Chicago.