The Five Functions of Management

Definition of Management

"To manage is to forecast and plan, to organise, to command, to co-ordinate

and to control."
- Henry Fayol

"Management is a distinct process consisting of planning, organising,

activating and controlling to determine and accomplish the objectives by the
use of people and resources."
- G.R. Terry

"Management is the development of people and not the direction of things.

Management is the personnel administration."
- Lawrence A. Apply

"Management is the art of getting things done through and with the people in
formally organised groups."
- Horold Kanontz

"Management is simply the process of decision making and control over the
action of human beings for the express purpose of attaining pre-determined
goals."
- Stanley Vance

Five Functions of Management

 Planning
 Organizing
 Staffing
 Directing
 Controlling
Planning
Deciding in advance what to do, how to do, why to do, where to do and who
will be responsible for doing is planning. Determination of the objectives of
business, splitting of objectives into goals for each department of the
organization and formulating policies, programs, procedures rules and
regulations and budget are the important steps involved in planning. 

Importance of Planning
 provides directions
 reduces the risks of uncertainty
 reduces overlapping and wasteful activities
 promotes innovative ideas
 facilitates decision making
 establishes standards for controlling

Organizing
Division of work into functions and sub-functions, grouping of activities that
are closely related in their nature, assigning of duties and responsibilities to
the employees and finally delegation of authority and power to each employee
or the group to discharge their duties accordingly are the processes come
under the function of management organizing. 

Importance of Organizing
 helps organizations to reap the benefit of specialization.
 provides for Optimum utilization of resources.
 helps in Effective administration.
  channels for Expansion and growth.
 achieves co-ordination among different departments.
 creates scope for new change.

Directing
Directing is guiding and leading the people in an organization. Directing
means giving instructions, guiding, counselling, motivating and leading the
staff in an organization in doing work to achieve organizational goals. From
top executive to supervisor performs the function of directing and it takes
place accordingly wherever superior – subordinate relations exist. Directing is
a continuous process initiated at top level and flows to the bottom through
organizational hierarchy.

Importance of Directing
 initiates actions to get the desired results in an organization.
 attempts to get maximum out of employees by identifying their
capabilities.
 is essential to keep the elements like Supervision, Motivation, Leadership
and Communication effective.
 ensures that every employee work for organizational goals.
 Coping up with the changes in the organization is possible through
effective direction.
 Stability and balance can be achieved through directing.
Staffing
Staffing is that part of the process of management which is concerned with
acquiring, developing, employing, appraising, renumerating and retaining
people so that right type of people are available at right positions and at right
time in the organization. In the simplest terms, staffing is ‘putting people to
jobs’.

Importance of Staffing
 Filling the organizational positions
 Developing competencies to challenges
 Retaining personnel - professionalism
 Optimum utilization of the human resources

Controlling
It is the process that ensures whether the resources are obtained and used
efficiently in achieving the organizational objectives. Controlling function of
management is closely linked with the planning function because, it includes
checking the performance of employees to see whether the planned
performance is being achieved by them or not. Budgetary control, Inventory
control, quality control, profit and loss control, Management audit, cost
accounting and cost control, production control, financial control, break-even
analysis and internal audit control are the important control devices of
controlling techniques. 
Importance of Controlling
 Control system acts as an adjustment in organizational operations. It
mainly checks whether plans are being observed and suitable progress
towards the objectives is being made or not, and if necessary any action to
control the deviations.
 Policies and other planning elements set by the managers become the
basis and reason for control. Through control it is monitored whether the
individuals adhere to those frameworks or not so that organization and
management can verify the quality of various policies.
 Exercising some authority and forming superior-subordinate relationship
throughout the organization can be established through controlling.
 With the presence of authority or control the individuals will work
properly and exhibit better performance to reach the targets set for them.
 Control system ensures the organizational efficiency and effectiveness.
When Proper system exists the organization effectively achieves its
objectives.