In 1916, a French coal mine director named Henri Fayol wrote a book entitled “Administration Industrielle et Generale,” which set forth five distinct functions of managing that Fayol insisted were applicable in any industry. In the 1950’s, management textbooks began to incorporate some of Fayol’s ideas into their content. The process school of management was born and, today, management courses still use many of Fayol’s ideas to teach management to business students. Show
TipOriginally, there were five management functions, but management book authors have condensed them to four: planning, organizing, leading and controlling. The fifth function was staffing. Function One: PlanningPlanning involves deciding where to take a company and selecting steps to get there. It first requires managers to be aware of challenges facing their businesses, and it then it requires managers to forecast future business and economic conditions. They then formulate objectives to reach by certain deadlines and decide on steps to reach them. They re-evaluate their plans as conditions change and make adjustments as necessary. Planning helps allocate resources and reduce waste as well. Function Two: OrganizingManagers organize by bringing together physical, human and financial resources to achieve objectives. They identify activities to be accomplished, classify activities, assign activities to groups or individuals, create responsibility and delegate authority. They then coordinate the relationships of responsibility and authority. Function Three: LeadingLeading requires managers to motivate employees to achieve business objectives and goals. It requires the use of authority to achieve those ends as well as the ability to communicate effectively. Effective leaders are students of human personalities, motivation and communication. They can influence their personnel to view situations from their perspectives. Leading also involves supervision of employees and their work. Function Four: ControllingControlling is a function of management that involves measuring achievement against established objectives and goals. It also requires managers to be able to identify sources of deviation from successful accomplishment and to provide a corrective course of action. Managers first establish objectives and goals, then measure achievement of them, identify anything that is keeping the company from achieving them, and provide means of correction if necessary. Controlling does not necessarily involve achieving only monetary goals and objectives. It can also relate to nontangible goals and objectives like meeting a production quota or reducing customer complaints by a certain amount. Organizing – A Management Function
Organizing – A Management Function Organizing is the function of management which follows planning. It is the process of establishing orderly uses for all resources within the management system of the organization. It is a function in which the synchronization and combination of human, physical, financial, and information resources takes place for the achievement of the results. Organizing function is essential because it facilitates administration as well as the functioning of the organization. According to Louis A. Allen, “Organisation is the process of identifying and grouping of the works to be performed, defining and delegating responsibility and authority and establishing relationships for the purpose of enabling people to work most efficiently”. According to Chester Barnard, “Organizing is a function by which the concern is able to define the role positions, the jobs related and the co-ordination between authority and responsibility”. Organizing is the next important function of management after the planning. In case of planning the management decides what is to be done in future. In case of organizing, it decides on ways and means through which it becomes easier to achieve what has been planned. Hence, organizing refers to the following process.
Organizing creates and maintains rational relationships between human, material, financial, and information resources by indicating which resources are to be used for the specified activities and also when, where, and how they are to be used. The organizing function leads to an organizational structure which defines precisely the authorities and the responsibilities. Organization structure is the pattern of relationships among various components or parts of the organization which prescribes the relations among various activities and positions. It defines the system of relations between elements, factors, and activities within the organization. The organizational structure is to be designed for some concrete conditions and objective needs of the organization. The following are the important factors which are to be taken into consideration in the process of designing of the organizational structure.
Importance of organizing Organizing function follows the planning function. Plans prepared under the function of planning govern all aspects of organizing function. Since the organizing follows planning it is closely related to it. The organizing begins after the plans are prepared and is governed by the prepared plans. While the plans state where the organization is to go, organizing helps the organization how to get there. Organizing function shows the management how the organization is to be built or how the existing one is modified to ensure that the goals set in the plans are achieved. Organizing is essential because it facilitates administration as well as operation of in the organization. By the proper grouping of the work and the employees, production increases, overload of work is checked, wastage is reduced, duplication of work is restricted and effective delegation becomes possible. Organizing also facilitates growth and diversification of activities through clear division of work. It helps in developing a proper organization structure and the extent and nature of decentralisation can be determined. In addition to the above, it becomes possible through organizing to provide for the optimum use of technical and human resources. Besides organizing also encourages creativity and enhances interaction among different levels of management which leads to unification of efforts of all. Organizing facilitates development of the organizational structure which becomes a tool for the management to achieve plans. This organizational structure is to be responsive with the changes in the plan. The organization which has taken the time, energy, and money to develop quality plans needs management who understand the importance of organizing. Process of organizing Organizing, like planning, is a process which is to be carefully worked out and applied. This process involves determining what work is needed, assigning those tasks, and arranging them in a decision-making framework (organizational structure). If this process is not conducted well, the results may be confusion, frustration, loss of efficiency, and limited effectiveness. The process of organising consists of the following five steps. (Fig 1)
Fig 1 Five steps of the organizing function For carrying out the organizing function usually four approaches are followed for designing the organization structure of the organization.
Organizing principles Organizing function is effective only if the management follows some guiding principles in order to make important decisions and act upon them. For an efficient organizing function the following are the guiding principles.
Benefits of organizing The benefits of the organizing function are as follows.
What function of management involves organizing the activities and resources?Organizing – Coordinating Activities and Resources.
What function in management that is responsible in gathering of resources carrying out of activities and allocating resources for effective and efficient attainment of goals?Organizing is the function of management that involves developing an organizational structure and allocating human resources to ensure the accomplishment of objectives.
Which function of management is involved in assigning tasks?Organizing involves assigning authority and responsibility to various departments, allocating resources across the organization, and defining how the activities of groups and individuals will be coordinated.
Which management functions are involved in setting goals and measuring performance?Planning, organizing, staffing, directing and control, are the management functionsinvolved in setting goals and measuring performance.
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