Functions of a Manager

Several theories exist on the job of a manager today.  However, there is a broad agreement of what are the major functions of a manager.  Peter Drucker, the world's most acknowledged expert says that "A manager motivates and communicates.  He makes a team out of the people that are responsible for various jobs.  He does it in his relation to the men that he manages.  He does it through constant communication, both from the manager to his subordinate, and from the subordinate to the manager."

 

According to George R. Terry, "Management is a distinct process consisting of activities of planning, organizing, actuating and controlling, performed to determine and accomplish stated objectives with the use of human beings and other resources."

 

One can go on and on about a manager's job, but the major functions of a manager are planning, organizing, staffing, leading, controlling and coordination.  A brief discussion on each function is given below.

 

Planning

Planning involves determining the missions and objectives of an organization, choosing future courses of action from the available alternatives and the development of effective steps to achieve those objectives.  A commitment of resources is a pre-requisite for the development of a successful plan.

 

Organising

This function involves making decisions about creating a stable, understandable framework within which employees can work together to achieve organizational goals.  The way in which an organisation's activities are divided, organized and coordinated is called an "Organisational Structure."  This helps in creating an environment where the employees can work together.  The available human resources must be given roles in the context of their abilities and skills.  Organising therefore means establishing an internal structure, assigning the roles to the people in an organization which best suit them and in doing this to make sure, that all the tasks that are required in the fulfillment of the objectives are assigned to persons who are most suited for that task.

 

Staffing

Staffing involves identifying the required work force to carry out the tasks envisaged, inventorying & assigning the most suited tasks to the available human resources and recruiting for additional work force required, in case of a deficit.  To ensure that tasks are carried out both effectively and efficiently, staffing also means keeping filled the various positions in the organization structure.  Therefore staffing would comprise of recruiting, selecting, placing, appraising, promoting, compensating, training and development of the existing work force and the new candidates.

 

Leading

A leader is one who is able to inspire others to perform and to contribute towards the common organizational goals.  A manager's function is therefore to "lead from the front", i.e. to motivate and inspire his subordinates to give their best.  He is required to influence people so that they contribute to the group goals, in order to ensure that they give their best efforts in this, he needs to motivate them.  Another need is that of effective communication without which this function cannot be carried out.

 

Controlling

Controlling, as a function of a manager, is a systematic effort to compare performance to predetermined standards, plans and objectives, to ascertain whether such performance is in line with these standards or in case of deviations, take such steps to correct them.  In short, it is the measurement of individual and organization performance to ensure conformity to plans.  Prompt remedial action is required to see that human and corporate resources are being used in the most effective and efficient manner possible.

 

Coordination

The function of coordination is to synchronize and harmonise the activities of all departmental units of an organization towards the accomplishment of organizational objectives.   It involves all persons, groups, organizational units, departments and all activities within every organization where people work together for attaining group goals.  Lack or coordination results in a waste of resources, time, money or effort.

 

Coordination is aptly described as the essence of management since it seeks to achieve harmony between individuals and units of an organization towards achieve common objectives.  Since one person's or one unit's interests does not automatically match the interests of another person or unit, it is necessary to coordinate and enmesh these efforts harmoniously.  It is also essential to match individual goals with corporate goals.

 

Coordination is necessitated due to division of labour, specialization of the nature of activities carried out by one individual or department or unit of an organization, due to the interdependence of such units and individuals and due to the differences in the individual interests or the unit's interests versus the organizational interests.  Coordination integrates individual objectives and unit objectives to the corporate objective in a harmonious manner to achieve the organization goals in the most efficient manner. 

 

It emphasises the adage that the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. Thus employees working together in a coordinated manner can achieve more than each employee working separately in a uncoordinated fashion.

 

The four important phases of coordination are communication- understanding, timing – appropriateness, flexibility – sensitivity and discipline – motivation.  Each have to be gone through before coordination becomes effective. 

 

Techniques of coordinating used by a manager include hierarchy, rules & regulations, policies & procedures, committees and meetings, incentives and planning.  A formal liaison between two departments is often necessitated resulting in another department with the major task of coordinating between two departments.