MANAGEMENT

Management functions, roles and skills

Management functions, roles and skills

Introduction

In this digital age, efficiency and productivity have become the core issues for an organization. The management has the responsibility to ensure that the routine tasks at an organization are performed effectively. Management, generally, is defined as a vibrant process that has different functional responsibilities from other operational departments of the organization. Management can also be seen as the parental establishment that oversees all the processes from staffing to budgeting. Management has the responsibility to align the goals of the employee with organizational objectives so that the conflict of interest between the organization and the employees doesn't arise. The productivity of an organization gets affected if there is a conflict at the workplace. The management of an organization has to perform four basic functions of Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling along with different roles that they have to play (Griffin 2010, p. 7). In order to perform these functions, there is a set of skills that they need to possess.

Discussion

Functions of management

Planning

An organization's basic purpose of existence is to maximize its profits. In order to do so, there are some set of goals it needs to achieve. These goals cannot be attained without mapping out a pathway. Planning is central to management thought because it involves the steps to create a roadmap for the employees to achieve organizational goals (Morden 2004, p. 120). For example, an organizational goal of improving sales can be materialized by following a stepwise process that may involve an increase in advertising budget and training sales personnel.

Organizing

While a plan has been created, it is important to follow the second step of organizing organizational team that can achieve those objectives. It is the responsibility of the management to organize this team by selecting people from the departments that can aid the process. The most important thing to do in this phase is to assign authority to the team leaders so that they can feel autonomous while making a decision.

Leading

The organizational goals cannot be materialized if there is no proper process in place. Apart from all the management functions, the manager of the organization has to work as a role model for his subordinates. It is the leading capacity of a manager that can make or break an organization. The manager needs to have a proper technique to handle the workforce. The motivation along with appropriate guidance is a key factor. A motivated employee can exceed organization's expectations, whereas an amotivated employee can prove terribly harmful for company's overall productivity.

Controlling

Not just the implementation of the process but it is the feedback that is quite necessary to be checked out at daily basis. The management should look into the process closely so that the loopholes, if any, can be identified. To keep the process on track, the management needs to match the outcomes with the expectation and take corrective measures in case there is a lag created in the process.

Managerial skills

The manager needs to have the skills to transform the organization into ...