The four management functions and required managerial skills

Controlling, leading, organizing, planning)

There are four functions of management and good managers need certain skills

The contemporan manager is faced with a wide array of challenges. he/she must for instance intensify his efforts to ensure higher levels of customer satisfaction, employee integration or organizational competitiveness. The pressures felt by the modern day manager are even further increased by the multitude of changes which impacts the society, such as the changing roles and trends within the workforce, the fiercer levels of competition or the opening of boundaries.

In light of these challenges, a question is being posed relative to the means in which managers cope with the additional stress. Generally speaking, it is accepted that the organizational leader is charged with the necessity to complete four distinctive functions, as follows:

Control

Leadership

Organization, and Planning.

In order for the manager to be able to successfully complete these functions, it is necessary for him to possess a series of skills, both innate as well as developed. The following section will detail.

2. Discussion

As the title of the paper mentions, in order to be a good manager, the individual requires a series of skills. The explanation of the need for these skills is given by the very existence of four different sets of actions which have to be completed by the manager. The following lines will discuss the four functions in terms of the skills which they require.

b) Leadership

In order to be a good manager, the individual has to be a good leader. The leadership function is a highly sensitive one as it deals with the humane side directly. The leader has to motivate people, to convince subalterns to commit to the organization and support it in reaching its objectives. The leader inspires people and increases employee morale. In order for him/her to be able to do this however, it is necessary that they possesses several skills. At a general level, it would be necessary for the manager to possess good communications skills, compassion, high ethical standards and the ability to lead by example, the ability to inspire and motivate, the ability to work as part of a team, but also ability to lead the team, flexibility, integrity, availability, as well as a healthy balance between autocracy and democracy in leadership (White, 2005).

Lawrence J. Gitman and Carl McDaniel (2008) identify three categories of managerial skills -- technical skills, conceptual skills and human relations skills. The technical skills refer to specialized areas of expertise which are clearly defined and possessed. In terms of conceptual skills, some examples in this sense include the ability to view the organization as a whole, while also understating its individual complexities. In terms of human relations skills, some examples in this sense include the ability to understand human behavior or the abilities to communicate and motivate.

c) Organizing

Similar to control, the organizing function is addressed through the gradual completion of four distinct processes: identification of activities, departmentally organizing the activities, classifying the authority and coordinating authority and responsibility. In the case of organizing the resources for instance, it would be necessary to identify the overall and departmental requirements. Then, the responsible people would be assigned and their tasks would be outlined.

Each of these actions requires several special skills. For instance, at the level of activities identification, the manager has to possess the ability to identify necessary activities and prioritize them. At the level of departmental organization of activities, there is the need for the ability to combine similar activities and form groups with them, but also the ability to divide groups and assign them to special departments.

Third, in terms of classifying the authority, the skills requirements refer to the ability to establish the levels of delegation and responsibility and assigning them the adequate power and authority. Finally, at the level of coordination of authority and responsibility, the required skill is that of the ability to balance authority and responsibility.

d) Planning

Finally, the planning function of management refers to the need of understanding the repercussions of the current actions and decisions. It often happens that the need for planning is only understood when damage is incurred. Planning is crucial for a manager and it also impacts the other functions. "The organizing, staffing, leading and controlling functions stem from the planning function. The manager is ready to organize and staff only after goals and plans to reach the goals are in place. Likewise, the leading function, influencing the behavior of people in the organization, depends on the goals to be achieved. Finally, in the controlling function, the determination of whether or not goals are being accomplished and standards met is based on the planning function. The planning function provides the goals and standards that drive the controlling function" (Erven, 1999).

In order for a managers to be able to complete these complex roles, they need to posses at least the ability to foresee the future based on past trends, as well as a wide array of strategic skills, such as the ability to comprehend various complexities, create and implement a strategic purpose and implement the strategic plan (Colenso, 1998).

3. Conclusions

The modern day manager is faced with incremental challenges. Due to elements such as globalization, incremental competition or modifying customer demands, the organizational leader has to continually develop new skills.

At a general level, it is accepted that the manager has to accomplish four specific functions, as follows -- control, leadership, organization and planning. Each of these functions is however complex and can only be completed when specific skills are possessed by the manager.

At the most simplistic level, a good manager has to possess both technical as well as human behavior skills in order to successfully complete his job. An important division of the skills is offered by Gitman and McDaniel (2008), who argue that there are in fact three categories -- technical, human relations and conceptual. Each of them is however compulsory for the completion of the managerial tasks.

Out of the four managerial functions, the one which requires innate, human behavioral, skills is the leadership function. The rest of three functions require technical expertise, which can be developed along the years.

References:

Colenso, M., 1998, Strategic skills for line managers, Butterworth-Heinemann

Erven, B.L., Planning, Ohio State University, 1999, http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~mgtexcel/Planning.html last accessed on November 16, 2010

Gitman, L.J., McDaniel, C., 2008, the future of business: the essentials, 4th edition, Cengage Learning

McShane, S.L., Travaglione, T., 2005, Organizational behavior on the Pacific rim, McGraw-Hill

Teicher, J., Holland, P., Richard, G., 2005, Employee relations management: Australia in a global context, Pearson Prentice Hall

White, B., Ten relationship traits and skills for good leadership, Ezine Articles, http://ezinearticles.com/?Ten-Relationship-Traits-and-Skills-for-Good-Leadership&id=61353 last accessed on November 16, 2010

Yulk, G.A., 2006, Leadership in organizations, Prentice Hall

2009, Organizing function of management, Management Study Guide, http://www.managementstudyguide.com/organizing_function.htm last accessed on November 16, 2010

2010, Control function of management, Say Economy, http://www.sayeconomy.com/control-function-of-management / last accessed on November 16, 2010