Functions of Management the Four Functions of

Functions of Management The four functions of management are planning, organizing, directing and controlling. Planning is the process of anticipating future events of action for achieving organizational goals. An effective plan aids in the crystallization of an organization's vision, works to avoid costly mistakes, and allows companies to seize opportunities. Effective planning requires an evaluation of the business environment and a well designed strategic plan of actions that are needed to move a firm forward.

Planning should be flexible and responsive as well as involve managers from all levels of the organization. As global competition intensifies, technology expands and the speed at which firms bring new innovations to market increases, planning for the future becomes even more critical. Organizing is the blending of human and material resources through a formal structure of tasks and authority to realize those goals.

This includes classifying and dividing work into manageable units by determining the specific tasks necessary to accomplish organizational objectives, grouping tasks into a logical pattern or structure, and assigning them to special personnel. Managers also must staff the organization with competent employees capable of performing the necessary tasks and assigning authority and responsibility to these individuals. Directing involves the guiding and motivating of staff in order to accomplish these goals. This includes explaining procedures, issuing orders, and seeing that mistakes are corrected.

This function also requires inspiring employees to care about customer satisfaction and/or their contribution to the organization. The directing function is a vital responsibility of supervisory managers. To fulfill their responsibilities to get things done through people, supervisors must be effective leaders. In addition middle and top management must also be good leaders and motivators and they must create an environment that fosters such leadership. Controlling is the function of evaluating the organization's performance to determine whether it is accomplishing its objectives.

The basic purpose of the controlling function is to assess the success of the planning function. Controlling also provides feedback for future rounds of planning. The four basic steps in controlling are the establishment of performance standards, monitoring actual performance, comparing that performance with established standards and taking corrective actions as required (Kurtz, 2010, 257-258).

In the late 1980s, a small group of engineers located in a previously unknown corporate office in Arkansas were given the opportunity to integrate Wal-Mart's procurement and ordering facility into a web-based, XML- enabled application that could interact with vendors and distribution sites in real-time. In doing so, Wal-Mart revolutionized order processing and nearly removed human error and guesswork from the ordering process. Now, each Wal-Mart location has a real-time database of all its goods and their respective quantities.

Over the past 40 years Wal-Mart has grown rapidly into one of the world's largest corporations and in an environment that has seen the failure of many competitors, such as TJ Maxx, K-Mart, and Marshall's, Wal-Mart continues to thrive. The ability to adapt to change and embrace new processes has been a key factor in Wal-Mart's success. Many leaders in the business world believe that the only constant in business is change (Khawaja, 2002).

The ability to adapt efficiently, quickly, and without hesitation is forcing companies to redefine processes, realign business units to match such processes, and flatten the management structure. Wal-Mart's ability to adapt to change and the.