Learn the Five Functions of Management and Improve Your Business

Kiran C
7 min readMay 21, 2022
Photo by Sebastian Herrmann on Unsplash

The five functions of management are planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and controlling. Management is the process of making decisions and providing direction to a group of individuals with the intention of achieving goals. The five functions are necessary because each function plays an important role in creating an effective team.

Managers are responsible for a company’s employees, their equipment, and the company’s financial health. In other words, managers have five functions to fulfill: ensuring proper staffing levels, overseeing production levels, inspecting machinery, maintaining a budget, and ensuring that all operations run smoothly.

The manager is a key figure in a company who carries out the five functions of management. It is his duty to ensure that all aspects of the business are well managed.

Let’s discuss in detail about this topic. This article explains what exactly is meant by management? What are its responsibilities? And how can we become good at managing our teams effectively? Let us begin.

An Introduction to Five Functions of Management

An Introduction to Five Functions of Management
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Do you know who came up with the idea of the five functions of management? The theory was defined by Henri Fayol. Henri Fayol was a French engineer and industrialist. He is best known for his 1916 book, “General and Industrial Management,” which became an influential text in the field of business management. He was born on January 23rd, 1841, in France.
There are many different functions that managers can play. Although some functions such as managing operations and finances are essential, the most significant function of management is to make sure employees are happy and satisfied. This can be done in many ways, such as showing appreciation for their work or letting them know what the company’s future holds for them. It is also fundamental for managers to be proficient in motivating their employees.
There are several functions involved in management, and this article will introduce some of them. Let’s consider each one in more detail.

What Are the Five Main Functions of Management?

What is meant by the Five Functions of Management?
The image is taken from the website FlySlides

However, there are five specific functions that are essential to most business organizations. They are planning, organizing, staffing, directing operations, and controlling operations. The primary purposes of any manager’s job description revolve around these five principle functions. The following sections provide more information on these five functions.

Planning:

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Planning is an integral part of managing your organization. It involves setting goals and objectives for your company as well as determining how you plan to achieve those goals. This includes identifying what needs to happen within your organization to reach its full potential.

Planning also helps managers determine which tasks need to be performed by whom in order to meet organizational goals. For example, if a new product line has been added to your business, planning will help make all appropriate resources available to put into action on your new project. In addition, planning ensures that the right people have access to information about upcoming projects or changes in policies.

Finally, planning allows managers to identify any gaps between current operations and future plans. This is important because when you plan for growth, you must make sure there’s enough time to fill those gaps before they become critical problems. Planning isn’t just something that happens once at the beginning of each year; it should happen throughout the project every day.

The best way to get started with your own strategic planning process is by using a simple three-step approach:

  • Identify what needs to be done now. What are the most high-priority challenges facing your organization?
  • Develop an action plan to address these challenges.
  • Evaluate how effective this strategy was in achieving its goals.

This framework will assist you to identify and prioritize key areas where improvement can occur. It also helps ensure that you’re not wasting valuable resources on projects or initiatives that aren’t going to have any impact on your business’ success.

Organizing:

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Management is defined as the process of administering something. This includes supervising the management of a company, organization, project, or person. Organizing is the process by which people and resources are put together; consequently, they work as a team for a definite purpose or goal.

The organizing stage involves planning how things should be done, who’s responsible for what tasks, when those tasks need to get completed, etc. It also means making sure all the necessary information about each task is available in one place at once. In other words, it helps you keep track of everything that needs to happen.

So, arrange your organizational structure in a way that fits the workplace, then delegate tasks to every team member that correspond to their skills and personality. Make sure that you have each team member onboard so that tasks can be delegated in an efficient manner.

Staffing:

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It is important that managers strategically utilize their time to achieve organizational goals. Managers must lead, coordinate, plan, organize, and control to make this happen. They are responsible for hiring new employees, managing current employees’ work habits, and ensuring the company’s needs are met. They must also take care of continuing education for their staff to ensure they possess the skills needed to take on new work.

A manager must have good communication skills as well as solid leadership abilities. This will help them effectively communicate with all levels within the organization. Managers should always strive to improve themselves by attending training sessions or seminars offered by professional organizations.

Directing Operations:

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Directing operations means making sure that each function runs smoothly to focus on its own job. The manager in this position may be responsible for supervising employees’ daily activities and tasks, ensuring that everything goes according to plan. They have to make decisions about how much time an employee spends working at their desk versus taking breaks outside.

This is a very important role because if things go wrong, the entire company could suffer. Managers who are good leaders will ensure that their staff members know what they expect from them and also give clear instructions when necessary. The communication and exchange of information should be open in both directions so that the information can be distributed to the subordinates and the knowledge sent back.

The manager must always keep track of all the activities going on within the organization, which includes keeping up with any changes or new developments. If problems occur, it’s best for managers to address these issues immediately rather than wait until later.

Performing tasks with great enthusiasm can be motivating because they demonstrate accomplishment in the right way. However, if a task is not done well enough, this will show as an attitude problem. Managers need to make sure their employees understand what needs to get accomplished before assigning them work. This helps ensure that everyone understands how important each job is and why it has been assigned to them.

Controlling Operations:

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Controlling operations involves making sure all aspects of the production run smoothly to complete everything on time. It also includes ensuring that no mistakes or errors are made during any stage of the process. If something goes wrong at one point, you want to have control over when it happens and where it occurs.

You may even choose to assign someone else responsible for certain parts of your operation. For example, if a machine breaks down in the middle of an assembly line, you can decide whether to keep going with what’s already being done or stop production until repairs can be made.

Controlling operations ensures that every part of the business runs as efficiently as possible. This is especially important because many businesses operate 24 hours per day, seven days a week. It becomes more difficult to ensure everything gets completed on schedule when this happens.

Team heads also have to monitor the progress of every step involved in order for things to go according to plan. They need to make sure all employees are working together and communicating effectively, so they know exactly where each person stands at any given time. If there are problems, team leaders must take action quickly to resolve them before they become bigger issues.

The controlling involves the following steps:

  • The establishment of standard performance.
  • Actual performance can be measured.
  • Find out the deviations when you measure actual performance with the predetermined standard.
  • Taking correct action.

Management is a necessary component of every company. The purpose of these five functions is to guarantee that the company will achieve its goals and sustain growth without allowing it to be disrupted by external influences.
Although management can seem like an overwhelming task, it is necessary for success in any industry. These five functions are essential to keep businesses running smoothly, maintain focus, and guide employees.

Five functions of management are a principal subject for all businesses. The next task is how do you demonstrate this method? If you would like to prepare in an attractive way, pick the ideal presentation template. Five functions of management PPT template will definitely help to prepare a business plan; otherwise, you have to create the entire presentation from scratch. A lot of presentation templates comprise a choice of features and may save time when used correctly.

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Kiran C

🔸 SEO & Digital Marketer 🔸 Foodie 🔸 Blogger