According to Harold Koontz,

"Management is the art of getting things done through and with people in formally

organized groups."

The 4 basic management functions that make up the management process are described in the following
sections:

 Planning- This involves choosing tasks that must be performed to attain organizational goals,
to outline how the tasks must be performed and to indicate when they should be performed.
Planning activity focuses on attaining goals and managers outline exactly what organizations
should do to be successful. It is also concerned with the success of the organization in the
short term as well as in the long term.
 Organizing- involves the act of assigning the tasks developed in the planning stages to various
individuals or groups to create a mechanism to put plans into action. People within the
organization are given work assignments that contribute to the goals of the company to
make the outputs of each individual contribute to division and organizational success.
 Influencing- Influencing is also known as motivating, leading or directing by guiding the
activities of organization members towards the fulfillment of the goals. The purpose of
influencing is to increase productivity in human-oriented work situations to generate higher
levels of production over the long term than do task oriented work situations.
 Controlling- Controlling is both a managerial function and a continuous process where the
manager performs the following roles: gathers information that measures performance;
compares present performance to pre-established performance norms; and determines
the next action plan and modifications for meeting the desired performance parameters.

Evolution of Management Theories

(1) Scientific Management

Ideas of early management proposed by Taylor, Jill Perth and Gantt was developed by the impact of natural
methodology and it stressed rational thinking based on the scientific work to improve individual staff
capacity.

(2) Administrative View

The administrative view proposed by Henri Fayol and Max Weber highlighted the importance of operational
efficiency on the whole organization to develop a general theory explaining the good management of the
elements required which include infrastructure.

Behavioral Theories

 Hawthorne Experiment

This is a well-known study which revealed that Classical Theory is

mainly focused on the organization and staff with mechanical perspective concentrated on the point of view
of human nature, importance of individual attitudes and behaviors, methods for managers to motivate
employees for improving productivity.

 Interpersonal Perspective
This was proposed by Maslow and McGregor that provided a basic founcation of the behavioral view on
human relations and was further derived from the Hawthorne experimental results showing that the
productivity of employees is affected by the interaction and affective atmosphere of the management that
leads to better performance.

Quantitative Theory

 Management Science and Operations Management perspective view

Quantitative Theory originated in World War II and revealed that the spirit of scientific management
commitment, use of quantitative measurement and computer modeling theory such as analysis of
complex business problems which gradually become a branch of the management science and
operations management perspective.

New Theories

 Systems Perspective

This emphasized that there is a gradual integration of a new theory through a system point of view and the
contingency perspective which successfully meets the inconsistencies that sprouted in the Classical and
Behavioral Theories.

 Contingency Perspective

In the Contingency Perspective , academic industry focuses on how to adapt the environmental change and
believes that there is no "universal solution" for the management to solve such conditions since all of
management challenges depend on varying circumstances. It further stresses that the current time would be
always be a timely situation for the management to handle individual and managerial differences.

Responsibilities of Managers

A manager wears many hats. He is not only team leader but also a planner,
organizer, cheerleader, coach, problem solver, and decision maker — all rolled into
one.

In addition, schedules of managers are usually jam‐packed. Whether they are

busy with employee meetings, unexpected problems, or strategy sessions, managers
often find little spare time on their calendars.

Below are their common responsibilities:

1. Hire great people. When employees are of great talent, the rest is easy. Sometimes, managers
instruct the Human Resource employees in the sourcing, screening and selecting of potential
workers.

2. Exhibit performance management. Performance management covers the people-

management aspect of a manager’s job. It includes clarifying and setting expectations and
goals, coaching, measuring, and monitoring employees’ work, addressing performance
problems, providing feedback and recognition, coaching, developing, training, and doing
performance reviews.
 3. Promote team development. In addition to individual employee management and
development, a manager is responsible for the development of a high performing
team. An interdependent team is usually more productive than a group of
individuals working independently.

4. Set overall directions. A manager sets the long and short term direction of the team
or organization. This includes the vision, mission, goals, objectives and strategy.
Strategic managers spend a lot of time thinking about mission and direction whcih
make them always on the look-out for the need to change or reinvent priorities. This
involves others, including their team members but they take ultimate
responsibilities for final decisions.

5. Support team members. This is explained by Patrick Lencioini, a famous author of a

management book entitled, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team when he quoted, “We
all know that if there is any daylight between executive team members, it ultimately
results in unwinnable battles that those lower in the organization are left to fight.”

6. Produce unique quality outputs. This pertains on the fact that CEOs have to do things
that just cannot be delegated and entrusted. The accomplishment of these tasks lie
on the wings of the manager alone though assistance from other employees and
officials may be sought.

7. Manage resources. Managers have to make sure that the team has the resources
they need to do they work while at the same time making sure that a team does not
overspend or waste resources.

8. Improve processes and quality. While individual should take responsibility for the
quality of their own work, managers are usually in the best position to see the
overall workflow and make adjustments and improvements.

9. Encourage self-development. Managers are not just responsible for the

development of their employees and teams but also with their own
development achieved through management training, mentor seeking, feedback
consolidating, and advanced education pursuance.

10. Communicate and disseminate information. Managers make sure information

is flowing from above, sideways, and upwards. They are never the bottleneck
in the information highway.

In case you are wondering where “leadership” fits into the role of a manager, it is accurate to
say that is woven throughout these ten essentials roles for each of them require leadership in
order to be truly effective. Leadership is not a separate “do” but a way of being!