Functions of Management

There are basically five primary functions of management. These are:

1. Planning
2. Organizing
3. Staffing
4. Directing
5. Controlling

The controlling function comprises coordination, reporting, and budgeting, and hence the
controlling function can be broken into these three separate functions. Based upon these
seven functions, Luther Gulick coined the word POSDCORB, which generally
represents the initials of these seven functions i.e. P stands for Planning, O for
Organizing, S for Staffing, D for Directing, Co for Co-ordination, R for reporting & B for
Budgeting.

But, Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing and Controlling are widely recognized
functions of management.
Planning
Planning is future-oriented and determines an organization’s direction. It is a rational and
systematic way of making decisions today that will affect the future of the company. It is
a kind of organized foresight as well as corrective hindsight. It involves the predicting of
the future as well as attempting to control the events. It involves the ability to foresee the
effects of current actions in the long run in the future.

Peter Drucker has defined planning as follows:

“Planning is the continuous process of making present entrepreneurial decisions

systematically and with best possible knowledge of their futurity, organizing
systematically the efforts needed to carry out these decisions and measuring the results of
these decisions against the expectations through organized and systematic feedback”.
An effective planning program incorporates the effect of both external as well as internal
factors. The external factors are shortages of resources; both capital and material, general
economic trend as far as interest rates and inflation are concerned, dynamic technological
advancements, increased governmental regulation regarding community interests,
unstable international political environments, etc.

The internal factors that affect planning are limited growth opportunities due to saturation
requiring diversification, changing patterns of the workforce, more complex
organizational structures, decentralization, etc

Organizing
Organizing requires a formal structure of authority and the direction and flow of such
authority through which work subdivisions are defined, arranged and coordinated so that
each part
relates to the other part in a united and coherent manner so as to attain the prescribed
objectives.

According to Henry Fayol, “To organize a business is to provide it with everything useful or its functioning
i.e. raw material, tools, capital and personnel’s”.

Thus the function of organizing involves the determination of activities that need to be
done in order to reach the company goals, assigning these activities to the proper
personnel, and delegating the necessary authority to carry out these activities in a
coordinated and cohesive manner. It follows, therefore, that the function of organizing is
concerned with:

1. Identifying the tasks that must be performed and grouping them whenever
necessary
 2. Assigning these tasks to the personnel while defining their authority and
responsibility.
3. Delegating this authority to these employees
4. Establishing a relationship between authority and responsibility
5. Coordinating these activities

Staffing
Staffing is the function of hiring and retaining a suitable work-force for the enterprise both at
managerial as well as non-managerial levels. It involves the process of recruiting, training, developing,
compensating and evaluating employees and maintaining this workforce with proper incentives and
motivations. Since the human element is the most vital factor in the process of management, it is
important to recruit the right personnel.

According to Kootz & O’Donnell, “Managerial function of staffing involves manning the
organization structure through the proper and effective selection, appraisal &
development of personnel to fill the roles designed in the structure”.

This function is even more critically important since people differ in their intelligence,
knowledge, skills, experience, physical condition, age and attitudes, and this complicates
the function. Hence, management must understand, in addition to the technical and
operational competence, the sociological and psychological structure of the workforce.

Directing
The directing function is concerned with leadership, communication, motivation, and
supervision so that the employees perform their activities in the most efficient manner
possible, in order to achieve the desired goals.

The leadership element involves issuing of instructions and guiding the subordinates
about procedures and methods.
The communication must be open both ways so that the information can be passed on to
the subordinates and the feedback received from them.

Motivation is very important since highly motivated people show excellent performance
with less direction from superiors.

Supervising subordinates would lead to continuous progress reports as well as assure the
superiors that the directions are being properly carried out.

Controlling
The function of control consists of those activities that are undertaken to ensure that the
events do not deviate from the pre-arranged plans. The activities consist of establishing
standards for work performance, measuring performance and comparing it to these set
standards and taking corrective actions as and when needed, to correct any deviations.

According to Koontz & O’Donnell, “Controlling is the measurement & correction of

performance activities of subordinates in order to make sure that the enterprise
objectives and plans desired to obtain them as being accomplished”.

The controlling function involves:

a. Establishment of standard performance.

b. Measurement of actual performance.

c. Measuring actual performance with the pre-determined standard and finding out the
deviations.
d. Taking corrective action.

All these five functions of management are closely interrelated. However, these functions
are highly indistinguishable and virtually unrecognizable on the job. It is necessary,
though, to put each function separately into focus and deal with it.

Front office desk

The term front desk is used in many hotels for an administrative department where a
receptionist's duties also may include room reservations and assignment, guest registration,
cashier work, credit checks, key control as well as mail and message service. Such receptionists
are often called front desk clerks. Receptionists cover many areas of work to assist the businesses
they work for, including setting appointments, filing, record keeping, and other office tasks.[2]