The four functions of management
The Four Functions of Management
The four basic function of management are planning, organizing, leading/directing and controlling.
Planning
The process of setting objectives and determining in advance exactly how the objectives will be met.
Organizing
The process of arranging and allocating work, authority and resources among an organization's members so that they can achieve objectives.
- It involves Assigning tasks, Grouping tasks & Allocating resources
- It is the process of arranging and allocating work, authority, and resources among an organization's members so they can achieve the organizational goals.
- Assigning the tasks developed during planning to various individuals or groups within the organization and creates a mechanism to put plans in to action.
Organization can be compared with human body. Our body is composed of head, hand, feet, heart, teeth, mouth etc. these parts are performing their work independently and at the same time, one part cannot be a substitute to another. Similarly, organization consists of departments and units which performs its work independently and cannot be substituted to another. The overall effort of this departments and units is the achievement of the organizational objectives.
Organizing can be defined as two or more people working together in a structured way to achieved a specific goal or sets of goal s(objectives).
All organizations have managers responsible for helping them to achieve their goals.
Organization:
- Must serve society-hospitals mosque, church, school etc.
- Accomplish objective
- Provide care to people
Four Building Block of Organizing
A manager should perform the following in organizing
- Divide the total work load into tasks that can be logically performed by members-division of work
- Combine tasks in a logical and efficient manner- departmentalization
- Specify who reports to whom in the organization-organizational hierarchy
- Coordination:- setup a mechanism to integrate departmental activities
Leading
The process of influencing employees to work towards achieving objectives.
Leadership is the process of directing and influencing the task (work) related activities of group members towards the achievement of the original or team goal. Leaders are the one who guide and direct other people. He/she must give effective direction and purpose. The success of any organization is dependent upon the ability of its leaders. Leadership exists in any type of organization. Leading is one of the functions of management. Whenever there is an attempt by someone to influence the behavior of another individuals or a group, there is leadership. Anesthetists are a service providers as well as a leader concerning anesthetic management at their institution.
Controlling
The process of establishing and implementing mechanisms to ensure that objectives are achieved.
The relationship of these four functions of management is shown in Figure 3.1. below.
Controlling is achieved by two important processes; monitoring and evaluation.
Monitoring is an ongoing process of assessing whether the process of planning and implementation is proceeding on target.
Evaluation is an assessment which is usually done at the end of a specified phase or at the end of the project life of a planning period. It focuses on systematic assessment of whether the various goals and objectives of the planning have been met.