What Are the Five Functions of Management?

By Lon W. Schiffbauer, BA, MBA, PhD, SPHR

Management is the process of working with people and resources to effectively and efficiently accomplish organizational goals and objectives. The best managers know how to unlock and channel employees’ potential, all with the intent of optimizing their talents. They do this by:

PLANNING

Planning is the conscious, purposeful, and systematic process of setting the strategies, priorities, objectives, goals, and tactics to be pursued by the organization. Successful organizations are forward-looking, proactively anticipating the industry and market. For people managers, this means establishing departmental strategic objectives based on the organizations larger corporate mission and vision. Based on this, managers can then forecast personnel and skills needs.

ORGANIZING

At its most simple, an organization is a collection of people and other resources. Ensuring that this collection is more than just a hodgepodge of people all flailing about in some corporate mosh pit, managers need to organize these resources. When it comes to personnel, this means delegating responsibilities, authority, and accountability in such a way as to be both effective and efficient. Ultimately the goal is to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

STAFFING

People and the skills they bring to the table are the heart of any organization, so managers want to do everything they can to bring the very best to the game. This means recruiting, selecting, training, developing, and retaining the people, skills, and talents necessary to meet current and future organizational needs.

DIRECTING

It’s not enough to organize resources. Managers then need to coordinate the many and varied activates reaching across the organization. This means more than simply providing direction and supervising; it also includes leading, coaching, motivating, and inspiring employees to perform at their very best.

CONTROLLING

Once the direction has been set, resources organized, and direction provided to the troops, managers then need to monitor performance against key performance indicators and success criteria. This includes maintaining discipline and making constant adjustments to the processes to help the organization meet its targets while ensuring optimal resource allocation.

Lon is an Associate Professor of Business Management at Salt Lake Community College and holds an MBA, a PhD, and is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). In addition to his academic background, Lon spent close to 30 years working and consulting for such companies as FedEx, Intel, eBay, and PayPal, as well as a variety of small to mid-sized companies around the world.