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What are the various functions of management?

Following are the functions of management –

1. Planning
2. Organizing
3. Staffing
4. Directing
5. Co-ordinating and Controlling

What is meant by planning?

Planning means deciding in advance what is to be done and how it is to be done. For instance, one decides in advance where to study. Planning is a systematic way of deciding about and doing things in a purposeful manner.

What is planning in context of business organizations and management?

Planning is defined as the process of setting future objectives and deciding aon the ways and means of achieving them.

How is planning defined in terms of M.E. Hurley?

In the words of M.E. Hurley, planning is deciding in advance what is to be done in future. It involves the selection of objectives, policies, procedures and programes from among the alternatives.

Why is planning regarded as the primary function of management?

Planning is the primary function of management as every activity needs to be planned before it is performed. In other words, planning precedes all the other managerial functions and provides the very basis for organizing, staffing, directing and controlling.

Why is planning considered goal oriented?

Planning is always goal oriented. A manager cannot plan anything unless he knows what he wants to achieve. For example, you cannot plan a journey unless you know where you want to go. Thus, planning is taking such steps so as to achieved desired goal.

Explain how is planning pervasive?

Planning is pervasive alt all levels for an organization and so also for all functional area. Managers at the top level plan for the entire organization. They make plans for a long period and lay down the objectives for the organization as a whole. Middle-level managers make quarterly, half-yearly and yearly plans for the departments under them. Foremen and office supervisors plan for a workshop or a section of the office. They make plans for a short period i.e for the next day, next week or next month.

How is planning futuristic?

Planning is always futuristic. It is deciding in advance, what to do, how to do etc. It requires collection of information about various matters relating to business and then choosing a course of action for the future. However, while planning for the future, it does take past experience and current situation into consideration.

What makes planing an intellectual activity?

Planning is an intellectual activity and requires certain conceptual skills to look ahead into the future. It needs good foresight and sound judgement to anticipate future events, develop alternative courses of action and make the right choice.

Why is planning a continuous process?

Planning is a continuous process. In organizations plans are made for a specific period followed by a new plan for further period. Sometimes the conditions or circumstance change requiring the plans to be revised. For instance, a sugar factory situated in upper regions of Uttar Pradesh had planned for 1000 tonnes of sugar during the last quarter of the year. Accordingly, the management had planned for procurement of sugar cane from the near by areas. Unfortunately, there was snowfall leading to loss of crop. This made the management to change their plan and procure sugarcane from far off areas like Haryana and Rajasthan and also revise their planned production of 1000 to 800 tonnes. Thus, planning is a continious process in organizations.

What is the main requirement of planning?

Planning basically involves making choices. Need for planning arises when goals or objectives are many and alternatives to achieve them are plenty. While planning alternatives are evaluated and a choice is made regarding which course of action is to be followed.

Is planning flexible?

Planning is flexible. Planning is done on the basis of some forecasts which may not materalise. Hence, plans have to be changed in accordance with the conditions. Activities are planned with certain assumptions, which may not come true. Managers must make provision for alternate strategies and plans.

Why is planning considered important in management functions?

Planning is considered important because of the following reasons –

1. Planning reduces uncertanity, risk and confusion in operation. Through planning, the future course of action is known to all and so everybody knows exactly what needs to be done. This gives a sense of direction resulting in efficiency in operations.
2. Planning guides the decision making by the managers. Planning of goals to be achieved and the course of action to be followed to achieve the goal acts a s guide in their own decision making and action plans.li>
3. Planning helps in achieving coordination and facilities control. Proper planning integrates the task at the operational level, thereby making coordination more effective. It also helps in identifying deviations and taking corrective actions.
4. Planning with an element of flexibility makes the organization adaptable. In other words, planning makes the organisation capable of coping with the changing environment and facing challenges.
5. Planning leads to economy and efficiency in operations. Best methods are selected out of available choices, thus reducing overlapping and wasteful activities.
6. Planning begins with the determination of objectives and directed towards their achievement. It keeps the executive alert and alive. Managers have to review the progress periodically and recast their strategies to meet the objectives.

What are the limitations of planning?

Planning is of great importance to management. However there are certain limitations of it. They are –

1. Rigidity
2. Probabilistic
3. Expensive and Time Consuming
4. Delay in Action
5. Misdirection
6. False sense of security

Explain the impact of rigidity on management?

The existence of a plan puts managerial activities in a rigid framework. Changes are not acceptable to the employees. This attitude makes employees and managers inflexible in their operations.

How is probabilistic nature of plan a issue in management?

Plans are based on a forecast so they do not reflect reality. Predictions may not be correct and plans based on these predictions may go wrong. For example, even developed countries like America, UK, France etc. did not forecast sub prime crisis, which resulted in a major economic crisis in those countries.

Why is planning considered time consuming?

Planning requires a lot of time to collect information, its analysis and interpretation. So it is time consuming process. It is not practicable during emergency. If the benefits derived are not more than the cost of plan, then it has adverse effect on the financial performance of the organization.

How does planning effects actions?

Planning is a time consuming process. In case of urgent decisions, planning will delay the action.

How can planning cause misdirection?

Sometimes planning may be used to serve individual and group interests and interest of the organization may be ignored.

How does planning creates a fake sense of security?

Planning may create a fake sense of security among the employees of an organization in a sense that since the activities will take place as per plan therefore there is no need to worry.

What are the steps involved in planning?

Planning in organization follows a step-by-step process without which it may be difficult to build up proper plans and ensure implementation. They are –

1. Establishment of objective
2. Making assumptions
3. Development of alternative courses of actions
4. Evaluation of alternatives
5. Selecting the appropriate course of action
6. Arranging for implementation

What is the first step in the process of planning?

The first step towards planning is the estabilshment of objectives. Each organization has goals that it has to achieve. Planning starts with defining these goals in more concrete, clear and unambigious terms. This enables the management in gaining clarity onw hat they have to achieve and then plan all the activities accordingly. Hence, establishing organizational objectives is a pre-requisite for good and meaningful planning.

What is the second step in planning?

Making assumptions about the future environment of business is the second step in planning. For example, it may be assumed that there will not be any change in tax laws and that there will be sufficient funds available to meet its financial requirements.

What is planning premises?

Assumptions about the future environment of the business are known as planning premises. These premises may be external or internal.

What is external premises?

External premises relate to conditions outside the business.

What is internal premises?

Internal premises relate to conditions prevailing within the organization.

What does external premises include?

External premises include assumptions about the market demand and nature of competition, laws affecting the business, availability of resources, and changes in technology. If the management can visualize the likely changes in the external conditions, they can take steps to solve problems arising there from and plan to take advantage of the emerging business opportunities.

Government policies and laws affect the decision of managers to a great extent. Advance knowledge of the likely changes in government policy enables managers to plan their activities more appropriately.

What does internal planning premises relate to?

Internal planning premises relate to conditions within an organization. These conditions include cost, methods and techniques of production, employees, type of machinery and equipment etc. All these constitute the internal resources which determine as to what the organization is capable of achieving.

How does study of external and internal conditions help the organization?

Study of external conditions enables a business unit to now the opportunities available in the market. Hundreds of opportunities are available to a business unit, but it cannot take advantage of every opportunity. It has to decide what it will produce and distribute in the light of what it can do i.e.e on the basis of study or internal factors and plan accordingly.

Explain development of alternative courses of action in planning?

To achieve the objective of increasing the profits of a business unit, any one or more of the following alternatives are used –

1. Increase the sale of its existing products.
2. Improve product quality
3. Add new products or product lines
4. Increase the prises of products
5. Reduce costs

What is the fourth step in planning?

The fourth step in planning is evaluation of alternatives.

How does management evaluates alternatives to planning?

When alternative courses of actions are there before a manager, he has to examine the feasibility and the possible results of each course of action before selecting the best course . For example, to maximize profits the management may ot think of reducing the wages of workers as it may not be workable.

Explain in terms of organization how the alternatives to planning are prepared?

If the prices are increased, the business units may not be able to face competition in the market. So, the management should evaluate each of the remaining alternatives and work out how far they help in meeting the objectives and whether these are workable in the light of available resources.

How do organizations select the appropriate course of action?

After evaluating the alternatives, the manager selects that alternative which gives the maximum benefits at minimum cost. In selecting the best course from among the alternatives, managers also keep in mind their own limitations of resources.

What factors does the manager finds when making the final selection for the course of action?

In making the final selection from among the alternatives, the management is guided by the following options –

1. the opportunities provided by the external environment
2. the ability of the business unit to take advantage of these opportunities

What is the final step of planning?

In the final step, after the management has finalized their choice, it should build up the necessary strategies and action plan for its implementation in the consultation with all the key personnel who are to implement it.

What are the types of plans?

Following are the types of plans –

1. Objectives
2. Strategy
3. Policy
4. Procedure
5. Methods
6. Rule
7. Budget
8. Programme

Explain objectives?

Objectives are the end results towards which all the activities are directed. For example – it can be the objective of an organization to impart training in cloth printing to 1000 persons a year. As far as possible objective should be measureable in quantitative terms and should be achievable.

What do you understand by strategy?

To exist in the changing business environment and to fact the competitions in the market plans that are formulated are called strategies

What do strategy refer to?

Strategy refers to plans which are prepared by considering the more of competitors for the optimum utilization of resources.

What is strategy?

Strategy is a comprehensive plan which indicates the desired future of an organization.

Give examples of how the business have implemented strategy?

Following are the instances where business have implemented strategy –

1. Tata adopted the strategy of attracting even middle income group to purchase cheaper car.
2. IT Companies adopted the strategy of appointing not only engineers but also graduates from Math and Physics discipline.

What is a policy?

Policy is a general statement that guides decision making. It decides the boundaries within which the decisions can be made. Policies direct decisions towards achievement of objectives. For example – an organization may have policy of giving training to candidates who secure more than 60 percent marks.

What is a procedure?

proceudre are plans which determine the sequence of any work performance. If the procedures are decided in advance, everyone can follow the same.

What is a method in planning?

Method is a plan which determines how different activities of the procedure are completed. A method is not related to all steps but only to one step of the procedure. Methods are standarised way of doing work.

What are rules?

Rules clearly indicate what is to be done and what is not to be done in a particular situation. Strict ations can be taken against persons who violate the rules. Rules are guideline designed to guide behavior.

What is a budget?

Budget is a statement of expected results expressed in numerical terms. A budget is a type of a plan expressed in financial terms on in terms of labour hours, unit of product, machine hours etc. They are quantitative statements indicating expected results and expenditure required for achieving the goal.

What is a programme?

A programme can be defined in terms of the following three definitions –

1. Programme is a plan laying down the what,how, who and when of accomplishing a specific job. Programmes are a mode to get a systematic working in the organization.
2. Programme is a scheme designed to accomplish a specific objective. It spells out clearly the steps to be taken, resources to be used, and time period within which the task is to be completed.
3. A programmed usually includes a set of objectives, policies, procedures, methods, budgets, etc. Example – developing a new product.

What is the next step after planning has been done?

Organizing is the next step after planning has been done.

What does manager decides in terms of planning?

In terms of organizing, the manager decides on ways and means through which it will be easier to achieve what has been planned.

Explain organizing?

Organizing refers to the process of –

1. Identifying and grouping the work to be performed.
2. Defining and determining responsibility and authroity for each job position.
3. Establishing relationship among various job positions.
4. Determining detailed rules and regulations of working for individuals and groups in organization.

What is the importance of organizing?

Organizing is essential because it facilitates administration as well as operation of enterprise. By grouping work and people properly, production increases, overload of work is checked, wastage is reduced, duplication of work is restricted and effective delegation becomes possible.

How does organizing helps in growth and development?

Organizing facilitates growth and diversification of activities through clear division of work. It helps in developing a proper organisation structure and extent and nature of decentralization can be determined. In addition to the above, organizing also provides for the optimum use of technical and human resources. It also encourages creativity and enhances interaction among different levels of management which leads to unification of efforts of all.

What activities are performed once activities have been identified and grouped together?

Once the activities have been indentified and grouped together, following are the steps to be taken –

1. Assignment of responsibilities – Having completed the exercise of indentifying, grouping and classifying all activities into specific jobs, they can be assigned to individual to take care of.
2. Granting authority – On the basis of responsibilities given to specific individuals, they are also to be given the necessary authority to ensure effective performance.
3. Establishing relationship – This is a very important job of management as everybody in the organization should know as to whom he or she is to report, thereby establishing a structure of relationships. By doing so, relationships become clear and delegation is facilitated.

What factors are considered when designing a organisation structure?

When designing a good organizing following factors are taken care of – job specifications, departmentation, authority-repsonsibility, reltaionship etc.

What does the structure of an organization looks like?

The whole structure takes the shape of a pyramid and broadly indicates the tasks assigned, the hierarchical relationships and the patterns of communication and coordination.

What are the different forms of organization?

based on the arrangement of activities, two most common used forms of organisation struture are –

1. Functional Structure
2. Divisional Structure

What is a functional structure?

An organisation structure formed by grouping together all activities into functional department and putting each department under one coordinating head is called functional structure. In this form of organization, there is a main unit and then further sub units.

What are the benefits of functional structure?

Functional structure helps in developing functional specialisation in each unit duly headed by an expert in that funtional area. This facilitates the coordination within the department since all are fully familiar with the various activities involved. But, this type of structure is considered suitable only for small and medium sized organization.

In which organizations, is divisional structure given more importance?

In large organizations, dealing in multiple products and serving a number of distinctive markets, the divisional structure is considered more suitable.

How is organization structured in terms of divisional structure?

In case of divisional structure, organization is divied into units entrusted with all activities related to different products on different territories. Each divisional head is required to look after all functions related to the product or market territory.

What is a formal organization?

Formal organization refers to the officially established pattern of a relationships among departments, divisions and individuals to achieve well-defined goals and is consciously designed structure of roles. It is a system of well defined jobs, each bearing a definitive measure of authority, responsibility and accountability.

What is an informal organization?

Informal organization refers to relationship between individuals in the organization based on personal attitudes, likes and dislikes and originates to meet their social and emotional needs and develops spontaneously. It represents natural grouping of people in work situation and is supplementary to formal organization as it serves the needs not satisfied by formal organization. The formal organization does not provide opportunity to members to exchange personal views and experiences and so they interact informally to fulfill such interest and needs. In fact, informal organisation comes into being because oft the limitations of the formal strucutre and both are inter linked.

On what basis do formal and informal organizations differ?

They differ in respect of their origin, purpose, structure ,authority, channels of communication and behavior of members.

What is the difference between formal and informal organization?

Formal OrganizationInformal Organization

It is created by the top management.	It arises out of the natural desire of the people to associate.
It is created to get jobs of an organization performed in a planned and systematic manner.	It is formed to satisfy those needs of members which can not be satisfied through formal organization.
It is managed by officially appointed manager.	Members of the informal group select some one as their leader to take care of the interests of the group members.
Managers of formal organization have formal authrotiy.	The authroity of the leader of the informal group depends upon the combined support of group members.
Formal organization is permanent and stable.	Informal organization is of temporary nature. It changes it size and membership from time to time.

Explain delegation.

In organizations, it is difficult on the part of a manager to complete all the jobs assigned to him. he thus, can take help from others by asking them to do some of the work in a formal way. it means, he can assign some of the work on his subordinates and give them authority to carry on the work and at the same time make them accountable. This active process of entrustement of a part of work or responsibility and authority to another and the creation of accountability for performance is known as delegation.

What are the elements of delegation?

The key elements of delegation are –

1. Assignment of responsibility
2. Granting Authority
3. Creating accountability

Explain assignment of responsibility in terms of delegation.

This is also known as entrustment of duties. Duties can be divided into two parts: one part, that the individual can perform himself and the other part that hec an assign to his subordinates to perform.

What is the meaning of authority?

Authority refers to the official powers and position required to carry on any task. When duties are assigned to subordinates then the required authority must also be conferred to him. For example – when a manager asks his subordianaate to recieve a guest of the company on his behalf then he must also grant him sme authority like carry the company vehicle, booking the company guest house etc.

What is meant by creating accountability?

This refers to the obligation on the part of the subordinates, to whom responsibility and authority are granted to see it to that the work is done. In other words, the delegate is fully answerable to his superior for performance of the task assigned to him.Thus, the superior ensures performance through accountability by his subordinate.

Why is delegation considered important?

Delegation is considered as one of the most important elements int he process of organisation because it reduces the load on managers as work is successfully shared by the subordinates.

How does delegation improves managerial effectiveness?

Delegation improves managerial effectiveness because by delegating a good part of work to the subordinate the managers are able to concentrate on matters which requires personal attention. The delegation of responsibility with commensurate authroity offers a good workable solution. THis also provides an opportunity for subordinates to develop, and motivates and prepares them for taking up higher responsibilities in future. It leads to creating a healthy work environment and harmony among employees. Hence, delegation facilitates organisational growht and prosperity.

What is decentralisation?

Decentrailisation refers to a systematic effor to delgate authroity at all levels of management and in all departments. This shifts the power f=of decision making to lower level under a well considered plan.

What are the benefits of decentrailisation?

Decentralisation has the following benefits –

1. It reduces the workload of the top level management.
2. It motivates the employees and gives them autonomy.
3. It promotes initiative and creativity and also helps employees to take quick and appropriate decisions.

What is the distinction between delegation and decentralization?

Decentrailisation is not same as delegation. Following are the differences between both –

Delegation	Decentralization
It is the process of assinging responsibility and authority and thereby creating accountability.	It is the ultimate outcome of planned delgation.
Delegation of authroity takes place between the manager and his subordinates.	Decentralization involves the entire organization and is between top management and divisions or departments.
Delegation is done to speed up the work and is essential in trace.	Decentralization is optional and is usually done in large scale organizations.
The responsibility and authority delegated may be withdrawn by the delegator.	Responsibility cannot be withdrawn.

Happy Learning 🙂