Report on Management Functions

INTRODUCTION

Management is a set of some functions that together tries to achieve organizational goals. It is a manager’s tool of handling an organization. That is why every organization (from tiny to large) has a management team. As management is concerned with productivity, and modern business world is much more competitive, a well-furnished management team is needed for every organization. Therefore, it is necessary for business people to know about management and its different features and processes.

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1.0 MANAGEMENT

Management is the process of setting and achieving goals by designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals working together in groups efficiently accomplishes selected aims.

1.1  MANAGEMENT FEATURES

v  Management is getting things done by others

v  Manager carry out functions that utilize human, financial and material resources

2.0 MANAGEMENT FUNCTION

To achieve the goal of the organization, a manager must do some basic functions. These functions are called management functions. These functions are:

v  Planning

v  Organizing

v  Staffing

v  Directing

v  Controlling

All these functions are interrelated, interdependent and have successive way to come. And together, they lead the organization towards achieving its goal. Therefore, to ensure the success of these functions, we must coordinate them.

The management functions are described below:

2.1 PLANNING

Planning is the management function that establishes organizational goals or objectives and creates means for obtaining them.

2.1.1 PLANNING PROCESS

The planning process is as follows:

1   Define The Problem

2       Identify Critical Factors

3        Develop Potential Alternatives

4        Analyze The Alternatives

5        Select The Best Alternative

6        Implement The Solution

7        Establish A Control And Evaluation System

2.1.2 TYPES OF PLAN

As an organization has to deal with many necessities of present and future, it has to develop various types of plans to meet its needs. Moreover, all the planning that an organization does can be categorized under three types. They are-

q  GOALS: Goal or objectives are the results that plans are made for. They are the ultimate destination of an organization. All the activities of the organization encompass its objectives. In fact, it is the center of an organizations activity.

q  POLICY: Policy is a plan that describes how a subject should be handled. It guides management to decide on recurring topics such as:

• Promotions
• Customer Complaints
• Customer Credit
• Record Disposal
• Employee Eligibility For Profit Sharing And Stock Option Plans
• Use Of Facilities By Outside Organizations
• Work Schedules & Break Periods
• Sale Of Surplus Property
• Employee Discounts On Merchandise
• Vacations And Sick Leave

q  PROCEDURE: a procedure is a step-by-step, chronological instructions for carrying out a given policy. That is a procedure describes how a policy is to be implemented.

2.2 ORGANIZING

Organizing is the second basic management function. It is a management function concerned with-

v  Assembling the resources necessary to achieve organizational goals

v  Establish an activity-authority relationship within the organization.

2.2.1 THE ORGANIZING PROCESS

The organizing process is a systematic process. It includes the following steps:

1. CONSIDER PLANS AND GOALS: plans and objectives affect the organization and its result. In addition, to meet the demand of present and future, new objectives and plans can be developed. Moreover, they can change the whole organization. So plans and objectives of the organization must be considered first.
2. DETERMINE NECESSARY ACTIVITIES: after considering the goals and plans of the organization, we have to determine the activities that are necessary to accomplish organizational goals.
3. CLASSIFY ACTIVITIES UNDER GROUPS: after determining the activities, managers have to-

v  Examine each activity to determine its general nature

v  Relate and group the activities

v  Thus establishing departments.

4. ASSIGN THE WORK AND DELEGATE AUTHORITY: after classifying, managers should assign the works to individuals and should provide appropriate authority so that the assigned works can be done perfectly.
5. DESIGN A HIERARCHY OF RELATIONSHIPS: finally, a manager has to establish a hierarchy of relationships within the organization. This clarifies the chain of command among the individuals and helps to create a structure of the organization.

2.2.2 TYPES OF ORGANIZATION

*  FORMAL ORGANIZATION:

A formal organization is an organization that follows a structure planned by the management and maintains authority relationship among personnel. There are four types of formal organization structure. They are:

• LINE ORGANIZATION: Line organization is the simplest form of organization that follows line authority. Here every employee has only one supervisor directly. So, decisions can be made quickly here. However, this organization structure omits the use of skilled personnel. In addition, here managers lack efficiency, as the organization gets bigger, because of their wide span of control.
• LINE AND STAFF ORGANIZATION: This organization blends staff personnel within line organization structure who advises and serves the line manager. So, the decision can be better here. Besides line manager does not, require technical expertise here. However, this organization often faces potentiality of conflict between line manager and staff employees. Besides decisions are often delayed here.
• FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION: This organization provides expert supervision on employees for each type of work. So there is specialization of works. However, the major drawback of this organization is that it breaks unity of command and thus creates the potentiality of conflict.
• MATRIX ORGANIZATION: It is a project-oriented organization. Here, specialized workers from different fields are combined in a temporary group for a specific project. In addition, when the project ends, the workgroup disbands. In this organization, use of specialized organization ensures better performance, but it violates the unity of command and managers find it difficult to supervise due to wide span of control.

*  INFORMAL ORGANIZATION:

The informal organization is a network of personal and social relationship that arises from interaction of people within the working environment. Although it does not follow any structure, it has great influence over performance of employees.

2.3 STAFFING

Staffing is the management function that attempts to attract best candidate to an organization and to hold onto them.

Actually, it is a special wing of organization. But nowadays it is getting much importance to the managers. That is why it is considered as a separate management function today.

2.3.1 THE STAFFING PROCESS:

Staffing process has the following steps:

v  HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING: Here at first we have to assess the future demands for people and for jobs. Then, we have to collect information about the organization’s present personnel condition. After that, we have to decide whether we should promote an employee for the post vacant or simply recruit employee. If we decide to recruit employee, then we must have good information. And these information can be developed by-

q  Job Analysis:

q  Job Description:

q  Job Specification:

v  RECRUITING: Recruiting is attempting to identify and extract candidates for selection. And candidates can be extracted from two sources:

q  INTERNAL SOURCE: Internally, recruitment can be done by-

• Promoting Employee
• Reference From Friends And Relatives
• Announcing Job Openings In Company Newsletters And Bulletin Boards
• Selection Among Good Performance

q  EXTERNAL SOURCE: The external source of recruitment are-

• Educational Institution
• Advertisement
• Searcher Of Employee

v  SELECTION: Selection is the process of sorting the right applicant for a post from a pool of applicants extracted by recruitment.

The process of selection is described below:

q  APPLICATION BLANK: First, potential employees are requested to complete an application blank. This application blank-

•  Provides Necessary Information
• Shows The Ability Of The Applicant To Follow Instructions
• Shows Applicants Commands On Language

q  PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW: Here organization tries to screen out obviously unqualified applicants from applicants pool by interview.

q  TESTING: It determines the candidate’s ability to perform the job. Testing can be done in various ways:

• APTITUDE TEST: Tests Candidates Tendency And Concept About The Job
• PERFORMANCE TEST: Tests Candidates Ability To Perform.
• PERSONALITY TEST:  Figure Out Candidates Taste, Preference, And Habits.

Although testing helps to choose the right candidate for a post, it is not a compulsory part of selection process.

q  IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW: It provides a deeper knowledge about the applicant and helps to verify information about the applicant. This type of interview need not to be structured always but should not include any discriminatory topic.

q  REFERENCE CHECK: Here organization tries to know the past career of the applicant by checking references. Here, personal reference is often of little value to the organization. However, work reference provides valuable information to the organization about the applicant.

q  PHYSICAL EXAMINATION: Although not mandatory, this step helps to-

• Prevent Insurance Related Problems
• Detect Communicable Disease
• Clarify That The Applicant Is Physically Fit.

q  OFFER OF EMPLOYMENT: By all those steps stated above, an organization selects eligible candidates and rejects the others. Then it offers employment to the selected applicants.

v  ORIENTATION: It is a series of activities providing information to the new employees to help them adapt to the organization and their new job.

Here, employees get information on

q  Duties, Responsibilities And Benefits

q  The Organization

q  Completing Paperwork And Receiving Passes

q  Meeting Co-worker And Supervisor

v  TRAINING: Training is a process to improve the ability of employees to perform the job. It can be provided in many ways. These are-

q  CLASSROOM TRAINING: It is conducted within classroom and away from the pressure of the work environment

q  ON-THE-JOB TRAINING: Here employees are taught job skills while performing the job

q  VESTIBULE TRAINING: Here training is conducted in a simulated work environment complete with sample equipment.

v  PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL: A performance appraisal is a formal measure or rating of an employee’s job performance computed with established job standards. The appraisal may be subjective or objective and can include personnel change and separation related subjects.

v  PERSONNEL CHANGES AND DECISIONS: Through performance appraisal, management develops personnel changing decisions. And these decisions can be-

• PROMOTION
• TRANSFER
• DEMOTION

v  SEPARATION: Separation is the loss of an employee to an organization. And the ways of separation are-

• LAYOFF: It is a temporary separation that separates employees by shutting the organization off temporarily
• TERMINATION: It is the permanent separation of an employee from an organization.
• RETIREMENT: It means an employee stops working after reaching a certain age. This can be mandatory by the law
• RESIGNATION: It is the voluntary separation by an employee from the organization.

2.4 DIRECTING

Directing is aimed at getting the members oft organization to move in the direction that will achieve its objectives. It is the management function that builds a working climate within the organization by providing leadership and arranging the opportunity for motivation.

Therefore, the basic attention of directing is in-

q  BUILDING A WORKING CLIMATE: A manager must keep communication channels open, arrange a good working environment, and should provide employees requirements on job in order to build a working climate where employees can give their best efforts for organizational goals.

q  LEADERSHIP: Leadership is the process of influencing a group or individual to set or achieve a goal. In an organization, leadership can take any of the following form-

• AUTOCRATIC
• PARTICIPATIVE
• FREE-REIN

q  MOTIVATION: Motivation is the process of creating feelings that drive someone toward a particular objective. By this process, managers try to get the best efforts of an employee toward their performance and thus try to obtain the goal of the organization.

Employees can be motivated in many ways and there are several theories of motivation that are often used in organizations to motivate employees. These theories are-

• Douglas McGregor’s Theory X And Theory Y
• Abraham Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory
• Herzburgs Motivation-Maintenance Factor Theory

2.5 CONTROLLING

Controlling is the management function that-

q  Establish Standards To Be Used In Measuring Progress

q  Measure Performance

q  Compare Them Against Standards

q  Take Corrective Actions As Necessary

Controlling is a periodic and regular management activity and it provides the basis for future planning of the organization.

2.5.1 CONTROLLING PROCESS

The controlling process is shown below-

2.5.2 CONTROLLING DEVICES:

Management to ensure that performance met standards frequently uses many controlling devises. Some of these controlling devices are:

q  Employee Performance Evaluation

q  Reports On Sales, Expenses, And Inventories Etc.

q  Budgets

q  Pert (Programme Evaluation And Review Technique)

q  Break-Even Point Analysis

q  Internal Audit Etc.

3.0 MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS AT DIFFERENT LEVELS

At various levels of management, managers have to deal with different types of problems. So, the volume of their activities changes at various levels. Therefore, although managers of all levels have to do basic management functions, their level at management plays a significant role in determining the volume of their each management functions.

Management functions at different levels are described below-

• TOP MANAGEMENT: Top management is concerned with the overall situation of the organization. So their planning includes mainly goals and policies. Organizing at this level mainly includes developing organizational structure. The staffing function is usually policy making for employees. The emphasis in directing is on ensuring optimum performance of the personnel. Finally, controlling emphasizes overall performance relative to organizational goals.

• MIDDLE MANAGEMENT: Middle managers primary job is developing procedures for plans. Besides, they allocate resources among operational level. They also develop policies for equal employment opportunity and employee development program. Along with that, they provide leadership and support for lower level management. In addition, they control the subordinates by monitoring and making adjustments for achieving goals.

FIRST-LINE MANAGEMENT: First line management is usually concerned with immediate responsibilities. They plan employee schedule, develop procedure to meet objectives. Organizing usually includes assigning work and delegating authority. First-line managers select, train, and hold new employees onto the organization. Their directing includes communicating and providing leadership to employees. Controlling at this level focuses on meeting current targets.

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CASE STUDY

1.0 ORGANIZATION PROFILE

Name Of Bank: Jamuna Bank Ltd. Dhanmondi Branch

Address: House: 12, Road: 6, Dhanmondi A/R. Dhaka – 1205

2.0 MANAGER

Name: Md. Raja Miah

Designation: senior assistant vice president

Md. Raja Miah is a senior assistant vice president. He has several managers to supervise. He is a member of the middle management position of the organization.

His main function is to supervise other lower ranked managers.

He also implements top management positions.

2.1 Managerial functions:

As a manager he has to perform the basic management function. Now we will look how he performs these functions.

• Planning: Internal plans (have less important) are made by Mr. Raza Miah. He has made some strategies to attracts customers like-

1. suitable location
2. well furnished office environment
3. quality service

• Organization:  he does not do basic departmentalization activities. But he delegates authority to his subordinates. The authority relationship is line here.

• Staffing:   he can not appoint staffs directly. But he is an important member of staffing process. He informs the head office about the human resources demands. He determines the training need of his subordinates and provides training facilities either
  • internal- can the job
  • External

He also leads the performance appraisal process.

• Directing: he leads his subordinates towards the specified goal at the organization, creates a working atmosphere. He with his approaches of head office creates special motivation opportunities for example:

1. increment by head office
2. proper delegation authority

The directing system is participative controlling by Mr. Raza Miah.

2.2 OTHER ACTIVITIES:

Along with basic management functions, the manager has to do some other works like-

• He has to report thinks like-
  • Daily transaction
  • Liability rate
  • Sank solvency etc to the head office.
• Creating motivational opportunities

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COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Theory and practice are not always the same thing. They may have similarities as well as dissimilarities. From our close observation, about the management functions of a well reputed organization, we can see that the basic management functions are almost the same. But sometimes functions may differ because of the type of organization, environment, and so on. Our visited organization, Jamuna bank ltd. Performs basic management functions as well as other functions faced while managing the organization. So we can draw our conclusion by saying that how an organization determines its function is not a matter, how it runs its functions is a matter.

CONCLUSION

The demand of quality management is increasing day by day. This is why management must be more dynamic. It must develop new techniques to compete with the competitive business world. Therefore, with the passage of globalization, we need mobilized management to utilize human, financial, and material resources more strictly.