Planning

The first of the managerial functions is planning. In this step, the manager will create a detailed action
plan aimed at some organizational goal.

For example, let's say Melissa the marketing manager has a goal of increasing sales during the month of
February. Melissa needs to first spend time mapping out the necessary steps she and her team of sales
representatives must take so that they can increase sales numbers. These steps might include things like
increasing advertisements in a particular region, placing some items on sale, increasing the amount of
required customer-to-sales rep contact, or contacting prior customers to see if they are interested in
purchasing additional products. The steps are then organized into a logical pattern so that Melissa and
her team can follow them.

Planning is an ongoing step, and can be highly specialized based on organizational goals, division goals,
departmental goals, and team goals. It is up to the manager to recognize which goals need to be
planned within his or her individual area.

Organizing

The second of the managerial functions is organizing. This step requires Melissa to determine how she
will distribute resources and organize her employees according to the plan. Melissa will need to identify
different roles and ensure that she assigns the right amount of employees to carry out her plan. She will
also need to delegate authority, assign work, and provide direction so that her team of sales
representatives can work towards higher sales numbers without having barriers in their way.

Leading

The third function of management is leading. In this step, Melissa spends time connecting with her
employees on an interpersonal level. This goes beyond simply managing tasks; rather, it involves
communicating, motivating, inspiring, and encouraging employees towards a higher level of
productivity. Not all managers are leaders. An employee will follow the directions of a manager because
they have to, but an employee will voluntarily follow the directions of a leader because they believe in
who he or she is as a person, what he or she stands for, and for the manner in which they are inspired
by the leader.
Originally identified by Henri Fayol as five elements, there are now four commonly accepted functions of
management that encompass these necessary skills: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.1
Consider what each of these functions entails, as well as how each may look in action.

Planning

One main role of a manager is creating a plan to meet company goals and objectives. This involves
allocating employee resources and delegating responsibilities, as well as setting realistic timelines and
standards for completion. Planning requires those in management roles to continuously check on team
progress in order to make small adjustments when necessary, while still maintaining a clear picture of a
company's larger aims and goals.

Much of one's planning function consists of working independently to determine what responsibilities
must be given to which employees, setting priority levels for certain tasks, and creating timelines.
However, communication also plays an important role. For example, managers deal with planning when
they meet with company leadership to discuss short and long-term goals, and when they communicate
the specifics of a new project to their team or check-in periodically to ensure individual objectives are
being met on time.

Organizing

Along with planning, a manager's organizational skills can help to ensure a company or departmental
unit runs smoothly. From establishing internal processes and structures to knowing which employees or
teams are best suited for specific tasks, keeping everyone and everything organized throughout daily
operations are important functions of management.

Organization isn't just about delegating tasks efficiently and making sure employees have what they
need to accomplish their tasks, however. Managers also need to be able to reorganize in response to
new challenges. This could come into practice in the form of slightly adjusting the timeline for a project
or re-allocating tasks from one team to another. Or, it could mean significantly altering a team's internal
structure and roles in response to company growth.

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Leading
Managers should be comfortable and confident commanding their team members’ daily tasks as well as
during periods of significant change or challenge. This involves projecting a strong sense of direction and
leadership when setting goals and communicating new processes, products and services, or internal
policy.

Leadership can manifest itself in a number of ways, including recognizing when employees need an extra
boost of reinforcement and praise to handling conflicts between team members fairly and decisively.
Often, managers may function as leaders even during small personal interactions by modeling
supportive, encouraging, and motivational qualities.

Controlling

To ensure all of the above functions are working toward the success of a company, managers should
consistently monitor employee performance, quality of work, and the efficiency and reliability of
completed projects. Control (and quality control) in management is about making sure the ultimate
goals of the business are being adequately met, as well as making any necessary changes when they
aren't.

ly managing a team is a multi-faceted role that requires leaders to fulfill a variety of functions.

Over the years, experts have identified four main behaviors, coined the four functions of management,
that all successful managers exhibit.

Understanding and mastering these four functions will allow you to lead teams that break records and
stand out in the workplace.

In this article, we’ll explain the four functions of management and discuss tips to help you put them into
practice.

WHAT ARE THE FOUR FUNCTIONS OF MANAGEMENT?

The four functions of management are:

Planning
Organizing

Leading

Controlling

The origin of the this concept comes from French industrialist Henri Fayol’s five functions of
management, which included command, coordination, and control, as well as planning and organizing.

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It is typically understood that these functions happen in a step-by-step order. First, a manager plans a
course of action and organizes the necessary reources. They then lead the project by providing roles and
motivation for others. Finally, they manage the project as it proceeds and make adjustments as
required.

Of course, for a manager handling multiple projects, it’s common for these functions to become tangled
and not quite linear. That’s why it’s often good to step back and remember your primary managerial
functions to make sure you’re contributing to your team’s success in the most effective way possible.

THE FOUR FUNCTIONS OF MANAGEMENT

Here’s more detail on the four functions of management — planning, organizing, leading, and
controlling:
Planning. Managers must navigate the decision-making process to help their team reach company goals.

Effective planning involves a few important steps:

Identify challenges. Managers need to be aware of the challenges facing their team or business and
what potential solutions are available to them.

Forecast future business. To determine the proper solution to each challenge, managers must be able to
forecast the future impact of each particular solution on the business.

Formulate objectives and deadlines. Once a solution to a problem is identified, a manager needs to
create a game plan to apply it.

This involves planning out individual steps and setting appropriate deadlines and time frames.

Reevaluation. Managers need to stay constantly alert to changing situations. If a plan requires
adjustments or isn’t working at all, it’s up to managers to identify the proper direction to lead the team.

Maintain efficiency. Throughout the entire planning process, effective managers should also understand
how to allocate resources and reduce waste efficiently.

Organizing. To complete projects or meet any other company goals, managers must effectively organize
physical, human, and financial resources.

Doing so is often a fine balancing act, as any given team will only have a limited pool of available
workers, funding, and other resources to accomplish their objectives.

Some responsibilities of managers in regards to organizing resources include:

Assigning activities to individuals or groups

Creating responsibilities

Delegating authority

Team leaders must also establish new positions that need to be filled, fill those positions, and effectively
train workers to perform the tasks.

Leading. Managers are responsible for motivating team members and providing the direction to
accomplish a business’ goals and objectives.

Effective leadership follows a few key principles:

Communication. In order for a team to meet its goals, each member must understand what their
responsibilities entail. It’s up to managers to communicate these ideas and ensure that everyone is on-
board.

Communication isn’t just about talking. Effective communicators know how to listen to questions and
concerns. They practice self-awareness and empathy in order to choose a communication strategy that
fits the recipient.

Motivation. Leaders are responsible for aligning the motivations of team members with the team’s
overall goals.
Set clear goals and reward employees who achieve or exceed expectations.

Team members who show disregard for their work require corrective action, but not those who try but
fail.

Provide opportunities for growth and development. Tie the success of the team with that of the
individual.

Controlling. This function refers not just to controlling people, but total supervision or management of
the team or business in general.

Teams are not always immediately successful in tackling their challenges. It’s up to managers to identify
what caused deviations from the goal and make appropriate changes.

This may involve improving the performance of individuals responsible for particular problems, changing
ineffective procedures, or adjusting the team’s strategy as a whole.

The four functions of management aren’t always mutually exclusive activities. Rather, they’re the
collective of responsibilities that managers should make sure they’re fully satisfying when making any
given decision.

Effectively practicing one function of management will often involve utilizing the other three as well.

For example, a manager can’t create a cohesive plan without understanding how to organize resources
and delegate staff. The plan must necessarily involve how they intend to lead the team and how they’ll
measure if goals have been met and control for contingencies.

TIPS FOR PRACTICING THE FOUR FUNCTIONS OF MANAGEMENT

Follow these tips to maximize your performance:

PLANNING TIPS

Effective planners employ strategies to help them accurately identify important tasks and their priority
levels and determine appropriate timelines to complete them:

Carefully assess time frames. Before setting any concrete time frames for a major task, carefully
evaluate whether the deadline is appropriate.

Casually committing to unreasonable time frames can cause major problems for a project later down the
line.

If you later realize that a certain task requires more time than originally planned, then you may need to
delay other dependent tasks as a result.

This translates to a massive waste of resources in multiple areas.

Some employees will be sitting idly, while others will be overworked and lose morale. Your team may
suffer the consequences of delayed deadlines, and in extreme cases, entire projects will need to be
abandoned.

Perform SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis provides you with a comprehensive view of your team’s
strengths, weaknesses, and potential risks.

Understanding your company’s strengths allows you to choose the right strategies for capitalizing on
short-term opportunities.
Identifying weaknesses and risks are critical for improving them and setting your business on the right
path for long-term growth.

ORGANIZING TIPS

Effective resource coordination is a foundational requirement for any business or team’s future success.
Disorganized managers result in employees being shuffled around and resource bottlenecks, which are
both highly disruptive to any team’s goals.

Define and classify activities. Before assigning a single employee, clearly define the goals and duties
associated with each position.

You don’t want to realize later on that although a certain employee’s job title matches the position, their
experience doesn’t match what’s required in this specific case.

Many companies also fail to recognize tasks that could be easily automated, which translates to
employee hours constantly wasted.

Specify reporting status/breadth of power. Even if a team or company is filled with competent
employees, it’s doomed to fail if there isn’t a coherent internal structure.

Specify which roles report to which management positions, and determine the breadth of power that
each supervisor holds in different departments.

Don’t be scared to alter your team’s structure. Many initially successful start-ups fail because they
weren’t able to adjust to rapid growth.

As long as you’ve closely analyzed the pros and cons, don’t be scared to make necessary drastic changes
to your team’s internal structure.
LEADING TIPS

Effective leadership isn’t hard science, but there are key principles that most great leaders put into
practice.

Create a shared vision. Align the success of the team with that of the individual.

Although bonuses and financial incentives are great tools, they shouldn’t be the only motivators you
employ.

Try to provide training and developmental opportunities for your employees to list on their resumes and
cover letters. Challenge them and make projects gratifying experiences to work through.

Establish a positive team culture where employees support each other and celebrate their progress and
victories.

Lead by example. Exemplify the qualities that you want your team to have.

If team members see you tackling a difficult project with an obstacle head-on, they’ll feel compelled to
put in the same amount of effort and do their part.

If you foster a positive attitude, others will react accordingly and spread that mindset around the team.

Develop strong communication skills. You need to inspire employees so that they become self-
motivating.

Being a good listener and using empathy allows you to identify team members’ concerns and questions
before they become problems.
Managers are responsible for ensuring that all employees understand the team’s objectives. You
shouldn’t just say them and assume that everyone is on board.

Make sure that each employee knows what’s expected of them and adjust your communication
methods to match the individual.

With the rise of remote work and team communications moving to platforms such as Slack, you need to
adjust and make sure you’re proficient with the necessary tools.

Teams are often diverse in their personalities and backgrounds, meaning that miscommunication and
conflicts will inevitably arise. You need to be able to adjudicate and resolve miscommunications in a way
that’s perceived as fair by all.

Foster respect and trust. There are many ways to build respect and trust with your fellow team
members.

Rather than micromanage employees, monitor their performance.

If a worker is performing poorly, then try and step in and assess how you can help them improve. If an
employee is meeting performance standards, then micromanagement and constant supervision will only
disrupt their activities.

Team lunches can also be a great way to get to know your coworkers and build a cohesive team
dynamic.

CONTROLLING TIPS

Controlling is all about making sure that objectives are met and understanding how to make appropriate
adjustments when issues arise.
Set concrete quality standards. Set concrete standards so that you can actually determine if a particular
goal has been met.

This is especially important to do for project milestones. It’s bad if a team is behind schedule or
underperforming, but downright disastrous if they don’t even realize it.

Concrete standards allow you and supervisors under you to identify poor performance and respond
accordingly.

Monitor, but don’t micromanage. You need to develop a strategy so that managers in each department
can continually monitor workers’ work quality and performance.

However, make sure that your method doesn’t micromanage and disrupt employee activities.

Prepare strategies for improving performance. You want to prepare methods for responding to poor
performance and contingencies before they actually occur.

This could come in the form of training programs or resources to help employees. It could also involve
alternative business procedures and processes.

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