Global Management Fundamentals
Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling are some of the functions that are fundamentally important in the management role (Weihrich & Koontz, 2010). Each of these functions contributes in a different way to this role. Although they all contribute to the management role, these functions vary in their level of importance to management. This discussion focuses on how these functions contribute to the management role and ends by identifying the most critical function from this list.
Planning contributes to the management role since it entails decision-making strategies and involves the setting of future goals. Through planning, the manager decides on the steps that would be taken to lead the company into better and bigger sales and productivity. An example of how planning contributes to the management role is when there is an urgent need for sales to be better, and the manager comes up with appropriate actions that may help boost sales. These actions are placed in a rational outline to be followed by the manager and the entire team to achieve the goal.
Organizing contributes to the management role since it is through this function that the planning is actualized. Here the manager decides on the employees to involve, materials to use, and the source of funding to help reach the set goals. For example, a manager may use the organizing function to assign the right employees to help achieve the goal of realizing better sales.
Leading contributes to a manager’s role by helping the managers connect with the employees on a personal level. The manager interacts with the employees to ensure that the organizational goals are achieved. For example, to achieve higher productivity levels, the manager has to develop good interpersonal relationships and communication with the employees to inspire, motivate, and encourage them to show commitment to the organization.
Finally, the controlling function contributes to the management role, with the managers taking corrective actions to ensure that all efforts are channeled towards achieving the set goal. For example, if the manager notes that the monthly target sales may not be realized, they will have to take the necessary action to correct the anomaly in the subsequent month to make it more productive.
Out of the four functions, I believe that leading is the most important one. Generally speaking, a manager who has a connection with the employees and who serves as an inspiring, motivating, and encouraging figure always creates a positive working environment that enhances productivity. Without creating a strong team, a manager will not be able to properly plan and include everyone in the plan so that they work in a more synchronized way to help achieve the organizational goal. A team would also be healthy and motivated to give their all to the organization if there is proper communication between the employees and the manager (McManus & Mosca, 2015). These are only made possible through leading. Leading makes all the other functions imaginable, and without an iota of doubt, it is the most important of the four functions.
References
McManus, J., & Mosca, J. (2015). Strategies to build trust and improve employee engagement. International Journal of Management & Information Systems (IJMIS), 19(1), 37-42.
Weihrich, H., & Koontz, H. (2010). Major principles or guides for the managerial functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. Corpus ID: 17269168.