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Four Functions of Management

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Four Functions of Management

Management: Theory, Application, and Practice

Four Functions of Management

There are four functions of management; they include planning, organizing, leading and controlling. These are four functions that are required to successfully run a strong business and its team members.

Planning is the logical thinking through goals and making the decision as to what needs to be accomplished in order to reach the organizations’ objectives. Managers use this process to plan for the future, like a blueprint to foresee problems, decide on the actions to evade difficult issues and to beat the competition. (Bateman, Snell, 2007). In my current company planning is, as with the majority of other business big or small, the first step in being successful. It’s hard to know where to start without having a plan in place first. When I look at what my managers have to sit down and plan I sometimes think that I am glad that I only have to help plan the end of the year and not the whole thing! There are just so many decisions that have to be made and they all have to start with a good plan. The best planning I see directly in my current position is planning for the fourth quarter of the year. This is the busiest time of the year for retailers and if we don’t plan accordingly we could possibly fall behind the competition. Some of the things my managers have to plan is what we retailers call “Black Friday” or the day after Thanksgiving. We have to make sure that there are more than enough team members on the floor to help customers find the items they need and then get them on their way. We also have to make sure we have more than enough advertised product. We plan meals for the team members, work stations for them, break and meal times, opening and closing shifts and clean up. There is no bigger day than “Black Friday” for my

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