There are four functions that a manager must be able to do in order to run a successful company; planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Each of these elements is equally important. If even one of these elements is looked over the management process is incomplete and a mangers effectiveness and efficiency will diminish. The business world of today is drastically different than that of years before, most importantly because of the advancements of technology. Even though the daily tasks that a manager will perform today are different than the tasks a manager in the 1950's would perform, the foundation is still the same. In the same way an owner of a small business will have the same fundamentals as a manager for a large corporation.
Managers must be able to plan; otherwise they are not able to understand what they are working towards. Planning and thinking should be done at all levels of a business. A manager should communicate the plans that they have decided upon so that they have the opportunity to get input from other members of the organization. This will give a manager a complete view of their goals and will have received the constructive criticism that may be helpful. Planning is the "management function of systematically making decisions about the goals and activities that an individual, a group, a work unit, or the overall organization will pursue in the future" (Schermerhorn, 2003, p. 15).
My company is a very small one, consisting of 10 people. Each of the employees is continually thinking about where the company is going and how we plan to get there. We have weekly meetings where we discuss these goals. The CEO and the operations manager bring up their own ideas each week and as a group we pick these ideas apart till we have created a ...