The Four Functions of Management

What are the functions of management? This paper will define the four basic principles of management. They are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. I work for FMC Technologies in Airport Services. FMC is a service provider for Continental Airlines. FMC provides facility maintenance in all areas of Bush Intercontinental Airport. I will explain how these functions relate to my company.

My company is a little insufficient in the planning department. Planning involves the development of the company’s objectives and determining how it will be accomplished. Improper planning can be detrimental to a company. FMC provides facility maintenance to the baggage handling systems for Continental Airlines in Houston Texas. Management at times skips the planning stage and moves right into organizing. The planning stage can be compared to the foundation of a house. If the foundation is weak, the quality of the house will be poor. Proper planning includes meetings that include goals. The goals and missions are clearly defined and completion dates and schedules are created. We also identify any problems and try to figure out preemptive solutions by brainstorming. We also allocate the resources need to accomplish the goals set. We do this with labor meetings and capital plans, and forecasting. Everyone needs to agree and understand the plan for the goal to be successful.

Organization is another key step in the process of effective management. My company uses conference meetings to achieve this. Organizing is establishing the internal organization structure of the organization. At this stage we delegate tasks and objectives out per person or team. We also set completion dates and schedules. We meet weekly to measure progress on all objectives. This is also where the chain of command or hierarchy is clearly defined.

Even with a good foundation and stellar organization the plan cannot be executed without proper leadership. Leadership is a dynamic function in regard to dealing with people. Leaders need to have strong interpersonal skills. They must also be very influential and get the “buy in” from counterparts and their subordinates. The leader is responsible for articulating the mission: (Spurgin, 2006 ¶5). We have an outstanding leader in our site manager. He truly leads by examples and is a stellar role model for the management staff.