Functions Of Administrative Management Functions

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1. Gulick’ 7 Functions
In 1937, social scientists Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick (Papers on the Science of Administration) describe seven “major activities and duties of any higher authority or organisation”. Since then, the acronym POSDCORB has been used to describe the 7 functions of managers:
This essentially refers to the various steps or stages involved in a typical administrative process. POSDCORB stands for:

1. Planning: This essentially refers to establishing a broad outline of the work to be completed and the procedures required to implement them.
2. Organising: Organising involves establishing a structure of authority, formally classifying, defining and synchronising the various sub-processes or subdivisions of the work to be done.
3. Staffing: This involves recruiting and selecting the right candidates for the job and facilitating their orientation and training whilst maintaining quality in their work and their environment.
4. Directing: This comprises of continual decision making and delegating structured instructions and orders to execute them.
5. Coordinating: This basically refers to arranging and piecing together the various components of the work.
6. Reporting: Reporting involves regularly updating knowledge about the progress or the work related activities. The information dissemination can be through records or inspection.
7. Budgeting: Budgeting involves all the activities that fall under Auditing, Accounting, and Control.
POSDCORB generally fits into the Classical Management movement, being classified as an element of scientific management. Gulick’s POSDCORB principles were instrumental in highlighting the theory of span of control, or limits on the number of people one manager could supervise, as well as ...

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...able. Consequently, there is a severe shortage of talented people willing to work in construction.

In order to maximise long term performance, it is important to provide the training necessary to enlighten your workforce.

Leadership must be developed among the workforce to aid in effectively coordinating work activities by providing communication links between management and labour. This provides the opportunity for upward mobility and gives motivated people the chance to advance professionally. Empowerment leads to high levels of commitment, enthusiasm, self-motivation, productivity, and innovation. Benefits of this include feelings of appreciation, belonging, and heightened self-worth.
Empowerment enables employees to make decisions for which they are accountable and responsible.
Empowerment of workforce is one of the keys to improving construction performance.

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