The Four Functions of Management

The Four Functions of Management

Management is accomplished through four functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. According to Bateman-Snell, 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. Organizing is the management function of assembling and coordinating human, financial, physical, informational, and other resources needed to achieve goals. Leading is the management function that involves the manager’s efforts to stimulate high performance by employees. Controlling is the management function of monitoring progress and making needed changes. The four functions of management, in a day care facility, the four functions of management are applied and utilized.

The first function is planning. In this function, you are setting goals and objectives, then scheduling the steps to achieve the goals in a certain time. Then you need to decide on the resources that are needed to ensure that the objectives are met.

Pre-planning can save a tremendous amount of time. One way to do this is to use SWOT analysis completed by senior management before you even start the planning process. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Completing a SWOT analysis will save you almost an entire hour in the planning process (Rowland, R. p.4).

In a day care facility, they are con...