The function of management dealing with deciding in advance the future course of action

Business Management Process
Management in business can be defined as the acquisition, allocation and utilization of resources through a set of general functions: planning, organizing and staffing, leading and controlling. Management involves the coordination of human, financial, material and information resources in order to operate a business organization efficiently to realize the company's goals.realize

Managing entails the functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading/directing, and controlling. These functions are part of a body of practices and theories on how to be a successful manager. All these functions have different purposes and critical skills requirements, but they all depend on communications, pattern recognition of situational context awareness to act, sensitivity to relationships, and an understanding of the organization's power structure. These functions are highly inseparable and work as a continuous management process, each function bleeds into the others and each affects the performance of the others. These functions are standard across industries, whether that be in a manufacturing plant, a home office, a grocery store, a retail store, a restaurant, a hotel, or even an amusement park. These functions enable managers to work with, and through other people to get work done. The day-to-day tasks of management include considering problems and making decisions to how to deal with them, implementing courses of action, and reviewing decisions and actions and making any necessary changes.

• Planning

• Organizing

• Leading

• Controlling

<

>

Planning Function
Planning is the function of management that involves setting objectives and determining a course of action for achieving those objectives. According to KOONTZ "Planning is deciding in advance what to do, when to do, and how to do. In essence they map out where the organization is headed, its short-range and long-range performance targets, and the competitive moves and internal action approaches to be used in achieving the targeted results. ​Planning results in plans that are specifications desired intentions (modeled as intentional goal model) and the specification of the methods/means (strategies/processes) to be employed to achieve the desired. ​

The planning process deals with chalking out a future course of action and deciding in advance the most appropriate course of actions for achieving predetermined and/or desired goals. It requires thinking strategically first, then applying that thought to making decision on choosing future courses of action from among alternatives. For managers, planning and decision-making require an ability to foresee, to visualize, and to look ahead purposefully.

​Planning typically starts with:

• Defining a clear vision and mission statements 
• Goal Setting
• developing the actions (strategy) to achieve them.

The result in the planning process is the creation of various types of plans, e.g., strategic plans, budgets, tactical plans such as business plan, marketing plan, financial plan, operations plan, etc. The organization's success and progress in achieving vision and mission will be indicated by how well the underlying goals and objectives are achieved.
​
​

Organizing Function
Organizing is a function of management that involves determining and providing resources (human and non-human) to the business organization. The organizing, function must address goals and objectives; the way the organization is organized can affect goals and objectives in terms of how performance of those functional areas are tracked, as well as exactly what constitutes performance will vary from function to function. The Organizing function brings together physical, financial, and human resources and the productive relationships among them for achieving the goals established in the planning function. It is important to prioritize which resources are essential at any given time.

Leaders need to identify what activities are necessary, assign those activities to specific personnel, effectively delegating tasks. Leaders need to coordinate tasks to keep resources moving efficiently toward goals. Organizing function is comprised of the following activities:

• Identification of activities
• Classification of grouping of activities - Organization Structure Design
• Assignment of duties
• Delegation of authority and creation of responsibility
• Coordinating authority and responsibility relationships
• Staffing - Recruiting and hiring the right individuals in the right jobs. ​

Essentially, to organize a business entails providing it with everything useful for its functioning; i.e., raw materials, tools, capital, and personnel.

Staffing is the function of manning the organization structure and keeping it manned through proper and effective selection, appraisal and development of personnel to fill the roles/job positions designed in the organization structure. Staffing function involves:

• Manpower planning
• Recruitment, Selection and Placement
• Training and development
• Re-numeration
• Performance Appraisal
• Promotions and Transfers

Once the right staffing is established, leaders need training, professional development, pay rates and monitoring performance. 

Leading Function
Leading/Directing is one of the functions of management that directs activities and actuates the organizational methods/actions. Leading is the responsibility of managers to let staff know what work needs to be done, and also by when, to ensure efficient achievement of organizational purposes. Leading is that inter-personnel aspect of management which deals directly with influencing, guiding, supervising, motivating subordinates for the achievement of organizational goals.

Leading/Directing activities involves following tasks:

• Supervision - This implies overseeing the work of subordinates by their supervisors. It is the act of watching and directing work and workers.
• Motivation - Inspiring, stimulating or encouraging the subordinates with zeal to work. Positive, negative, monetary, non-monetary incentives may be used for this purpose.
• Leadership - The process by which a manager guides and influences the work of subordinates in a desired direction. Leadership usually denotes top managers who set goals and objectives for the entire organization. ideally, lower-level managers would set operations goals and have input into the goals and objectives relevant to their respective parts of the business. Goal setting is a primary function of leadership along with holding others accountable for their respective goals and objectives. 
• Communication - The process of passing information, experience, opinion, etc., from one person to another. It creates a bridge of understanding.

The leading/directing function requires leaders to do more than simply give orders, they must supervise subordinates while simultaneously motivating teams through guided leadership communicated in clear ways to contribute in meaningful ways. Directing sets the enterprise in motion through the actions of people to execute the work prepared during planning, organizing and staffing. 
​​

Controlling Function
The Controlling management function involves constant monitoring and evaluation of the progress of the strategy, its implementation and execution to assess whether the planned results are being achieved. Controlling implies measurement of accomplishments against some defined standards, and correction of deviations if any, to ensure achievement of organizational goals.

Controlling systems, the term refers to all the processes that leaders create to monitor success. The purpose of controlling is to ensure everything occurs in conformity with the standards. Goals and objectives can provide a form of control, since they create a feedback opportunity regarding how well or how poorly the organization is executing its strategy. Goals and objectives are also the basis for reward system and can align interests and accountability within and across business units.

Controlling systems function is comprised of the following elements:

• Establishment of standard performance
• Measurement of actual performance
• Comparison of actual performance with the standards and finding out deviation, if any.
• Corrective action

Business functions (i.e., sales, marketing, etc.) require leaders to establish performance standards, measure actual performance and compare to expectations to determine anomalies. Leaders review the data and make adjustments in processes, policies, training, or personnel to address failures based on that data.

Which function of management determines the course of action?

What is called deciding in advance in function of management?

What are the functions of management in action?

Which function of management is looking into the future?