B.Com. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 2 Principles and Practice of Management 2024 Aug Question Paper with Solutions

How the functions are listed

The work of a manager can be grouped into a few functions. Writers have grouped them in slightly different ways.

1. Henri Fayol (1916) named five elements: planning, organising, commanding, co-ordinating and controlling.
2. Luther Gulick (1937) coined POSDCORB: planning, organising, staffing, directing, co-ordinating, reporting and budgeting.
3. Koontz and O'Donnell gave five: planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling.

The five functions of Koontz and O'Donnell are now the most widely used. They are explained below.

1. Planning

Planning means deciding in advance what is to be done, how, when and by whom. It starts with setting objectives and then chooses the best way to reach them. It includes forecasting, making policies, procedures and budgets, and fixing programmes.

Example: a two-wheeler maker plans to sell one lakh electric scooters next year. It decides the models, the price, the factories and the dealers.

1. Supervision: overseeing the work of subordinates.
2. Motivation: stirring people to work with enthusiasm.
3. Leadership: influencing people to follow willingly.
4. Communication: passing information, orders and ideas.

Directing is the function that sets the organisation in motion.

5. Controlling

Controlling means checking that actual performance matches the plan and correcting any gap. It has four steps: setting standards, measuring performance, comparing it with the standards and taking corrective action.

Example: the scooter maker compares monthly sales with the target. Where a region falls short, it adds dealers or advertising.

Co-ordination, the essence of management

Co-ordination is the harmonising of the efforts of different people and departments towards a common goal. Many writers treat it not as a separate function but as the essence of management. Every function contributes to it. A plan unites goals, a structure links departments, and directing and controlling keep efforts in step.

Why the functional view is useful

1. It gives a clear framework for studying the manager's job, which otherwise looks like a stream of unrelated tasks.
2. It shows that management is universal: the same functions apply in a bank, a hospital or a ministry.
3. It helps in training managers, since each function can be taught and practised.
4. It helps a manager check the whole job, so that no function, such as control, is neglected.

Conclusion. Management is the process of reaching group goals efficiently through people. Its work falls into five functions: planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling, held together by co-ordination. The functions form a continuous cycle in which control leads back to planning. They are universal, since every manager at every level performs them. Understanding them lets a manager see the whole of the job and not only its daily demands.