Planning as a Management Fuction

The major functions of business management are planning, controlling, motivating, staffing, and leading. There is a subtle distinction between the term leading and the term managing. In simple language, managing is all the action involved in planning, controlling, staffing, leading, and motivating. On the other hand, leading is the act of providing direction to employees so that employees achieve set objectives.

Planning is core to the success of any organization. Planning is the act of identifying future courses of action an organization will take. When planning, it is necessary to keep in mind the present state of the organization and the past state of the organization. It is usually assumed that the future state of the organization would be better than the present state and the past state.

During the planning stage, future goals of the organization are normally developed. All goals of the organization should be specific and should be realistic. Unrealistic goals should not be set as they will have a negative impact on employees and managers. Unrealistic goals will drain away the energy of employees and will make employees to burn out.

The managers should consult with employees before developing goals. Consultation between employees and managers during the goal setting process will ensure that the goals set reflect management desires yet at the same time reflect employee expectations. The major desire of managers is to increase company's profit while the major desire of employees is to have better working conditions and salary hike. These are essentially the same goals, because in the big picture, the success of the company equates to the success of the employees