Question

1) Differentiate between the planning, organizing, leading, and controlling functions of management.

2)Differentiate between the functions of top managers, middle managers, first-line managers, and team leaders

Answer 1

1. Management involves far more than just telling others what to do.
Before any of you decide that you think you can do your boss's job, let's take a look into more of what a manager does.
The major functions that a manager completes can be categorized into four different functions known as planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.
For some of us, we only see the final two - leading and controlling - but you should know that for every managerial behavior you do see, there is an equal amount that you do not.
Behind the manager's closed door, he or she spends a good deal of his or her time planning and organizing, so that he or she can effectively carry out the functions of leading and controlling.

Planning
The first of the managerial functions is planning. In this step, the manager will create a detailed action plan aimed at some organizational goal.
For example, let's say Melissa the marketing manager has a goal of increasing sales during the month of February.
Melissa needs to first spend time mapping out the necessary steps she and her team of sales representatives must take so that they can increase sales numbers.
These steps might include things like increasing advertisements in a particular region, placing some items on sale, increasing the amount of required customer-to-sales rep contact, or contacting prior customers to see if they are interested in purchasing additional products.
The steps are then organized into a logical pattern so that Melissa and her team can follow them.
Planning is an ongoing step, and can be highly specialized based on organizational goals, division goals, departmental goals, and team goals.
It is up to the manager to recognize which goals need to be planned within his or her individual area.

Organizing
The second of the managerial functions is organizing.
It is the process of bringing together physical, financial and human resources and developing productive relationship amongst them for achievement of organizational goals.
According to Henry Fayol, “To organize a business is to provide it with everything useful or its functioning i.e. raw material, tools, capital and personnel’s”.
To organize a business involves determining & providing human and non-human resources to the organizational structure.
Organizing as a process involves:
Identification of activities.
Classification of grouping of activities.
Assignment of duties.
Delegation of authority and creation of responsibility.
Coordinating authority and responsibility relationships.

Leading
The third function of management is leading.
In this step, Melissa spends time connecting with her employees on an interpersonal level.

Controlling
It implies measurement of accomplishment against the standards and correction of deviation if any to ensure achievement of organizational goals.
The purpose of controlling is to ensure that everything occurs in conformities with the standards.
An efficient system of control helps to predict deviations before they actually occur.
According to Theo Haimann, “Controlling is the process of checking whether or not proper progress is being made towards the objectives and goals and acting if necessary, to correct any deviation”.
According to Koontz & O’Donell “Controlling is the measurement & correction of performance activities of subordinates in order to make sure that the enterprise objectives and plans desired to obtain them as being accomplished”. Therefore controlling has following steps:
Establishment of standard performance. Measurement of actual performance.
Comparison of actual performance with the standards and finding out deviation if any. Corrective action.
This goes beyond simply managing tasks; rather, it involves communicating, motivating, inspiring, and encouraging employees towards a higher level of productivity. Not all managers are leaders.
An employee will follow the directions of a manager because they have to, but an employee will voluntarily follow the directions of a leader because they believe in who he or she is as a person, what he or she stands for, and for the manner in which they are inspired by the leader.

Because of the nature of business planning, the ability to effectively organize is of the utmost importance. Each step of the planning process is simplified when organized properly.
For instance, organizing your research tasks helps you come to reasonable conclusions more quickly.
When establishing goals, organize them in order of importance and also classify them as either short- or long-term objectives.
Your final plan of action must also have a logical order in order to be effective.

Planning and organizing for a business occurs on three different levels.
On the operational level you make plans regarding the day-to-day operations of the business.
When starting up a business or starting a new business initiative (such as a new product), create a general business plan to outline the required steps.
Upper management is responsible for establishing a strategic plan, which outlines a long-term strategy and direction for the company.
In all cases, the responsible party must develop and implement the plan in an organized manner to ensure its success.

2. The difference between top-level management and middle-level management responsibilities is strategic leadership.
Top managers must set strategy, and then organize middle management to implement components of the strategy.
Top managers must know the capabilities of subordinates in order to properly delegate the right amount of work to middle management.
In a business setting, top level managers would include the CEO, president or owner, while middle managers could include the office manager, the head of the bookkeeping department or the HR director.

Top Management Roles and Responsibilities
Top management should mainly provide leadership to set company policy and strategy.
This is a more high-level form of management, where a leader is analogous to an admiral of a fleet of ships.
The admiral determines the best plan to defeat a rival fleet is to position forces at a particular spot, but leaves details of how to navigate and what weapons to use to subordinates.
Lower-level managers can distinguish themselves by taking initiative and functioning effectively without constant supervision.
The CEO has to look at the entire organization and determine the best course of action for the business.
Once those decisions are made, middle managers are responsible for implementing the plans the CEO created.

Top managers should focus on long-term profitability and creating value, while middle managers should focus on operational excellence.
The top managers should represent the interests of shareholders by steering the firm towards markets that provide the greatest return on investment.
Lower-level managers should focus on daily innovation to improve performance in the part of the organization for which they are responsible.
Top managers should organize lower-level managers into teams to tackle individual aspects of the overall strategy.
The two groups need to communicate effectively to ensure the long-term plans are realistic, and that lower-level managers are challenged but fighting important, winnable battles.

Delegation Between Top and Middle Managers
A key difference in higher- and lower-level management is delegation.
A top manager is most effective when strategy takes up the vast majority of his time.
In order for this to happen, he must delegate decision-making on non-strategic issues.
Delegation requires trust in subordinates. A top leader must also understand what a middle- or lower-level manager is capable of doing.
It helps to have experience at a lower level to know just how much capacity a subordinate should have.
Most companies like to promote from within, so knowing what middle and lower-level managers are capable of can help top managers know if they can continue to promote lower level managers or if they need to bring in people from the outside.

Vital Differences That Should Be Considered
While decision-making authority can be delegated, responsibility cannot.
A top-level manager should ultimately be held responsible for the performance of each division under her control.
For example, when an accounting department produces financial statements, the chief executive officer must sign off that the results are accurate.
If the Securities and Exchange Commission determines the statements were fraudulent, the CEO is responsible, even though a lower-level manager created the actual reports.
Also, if a top level manager gives a lower level manager the leeway to handle certain issues, but these issues create internal strife, the top level manager should intervene and correct the issue.