Functions of

Management

& Decision Making

What is Management?

Management is the process of dealing with or controlling things or people.

It is the process of accomplishing the goals of an organization through the effective use of people and other resources.

What Does Management Do?

Traditional management theory recognizes four functions of management:

1. Planning: involves analyzing information and making decisions about what needs to be done.

2. Organizing: is concerned with determining how plans can be accomplished most effectively and arranging resources to complete work.

3. Directing: instructing, guiding and overseeing the performance of employees to achieve the predetermined goals or objectives.

4. Controlling: evaluating results to determine if the company’s objectives have been accomplished

Learning Checkpoint

Decision Making

Decision-making is a process that every manager

should be familiar with.

Business owners and managers make decisions on

a daily basis, addressing everything from day-to-

day operational issues to long-range strategic

planning.

Steps in the Decision-

Making Process

1. Identify the Problem: A problem is a difficult

situation requiring a solution.

Identify the problem, not the symptom.

Steps in the Decision-

Making Process

2. Gather Information - consider such things

as what resources will be needed, who

might assist with carrying out the

implementation, what possible options are

available, etc.

Steps in the Decision-

Making Process

3. Generate Alternatives - identify two or

more alternative actions or possibilities the

company might take to solve the problem

and accomplish the goals.

Steps in the Decision-

Making Process

4. Evaluate the Alternatives - What resources

will each alternative require? Are the

resources needed readily available to us?

What is the likely outcome of choosing this

alternative? Will choosing this alternative

adversely affect other ongoing projects?

Which departments and individuals need

to be involved with each alternative?

Steps in the Decision-

Making Process

5. Reach a Decision - Once all of the

alternatives have been examined, it is time

to choose the best one. Sometimes it is

immediately obvious what the choice

should be. Other times, managers have to

rely on experience and a "gut feeling" to

choose between two close alternatives.

Steps in the Decision-

Making Process

6. Implement - put the resources in place and

begin working on the chosen alternative.

One essential part of implementation is to

keep track of the challenges and

successes that occur in the process.

Steps in the Decision-

Making Process

7. Evaluate Results - consider how things

went, in part using the information

gathered in the implementation step, as

well as evaluating the overall results. Did

the alternative meet or exceed the

company's goals and objectives?

Steps in the Decision-

Making Process

Learning Checkpoint

SWOT Analysis Where does management begin when starting to

develop their plan?

SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. SWOT analysis is the first stage of planning and helps businesses to focus on key issues. It also helps you to think longer term about what opportunities may arise for your business and what threats may be damaging to your business.

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal SWOT factors. Opportunities and threats are external SWOT factors. A strength is a positive internal factor. A weakness is a negative internal factor. An opportunity is a positive external factor. A threat is a negative external factor.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis

Strengths and Weakness

Companies want to evaluate their own

capabilities and weaknesses.

They want to reduce weaknesses and build on

strengths.

Opportunities and Threats

Companies want to identify any opportunities for

expanding and improving the business and any threats the company faces from competition,

changes in the economy, new laws and

regulations and other factors outside the

company.

Example

Learning Checkpoint