5 Elements of Management Process

Managing the activities of an organization is not easy. Managers experience many issues while carrying out their duties in ensuring that every organizational task and activity is carried out excellently.

Effective management of an organization is feasible through accurate knowledge of the core elements of the management processes. The skilled implementation of the management process will help the organization to come to a place of consistent productivity.

Leading employees to consistent success and achievement are vital for every manager. However, the company's success can be short-lived without properly implementing core management processes.

This article will discuss the five elements of management and how best to implement them.

Let's get started.

What is the Management Process?

Management is the science of ensuring that every scheduled activity goes according to its pre-decided plan and achieves the desired goals effectively.

The success or failure of any company depends largely on how effectively the management process is handled. Without a proper management process, no organization can effectively achieve its business objectives and goals.

Management begins with a prepared blueprint of the organization's targets and goals. Follow this blueprint with strategic implementation plans prepared and monitored till execution to ensure that you meet your organization's targets.

The management process consists of five major elements that must be implemented simultaneously and effectively at the appropriate time to get the desired results.

Whether in sales management or risk management, the elements of the management process remain the same.

These elements are considered the heart of management and have equal importance. They are a vital part of a body of practice for a successful manager.

The five fundamental elements of the management process include:

• Planning
• Organizing
• Staffing
• Directing
• Controlling

These factors cause the organization to achieve its set goals and targets consistently when properly implemented.

Elements of Management Process

Managing an organization is difficult. It requires the manager to work hard, invest time and effort, and have accurate knowledge and skill regarding the management process.

Here is a detailed list of the five fundamental elements of the management process.

1. Planning

Without planning, the management process cannot be successful. Planning is the most important element of the management process. It involves crafting techniques and strategies on the best and most appropriate way of achieving a business goal.

Creating a feasible business involves the manager being forward-looking or seeing beyond the business's present circumstances.

Planning is not easy, whether you are writing a business plan or a project plan. It involves total concentration and full participation of all the team members.

The planning process primarily concerns factors such as when, what, how, where, and how employees should perform to achieve the targets. It involves the following steps.

• Perception of opportunities
• Establishment of objectives
• Planning premises
• Identification, evaluation, and choice of alternatives
• Formulation of a supporting plan
• Establishment of a particular sequence of activities

Establishing a foolproof plan requires a proper assessment of the goals and possible contingencies that may affect the organization negatively in the future. You respond to them by developing an operational plan to counter these predicted contingencies.

Devising a well-crafted and foolproof plan is not enough. For the plan to come to fruition, it is important for the timing and the implementation of the plan to be carried out and appropriately coordinated at every level of the company.

2. Organizing

An organization can only advance, move forward, and achieve business goals and its overall mission with the right organizational structures.

Organizing involves specific actions to ensure tasks are carried out in line with the organizational plans. It aims to direct, guide, arrange, control, and coordinate activities related to production.

There is no doubt that organizing is the primary responsibility of the manager. Managers can align and structure the company's operations based on the quality and size of their workforce and the company's goals.

To properly organize a company to align with its set plans, it is necessary to bring all the organization's vital resources, such as financial, physical, and human resources, to facilitate an operational work structure.

Implementing this vital element of the management process involves managers identifying the most important activities listed in their plans and selecting the right people to carry them out. In specific situations, the organization may lack a qualified workforce for the job.

The manager is responsible for training and educating someone who will take up that critical position or delegate the authority to certain employees to execute these tasks in a coordinated and integrated manner.

3. Staffing

Staffing is a crucial management function that involves properly placing the right talent at the right job based on their ability, training, and skill set to ensure efficient productivity regarding the organization's objectives and goals.

This managerial role is essential to the overall success of every organization. Executing the organization's plans is impossible without selecting well-trained and qualified employees.

Staffing plays an important role in the effective and efficient organization of the organizational structure.

This management process requires the manager to follow certain steps, such as deciding the total number of workforce required to execute the company's tasks.

The second step involves recruiting and selecting employees after they have been trained, accessed, and confirmed that they are up to the task. Ensure you evaluate employees’ abilities and potential based on their performance on the job given.

In summary, the staffing process involves recruiting, selecting, training, developing, and appraising the newly recruited and existing staff.

4. Directing

Directing or commanding refers to all actions geared towards guiding and training the staff members of an organization to efficiently achieve its vision, plans, and objective at a given time.

Effective leadership is characterized by strategic and informed directing of the company's employees to help them see the vision and set goals of the company.

Every manager must have the essential leadership qualities to coordinate the management process smoothly.

There are four functions the supervisor must carry out to direct the company's staff effectively.

• Communication
• Leadership
• Supervision
• Motivation

All these management functions are vital to successfully executing the organization's plans and objectives. They ensure that every subordinate carries out every given task in line with the company's overall plan to successfully achieve targets at the appropriate time.

This important element involves the manager giving employees clear-cut instructions and the best strategy to be implemented to achieve the tasks successfully.

Directing involves having effective two-way communication between managers and subordinates.

A successful leader is conscious that directing goes beyond giving clear and detailed instructions to subordinates. It involves monitoring the employee's performance and helping, motivating, and encouraging them to take the initiative and see the plan through to the end.

5. Controlling

Controlling ensures that every activity in the organization is done according to the designated parameters or plans.

The leader is primarily responsible for controlling the workforce and operations and ensuring every entity perfectly aligns with the organization's objective.

Controlling involves detecting every anomaly and deviation in the activities and functioning of every employee while carrying out their assigned tasks to bring them up to speed and ensure that the company's objectives are achieved.

This management process involves ensuring the timely achievement of the company's targets and taking all possible measures to ensure everything goes according to plan. If there is an anomaly, the employee can adopt corrective measures.

To effectively control the organization's activities, you must first decide what activities are being carried out and set the standards for approval or disapproval.

Then the manager will evaluate the tasks and performance results based on the pre-set standards to ascertain if they are found short of the predetermined standard.

The staff must take corrective actions to ensure the organization executes every project efficiently.

Other Elements of the Management Process

Apart from the five basic elements of the management process, most managers implement other elements to ensure that they achieve the company goals according to plans and objectives.

1. Motivating

Motivation focuses on the human part of the system and has to do with inspiration, desire, and morale. It is the willingness to perform duties in pursuit of the company's objectives and goals based on performance standards.

A charismatic leader with great motivating skills will succeed at inspiring the staff member to undertake specific tasks to achieve the organization's desired goals and objectives.

Motivation is a driving force designed to spur people to go in a certain direction or undertake a specific course of action.

For employees to be motivated, they must have a sense of belonging and perceive the targets as achievable irrespective of the contingencies that may arise.

An organization with motivated employees can consistently achieve its operational, strategic, and financial goals and targets seamlessly. Motivation is an integral part of management.

Corporate executives, managers, and team leaders must demonstrate strong motivational skills to inspire subordinates and create the drive and enthusiasm to pursue and achieve organizational goals.

Motivated employees help to improve an organization's overall functionality and productivity, resulting in better sales, increased revenue generated, and increased profitability.

The best way to motivate employees is for managers to provide them with the opportunity to satisfy their personal needs.

Since the employee's needs can be satisfied by achieving the organization's goals and objectives, most employees will be willing to carry out every task diligently and effectively.

2. Coordinating

Coordination is the unification, integration, and synchronization of the activities of each department or unit to ensure that all effort is geared towards a common goal and objective.

As a management term, coordination is the unifying force that binds the five functions of management as one.

As a result of coordination, every employee, group, or department within an organization functions in a unit to achieve a common goal.

This management element is vital to the success of every organization at large. Without unity, no organization can move forward, come to a state of development, and achieve all its goals and objectives seamlessly.

Coordination is vital to any group or individual effort toward goal achievement. For an organization to function effectively, various departments and groups must work together to ensure that the organization remains productive and functional.

There is a crucial need for coordination for these various groups to work together harmoniously and avoid conflicts.

An effective manager is aware that if the various functional groups do not work in harmony, they might carry out their activities in different directions or at different timings, resulting in major losses for the organization.

Management can only be successful by achieving harmony between the various groups, departments, and employees.

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