Introduction
According to a common identification, there are currently four functions of management that are accepted by the majority of professionals: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. All four of these functions are essential and highly valued in management (Raduški, 2017). This essay argues that, although these elements are interconnected, planning can be considered to play the most significant role because it sets the main goals and strategies for further actions.
Main body
Several factors contributed to this conclusion. First of all, planning is the stage where managers set the goals and outline the steps that need to be taken to achieve desirable results (Kerzner, 2017). Dowson and Bassett (2018) claim that this is when all possible problems can be predicted and eliminated before they even arise. Having carefully planned the measures and their implementation, a manager can make a great contribution to the company’s efforts in achieving the goal.
As much as it is important, the task can certainly be challenging. Good planning skills include prioritizing, managing time and schedules, analytical and strategic thinking, possible risk assessment, as well as the ability to make quick decisions. According to Gaiya and Mkponkeabasi (2018), these skills tend to interact, so the lack of some of them can lead to serious setbacks in the work of the whole organization (Papke-Shields & Boyer-Wright, 2017). For example, if risks are not appropriately assessed, the costs may greatly exceed the expected figures. If priorities are not described concisely and reasonably, the team can spend too much time working on minor, secondary goals, getting distracted from the main objective. Thus, good managers should be able to plan all these stages with great consideration and responsibility; this is how they can prevent many problems.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it needs to be mentioned that the element of planning is not going to work correctly unless the rest of the functions are also performed by skilled and knowledgeable managers. However, considering their roles in an organization’s work, planning seems to stand out the most due to its highly important impact. Given that three other functions work synergistically, planning can become a key element to success.
References
Dowson, R., & Bassett, D. (2018). Event planning and management: Principles, planning and practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Gaiya, A., & Mkponkeabasi, E. I. (2018). Managing quality improvement through concepts under the functions of management. GRIN Verlag.
Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management: A systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Papke-Shields, K. E., & Boyer-Wright, K. M. (2017). Strategic planning characteristics applied to project management. International Journal of Project Management, 35(2), 169-179.
Raduški, D. (2017). Basic management functions in culture and arts organisations. Management: Journal of Sustainable Business and Management Solutions in Emerging Economies, 21(81), 59-66.