Understanding the Management Functions - Case Study Example

POLC In Group Work Student’s Name Course Professor Date Introduction Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling (POLC) is an important framework as it breaks down the activities that towards specific goals and objectives. Strategic management requires coordinated activities and organizational arrangements which result from managerial decision making. In my group, we came up with a simple business concept of starting a restaurant. Though it is a common business, the group fundamentally contributed to strategy formulation and helped me to realize how it would be implemented. This essay analyses how the group on one hand reflected POLC framework and how I understood POLC in the contexts of starting and operating a restaurant. POLC In Group Work Planning The group assignment was itself a project which had three major qualities including the scope, time and activities. Planning was a correlation of a collection of activities where our group centered around coming up with a document that will compare with the aims and the objectives of the assignments. Planning was manifest through a group of processes where we used the scope of the assignment to break down its goals into smaller parts comprising of restaurant’s goals, business strategies, the menu and individual share in the business. Each of the concepts was further broken down to demonstrate a unique way in which the business will operate. We set the timeframes for meetings, discussions, compilation and submission to align each activity with the assignment requirements. The next level of planning was to strategize through activity planning. Through the discussions, everyone understood what each part that would be researched further would comprise. For instance, the goal of the restaurant being to combine food to culture would help in coming up with a themed restaurant, business strategies dealt with daily special deals, marketing campaigns and individual’s contributions and so on. Before we started on individual research, everyone had a preview of what the whole work will look like and how each part will fit together to make a whole assignment that carries a distinct business concept. In summary, the group helped to understand how to formulate a strategy to do the assignment and business. There were two aspects of planning that I recognized, first, it answers the questions related to what activity or activities to be in and how does our activity X will help us have some specified outcomes in Y and vice versa. The group work also helped me to see a planning as a portfolio of resources, activities and capabilities for both the assignment and business. Planning answers the question of what activity, how it compares with the objectives and the strategies to use to make it viable. The central role of the group was to offer diversified ideas and valuable inputs of how activities will relate to create a combined effect of better outcomes in the assignment and our business idea. It was more of an outline of how to achieve the specified goals (Jitha, 2015). Organizing Secondly, the group assignment made me understood organizing. For instance, our group leader was aware of each team member after we spent the first few hours’ discussion about how to carry out the assignment. The group leaders divided the tasks according to how best each members was suited to do it better. At the same time, each member had the responsibility to choose the part that would suit them better. In turn, when each group member understood his/her role, the assignment plan would potentially be successfully achieved. I noted that organization does not exist in a vacuum and thus a structure was very crucial for members to distinguish power and authority. Though we had a kind of shared leadership, there was a manner in which information flowed from the group leader which helped to accomplish the goals. It is through organizing that the group leader determined how to distribute work and assignment activities. For instance, the number of people in the group determines the amount each person would carry out to ensure equal distribution. Furthermore, the leader had to highlight that different responsibilities, assign work and coordinate across the group. Organizing meant that individuals understood their roles and responsibilities which would help them avoid frustration, loss of efficiency of confusion (Hartzell, 2015). Additionally, organizing was a way of determining the way decisions will be made, how the information will be distributed to members and how the members will respond to the problems. In turn, there was a formal plan of the meeting, reporting through calls and texts. At the same time, the group leader delegated an assistant who may be contacted in case he was not available to ensure that our meetings were not affected by potential barriers in the way of finishing the assignment. In summary, the group helped me to understand organizing a process that sets the right design of work, promote a culture and social networks that will create the right synergy to the delivery of predetermined outcomes. Leading Thirdly, leading was an important aspect that manifested in the group. Leadership was manifest as a decision making, communication, groups and motivation responsibility. Though we did not chose a leader in a formal way, our group leader was inspiring and he is the one that made us come together to carry out the assignment. What I noted from him is that he was very motivating and especially during the first meeting showing us how the work can be done and that we have learned enough skills so far to help us come up with a viable business idea. In turn, he kept everyone eager to move forward. I understood leading as a way of identifying and inspiring a group by giving the direction, communicating with everyone and keeping members psyched despite the problems. The other way I understood leading was a way of establishing a system and creating rules and procedures and incentives for the work to be done. Leading is all about people and a way of getting job done. For instance, the leader made it plain about the necessities of keeping time, adopted a go round contribution and set timelines of course with our consent for the delivery of work. In summary, I noted that as leader, one must set direction from the goals and give measurable goals which are in turn understood by others in a way that they can break down the tasks into subsets. Additionally, leading is all about reminding people or brining people back on track by monitoring and evaluating the progress with the goals and aligning with the other factors of time and resources (Charalambous, 2015). Controlling Finally, I understood controlling through how it manifested in the delivery of the assignment. Controlling started immediately after every member took their part of the work. I understood it as a follow-up activity that helped to look to future. The group leader summed it up by reminding us the extent of our research, selecting ideas in short-form formats and making sure there is a flow in individual’s work. Control was an end function that manifested when each member of the group had done of their work. Once individual research was carried out, it would not be compiled until we had confirmed that it was in conformities with assignment plans. Each member had to read aloud the aspects covered under the topic given and members would demand for more explanation or offer some constructive criticism to ideas which were to be adjusted accordingly. The group made sure that it was a pervasive activity where every work was critically analyzed and all types of concerns emphasized so as to fit better. Additionally, I understood control as review methods which allowed making changes wherever possible. For instance, no work would be accepted if it was no in point form and members who had long sentences or phrases were required to reduce it to smaller but meaningful forms. The purpose was in line with assignment requirements where the business idea was to be presented as an executive summary which can give a rough outline of a business. I noted that controlling must be planned to make sure that there is the necessary authority to enforce concerns and evaluate the feedback. For instance, our group had set the final meeting for the purpose of evaluating each work. If there was no control, each individual’s work would be compiled without undergoing evaluation which would not make it meaningful or give the idea the right flow. In summary, I understood controlling as systematic exercise that sets the activities on the right course, verifies whether everything conforms to the adopted plan and instructions. Without control, there would be no efficiency and effectiveness in applying or utilizing the resources including time and people. Control is an end activity that measures the deviation of the work from the actual performance or standards set. It is critical to the discovery of the causes of such deviations and in making decisions on corrective actions (MSG Experts, 2015). Conclusion Group assignment offers a good platform to understand how planning, organizing, leading and controlling are applied in real-life situations. Additionally, it helps to understand each concept in a detailed manner depending on how it manifested in the group. References Charalambous, C, P, 2015, Managing and Leading, In Career Skills for Doctors (pp. 155-182), Springer International Publishing. Hartzell, S, 2015, Organizing as a Function of Management, Accessed 16 October 2015 from http://study.com/academy/lesson/organizing-as-a-function-of-management.html. Jitha, T, 2015, Principles Of Management. MSG Experts, 2015, Controlling Function of Management, http://www.managementstudyguide.com/controlling_function.htm. Read More