Thinking Skills and General Management - Essay Example

The four functions are used to apply on the resources of the organization. Compared with the contemporary age, as the development of new technologies, management are facing new problems on an everyday basis now, four functions of management are inter-related in some manners. Management applies to all levels within an organization. Managers can be classified by their level of responsibility and their functions. The junior manager usually is a supervisor or team leader. They work at the operational level and are expected to coordinate employees.

Junior managers make sure the quality level of work is appropriate and may be expected to fill in when an employee is absent. Middle managers are usually sales, marketing and finance managers. Middle managers are responsible for junior managers and report to senior management. They spend longer on management functions compared with junior managers. Senior managers are the executives in the highest level of the organization they responsible for the overall direction and coordination of the organization objectives.

Functional management is found in large organizations where specialist managers or expertise is required. Functional managers are usually concerned with a few tasks. Examples of this would be a human resource manager who is only concerned with staffing activities. Managers responsible for the all the activities in the organization can be considered as line managers. (Hannaghan, 110-13) They are involved in most of the organizational functions such as finance, production, human-relations and marketing.

Line managers are usually found in smaller organizations such as factories and shops. "Planning is the management function that involves the process of defining goals, establishing strategies for achieving those goals, and developing plans to integrate and coordinate activities"(Robbins et al 219-25). It delivers strategic value, which is an