Introduction
The noun validity emanated from an adjective valid which referred to the state of being legally or officially accepted; it may be also considered as a state of being logical and true.
Reliability refers to the state of being trusted to deliver or do something in a fine manner.
Lastly, accuracy applies to not only the state of being exact or correct but also the ability to do something skillfully without making mistakes.
Validity together with reliability (Kubiszyn and Borich 1) are very important components in judging and learning because they give ways and tools needed to inspect various types of measurements. Validity is evident when a test defines what it is supposed to measure in a standard manner whereas reliability is evident when the test consistently gives similar results assuming that other factors are kept constant.
Management
In an organization, the term “management” refers to the people who run and control a company. Moreover, it depends on the ability or skill of dealing with people or situations successfully. From the above definition (“Functions of Management.” 1), management is described as a communal process including responsibility for cost-effective and successful planning and parameters of procedures of an organization to fulfill the laid down aims of the organization. Management is an energetic process having several actions and elements which are universal to all the managers of all levels or ranks.
Functions of Management
A good number of specialized people with tremendous experience, like George and Jerry, Henry Fayol, Luther Gullick, Koontz, and O’Donnel among others, have classified the functions of management. According to George and Jerry, “There are four fundamental functions of management, they are planning, organizing, actuating and controlling”. According to Henry Fayol, “To manage is to forecast and plan, to organize, to command, and to control”. Whereas Luther Gullick said that the functions of management are planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting. Koontz and O’Donnel came up with the most agreeable functions of management which include planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling.
Theoretically (“Functions of Management.” 1), there are five functions of management but practically, all the five functions can be merged to one since they relate closely to each other and each determines the performance of others making them highly indivisible.
Planning
Planning is making detailed arrangements for something you want to do in the future. It is seen as the foundation of management. It is a sequential activity that determines when something is to be done, how it is to be done, and who is to perform the laid down task. In summary (Bhatawdekar 1), planning is making a decision. Therefore, for effective contributions, coordination, and excellent adjustment, planning considers manpower who are available, prospective, and have physical resources in knowledge terms not forgetting organizations’ physical resources.
In planning, one may have to develop either one or many detailed plans to achieve the best possible balance of demands or wants with the resources that are available in the organization. In summary, planning provides a bridge between today and the future or the place we are in and the place we want to be.
There are (“Functions of Management.” 1) several steps involved in the planning function, these are founding objectives, the establishment of scheduling premises, choosing of an alternative way forward, formulation of a plagiaristic plan, securing co-operation and appraising of the plan.
Organizing
Organizing means planning one’s work and activities efficiently. Here, human resources, physical resources, and financial resources are synchronized and joined together to get the desired results. This makes it a vital function of management since, minus this, the manager will not be able to achieve the highly needed results.
For results to be achieved (“Functions of Management.” 1), the manager has to identify the activities to be performed, organize the actions departmentally by grouping similar activities to form units, that is, departmentation, categorize authority hierarchically by giving positions to the managerial ranks where the top management formulates policies, middle level undertake supervision of units and lower management supervises foremen as a result bringing efficiency and co-ordinate responsibility between authorities bringing awareness to every person of his or her duties and the person he or she is answerable to.
Staffing
Staffing means employing workers in an organization and it is considered as a group. This implies (Bhatawdekar 1) that staffing deals with manpower. It is an important function of management. Because of this, it involves positioning the right man to the correct job through the effective selection, follow-up, and development of manpower to fill the designed duties in the structure. For this to happen, personnel selection must be planned through recruiting, selecting, allocation of duties, training and developing, rewarding, following-up of performance, issuing promotions and transfers. This makes staffing an all-encompassing and continuous function of management.
Directing
Directing means saying exactly what you mean in a way that nobody can pretend not to understand. Directing entails guiding, influencing, inspiring, and supervising subordinate staff so that the organization may achieve the goals set in the organization. This is made possible with the help of good communication. Supervision means overseeing both the work of subordinates and supervisors and directing them where necessary whereas motivation refers to stimulating, encouraging, and inspiring the staff to give the urge to work and may be of any form. Therefore, directing is an all-encompassing, creative, and continuous function of management that shows leadership.
Controlling
Controlling means having the power to make decisions about how an organization is run.
According to Brech, “Controlling is a systematic exercise which is called as a process of checking actual performance against the standards or plans to ensure adequate progress and also recording such experience as is gained as a contribution to possible future needs.”
According to Donnell, “Just as a navigator continually takes reading to ensure whether he is relative to a planned action, so should a business manager continually take reading to assure himself that his enterprise is on the right course.” (“Functions of Management.” 1)
It, therefore, ensures that there is coordination and everything happens as planned. It measures accomplishments compared with the standards set and corrects sub-ordinates activities in terms of performance for the fulfillment of the organization’s goals and objectives. Here, standard performances are established, actual performances measured, actual and standard performances measured, and corrections done. This makes controlling an end, the dynamic, pervasive, and forward-looking function of management.
Conclusion
From the carefully thought judgments, functions of management are based on ideas that are possible and imagined rather than real and true. The functions of management are practically highly inseparable, but theoretically speaking, it is convenient to divide them. It is, therefore, a fact that the five functions of management, namely, planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling, are reasonable, factual, trusted, skillful and precise.
Works Cited
Bhatawdekar, Shyam. ‘Functions of management.’ Shyam.Bhatawdekar.net. Shyam Bhatawdekar, 2010. Web.
“Functions of Management“. Managementstudyguide. Management Study Guide. 2008. Web.
Kubiszyn, Tom and Gary D. Borich. Educational Testing & Measurement: Classroom Application and Practice. 9th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010. Print.