Five Management Functions - Essay Example

Five Management Functions of the Introduction POSDCORB is an acronym which was developed by the condensation of the duties of Gulick (Rowley & Cooke, 2014). This meaning is derived from each of the letters that represents the activities of an administrator. It is an acronym which is developed as a means to analyse and structure management activities. The acronym formulates the responsibilities of an administrator or a chief executive and stands for – Planning, Organising, Staffing, Direction, Coordination, Reporting and Budgeting. The first word P stands for planning which indicates setting up of things that needs to be executed and methods that will be utilised to accomplish the tasks. The term O indicates organizing by the establishment of a formal structure of authority and responsibility and creation of various divisions and subdivisions of work which are properly co-ordinated and arranged. S refers to staffing which includes selection, recruitment and training of staff. D stands for directing where decisions are taken by superiors and authority and responsibility is passed on to the subordinates. Co refers to coordination and R for reporting which involves keeping the executives aware of the activities taking place within an organisation. Finally, B stands for Budgeting by carrying out the process of Fiscal planning, accounting and other such financial activities. The essay highlights information about all these functions of management in the light of a company. It will analyze the application of these management concepts in Tesco Plc. It is the British merchandise retailer and multinational grocery headquartered in Chestnut. The stores of the company are headquartered in United Kingdom (UK), Europe, Asia and North America. Tesco has the highest market share in UK. The management of the company is robust in some branches and few of them have failed irrecoverably (Rowley & Cooke, 2014). The in depth analysis of the management functions is carried out thoroughly in this essay (Wong & Hua-Tan, 2014). Detailed Analysis The article consists of detailed analysis of the functions of management and the way it is carried out by the British multinational merchandise retailer Tesco Plc. The analysis can provide a comprehensive view of the leadership framework and the functions of management carried on in this company. The execution of few functions of management in Tesco Plc can be explained as follows (Wong & Hua-Tan, 2014). Figure: 1 - POSDCORB (Source: Johannesson, 2011) Planning - It is a management function which involves formulation of a number of detailed plans for achieving optimum balance of demands and needs with the available resources (Rowley & Cooke, 2014). Tesco has a number of branches in UK, Europe, Asia and North America (Rowley & Cooke, 2014). Through proper idea generation and implementation of the same, it has successfully opened stores in different parts of the world. Tesco has plans to start new branches in other parts of the worlds and specialize in new business besides books, general merchandise, digital entertainment, banking and restaurants. Within 2017 it wants to bring in new innovative business for creating more customers and employees (Rowley & Cooke, 2014). Tesco wants to bring up something new all the time. This attitude enabled it to introduce online shopping for grocery, extended hours for shopping, Everyday Value, Finest, Formats like express to Extra. Tesco plans to bring in for facilities for the customers within the next few years. Leading or Directing – It can be defined as a managerial function performed by the top level management for achieving organizational goals. It is one of the most important functions of management. Directing involves determining courses of action, giving instructions and providing dynamic leadership (Cichocki & Irwin, 2014).The managers of Tesco have the right blend of knowledge, expertise, experience and managerial skills. They allow the team of employees to take the responsibility of achieving the goals desired by the company. Accountability and responsibility enables the employees to fulfill goals more dedicatedly and develop desired skills. Tesco inspires team work within the company for increasing the levels of motivation and competitiveness among the employees. The leadership style of Tesco usually allows the managers to take the major operational decision. Thus even if the employees of the company are allowed to take part in the decision making process yet all the managers of Tesco has the reserved right to take the final decision. There are different managers in various departments of the company and each follows leadership styles that are appropriate for a particular situation. Therefore, the management of Tesco allows the participation of employees in the decision making process, gives them the accountability and responsibility required for carrying out a particular job and motivates the employees to fulfill their individual as well as organizational goals (Cichocki & Irwin, 2014). Organizing – It is the process of determining various organizational activities and establishing the required authority relationship between them. The management of Tesco focuses on customers primarily (Rowley & Cooke, 2014). This facilitates the company to recognize a close link between customers and employees. This philosophy is based on the fact that treating employees well can increase the level of quality production. Tesco gives its employees the tasks that they are able and interested to do. It follows a participative leadership style (Mollah & Sharif, 2014). This enabled Tesco to have increased effectiveness in the process of management within the organization. The organizational structure of Tesco consists of five functional departments classified as administration, finance, human resource, R&D (research and development) and marketing (Johannesson, 2011). Each department present is managed differently and has distinct offices separated from the rest. This indicates that Tesco makes use of management by objectives concept. The usage of this concept is prevalent because the objectives of Tesco are time bound and dependent on the performance appraisal of employees. Thus each manger is provided distinct duties by the line managers. The managers on the other hand direct the employees in the most appropriate manner. Tesco therefore successfully carries on the organizing activities (Wong & Hua-Tan, 2014). Staffing – It is the process of identification of the requirement of workforce, followed by their selection, recruitment, training, placement, appraisal, promotion and development to fill the job roles designed as per the need of the organization (Cichocki & Irwin, 2014). Tesco is the major employer in the private sector of United Kingdom. The number of employees working in Tesco worldwide is more than 360000 (Cichocki & Irwin, 2014).The staffing process of Tesco is very sound and robust. The process of staffing is carried out every year in the last week of February. Besides that, quarterly reviews are taken in May, August and November. This enables Tesco to adjust the levels of staffing and recruit wherever necessary (Hassan & Parves, 2013). It provides the company sufficient flexibility and time to meet strategic objectives like opening of a new store, maintaining service standards for customers and demand for staffs. Several job vacancies are filled in from within the company to motivate the employees to retain their careers with the organization only. Tesco rightly practices talent planning within the organization (Wong & Hua-Tan, 2014). The annual appraisal schemes are introduced in the company so that the employees can apply for better and bigger jobs (Sparks, 2014). This enables the employees to identify the job roles in which they would like to extend their career with Tesco. The managers of Tesco have the required competency, technical skills, behaviours that are necessary for various job roles. They equally have the desired knowledge about the type and longevity of training required for each staff. This enables Tesco to smoothly achieve the business objectives (Brannen & Mughan, 2013). Controlling – It is one of the most important function of management. It helps to measure the actual performance against the standard (Cichocki & Irwin, 2014). It provides the ability to take necessary corrective actions in case of any default. Thus controlling can be defined as a process by which performances can be monitored and corrective actions can be taken for achieving the desired results. While the business in UK is carried on with the help of best managerial capacities, it failed to do equally well in several other countries. The chain shut dozen stores in three major states which included branches in Nevada, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Arizona (Cichocki and Irwin, 2014). The managers could not control costs as compared to the rate of sales and revenue in these stores. This resulted in the closure of these stores. It helped Tesco to recover an expected loss of £125m and dragged their overall profitability (Cichocki and Irwin, 2014). Though the managers in other parts of the state and country are controlling the business most profitably with certain high and low phases. Conclusion The functions of management in Tesco are carried on by the most experienced and capable managers. The planning, organizing, leading, staffing and controlling are executed in a manner that brings in the best results for the company. Each manager has a different style of management but they all encourage participation of the employees. The employees are kept motivated with the best of facilities and are given the choice to apply for higher job roles. This helps them to retain their valuable employees within the organization. Managers of Tesco assign authority and responsibility to the employees and ensure that the organizational goals are achieved in the best interest of the company. Few stores failed to run successfully due to the lack of efficient management yet Tesco has proficient teams of management in other stores who ensures that the managerial functions are carried out successfully. Tesco is able to retain its competitiveness and position in the market because of the well executed functions of management. References Brannen, Y. M. & Mughan, T. (2013). Strategic ethnography and reinvigorating Tesco Plc: Leveraging inside/out bicultural bridging in multicultural teams. Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings. 5 (9), 1-37. Cichocki, P., & Irwin, C. (2014). Organization Design: A Guide to Building Effective Organizations. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Hassan, A. & Parves, M. (2013). A Comparative Case Study Investigating the Adoption of Customer Relationship Management (CRM): The Case of Tesco and Sainsbury’s. International Journal of Managing Value & Supply Chains, 4 (1), 34-52. Johannesson, J. (2011). Business growth in a tough economy. International Journal of Business Competition and Growth, 1 (3), 231-244. Mollah, M. & Sharif, A. (2014). The Impact of Relationship Marketing On Customer Loyalty At Tesco Plc, UK. 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