Running Head: FUNCTIONAL AREAS

Functional Areas of Business

Vania Vasquez
MGT/521
10/16/14
Kenneth Reuben

Running Head: FUNCTIONAL AREAS

Functional Areas of Business

Managers play an important role in businesses success and mission. Business operations
may determine the functions of a manager, but a managers function and importance to a
business will be similar in any industry. The role of a manager role varies from day to day and
also varies by department. Upon analyzing the role of a manager within the functional areas of a
business, it is apparent that managers are a fundamental piece of business regardless of
department.
The duties of managers consist of the following four core functional areas of a business:
planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The specific role of a manager within a
corporation will differ across organizations and within the organization itself. The president of a
small organization with only two or three levels obviously faces problems different from those of
the second- or third-level managers in large multilevel organizations (Nealey & Fiedler, 1968,
p. 314). Though, by maintaining focus on the four main functional areas of the business, there
will be a smiliar approach to the a managers role in achieving both the business goals and
mission
Planning and organizing functions requires a manager to have a working understanding
of the precise goals and mission of the company. The planning and organizing functions allow
the manager to determine his or her method for delivering solutions that ensure achievement of
business goals. This method will determine the dependability of the plans that were created. It
will also determine how assigned responsibilities are organized. Reliability in organizations is
not achieved by a set of stable routines and concepts, but by a set of cognitive processes of
perception and collective sense making (Gebauer, 2012, p. 206). A manager that has a clear
understanding of the unique business needs will be able to map out organized plans that will aid

Running Head: FUNCTIONAL AREAS

in the accomplishment of business goals. From there the manager must delegate detailed
responsibilites amongst his or her employees. The manager will rely on employee feedback in
order to improve on future planning and organization.
After a manager plans and organizes the plan for the attainment of goals, he or she will
then lead and control employees. These steps exhibit the leading and controlling functions of
management. When leading personnel, a manager will assign specific responsibilities as
organized during the planning and organization functions. Each of these tasks is structured to
support a corporations goals. Managers must collect feedback from employees as tasks are
completed. This information will be used during the controlling function. The expertise most
important for the business are established by carefully calculating impact on the businesss
ability to maintain market share and consumer loyalty (Ip, 2009.) Managers can understand and
plan for future goals in accordance with the mission of the company by understanding how each
task impacts the outcome of the cooperative efforts of the employees.
Conclusion
A managers role in business contributes to the overall success of the goals and mission
of the company. While each department in a company may have different goals, tasks, or
strategies, it is the managers responsibility to ensure all of the above support the company
mission. Without the roles of managers in the functional areas of the organization, businesses
would be unable to operate efficiently and successfully. Careful planning, organizing, leading,
and controlling allows a manager to determine a corporations ability to maintain market share
and consumer loyalty.

Running Head: FUNCTIONAL AREAS

4
References

Gebauer, A. (2012). Mindful organizing as a paradigm to develop managers. Journal of

management education 2013 37: issue 2 originally published online 19 September 2012,
203 228.
Ip, B. (2009). Planning and controlling business succession planning using quality function
deployment. Top quality management and business excellence April 2009, volume 20,
issue four, 363 379.
Nealey, S. M., & Fiedler, F. E. (1968). Leadership functions of middle managers. Psychological
Bulletin70.5 , 313-329.