If there's one thing that is absolutely essential to a successful organization it's good management. Good management is what allows an organization to maximize the effective and efficient use of resources, motivate employees to accomplish organizational objectives, and monitor performance to ensure that goals are met. If you really want to know how important good management is, just look at the by product of bad management. The truth is that when organization's don't utilize their resources well or adapt to changes in their business environment, they simply don't survive. Despite management consisting of a broad set of functions and responsibilities, we can actually define it rather succinctly. Management is simply getting work done through others. Well, that seems easy enough. But is it really? If it was I suppose it wouldn't be necessarily to pay executive-level managers millions of dollars. Or why some management positions seem like a revolving door being filled by one person after another. Truthfully, a managers performance isn't gauged solely based upon their own contributions, it's largely based upon everyone else's. And that is where good management becomes a uncertain outcome. Welcome to Introduction to Management. This collection of videos is designed to help you understand the roles, responsibilities, and functions of managers. After going through this series you should also be better equipped to engage in effective management practices yourself. To start us off, we're going to discuss some of the common functions of management. A common question is: What do managers actually do? Although management responsibilities vary, most experts believe that successful management requires the performance of four functions: planning, organizing, leader, and controlling. These four functions are often referred to as the management process. Allow me to briefly discuss what they include as we'll spend time in future videos going over them in greater deal. Planning involves setting goals and establishing a strategy to achieve them. Planning is absolutely essential in an organization as it provides a sense of direction for employees to focus their contributions. The common saying is to get everyone in the boat rowing in the same direction. Failing to do so, dilutes the efforts of the organization and ultimately leads to mediocre performance. Organizing is establishing a structure for the organization and the individual jobs within it. Essentially management determines who has the authority to make decisions, who will perform certain tasks and job duties, and ultimately the reporting structure of the organization. A popular tool used in this process is what's known as an organizational chart. Chances are you've been exposed to org chart, which appears to be nothing more than a collection of boxes with lines connected them. Well these lines actually delineate authority as well as display who reports to whom in the organization. Leading involves directing and motivating employes to achieve organizational goals and objectives. It's no secret that the most valuable asset at the disposal of an organization are its human resources. But in order to ensure that an organization's human resources perform at an optimal level management must be able to motivate them. This can be a very difficult and time-consuming process as individuals respond to a different set of incentives. The challenge for management, is to discover which incentives ultimately lead to improved performance. Chances are they're not the ones your thinking. The last management function is controlling. Controlling involves measuring performance and making necessary adjustments as needed. By measuring performance and comparing it to the goals and objectives that were established, management can gauge the progress of its workforce. Depending on the result, management can then take the necessary steps to increase the likelihood of the organization's goals being achieved. In summary, we've reviewed the four common functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. We'll spend some more time unpacking these functions during the remainder of this course. So at least you have that to look forward to. This has been Introduction to Management. For questions please leave them in the comment box below and I'll do my best to get back to those in a timely fashion. And remember to subscribe to Alanis Business Academy to have our latest videos sent to you while you sleep. Thanks for watching.