Phil’s Blog

After learning the personal characteristics and the skills needed to be a good manager, we now explore the functions of management. Those functions are: Planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. To accomplish those functions one must have the necessary managerial skills learned in earlier chapters.
At first, I viewed management as a simple task which requires some common-sense; however after reviewing in depth the activities involved in management, common sense alone is not enough. One aspect which is present within all functions is the process of decision making. A manager must make many decisions while accomplishing his or her job. Those decisions affect other members of the organization, and at time may determine the survival of the organization. Regarding that aspect of management, I may conclude that to be a manager is a stressful job.
Decision making is explained in depth in chapter 3, I may say even too much. Everyone has to make decisions daily, therefore everyone knows what is entailed in decision making; however, good decision making requires some skills. Those skills are similar to the one needed in computer programming, which is my field of study. A programmer must understand the problem at hand, visualize and analyze the various solutions to the problem, and decide on the appropriate coding so as to create a solution to the problem. So is the process of decision making, identify the problem, evaluate alternatives taking in consideration the resources and financial capabilities of the company. Then it is up to the manager to allocate some tasks to other members of the organization so as to implement the decision. It is also up to the manager to follow up on the implementation, and make adjustment if found necessary.
However, good thinking and planning is necessary to achieve the objective successfully. It is certainly the reason for taking that course, one hope to learn and implements the skills of good management.