Every organization - large and small-has managers. Someone must be
responsible for making plans, organizing resources, directing personnel, and
controlling operations. Every where mangers carry out three major
activities - planning, directing and motivating, and controlling.
Planning:
Planning involves selecting a course of action and specifying how the
action will be implemented. The first step in planning is to identify the
alternatives and then to select from among the alternatives the one that
does the best job of furthering the organization's objectives. While making
choices management must balance the opportunity against the demands made on
the companies resources.
The plans of management are often expressed formally in budgets, and the
term budgeting is applied to generally describe the planning process.
Budgets are usually prepared under the direction of controller, who is the
manager in charge of the accounting department. Typically, budgets are
prepared annually and represent management's plans in specific, quantitative
terms.
Directing and Motivating:
In addition to planning for the future, managers must oversee day-to-day
activities and keep the organization functioning smoothly. This requires the
ability to motivate and affectively direct people. Managers assign tasks to
employees, arbitrate disputes, answer questions, solve on-the-spot problems,
and make many small decisions that affect customers and employees. In
effect, directing is that part of the manager's work that deals with the
routine and the here and now. Managerial accounting data, such as daily
sales reports are often used in this type of day-to-day decision making.
Controlling:
In carrying out the control function, managers seek to ensure that the
plan is being followed. Feedback, which signals operations are on track, is
the key to effective control. In sophisticated organizations, this feedback
is provided by detailed reports of various types. One of these reports,
which compares budgeted to actual results, is called a performance report.
Performance report suggest where operations are not proceeding as planned
and where some parts of the organization may require additional attention.
The Planning and Control Cycle:
The work of management can be summarized in a model. The model, which depicts the planning and control cycle,
illustrates the smooth flow of management activities from planning through
directing and motivating, controlling, and then back to planning again. all
of these activities involve decision making. So it is depicted as the hub
around which the activities revolve.