In the early part of the twentieth centrury, a French industrialist by the name of Henri Favol wrote that all managers perform five management functions: They plan, organize, command, coordinate, and control. Today, we have condensed these to four: Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.

The planning function encompasses defining an organizztion's goals, establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals, and developing a comprehensive set of plans to integrate and coordinate activities.

The organizing function includes determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom,and where decitions are to be made.

The leading function is the job to direct and coordinate all the people in the organization, such as motivate employees, direct the activities of others, select the most effective communication channels, and resolve conflicts among others.

The controlling function includes monitoring, comparing, and potential correcting. To ensure that things are going as they should, management must monitor the organization's performance. Actual performance is then compared with the previously set goals. If there are any signficant deviations, it is management's job to get organization back on track.