FIGURE

mance of management functions might follow the order of planning, organizing, actuating, and controlling. Within established organizations, however, it may be difficult to determine which of these functions a managers is performing at any given time since the functions do not have to be performed in any specific order and may, at times, be combined.
The actual impact of the management process on an organization is influenced by numerous factors, including (1) the quantity and quality of inputs; (2) the knowledge, experience, and authority of managers; (3) the stage of development of the organization; and (4) environmental factors, such as governmental regulations, economic conditions, actions of competitors, and the desires of consumers may be students, patients, clients, or any other group that an organization seeks to attract and serve.
Althoug specific definitions of the management functions vary, thier basic characteristics include the following:
Planning results in the selection of courses of action (plans) that will direct an oraganization's human and material resources for future time spans. Plans establish the boundaries within which people make decisions and carry out assigned activities. As such, plans must anticipate future events, problems, and casual relationships. In this sense, planning refers to deciding what to do and how to do it before action is taken. Because of the great uncertainties in most organizational situations, managers must also provide for contingences by developping a series of alternative  plans in guiding actions. Thus, as a formal process, planning implies a rational approach that looks into the future, develops alternatives courses of action, examines the possible results of each alternative, and select the best course of action (plan).
Organizing combines various human and material resources into a meaningful whole. This is accomplished by dividing the work to be done into specialities, grouping similar activities (departmentalizing), identifying desired authority relatinships between individuals and groups, delegating authority, and considering the social and economic consequences associated with various organizational forms. By combining people, work to be done, and physical factors into a meaningful structure, goals can be achieved more effectively. In addition to these formally established relationship, various informal groups are created by employees. The informal relationships that result influence behavior within an organization as much as formally established positions of authority.
Actuating includes motivations, leadership, communications, training, and other forms of personal influence. This function is also discussed as initiating and directing the work to be done in an organization. Accordingly, actuating must be closely interrelated with the other functions of planning, organizing, and controlling if organizational goals are to be met in a desired manner.
Controlling involves checking and comparing performance to established standards. If performance deviates from standards, corrective action is requiered to get things back on path. Such action might take the form of repairing faulty equipment, changing the behavior of employees, reorganizing a department, or revising an original plan.
Through the performance of these functions, managers seek to achieve a coordination of effort throught the organization. Althougt coordination is not considered as one of the management functions, it results from planning, organizing, actuating, and controlling. Throught planning, for example, managers outline courses of action that assist in coordinating the efforts of organizational members. The organizing function identifies duties and authority relationships as an other step toward coordinating individual efforts. Actuating involves the initiation and guidance of those actions as spelled out in policies, plans, systems, procedures, and rules. Finally, managerial control seeks to prevent performance that detracts from an overall coordination of effort.
The content of the management process discussed above is summarized in Figure 1-2. When examining the figure, remember that a successful performance of the management functions requires adaptions to specific situational factors. Thus, having to be contingency oriented to achieve results succesfully, managers must analyze objectives, resources, structure, and environmental influences in determining the particular combination of punctions to be performed in a given organizational situation.