Provide By:- bca-wala.blogspot.com 

                Ankit Rajbansi😍

For more visit us

Unit-4:function of management part-2

MOTIVATION:

Meaning:

Motivation is an important factor which encourages persons to give their best performance and help in reaching enterprise goals. A strong positive motivation will enable the increased output of employees but a negative motivation will reduce their performance. A key element in personnel management is motivation.

According to Likert,

“It is the core of management which shows that every human being gives him a sense of worth in face-to face groups which are most important to him….A supervisor should strive to treat individuals with dignity and a recognition of their personal worth.”

definition

Berelson and Steiner:

“A motive is an inner state that energizes, activates, or moves and directs or channels behaviour goals.”

Lillis:

“It is the stimulation of any emotion or desire operating upon one’s will and promoting or driving it to action.”

The Encyclopedia of Management:

“Motivation refers to degree of readiness of an organism to pursue some designated goal and implies the determination of the nature and locus of the forces, including the degree of readiness.”

Dubin:

“Motivation is the complex of forces starting and keeping a person at work in an organization.”

Vance:

“Motivation implies any emotion or desire which so conditions one’s will that the individual is properly led into action.”

nature of motivation

1. Motivation is an inner feeling which energizes a person to work more.

2. The emotions or desires of a person prompt him for doing a particular work.

3. There are unsatisfied needs of a person which disturb his equilibrium.

4. A person moves to fulfill his unsatisfied needs by conditioning his energies.

5. There are dormant energies in a person which are activated by channelizing them into actions.

importance of motivation

(1) Improves Performance Level:

The ability to do work and willingness to do work both affect the efficiency of a person. The ability to do work is obtained with the help of education and training and willingness to do work is obtained with the help of motivation.

Willingness is more important in comparison to ability. For example, a person is highly educated and he is recruited on this very basis. But it is not essential that he will do outstanding work.

(2) Helps to Change Negative or Indifferent Attitudes of Employees:

Some employees of an organisation have a negative attitude. They always think that doing more work will not bring any credit. A manager uses various techniques to change this attitude.

For example, if the financial situation of such an employee is weak, he gives him a raise in his remuneration and if his financial condition is satisfactory he motivates him by praising his work.

(3) Reduction in Employee Turnover:

The reputation of an organisation is affected by the employee turnover. This creates a lot of problems for the managers. A lot of time and money go waste in repeatedly recruiting employees and giving them education and training.

Only motivation can save an organisation from such wastage. Motivated people work for a longer time in the organisation and there is a decline in the rate of turnover.

(4) Helps to Reduce Absenteeism in the Organisation:

In some of the organisations, the rate of absenteeism is high. There are many causes for this-poor work conditions, poor relations with colleagues and superiors, no recognition in the organisation, insufficient reward, etc. A manager removes all such deficiencies and motivates the employees. Motivated employees do not remain absent from work as the workplace becomes a source of joy for them.

(5) Reduction in Resistance to Change:

New changes continue taking place in the organisation. Normally workers are not prepared to accept any changes in their normal routine. Whereas it becomes essential to bring in some changes because of the demands of time.

Employees can be made to accept such changes easily with the help of motivation. Motivated people accept these changes enthusiastically and improve their work performance.

theories of motivation

1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory

Maslow (1943, 1954) stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and that some needs take precedence over others. Our most basic need is for physical survival, and this will be the first thing that motivates our behavior. Once that level is fulfilled the next level up is what motivates us, and so on.

1. Physiological needs – these are biological requirements for human survival, e.g. air, food, drink, shelter, clothing, warmth, sex, sleep.

If these needs are not satisfied the human body cannot function optimally. Maslow considered physiological needs the most important as all the other needs become secondary until these needs are met.

2. Safety needs – protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear.

3. Love and belongingness needs – after physiological and safety needs have been fulfilled, the third level of human needs is social and involves feelings of belongingness. The need for interpersonal relationships motivates behavior

Examples include friendship, intimacy, trust, and acceptance, receiving and giving affection and love. Affiliating, being part of a group (family, friends, work).

4. Esteem needs – which Maslow classified into two categories: (i) esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement, mastery, independence) and (ii) the desire for reputation or respect from others (e.g., status, prestige).

Maslow indicated that the need for respect or reputation is most important for children and adolescents and precedes real self-esteem or dignity.

5. Self-actualization needs – realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences. A desire “to become everything one is capable of becoming”

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid.

Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can attend to needs higher up. From the bottom of the hierarchy upwards, the needs are: physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem and self-actualization.

2. McGregor’s Participation Theory:

Douglas McGregor formulated two distinct views of human being based on participation of workers. The first basically negative, labeled Theory X, and the other basically positive, labled Theory Y.

Theory X is based on the following assumptions:

1. People are by nature indolent. That is, they like to work as little as possible.

2. People lack ambition, dislike responsibility, and prefer to be directed by others.

3. People are inherently self-centered and indifferent to organisational needs and goals.

4. People are generally gullible and not very sharp and bright.

On the contrary, Theory Y assumes that:

1. People are not by nature passive or resistant to organisational goals.

2. They want to assume responsibility.

3. They want their organisation to succeed.

4. People are capable of directing their own behaviour.

5. They have need for achievement.

What McGregor tried to dramatise through his theory X and Y is to outline the extremes to draw the fencing within which the organisational man is usually seen to behave. The fact remains that no organisational man would actually belong either to theory X or theory Y. In reality, he/she shares the traits of both. What actually happens is that man swings from one set or properties to the other with changes in his mood and motives in changing environment.

LEADERSHIP

What is Leadership

Leadership is a process by which an executive can direct, guide and influence the behavior and work of others towards accomplishment of specific goals in a given situation. Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce the subordinates to work with confidence and zeal.

Leadership is the potential to influence behaviour of others. It is also defined as the capacity to influence a group towards the realization of a goal. Leaders are required to develop future visions, and to motivate the organizational members to want to achieve the visions.

According to Keith Davis, “Leadership is the ability to persuade others to seek defined objectives enthusiastically. It is the human factor which binds a group together and motivates it towards goals.”

Characteristics of Leadership

1. It is a inter-personal process in which a manager is into influencing and guiding workers towards attainment of goals.
2. It denotes a few qualities to be present in a person which includes intelligence, maturity and personality.
3. It is a group process. It involves two or more people interacting with each other.
4. A leader is involved in shaping and moulding the behaviour of the group towards accomplishment of organizational goals.
5. Leadership is situation bound. There is no best style of leadership. It all depends upon tackling with the situations.

Importance of Leadership

Leadership is an important function of management which helps to maximize efficiency and to achieve organizational goals. The following points justify the importance of leadership in a concern.

1. Initiates action- Leader is a person who starts the work by communicating the policies and plans to the subordinates from where the work actually starts.
2. Motivation- A leader proves to be playing an incentive role in the concern’s working. He motivates the employees with economic and non-economic rewards and thereby gets the work from the subordinates.
3. Providing guidance- A leader has to not only supervise but also play a guiding role for the subordinates. Guidance here means instructing the subordinates the way they have to perform their work effectively and efficiently.
4. Creating confidence- Confidence is an important factor which can be achieved through expressing the work efforts to the subordinates, explaining them clearly their role and giving them guidelines to achieve the goals effectively. It is also important to hear the employees with regards to their complaints and problems.
5. Building morale- Morale denotes willing co-operation of the employees towards their work and getting them into confidence and winning their trust. A leader can be a morale booster by achieving full co-operation so that they perform with best of their abilities as they work to achieve goals.
6. Builds work environment- Management is getting things done from people. An efficient work environment helps in sound and stable growth. Therefore, human relations should be kept into mind by a leader. He should have personal contacts with employees and should listen to their problems and solve them. He should treat employees on humanitarian terms.
7. Co-ordination- Co-ordination can be achieved through reconciling personal interests with organizational goals. This synchronization can be achieved through proper and effective co-ordination which should be primary motive of a leader.

various styles of leadership

1. Democratic Leadership
2. Autocratic Leadership
3. Laissez-Faire Leadership
4. Strategic Leadership
5. Transformational Leadership
6. Transactional Leadership
7. Coach-Style Leadership
8. Bureaucratic Leadership

1. Democratic Leadership

Commonly Effective

Democratic leadership is exactly what it sounds like — the leader makes decisions based on the input of each team member. Although he or she makes the final call, each employee has an equal say on a project’s direction.

Democratic leadership is one of the most effective leadership styles because it allows lower-level employees to exercise authority they’ll need to use wisely in future positions they might hold. It also resembles how decisions can be made in company board meetings.

2. Autocratic Leadership

Rarely Effective

Autocratic leadership is the inverse of democratic leadership. In this leadership style, the leader makes decisions without taking input from anyone who reports to them. Employees are neither considered nor consulted prior to a direction, and are expected to adhere to the decision at a time and pace stipulated by the leader.

An example of this could be when a manager changes the hours of work shifts for multiple employees without consulting anyone — especially the effected employees.

3. Laissez-Faire Leadership

Sometimes Effective

If you remember your high-school French, you’ll accurately assume that laissez-faire leadership is the least intrusive form of leadership. The French term “laissez faire” literally translates to “let them do,” and leaders who embrace it afford nearly all authority to their employees.

In a young startup, for example, you might see a laissez-faire company founder who makes no major office policies around work hours or deadlines. They might put full trust into their employees while they focus on the overall workings of running the company.

4. Strategic Leadership

Commonly Effective

Strategic leaders sit at the intersection between a company’s main operations and its growth opportunities. He or she accepts the burden of executive interests while ensuring that current working conditions remain stable for everyone else.

This is a desirable leadership style in many companies because strategic thinking supports multiple types of employees at once. However, leaders who operate this way can set a dangerous precedent with respect to how many people they can support at once, and what the best direction for the company really is if everyone is getting their way at all times.

5. Transformational Leadership

Sometimes Effective

Transformational leadership is always “transforming” and improving upon the company’s conventions. Employees might have a basic set of tasks and goals that they complete every week or month, but the leader is constantly pushing them outside of their comfort zone.

When starting a job with this type of leader, all employees might get a list of goals to reach, as well as deadlines for reaching them. While the goals might seem simple at first, this manager might pick up the pace of deadlines or give you more and more challenging goals as you grow with the company.

6. Transactional Leadership

Sometimes Effective

Transactional leaders are fairly common today. These managers reward their employees for precisely the work they do. A marketing team that receives a scheduled bonus for helping generate a certain number of leads by the end of the quarter is a common example of transactional leadership.

Transactional leadership helps establish roles and responsibilities for each employee, but it can also encourage bare-minimum work if employees know how much their effort is worth all the time. This leadership style can use incentive programs to motivate employees, but they should be consistent with the company’s goals and used in addition to unscheduled gestures of appreciation.

7. Coach-Style Leadership

Commonly Effective

Similarly to a sports team’s coach, this leader focuses on identifying and nurturing the individual strengths of each member on his or her team. They also focus on strategies that will enable their team work better together. This style offers strong similarities to strategic and democratic leadership, but puts more emphasis on the growth and success of individual employees.

A manager with this leadership style might help employees improve on their strengths by giving them new tasks to try, offering them guidance, or meeting to discuss constructive feedback. They might also encourage one or more team members to expand on their strengths by learning new skills from other teammates.

8. Bureaucratic Leadership

Rarely Effective

Bureaucratic leaders go by the books. This style of leadership might listen and consider the input of employees — unlike autocratic leadership — but the leader tends to reject an employee’s input if it conflicts with company policy or past practices.

You may run into a bureaucratic leader at a larger, older, or traditional company. At these companies, when a colleague or employee proposes a strong strategy that seems new or non-traditional, bureaucratic leaders may reject it. Their resistance might be because the company has already been successful with current processes and trying something new could waste time or resources if it doesn’t work. 

Qualities of a leader

A leader has got multidimensional traits in him which makes him appealing and effective in behavior. The following are the requisites to be present in a good leader:

1. Physical appearance- A leader must have a pleasing appearance. Physique and health are very important for a good leader.
2. Vision and foresight- A leader cannot maintain influence unless he exhibits that he is forward looking. He has to visualize situations and thereby has to frame logical programmes.
3. Intelligence- A leader should be intelligent enough to examine problems and difficult situations. He should be analytical who weighs pros and cons and then summarizes the situation. Therefore, a positive bent of mind and mature outlook is very important.
4. Communicative skills- A leader must be able to communicate the policies and procedures clearly, precisely and effectively. This can be helpful in persuasion and stimulation.
5. Objective- A leader has to be having a fair outlook which is free from bias and which does not reflects his willingness towards a particular individual. He should develop his own opinion and should base his judgement on facts and logic.
6. Knowledge of work- A leader should be very precisely knowing the nature of work of his subordinates because it is then he can win the trust and confidence of his subordinates.
7. Sense of responsibility- Responsibility and accountability towards an individual’s work is very important to bring a sense of influence. A leader must have a sense of responsibility towards organizational goals because only then he can get maximum of capabilities exploited in a real sense. For this, he has to motivate himself and arouse and urge to give best of his abilities. Only then he can motivate the subordinates to the best.
8. Self-confidence and will-power- Confidence in himself is important to earn the confidence of the subordinates. He should be trustworthy and should handle the situations with full will power. (You can read more about Self-Confidence at : Self Confidence – Tips to be Confident and Eliminate Your Apprehensions).
9. Humanist-This trait to be present in a leader is essential because he deals with human beings and is in personal contact with them. He has to handle the personal problems of his subordinates with great care and attention. Therefore, treating the human beings on humanitarian grounds is essential for building a congenial environment.
10. Empathy- It is an old adage “Stepping into the shoes of others”. This is very important because fair judgement and objectivity comes only then. A leader should understand the problems and complaints of employees and should also have a complete view of the needs and aspirations of the employees. This helps in improving human relations and personal contacts with the employees.

Role/Function of leader

Following are the main roles of a leader in an organization :

1. Required at all levels- Leadership is a function which is important at all levels of management. In the top level, it is important for getting co-operation in formulation of plans and policies. In the middle and lower level, it is required for interpretation and execution of plans and programmes framed by the top management. Leadership can be exercised through guidance and counseling of the subordinates at the time of execution of plans.
2. Representative of the organization- A leader, i.e., a manager is said to be the representative of the enterprise. He has to represent the concern at seminars, conferences, general meetings, etc. His role is to communicate the rationale of the enterprise to outside public. He is also representative of the own department which he leads.
3. Integrates and reconciles the personal goals with organizational goals- A leader through leadership traits helps in reconciling/ integrating the personal goals of the employees with the organizational goals. He is trying to co-ordinate the efforts of people towards a common purpose and thereby achieves objectives. This can be done only if he can influence and get willing co-operation and urge to accomplish the objectives.
4. He solicits support- A leader is a manager and besides that he is a person who entertains and invites support and co-operation of subordinates. This he can do by his personality, intelligence, maturity and experience which can provide him positive result. In this regard, a leader has to invite suggestions and if possible implement them into plans and programmes of enterprise. This way, he can solicit full support of employees which results in willingness to work and thereby effectiveness in running of a concern.
5. As a friend, philosopher and guide- A leader must possess the three dimensional traits in him. He can be a friend by sharing the feelings, opinions and desires with the employees. He can be a philosopher by utilizing his intelligence and experience and thereby guiding the employees as and when time requires. He can be a guide by supervising and communicating the employees the plans and policies of top management and secure their co-operation to achieve the goals of a concern. At times he can also play the role of a counselor by counseling and a problem-solving approach. He can listen to the problems of the employees and try to solve them.

CONTROLLING

Meaning of Controlling

Controlling is one of the important functions of a manager. In order to seek planned results from the subordinates, a manager needs to exercise effective control over the activities of the subordinates. In other words, the meaning of controlling function can be defined as ensuring that activities in an organization are performed as per the plans. Controlling also ensures that an organization’s resources are being used effectively & efficiently for the achievement of predetermined goals.

definition

It is a process of comparing the actual performance with the set standards of the company to ensure that activities are performed according to the plans and if not then taking corrective action.

George R. Terry defined “controlling is determining what is being accomplished, that is evaluating the performance and, if necessary, applying corrected measures so that the performance takes place according to plans.”

impotance/need of controlling

1. Accomplishing Organizational Goals

The controlling function is an accomplishment of measures that further makes progress towards the organizational goals & brings to light the deviations, & indicates corrective action. Therefore it helps in guiding the organizational goals which can be achieved by performing a controlling function.

2. Judging Accuracy of Standards

A good control system enables management to verify whether the standards set are accurate & objective. The efficient control system also helps in keeping careful and progress check on the changes which help in taking the major place in the organization & in the environment and also helps to review & revise the standards in light of such changes.

3. Making Efficient use of Resources

Another important function of controlling is that in this, each activity is performed in such manner so an in accordance with predetermined standards & norms so as to ensure that the resources are used in the most effective & efficient manner for the further availability of resources.

4. Improving Employee Motivation

Another important function is that controlling help in accommodating a good control system which ensures that each employee knows well in advance what they expect & what are the standards of performance on the basis of which they will be appraised. Therefore it helps in motivating and increasing their potential so to make them & helps them to give better performance.

5. Ensuring Order & Discipline

Controlling creates an atmosphere of order & discipline in the organization which helps to minimize dishonest behavior on the part of the employees. It keeps a close check on the activities of employees and the company can be able to track and find out the dishonest employees by using computer monitoring as a part of their control system.

6. Facilitating Coordination in Action

The last important function of controlling is that each department & employee is governed by such pre-determined standards and goals which are well versed and coordinated with one another. This ensures that overall organizational objectives are accomplished in an overall manner.

nature of controlling

1. Control is a Function of Management:

Actually control is a follow-up action to the other functions of management performed by managers to control the activities assigned to them in the organisation.

2. Control is Based on Planning:

Control is designed to evaluate actual performance against predetermined standards set-up in the organisation. Plans serve as the standards of desired performance. Planning sets the course in the organisation and control ensures action according to the chosen course of action in the organisation.

3. Control is a Dynamic Process:

It involves continuous review of standards of performance and results in corrective action, which may lead to changes in other functions of management.

4. Information is the Guide to Control:

Control depends upon the information regarding actual performance. Accurate and timely availability of feedback is essential for effective control action. An efficient system of reporting is required for a sound control system. This requires continuing monitoring and review of operations.

5. The Essence of Control is Action:

The performance of control is achieved only when corrective action is taken on the basis of feedback information. It is only action, which adjust performance to predetermined standards whenever deviations occur. A good system of control facilities timely action so that there is minimum waste of time and energy.

Process of Controlling

Control process involves the following steps as shown in the figure:

• Establishing standards: This means setting up of the target which needs to be achieved to meet organisational goals eventually. Standards indicate the criteria of performance.Control standards are categorized as quantitative and qualitative standards. Quantitative standards are expressed in terms of money. Qualitative standards, on the other hand, includes intangible items.
• Measurement of actual performance: The actual performance of the employee is measured against the target. With the increasing levels of management, the measurement of performance becomes difficult.
• Comparison of actual performance with the standard: This compares the degree of difference between the actual performance and the standard.
• Taking corrective actions: It is initiated by the manager who corrects any defects in actual performance.

Controlling process thus regulates companies’ activities so that actual performance conforms to the standard plan. An effective control system enables managers to avoid circumstances which cause the company’s loss.

Techniques of controlling

The ten types of traditional techniques of controlling are discussed below :-

1. Direct Supervision and Observation

‘Direct Supervision and Observation’ is the oldest technique of controlling. The supervisor himself observes the employees and their work. This brings him in direct contact with the workers. So, many problems are solved during supervision. The supervisor gets first hand information, and he has better understanding with the workers. This technique is most suitable for a small-sized business.

2. Financial Statements

All business organisations prepare Profit and Loss Account. It gives a summary of the income and expenses for a specified period. They also prepare Balance Sheet, which shows the financial position of the organisation at the end of the specified period. Financial statements are used to control the organisation. The figures of the current year can be compared with the previous year’s figures. They can also be compared with the figures of other similar organisations.

Ratio analysis can be used to find out and analyse the financial statements. Ratio analysis helps to understand the profitability, liquidity and solvency position of the business.

3. Budgetary Control

A budget is a planning and controlling device. Budgetary control is a technique of managerial control through budgets. It is the essence of financial control. Budgetary control is done for all aspects of a business such as income, expenditure, production, capital and revenue. Budgetary control is done by the budget committee.

4. Break Even Analysis

Break Even Analysis or Break Even Point is the point of no profit, no loss. For e.g. When an organisation sells 50K cars it will break even. It means that, any sale below this point will cause losses and any sale above this point will earn profits. The Break-even analysis acts as a control device. It helps to find out the company’s performance. So the company can take collective action to improve its performance in the future. Break-even analysis is a simple control tool.

5. Return on Investment (ROI)

Investment consists of fixed assets and working capital used in business. Profit on the investment is a reward for risk taking. If the ROI is high then the financial performance of a business is good and vice-versa.

ROI is a tool to improve financial performance. It helps the business to compare its present performance with that of previous years’ performance. It helps to conduct inter-firm comparisons. It also shows the areas where corrective actions are needed.

6. Management by Objectives (MBO)

MBO facilitates planning and control. It must fulfill following requirements :-

1. Objectives for individuals are jointly fixed by the superior and the subordinate.
2. Periodic evaluation and regular feedback to evaluate individual performance.
3. Achievement of objectives brings rewards to individuals.

7. Management Audit

Management Audit is an evaluation of the management as a whole. It critically examines the full management process, i.e. planning, organising, directing, and controlling. It finds out the efficiency of the management. To check the efficiency of the management, the company’s plans, objectives, policies, procedures, personnel relations and systems of control are examined very carefully. Management auditing is conducted by a team of experts. They collect data from past records, members of management, clients and employees. The data is analysed and conclusions are drawn about managerial performance and efficiency.

8. Management Information System (MIS)

In order to control the organisation properly the management needs accurate information. They need information about the internal working of the organisation and also about the external environment. Information is collected continuously to identify problems and find out solutions. MIS collects data, processes it and provides it to the managers. MIS may be manual or computerised. With MIS, managers can delegate authority to subordinates without losing control.

9. PERT and CPM Techniques

Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and Critical Path Method (CPM) techniques were developed in USA in the late 50’s. Any programme consists of various activities and sub-activities. Successful completion of any activity depends upon doing the work in a given sequence and in a given time.

10. Self-Control

Self-Control means self-directed control. A person is given freedom to set his own targets, evaluate his own performance and take corrective measures as and when required. Self-control is especially required for top level managers because they do not like external control.

Total quality management

Total Quality management is defined as a continuous effort by the management as well as employees of a particular organization to ensure long term customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. Remember, one happy and satisfied customer brings ten new customers along with him whereas one disappointed individual will spread bad word of mouth and spoil several of your existing as well as potential customers.

You need to give something extra to your customers to expect loyalty in return. Quality can be measured in terms of durability, reliability, usage and so on. Total quality management is a structured effort by employees to continuously improve the quality of their products and services through proper feedbacks and research. Ensuring superior quality of a product or service is not the responsibility of a single member.

Total quality management ensures that every single employee is working towards the improvement of work culture, processes, services, systems and so on to ensure long term success.

Total Quality management can be divided into four categories:

• Plan
• Do
• Check
• Act

Also referred to as PDCA cycle.

Planning Phase

Planning is the most crucial phase of total quality management. In this phase employees have to come up with their problems and queries which need to be addressed. They need to come up with the various challenges they face in their day to day operations and also analyze the problem’s root cause. Employees are required to do necessary research and collect relevant data which would help them find solutions to all the problems.

Doing Phase

In the doing phase, employees develop a solution for the problems defined in planning phase. Strategies are devised and implemented to overcome the challenges faced by employees. The effectiveness of solutions and strategies is also measured in this stage.

Checking Phase

Checking phase is the stage where people actually do a comparison analysis of before and after data to confirm the effectiveness of the processes and measure the results.

Acting Phase

In this phase employees document their results and prepare themselves to address other problems.

COORDINATION

Coordination Meaning

Coordination is the function of management which ensures that different departments and groups work in sync. Therefore, there is unity of action among the employees, groups, and departments.

It also brings harmony in carrying out the different tasks and activities to achieve the organization’s objectives efficiently. Coordination is an important aspect of any group effort. When an individual is working, there is no need for coordination.

Therefore, we can say that the coordination function is an orderly arrangement of efforts providing unity of action in pursuance of a common goal. In an organization, all the departments must operate a part of a cohesive unit to optimize performance.

Common definitions of the coordination function

Mooney and Reiley – ‘Coordination is an orderly arrangement of group efforts to provide unity of action in the pursuit of common goals.‘

Charles Worth – ‘Coordination is the integration of several parts into an orderly hole to achieve the purpose of understanding.‘

Brech – ‘Coordination is balancing and keeping together the team by ensuring suitable allocation of tasks to the various members and seeing that the tasks are performed with the harmony among the members themselves.‘

needs of coordination

1. “Coordination is the Essence of Management.” I.e. Coordination affects all the functions of management, viz., Planning, Organizing, Staffing, etc.
2. Coordination is a function of management.
3. Coordination is a principle of management, and all other principles are included in this one principle, i.e. Co-ordination is the “Mother Principle“.
4. According to Mary Parker Follett, Coordination is the “Plus-value of the group”. That is, if there is good Co-ordination then the combined group achievement will be greater than the total of the individual achievement, i.e. 2+2=5. This is impossible in the physical world, but it is possible in human affairs through co-ordination.

Importance of Coordination

The need and importance of coordination can be judged from these points:

1. Coordination encourages team spirit

There exists many conflicts and rivalries between individuals, departments, between a line and staff, etc. Similarly, conflicts are also between individual objectives and organizational objectives. Coordination arranges the work and the objectives in such a way that there are minimum conflicts and rivalries. It encourages the employees to work as a team and achieve the common objectives of the organization. This increases the team spirit of the employees.

2. Coordination gives proper direction

There are many departments in the organization. Each department performs different activities. Coordination integrates (bring together) these activities for achieving the common goals or objectives of the organization. Thus, coordination gives proper direction to all the departments of the organization.

3. Coordination facilitates motivation

Coordination gives complete freedom to the employees. It encourages the employees to show initiative. It also gives them many financial and non-financial incentives. Therefore, the employees get job satisfaction, and they are motivated to perform better.

4. Coordination makes optimum utilization of resources

Coordination helps to bring together the human and material resources of the organization. It helps to make optimum utilization of resources. These resources are used to achieve the objectives of the organization. Coordination also minimizes the wastage of resources in the organization.

5. Coordination helps to achieve objectives quickly

Coordination helps to minimize the conflicts, rivalries, wastages, delays and other organizational problems. It ensures smooth working of the organization. Therefore, with the help of coordination an organization can achieve its objectives easily and quickly.

6. Coordination improves relations in the organization

The Top Level Managers coordinates the activities of the Middle Level Managers and develop good relations with them. Similarly, the Middle Level Managers coordinate the activities of the Lower Level Managers and develop good relations with them. Also, the Lower Level Managers coordinate the activities of the workers and develop good relations with them. Thus, coordination, overall improves the relations in the organization.

7. Coordination leads to higher efficiency

Efficiency is the relationship between Returns and Cost. There will be higher efficiency when the returns are more and the cost is less. Since coordination leads to optimum utilization of resources it results in more returns and low cost. Thus, coordination leads to higher efficiency.

8. Coordination improves goodwill of the organization

Coordination helps an organization to sell high quality goods and services at lower prices. This improves the goodwill of the organization and helps it earn a good name and image in the market and corporate world.

ANKIT RAJ urf Ankit King😍