Four Functions of Management

The purpose in this paragraph is to outline the four functions of management. The purpose of any organisation is to run smoothly and achieve the goals and objectives. Using planning, organising, leading and controlling which are the four functions of management allow organisations to achieve goals effectively and efficiently.
The base function is planning, which means defining goals for future organisational performance and deciding on the tasks and use of resources needed to attain them. It enables managers to plan for the future, decide actions to avoid problems and reach goals. According to (Falyol, 1949, Koontz and O'Donnell, 1968, &Wren, Bedeian, &Breeze, 2002), here are the advantages and disadvantages of planning; advantages of planning that planning facilitate management by objectives, then minimise the risks; moreover planning can facilitate co-ordination, also can   improve employee's moral, avoid confusion and wastages; and lastly encourage innovations. The disadvantages of planning are planning made the administrate inflexible ,and there is no scope for individual freedom, then it is time-consuming and expensive project , lastly people cannot predict changes.
For example, John Ellice-Flint first took control of Santos, a large South Australian oil and gas exploration and production company in 2001. He found Santos had sufficient resources but was not fully utilising in resources resulting in losses of over A$150 million. As CEO, he produced and has efficiently implemented an eight-point plan to improve reservoir optimisation and gas commercialisation. As a result, Santos had become Australia's Second-biggest oil business (Brown, 1999 cited in Samson, &Daft, 2009). The example completely illustrates the import role of planning in the management process.

References:

Wren, D. A, Bedeian, A. G &Breeze, J.D. (2002). The foundations of Henri Fayol's administrative theory, Management Decision, Vol.40, No.9, pp.914-915....