Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Still others view management in terms of approaches or processes—i.e., industrial engineer-
ing, organizational, and behavioral concepts. Finally, some consider management as a series
of four tasks, the perspective we will take in this topic.
The functions of management discussed in
Chapter 1
address four key areas (marketing,
fi nance, supply chain management, and human resources) of the fi rm. Any food or agribusi-
ness fi rm must make decisions in all four areas. While these management functions
are important to understand, they don't tell the whole story of what management is all about.
We use the term manager to describe a wide swath of individuals, from chief executive
offi cer to district sales manager. What does a manager who runs a small, independent crop
consulting fi rm have in common with a senior executive in a multi-billion dollar food com-
pany? The answer is simple. In each of these agribusinesses, it's what these managers do that
makes their jobs similar. All effective agribusiness mangers execute four principle tasks in
their work:
•
Planning
•
Organizing
•
Directing
•
Controlling
Each of these tasks plays a part of the agribusiness manager's overall role in managing the
people and events within his/her power to generate the best possible outcome for the organ-
ization. Each task deals with a specifi c aspect of what agribusiness managers actually do as
they manage.
Figure 2.1
illustrates this task-oriented concept of management as a wheel. The four tasks
of management are the spokes that connect the manager with the goals, objectives, and
results desired by the organization. It is only through planning, organizing, directing, and
controlling that the fi rm's (and manager's) goals are achieved. Overall, management can be
no stronger than the weakest spoke in this wheel. Now add
motivation
as the torque, or
speed, or effectiveness, with which the tasks are accomplished. Motivation provides the
motion by which the wheel either moves forward or reverses, but it is not another task.
Strong motivation results in speedy, effi cient, successful and forward-moving management.
On the other hand, a lack of motivation can result in a discouraging reversal. The axle on
which the entire wheel of management turns is
communication
. Again, this is not another
task, but without effective and timely communication, the wheel of management soon begins
to wobble and squeak.
A manager in one situation may be heavily involved in planning activities and have little
or nothing to do with controlling or directing. Another manager's job might be heavily
involved in the directing task, while still others are involved in all four tasks. Regardless of
which tasks are prevalent in one's job, it is critical for agribusiness managers to understand
what goes on in each of the four areas—planning, organizing, directing, and controlling—
since someone, somewhere in the organization must undertake these tasks to get a product
or service to market. The manager that fully grasps the total picture and where they fi t in will
have greater success at carrying out their tasks effectively.
Planning
Planning
can be defi ned as forward thinking about courses of action based on a full under-
standing of all factors involved and directed at specifi c goals and performance objectives.
