Management has been described as a social process involving responsibility for economical and effective planning & regulation

of operation of an enterprise in the fulfillment of given purposes. It is a dynamic process consisting of various elements and activities. These activities are different from operative functions like marketing, finance, purchase etc. Rather these activities are common to each and every manger irrespective of his level or status. Different experts have classified functions of management. According toGeorge & Jerry, There are four fundamental functions of management i.e. planning, organizing, actuating and controlling. According to Henry Fayol, To manage is to forecast and pla n, to organize, to command, & to control. Whereas Luther Gullick has given a keyword POSDCORB where P stands for Planning, O for Organizing, S for Staffing, D for Directing, Co for Co-ordination, R for reporting & B for Budgeting. But the most widely accepted are functions of management given by KOONTZ and ODONNEL i.e.Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing and Controlling. For theoretical purposes, it may be convenient to separate the function of management but practically these functions are overlapping in nature i.e. they are highly inseparable. Each function blends into the other & each affects the performance of others.

1. Planning
It is the basic function of management. It deals with chalking out a future course of action & deciding in advance the most appropriate course of actions for achievement of pre-determined goals. According to KOONTZ, Planning is deciding in advance - what to do, when to do & how to do. It bridges the gap from where we are & where we want to be. A plan is a future course of actions. It is an exercise in problem solving & decision making. Planning is determination of courses of action to achieve desired goals. Thus, planning is a systematic thinking about ways & means for accomplishment of pre-determined goals. Planning is necessary to ensure proper utilization of human & non-human resources. It is all pervasive, it is an intellectual activity and it also helps in avoiding confusion, uncertainties, risks, wastages etc.

2. Organizing
It is the process of bringing together physical, financial and human resources and developing productive relationship amongst them for achievement of organizational goals. Accordi ng to Henry Fayol, To organize a business is to provide it with everything useful or its functioning i.e. raw material, tools, capital and personnels. To organize a business involves determining & providing human and non -human resources to the organizational structure. Organizing as a process involves:

Identification of activities. Classification of grouping of activities. Assignment of duties. Delegation of authority and creation of responsibility.

 Coordinating authority and responsibility relationships. 3. Staffing

It is the function of manning the organization structure and keeping it manned. Staffing has assumed greater importance in the recent years due to advancement of technology, increase in size of business, complexity of human behavior etc. The main purpose o staffing is to put right man on right job i.e. square pegs in square holes and round pegs in round holes. According to Kootz & ODonell, Managerial function of staffing involves manning the organization structure through proper and effective selection, appraisal & development of personnel to fill the roles designed un the structure. Staffing involves:

Manpower Planning (estimating man power in terms of searching, choose the person and giving
the right place).

Recruitment, selection & placement. Training & development. Remuneration. Performance appraisal. Promotions & transfer. 4. Directing
It is that part of managerial function which actuates the organizational methods to work efficiently for achievement of organizational purposes. It is considered life-spark of the enterprise which sets it in motion the action of people because planning, organizing and staffing are the mere preparations for doing the work. Direction is that inert-personnel aspect of management which deals directly with influencing, guiding, supervising, motivating sub-ordinate for the achievement of organizational goals. Direction has following elements:

Supervision Motivation Leadership Communication

Supervision- implies overseeing the work of subordinates by their superiors. It is the act of watching & directing work & workers. Motivation- means inspiring, stimulating or encouraging the sub-ordinates with zeal to work. Positive, negative, monetary, non-monetary incentives may be used for this purpose. Leadership- may be defined as a process by which manager guides and influences the work of subordinates in desired direction. Communications- is the process of passing information, experience, opinion etc from one person to another. It is a bridge of understanding.

5. Controlling
It implies measurement of accomplishment against the standards and correction of deviation if any to ensure achievement of organizational goals. The purpose of controlling is to ensure that everything occurs in conformities with the standards. An efficient system of control helps to predict deviations before they actually occur. According to Theo Haimann, Controlling is the process of checking whether or not proper progress is being made towards the objectives and goals and acting if necessary, to correct any deviation. According to Koontz & ODonell Controlling is the measurement & correction of performance activities of subordinates in order to make sure that the enterprise objectives and plans desired to obtain them as being accomplished. Therefore controlling has following steps: a. b. c. d. Establishment of standard performance. Measurement of actual performance. Comparison of actual performance with the standards and finding out deviation if any. Corrective action.

MIS for Business Planning: Business environment is prone to changes and this factor makes business planning very complex. Some factors such as the market forces, technological changes, complex diversity of business and competition have a significant impact on any business prospects. MIS is designed to assess and monitor these factors. The MIS design is supposed to provide some insight into these factors enabling the management to evolve some strategy to deal with them. Since these factors are a part of the environment, MIS design is required to keep a watch on environment factors and provide information to the management for a strategy formulation. Strategy formulation is a complex task based on the strength and the weakness of the organization and the mission and goals it wishes to achieve. Strategy formulation is the responsibility of the top management and the top management relies on the MIS for information. There are various business strategies such as overall company growth, product,market, financing and so on. MIS should provide the relevant information that would help the management in deciding the type of strategies the business needs. Every business may not require all the strategies all the time. The type of strategy is directly related to the current status of business and the goals it wishes to achieve. The MIS is supposed to provide current information on the status of the business goals. MIS is supposed to give a status with regard to whether the business is on a growth path or is stagnant or is likely to decline, and the reasons thereof. If the status of the business shows a declining trend, the strategy should be of growth. If business is losing in a particular market segment, then the strategy should be a market or a product strategy. The continuous assessment of business progress in terms of sales, market, quality,profit and its direction becomes the major role of MIS. It should further aid the top management in strategy formulation at each stage of business. The business does not survive on a single strategy but it requires a mix of strategy operating at different levels of the management. For example, when a business is on the growth path, it would require a mix of price, product and market strategies. If a business is showing a decline, it would need a mix of price-discount, sales promotion and advertising strategies. The MIS is supposed to evaluate the strategies in terms of the impact they have on business and provide an optimum mix. The MIS is supposed to provide a strategy-pay off matrix for such an evaluation. In business planning, MIS should provide support to top management for focusing its attention on decision making and action. In business management, the focus shifts from one aspect to another. In the introductory phase, the focus would be on a product design and manufacturing. When the business matures and requires and requires to sustain or to consolidate, the focus would be on the post sales services and support. The MIS should provide early warning to change the focus of the management from one aspect to the other.

Evolving the strategies is not the only task the top management has to perform. It also has to provide the necessary resources to implement the strategies. The assessment of resource need, and its selection becomes a major decision for the top management. The MIS should provide information on resources, costs, quality and availability, for deciding the cost effective resource mix. When the strategies are being implemented, it is necessary that the management gets a continuous feedback on its effectiveness in relation to the objective which they are supposed to achieve. MIS is supposed to give a critical feedback on the strategy performance. According to the nature of the feedback, the management may or may not make a change in the strategy mix, the focus and the resource allocation. MIS has certain other characteristics for the top management. It contains forecasting models to probe into the future-the business model for evaluation of the strategy performance by simulation business conditions. It contains functional models such as the model for a new product launching, budgeting, scheduling and the models using PERT /CPM technique for planning. MIS for the top management relies heavily on databases which are external to the organization. The management also relies heavily on the internal data which is evolved out of transaction processing. Management uses the standards, the norms, the rations and the yardsticks while planning and controlling the business activities. They are also used for designing strategies and their mix. The MIS is supposed to provide correct, precise and unbiased standards to the top management for planning. We can summaries the role of the MIS in the top management function as follows. MIS supports by way of information, to 1. Decide the goals and objectives, 2. Determine the correct status of the future business and projects, 3. Provide the correct focus for the attention and action of the management, 4. Evolve, decide and determine the mix of the strategies, 5. Evaluate the performance and give a critical feedback on the strategic failures, 6. Provide cost-benefit evaluation to decide on the choice of resources, the mobilization of resources, and the mix of resources. 7. Generate the standards, the norms, the ratios and the yardsticks for measurement and control. Success of a business depends on the quality of support the MIS gives to the management. The quality is assured only through an appropriate design of the MIS integrating the business plan with the MIS plan.