Fundamentals of Extension Education

Functions of administration

• Administrators, broadly speaking, engage in a common set of functions to meet the organizations goals. These ‘functions’ of the administrator were described by ‘Henri Fayol’as the ‘5 elements of administration’.
  1. Planning: Planning is deciding in advances what to do, how to do it, when to do it and who should do it. It maps the path from where the organization is to, where it wants to be. The planning function involves establishing goals and arranging them in logical order. Administration engages in both short-range and long range planning.
  2. Organizing: organizing involves identifying responsibilities to be performed, grouping responsibilities into departments or division and specifying organizational relationships. The purpose is to achieve coordinated efforts among all the elements in the organization. Organization must take into account delegation of authority and responsibility and span of control within supervisory units.
  3. Staffing: staffing means filling job positions with the right at the right time. It involves determining staffing needs, writing job descriptions, recruiting and screening people to fill positions.
  4. Directing: Directing in leading people in a manner that achieves the goals of the organization. This involves proper allocation of resources and providing an effective support. Directing requires exceptional interpersonal skills and the ability to motivate people. One of the crucial issues in directing is to find the correct balance between emphasis on staff needs and emphasis on economic production.
  5. Controlling: Controlling is the function that evaluates quality in all areas and detects potential or actual deviations from the organization plan. This ensures high quality performance and satisfactory results while maintaining an orderly and problem free environment controlling includes information management measurement of performance and institutions of correcting actions.
  6. Budgeting: Exempted from the list above, incorporates most of the administrative functions, beginning with the implementation of a budget plan through the application of budget controls.