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For practical purposes the major functions can be divided into: a. purchasing, b. production, c. marketing and sales, eL finance, and e. personnel.
Purchasing: In purchasing, the objective must be to ensure the supply of the correct raw materials or manufactured products in the appropriate quantities and qualities for conversion or use at the right time,, commensurate with minimum stockholdings Such a function requires experience and special skills and a wide knowledge of the product and customer requirements. Such expertise can only be acquired from a broad knowledge of the sources of supply, combined with the ability to specialize over the narrower front of the individual undertaking. it involves an intimate knowledge of the raw materials to be Purchased coupled with a continual study of the markets and market conditions. A comparison of the results obtained from the purchases, both technically and financially, is implicit in the function.
Production: Production management should be aimed at producing planned goods to an economical and acceptable design at the level of quality commercially required and at the minimum cost consistent with satisfactory working conditions and the maintenance of plant and buildings in a good state of repair. The fulfilment of such functions requires technical expertise, the appreciation of statistics and costs, and the exercise of control over productive, administrative, and inspection functions, coupled with the ability to plan and organize production, to manage personnel, and to draft reports.
Marketing and sales: The management aims grouped broadly under marketing and sales are basically to plan the product type, the volume of production, and the customer outlets. The functions undertaken must ensure that the product is marketed in an acceptable form and manner, that sales areas and markets are organized, that distribution passes through satisfactory channels to the final outlets, that payment is made for the goods, and that the service given is satisfactory. It is essential to ensure that there should be adequate awareness of the product on the part of the consumer, whether by promotion in any of its forms, such as advertising, display, or technical information, or by personal contacts. The satisfactory fulfilment of the functions of marketing and sales requires special managerial aptitudes, including not only the ability to organize and to understand human psychology but also a temperament conducive to good human relations.
Finance: The management aim must be to secure an adequate supply of finance to purchase the physical means of production, whether buildings', machinery, or raw material, to pay 'wages and salaries, and to cover expenditure for repairs and the maintenance of buildings and plant. Stocks of process goods, finished goods, and goods in transit must be financed, as also must debtors. Adequate reserves, must be built up to provide, for the renewal of capital equipment or to bridge periods of difficult trading conditions. Unlike the other functions of management, financial responsibilities do not in the main require a deep psychological understanding of human beings or the ability to manage personnel.
Personnel: In this field, management must have as its aim the recruitment of staff and productive labour in the right volume and of the right calibre. It must arrange for the training of recruits and for satisfactory working hours and conditions. There must be an understanding of the law relating to employment and safety and knowledge of trade-union relations and wage-payment methods.
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Participants