Mgt 330 - the Five Functions of Effective Management at Lifeway

                          The Five Functions of Effective Management at LifeWay

                                                       Brittany Biggers

                        MGT330: Management for Organizations ( BAC1617B)

                                        Instructor: Anthony DiGaetano

                                                     May 24th, 2016

       Managers are very important in the role of carrying out the missions, values, and goals

of an organization. Managers do not aimlessly make decisions or carry out their responsibilities

by chance, but have good effective practices toward management. At LifeWay the mission is to

support the Church in her efforts of making disciples, by providing and producing  quality

Christian resources. The values to carry out this mission is to root everything in scripture, do one

more thing, create heroes,  and pursue the savvy. Each one of these values are carried out by the

staff of LifeWay by the leading and direction of management. Practical applications of

these values are adapted into theories and practices that are exercised by management. In order

for managers to be successful in their leadership roles, in carrying out the mission and values of

LifeWay they must become proficient at the five basic functions of effective management:

planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.

       Planning is important in making the objectives of employees who all come together with the

intricate, individual, and specific roles they all play to accomplish common goals and objectives.

“The concept of strategy-making process was first examined in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  

Henry Mintzberg (1973) wrote his seminal article using the term ‘strategy-making’, defined as ‘a  

process that involves the range of activities that firms engage in to formulate and enact their

strategic mission and goals.” (Verreynne, M. L.; Meyer, D 2010, p. 399). So establishing a

mission, to commonly aspire each to perform, is the most essential part of planning. At LifeWay

the mission is support the church in her efforts of making disciples by providing quality and

trustworthy Christian material. There are many steps in the planning process. First it is good

practice to acknowledge all internal, like LifeWay’s brand and resources they provide and the

method in how they make these resources available and external factors, like another

organization, Family Christian, with a similar purpose, of the organization. This will expose the

strengths and weaknesses. Another step is to come up with a definitive conclusion of strategic,