Improving Management Styles and Their FunctionIn the article When Management is the Problem, author Lawrence Sawyer takes a look at the different styles managers have in their practice, such as can perform their functions better and how they relate to the four fundamental functions of management. As an internal auditor, Mr. Sawyer provides some information to these managers to help them and their departments better use the tools they have and points out what basic function they are violating. This article and its key points relate directly to Week 1's assigned reading in our Management 330 textbook and is an excellent example of how to connect the reading to a real-life example. You can also adopt and apply ways to improve your organization or your specific department within your organization as this article is an excellent review on management functions and how they put their practices into practice. In the article, Mr. Sawyer recalls many experiences he had in dealing with managers from different organizations and how he found that any shortcomings he encountered could be directly related to the four basic functions of management, which are planning, organizing, directing and controlling. Planning is described as a function that precedes all other functions and allows for a smooth and correct flow through the remaining functions by establishing objectives and goals and following the procedures and rules that have been established. An excellent example was given of an audit carried out for a company where a manager's practice in managing his engineer's time was carefully examined. The manager realized from his work that he had three years of planned backlog. This was seen and accepted by the manager of Management Functions 3 and corrective actions were taken to regain control of the tasks to be carried out. Best planning practices have been implemented to prioritize and reduce expected completion times for its engineers. Good organizational practices are described more as a remedy for failure than as a guarantee of success. Accountability, authorization… middle of paper… routine decisions often take a long time to get supervisory approval and it would be very easy to delegate responsibility to agents. In addition, higher-level managers will be surprised how interesting it would be for an ordinary agent to know how forecasts work and the results of other reports in our department. In conclusion, Lawrence Sawyer's assessment of the importance of the four fundamental management functions and the different styles managers have in implementing them was very informative. Anyone should be able to make this assessment and better improve their personal habits and management styles and see how they can be applied to the surrounding work environment. Management Functions 6 Resources Sawyer, Lawrence B. (1998, August). When the problem is management. Internal Auditor Vol. 55 Number 4, p.33, 6p. [EBSCOhost]. University of Phoenix Online Collection. Available: http://www.apollolibrary.com/srp/ubm/mgt330.asp: (2002, August 5).