Operations | A Manager's Functions

Business owners and managers have a set of operations they run to maintain and improve their businesses. These operations are referred to as a manager’s functions, which include planning, organising, leading, and controlling/correcting.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at each of these manager functions and their importance in managing a successful business.

What Is Manager Operations?

Every business manager or owner will rely on certain structures and principles to ensure efficient and consistent service delivery or production at the lowest possible cost. These internal controls can be summarised as:

Planning: manage and plan the business
Organising: organise the business structures.
Leading: coordinate, motivate and communicate.
Controlling/correcting: monitor the performance of the business.

Let’s explore these operations in more depth.

Planning

In business, planning is the yardstick we use to measure our performance.

Planning is a leading function. Without planning or the ability to plan, starting a business will only lead to stress and financial ruin.

Who must plan? The management or owner defines the goals and has a plan to achieve those goals.
What is the goal? It would, for example, be to improve on break-even sales.
What is the plan? It is a comprehensive plan or strategy to achieve the goal.
Why must I plan? To get things done right and on time.

These questions and answers are examples of how planning is crucial to the success of a business.

How To Improve Planning

To improve planning, managers must know how to get things done and where to start.

You can get things done by:

Getting into a routine. Routines free up spare time.
Creating step-by-step job and system descriptions. Now, you have a platform from where you can update and improve processes on a regular basis.
Removing obstacles and problems that occupy your mind.
Delegating tasks that others can do or that others can do better than you.

You can start by:

Working on your time management skills.
Accepting improvement as a process and not a quick fix.
Getting into a routine.
Thinking about “creating time” and not “getting time”.
Learning to distinguish between important and urgent tasks. Even important tasks are not always urgent.
Thinking about systems for every process in your business. Systems allow you to organise, delegate and control operations, even in your absence.
Controlling and reporting-back
Take the time to list or categorise tasks into daily, weekly, yearly, and long-term tasks.

Organising

The owner-manager is responsible for designing structures to ensure that things work. This is called organising and includes:

Knowing what tasks are to be done.
Who will do those tasks?
Who reports to whom?

Organising is the process of delivering value and keeping the promises made during marketing. The process of buying raw materials, manufacturing, packaging and delivery is called a value stream.

Diagram, study and improve each process continuously to ensure consistent quality deliveries on time.

How to Organise The Business Structures

You can organise your business structures by investing in operating systems. Operating systems deliver your product on time every time.

Systems are a lot like investing; we are prepared to do extra things now to save time and costs later.

The owner or manager is responsible for designing, implementing and improving. The most important thing is to consistently comply with the operating systems.

Every manager will use or rely on certain management systems to:

Manage and plan the business (define the goals and have a plan to achieve those goals).
Organise the business structures (determine all the tasks and who is responsible).
Coordinate, motivate and communicate. The emotional state of your team is equally important.
Monitor the performance of the business (compare results, correct and improve).
Ensure that the work is done efficiently.

These management instruments will obviously not be the same for all types of businesses but could include:

Detailed organogram or flow diagram identifying all activities and resources (staff and equipment).
Detailed method statement of each activity.
Detailed job descriptions and the step-by-step execution of the method statement.
Detailed record of mistakes, problems and client feedback. The primary objective of recording mistakes is to improve and avoid re-occurrence. Job descriptions (also known as standard operation procedures) are the owner’s tool to manage the company’s staff and to hold people responsible. If a person is at fault, it must always be in terms of his job description. Job descriptions not only detail what work is to be done but also time frames, procedures, reporting and record keeping.
Regular company seminars, at least once a year.
Regular reports (who reports to whom) are the manager’s tools to control and compare.

Leading

Effective leadership is not solely about setting goals and issuing commands; it’s about inspiring your team, creating a culture of collaboration, and encouraging open communication.

A leader must possess the ability to listen actively, empathise with team members, and motivate them towards achieving common objectives.

How to Lead Effectively:

Coordinate: Set clear and achievable objectives for your team, outline responsibilities, and establish timelines.
Motivate: Understand what drives your team members and use that as motivation for them to excel.
Communicate: Establish open lines of communication with your team and be transparent in your decision-making process.

Controlling & Correcting

Controlling and correcting as a business owner or manager means monitoring the performance of your business.

The controlling function is the most difficult.

Controlling is:

What went wrong?
When did it go wrong?
Why did it go wrong?
Where did it go wrong?
What did I do wrong?

The purpose of controlling is to:

a) Ensure compliance with predetermined standards.

b) Ensure company resources are used effectively and efficiently.

What controls should we have? Marketing and Finance are strategic controls, and they make sure that the ship is on course.

Operational controls relate to quality, documents and human resources, and they ensure that engines are fuelled and meals are served on time.

Operational controls include:

Document Control: Typically, to assign responsibilities and to control activities.
Human Resources: Think of Recruiting, evaluating and screening new employees. Compliance with labour laws and cooperating with unions. Policies that prescribe workplace behaviour and time-keeping procedures. Sophisticated employment contracts and job descriptions. Rules and regulations pertaining to payroll, safety and welfare plans. Record keeping related to discipline, grievances, evaluations, sick leave and holidays.
Quality control: By definition, quality control is a benchmark to ensure that the product or service meets the required defined quality standard or customer’s approval. Quality control is the “inspection side” of the inventory process and involves measuring, examining, and testing to gauge conformity.

Financial controls evaluate the performance from a cost-effective perspective.

Financial controls are the most important performance indicators:

The Balance Sheet indicates the financial strength of the business at a specific point in time.
The Income Statement shows the relationship between income and expenses.
The Cash Flow Statement is the forecast for income and expenses.

Factors To Measure Your Business’s Performance

Below, we’ve listed a few factors to consider when measuring your business’s performance.

1. Results

Our measurements are the mirror image of our productivity. A key challenge for the business owner is to decide what to measure. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are often associated with financial statements.

In addition to the financials, you can also identify other key areas that drive your business. For example:

A car dealership will be sales and customer satisfaction. A builder will be the programme, and delivering late means extended overhead costs and possible penalties. For a manufacturer, it will be line speed and production cost per unit.

In addition to financial and performance indicators, all business owners will measure:

Customer satisfaction: Return customers, complaints and a number of returned items.
Achievements by employees: If your best salesman is now working for the opposition, it may well be that his or her performance was not measured and recognised.
Your business compared to others: Benchmarking is a valuable method to compare if your venture is moving ahead or falling behind close rivals.

2. Trends

What is the most important indicator to look at before we invest in the stock market? We look at the trends. Before we invest, we look at performance over the last 12 or even 36 months. The longer the period of past performance, the more accurately we can predict direction, patterns, averages and future trends.

We base our predictions of future value on actual past performance.

Trends tell the truth. In business, we would rather work with the truth than with selected facts that can easily be manipulated.

3. Bottlenecks and weak links

Most businesses rely on a chain of processes. Poor performance in one area will limit overall capacity. Lack of planning, skills and staff/equipment imbalances often make bottlenecks difficult to spot.

4. Do it right the first time

Doing it right the first time is equivalent to making a profit. We do not always have time to do a bit of planning and do it right the first time, but somehow, we can always find time to do it again!

5. Productivity

Time is money. Hence, we plan and prioritise to ensure the most effective use of time. Productive people earn more, get more and achieve more. Entrepreneurs should live productivity – it is the direct result of the effort of management and labour. Productivity ratios serve as a yardstick:

• How well do we manage our assets?

• How well do we deliver to our customers?

Want To Manage Your Business Successfully?

These manager operations and their functions can greatly impact a business’s overall success. Being a manager and successfully applying all of these functions in practice is no easy task. It requires a deep understanding of the business, its processes, and its people.

We at Ability Business Coaching have the necessary expertise and tools, such as business books, to help you successfully manage your business. Our coaching programs cover all aspects of business management.

Operations | A Manager’s Functions