Of the Schools of Management Thought; Scientific Management, the Functional Approach, Human Relations/Behavioral Approach, and Quantitative/Systems Approaches; I believe that The Functional Approach would be the better approach to serve most of today’s companies. With the continually changing economic climate the Functional Approach seems to be more aimed at keeping a company focused and on track. As per the book Supervision: Concepts and Practices of Management by Leonard & Hilgert, the critical five functions of the Functional Approach are:
- Planning: Deciding and setting down a course of action.
- Organizing: Designing a structure from the planning, with tasks and authority clearly defined.
- Staffing: Hiring, training, motivating, and directing subordinates actions.
- Leading: Guiding employees toward the objectives of the organization.
- Controlling: Ensuring that plans are carried out.
My husband and I built and began Nantahala Cabins in Western North Carolina about 12 years ago. While running Nantahala Cabins I unknowingly followed the five critical functions of the Functional Approach. We planned the course of actions that we wanted Nantahala Cabins to take. We wanted to have clean, attractive, functional, useful rental cabins for guests to enjoy while vacationing in Western North Carolina. We offer a concierge service to help make their stay more enjoyable. We can help them plan their vacation; book whitewater rafting trips, schedule horseback riding, schedule fishing trips, book pontoon boat rentals, and book train excursions.
We organized the most effectively way of achieving these goals. We designed the structure of the positions for housekeeping and maintenance with tasks clearly defined. We worked with many different outfitters to facilitate scheduling activities for my guests. We organized the website so guests could make online reservations or call us to make reservations. We choose the advertising venues to more effectively reach our target guests.
I handled the staffing. When we first started 12 years ago, our older daughters were in the 11th grade and they helped a lot with the housekeeping and my husband did the maintenance. As our cabins and business grew we hired out the housekeeping and maintenance. With our business being seasonal, I hire part time seasonal employees. This year we have housekeepers that work full time with another large firm, when not working for the other firm they perform my housekeeping when needed. We created written procedures for housekeeping and maintenance. We am able to give a list of cabins that guest have check out from and a time frame that the work needs to be completed by and the housekeepers are able to complete their tasks in their own way.
I try to be an effective leader. I do not give a task to someone unless I am also willing to perform that task myself. I have worked alongside the housekeepers and maintenance people, so they know I also have the proficiency to perform the tasks myself and I am willing to chip in when needed. I have heard from housekeepers that their supervisor at other businesses can not lead they just tell them what to do and how to do it and those other supervisors are not willing to “get dirty” doing the jobs themselves. I take into considerations; on how the housekeepers would like to perform their jobs and if they need additional resources. I try to give them what I would like the end result to be and they may go about it in a different manner than I would but as long as the end result is the same then that is acceptable to me.
The final step in the Functional Approach is controlling. We need to be able to ensure that the goals of Nantahala Cabins are carried out. If I see that some of the goals are not being met then I need to reevaluate. If the cabins are not being kept as clean as I would like, I would ask the housekeepers if they need additional resources i.e.; different type of cleaning products, different equipment – vacuums or mops, or more people. If housekeepers are not able to consistently keep the cabins up to a certain level then that housekeeper may be assigned to a different job or let go. I need to keep a handle on the aesthetic aspects to ensure that Nantahala Cabins achieve its goal of clean attractive functional cabins. Also, if guests ask for certain items to be included in the cabins I can also reevaluate and attempt to include those items. When we first opened we did not have TV’s in any of the cabins. Some guests like not having TV’s as they were trying to get away from it all. After several years we installed Direct TV in all of the cabins. So even if they guests wanted to get away from it all they could still have access to the weather channel. So for me controlling has been ensuring that the guests’ needs are met and adjusting parameters to meet guest needs. This could be from ensuring cleanliness and be open to make changes as per guests’ wishes.
So without realizing it I have been performing my management’s skills to reflect the Functional Approach to management.
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