THE FOUR KEY TASKS OF AGRIBUSINESS MANAGERS
management has been described using as many concepts as there are authors in
the field. Some describe management as a division of four areas of functional
responsibility, such as finance, marketing, supply chain management, and personnel.
Others view it as coordinating resources, such as money, markets, materials, machinery,
methods, and manpower. Still others view management in terms of approaches or
processed—i.e., industrial engineering, organizational, and behavioral concepts. Finally,
some consider management as a series of four tasks.
The function of management address four key areas (marketing, finance, supply
chain management, and human resources) of the firm. Any food or agribusiness firm
must make decisions in all four areas. While these management functions are important
to understand, they don’t tell the whole store of what management is all about. We use
the term manager to describe a wide swath of individuals, from chief executive officer to
district sales manager. What does a manager who runs a small, independent crop
consulting firm have in common with a senior executive in a multi-billion-dollar food
company? In each of these agribusinesses, it’s what these managers do that makes their
hobs similar.
All effective agribusiness managers execute four principles tasks in their work:
1. Planning
2. Organizing
3. Directing
4. Controlling
Each of these tasks plays of the agribusiness manager’s overall role in managing the
people and events within his/her power to generate the best possible outcome for the
organization. Each task deals with a specific aspect of what agribusiness managers
actually do as they manage.
Task-oriented concept of management as a wheel. The four tasks of management
are the spokes that connect the manager with the goals, objectives, and result desired by
the organization. It is only through planning, organizing, directing, and controlling that the
firm’s (and manager’s) goals are achieved. Overall, management can be no stronger that
the weakest spoke in this wheel. Now, add motivation as the torque, or speed, or
effectiveness, with which the tasks are accomplished. Motivation provides the motion by
which the wheel either moves forward or reverses, but it is not another task. Strong
motivation results in speedy, efficient, successful and forward-moving management. On
other hand, a lack of motivation can result in a discouraging reversal. The axle on which
the entire wheel of management turns is communication. Again, this is not another task,
but without effective and timely communication, the wheel of management soon begins
to wobble and squeak.
A manager in one situation may be heavily involved in planning activities and have
little or nothing to do with controlling or directing. Another manager’s job might be heacily
involved in the directing task, while still others are involved in all four tasks. Regardless
of which tasks are prevalent in one’s job, it is critical for agribusiness managers to
understand what goes on in each of the four areas—planning, organizing, directing, and
controlling—since someone, somewhere in the organization must undertake these tasks
to get a product or service to market. The manager that fully grasps the total picture and
where they fit in will have grater success at carrying out their tasks effectively.
