Marketing Literature Review: Marketing as a Management Essay Example

is the PEST factor (Demographic, Natural, Political/legal, economic, socio-cultural, and technological). The second important element which is ‘what to do’ can also be referred to as ‘what to achieve’. These are expressed in terms of a statement of objectives, goals and targets.

The third element, future, may be any time that succeed in the next second or a fraction of it. The future is basically characterised by uncertainty and uncertainty involves risk. Therefore, effective planning requires an effective and efficient process of coping with the uncertainty and the risk of the future to enable achievement of organisation’s objectives. Organizing In order to reach the objective outlined in the planning process, structuring the work of the organization is a vital concern.

Organizing is the management function which focuses on arranging and allocating work, authority and resources among an organization’s members that blend together to develop one purpose, to accomplish the goals. These goals will be reached in accordance with the company’s values and procedures. This function involves the setting up of an organizational structure whereby work is allocated, lines of authority and responsibility defined and a system of rules and regulations which guide the conduct of employees laid down. Bateman, Snell (2007) pointed out that a manager must know their subordinates and what they are capable of in order to organize the most valuable resources a company has, its employees.

This is achieved through management staffing the work division, setting up the training for the employees, acquiring resources, and organizing the work group into a productive team. This structure should constantly change to suit the organizational needs. Leading Leading involves influencing others to engage in the work

behaviours necessary to reach organizational goals (Bartol 1997).

The manager must communicate with his/her subordinates, explain his/her plans to them, and lead and motivate them to exert their maximum efforts to achieve the goals. Motivation is an internal process that energizes people to engage in certain types of behaviours. Frederick Winslow Taylor’s Scientific Management Movement, was one of the earliest attempts to understand and to deal with the problem of worker motivation. Some major contributors to motivation theories are Abraham Maslow for the Hierarchy of needs theory, Douglas Mc Gregor for Theory X and Theory Y, Frederick Herzberg for Motivation-Hygiene Theory.

Leadership has been defined by Dobbins and Pettman (1997) as the ability to motivate people to work towards achieving common goals, to make ordinary people display extraordinary performance. There are different theories of leadership with various stages at its development: traditional theories, contemporary theories and future of leadership. The major contributors to leadership theories are Handy (1993), Kouzes and Pasner(1993), Cacioppe (1997), R. Likert(1961), Blake and Mouton (1964), Fiedler (1967), and Hersey-Blanchard (1968). Controlling

Controlling is the management function aimed at regulating organizational activities so that actual performance will conform to expected organizational standards and goals (Bartol 1997). Therefore, the controlling function consists of three steps:

• Establishing a standard or target,
• Measuring current performance and comparing it with the standard,
• Taking corrective actions if deviations are detected.

Control is essential at every managerial level since each level has its own planning and responsibility regarding the respective set of activities.However, there is a misconception that control is from top management due to the fact that responsibility increases with the level of hierarchy. Integration of Marketing Function

Integration is a marketing catchphrase of the moment. It has risen up because of social, market and technological developments have become more salient and significant than before.

The harmonizing of integrated marketing must start with the planning process, by allowing adequate feedback and flexibility to achieve increased organizational fluidity. For the delivery of good customer satisfaction, there should be coordination at three levels. Co-ordination among various marketing activities. Nowadays companies need to use a wider range of communication tools and messages effectively by embracing Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC).

IMC requires “integration and co-ordination of an organization’s many communication channels, such as advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion and public relations and publicity, to deliver a clear, consistent and compelling message about the organization and its products” (Kotler, 2000).