What are the functions of management? This document will define the four fundamental principles of management. They are planning, organizing, leading and controlling. I work for FMC Technologies in airport services. FMC is a service provider for Continental Airlines. FMC provides facilities maintenance in all areas of Bush Intercontinental Airport. I will explain how these functions apply to my company. My company falls a bit short in the planning department. Planning involves developing the company's goals and determining how they will be accomplished. Improper planning can be detrimental to a business. FMC provides facilities maintenance to baggage handling systems for Continental Airlines in Houston, Texas. Management sometimes skips the planning stage and goes straight to organizing. The design phase can be compared to the foundation of a house. If the foundation is weak, the quality of the house will be poor. Proper planning includes meetings that include goals. Goals and missions are clearly defined, and completion dates and schedules are created. We also identify any problems and try to find preventative solutions through brainstorming. We also assign the resources necessary to achieve the set objectives. We do this with business meetings, capital plans and forecasts. Everyone must agree and understand the plan for the goal to be successful. Organization is another critical step in the effective management process. My company uses conference meetings to accomplish this goal. Organizing means establishing the internal organizational structure of the organization. In this phase we delegate tasks and objectives to a person or team. We also establish completion dates and schedules. We meet weekly to measure progress on all goals. This is also the point where the chain of command or hierarchy is clearly defined. Even with a good foundation and stellar organization, the plan cannot be executed without adequate leadership. Leadership is a dynamic function regarding relationships with people. Leaders must have strong interpersonal skills. They also need to be very influential and gain buy-in from their counterparts and their subordinates. The leader is responsible for articulating the mission: (Spurgin, 2006 ¶5). We have an exceptional leader in our site manager. He truly leads by example and is a great role model for senior staff.