Read the passage and answer the question.

Sarah is the manager of a customer service team at a growing e-commerce company. The company has recently faced an influx of customer queries due to an increase in online orders. As the manager, Sarah's role is crucial in ensuring her team is aligned with the company's goals and capable of meeting the growing demand.

To begin, Sarah holds a team meeting where she clearly communicates the new expectations for handling customer inquiries, including targets for response times and quality standards. She provides clear guidelines on how to manage the increased workload and sets specific deadlines for individual tasks. Sarah integrates employees' efforts and ensures that the team understands the importance of customer satisfaction and how it contributes to the company's reputation and success.

Additionally, Sarah motivates her team by recognizing their achievements, offering constructive feedback, and providing training sessions to improve their skills. She fosters open communication, encouraging her team to express any challenges they encounter. Her leadership style includes delegation of responsibilities, which helps employees feel trusted and empowered.

Under Sarah's direction, the team becomes more efficient, delivering timely and high-quality customer service, which ultimately boosts customer satisfaction and supports the company's growth.

The above case clearly depicts that directing is the heart of management because Sarah :

Empowers employees and improves their engagement

The correct answer is option 2- Empowers employees and improves their engagement.

The case shows that Sarah is encouraging employees to meet performance standards, which is a key aspect of directing- one of the core functions of management. Directing is often called the "heart of management" because it involves Leading, Motivating, Communicating, Supervising. By empowering employees and helping them stay engaged, Sarah is effectively applying the directing function, which drives action and helps achieve organizational goals.