Changing times, changing organizational context
Management theory in the last hundred years
Management styles within organizations have changed quite drastically over the last hundred years. Management theory in the early 1900’s focused on extrinsic values such as wages as incentives and ignored the contribution of the external environment while more modern approaches recognize the impact of the external environment and intrinsic values such as learning opportunities and worker autonomy (Stueart, Moran, and Morner 19-42).
Management thought post-World War II involved both scientifically driven styles such as the Quantitative Approach and humanistic approaches such as the Self-Actualizing Movement. The Quantitative Approach relies on mathematical
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Along with more humanistic approaches came a school of thought which believed there was no best way in which to manage an organization. In the 1960’s, the Contingency Approach to management began to take shape and managers realized the best management style varied depending on the available technology, size of the organization, and outside influences such as the economy or available resources (Conference, I.R.M.A.I., and Khosrowpour 268; Stueart, Moran, and Morner 19-42).
More recently, the Learning Organization theory of management has taken hold, stemming largely from the need of organizations to deal with rapidly evolving technology. Learning Organization combines the System Approach view of the organization as a system, with the Self-Actualizing Movement’s view of employee autonomy and
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At this point in time the computer was being integrated into organizations, and viewed by many as a boon to information management. While the major use of computers was reserved for technical and science librarians, reference librarians were adopting the use of computers since the amount of material a reference librarian was required to know was becoming impossible to keep up to without a computer’s aid. Librarians were, and still are, expected to be aware of the newest techniques and have the skills to use new technologies on the
Herzberg, F.(1976). The Managerial Choice: To be efficient and to be human. Homewood, Ill: Dow Jones-Irwi
Wren. (2005). The History of Management Thought (5th ed.). Danvers, MA: Wiley & Sons. (Original work published 1976)
Many different theorists and experts had their own views or definitions of scientific management, George Ritzer defines Scientific Management as a method that ”produced nonhuman technology that exerted great control over workers” Ritzer.G, The Mcdonaldization of Society pg. 34 (2004). Although all these definitions are correct in their own way, the establisher of the scientific management style, Frederick Taylors view on management was that ‘the principal object of management should be to secure maximum prosperity for the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity of the employee’ FW Taylor, The principles of Management pg. 9 (1911). Taylor wanted to replace the ‘rule of thumb’ way of working by studying the relationships between people and tasks for the purpose of redesigning the work process for higher efficiency.
This assignment discusses the applicability of the ideas of scientific management theory by Frederick Taylor and general administrative theory by Max Weber in today’s organisations and managements. These theories have been constantly debated on whether their theories are still applicable to modern management in various countries, typically in the USA. Our research stance is partially agree which means agree but not completely agree to the extent that Taylor’s theory is more relevant in today’s organisations as his theory includes the mental aspects for workers. Gupta (2000) believes ‘every worker has a potential for development’. Nevertheless, Weber’s theory apportions a management system which is based on standardized procedures and a clear
It is made very clear by all Gurus of Management how important is to take into consideration every aspect of an organisation. They all have different points of view, whereas one of them believes that the issue of a modern company relates to the way that the job positions are constantly changing, the other believes that the atmosphere of the company is the crucial point of progress. Above all, they all claim for a change in the way that managers are managing, as they believe that the middle management is holding companies back and should be left behind. In turn, individuals should be able to work on their own, which consequently would give people more satisfaction from their job, increasing cooperation and innovation, therefore setting the company in the way of success.
Management plays an important part in how business operates. Robbins & Coulter (2014, p. 54) state that “The first studies of management, often called the classical approach, emphasized rationality and making organizations and workers as efficient as possible. Two major theories comprise the classical approach: scientific management and general administrative theory.”
Parayitam, S., White, M.A., & Hough, J.R. (2002). Juxtaposition of Chester I. Bernard and Frederick W. Taylor: forerunners of management. Management Decision, 40, 1003-1012.
The learning organization concept is the new more modern version that is used in today’s organizations. The two concepts are very comparable traditional organization is learning the ways of the morally organization and learning organization meaning clarifying what already exist and adding to it to improve the quality of product and services (Ortenblad, 2001). An example of an analysis between traditional organization and the New organizational are the following (Ortenblad, 2001, p. 130): old traditional learning includes entities of learning which are individuals and the organization as a whole. The existence of knowledge includes outside individuals. The new organizational learning includes the entities of learning that consist of human behavior and the existence of knowledge is something that cannot be stored but is already known (Ortenblad, 2001, p.
In this modern era of technology and advancement, corporate/ Public & Private institutions are more focusing on productivity and constant growth through adapting different management styles and philosophies in order to hold strong their grip on market fluctuations and existence. They are working on more diversified concepts of management philosophies along with other factors that have influence on both Public & Private sector organizations.
There are several theories that examine an organization and it’s approach to managing work in an effort to develop efficiency and increase production. Two classical approaches to management are Taylor’s scientific management theory and Weber's bureaucratic management theory. Both men are considered pioneers of in the study of management.
Waddell, D, Jones, G and George, J 2007, ‘Evolution of Management’, Contemporary Management, 1sted, North Ryde, N.S.W. : McGraw-Hill, c2007, Australia, pp. 41-67.
In conclusion, management have to be flexible as it manages human beings whose behaviors are always unpredictable because they go individually different socio-economic status, needs and perceptions. Management deals with the complex problems about which may require to go though a lot of principles have been derived out of experiments, observation and enquiry. Invention and improvement of theories in every discipline is a continuous process.
Certo, S. C., & Certo, S. T. (2006). Modern management. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
The four contemporary approaches to management are sociotechnical systems, quantitative management, organizational behavior and systems theory. Each approach is unique, and each approach can be used in many types of management.
At the very drawn of the society, management has been emerging under changing situations. And still now it has been redefining its implications throughout every sphere of our society. Management is now widely spread out mostly in business organization. In the paradigm of business, management is getting things done through and with the other people.1 (Institute in Omaha, Nebraska,)