Management has evolved and grown from a practically insignificant subject in previous centuries, to one of the most important fields of study in the contemporary world and economics. It has become an important concept not only in business circles, but also in social, economic, and political spheres. Management has also developed a dominant and innovative influence in which today's society depends on substantial support and growth (Cole, 2004). Management can be conventionally defined as the act, practice, and science of getting work done through people. However, true management can be described according to Abedi (2001) as the development of human and non-human resources through work.
Management has clearly developed across numerous disciplines, including marketing, organizational behavior, operations research, human resources, and strategic management.
The historical evolution of Management Theory from 1900 to the present: the evolution of the role of leaders in Organizations
The evolution in management theory over the last century is the story of the ever-changing role of leaders in organizations. As organizational leaders evolved from the carrot-and-stick wielding industrial-age owner-managers to early 21st century servant leaders, the impact of individual leaders on organizations became progressively important. While early managers could rely on authority and heavy-handed tactics to achieve their goals, servant leaders in our time are challenged to set personal examples by living the values and principles they want their followers to achieve.
Early administration and the study of management
Despite the great feats of human achievement, such as the pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum in Rome and the Taj Mahal throughout India bear witness to specialized management in ancient times, the formal study of management only it started in the late 19th century.
The main driver of this development of management as science was the transition from the 19th century "corporate capitalism" to the early 20th century "managerial capitalism." While the early capitalists were business owners who used their own finances to fund organizations they run themselves, rapid industrial growth saw the formation of large organizations with capital often provided by outsiders. This not only "widened the gap" between owners or shareholders and management, it also brought new management challenges (Smit and CRONJE 2002, pp34-35; George 1968).
Scientific management
One of the early pioneers of management theory was Frederick W. Taylor (1856-1915), a mechanical engineer who believed that it was management's job to design jobs correctly and to provide incentives to motivate workers to achieve. higher productivity.
While working at the Midvale Steel Company of Philadelphia, Taylor developed a radical new approach to management, known as scientific management. Studies were conducted on how workers or machines perform tasks, measuring and analyzing every measurable aspect of the work. Next, determine the standard times and sequences for completing each task. With this information, Taylor provided managers with realistic production standards per man / machine hours.
Taylor's scientific management changed the role of managers from typical whip-man to specialized bosses who were adequately equipped to oversee every phase of the production process. On a larger scale, it revolutionized managerial thinking and laid the foundation for the formation of many other management systems in the decades to come.
The administrative approach
Across the Atlantic Ocean Jules Henri Fayol (1841-1925), a fellow engineer and manager of a group of mines in France, concluded that management was an activity common to all human enterprises (including home, business, government, schools, etc…) and that all these companies need five basic administration functions (planning, organization, command, coordination and control). He argued that because management was an all-encompassing activity, it should be taught in schools, colleges and universities.
Fayol's approach rejected the old idea that "managers are born, not made", proposing instead that management is a skill that can be acquired if its principles are understood.
The bureaucratic approach
Max Weber (1864-1920) was a German sociologist who approached management, focusing on organizational structure, the division of organizations into hierarchies with clear lines of authority and control. This meant that managers were given "legal authority" based on their position in the organizational structure, to enforce rules and policies (Smit and Cronjé 2002, p41).
Weber's bureaucratic system helped large organizations to function in a more stable, organized and systematic way. However, by suppressing personality or based on charismatic leadership, individuality and creativity is often sacrificed. Leaders and bureaucratic workers are required to obey the rules and do only what they are told. The result is that these leaders rarely think "outside the box" and therefore it is very difficult to adapt to changing environments and new challenges.
The human relations movement
Elton Mayo (1880-1949) was a Harvard professor who proposed that managers should be more "people-oriented" (Smit and Cronjé, 2002, p.43). Conducting experiments on workplace conditions and incorporating published findings from the Hawthorne studies, Mayo stated that "logical factors were much less important than emotional factors in determining productive efficiency" (George, 1968, p129). It concluded that participation in social groups and "peer pressure," as opposed to organizational structures or management demands, had the greatest impact on worker productivity (Smit and Cronjé, 2002, p.43).
The Mayo findings once again revolutionized the role of managers in organizations. The work carried out by individuals has to satisfy their personal, "subjective" social needs, as well as the productive requirements of the company. He and other advocates of this movement, therefore, called on managers to "accept a new role" in their relationship with workers; develop a new concept of authority; and help foster a new social order in the workplace (George, 1968). In practice, managers were encouraged to consult workers about the change, take note of their views, and to show concern for their physical and mental health (Wren, 2005, p. 293).
Servant leadership
Although the concept of servant leadership is found in the Bible and may even have taken place further back in ancient times, it was first proposed as a management approach by Peter Greenleaf (1904-1990) in his book Leadership of a Servant (Smit and Cronje, 2002). He explained that becoming a servant leader "begins with the natural feeling that you want to serve," followed by the aspiration to lead (Carroll, 2005).
This approach completely revolutionized the role of managers in organizations, as it calls on leaders to place the priorities and needs of their followers before their own or those of the organization. There is also a clear difference between management and administration functions, although ideally today a leader Officer / managers should be able to perform both functions at the same time. Leadership to "foster collaboration, trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power and autonomy as a way to improve the lives of individuals and / or organizations" (P288) Hartley. According to Greenleaf, the ultimate test for successful servant leadership is whether followers have grown as people, as a result of being served, or not, becoming "healthier, wiser,freer, more autonomous, and more prone to become servants. '
Management theories and practices
Administration is one of the most important human activities. From the moment that human beings began to form social organizations to achieve goals and objectives that they could not achieve as individuals, management has been essential to ensure the coordination of individual efforts. As society has continually relied on group effort and so many organized groups have grown large, the task of administrators has grown in importance and complexity. From now on, management theory has become crucial in the way managers manage complex organizations.
The central thesis of this work is that, although some managers in different parts of the world could have achieved management success without having basic theoretical knowledge in management, it should be emphasized unequivocally that those managers who have mixed management theory In their day-to-day practice, they have had better possibilities of managing their organizations, more efficient and effective to achieve their individual and organizational objectives. Therefore, managers of contemporary organizations must appreciate the importance of the role they play in their respective organizations if they are to achieve the stated objectives. Second, there is a need to promote excellence among all people in organizations, especially among managers themselves.
Definition of Management
Management is the art or science of achieving goals through people. Since managers also supervise, management can be interpreted in the literal sense "looking over" - that is, ensuring that people do what they are supposed to do. Therefore, managers are expected to ensure higher productivity, using current jargon, 'continuous improvement'.
More generally, management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently achieve selected goals (Koontz and Weihrich 1990, p. 4). In its expanded form, this basic definition means several things. First, as managers, people carry out the management functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Second, management applies to any type of organization. Third, management applies to managers at all levels of the organization. Fourth, the goal of all managers is the same - to create surpluses. Finally, management deals with productivity - this implies effectiveness and efficiency.
Therefore, management refers to the development of the bureaucracy that derives its importance from the need for strategic planning, coordination, direction and control of a large and complex decision-making process. Therefore, administration involves the acquisition of management skills, and effectiveness in the following key areas: problem solving, administration, human resource management and direction of the organization.
First, management is about solving the problems that keep coming up all the time in the course of an organization struggling to achieve its purposes and objectives. Problem solving should be accompanied by problem identification, analysis and application of solutions to management problems. Second, administration consists of following established procedures (although procedures or standards should not be seen as ends in themselves) for execution, control, communication, delegation, and crisis management. Third, human resource management must be based on the strategic integration of human resources, employee evaluation, and the exchange of ideas between shareholders and employees. By last,Organizational leadership must be developed along the lines of interpersonal relationship, teamwork, self-motivation to develop, emotional strength and maturity to handle situations, personal integrity, and general management skills.
Management objectives, functions, goals, and essentiality
Administration objectives
There are basically three management objectives. One of the objectives is to ensure that the objectives and goals of the organization are met - with less cost and minimal waste. The second objective is the care of the health, well-being, and safety of the personnel. The third objective is the protection of the organization's machinery and resources, including human resources.
Management functions
To understand management, it is imperative that it be divided into five management functions, these are; planning, organizing, staffing, direction, and control.
Planning involves selecting the missions, objectives, and actions to achieve them. Decision-making is required, that is, the choice of future courses of action among the alternatives. Plans range from general purposes and objectives to the more detailed actions that must be taken. There is no real plan until a decision - a commitment of human and material resources - has been made. In other words, before a decision is made, all that exists is the planning of the study, analysis, or a proposal; There is no real plan.
People who work together in groups to achieve some goal must have a role to play. In general, these roles have to be defined and structured by someone who wants to make sure that people contribute specifically to a group effort. Organizing, therefore, is part of management that involves the establishment of an intentional structure of roles to occupy people in an organization. In fact, the purpose of an organizational structure is to assist in creating an environment for human performance. However, the design of an organizational structure is not an easy task to manage because many problems are found in making structures fit in the situations,including both defining the type of work to do and finding the people to do it.
Staffing consists of filling and maintaining full, positions in the organization structure. This is done by identifying the workforce requirements; inventory of available people; and the recruiting, selection, placement, promotion, pre-evaluation, career planning, compensation, and training or otherwise development of current job candidates and employees to carry out their duties effectively and efficiency.
Leading is the influence on people so that they can contribute to the organization and the objectives of the group; which has to do fundamentally with the manager's interpersonal aspect. Most of the important problems for managers arise from people, their desires and attitudes, individual and group behaviors. Therefore effective managers have to be effective leaders. Leadership involves motivation, leadership styles, approaches, and communication.
Control, for example budgeting for expenses, is the measurement and correction of subordinates' activities to ensure that events go according to plan. It measures performance against goals and plans, shows where negative deviations exist, and, by taking actions to correct deviations, helps ensure plans are carried out. Although planning must precede controlling, plans are not self-fulfilling. Plans guide managers in using resources to accomplish specific objectives; The activities are then checked to determine if they are following the plans.The obligation of events to conform to plans that results in locating people who are responsible for the results that differ from the planned action and then taking the necessary steps to improve performance. Therefore, controlling what people do controls the results of the organization.
Lastly, coordination is the essence of dispatching the manager to achieve harmony between individual efforts toward achieving group goals. Each of the management functions discussed above is an exercise that contributes to coordination. Since individuals often interpret similar interests in different ways, and their efforts toward common goals do not automatically mesh with the efforts of others, which therefore becomes the central task of the manager, to reconcile differences in approach., time, effort, or interest, and to harmonize an individual's goals to contribute to organizational goals.
Although these management functions refer to the internal environment to work within an organization, managers must operate in the external environment of an organization as well. Clearly, managers cannot perform their tasks well unless they have an understanding of, and are sensitive to, the many elements of the external environment (economic, technological, social, political, and ethical factors) that affect their areas of operation..
Goals of all managers
First and foremost, the logical and target audience for all managers in all types of organizations, whether business or unskilled, is that there must be a surplus. Therefore, managers must establish an environment in which people can achieve group objectives with the least amount of time, money, materials, and personal dissatisfaction, or in which a desired objective can be achieved as much as possible with available resources. In a non-business enterprise, such as units of a business (for example, an accounting department) that are not responsible for the benefits of the overall activity, managers still have goals and must strive to meet them with minimal resources. or to carry them out as far as possible with available resources.A manager who achieves such an objective is said to be a strategic manager.
The second goal or objective of all managers is that they must be productive. Indeed, the government and the private sector recognize the urgent need to improve productivity. Productivity improvement is about the effectiveness of basic management in administrative and non-administrative activities. Simply defined: productivity is about the input-output ratio within a period of time with due regard for equality.
Finally, productivity implies effectiveness and efficiency in individual and organizational performance. Efficiency is the achievement of objectives. Efficiency is achieving the terms with the least amount of resources. Managers cannot know if they are productive unless they first know their goals and those of the organization.
The essentiality of management in any organization
Managers are responsible for taking the actions that will enable people to make their best contributions to the group's objectives. Therefore, management applies to organizations small and large, for-profit and non-profit, manufacturing as well as service industries. However, a specific situation can vary considerably between different levels in an organization or different types of companies. The scope of the authority withheld can vary and the types of issues dealt with can be considerably different. All managers achieve results by establishing an effective group effort environment.
In addition, all managers carry out managerial functions. However, the dedicated time for each function may be different. Therefore, senior managers spend more time planning and organizing than lower-level managers. Leadership, on the other hand, takes a great deal of time from front-line supervisors. The difference in the amount of time spent monitoring varies very little for managers at various levels.
The manager is, therefore, the dynamic, life-giving element in all businesses. Without the leadership of the manager, the production resources remain mere resources and the production will never become. In a competitive economy, the quality and performance of managers determine the success of a business; in effect, they determine their survival.
On the other hand, nowadays, we no longer speak of "capital" and "work", but we speak of "management and workers." While the "responsibilities of capital" and "Rights of capital" have disappeared from our vocabulary, today we speak of "management responsibilities" or "management prerogatives."
Therefore, the emergence of management as an essential and a leading institution is a key event in social history. Administration is likely to remain a basic and dominant institution, as long as human civilization itself survives. The administration, is the organ of the society specifically in charge of the taking of the productive resources, that is to say, with the responsibility of the economic organization in advance, it reflects the basic spirit of the modern era. In fact, because management is indispensable, it explains why it was done so quickly and with so little opposition. Therefore, developed and developing countries have an immense interest in the competence, skill and responsibility of management.
Management skills and the organization's hierarchy
Managers require four main types of skills, namely: technical, human, conceptual, and design. What do each of these skills mean?
Technical ability is the knowledge and mastery of activities related to methods, processes and procedures. So it's all about working with specific tools and techniques.
Human ability is the ability to work with people; what is the cooperative effort; it is teamwork; it is creating an environment in which people feel safe and free to express their opinions.
Conceptual skill is the ability to serve the "big picture." It is also about the recognition of the important elements in a situation, to understand the relationship between the elements.
Design skill is the ability to solve problems in ways that benefit the business. To be effective, particularly at the higher levels of the organization, managers must be able to do more than just look at a problem. In addition, they must have the skill of a good design engineer in devising a practical solution to a problem. Managers must also have that valuable skill of being able to design a viable solution to the problem in light of the realities they face. It has to be mentioned that the relative importance of these skills may differ at various levels in the hierarchy of the organization.
For the purposes of elaboration, technical skills are the most important at the supervisory level and least at the middle management level, human skills in frequent interactions with subordinates at all levels, conceptual skills not critical for employees. lower-level supervisors, but gains importance in middle-level management. At the top management level, conceptual, design, and human skills are especially valuable, but there is relatively little need for technical skills. There is an assumption, especially in large companies, that CEOs can use the technical skills of their subordinates, in smaller companies, however, technical expertise can be very important.
Women in the hierarchy of the organization
In recent times, women have made significant progress in obtaining positions of responsibility in organizations. Among the reasons for this development are laws regulating fair employment practices, changing societal attitudes towards women in the workplace, and the desire of companies to project a favorable image of the placement of qualified women. in management positions.
However, in some organizations, women find it difficult to rise to the top. In addition to the historical reasons, discrimination has been one of the main reasons why women do not reach the top.
Why study Management Theory?
Theories are the perspectives with which people make sense of their world and experiences (Stoner et. Al., 1995, pp. 31-2). The theory is a systematic grouping of interdependent concepts (mental images formed by the generalization of the particular) and principles (they are generalizations or hypotheses that are tested for accuracy and appear to be true to reflect or explain reality) that provide a framework for, or tie together, a significant area of knowledge. Scattered data are not information unless the observer has knowledge of the theory that will explain the relationships. The theory is' in its lowest form of a classification, a set of lockers, a filing cabinet in which you can actually accumulate. Nothing is more lost than a loose fact "(Homans 1958, p. 5).
However, the variety of approaches to management analysis, the confusion of research, and the number of different points of view have led to a great deal of confusion regarding what is management, what is management theory and science, and how business events should be analyzed. This is why some scholars have called this situation "the jungle of management theory" (Koontz 1961, p. 174-188; 1962, p. 24; 1980, p. 175-187). Since that time, the vegetation in this jungle has changed somewhat, new approaches have developed, and older approaches have taken on some new meanings with some new words attached to them, but the development of science and theory of management still have the characteristics of a jungle.
There is a current of opinion that says that management theory developed during and after the Second World War; It has only been studied in depth since then. The industrial revolution brought in mass production, specialization, the vision of people as a critical resource, all intensified management as a critical area of discourse.
Management principles are fundamental truths, which explain the relationships between two or more sets of variables, usually an independent variable and a dependent variable. The principles can be descriptive or predictive, and not prescriptive. That is, they describe how one variable refers to another - what will happen when these variables interact.
Managers who apply management theory often mix principles with realities. Once managers know about the theory, they will have the ability to avoid future problems that may occur in the company.
At this point, it is convenient to distinguish the theory of administration from the techniques of administration. Contrary to the theory we have discussed earlier, techniques are essentially ways of doing things; methods of achieving a given result. In all fields of practice, including administration, they are important. Techniques usually reflect theory and are a means of helping managers perform activities more effectively.
In the field of management, then, the role of theory is to provide a means of classifying significant and relevant management knowledge. For example, in the area of designing an effective organizational structure, there are several principles that are interrelated and have predictive value for managers. Management theory is grouped into the five management functions.
In summary, there are basically three main reasons why we have to study management theory. First, theories provide a stable approach to understanding what we experience. A theory provides criteria for what is relevant. Second, theories allow us to communicate efficiently and therefore move into more and more complex relationships with other people. Third, theories make it possible (indeed, they challenge us) to continue learning about our world. By definition, theories have limits.
Management theories
Contemporary theories of management tend to represent and help interpret the rapidly changing nature of today's organizational environments. This document will address several important management theories that are broadly classified as follows: The School of Scientific Management, comprising the works of Frederick W. Taylor and Lillian Gilbreth's study of motion, among others; the School of Classical Theory of Organization, includes the works seen by Henri Fayol in administration and the idealized bureaucracy of Max Weber, among others; The School of Behavior that includes the work of Elton Mayo and his collaborators; The School of Management Sciences, which is discussed at the end of this section;and The Recent Evolution of Management Theory, which includes works such as Systems Approach, Situational or Contingency Theory, Chaos Theory, and The Team Formation Approach. Due to lack of time and space, this discussion will provide an overview of some of the experts on each of these management theories and the successes they achieved.
School of Scientific Administration
The first management theory is what is popularly known as Frederick Taylor's Scientific Management. Frederick Taylor began the modern era of administration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he was denouncing the "clumsy, inefficient or misdirected movements of men" as national loss. Taylor constantly tried to tear down management "by the rule of thumb" and replace it with actual timed observations leading to "best practice." He also advocated for the systematic training of workers in "best practice" rather than allowing them personal discretion in their tasks.He believed that the workload would be shared equally between the workers and the administration with the management of conducting science and instruction and the workers doing the work, each group doing "the job for which it was best suited".
Taylor's strongest positive legacy was the concept of breaking a complex task down into a series of subtasks, and optimizing the performance of the subtasks; therefore, your stopwatch measures time trials. However, many critics, both historical and contemporary, have pointed out that Taylor's theories tend to "dehumanize" workers.
However, Taylor's postulates were strongly influenced by his social / historical period (1856-1917) during the industrial revolution; it was a period of autocratic administration that saw Taylor transforming himself to "science" (hence his principles of scientific administration) as a solution to the inefficiencies and injustices of the time. It must be stated that the scientific management met with significant success which included: the science of metal cutting, the design of the coal shovel that the produced at Bethlehem Steel Works (reducing the workers needed for Shovel from 500 to 140), worker incentive systems, a piece-rate payment system for purchasing management, and the influences of the organization in the development of industrial engineering fields,staff and quality control.
It must be recognized that from an economic point of view, Taylorism was extremely successful. The application of his methods produced significant improvements in productivity. For example, improvements like his shovel work at Bethlehem Works that reduced the required workers for Shovel from 500 to 140. From then on, Taylor proposed four major underlying principles of management.
First, there is a need to develop a "science of work" to replace the methods of the old rule of thumb: remuneration and other benefits linked to the achievement of optimal objectives ", measures of work performance and production; Failure to achieve these would contrast the result in loss of income. Second, workers to be "scientifically" selected and developed: training each to be "first class" in some specific task. Three, the 'Science of work' where scientifically selected and trained people were brought together to achieve the best results. Finally, the work and the responsibility to be divided equally between workers and management who cooperate together in close interdependence.
Along with Taylor's postulates is the study of Gilbreth's movement. The final result of this study that led to the centrality of efficiency in organizations. Gilbreth was particularly interested in how he could reduce unnecessary movements resulting from masonry on a construction site; He succeeded in reducing the movements, from 18 to 4. He then proposed that each worker should be involved in doing his own job, preparing for the next higher level, and training his successors.
School of Classical Organizational Theory
In this category of management theory are the works of Max Weber's bureaucratic theory and Henri Fayol's managerial theory. Weber postulated that Western civilization was moving from "wertrational" thought (or value oriented), to affective action (action derived from emotions), and traditional action (Action derived from precedents) to "zweckational" thought (or technocratic). He believed that civilization was shifting to seek the technically optimal results at the expense of emotional or humanistic content.
Weber developed a set of principles for an "ideal" bureaucracy as follows: fixed and official jurisdictional areas, a firmly ordered hierarchy of super and subordination, management based on written records, thorough and expert training, official activity before others and that the management of a given organization follows stable knowable rules. The bureaucracy was conceived as a large machine for the achievement of objectives in the most efficient way possible.
Henri Fayol's administrative theory focuses primarily on personal management rights at a much more granular level. In other words, your work is more directed at the management layer. Fayol believed that the administration had five main functions: to anticipate and plan, organize, command, coordinate, and control. Forecasting and planning was the act of anticipating the future and acting accordingly. Organization was the development of the institution of resources, both material and human. In command he was maintaining the actions and processes that are executed in the institution. Coordination and harmonization was the alignment and efforts of the group. Finally, control is understood as the activities that were previously carried out in accordance with the appropriate rules and procedures.
Fayol developed fourteen principles of management to go along with five main management functions. These principles are: specialization / division of labor, authority with responsibility, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, subordination of individual interest to the general interest, remuneration of staff, centralization, chain of escalation / line of authority, order, equity, stability in their duties, initiative and esprit de corps. Fayol clearly believed that personal efforts and group dynamics were part of an "ideal" organization.
Fayol's five main functions (Plan, Organize, Command, Coordinate and Control) of management are still actively practiced today. The concept of giving competent authority is also widely discussed and well practiced. Unfortunately, its principles of "unity of command" and "unity of leadership" are systematically violated in "head office management", the structure of choice for many of today's companies.
School of behavior
The key researcher in this category is Elton Mayo. The origin of behavioralism is the human relations movement that was the result of the works of Hawthorne, an experiment carried out at the Western Electric Company, in the United States of America, which began in the 1920s (1927-32). The experiments Elton Mayo and his collaborators refuted Taylor's beliefs that science dictated that the highest productivity is in 'the best way' and thus the controlled experiment could be obtained. Hawthorne's studies attempted to determine the effects of lighting on worker productivity. When these experiments did not show a clear correlation between light level and productivity, the experiments began to analyze other factors.These factors that were considered when Mayo was working with a group of women, including rest periods, no rest breaks, no meal times, more hours at work for the day / week, or fewer hours of the working day / work week. With each of these changes, productivity went up. When the women returned to their original hours and conditions, they set a record of productivity.they established a productivity record.they established a productivity record.
These experiments proved five things. First, job satisfaction and therefore performance is not basically economic (it depends more on working conditions and attitudes) communications, positive management response, encouragement and the work environment. Second, Taylorism and its emphasis on employees, self-interest, and the claimed incentive of primarily monetary rewards were rejected. Third, large-scale experiments involving more than 20,000 employees showed highly positive responses for, for example, improvements in work environments (for example, better lighting, new wellness / rest services), and expressions of appreciation. and encouragement as opposed to coercion from managers and supervisors. In fourth place,the influence of the peer group is very high, that is why the importance of informal groups within the workplace. Finally, the shaking hypotheses that society is a horde of individuals not organized (in office) in a way calculated to ensure their self-preservation or interest were denounced.
These results showed that the group dynamics and social structure of an organization were a very important force for or against high productivity. This result called for greater worker participation, greater trust and openness in the work environment, and greater attention to teams and groups in the workplace. Finally, while Taylor's impacts were the establishment of the industrial engineering, quality control, and personnel departments, the greatest impact of the human relations movement came on what the organization's leadership and personnel department were in. doing. The apparently new concepts of «group dynamics», «teamwork», and of organization «Social systems»,all stem from the work of Mayo in the mid-1920s.
Recent Developments in Management Theory
Under this category of theory are the systems approach, contingency or situational theory, chaos theory, and team theory.
Systems theory has had a significant effect on the management of science and understanding of organizations. A system is a set of parts unified to achieve a general objective. If a part of the system is removed, the nature of the system is changed as well. A system can be thought of as having inputs (for example, resources such as raw materials, money, technologies, people), processes (for example, planning, organization, motivation, and control), outputs (products or services), and results (for example, a higher quality of life or productivity for customers / clients, productivity). Systems share feedback between each of these four aspects of the system.
Systems theory can seem pretty basic. However, decades of management training and practices in the workplace have not followed this theory. Only recently, with enormous changes facing organizations and the way they operate, educators and principals have come to face this new way of looking at things. The effect of management systems theory is that it helps managers see the larger organization. It has also allowed managers to interpret patterns and events in the workplace, that is, to allow managers to recognize the various parts of the organization, and in particular the interrelationships of the parts.
The theory of the situation or contingency states that when managers make a decision, they must take into account all aspects of the current situation and act on those aspects that are key to the situation in question. Basically, it is the approach that you "depend on." For example, if one is leading troops in Iraq, an autocratic style is probably best. If one is running a hospital or university, the most participatory and facilitative leadership style is probably the best.
Chaos theory is defended by Tom Peters (1942). However, for many decades, administrators have acted on the basis that organizational events can always be controlled. Therefore, a new theory, known as chaos theory, had emerged to recognize that events are rarely controlled. Chaos theorists suggest that systems naturally go towards greater complexity, and in doing so, they become more volatile and must therefore expend more energy to maintain that complexity. As they expend more energy, they look for more structure to maintain stability. This trend continues until the divisions of the system, are combined with another complex system or completely collapse. It will take an effective manager to keep the second worst case from happening.
The last theory is the team building approach. This theory emphasizes circles of quality, best practices, and continuous improvement. This is a theory that depends primarily on reliance on teamwork. Emphasis is also placed on the management pyramid, and lowering the levels of the hierarchy. Ultimately, it's all about consensus management, that is, involving more people at all levels for decision-making.
Other management theories
In this category are the works of Edward W. Deming and Douglas McGregor. Edward Deming is the founder of modern quality management and is regarded by the Japanese as the key influence in their postwar economic miracle. The postulate several assumptions: create constancy to achieve the purpose, for the continuous improvement of products and services; adopt the new philosophy created in Japan; cease dependence on mass inspection; the build quality along with the price; constantly and forever improve all planning, production and service processes; institute modern methods of on-the-job training for management inclusion; adopt and institute leadership to help people do a better job; drive out of fear,encourage effective two-way communication; decomposition barriers between departments and personnel areas; eliminate exhortations from the workforce that only create adverse relationships; eliminate quotas and numerical targets; remove barriers to workforce pride, including annual evaluations and management by objectives; promote education and self-improvement for everyone; and define permanently the commitment of the top management to always improve quality and productivity and its obligation to put all these principles into practice.including annual evaluations and management by objectives; promote education and self-improvement for everyone; and define permanently the commitment of the top management to always improve quality and productivity and its obligation to put all these principles into practice.including annual evaluations and management by objectives; promote education and self-improvement for everyone; and define permanently the commitment of the top management to always improve quality and productivity and its obligation to put all these principles into practice.
Douglas McGregor (1906-1964) postulated management ideas contained in "Theory X" and "Theory Y". Using human behavior research, he pointed out that the way an organization manages depends on the beliefs of its managers.
The "Theory X" gives a negative view of human behavior and management that he considers to have the management theory that dominated from Fayol onwards especially Taylorism. It is also assumed that most people are basically immature, need direction and control, and are incapable of taking responsibility. They are seen as lazy, who don't like work and need a mix of financial incentives and threats of job loss to make them work ("carrot and stick" mentality).
"Theory Y", the opposite of "Theory X", holds that people want to fulfill themselves through the pursuit of self-esteem, self-development and self-fulfillment at work and in life in general. The six basic assumptions of Theory Y 'are: work is as natural as play or rest (the average human does not inherently dislike work), whether work is a source of pleasure or punishment (to be avoided) it depends on the nature of the work and its management. Second, the effort or need for work does not depend on the threat of punishment if it is committed with the goals of self-direction and self-control rather than external controls. Third, commitment to goals is a function of the benefits associated with their achievement.The satisfaction of the needs of the ego and self-actualization can be directed towards the objectives of the organization. Fourth, the average human learns, under the right conditions, not only by accepting but by seeking responsibility. Fifth, high degrees of imagination, creativity, and ingenuity are not restricted to a narrow group, but are widely distributed in the population. Finally, under the conditions of modern industrial life, the intellectual potentialities of the average human being are only partially being utilized.creativity and ingenuity are not restricted to a narrow group, but are widely distributed in the population. Finally, under the conditions of modern industrial life, the intellectual potentialities of the average human being are only partially being utilized.creativity and ingenuity are not restricted to a narrow group, but are widely distributed in the population. Finally, under the conditions of modern industrial life, the intellectual potentialities of the average human being are only partially being utilized.
There is, however, a theory or approach, the quantitative approach that is hardly used and known by managers. It follows from operations research and management science. It is a mathematical and statistical solution to the problems of using optimization models and computer simulations. Decision-making management is more effective than directive behavior. The management theories that have been discussed, important as they are, have to be translated into practice by managers.
Management as a practice
Management, like all other practices (such as medicine, music composition, engineering, accounting, or even baseball) is an art; it is know-how. Things are being done in light of the realities of a situation.
However, administrators can work better using knowledge about management. This knowledge is what constitutes science. However, the underlying management science is quite crude and inaccurate. This is true because the many variables managers deal with are extremely complex. However, knowledge management can certainly improve management practices. Managers trying to manage without the science of management must put confidence in their luck, intuition, or what they did in the past.
In management, as in any other field, unless practitioners learn by trial and error, there is nowhere one can turn for meaningful guidance other than the accumulated knowledge that underlies their practice; This accumulated knowledge is theory.
For practical purposes, all managers must develop three sets of skills, namely; conceptual, technical and human. Concept skills allow the manager to develop relationships between factors that other people cannot see. Managers who have developed their conceptual skills well are able to apply different theories of management to the same situation. For a manager to be technical, it implies that he or she must act in a professional manner. Professionalism requires the administrator to perform her duties within established procedures, rules, and regulations. Any behavior that compromises the manager's professional etiquette is certainly linked to negatively interfering with the productivity of the organization. By last,A manager must be able to see the members of the organization as human beings who have psychological needs and feelings and emotions. These needs and feelings must be positively exploited for the good of the organization; Employee motivation, therefore, becomes a critical factor in increasing productivity.
References
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