Management Evolution - Research Paper Example

Management Evolution Management requires one to complete their job effectively and efficiently with the adequate use of their workforce. Thus, by this definition, we imply that effective use of a workforce is one of the most fundamental principal of any organisation. Therefore, decisions need to be taken as to how to manage one’s workforce and what strategies and leadership style would be most adequate in the handling of your workforce. However, deciding how to handle a particular workforce of a particular organisation is one of the most crucial factors. One cannot possibly stick to a single strategy and move about using it in all organisations thus it is very necessary to be flexible within the context of managing people. It has been observed that the styles for managing people have evolved and changed within years. In the past a more traditional approach was usually undertaken; however, as extensive changes in technology took place a more flexible approach was adapted toward managing people. Managing people is a very important phenomenon from what I observed within my own studying environment. If teachers do not put in extra effort towards the behavioural approach of the students they do not intend to attain successful results. Teachers who tend to be more dominating whilst not encouraging much of the feedback usually encounter students that are highly pressurized, under stress or carefree students who don’t give importance to their education since their ideas are not given importance to by their teachers. On the other hand those teachers who tend to be more involved with their students also tend to have extremely good results with their students. But then again one more thing that I noticed was that involving students is not necessarily the best way since sometimes student do take advantage of this benefit. Personally what I feel is that it gives the student the impression that the teacher will not really mind if he does not do his homework or submit in his assignment since he/she is extremely friendly thus there is no chance of being punished. This only implies the fact that within our studying environments we do have different teachers with different styles of handling students. I guess the best way is to be involved with students but then in the end the final decision should be that of a teacher. But again I believe that it is not at all necessary that this same tactic is applied in every class at my school. Instead, one should undertake handling approaches using the contingency theory which means handling students in accordance with their behaviour. For example, in a class of non serious students one should use a democratic approach since they need to be shown that there is somebody who does care about them and their ideas. On the other hand in a class where there is a mix of naughty and studious students a teacher should adapt the paternalistic approach which means taking their feedback but in the end the final decision is that of the teacher. Thus, my studying environment, if I observe, is a combination of all leadership styles and I believe this is extremely effective since every class has students with different attitudes and therefore it is very necessary for a teacher to adapt to the class according to the particular culture associated with those students. The approach towards managing people was first laid down by Robert Owen. He laid down the theory for improvement towards human relations. Therefore he was the one who believed in improving the living of works. Charles Babbage, on the other hand, was the father of modern computing who laid down the theory of specialization which involves giving various tasks to different individuals according to their expertise. Specialization basically implies that a person will feel motivated because he has been given the job he/she is best at. Thus gaining an expertise will allow him to increase the productivity of the organisation. The problem, however, with specialization is that it tends to become very repetitive which means that one might get fed up with his/her job and lose interest in doing the same job again and again. Thus the key in managing people is all dependent upon the different cultures of the organization and so the management of people can be described in different ways through different management theories. First let us look at the tradition viewpoint of management theories. Under the traditional point of view there are three branches which include the scientific theory, Bureaucratic theory and the Administrative theory. The scientific management theory was put forward by Fredrick Taylor. His belief was basically set upon finding the one best way for completing a job. He developed the time and motion study, which basically involved observing the workers for a particular time period while performing the job[Joh07]. These observations then lead to results like the best time in which the work is completed and the method which best suits the completion of a particular task. Max Weber’s Bureaucratic theory divides the organisation into different hierarchy levels at which every role is clearly defined to gain effectiveness[Jon091]. Establishing strong lines of authority and control, every employee in the organisation follows a particular chain of command. Thus a hierarchy system helps employees to realize who to report to and clear queries within the organisation. Meanwhile Henry Fayol’s administrative principal is more focused upon providing high level of responsibilities to the upper level management who decide how one needs to manage the organisation and the people of the organisation[Hav09]. This basically indicates that most of the decision making power is in the hands of the upper level management and thus they are responsible for making important decisions and then passing them on to the employees of the organisations. These theories were widely used during the era of the industrial revolution and the factory system of production. At that time the management of large scale production would not have been possible without the adherence of division of labour and specialization. Throughout the history of management there have been several theories developed in order to identify the best way to increase the productivity of an organisation through effective management of people. However, the theories that were developed changed from time to time starting from the traditional point of view where most of the authority was with the upper level management. They were solely responsible for making the major decisions of the organisation and very little responsibility was delegated to the lower management. As times changed and technology advanced and modernised there was a sudden change in the effective management of people within an organisation. The behavioural approach was one of the most widely adopted strategies as it involves the observation of consumer behaviour and identification of the factors that affect an employee’s motivation level. These factors help us to identify different incentives, environment and surroundings that help in the shaping of the motivational level of an employee. The behavioural theory was based on the strategies of Hertzberg who said that money was not the only incentive that motivated an employee; instead a manager’s attention towards his employees is what matters the most. Allowing an employee to undertake challenging tasks helps him to satisfy his self actualization needs which were described by Abraham Maslow in his hierarchy of needs. An employee’s motivation is very much dependent upon the manager’s appraisal and how much importance a worker is given in contributing towards important decision making. Thus, a manager’s role basically revolves around communicating with his employees and understanding their needs in order for their effective management. This principal was laid down by Mary Parker Follet. A manager’s coordination and communication towards his employees is an important factor as said by Chester Bernard. He believed that employees need to be adjusted according to the environment they are in. for that purpose it is very essential to make sure that every individual is observed as to how he behaves in different situations. With time grew the importance of the Contingency theory. Contingency theory believed upon providing effective management of employees depending on their environment. For example, if two companies merge, the technical staff of one company might have an edge over the other employees who might not be aware of this particular expertise in extensive detail. Later on was put forward the quality theory when the organisations became more concerned with producing and providing quality goods. Therefore, traditional systems that portrayed man as being attracted by only money were not viable in these fast changing organisations. Traditional systems encouraged employees to give priority to getting their work done but this led to the compromising of quality. This in turn led to the introduction of factors that would address this issue.. For example, a manager’s job was to closely coordinate the work of every employee and to make sure there isn’t any factor that distracts or demotivates him. We can say that a more democratic approach was used where workers’ ideas were given importance; in short a worker is given importance at workplace so that the feeling of being alone does not dominate him. We are very much aware of the fact that every organisation has different cultures which are basically the shared norms and values of those organisations. This clearly implies that all organisations will use different methods to manage their people in accordance to their surroundings. There is also the autocratic style of leadership which does not involve taking any feedback from workers; instead, the leader himself takes all the decisions and asks the workers to implement them without any incentive of feedback. This kind of a leadership is highly conversant in an army or in an emergency situation where much of a feedback cannot be afforded. However, such a leadership may make the workers to feel left out and unimportant within the organisation since nobody appraises their ideas and decisions. Then comes the democratic style of leadership in which the manager is highly involved with the employees. The manager encourages ideas and decisions from employees and allows them to implement their ideas. This allows for an interactive discussion within the organisation leading the workers to be highly involved at the workplace. This is known to be the best leadership style since it encourages the delegation of decision making to the lower management. Such an organisation is decentralized where decision making flows from both the ends. Such leadership styles are highly practiced in organisations where creative thinking and involvement is required. Then there is the Paternalistic style of leadership which involves taking feedback from workers, but in the end it is the upper level management that takes the final decision. This approach is also regarded to be a father–like-style since feedback is highly encouraged but in the end it is the boss who makes the final decision. Another style is the laze fairer style of leadership where almost all the decision making is delegated to the employees. This is the kind of leadership which highly encourages the involvement of employees and thus makes them solely responsible for all decisions. This kind of a leadership style is mostly used in the research and development departments of the organisation where extreme creativity is required. With the evolvement of management through years managing people has become more and more diversified. Employees are now encouraged to work under matrix systems rather then hierarchical since matrix systems tend to be more flexible and allow decision making at both ends of the upper and lower management. Also, employees are now encouraged to work in teams as ideas are shared through such a method and the people experience and get to know how to deal with situations when working as a team. Besides these many other ways are adapted to motivate employees and one of them is job enlargement which gives employees challenging work, allowing them to satisfy their self-actualization needs. Also, giving employees a complete unit of work helps a lot since it gives them a sense of importance at work. Division of labour was a widely used strategy in the previous era and it allowed individuals to work at something they were best at. However, the recent fast changing organisation instead believe in giving workers different tasks as this allows for a variety in their work and thus the repetition of doing the same one thing over and over is eliminated. Performance related pays are yet another method of motivating employees the better an employee performs the more likely it is that he or she may get a higher bonus. Thus providing extra bonuses for extraordinary work is the best way to motivate an employee. It must be kept in mind that financial gifts are not the only motivation for an employee since money cannot be prescribed as the only source to encourage an employee. It is the manger’s utmost duty to make sure that he coordinates and leads his employees in the rightful mannerism; failing to do this will not allow an employee to get involved at the workplace. Managing individuals all depends upon cultures and surroundings of different organisation. Since the era of technology, organisations have become more and more open minded towards the managing of their individuals. Understanding human behaviour and other little things like factors that reduce the absenteeism rate have become an important part for the success of an organisation. Delegating authority and responsibilities have become a common phenomenon allowing employees to contribute their ideas. This allows an individual to seek a better position in the organisation as his is capabilities are to be known by everyone. However, one should make sure that the process of delegation is undertaken with an honest approach. Some managers may not like when their workers progress thus they might delegate them boring tasks which they themselves did not want to undertake. Thus the conclusion we draw from all the theories discussed is that every organisation all over the world has different cultures, and these cultures require different managing styles. Therefore, one needs to closely notice and identify their workforce and observe what factors and strategies can be used to motivate them. Labour is the most important factor of production of an organisation and without it all the other factors are of no use. Thus it is essential for an organisation to make sure that its employees are highly motivated as that would lead to an increase in their production with reduced costs and higher profits. But this could only be done through a careful study of human behaviour. If an organisation grabs the chance of understanding its employees’ behaviour just once, then nobody can stop it from reaching the heights of extreme success. References Joh07: , (Miner, 2007, p. 127), Jon091: , (Jones, 2009), Hav09: , (Havinal, Veerabhadrappa, & Veerabhadrappa, 2009), Read More