Management Trends and Approaches - Literature review Example

Management Trends and Approaches [Student’s Name] [Course Title] [Instructor’s Name] [Date] Civilization is a prerequisite for the developments in organization and management. Management is maintaining and developing a suitable environment where persons work together in groups towards the achievement of a preset goal while an organization is a multitude of people working at creating profit or fulfilling of needs (Koontz & Weihrich 2007). The big management and strategy developers who have made the greatest impacts have been there since the beginning of the nineteenth century to the twentieth where management revolution has greatly been felt. Civilization was the fruition of joint efforts as has been with the progress in the field of organization and management. There was cropping of the factory system in the middle of the nineteenth century like of the textile industry where mass production and automation where the drive towards economical production. During the whole period definition of management and its practical application have been the goal that has led to the current progress since the end of the Victorian era. The issue on size has been of concern with it impact on management and organization like increment in need for control and coordination and the introduction of specialization and division of labour. The control span has more to do with corporation where the there is hierarchy in an organization (Tengblad 2006). The ratio of the leaders to the guided in any organization has been decreasing with the embracing of the Information Technology. The use of military influenced and scientific based management have been the major management strategies used. Blake and Moulton managerial grid have positively contributed in the production field. John Nash’s Game Theory has recently impacted in the business world. Evidently, there are many trends that are exhibited in approaches to organization and management since the 20th century to present. According to McNamara (2011), these trends are explained largely from the organizational management approaches such as classical or scientific (1900’s), human relations (1920’s), systems (1940’s) and contingency (1970’s). Based on scientific or classical approach introduced by Frederick Taylor, it is clear that organizational management put focus on various internal organizational functions with great emphasis on system and structure displaying key factors towards organizational success. McNamara (2011) maintains that, the three main principals reflected in the scientific approach is that; within any given organization, best management practices are attributed in using scientific method widely, issuing out of motivational appraisal and financial incentives as a way of building strong management practice and employee engagement and finally, organization need to understand that by engaging in scientific approach the best candidate for a particular job is one who is mentally and physically stable in handling given duties. This management approach was widely seen to provide a more innovative approach that made employees realize what they were expected to do. In short and simple term the approach indicates that the best personnel are proven by experimental results (McNamara 2011.). Human relation approach was introduced in the 1930s by Maslow and with years it has largely been perceived to bring significant change within management practice. Burnes (1998.) asserts that, this approach is recognized through three principals namely; individuals or employees should be viewed as emotional and social being as opposed to rational beings, any given organization should not be viewed to be a mechanistic but more as social construct and finally, regulations and rules used in governing organizations should be placed in both informal and formal construct (Burnes 1998.). For best organizational management practice, behavior displayed by humans is motivated and purposeful by need satisfaction. Here, needs are classified according to organizational designed structure of importance which is from lower level to one which is higher (McLean 2005). Maslow indicates that hierarchy can be classified into physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love, esteem and self actualization needs. Based on McGregor human relation, there existed tow basic managers that is X and Y. Manager X has negative view assuming they are incapable and untrustworthy whereas Y assumes his employees are trustworthy and responsible due to high levels of motivation. These theory of X and Y have constantly assisted employee of what is required from them. It is evident that there is a similarity between scientific and human relation approach since they both offer a best way toward organizational effectiveness (McLean 2005). System theory was adopted in 1940s. The approach was meant to synthesize and integrate several schools of management into a cohesive and coherent theory. Sheldrake (1996) maintains that, it widely blends with many management practices into one common functional system where all organizational activities are grouped into outputs, feedbacks, homeostasis and inputs. Theorists win this approach largely emphasize that each and every organizational system should have both interrelated and interacting subsystems (Sheldrake 1996). It is from such interactive systems that organizational management practices that there is continuous adaptation to both internal and external environmental processes. Today, system approach exists evidently within a continuum change. Management practices can widely be analyzed in term of their production, marketing, operations, personnel and finance. The approach provides a manager with tools for analyzing organizational dynamics without provision of a specified theory on how organization should be managed (Steinwachs 1999). Finally there is the contingency theory approach which came into be in the 1970s. The approach represents another alternative management theoretical paradigm. Steinwachs (1999) maintains that, there exist a similarity between system and contingency approach in that there is no prescription of management principles in any given situation. The approach recognizes the extreme importance on a manager performance within a given situation. The theory indicates the role of management is to largely develop appropriate management solutions in any given organizational environment. Further, the approach is observed to be devoid of management principles. Clearly, today the approach is being termed to be a heuristic management paradigm which within management practices depends on manager judgment and experience in any given business environment (Steinwachs 1999). The theory proposes three key principals mainly; in all times organizations should be viewed as open systems, every design approach which is in relation to management should be treated as one which is situational based and finally, in all time there is no particular way for all organizations. This approach largely introduces a unique outlook which comprises content that had been overlooked by both human relation and rational approaches theorists. The approach enables managers in describing performance of the organization and how well is this particular organizational arrangement match with existing contingencies (Boddy 1998). These contingencies being compared includes; the environment, technology and size which are main scopes to the approach of organizational effectiveness. Evidently, the evolution of management practices has followed societal trends experienced since the nineteenth to twentieth centuries. For the nineteenth century they were concern in making proper social progress. On the 20th centuries, the approaches were used to generate comprehensive theory in management (Boddy 1998). The management trends in the 21st century are mainly influenced by the demand for strategic thinking, new factors in the quest for success and the project management uncertainty. The hard approaches and trends to system have been viewed to be flawed as the soft skills in project management are preferably applied. The trends and approaches have been shaped by the trends in globalization as persons in the globe are more connected than they were ever before. The trends being used focus on the reduction of the operation or processing costs for them to achieve maximum returns. This has resulted in to greater diversity being witnessed at the workplace and extension of working hours for the employees. Secondly, the technological trends have witnessed a rapid change in the innovations. The computers are now available for most persons and thus older working processes are being shifted. This has resulted in to endless opportunities for the businesses and creation of pressure on the environment as the new advancements take center stage. This is in addition to the emerging of virtual teams and offices. Self employment has emerged as the production of services has been seen as the sector that is experiencing immense growth (Wade, 2001). The hiring and retention of employees has become a priority and the employee training is viewed as an investment. Life long learning in this case is seen as a vital part of the working life. The goals, values and performance are of great importance to any management approaches and trends. The management strategy on value emphasizes on the price the customers are willing to pay for a particular service or goods. With increased innovations, the management for the successful firms in the 21st century is made to have the firms create more value for the products and services they offer to have increased surplus gains in terms of profits. The value of firms in this century is indicated in terms of the performance of the firms or company share in the stock market. This is however not effective in predicting the future value of the firm as there is always the uncertainty of cash flows in the future (Paladino, 2007). The management approaches in this century also emphasize on the need for the firms to have a benefit to the community. This is from the stake holders concept and different from the share holders point of view where the firms are to benefit the owners i.e. a free market view. The firm is to be a social entity thus relying on its external environment which includes the human society and the natural world. The market competition also contributes and shapes the market trends that exist in the market this days as evident in the Game theory. Management strategies employed in this case are aimed at innovatively tailoring the products to meet the needs of their consumers as well as manipulating prices to attract the customers. The marketing strategy on the other hand plays a vital role as the internet strategies are employed innovatively to reach more and more people at a shorter time. Thirdly other factors apart from the mentioned do have considerable effect on the management and trends that are to be effected in the management approaches and trends. These include; political, legal, environmental, social and the cultural. In this case, the organizations and firms do apply the management approaches and trends that are aimed at shaping the environment in which they exist. These include the resource based approaches which are customer and the formation of corporations with similar strategies (Cokins, 2009). Various arguments have however been put forward for the organizations to engage in relationship based mode of organizations as opposed to the product based approach that was used in the 19th centuries. Organizations in this case are viewed as value networks with new evolving models. The bottom line models of organizational management are thus inadequate as the functions are no longer relevant in the management of the modern networked world. The 21st century mode views consumers. Partners and suppliers in addition to the employees are viewed to be of great value to any progressive organization. In addition the 21st century trends and approaches in organizational management are based on the collective intelligence as it is believed to be better than the mindset that is based on the assets. The mode of collective intelligence embraces innovativeness and embraces change in addition to the involvement in the decision making. This mode uses effective communication as well as the building of the workers capacity as assets of a progressive organization (Dresner, 2007). It is vital to note that technology is the foundation to any organizational growth as they are used much more often by the modern world in communication and in the exchange of ideas. The 21st century embraces technology and pays greater emphasis in using it as a mode through which the firms can be able to market their products especially on the internet and through which they can use in the evaluation of their activities. Smart employers are thus obliged to pay much more emphasis on the work place environments and be able to create conducive environments that are able to enhance the productivity of their workers (vom Brocke, 2010). References Boddy, D. 1998. Management: An Introduction. Europe: Prentice Hall. Burnes, B. 1998. ‘Recipes for Organizational Effectiveness: Mad, Bad, or Just Dangerous to Know’, Career Development International, Vol.3, No.3, pp.100-106. Cokins, G, 2009, Performance Management: Integrating Strategy Execution, Methodologies, Risk, and Analytics. Dresner, H, 2007, The Performance Management Revolution: Business Results Through Insight and Action. Koontz H. & Weihrich H, 2007, Essentials of Management: an international perspective, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi. McLean, J. 2005. Theorisation, Management Principles. International Study Guide. UK: MDP (UK) Ltd. McNamara, C. 2011. Very Brief History of Management Theories: Scientific Management Theory. Retrieved from: http://managementhelp.org/mgmnt/history.htm Paladino, B, 2007, Five Key Principles of Corporate Performance Management. Sheldrake, John. 1996. Management Theory: From Taylorism to Japanization. Oxford: Alden Press. Steinwachs, K .1999. Information and culture- the impact of national culture on information processes. Journal of Information Science, 25 (3), 193-204. Tengblad S, 2006,’ Is there a New managerial work’? A Comparison with Henry Mitzberg’s Classical Study 30 Years Later, Journal of Management Studies 43(7), Black well Publishing Ltd, Oxford UK & Malden, USA. vom Brocke, J.HKVJH & Rosemann, M, 2010, Handbook on Business Process Management: Strategic Alignment, Governance, People and Culture (International Handbooks on Information Systems) (Vol. 1). Berlin: Springer. Wade, D & Recardo, R, 2001, Corporate Performance Management. Butterworth-Heinemann. Read More