The History of Management - Term Paper Example

Should Managers and Management Students Study the History of Management from a Critical Perspective? Name of Student Student Number Institution Course Code Name of Lecturer Date of Submission Introduction The history of management has a role to play in the contemporary world of management and this essay looks into the essence of its study by managers and students of management. This will involve a critical argument showing the pros and cons of the study and the eventual importance that favors the same. The first section highlighting on history of management and its relevance to the contemporary world of management will utilize Waddell, Jones and George (2011); Smith (2007) and Bedein (2004) as the main sources. Section two will utilize Cummings and Bridgman (2011) and critical evaluation from other sources cited and the last two sections will evaluate the importance of ancient management practices with reference to the contemporary one using all the sources in the reference. Consequently, recommendations to the managers and learners will be made towards the end of the study culminating to a conclusion that connects the argument by highlighting the importance of studying history of management. History of Management Study and its Relevance Management dates back from ancient times even when recording of accounts was not available. The work of a manager is a crucial task in an organization and its excellence is dependent on the actions and practices undertaken by the management team. Consequently, the management students are the future managers and their tenacity in the field of management determines their state in raising the standards of management. According to Smith (2007), history brings up a conduit of enlarging and realizing extra wisdom and experiences with learners and managers getting reality representations of the principles within management discipline. No one can clearly understand where their destiny is without identifying with their origins, past or experiences. The next section highlights on the history of management and the relevance behind its study. History enhances the ability of an individual to come up with sound judgments and realize success in their fields of operation (Smith 2007). These are vital in the course of the management practice to establish and identify opportunities to utilize, challenges to overcome and obstacles to deviate from. This can only be echoed with Isaac Newton’s statement in Merton (1965) as stated by Bedein (2004, p. 92) that each upcoming generation establishes its standing ground on the shoulders of the former giants. Ignoring the past can lead to various failures and setbacks which could have been avoided with critical evaluation of the happenings in the past. Management students, as well as various managers fail to comprehend that present management applications are just a literal aspect of what the past management environment has made. Bedeian (2004, 93) states that in the study of the management genesis and what has come up from ancient ages, place students in a position to comprehend the essence of reference groups and individuals to refer to; who have made considerable contributions in the field of management. Further, there are other professionals in the management field who have helped in shaping the character of the current contemplation and conceptual investigation in the field of management (Waddell, Jones and George 2011). Managers and management students (future managers) have an objective role of ensuring that organizations achieve their set goals and enhance business. Further, a management student can be better placed studying the history of management to become an informed consumer of what can be termed as ‘received knowledge’ in the discipline of management. The history of management and the scientific backing in the discipline as evaluated by Giannantonio and Hurley-Hanson (2011), clearly illustrates the backing of people and those against the concepts of Taylor to show the varying prominence in the history of management. According to Waddell, Jones and George (2011), contemporary management cannot ignore the contributions of the past management characters who came up with not only theories in management practice but also laid down tenets to help the future professional carry themselves credibly. According to Bedeian (2004), the inaccuracies can end up perpetuating historical illiteracy if the same is allowed to be carried on from generation to generation without ultimate corrections. However, if these inaccuracies are well established and verified through research, learners and scholars of management can come up with conceptual backings to correct any shortcoming in the already existing theoretical frameworks in management discipline. Craimer (2003) shows how the philosophy of Taylor was echoed around the world and still went for long impacting greatly. This is a clear indication of what positive accounts bring up in life. With clear analysis and evaluation of historical management, managers and learners in management can establish what concepts and experiences to bank on for future reference and utilizations. Looking at the theoretical aspect of management, it is clear to note that the initial conceptual backing was based on a number of imperfections. This will lead to measures within the management discipline to establish, evaluate and correct the flaws (Smith 2007). The realization of this can only be done through the understanding and proper comprehension of the theoretical concept of management recorded in the past, making out the incorrect concepts in the theories outlined, and eventually recommending proper concepts to be followed. Nevertheless, managers and management students cannot rely wholly on the history of management to perfect the contemporary management. This is in the sense of the danger inherent in the reliance on the secondary data and concept (Wren 1987). The concepts may not have been established on the same management settings as the current management field. Students of management history are well aware of the inaccuracies and myths that come up when contemporary scholars who skip the utilization of primary data in the research work and end up relying on secondary data from the already existing accounts in management (Bedeian 2004). This would result to incompetent strategies in the management field and bring up failure to the profession. The studies have only concluded that inaccuracies are evident in the resources and calls only for review to acquire conceptual; backing but not reliance on data. Critical Lessons for the Contemporary Management The early managers learned the job and eventually presented excellent examples for others to emulate and learn from. According to Waddell, Jones and George (2011), contemporary managers and students of management have found new ways to learn on the management discipline in diverse ways as a result of the expansive time invested in the management field to realize excellent management and improve skills. Wren (1987), asserts that learning management history present learners and managers with exemplary references in both theoretical and practical natures; reveal various approaches to management, as well as bringing up great thinkers established in the refining and correction of flaws in the theory of management. Smith (2007) clearly illustrates the importance of reading, exploring and discussing history as a source that presents to the students opportunities to embrace knowledge of their discipline and experiences practical references, acquire wisdom, and eventually resolve and utilize sound judgment. The learning of management history presents an experimenting setting where rumination and reflection on other course actions apart from what have been utilized in the past could result to, with a different setting (Smith 2007). This is a clear indication that past experiences on management can be utilized as a powerful resource or teacher in the discipline of management. Nevertheless, there seem to be a disconnect that is evident among students of management who look down upon the history of management showing no relevance to classical theory. According to Smith (2007) the learners fail to be acquainted with the management thought and its progressive growth and changing environment. The students perceive historical management as mere writing and study and term it as past event that might be interesting but fail to add any value to the contemporary study of management. With evolutionary management study, the learners are well placed to face the world as better contemporary managers and students of management get well equipped to face the world and its changing faces (Smith 2007). According to Crammer (2003), management is universal and the learning of management and its past conceptual backings is applicable in practical circumstances. This shows that the history of management has a role to play in the eventual making the contemporary management a force to reckon with. The crucial aspect about historical management is the fact that it can be utilized effectively to bring up new and perfect channels managements through learning from the past (Waddell, Jones and George 2011). According to Giannantonio and Hurley-Hanson (2011), lack of understanding the mistake in the past can lead to the same mistakes being repeated in the future. This calls for managers and management students to effectively have a reminder from management theorists on the management history that is evident behind their actions. It is evident that management references 100 years old are very noble and up for reference within the contemporary management settings. With reference to ancient management experiences, there is greater impetus to create new conceptual backings or even analytical concepts crucial in the contemporary world of management. The ancient development of management can be termed to be critical with regard to lacking any conceptual backing that was recorded. Consequently, the resultant strategic measures by early theorists to come up with frameworks to expound on management theories shows that there was an established knowledge gap in the management facts (Cummings and Bridgman 2011). This makes the ancient study of management lack conceptual facts to back or guide the contemporary management. The current students of management even lack the impetus to look into the ancient management practices in record. Robbins (1997) as cited in Cummings and Bridgman (2011) shows that students have a minimal interest in history of management which translates to the classical material in management textbooks being of low value with the contemporary students. The main interest of management students is to learn how to manage rather than tracing the history of management research (Smith 2007). This means a shallow conceptual backing or even practical accounts of management practices for reference. Eventually, this might end bringing up a clique of managers in the contemporary world making mistakes that were there in the past and could have been escaped had the learners known the history of management well. Recommendations and Conclusion Amid the fact that there exist a number of imperfections in the ancient records on management, there is greater need to understand the origin of management, past mistakes and the critical issues on the failures experienced in the past. This will bring up a clear ground to perfect the current management trends and ensure decency in management. The contemporary world of learning rests on the foundations of conceptual records and happenings in the ancient times (Waddell, Jones and George 2011). Therefore, there is need to have facts about the history of management to come up with better ways to make the discipline impeccable and efficient. Further, on the conceptual and theoretical frameworks, learners develop research studies by theorizing past records to evaluate the current circumstances. Therefore, it is the prerogative of the management students to understand the history of management, theories in management and initiate research studies to come up with primary data that will perfect the existing theories of management. This is by making comments, recommendations and correcting on past mistakes and inconsistencies in the management history. The increasing demand for management studies even among practicing managers is a clear indication of the importance of conceptual backing in the discipline. In conclusion, in spite of the plethora of management historical concepts and inaccuracies, there is no way the history of management can be disregarded as it has contributed to the better trends in the contemporary management. Management history is crucial in regard to making the discipline more effective (Smith 2007). However, this can only be achieved with an all inclusive strategic measure among managers, learners and scholars in the management field by liaising to establish how to incorporate the history of management in their learning and practices, and eventually devise ways to correct on any imperfections. Therefore, it is clear to conclude that there exists a lot of importance in the studying of history of management to lay down perfect concepts for the discipline. Further, the global challenges in the management field can be evaluated and studied with reference to the ancient challenges of management and solutions devised to raise the level of perfection in the field of management. References Bedeian, A., 2004. “The Gift of Professional Maturity”, Academy of Management Learning and Education. Vol. 3(1), p. 92-98. Craimer, S., 2003. “One Hundred Years of management”, Business Strategy Review, Vol. 14(2), p. 41-49. Cummings, S. and Bridgman, T., 2011. “The Relevant Past: Why the History of Management should be Critical for our Future”, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Vol. 10(1), p. 77-93. Giannantonio, C. and Hurley-Hanson, A., 2011. “Frederick Winslow Taylor: Reflections on the Relevance of The Principles of Scientific Management Learning and education, Vol. 17(1), p. 7-10. Smith, G., 2007. “Management History and Historical Context: Potential Benefits of its Inclusion in the Management Curriculum”, Academy of Management learning and Education, Vol. 6(4), p. 522-533. Waddell, D., Jones, G. R. and George, J. M., 2011. Contemporary Management, 2nd ed. Sydney: McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Limited. Wren, D., 1987. “Management History: Issues and Ideas for Teaching and Research”, Journal of Management, Vol. 13(2), p. 339-350. Read More