Modern Management Techniques - Essay Example

Today’s Manager Assig1 Proposal (Mit140440) Name Yuchu Cai Date 11/4/2014 Introduction Management is the process of coordinating and organizing the activities of the organization with the aim of achieving set goals and objectives. Management includes organization of the factors of production effectively to achieve the organization's objectives. The factors of production include the capital, machinery, human resource and assets of the organization. Generally, management is considered as one of the most important factors of production in any organization. The basic roles of management are innovation and marketing. The failure and ineffectiveness of various organizations led to a critical analysis of leadership activities in organization that results to the development of the present management. The study was carried out by Thomas More (1478-1535). According to More, managements comprise of the functions meant to create the policy of the organization as well as organizing, planning, controlling and directing the resources within an organization to achieve the objectives of the organization’s policy. Traditionally, management of the organization was mainly evaluated through the amounts of profits attained by the organization with no regard to the long term goals and initiatives undertaken by the mangers. Management was mainly based in the coordination of the human resources as well as the organization’s capital. Training of the management facilitators was not common in the traditional set up. A manager is an individual who controls specific groups of activities and resources within an organization. The manager is inin charge of the overall operations of the organizations. The manager ensures that, planning, coordination, directing and organizing processes in the organization are effective in achieving the objectives of the organization. Traditionally, the manager was only a single individual in charge of the overall operations of the organization. However, currently management is broken down into departments whose roles are specified. This implies that, the managers in the current organizational set up are many but report to the overall manager. The report compares the present management with the tradition management based on the following articles: Jaffee, D. (2001). Organization Theory: Tension and Change Organization., McGraw Hill, Bakan, J. (2004). The Corporation, London. Constable. Bales, K. (2012). Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. Los Angeles,theUniversity of California Press, Mintzberg, H. (1971). Managerial Work: Analysis from Observation. Management Science, 18(2) 97-110., Knights, D. & Roberts, J. (1982). The Power of Organization or the Organization of Power. Organization Studies, 3(1), 47-63., Siemsen, H., & Reschke, C. (2013) Can One Learn to Think Like Drucker? Lessons in Personality and Management Education. Management Research Review, 36(8), 767-787. The comparison is based on the argument of the existing literature and leads to the development of the following general themes as evaluated by the authors of the articles: Organization theory as discussed by Jaffee, Management scientists, modern slavery, the corporation, personality management and the organization power. Organisation Theory According to David Jaffee (2001) tension and the changes in an organisation,contributes in the analysing the current development and advancement of the organisational theories. Modern management is characterised by organisational theories which are mainly based on alliances, post-bureaucracy, flexible and lean production resulting from the advancement in technology. Taylorism is management model developed by the America engineer Taylor in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The model involves a compilation of management roles based on the technical and scientific techniques. The model involves work division among the employees in an organization. This involves tasks breakdown in simple movements where the planning and execution activities are clearly clarified. Taylorism model of management led to the development of the modern management model where the roles are broken down about the qualifications of the individuals. This mode of Management according to David (2001), is accompanied by various benefits both to the employees and the organization. The employees’ benefit from the improved remuneration rates as a result of their newly acquired roles and responsibilities. According to David, (2001), breakdown of the roles within organization enhances effectiveness hence improved productivity. Taylorism being the basis for the current management model has evolved adversely with the advancement in technology as well as improved training of managers in the institutions of higher learning. Taylorism was meanly meant to improve productivity in the industrial setup but has evolved to suit in all organizations set up. Taylorism was initiated through introduction of supervisory roles in the company. These roles evolved to form the current departmental mang roles evolved to form the current departmental managers in various organizations. Other institutions like the banking industry revolutionized Taylorism model by replacing the supervisory roles with the branch managers. David, (2001), argues that, evolution of the Taylorism model of management has enhanced productivity in various organizations across the world. The working conditions for the employees have also improved adversely as a result of the evolution of the Taylorism management model. Management Scientists According to Henry Mintzberg (1971), management scientist did not help the managers in understanding their roles. This was mainly due to the unavailability of information regarding the framework of the organisation. Currently there is, however, adequate information available that the modern manager can utilise in the management. According to Mintzberg, ( 1971), leadership roles in management set up can be broken down into 10 common roles. Mitzberg, (1971), argues that the ten roles o f a manager can be further be subdivided into three main categories which are: Informational, interpersonal and behavioural. The leadership roles as identified by Mitzberg, (2001), include: I. Monitoring the activities of the market under which the organisation is established. This is achieved through acquisition of information related to the work by reading of journals. Periodicals, attending seminars, keeping personal contacts and attending trade fairs. II. Dissemination: The manager is responsible for disseminating information to the subordinate staff within an organisation. This involves the distribution of memos and reports and providing the staff with information on a given decision. III. Spokesperson: the manager is responsible for communicating to the outside world. This is achieved by passing memos, reports and materials to individuals outside the organisation. IV. Figurehead: the manager is in charge of performing legal and social duties. He acts as a symbol for the organisation hence must portray high leadership qualities. The manager is responsible for signing legal documents on behalf of the organisation. V. Leader: the manager is responsible for recruitment of employees in an organisation. The manager is also supposed to motivate and direct the employees towardstheachievement of the organisation’s objectives. VI. Liaison: the manger is responsible for establishing contacts that are beneficial to the organisation in and out of the organisation. This enhances the marketing strategy of the organisation. This role also ensures that the company maintains the crucial contacts for future reference. VII. Entrepreneur: the manager is responsible forthedevelopment of new ideas and initiation of the organisation’s projects. VIII. Disturbance Handler: the manager is responsible for settling disputes within the organisation. IX. Resource Allocator: the manager should ensure that the resources are effectively distributed with the organisation to maximise profits. X. Negotiator: the manger has the responsibility of defending the interest of the organisation. Most o f the roles identified by Mitzberg, (2001) are common in the current management model as well as the early models. However, monitoring and dissemination roles are carried out the subordinate staff acting on behalf of the manager in the current management system. Modern Slavery Bale (2012) argues that the modern management can be compared with the traditional slave trade. This is because the managers are currently taking advantage of the flaws in the society to facility success in their organisation. Modern management is enslaved by advancement in technology that limits the management scope. In 1960s slavery in the organisation involved extreme supervision of the employees at work place with no regard to the human rights. In 1960s,slavery was deeply rooted in slave trade and colonialism especially in the current developing countries. The management used force when directing the employees on what to do. According to Bale, (2012), the employee’s failure to adhere to the regulations would result in termination of the employment. The employees were also poorly paid in 1960s as compared to the current salary rates. Currently, the employees are given great working conditions though slavery is seen in cases where the employees are overworked with little pay especially in developing countries. The corporation Modern management is characterised by a desire by managers to achieve the interest of their respective organisation with little consideration of its effects to the society. According to Bakan, (2004), the corporation is a collection of various organisations withacommon interest. In 1960s, corporations were not common since most of the organisation were family business. The current set up is, however, characterised by an increase in the corporation as organisations seek to establish themselves in the market. The introduction of mergers and takeovers contributes largely to the formation of corporations. The activities are mainly geared towards; maximization of profits that result to monopoly hence increased prices. The corporation has however enhanced management since it is mainly managed by various managers situated in different locations but reports to an overall manager (Bakan, 2004). Personality and Management The modern managers are expected to learn from their predecessors when executing their management skills in the organisation. According to siemsen, (2013), the current mangers are expected to acquire several personality and skills from the Drucker. Some of the types of personality needed for effective managements as established by Siemsen, (2013) includeGreat listening abilities, motivational abilities, being a role model to the subordinate employees, reliance on the ability to support and not to do, acknowledging the team in case of joint achievements, Self-Regulation, Empathy, Social Skill, Self Awareness and leadership skills. Organisation Power Knights (1982) address the issue of poor management resulting in inappropriate organization skills. Knights (1982), further further argues that effective management can be obtained by exploiting the full power of organisation. This is clearly reflected in the modern management where successful organisations are characterised by effective organisational skills among the management. The skills internalised by Jaffee (2001), areorganisational skills, ability to direct, monitoring skills, resource allocation skills, leadership abilities and entrepreneurship. The role of the mangers has evolved greatly in the 90s especially with the introduction of specified management roles in the taylorism management model. Initially, management was mainly carried out by the entrepreneur regardless of their skills. Currently, entrepreneur's recruit trained mangers to run their organisation thanks totheadvancement in education. Conclusion It is clear that the tradition management models play a great role in the development of the current management models. The breakdown of the management roles and responsibilities enhances production within an organisation as established in various literatures. Slavery is also experienced in the current organisation but is quite minimal as compared to high levels of organisational slavery experienced in 1960s. References Bales, K. 2012). Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. Los Angeles, University of California Press Bakan, J. (2004). The Corporation, London. Constable Jaffee, D. (2001). Organization Theory: Tension and Change Organisation. McGraw Hill. Knights, D. & Roberts, J. (1982). The Power of Organization or the Organization of Power. Organization Studies, 3(1), 47-63. Mintzberg, H. (1971). Managerial Work: Analysis from Observation. Management Science, 18(2) 97-110. Siemsen, H., & Reschke, C. (2013) Can One Learn to Think Like Drucker? Lessons in Personality and Management Education. Management Research Review, 36(8), 767-787. Read More