Contents
Contemporary Management
Rationale
Management is the act of directing and controlling a group of people for the purpose of coordinating and harmonizing the group towards accomplishing a goal beyond the scope of individual effort. Management encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources. Management can also refer to the person or people who perform the act of management.
The verb Manage comes from the Italian maneggiare (to handle — especially a horse), which in turn derives from the Latin manus (hand). The French word mesnagement (later ménagement) influenced the development in meaning of the English word management in the 17th and 18th centuries.[1]
Management has to do with power by position, whereas leadership involves power by influence. Compare stewardship.
Learning Outcomes
This course presents a thorough and systematic coverage of management theory and practice. It focuses on the basic roles, skills and functions of management, with special attention to managerial responsibility for effective and efficient achievement of goals. Special attention is given to social responsibility, managerial ethics, and the importance of multi-national organizations.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the course, students are expected to be able to:
- understand fundamental concepts and principles of management, including the basic roles, skills, and functions of management;
- be knowledgeable of historical development, theoretical aspects and practice application of managerial process;
- be familiar with interactions between the environment, technology, human resources, and organizations in order to achieve high performance;
- be aware of the ethical dilemmas faced by managers and the social responsibilities of businesses.
The material covered will be relevant to you, regardless of your career objectives. In all likelihood, you will either be a manager or work with one in any occupation you choose. In the final analysis, we are all managers of our own lives and can benefit by studying to be better managers.
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Teaching and Learning Resources
- Learning Environment
- Learning Contents
- Teaching Strategies
- Assessment
- Analysis of Relationships between Management Functions 30%
- Organisational Case Study 20%
- Cummulative final examination 50%
Managers and Managing. The Evolution of Management Theory
- Managers and Managing 1
- Managers and Managing 2
- The Evolution of Management Theory
- The Evolution of Management Thought
Readings
Difficulties arise in tracing the history of management. Some see it (by definition) as a late modern (in the sense of late modernity) conceptualization. On those terms it cannot have a pre-modern history, only harbingers (such as stewards). Others, however, detect management-like activities in the pre-modern past. Some writers trace the development of management-thought back to Sumerian traders and to the builders of the pyramids of ancient Egypt. Slave-owners through the centuries faced the problems of exploiting/motivating a dependent but sometimes unenthusiastic or recalcitrant workforce, but many pre-industrial enterprises, given their small scale, did not feel compelled to face the issues of management systematically. However, innovations such as the spread of Hindu-Arabic numerals (5th to 15th centuries) and the codification of double-entry book-keeping (1494) provided tools for management assessment, planning and control.
Given the scale of most commercial operations and the lack of mechanized record-keeping and recording before the industrial revolution, it made sense for most owners of enterprises in those times to carry out management functions by and for themselves. But with growing size and complexity of organizations, the split between owners (individuals, industrial dynasties or groups of shareholders) and day-to-day managers (independent specialists in planning and control) gradually became more common.
19th century
Some argue that modern management as a discipline began as an off-shoot of economics in the 19th century. Classical economists such as Adam Smith (1723 - 1790) and John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873) provided a theoretical background to resource-allocation, production, and pricing issues. About the same time, innovators like Eli Whitney (1765 - 1825), James Watt (1736 - 1819), and Matthew Boulton (1728 - 1809) developed elements of technical production such as standardization, quality-control procedures, cost-accounting, interchangeability of parts, and work-planning. Many of these aspects of management existed in the pre-1861 slave-based sector of the US economy. That environment saw 4 million people, as the contemporary usages had it, "managed" in profitable quasi-mass production.
By the late 19th century, marginal economists Alfred Marshall (1842 - 1924) and Léon Walras (1834 - 1910) and others introduced a new layer of complexity to the theoretical underpinnings of management. Joseph Wharton offered the first tertiary-level course in management in 1881.
20th century
By about 1900 one finds managers trying to place their theories on what they regarded as a thoroughly scientific basis (see scientism for the purported limits of this belief). Examples include Henry R. Towne's Science of management in the 1890s, Frederick Winslow Taylor's Scientific management (1911), Frank and Lillian Gilbreth's Applied motion study (1917), and Henry L. Gantt's charts (1910s). J. Duncan wrote the first college management textbook in 1911. In 1912 Yoichi Ueno introduced Taylorism to Japan and became first management consultant of the "Japanese-management style". His son Ichiro Ueno pioneered Japanese quality-assurance.
The first comprehensive theories of management appeared around 1920. The Harvard Business School invented the Master of Business Administration degree (MBA) in 1921. People like Henri Fayol (1841 - 1925) and Alexander Church described the various branches of management and their inter-relationships. In the early 20th century, people like Ordway Tead (1891 - 1973), Walter Scott and J. Mooney applied the principles of psychology to management, while other writers, such as Elton Mayo (1880 - 1949), Mary Parker Follett (1868 - 1933), Chester Barnard (1886 - 1961), Max Weber (1864 - 1920), Rensis Likert (1903 - 1981), and Chris Argyris (1923 - ) approached the phenomenon of management from a sociological perspective.
Peter Drucker (1909 – 2005) wrote one of the earliest books on applied management: Concept of the Corporation (published in 1946). It resulted from Alfred Sloan (chairman of General Motors until 1956) commissioning a study of the organisation. Drucker went on to write 39 books, many in the same vein.
H. Dodge, Ronald Fisher (1890 - 1962), and Thornton C. Fry introduced statistical techniques into management-studies. In the 1940s, Patrick Blackett combined these statistical theories with microeconomic theory and gave birth to the science of operations research. Operations research, sometimes known as "management science" (but distinct from Taylor's scientific management), attempts to take a scientific approach to solving management problems, particularly in the areas of logistics and operations.
Some of the more recent developments include the theory of constraints, management by objectives, reengineering, and various information-technology-driven theories such as agile software development, as well as group management theories such as Cog's Ladder.
As the general recognition of managers as a class solidified during the 20th century and gave perceived practitioners of the art/science of management a certain amount of prestige, so the way opened for popularised systems of management ideas to peddle their wares. In this context many management fads may have had more to do with pop psychology than with scientific theories of management.
Towards the end of the 20th century, business management came to consist of six separate branches, namely:
- Human resource management
- Operations management or production management
- Strategic management
- Marketing management
- Financial management
- Information technology management responsible for management information systems
21st century
In the 21st century observers find it increasingly difficult to subdivide management into functional categories in this way. More and more processes simultaneously involve several categories. Instead, one tends to think in terms of the various processes, tasks, and objects subject to management.
Branches of management theory also exist relating to nonprofits and to government: such as public administration, public management, and educational management. Further, management programs related to civil-society organizations have also spawned programs in nonprofit management and social entrepreneurship.
Note that many of the assumptions made by management have come under attack from business ethics viewpoints, critical management studies, and anti-corporate activism.
As one consequence, workplace democracy has become both more common, and more advocated, in some places distributing all management functions among the workers, each of whom takes on a portion of the work. However, these models predate any current political issue, and may occur more naturally than does a command hierarchy. All management to some degree embraces democratic principles in that in the long term workers must give majority support to management; otherwise they leave to find other work, or go on strike. Hence management has started to become less based on the conceptualisation of classical military command-and-control, and more about facilitation and support of collaborative activity, utilizing principles such as those of human interaction management to deal with the complexities of human interaction. Indeed, the concept of Ubiquitous command-and-control posits such a transformation for 21st century military management.
The Organisational Environment. The Global Environment. Organisation Theory and Practice
Tutorials
Readings
Ethics, Social Responsibility, and Diversity
Tutorials
- Ethics and Social Responsibility
- Ethics, Social Responsibility, and Diversity
- Managing Diverse Employees in a Multi-Cultural Environment
Readings
The Manager as a Planner and Strategist. The Manager as a Decision Maker.
Tutorials
- The Manager as a Planner and Strategist 1
- The Manager as a Planner and Strategist 2
- The Manager as a Decision Maker 1
- The Manager as a Decision Maker 2
Readings
Managing Organisational Structure. Organisational Control and Culture.
Tutorials
- Organisational Control and Culture
- Managing Organisational Structure 1
- Managing Organisational Structure 2
Readings
The Manager as a Person. Building Human Resources
Tutorials
- Human Resource Management
- The Manager as a Person
- The Manager as a Person: Values, Attitudes, Emotions, and Culture
- Building Human Resources
Readings
Motivation. Leadership
Tutorials
Readings
The word Leadership can refer to:
- the process of leading.
- those entities that perform one or more acts of leading.
Kouzes (2002) states that "Leadership is not a place, it’s not a position, and it’s not a secret code that can’t be deciphered by ordinary people. Leadership is an observable set of skills and abilities. Of course some people are better at it than others."
- Terminology, usage and conceptual scope
- Categories and types of leadership
- The Psychology of Leadership
- Leadership associated with positions of authority
- Leadership amongst primates
- Leadership as a vanguard
- Scope of leadership
- Orthogonality and leadership
- Support-structures for leadership
- Determining what makes "effective leadership"
- Leadership and vision
- Leadership's relation with management
- Leadership by a group
- Leader relationships with followers
- Historical views on leadership
- Specific theories of leadership
- Alternatives to leadership
- See also
Groups and Teams. Communication
Tutorials
Reading
Organisational Conflict, Politics, and Change. Managing Information Systems and Technologies
Tutorials
- Organizational Control and Change
- Organisational Conflict, Politics, and Change
- Managing Organizational Conflict, Politics, and Negotiation
- Managing Information Systems and Technologies
- Developing Advanced Information Systems and Technologies
Readings
- Organisational Conflict, Negotiation, Politics, and Change
- Crisis Management
- Managing Information Systems and Technologies
Operations Management: Managing Quality, Efficiency, and Responsiveness to Customers
Tutorials
- Operations Management: Managing Quality, Efficiency, and Responsiveness to Customers
- Value Chain Management: Operating Strategies to Increase Quality, Efficiency, and Responsiveness to Customers
Readings
The Management of Innovation, Product Development, and Entrepreneurship
Tutorials- The Management of Innovation, Product Development, and Entrepreneurship
- Promoting Innovation, Product Development, and Entrepreneurship
Readings
Recommended Texts
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Contemporary
Management, 3/e
Gareth
R Jones, Texas A&M University The Online Learning Center is designed to enhance your learning. Book specific content like quizzing, case studies, objectives, and Web links can all be accessed by choosing from the list to the left. These materials are designed to help you succeed in your course. Some of these features may be "Premium" content. For access to premium content, you will need a registration code. The registration code is included on the card that came with your new textbook. If you have already registered, just enter your username and password when you are prompted to. If you have not registered to use premium content yet, click here. |
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Contemporary Management, 4 ed Gareth R. Jones, Texas A & M University -- College StationJennifer M. George, Rice University ISBN: 0072860820 Copyright year: 2006
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Resources
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