Thoughts on Course Subject Matter
Contemporary business management identifies the appropriate way of thinking required to address issues as they erupt. The contemporary issues occur due to present and past practices and thinking. Similarly, future challenges will emerge because of the current actions. The dominant theme in quality management is the level of complexity that the contemporary leader must observe in decision-making and responses to present and future issues. Contemporary management invites the re-evaluation of historical leadership practices. The subject also looks at developing critical methods and tools that enable adaptive responses to emerging novel issues. The primary directive is to react to complexities in the community and challenges in social responsibility, ethics, and leadership in making organizational choices. This essay conceptualizes on various themes in contemporary management particularly wage slavery and paternalism. Wage slavery and paternalism were one of the most welcomed changes in contemporary business. The end of the practices relieved many people from oppression. It ushered in a sense of civilization in the enterpreneurial sector that sought to improve job conditions for employees. Personally, I enjoyed all the areas addressed by the module because each of them has had great impacts on the business environment.
Statement about What I Learned from Studying the Module
Historically, workers were seen as mere tools that progressed the capitalist thirst of making money. Managers and owners maximize on the employees efforts for minimum wages. The injustices in the business activities such as wage slavery and paternalism that prevailed before the 20th century signified a period that did not respect the labourers. With time, the plight of the employees was recognized. The management began to view employees as critical ingredients to the firm’s success. Just when the labourers started to enjoy their freedom and better working conditions, the machines and technology arose and denied most of them jobs. The machines supplemented the non-skilled employees in the industries resulting in the massive loss of employment and the transformation from blue-collar to white-collar jobs (Aziri, Zeqiri, and Ibraimi, 2014, 817).
Contemporary business issues arise due to variations on organizational, culture, the environment, political system, technology, financial conditions, etc. A well-known contemporary trend is globalization that has revitalized the business sector completely. The phenomenon has changed entrepreneurial activities, communications within and outside the firm, manufacturing, and trading processes. Internationalization has made the global spread of business activities and concepts easier. Companies have been forced to keep up with the trends brought by globalization to maintain competitive advantages. Globalization has also resulted in the expansion of firms to new region and markets to satisfy the needs of various customers. The phenomenon has affected organizational culture due to the incorporation and employment of people from different regions to increase the span of knowledge and skills. The management must consider specific needs of the diverse staff before making essential employee or company decisions (Alon, Jaffe, and Vianelli, 2013, 44).
As highlighted earlier, wage slavery and paternalism was one of the greatest contemporary management issues from my perspective. Wage slavery entails an employment condition where the individual’s livelihood depends on the salary or wage provided by the employer. It is characterized by social stratification and the exploitation of labour. A similar concept to wage slavery is paternalism that involves the behaviour of the managers, state, or organization that limits freedom or liberty of workers or individuals acting on behalf of the state. The people who exact paternalism institute their will on others because they assume they are more superior to their subordinates. Paternalism helps in controlling activities that may be harmful to the society such as drug and human trafficking. However, in a business surrounding it may inhibit creativity if the labourers work according to the requirements of their leaders without thinking for themselves (Goldman, Nienaber, and Pretorius, 2015, 13).
Another interesting topic that caught my eye in the module was corporate social responsibility and ethics. With the rise of more humanistic approaches to management or rather the contemporary theory of leadership, came the renewed interests to do what is right and assist the community. Ethics ensures that professional in the business work in accordance with the principles of their field. Professionalism is guided by universal laws or rules to make sure that the experts do not interfere with the client’s interests or rights. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has risen steadily over the decades to provide a new purpose for the enterprises. The executives have learned that giving back to the public that supports the operations of the firm can preserve their loyalty to the organization. Hence, they have gone out of their way to provide better living conditions in their home areas (DesJardins and McCall, 2014, 19).
Better Management Skills
The module gives essential guidelines and techniques to enhance one’s role as a manager. The first aspect that crops up due to the global spread, technology, and media control is that leaders should keep track of variations that take place in their surroundings. The trends can prove to be useful to the firm to promote their efficiency, effectiveness, and the quality of the services and goods (Alon, Jaffe, and Vianelli, 2013, 59). Secondly, the issue of employee management is also fundamental to the leaders. Capitalism is growing to be a negative element in society. People do not enjoy working for a manager who makes them toil extremely hard or for excessive hours and does not compensate them for their efforts only to keep all the profits to himself. Laws have been put it to control the amount of wages workers receive depending on the job or duties they perform as well as the hours they spend working (Goldman, Nienaber, and Pretorius, 2015, 29).
Labour unions have also emerged to communicate the needs of the employees to the management. They take part in negotiations on behalf of the labourers to relegate their demands and opinions concerning the job environment and operations. Many managers do not like the labour unions because they can interfere with the profit-maximization interests of the firm and stakeholders. Occasionally, they demand a lot from the leadership that cannot be fulfilled based on the financial situation in the organization. Fortunately, the labour unions and the contemporary management theories have reduced wage slavery and paternalism in the corporation. Workers have the freedom to make decisions through participative leadership approaches, and they can interact with their superiors without feeling intimidated (Aziri, Zeqiri, and Ibraimi, 2014, 820). The changes in contemporary business indicate that the management must develop good relationships with the public, workers, media, customers, etc.
Summary
Before taking up the module, my idea of management consisted of basic perspectives of influencing and controlling others to achieve the objectives of the enterprise. However, after going through the contemporary issues in business, one sees that other essential factors in management require proper decision-making. The firm is affected by variations in the environment, society, economy, political system, and technology. A manager must establish suitable strategies to satisfy the different factors that may impact the company’s operations. He or she also has to lead by following professional guidelines within the management field to avoid conflicts or litigation issues. Ethics requires the executives to serve the best interests of the environment by preventing pollution or improving their surroundings (DesJardins and McCall, 2014, 28). Also, the needs of the employees, public, government, media, and customers must be maintained to sustain good relationships and media coverage (Borgatti, Mehra, Labianca, and Brass, 2014, 13). Most contemporary issues have changed the business sector for the better regardless of several limitations that they might possess. The managers should create programs that will enable the company to shift or adapt to the different changes.
References
Alon, I., Jaffe, E. and Vianelli, D., 2013. Global marketing: contemporary theory, practice, and cases. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, c2013. xxi, 602 pages: illustrations, maps; 26 cm
Aziri, B., Zeqiri, I. and Ibraimi, S., 2014. Human Resource Management In Contemporary Business Organizations: A Literature Review. Publications in International Scientific Publications: Economy & Business journal, 8(1), pp.815-821.
Borgatti, S.P., Mehra, A., Labianca, G.J. and Brass, D.J. eds., 2014. Contemporary perspectives on organizational social networks (Vol. 40). Emerald Group Publishing.
DesJardins, J.R. and McCall, J.J., 2014. Contemporary issues in business ethics. Cengage Learning.
Goldman, G.A., Nienaber, H. and Pretorius, M., 2015. The Essence of the Contemporary Business Organization: A Critical Reflection. Journal of Global Business and Technology, 11(2), p.1.
