Nowadays talented and efficient management is important for any organization. The business environment is constantly changing and it is very useful for the managers to be able to combine, synthesize and apply their theoretical knowledge and practical experience with the goal to achieve best possible results for the company. Traditional approach to the organization’s management is very important as it is based on the profound obtained during many decades experience of the most successful managers from all around the world. However, new trends require new approach. In this paper I am going to identify whether and to what extent classical management principles can be used in the companies today.
Activity 2
In my opinion, it is possible to agree with the above statement. Present situation of any company is the most important, as today’s actions of managers form their organization’s future. In case the managers of the company make serious mistakes or employ wrong approach to the company’s operations, it will simply cause its bankruptcy in the nearest future. Right management today ensures the company’s success in the future.
Past is very important too. It provides the professionals with the precious experience and gives them possibility to take right decisions later. According to Daft (2011), understanding of management evolution assists future and current managers in the current situation’s appreciation and continuation of the process in order to achieve better results in the future. Aspects of various historical approaches mix together and form modern management.
Since 1800s there were three main management perspectives: the humanistic perspective, the classical perspective and the management science perspective. Every perspective contains several specialized subfields that have some relevant ideas still used in the companies today. Total quality management, systems theory and the contingency view are the extensions of the above-mentioned perspectives. Looking at the constantly changing parts of the situation and their integration is an important tool for complex environment’s managing (Daft, 2011).
Nowadays many managers try to redesign their companies in order to make them learning organizations that foresee full engagement of all the employees into solving and identifying problems. This is closely connected with the modern technology-driven workplace. Customer relationship management, outsourcing and supply chain management are among the new important management approaches. It requires new approach to the role of partners, customers and employees. Nowadays successful managers value the employees for their skills to build relationships, think and share knowledge that differs significantly to the old approach (Daft, 2011).
Future in many aspects depends on the present and past actions of the managers. On the one hand, right strategies in the present and past allow the company to be financially sound and ensure positive background for the future. On the other hand, present actions form the experience and knowledge of the managers that can be used in the future.
Activity 3
Based on your experience at work or school, describe some ways in which the principles of scientific management and bureaucracy are still used in organizations. Do you believe these characteristics will ever cease to be a part of organizational life? Discuss.
Scientific management and bureaucracy principles are widely used in various types of organizations till now. They have their pros and cons. Such principles help to make the processes in the organization clear, but at the same time they make cause some confusion and inefficiency of the working process.
Bureaucratic management theory’s principles are as follows: (1) written rules (this theory foresees well standardized regulations and rules in a company; such rules should be in written form and clearly defined); (2) task relationship system (it means that there should be a system that helps to achieve the task and that in the organizations there must be relationship between task and system); (3) specialized training (the employee should be trained in accordance with his or her tasks; different system of organization should have different training; managerial training is necessary for managers and workers requires training in their duties); (4) authority’s hierarchy (the same as other classical theories, bureaucratic theory also believes in the authority’s hierarchy from the bottom level management to management of top level; authority must be given to managers according to their roles in the company in management pyramid; charismatic authority, traditional authority and rational authority make three legitimate authority types; major aspect of interest in the theory is rational authority); (5) clear duties (the duties of every employee should be identified clearly; every person should know what he or she must do and to whom he or she reports); (6) paper work (according to Webber, everything in the firm has to be in a written form; due to this, each organization’s system will proceed systematically); (7) fair reward and evaluation (system of evaluation should be properly established in the company so that workers can receive reward in accordance with their competency and commitment); (8) ideal bureaucracy’s maintenance (ideal bureaucracy should be present in any company; it can be achieved through the right reward system and training) (Mahmood, Basharat and Bashir, 2012).
Also, Taylor made a significant contribution into the scientific management’s development. According to Grey (2008), Taylor articulated his solution in different ways but most well-known in his principles: (1) a science to every work element; (2) scientific training and selection of workers; labor division between managers and workers; (3) co-operation between workers and managers.
According to the Taylor’s approach, workers were considered to be only components in the machine of organization. Taylorism was strongly resisted by workers and their trade unions. The system foresees a significant power transfer from workers to managers. It eroded working conditions, decreased autonomy and threatened unemployment (because fewer people could do more work) (Grey, 2008). Therefore it is difficult to apply the about mentioned theories in the present economic conditions.
In my opinion, for example, the present school system is characterized by bureaucratic policies and rules with an emphasis on work processes’ standardization in order to create simple chains between such processes and student achievement’s improving. Educational professionals must move beyond the present tendency to meet research and theory on students’ cognitive development, organizational behavior, organizational structure, and effective strategies of leadership (Bouie, 2012). The changes in the system may help students to be more successful in their future career and life.
There are also many commercial organization that use scientific management and bureaucracy in their companies. I think that in general at least some elements of these principles should remain in the modern organizations (scheduling, documents’ system, planning, etc), however, present economic environment requires to modify such principles taking into account modern business trends.
Conclusions
Thus, it is possible to conclude that it is not recommended for the modern organizations to underestimate the importance of classical theories of management. They possess a solid theoretical and practical background and are based on the huge experience of the most talented managers of the last century. They are created taking into account a lot of aspects that are extremely important for the existence of any enterprise. The task of modern managers is to use their knowledge of classical management and adapt them to the conditions of present business environment. The most important changes in the management system are caused by the dominance of the employees’ skills and creativity in the company’s success, quick technological growth and necessity of timely reaction to rapidly changing business environment in the conditions of globalization.
References
Bouie, E. (2012). The Impact of Bureaucratic Structure, Scientific Management, and Institutionalism on Standards-Based Educational Reform. Mercer Journal of Educational Leadership, [online] 1(1), pp.14-15. Available at: https://libraries.mercer.edu/repository/bitstream/handle/10898/351/Impact%20of%20Bureaucratic%20Structure,%20Scientific%20Management,%20and%20Institutionalism%20on%20Standards-Based%20Educational%20Reform.pdf?sequence=3 [Accessed 28 Apr. 2015].
Daft, R. (2011). Management. 10th ed. Cengage Learning, p.52.
Grey, (2008). Bureaucracy and Scientific Management. Studying Organizations, [online] pp.35-41. Available at: http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/24508_02_Grey(2e)_Ch_01.pdf [Accessed 28 Apr. 2015].
Mahmood, Z., Basharat, M. and Bashir, Z. (2012). Review of Classical Management Theories. International Journal of Social Sciences and Education, [online] 2(1), pp.519-520. Available at: http://ijsse.com/sites/default/files/issues/2012/volume%202%20issue%201%20Jan%202012/paper%2039/paper-39.pdf [Accessed 28 Apr. 2015].
