...Contemporary Theories of Management Contingency Theory Basically, contingency theory asserts that when managers make a decision, they must take into account all aspects of the current situation and act on those aspects that are key to the situation at hand. Basically, it’s the approach that “it depends.” For example, the continuing effort to identify the best leadership or management style might now conclude that the best style depends on the situation. If one is leading troops in the Persian Gulf, an autocratic style is probably best (of course, many might argue here, too). If one is leading a hospital or university, a more participative and facilitative leadership style is probably best. Systems Theory Systems theory has had a significant effect on management science and understanding organizations. First, let’s look at “what is a system?” A system is a collection of part unified to accomplish an overall goal. If one part of the system is removed, the nature of the system is changed as well. For example, a pile of sand is not a system. If one removes a sand particle, you’ve still got a pile of sand. However, a functioning car is a system. Remove the carburetor and you’ve no longer got a working car. A system can be looked at as having inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes. Systems share feedback among each of these four aspects of the systems. Let’s look at an organization. Inputs would include resources such as raw materials, money, technologies and people. These inputs...
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...Describing what management is and how it should function within a company is not always easy, as managing a company is a task covering lots of different areas the company has to deal with. As a manager you do not only have to apply hard skills like planning investments but also soft skills like team management and motivation. Therefore finding a universal approach, serving solutions to every question a manager could be confronted with, is a topic already keeping scientists and managers busy for centuries. As the industrial revolution with its principles of labor division and separation of ownership and control caused major changes in company structures, a tremendous amount of approaches has been developed. These very first approaches were extended with new findings or replaced, as they had weaknesses in certain areas. Nevertheless newer approaches also have their problems. In his work a manager is basically confronted with 4 different tasks, which build one continuous process of leading a company: Planning, organizing, leading and controlling. In the field of planning the manager has to take care of the right definition of goals, as well as finding the right strategies to achieve these goals. (Heather Rothbauer-Wanish, Source 4) The organizing process is about identifying the work to be done for accomplishing the determined goals and then assigning the necessary work to jobs, which are carried out by separate people or groups in the company, each dependent on the work of...
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...Introduction The Everest simulation provided several situations where multiple management theories, discussed in the lectures, were applicable. Being divided into teams to complete the task helped align this simulation’s findings with a real life business setting. Contrasting roles and goals of each individual team member further enhanced the similarity to an everyday business. To conquer Everest, whether it is in reality or as part of this ‘simulation’, requires significant amounts of planning and well thought out management decisions which allow for continued success for the team as a whole. Upon review of the simulation two management concepts were more prevalent than others; ethical and social responsibility with specific focus on the utilitarianism approach and the concept of strategic planning and goal setting, within that scenario planning and crises management. The concepts applicability to both the individual and group components of the simulation will be the main focus of this report. Clarity gained from scholarly articles will also be discussed in detail. Concept 1 – Strategic Planning/Goal Setting and Scenario Planning and Crises Management Good planning is the foundation of any successful individual, team or company venture, conquering Everest is no different. The planning process is often divided into three levels. The first, strategic, focuses on long range goals and focuses on the goals of the organisation as a whole. (Steiner, 2010) Second is tactical planning...
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...Unit 2 AB140 Assignment Danielle Irvine Kaplan University The evolution of management has greatly evolved since the classical approaches beginning early as 4000 BC. During this time managers didn’t draw a strong enough correlation between production and its employees. Although classical approaches had a strong influence on contemporary, it was not until these approaches that organizational managers began to focus less on the organizations capital and more on ever changing environments and the welfare of the organizations counter parts. Through contemporary approaches theorist began to realize successful managerial decisions would need to affect employees on a psychological equal to satisfy an organizations goals. By 1950 the contemporary approaches became the foundation of management from all aspects including recognizing an organization as an open system with external influential factors. Contemporary approaches to management are; Sociotechnical Systems, Quantitative Management, Organizational Behavior and Systems Theory. Within systems theory it has be established that an organization changes inputs into output through a process that will be determined and effected by internal, competitive and macroenvironments. Each approach focuses on a specific aspect of management that would affect the external environments of an organization. In the sociotechnical system the main focus of obtaining effectiveness is by strengthening the relationship between the social system and the...
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...Contemporary Approaches to Management and their Environments The different approaches to management have been changed, fine tuned and discarded over the years. In the coming paragraphs we will take a look at the contemporary approaches. We will examine how they compare to each other as well as if they can be utilized in the three types of environments; internal, competitive and macro environment. The first approach to management would be the sociotechnical systems theory. Researchers believed that for an organization to be successful it would need the social system and the technical system to work together in harmony. The social system consists of the employees, their knowledge, skills, attitude and their understanding of their job. Whereas the technical system consists of the items the employee need to complete the job like tools, devices or even techniques. Both systems would work together to create an outcome that would be beneficial to the organization. The second approach is the quantitative management approach. This approach uses mathematical or numeric techniques to calculate an organization’s issues so the manager can make an informed decision. Some techniques used are the linear equations, forecasting, simulation and breakeven analysis. This method is not used as much due to the fact an organization would need to find people that are very knowledgeable about quantitative mathematics. The third approach is the organizational behavior approach in which...
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...Contemporary Approaches to Management & Environments The Four Contemporary Approaches to Management 1. Socio-technical Systems 2. Quantitative Management 3. Organizational Behavior 4. Systems Theory How the Approaches are Different from One Another Socio-technical systems theory is a contemporary approach to management that says that a proper combination of workers (the social system) and their knowledge, training and tools (the technical system) leads to organizational effectiveness in satisfying customers. Emphasis: Social + Technical Quantitative management is another contemporary approach to management that prioritizes mathematical or statistical analysis as basis for decisions. Emphasis: Quantitative analysis The organizational behavior contemporary approach mainly considers the behaviors and interactions of workers. Emphasis: Individual and group behaviors Systems theory shows that the organization’s performance depends on how effective it is in providing goods or services using inputs from the external environment. Emphasis: Changing inputs into outputs Definition: Open System In the systems theory contemporary approach to management, an open system is a set of components and processes, i.e. the organization, subject to the influence of the external environment. The organization is an open system because its components and processes change due to external factors. Internal, Competitive, and Macro-environments of an Organization The internal environment...
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...Contemporary Approaches to Management There are four contemporary approaches to management: sociotechnical systems theory, quantitative management, organizational behavior, and systems theory. Sociotechnical systems theory attempts to redesign tasks to optimize operation of a new technology while preserving employees’ interpersonal aspects of the work (Bateman, 2013). This approach recognizes the interaction between people and technology in the workplace. Researchers believed that workers should be given the freedom to correct problems in the beginning stages of production and not wait until after the products were finished. This makes sense, as it would eliminate a lot of waste and production time. Quantitative management uses mathematical approaches to managerial approaches. The organizational behavior approach studies the impact of individuals, groups, and structures have on human behavior within organizations (Boundless, 2014). Finally, systems theory states that an organization is a managed system that changes inputs into outputs and emphasizes that an organization is one system in a series of subsystems. Sociotechnical systems theory is different from the other approaches because it deals with human and technology relationships. The employees are trained to make sure their technology helps their job performance, not hinders it. The quantitative management approach varies from the rest because it deals strictly with management problems. It is designed to...
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...Project management Approaches While estimating a project, the first step is to derive the size of the project so as to guide in estimation of other parameters, such as cost, schedule, and effort. With an accurate estimation of the size of your project done, you can carry out estimation of the required effort. This conversion from project size to total project effort is done after you have defined the project development lifecycle and development process that your team should follow to specify, design, develop and test the software. Estimation of the effort required in a project requires a project manager to identify and derive, and them put together all the activities that will build up the project as per the estimated size. There are various ways to derive effort from size: Use the organization’s historical data: An ideal path is to utilize your organization's documented information to decide the amount of exertion past projects of the same size has taken. This data obviously does not guarantee the performance of equal measure, but it sure provide a baseline of the possibilities. Review available records and determine the effort applied to achieve similar activities. You can interview the people who were there in case of lack of some records. This, of course, assumes a few things (a) your association has been archiving real records on recent activities and that you will follow a comparatively similar development lifecycle, utilize a comparable advancement strategy, utilize...
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...Historical Approaches to Management Management, as it is known today, exists in all organizations. With the continuous growth of size and complexity of these organizations, it has become necessary to follow a defined and professional approach to the practices of management. Samson & Daft (2012) defines management as “the attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organizing, leading and controlling organizational resources”. The foundation to modern day management theory lies in the study of one of the oldest schools of management knows as classical management which emerged during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its developers focused on efficiency and contained three subfields: scientific, bureaucratic and administrative management. Scientific Management was a theory created by Frederick Winslow Taylor, an American engineer. He believed that the limited success in organizations during the nineteenth century was was due to poor management practices rather than poor labour. Taylor believed that by increasing specialization and the division of labour, the production process would become more efficient. He introduced the development of a science for each unit of a task of a person’s work, replacing the old ‘rule-of-thumb’ methods previously used in industry. He achieved this by studying each task and then developing a standard method to perform that job. He would then select workers with specific skills and train...
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...Effective Approaches in Leadership and Management The enactment of the affordable care act has significantly changed the structure of all health care. As the focus of treatment at health care facilities all across the country transitions from specialty care and acute illnesses to preventative and long term health management, many changes have taken effect that have directly affected the approach and delivery of care. One of the greatest changes is the vast amount of patients that are now seeking health care. In an attempt to keep up with these high demands, many facilities have been left scrambling to adjust their budgets, reduce excess spending, and implement more efficient means of care delivery. Nurses throughout this process have had to adapt to a work environment that is constantly being changed and restructured. As a result, decreased job satisfaction, increased incidence of compassion fatigue, and nurse to patient ratios involving higher acuity levels have all contributed to the vast nursing shortage that is being experienced today. In addition, patient satisfaction scores and Medicare reimbursement have been greatly affected as well. Despite all of the aforementioned issues, there are some facilities that are taking the extra step to recognize and promote nursing excellence by setting the standards higher in an attempt to gain Magnet status. The focus of this writing is to compare and contrast the expectations of the approaches that nurse leaders and managers may use...
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...The four contemporary approaches to management are: systems theory, organizational behavior, quantitative management and sociotechnical systems. Each contemporary approach is influenced by an environment factor. These impacts are macro-environment, competitive environment and internal environment. The macro-environment of an organization involves variables such as political, social, legal and technological. Competitive environment of an organization involves the organization and professional players whom compete in the market place. Internal environment of an organization are components and processes within, such as employees, managers and resources. Each environment is relevant to the contemporary approaches however the approaches are unique in their own way. To elaborate more, the systems theory demonstrates that the organization’s execution relies on how efficient it is administering goods and services utilizing inputs from the external environment, in a matter that changes inputs to outputs. An open system is associations that would influenced by, and that affect, their surroundings, continually interacting with its environment (Bateman & Snell, 2012, p. 42). Internal, competitive and macro-environment are relevant to the systems theory because this approach to management deals with circumstances inside and outside of the organization. Quantitative management organizes scientific or measurable data as premise for choices...
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...For: Harry Comstock, Jim Chou, and Melissa Trifiletti Date: 4th February 2013 4 February 2013 For: Harry Comstock, Jim Chou, and Melissa Trifiletti Date: 4th February 2013 4 February 2013 Managerial Approaches Managerial Approaches Quik Clips Quik Clips EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The business proposal for Quik Clips aims to provide low-cost, quick and efficient haircuts. The business will initially open in the Perth City of Northbridge before planning to expand after one year to several salons around Perth with the long-term vision to franchise across Australia. Industry data identifies that the hairdressing industry is experiencing a skills shortage, a high turnover of staff and relies on a loyal customer base. It also identifies that overseas migration is contributing to an increasingly culturally diverse community in Perth. Given these challenges faced by Quik Clips, the objective of this report is to provide specific managerial approaches to address these challenges. This report benchmarks these managerial approaches against theoretical evidence from the classical viewpoint of ‘scientific management’ pioneered by Fredrick W Taylor and Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. Scientific management (also called ‘taylorism’) focuses on worker efficiency via the scientific study of work methods. The recommendations for Quik Clips are: 1. Divide tasks into specific jobs 2. Set job standards and procedures 3. Select employees with appropriate abilities...
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...The Four Contemporary Approaches to Management According to Bateman and Snell (2013), sociotechnical systems theory implies that organizations are satisfactory when their employees (the social system) have the right tools, training, and knowledge (the technical system) to make goods and services that are valued by customers (Bateman & Snell, 2013, p. 20). The term sociotechnical was invented by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in Britain (Marshall 1998). (Marshall 1998) found that “the Tavistock researchers argued that technology merely constrains human action, rather than rigidly determining behavioral outcomes” (para. 2). Employees having the ability to choose can build good interpersonal relationships in the workplace. A quantitative management approach involves the use of mathematics to solve problems on the job. According to Bateman & Snell (2013), “quantitative management helps a manager make a decision by developing formal mathematical models of the problem. Computers facilitated the development of specific quantitative methods” (p. 21). This particular management approach may be used in the workplace when developing new products or even resolving conflicts between employees. Organizational behavior focuses on the relationship between managers and employees. Organizational behavior draws from a variety of disciplines, including psychology and sociology, to explain the behavior of people on the job (Bateman & Snell, 2013, p. 22). According to Robbins &...
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...AS1: Approaches to Project Management and Methodology March 2015 1. Standard approaches to manage projects Provide brief descriptions of the following standard project management approaches: (a) The traditional approach (5 steps) The traditional approach to project management identifies a sequence of five steps to be completed in chronological order, as follows: * Initiation * Planning * Execution * Monitoring * Completion/closure Most projects will incorporate these stages, even where more complex project management methods are used but it is a method suited to simple, smaller projects, which do not have multiple tasks and people within the project team. (Hom 2013) Available at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4014-project-management.html) Accessed 25/03/15 (b) Critical chain project management This method was developed by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt and introduced in his book ‘Critical Chain’ (1997). It applies his Theory of Constraints to address project delivery issues, such as missed deadlines and increased costs and it focuses on eliminating delays due to uncertainty and over-estimation of task duration. The critical chain is comprised of the tasks which result in the longest path to project completion, with critical resources assigned to the tasks. The project schedule is then shortened by reducing the estimated task time and buffers are built in to provide for conflicts. Available at: (http://www.goldratt.co.uk/resources/critical_chain/)...
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...Business Approaches, Management, and Marketing: Amazon.com vs. Borders Books BUS 302: Management Concepts April 29, 2012 Jeff Bezos, former vice-president of D.E. Shaw, founded Amazon.com in 1994. After reading an article that forecast an annual Web growth of 2,300 percent, Jeff Bezos decided to make Amazon.com’s headquarters in Seattle, Washington. Seattle, Washington was a hot spot for the rapidly growing high tech work force. Bezos had a hard time finding initial investors, because he did not project a profit for the first five to six years of the company’s formation. Bezos startup funds came from family and friends, he ultimately raised one million dollars for his initial capital. Amazon.com started its operations in Bezos garage selling books, but quickly grew to the Amazon.com we know today. Amazon.com sells DVDs, CDs, furniture, jewelry, electronics, software, video games, toys and even food. Amazon.com sells its products all around the world and can reach any consumer that has an interest connection. Borders, or Borders Group, Inc., started out as a single used bookstore in Ann Harbor, Michigan. Borders was founded by Louis and Tom Borders in 1971. In 1975, Louis and Tom bought out stock of Wahr’s an eighty year old bookstore that was closing its doors and moved their store to a much larger location. Borders was bought out by Kmart in 1992. Kmart tried to expand Borders into Canada, but failed because regulations could not be met. Borders did...
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