Tyler

MT140 Introduction to Management

Prof Pouraryan

7 April 2015

Contemporary Management Approaches and Business Environments

The human race has always striven to figure out the best way to manage certain aspects of life; whether it be in the home, in recreation or in work. The last few decades people have been systematically researching on how to best improve management in the workplace. They want to make businesses run faster, produce more, and produce better quality products. Business owners and managers have finally developed four contemporary approaches to management; the sociotechnical systems theory, quantitative management, organizational behavior, and the systems theory, and they all differ. These four approaches to management are also relevant in the three environments that a business contains which are the macroenvironment, the competitive environment and the internal environment.
As mentioned previously there are four contemporary approaches to management. The first being sociotechnical systems theory which is a combination of several classical approaches. This theory suggests that organizations are effective when their employees (the social system) have the right tools, training and knowledge (the technical system) to make products and services that are valued by their customer (Bateman 35). The second approach is quantitative management. This approach was developed after Word War II and emphasizes the application of quantitative analysis to management decisions and problems. It helps a manager make a decision by developing formal mathematical models of the problem (35). The third approach is organizational behavior which studies and identifies management activities that promote employee effectiveness through an understanding of the complex nature of individual group and organizational processes (36). The fourth and final contemporary