...Contemporary Approaches to Management & Environments Organizational management can have many approaches. Keeping employees, suppliers and consumers happy can be a complex process. It has been determined that contemporary approaches to management directly relate to an open system and the environments of an organization. Not all contemporary approaches to management relate to every organizational environment directly, but can have an overall impact. Sociotechnical systems theory is a contemporary approach to management that says that the right combination of workers along with their knowledge, training and tools leads to organizational effectiveness in satisfying customers. Quantitative management is another contemporary approach that prioritizes mathematical or statistical analysis as basis for decision making. This approach helps a manager make a decision by developing formal mathematical models including linear programming, queuing theory, simulation, forecasting, inventory modeling, network modeling, and breakeven analysis to resolve a problem (Bateman & Snell, 2013). The organizational behavior contemporary approach studies and identifies management activities that promote employee effectiveness by examining the dynamic nature of individual and group behaviors and interactions along with organizational processes. Systems theory shows that the organization’s performance depends on how effective it is providing goods or services using inputs from the external environment. Systems...
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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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...Contemporary Approaches and the Environments of a Business Andre Scarlett The contemporary approach is the most modern approach to management; it has improved on and even integrated the key concepts created by the classical approach to management. The Contemporary approach has four main theories; Sociotechnical systems, Quantitative management, Organizational behavior, and Systems theory. The Sociotechnical Systems theory is an approach to job design that attempts to redesign tasks to optimize operation of a new technology while preserving employees interpersonal relationships and other human aspects of the work, this approach mainly focuses on the management of quality and the control of processes to ensure the quality of goods or services, which just means doing everything right the first time around. Quantitative management is an approach that emphasizes the application of quantitative analysis to managerial decisions and problems, basically the company tries to guess the outcome of a decision using mathematical models, however many managers do not rely on this approach to make a decision they normally use there own judgment to make a decision, that being said they would still use this approach to compare or remove different options. The Organizational Behavior approach studies and identifies management activities that promote employee effectiveness by examining the complex and dynamic nature of individual, group, and organizational processes, this approach draws from...
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...of one's environment. Emerging scientific studies have proven that the children of upcoming generations are unconsciously suffering from “nature deprivation” (Bratman; Nature experience, cognitive function, and mental health.) or nature deficit disorder. “Nature deficit disorder refers to a hypothesis by Richard Louv in his 2005 book Last Child In The Woods that human beings, especially children, are spending less time outdoors [2] resulting in a wide range of behavioral problems” (Wikipedia). Behavioral problems and cognitive development issues are most prevalent in young children of the current generation. Cognitive abilities began to develop during the early stages of childhood....
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...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 technical systems needed by employees to provide satisfying products/services to customers. By enhancing technology and workers skills used in production, the internal environment accomplished the allotment of employees to lead in much effective ways to...
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...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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...Chapter 1 Learning objectives: 1. Describe the nature of management, define management and managers, and characterize their importance to contemporary organizations. Answer: management is a set of activities including planning and decision making, organizing, leading, and controlling, directed at an organization’s resources(human, financial, physical and information) with the aim of achieving organizational goals in an efficient and effective manner. A manager is someone whose primary responsibility is to carry out the management process within an organization. 2. Identify and briefly explain the four basic management functions in organizations. Answer: planning and decision making (determining courses of action), organizing (coordinating activities and resources), leading (motivating and managing people), controlling (monitoring and evaluating activities). These activities are not performed on a systematic and predictable schedule. 3. Describe the kinds of managers found at different levels and in different areas of the organization. Answer: By level, we can identify top, middle and first-line managers. Kinds of managers by area include marketing, financial, operations, human resource, administrative, and specialized managers. 4. Identify the basic managerial roles that managers play and the skills they need to be successful. Answers: Interpersonal roles (figurehead, leader, and liaison). Informational roles (monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson)...
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...Knowledge Management. Contemporary Trends and Issues ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING Povilas Brilius Baifoteka Ltd, Lithuania, povilas@baifoteka.com Abstract: Organizational Learning (OL) is recognized to have established itself as a discipline. However, it remains unclear what it is primarily focused onto – practical problem solving or theoretical descriptive analysis. Due to largely fragmented literature, sometimes interweaving concepts and a variety of attitudes, practitioners find it difficult to easily apply this field, meantime theorists call for more comprehensive understanding of OL. This article focuses on contemporary trends in OL research. It argues and unveils that current OL investigation has made a shift towards holistic and integrative approach in which individual has more powers to make a decision. Article illustrates such contemporary shift of mind by (a) summarizing most important literature in the field (b) providing examples of latest research in OL area. For a smoother analysis, author builds and applies working framework of dichotomies between concepts (dialectical approach). Keywords: organizational learning, contemporary trends, holism. JEL Classification: D800, D830 1. Introduction During the last 50-60 years Organizational Learning (OL) has undoubtedly established itself as a discipline – a number of concepts have been constructed and applied theoretically, numerous schools with distinct models have emerged. However, a question may be posed – to what...
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...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...
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...Contemporary Approaches The four different contemporary approaches to management are: Sociotechnical systems theory suggests that organizations are effective when their employees have the tools, and training, and knowledge to make products and services that are valued by customers. Quantitative management emphasizes the application of quantitative analysis to management decisions and problems. A manager makes a decision by developing formal mathematical models of the problem. They use techniques as a supplement in the decision process. The limited use of quantitative management is due to managers not being trained in using these techniques. Organizational behavior studies management activities that promote employee effectiveness through an understanding of the complex nature of the individual, group, and organizational processes. An example of this, Douglas McGregor influenced the field of management with his Theory X and Theory Y perspective. Theory X managers assume workers are lazy and irresponsible and require constant supervision and external motivation to achieve organizational goals. Theory Y managers assume employees want to work and can direct and control them- selves. Theory X is known as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Systems theory states that organizations are open systems, and dependent on inputs from the outside world, such as raw materials, and human resources. They transform these inputs into outputs that (ideally) meet the market’s needs for goods and services...
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...Management 1. Introduction The origins of management can be traced back to the age of mediaeval mercantilism or even earlier, yet the nature of business management as an applied science only really developed in the last century. In the modern context, business management is limited to one component of the economic system, namely the individual organization, whether it be a private business, a government corporation or, to a lesser extent, a non-profit seeking organization. Contemporary society consists of diverse organizations, including business enterprises, schools, hospitals, sport clubs, churches and political parties that contribute to the functioning of the community. The profitable performance of these organizations is dependent on attaining pre-designed objectives and to make its services as productive and efficient as possible. However, organizations do not achieve their objectives automatically. In addition to the human resources, physical resources and special know-how in a business organization, there is still one element that is necessary to direct all these resources and activities effectively towards the goals of the enterprise. That indispensable element is management and without it, no purposeful action is possible. The question that is raised within this context of traditional and contemporary views of leadership is how does this aspect coincide and interact with the practical ideals of management. This leads to the debate about management...
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...The four types of contemporary management are sociotechnical systems theory, quantitative management, organizational behavior and system theory. These approaches to management have all been developed at various times since World War 2 and continue to represent the corner stones of modern management thought (Vital source). Sociotechnical systems theory was developed in the 1950’s by the London based Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (Vital Source) .This is an approach to complex organizational work design that recognizes the interaction between people and technology in workplaces. The term also refers to the interaction between society's complex infrastructures and human behavior. In this sense, society itself, and most of its substructures, are complex sociotechnical systems (wiki). Quantitative management stems for the 1940’s and 1950’s and emphasizes the application of the quantitative analysis to management decisions and problems. This helps a manager make a decision by developing formal mathematical models of the problem which can be facilitated by the development of computers. This method is usually used in a supplement role in decision making (Vital source). Organizational behavior, also developed in the 1950’s, studies and identifies management activities that promote employee effectiveness by examining the complex and dynamic nature of individual, group, and organizational processes. Organizational behavior comes from a variety of disciplines including psychology...
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...EFM Academy – Summary: Essentials of contemporary management, Gareth R. Jones, Jennifer M. George / Marketing – Real People, Real Choices, Solomon / Marshall / Stuart Essentials of Contemporary Management Chapter 1 What is Management? – The Management Process Today Management is the planning, organizing, leading and controlling of human and other resources to achieve organizational goals efficiently and effectively Achieving high performance: a manger’s goal Organizational performance is a measure of how efficiently and effectively managers use resources to satisfy customers and achieve organizational goals. Efficiency is a measure of how well or how productively resources are used to achieve goals; o Organizations are efficient when the amount of input resources or the amount of time needed to produce a given output of goods or services is minimized Effectiveness is a measure of the appropriateness of the goals that managers have selected for the organization to pursue and of the degree to which the organization achieves its goals o Organizations are effective when appropriate goals are chosen and achieved High effectiveness Low efficiency A product that the customer want, but that is too expensive for them to buy A low-quality product that customers do not want High efficiency A product that customers want at a quality and price that they can afford A high-quality product that customers do not want - Low effectiveness Managerial Functions … are planning...
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...ijcrb.webs.com APRIL 2013 INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS VOL 4, NO 12 EXAMINING FACTORS AFFECTING DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE Arslan Ayub1, Muhammad Salman Aslam2, Adeel Razzaq3, Hanan Iftekhar4, Sabiha Hafeez5 1234 MS Scholar, Iqra University Islamabad, Pakistan National College of Business Administration & Economics Bahawalpur, Pakistan 5 Abstract The purpose of the study is to examine various organizational factors that influence diversity in the workplace. The factors incorporate organizational policies, management practices, and perceived inequity. The current paper is a conceptual paper solely based on literature review. The findings are reliable with consideration view of these organizational variables to be the factual obstacles in employing and heading workplace diversity issue on. The current study throws light on the significance of managing workplace diversity. Keywords: Organizational Policies, Workforce Diversity, Management, Management Practices, Staffing INTRODUCTION The "business case for diversity" curtails from the development of the replica of diversity within the workplace since 1960's. The inventive model for diversity was positioned around affirmative action drawing strength from the law and a need to act in accordance with equal employment opportunity objectives. This observance based model conferred to the thought that tokenism was the reason; an individual was hired into a company when...
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...Contemporary Approaches Sociotechnical Systems Theory refers to how the social and technical aspects of an organization are both related. The theory suggests organizations are more effective when the employees have all the right combination of tools, training, and knowledge to make the products, and provide services to the customers when they are needed. This work grew out of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in England. They explored ways to improve productivity and morale in organizations through "action research". The socio-technical approach has focused more on work group interactions than individual performance. Properly structured work groups, it is assumed, can provide incentives, assistance, and social support better than individual job design programs. Autonomous work groups, quality circles are popular examples of this perspective. Groups are often given resources and responsibilities for areas like safety and quality control and work as a team to identify and correct inefficiencies and work issues. Quantitative Management approach involves the use of mathematical modeling to find the best solutions to problems. This can be applied to a variety of workplace challenges, ranging from making decisions during product development to resolving employee conflicts. It is also known as operations research, and involves a more objective, structured approach to problems or solutions. Many industries can be suited to this management philosophy. One important component...
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