Read the text: The evolution of management thought

Management thought has evolved in bits and pieces over the years. Although the practice of management dates back to the earliest recorded history, the systematic study of management is largely a product of the twentieth century. An information explosion in management theory has created a management theory jungle. Five conventional approaches to management are: (1) the universal process approach, (2) the operational approach, (3) the behavioral approach, (4) the systems approach, and (5) the contingency approach. A modern unconventional approach centers on Peters’ and Waterman's attributes of corporate excellence.

Henri Fayol's universal process approach assumes that all organiza­tions, regardless of purpose or size, require the same management process. Furthermore, it assumes that this rational process can be reduced to separate functions and principles of management. The universal process approach, the oldest of the various approaches, is still popular today.

Dedicated to promoting production efficiency and reducing waste, the operational approach has evolved from scientific management to opera­tions management. The term operational approach is a convenient description of the production-oriented area of management dedicated to improving efficiency and cutting waste. Through its historical development, the operational approach has been more technical, quantitative, and objectively scientific than the other approaches. Frederick W. Taylor, the father of scientific manage­ment, and his followers revolutionized industrial management through the use of standardization, time and motion study, selection and training, and pay incentives. Largely a product of the post-World War II era, operations management has broadened the scientific pursuit of efficiency to include all productive organizations. It aims at promoting efficiency through systematic observation and experimentation. It encompasses the design, implementation, operation and control of systems made up of men, materials, capital equipment, information and money to accomplish some set of objectives. Operations management specialists often rely on sophisticated models and quantitative techniques.

Management has turned to the human factor in the human relations movement and organizational behavior. Emerging from such factors as unionization, the Hawthorne studies, and the philosophy of industrial humanism, the human relations movement began as a concerted effort to make employees' needs a high management priority. Organizational behavior is a modern approach to management that attempts to determine the causes of human work behavior and translate the results into effective management techniques, it tries to identify the multiple determinants of job performance.

Advocates of the systems approach recommend that modern organiza­tions be viewed as open systems. Open-system thinking does not permit the manager to become preoccupied with one aspect of organizational management while ignoring other internal and external realities. Open systems depend on the outside environment for survival, whereas closed systems do not. General systems theory, an interdisciplinary field based on the assumption that everything is systematically related, has identified a hierarchy of systems and has differentiated closed and open systems.

The contingency approach is an effort to determine through research which managerial practices and techniques are appropriate in specific situations. It is characterized by an open-system perspective, a practical research orientation, and a multivariate approach to research. Contingency thinking is a practical extension of more abstract systems thinking.

I. Reading Exercises:

Exercise 1. Read and memorize using a dictionary:

Exercise 2. Answer the questions:

1) What are conventional approaches to management?

2) What does the universal process approach assume?

3) What has the operational approach evolved from?

4) What do operations management specialists often rely on?

Exercise 3. Match the left part with the right:

Exercise 4. Open brackets choosing the right words:

Dedicated to promoting production efficiency and (increasing/reducing) waste, the operational approach has (evolved/resumed) from scientific management to opera­tions management.

THE SPEAKING MODULE

II. Speaking Exercises:

Exercise 1. Describe universal process approach, operational approach, behavioral approach, systems approach, contingency approach using the suggested words and expressions as in example:

Exercise 2. Ask questions to the given answers:

1) Question: ___________________________________________ ?

Answer: Although the practice of management dates back to the earliest recorded history, the systematic study of management is largely a product of the twentieth century.

2) Question: ___________________________________________ ?

Answer: Management has turned to the human factor in the human relations movement and organizational behavior.

3) Question: ___________________________________________ ?

Answer: The contingency approach is an effort to determine through research which managerial practices and techniques are appropriate in specific situations.

THE WRITING MODULE

III. Writing exercises:

Exercise 1. Complete the sentences with the suggested words:

assumption; differentiated; outside; systems; is.

Open systems depend on the ______ environment for survival, whereas closed systems do not. General systems theory, an interdisciplinary field based on the _______ that everything ____ systematically related, has identified a hierarchy of _____ and has ______ closed and open system.

Exercise 2. Compose a story on one of the topics (up to 100 words):

“Five conventional approaches to management”

“ The evolution of management thought”

Date: 2015-01-12; view: 1658