Management and Organization

The Future of Management

2006 The Future of Management

Like computers , management is not the off spring of the last century . It dates back to the age of pyramids when management used to be practiced by ruling the weak and make them do the work by force , without considering whether they are willing to do it or not . From that time onwards , the concept of management started evolving . Many scholars contributed greatly in grooming managers and business processes from the introduction of `Scientific Management ' by Fredrick Taylor and `14 principles of

Management ' by Henri Fayol to the current era of globalization and emergence of BPM (Business Performance Management

According to Stephen

. Robbins and Mary Coulter (2005 : The historical background of management , which consist of Adam Smith 's `Wealth of Nations ' and Industrial revolution , actually gave way to four management theories namely Scientific Management , General Administrative Theorists , Quantitative Approach , and Organizational Behavior

The inception of Globalization has not only affected the structures of the organizations , but also the best practices involved in carrying out the business processes . Companies now have become more customer-oriented , forcing the managers to respond quickly to changing consumer needs and innovation and be able to manage the thriving knowledge management culture . The functions of management such as Planning , Organizing , Leading and Controlling have also evolved and merged with each other as today 's manager has to perform all these duties simultaneously in to use the available resources most efficiently

If we scan all the four management functions , we see that they have become more interactive and speedy with the changing environment , such as demographics , technology , workforce diversity etc

Planning is the first and the most critical management function which actually requires the manager to chalk out an effective plan through which organizational goals can be achieved by using the minimum resources . As HYPERLINK "http /management .about .com /mbiopage .htm " F John Reh (n .d ) says that this is where manager figures out the company 's goal , evaluate the strengths and weaknesses , and compare the given resources with the assigned tasks . With globalization and mass customization through websites , companies tend to face extensive investment requirements to reach a larger consumer market . At this stage , manager has to see which markets are more profitable to the company , if targeted properly and how much resources should be put in to reap profits from those markets . HYPERLINK "http /management .about .com /mbiopage .htm " F . John Reh is of the opinion that , `In the planning process the most overlooked planning tool is the most effective . Ask the people doing the work for their input

It used to be a normal practice that managers used to do organize the human and capital resources once the planning is done . Now , in modern era , these two activities cannot possibly be done in isolation . Business demands that the planned resources should be simultaneously organized so as to maintain the practical achievability of the proposed tasks . While assigning work to the employees , manager should see...