Learning Activity For Week 1

Learning Activity for week 1

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

The classical approach to management evolved in the late 19th and early 20th century. It is a set of homogeneous ideas on the management of organizations. Scientific Management is referred to the classical approach that came in with the idea to increase productivity and improve efficiency. It is notable to mention that the scientific management approach was adapted with the aim to increase industrial efficiency. By doing so, a good standard of living would be established as the production cost got reduced. The productivity of men and machines were measured to calculate the performance of an organization. Scientific management approach was the first attempt to manage an organization systematically with the focus to increase productivity and efficiency. However, there was a major flaw in the classical approach as it only increased work effort in intensity. With the increase in work efforts, the overall work ethics and productivity decreases. Due to the increased work pressure, the morale of workers decreases results in labor-management conflict. Additionally, the sole purpose of scientific management approach was to increase the overall productivity. This approach tried to eliminate the gap between machines and human. However, for that purpose, employers place strict supervision and tough task procedures on workers.

On the other hand, Abraham Maslow focused on understanding the behavior of a human in the organization. It is argued that human has physical needs as well financial needs. To increase productivity in the workplace, it is necessary to understand the organizational group dynamics (Classical Versus Behavioral Perspectives). Abraham Maslow argued that it is critical to have an understanding of human’s mindset if organizations want their employees to put maximum effort in their assigned tasks. Unlike the Scientific Management approach, Human Relation approach emphasizes understanding the psychological aspect of human behavior (Behavioral Perspectives). If an organization is willing to create a supportive and benevolent organizational environment, then it should need to apprehend the approach of human behavior. It is obvious that both Human Relation and Scientific Management approaches want to maximize profit by increasing productivity (Classical Versus Behavioral Perspectives). However, both management approaches select different methods to achieve their goals. Scientific Management method used strict supervision while Human Relation style motivates workers to increase efficiency.

According to Max Weber (leader in the classical perspective of management), it is the responsibility of managers to manage the working processes with as little bureaucracy as possible. Henri Fayol focused on improving the efficiency of managers rather than the efficiency of workers. According to Fayol, it is the core responsibility of managers to plan, organize, lead, and control different processes in an organization. Taylor advanced the idea that managers and workers must cooperate with each other in order to make things right (Classical Versus Behavioral Perspectives). However, it was a difficult step as things were typically done differently beforehand. Managers had no time to interact with workers, so workers were left on their own to produce the necessary product. According to the scientific management approach, it is essential to allocate the work between managers and workers. By doing so, managers will be able to spend more time among workers which will allow workers to perform their tasks efficiently. It is noteworthy to mention that the principles of Taylor’s scientific management theory help organizations to create a healthy working environment as it provides the idea of cooperation among managers and workers (Classical Versus Behavioral Perspectives). Scientific Management approach provides remarkable offerings to the encroachment of management practice. Human Relation approach helps managers to understand the emotions and feelings of the workers. Classical approaches focused on increasing formal relations among managers and workers so that they can cooperate with each other to establish a healthy working environment along with increasing efficiency. According to this contemporary approach, managers must encourage informal relations in the organization. The increment of the informal relations among managers and workers will create a positive working environment. Human Relation approach emphasizes the concept of good communication between managers and workers. Effective communication helps managers to communicate with workers without any superiority complex and feelings of ego. Managers should avoid strict supervisions as workers want freedom. Therefore, managers need to create a positive working environment and should include workers in the decision making process in order to increase job satisfaction.

Due to competitive pressures and technical breakthroughs, working in an organization is different as compared to the twentieth century. In the modern world, work is more cognitively complex, more time pressured, more dependent on technological competence, more collaborative and team-based, and more mobile. Different management theories and approaches have made it clear for organizations to focus on the customers and their needs. Organizations have changed their focus on customers; therefore, these organizations are leaner and more agile. Competition is tough due to the diverse market demand hence organizations modified to dynamic competitive necessities and strategy. In order to maintain and gain competitive advantage, organizations continually reorganize them. Despite market demand, political, technological, socio-cultural, economic, and environmental factors also changed the organizational landscape. Economic factors include labor cost, inflation, interest rates, stage of the business cycle, the impact of globalization, and changes in the economic environment. Socio-cultural factors include population employment patterns, press attitudes, social attitudes, public opinion, and population growth rate and age profile. Technological changes impact the labor force as organizations are more focused on emerging technologies. Technological changes enable organizations to increase remote working due to the reduction in communications costs. Management should adopt innovative techniques to make operations easier in the workplace. Political factors such as regulation and de-regulation trends, tax policy, and rules of law and level of bureaucracy affect the marketplace as well.

Organizational theory helps managers to resolve any issue regarding management. It provides vital information on how to maximize efficiency and productivity without degrading employees. It is worth mentioning that managers can use organizational theory to increase the likelihood of success and maximum profit (Organizational Theory and Behavior). There is a ripple effect on competing firms due to the fact that many organizations are willing to assimilate themselves into capitalistic societies. Modern organizational theory helps a manager to encourage informed decision making through a hierarchical system. Organizational theory creates an environment where managers are more likely to involve in the production process as it stimulates local innovation and increases the decision-making process. For example, if managers have direct interaction with the worker, so they can easily consult them regarding any change in the organization by putting them in the decision-making process which will ultimately help them to win worker’s trust. Managers must have good communication skills as it will help them to convey their messages effectively (Organizational Theory and Behavior). Good communication skills help them to resolve different issues which are causing trouble due to the language barrier. Managers should have the knowledge on how to keep their teams intact. Good managers impose competition among teams as it can be very healthy and stimulating. Team building skills help managers to notice any irregularities in their team. After finding any issue, they can efficiently resolve it. Managers must have leadership skills to solve problems and concerns of their workers. Hence, they can fix any circumstance by having a discussion with the workers. A good manager is flexible and adaptable so he/she can absorb stress while making an important decision. Benchmarking is an essential tool that allows managers to compare different aspects of the business to industry standards (Modern Thinking).

Proper distribution and understanding of work tasks make it easy to adopt the paradigm of the work assessment. It referred to as the one major responsibility of the workers to report to the person who is working at the managerial position for the organization. In other words, it can identify as the responsibility of the manager to assess the working performance of the workers. This form of consideration makes it easy to consider specific skills utilizes by the person concerning the main idea of the promotion of managerial success. This particular phenomenon is associated with the comprehensive approach of knowledge management. It is essential for the person who is working in a managerial position to better utilize the effective domain of knowledge management (Evolving Organization). The perspective of knowledge management makes it essential to evaluate the skills established by the workers according to the feature of the main organizational objectives.

It is mandatory for the manager to critically consider specific skills are referring to the proper approach to meet organizational tasks. Attainment and the establishment of the specific managerial skills further help managers to enhance their paradigm of a successful career. Communication is recognized as the one essential skill for the manager to identify organizational tasks and react most suitably timely. Proper communication ultimately makes it easy for the workers to understand their particular tasks and align their performance with the actual organizational goals. Consideration of the quantitative and analytical skills is also integral for the manager to critically assess the organizational performance level referring to the broader idea of financial management. These particular techniques assist the manager to make inferences about the performance efficiency of the workers. Proper consideration of these skills provides a roadmap to the manager to use these skills for a future job position as it refers as the source of self- realization, and self-management.