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Management Theory & Practice

Discuss management theory and practice within the modern era and explain the role of science in systems management. (at least 2 pages of information). Please cite the source(s).

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1. Discuss management theory and practice within the modern era and explain the role of science in systems management. (at least 2 pages)
Human behavior and motivation haven't changed much over the years. Why haven't there been more basic, universally accepted management principles that tell people what to do to get the most out of their employees?
One reason is that management theorists are essentially divided into two groups. One group thinks that workers are basically dolts who have to be goaded into doing things, either by incentives such as pay or by punishments for not working. The other group holds the opposite set of psychological assumptions: that workers are basically creative, innovative people who want to please and do their best, and that the way to motivate them is to give them as much freedom as possible. So you have two completely incompatible psychological models, and the industry sometimes mixes the two views or switches back and forth. "Reengineering" was the last big management fad, and it was based on the idea that you treat your workers as people who need carrots and sticks above everything else. And now because people have gotten sick of that, we're veering madly toward trust and empowerment and letting people express their individuality. (1)
Just as the 21st century has seen new types of organizations and new ways of doing business arise, so, too, will there be new management trends, ideas, and techniques. While running after every trendy idea is hardly a recommendable strategy, the wise manager will learn, study, and apply the best current thinking. At the start of the 21st century, the following rate to be the most important ideas regarding management theory and practice:
Management is based on communicating. As techniques for planning, strategizing, decision-making, and problem solving becomes the common province of everyone in the organization, the need for improving communication will be paramount and managers will be increasingly using dialogue and other communication tools.

Example: A New Vision of Management in the 21st Century
Peter Drucker has described the emergence of modern management in the early years of the 20th century as a "pivotal event in social history." Modern management, he noted, was "proven so indispensable so quickly...with so little opposition, so little disturbance, so little controversy..." (1954: 3-4). But the age of consensus is over, along with the convergent social, economic and technical conditions within which modern management evolved.
Now we live in a divergent world of stark contrasts and difficult tensions, faced with totally new questions and challenges, both as human beings and as scholars of business. What does it mean to be "human" in the era of genetic ...

Solution Summary

Discusses management theory and practice within the modern era and explains the role of science in systems management. References provided.