Contemporary Approaches to Management

The contemporary approaches to management include: sociotechnical theory, quantitative management, organizational behavior, and systems theory. As defined in our text book, (retrieved from: https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/0077530667/pages/116411950) sociotechnical systems theory 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 idea developed in the 1950’s at London’s Tavistock Institute of Human Relations simply put means that happy employees equal productive employees.

Quantitative management is a contemporary management approach that emphasizes the application of quantitative analysis to managerial decisions and problems (retrieved from: https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/0077530667/pages/116411950). Although this could be a useful approach, most managers do not implement it due to lack of understanding of the formulas required or because some of the everyday issues they deal with, cannot be put into a mathematical equation. However, it has proven to be a useful strategy in military operations and organization’s strategic planning.

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Our text defines organization behavior (retrieved from: https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/0077530667/pages/116411951 ) as a contemporary management approach that studies and identifies management activities that promote employee effectiveness by examining the complex and dynamic nature of individual, group, and organizational processes. Similar to the sociotechnical systems theory, this idea also emphasizes that the employee’s needs and well being can effect productivity.

And the last of the approaches is systems theory defined as a theory stating that an organization is a managed system that changes inputs into outputs.

(retrieved from : https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/0077530667/pages/116411951 ). This theory recognizes that are many factors that contribute to an organization’s productivity. The input being materials, labor and money are factors that can influence and affect the output (the final product a company sells). All organizations are open systems, which simply mean organizations that are affected by their environments and affect their environment. There are internal, external and competitive environments that make up a company’s macroenviroment.

The internal environment refers to things (employees, materials and capital) inside the company. The external environment includes all forces outside the company’s walls, such as the economy, competitors and government. Finally, the competitive environment which is made up of competitors, suppliers and consumers. I would agree that all four approaches play a part in every organization. Depending on the type of business, one strategy may prove more effective than another but at some point the different approaches would be used for the many diverse issues organizations face. There are many similar concepts all company’s face (employees, environment, competition) and each approach has uses in all companies and within the macroenvironment.

References:
Title: Management (M Starts Here series–soft cover), 3rd ed. (2013) Author(s): Bateman and Snell
Physical Book ISBN: 9780078029523
Publisher: McGraw Hill
Digital book or physical text: Digital