Managers: Key to Business Success Since Industrial Revolution - Essay Sample

Introduction

In any business, managers play vital roles, including decision making, employees motivation, resource allocation, and negotiating deals, among many others. As evident throughout the history of business, i.e., from the industrial revolution, managers play a critical role in the success of any business. Development of management theories has been an ongoing process since the realization of the vital role played by managers in the industry. Even though new management theories have emerged, to keep up with the emerging trends, the older ones are still as relevant as they were more than a century ago. The common concept that cut across all the management theories is that managers are supposed to handle people, processes, and information, among other specified duties. Additionally, the role of a manager, the theories posit, include improving operational processes and motivation of subordinate employees. All the management theories assess how a manager can successfully coordinate all the responsibilities mentioned above. The four main management functions, planning, organizing, leading and controlling, highlighted in various theories, can make it easy to handle these responsibilities. To understand the concept works, it is essential to assess approaches by F. W. Taylor, Max Webber, and Douglas McGregor.

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Planning

Planning is simply looking ahead into the future and predicting the possible occurrences that may or may not influence productivity within the organization. In an organizational setup, planning entails setting f goals and coming up with means of achieving them all. Both Max Webber's and Taylor's management theory assess planning as a type of management function. Advanced by Taylor, the scientific management theory is the first approach that discusses the four principles of management. Loosely, Taylor's approach investigates a sufficient way of performing tasks in an organization. According to Kai-Ping Huang et al. (2013), the theory designs jobs and supervise workers through emphasizing on the division of labor, making any necessary changes by the managers and removing employees' discretion. All these management activities are geared towards improving efficiency in working. Taylor's scientific management concept, the author, assesses, is anchored on four main principles. First is the evaluation of job scientifically to the best way of performing it. Second is hiring the right person and training them for efficiency. The third principle is monitoring and providing instructions during work. Finally, it is vital to divide tasks between labor and management to fast-track planning and efficient execution. From this brief background, Taylor's approach discusses the management roles of planning that involves looking ahead into the future that will likely influence productivity. The theory sets the organization's goals and proposes how best to achieve these goals through training and division of labor. It is a manager's role to ensure that all planned objectives are completed within a specified time through various means that form the principle of this theory. Scientific job evaluation and hiring qualified personnel is an example of how to plan towards achieving a given objective. Managers should hire and train employees as a plan towards maximizing on a given course.

Organizing

Defines loosely as moving the established plans toward realization, organizing is a management principle that involves coordinating human and other resources identified as necessary to reach a given goal. An effective organizing mechanism will result in a defined structure of relationship within an organization that assists in achieving desired plans. As a part of management, organizing involves the intentional establishment of structures and roles of every employee. Max Webber approach to administration is a critical management theory that explains how firms organize functions towards achieving specified goals. Also known as the bureaucratic theory, Max Webber's approach to management primarily emphasized on power distribution and strict rules within an organization. As stipulated by Lottholz and Lemay-Hebert (2016), the tenets of bureaucratic management theory specify two essential elements the first is having clearly defined rules for governing an organization and structuring a business hierarchy. Max Webber's bureaucratic approach proposes the following principles, division of labor, transparent chain of command, the distinction between office and personal property, selection and promotion relying on qualifications and application of rules. All these mentioned principles apply to organize the concept of management in every organization. An organization may decide to divide tasks depending on qualification with the view of achieving a specified outcome or have in place a hierarchical authority to speed efficiency in production. All the principles that form the basis of Max Webber's theory are relevant to organizing concept of management since it makes it easier for leaders to maintain control and in some cases, make necessary adjustments.

Leading

Leading is the third managerial function relevant to some theories. Leading generally means possession of necessary skills to influence employees for a given purpose or reason. Of all the types of administrative activities, leading is considered to be the most challenging. Effective leadership plays a vital role in prompting employees within a firm to work as one with the interest of an organization. Both Taylor's and Max Webber's approach to management theory apply to this leading principle. Taylor talks about hiring the best person, training and monitoring them towards a specific goal. Following this approach, an effective leader will train their employees according to the goals and objectives of the organization and ensure that they are useful in the organization.

On the other hand, Max Webber's bureaucratic theory applies to this concept since it established a transparent chain of command and application of rules. Effective leadership in an organization require everyone to respect the chains of authority through the flow of information from top to bottom. Leading also demands respect for the organization's laws and regulations for peaceful coexistence and achievement of specific goals. A function of an effective leader must, therefore, involve communicating, motivating, directing, and coordination by considering the principles of an organization. When effectively drive, employees will do the best within their ability to meet the objectives of the organization with minimal supervision. The manager has to motivate employees through various practices such as training, promotions, and rewards that match their sacrifice for the company.

Controlling

Closely related to the leadership principle is controlling, which involves monitoring and evaluating activities in an organization. The term controlling lightly means assessment of an organization's progress towards achieving a given goal. This is an essential process that promotes the achievement of specified goals in any firm. The activities in controlling include performance appraisal, standards comparison, and finding and correcting deviation among others. In general term, control activities include measurements of the results of given actions towards a goal. An approach that best describes the controlling aspect of management is Douglas McGregor's theory X and theory Y, which assesses the motivating factor behind an employee's commitment to work. McGregor's approach refers to two popular types of management authoritative (theory X) and participative (theory Y) applied by various managers depending on the response of the employees. McGregor posits that, in theory, X, managers who believe that their employees do no enjoy their work and are poorly motivated would most likely apply an authoritarian form of management (Shafritz, Ott & Jang, 2015). Theory X involves the micromanagement of workers to achieve a given end. On the opposite side is theory Y in which McGregor proposes that in cases where employees enjoy their work, they tend to adopt a participative approach which allows employees to contribute to the running of the organization. For a manager to apply theory Y, then it means that he or she trust their employees. Depending on the intended outcome and the level of employees' motivation, controlling varies across various organizations. Managers will either apply dictatorial or democratic leadership to achieve the intended result stipulated on the objectives. In any organization, the managers may use these two forms of leadership to control an outcome, for instance, if employees are deviating from the organization's goals then most managers may become authoritative while, on the other hand, they will be democratic upon assessment of a company's progress.

Conclusion

In sum, the management theories by McGregor, Taylor, and Max Webber all apply the four functions of management depending on the level. As evident in the discussion, various organizations use diverse or a combination of these theories to manage their daily activities. The roles played by the management team are essential in achieving the organization's goal, as discussed in all the famous three theories. As the main functions of a manager, planning, organizing, leading, and controlling are vital components for achieving the organization's success.

References

Kai-Ping Huang, Jane Tung, Sheng Chung Lo, & Mei-Ju Chou. (2013). A Review and Critical Analysis of the Principles of Scientific Management. International Journal of Organizational Innovation, 5(4), 78-85. Retrieved from http://www.ijoi-online.org/attachments/article/34/FINAL%20ISSUE%20VOL%205%20NUM%204%20APRIL%202013.pdf#page=78

Lottholz, P., & Lemay-Hebert, N. (2016). Re-reading Weber, re-conceptualizing state-building: from neo-Weberian to post-Weberian approaches to state, legitimacy, and state-building. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 29(4), 1467-1485. https://doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2016.1230588

Shafritz, J. M., Ott, J. S., & Jang, Y. S. (2015). Classics of organization theory. Cengage Learning.