Contemporary Organizational Management

This paper presents the issues and ideas surrounding contemporary organizational management. It discusses key management theories, examines the elements of organizational culture, and provides recommendations for effective management practices.

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ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT
Name
Institution Affiliation
Date

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Executive Summary
This paper presents the issues and ideas surrounding contemporary organizational
management. For a better understanding of this, the paper creates a discussion on the
contemporary management theories. The policies will prepare the ground for the examination of
the issues faced by management in their practice. Owing to that, the paper then proceeds to
examine the elements of organizational culture and how they affect the organizations.
Recommendations are also provided, on the best ways of creating developing effective
organizational management practices.

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Contents
Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................................3
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Key Management Theories that inform Contemporary Practices...............................................................3
Scientific Management Theory................................................................................................................3
Classical Organizational Theory School....................................................................................................4
Behavior School.......................................................................................................................................6
Developments in Management theory....................................................................................................7
Contemporary issues faced by managers....................................................................................................8
Recommendation......................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................11
References.................................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Management in organizations defines the performance of an organization in the sense that
it defines how organizations run. Contemporary theories provide the direction for most
organizations in the best way of leading and managing human resources and organizational tasks.
The use of former schools of thought and models in the current age would just be dangerous
because of the changing landscape of economic, business and technological environments. In
that case, models and theories of change are more efficient for the application of the current
technologies.
Key Management Theories that inform Contemporary
Practices
Scientific Management Theory
An American Engineer called Frederick Taylor was the pioneer of the scientific
management theory. Along with his associates, Taylor was among the first people to
scientifically study work performance. He started the modern management era and in the early
twentieth century and late nineteenth century, Taylor meant the “awkward, inefficient, or ill-
directed movements of men” as a form of loss in the national scope. He was consistent in trying
to topple over management that was informed by the rule of thumb. He was, therefore,
determined to make a replacement of an old system to actual observations that were timed
leading to a practice that was “the best one”. Taylor strived to share the belief that workload
would be shared and distributed between the management and the workers (Amanchukwu,
Stanley and Ololube, 2015). In that case, the management would play the role of instruction as
the workers performed the labor as individual groups doing what is most suitable for them.
The philosophy of Taylor gave emphasis to the fact that the achievement of result
optimization by forcing people to work hard was a bad practice. The recommendation of Taylor

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was that tasks should be simplified for the purposes of increasing productivity. This strategy is
quite different from the manner in which businesses were conducted before. Beforehand, a
factory executive only had job security as motivation and the factory executives hardly had any
contact with employees. It was almost impossible to undertake workplace rules standardization.
Therefore, money was the major incentive for work and that influenced his development of the
concept of “fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work”. From that time, there has been a widespread
practice of scientific management worldwide. There was a resulting collaboration that took place
between the employers and employees, evolving into teamwork that brings people together, and
they enjoy. However, the theory received criticism that it tends to dehumanize workers.
Classical Organizational Theory School
Henri Fayol’s administrative theory and Max Weber’s bureaucratic theory influence the
classical organizational theory school. Weber’s postulation was that the civilization of the west
shifted from “wertrational” or thinking that is value oriented, actions of affection or the actions
that received derivation from emotions and the traditional action, which had its derivation from
past precedence to “zweckational” which in other terms could be termed as technocratic kind of
thinking. The proponents of this theory believed that civilization changed for purposes of seeking
results that were technically optimal at humanistic and emotional content expenses. A set of
principles were then developed by Weber for an “ideal” bureaucracy. The set of principles were
as follows; official and fixed areas of jurisdiction, a hierarchy that was ordered firmly, of
subordination and super, management that bore the basis of written records, training that was
ordered by expertise and thoroughness, official activity taking preeminence over the activities
remaining and that the management of an organization adheres to understandable and stable
rules. The bureaucracy carried the vision of a kind of large machine that was necessary for its
goal attainment in a manner that was most efficient (D’Adderio, Glaser and Pollock, 2019).

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Weber was, however, careful of bureaucracy given his observation of the following
phenomenon. Bureaucracy increasingly depersonalizes itself as its realization increased. For
instance, the more the bureaucracy succeeded in its achievement of the removal of hatred, love
and every incalculable, entirely personal and illogical feeling from the implementation of the
official task. In that case, Weber made a prediction of an organization that was completely
impersonal that bore interaction that carried the nature and influence of less interaction at the
human level, between its members. On the other hand, the administrative theory of Henri Fayol
focused mainly on the personal management duties at the level that was more granular. His work
concentrates more on the layer of management. The belief of Fayol was that management
comprised of five major principal roles; organization, forecast and plan, commanding, control,
and coordination. Forecasting and planning basically meant the anticipation of the future and
responding accordingly. The best development of the resources of institutions defines the
organization. The basic definition of command, on the other hand, was the ability to keep the
actions and processes of institutions running. The harmonization and alignment of the efforts of
groups also defined harmonization. On the other hand, control encompasses the ability of the
activities mentioned above performing according to appropriate procedures and rules.
Behavior School
The main scholar under this category is Elton Mayo. The human relations movement
marked the behavioralism origin. The movement of human relations resulted from the work
experiments of Hawthorne that was conducted in the Western Electric Company, US. The
experimental works began in the early 1920s, from 1927 to 1932. There was a disapproval that
the experiments of Elton Mayo and his acquaintancesrefuted the beliefs of Taylor. The beliefs
were that science held that there was the highest output in one way that was considered the best.
That way could be found through controlled experiments. The experiments veered towards the

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examination of other factors when they demonstrated no clear correlation between productivity
and light levels (Cullen and Parker, 2015).
The experiments offered proof of the following five things; performance and work
satisfaction is not economic and is dependent more on attitudes and working conditions,
communications which are also the positive management encouragement and response and
encouragement (Grant, 2016). The second proof was the fact that it rejected Taylorism and its
employee self-interest emphasis and the over-riding claimed incentive of monetary rewards.
Another proof was that the experiments which were large-scale and involved more than 20,000
employees demonstrated responses that were highly positive. The fourth proof was that there is a
high influence of peer group which therefore demonstrated informal groups’ importance, in the
workplace. The final proof was the fact that it denounced the “rabble hypotheses” that society is
basically a group or horde individuals that were not organized. The individuals acted in a way
that was calculated to offer security for his/her self-interest or self-preservation.
Developments in Management theory
The recent management theories developments encompass the Systems Approach,
Contingency or Situational theory, Team Building theory and Chaos theory. There has been a
important effect on the organizations’ understanding and management science, because of the
systems theory. A system refers to the collection of a unified part for purposes of accomplishing
an overall goal. The system’s nature changes if a part of the system is removed. A system can be
seen from the perspective of bearing inputs like resources such as money, raw materials, and
people among others. The systems also bear processes like organizing, planning, controlling and
motivating. Finally, a system has outputs or outcomes, like the productivity for clients/customers
and enhanced life quality. In as much as the Systems Theory seem basic, it is not that easy in

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practice (Berry, Broadbent and Otley, 2016). That is evident with the fact that decades of
management practice and training in the workplace failed to follow this theory. However, with
the recent changes facing organizations and their operations, managers and educators face the
new way of viewing things. The system theory has had tremendous effects in management in that
it helps management to view an organization from a broader perspective. It has also enabled the
interpretation of events and patterns by management, in the workplace. That has been possible
through the enablement of managers to undertake recognition of various organizational parts and
their interrelations.
On the other hand, the contingency and situational theory have an assertion that hen
managers make decisions, they must recognize all the aspects of the present situation and
respond or act on those aspects which are necessary to the present situation. Basically, it can be
termed as the approach that “it depends”. An example is leading an activity in a society in the
Middle East. In such a case, an autocratic style will be the best. If a person leads an institution or
university, a more facilitative or participative style of leadership will be the most suitable one.
Tom Peters (1942) advocate the Chaos theory. Global events seem very random and chaotic even
in the context of organizations. However, management has always acted as though organizational
events can always be under control. In that case, the emergence of chaos theory recognizes that
events are hardly controlled. The suggestion of chaos theorists is that systems have a natural
tendency to move to more complex and as that happens, they become more volatile. Therefore,
they must expend a greater amount of energy for purposes of maintaining that level of
complexity (Shields et al. 2015). As there is more expending of energy, they seek more
structures for purposes of maintaining a greater level of stability. The trend goes on until there is
a system splitting, combination with other systems which are complex or entirely fall apart.

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Contemporary issues faced by managers
The structure and practice of organizational culture are changing fast, with the inception
of the technological culture in organizations. The rate at which information technology affects
the way things are done is very high. In that sense, organizations and their leaders have been
caught unawares. The recent past depended on the models and theories postulated above, for the
development and management of organizations. The analog situation then was conducive for the
practice of a certain manner of organizational practices. For instance, the concept of labor
division was quite effective and easier with the application of the former theories of management
(Bititci, Cocca and Ates, 2016). Some of the concepts of technology that has transformed the
landscape of management include social media application in the workplace. For instance, issues
like communication management in the space of social media have become a challenge with
management. Another issue is the training and learning to meet the demands of the information
technology needs in organizations. With the inception of information technology application in
almost every aspect of work, it is important to streamline various aspects of the workplace to
meet the demands of technology requirements. For example, the future may need businesses and
organizations to use the bitcoin currency of exchange. In that case, managers will need to
organize their skill set to meet such growing demands.
Another contemporary issue is the capacity of organizations to handle huge competitions.
With the current age, there is a growing number of businesses and organizations at a very high
speed. In that case, it has created a great deal of competition. In the past, businesses faced less
stiff competition because the number of businesses and firms were few. However, with
globalization and the rise of the internet, there has been a growing number of businesses creating

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a stiff nature of competition in the market today. Management practices need changes to
accommodate the high rate of rising competition.
Some of the key elements of organizational culture include; ownership, purpose, effective
communication, community, and good leadership. For the purpose element, organizations should
train their employees in a manner that they have a bigger purpose in their daily routines.
Organizations should develop a clear mission, vision, and goals and communicate the vision to
the employees for a better understanding. When employees have a bigger sense of purpose, they
have the affinity to succeed. Ownership is another element of building a great organizational
culture (Mason, Kjellberg and Hagberg, 2015). Ownership is basically the practice of providing
people with the opportunity of accountability for their actions without being supervised or micro-
managed. It is the practice of giving people autonomy over time for goals accomplishment.
Community as an element of organizational culture refers to a sense of belonging to a group of
people sharing similar goals, values, and principles. Developing a sense of community opens the
window for a common understanding and harmony which would then translate to better
performance in the organizations. Organizations need to have consistency in the processes and
time investment in learning the communication dynamics of team members and individual
personalities of employees.
Recommendation
Organizations must apply strategies with the main intentions of change applications. In
that case, the change strategies will be applied within measured models. One of the models for
efficient application is Kurt Lewin’s three-step “Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze” model. This model
was proposed by the founder of social psychology in the 50s but still has great relevance today.
Proski’s ADKAR Model which is an acronym encompassing the following; Desire to participate

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and engage in the change, Knowledge of how to change, Ability for change implementation and
Reinforcement to ensure sticking of change. Another change model that should be applied in the
organizations of the current age is the Kotter’s 8-Step Model of Change. This model was
developed by John Kotter of Harvard Business School. Kotter’s model focuses on effective and
efficient change management in a world that is competitive. The main highlights of the model
include; building a collaborative and strong team and a strategy that is very solid, the creation of
effective channels of communication, creating strong support for staff empowerment, the use of
a steady and phased approach and finally the security of the change in the culture of an
organization. The change models above will be very important in the sense that it will help
organizations meet the dynamic technological, economic and business environments.
The global economy moves at a very high pace in terms of technological and managerial
practice improvements. The global economy has organizations and businesses with high levels of
research that are tested. Therefore, domestic organizations will use the researched results from
mature organizations. It will be more expensive for organizations that are domestic and immature
to create major discoveries for best organizational management practices. Therefore, it will be
the best opportunity to use the results of mature organizations’ best practices. The global
economy, however, bears some threats. One of the main threats is the lack of capacity to catch up
with the organizational changes and practices.
Conclusion
The use of the change models like Kotter’s 8-Step Model and the ADKAR model will
always put the organizations in the trajectory of meeting the dynamic environment. The business
and economic environment is always changing and organizations need to employ the right tools
that will always propel the organization to change. Any delay to change will put an organization

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in a dangerous pedestal. Therefore, organizational management should always bear the
anticipation and application of change.

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References

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Amanchukwu, R.N., Stanley, G.J. and Ololube, N.P., 2015. A review of leadership theories,
principles and styles and their relevance to educational management. Management, 5(1), pp.6-14.
Berry, A.J., Broadbent, J. and Otley, D.T. eds., 2016. Management control: theories, issues and
practices. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Bititci, U., Cocca, P. and Ates, A., 2016. Impact of visual performance management systems on
the performance management practices of organisations. International Journal of Production
Research, 54(6), pp.1571-1593.
Cullen, K. and Parker, D.W., 2015. Improving performance in project-based management:
synthesizing strategic theories. International Journal of Productivity and Performance
Management, 64(5), pp.608-624.
D’Adderio, L., Glaser, V. and Pollock, N., 2019. Performing theories, transforming
organizations: A reply to Marti and Gond. Academy of Management Review.
Grant, R., 2016. Knowledge management theories. The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic
Management, pp.1-5.
Mason, K., Kjellberg, H. and Hagberg, J., 2015. Exploring the performativity of marketing:
theories, practices and devices.
Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., Johns,
R., O'Leary, P., Robinson, J. and Plimmer, G., 2015. Managing employee performance &
reward: Concepts, practices, strategies. Cambridge University Press.