iiManagement Challenges for the 21st Century
PETER F. DRUCKER
Contents
Introduction: Tomorrow’s “Hot” Issues 1 Management’s New Paradigms 2 Strategy—The New Certainties 3 The Change Leader 4 Information Challenges 5 Knowledge-Worker Productivity 6 Managing Oneself Acknowledgments About the Author Books By Peter F. Drucker Credits Front Cover Copyright About the Publisher
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Introduction: Tomorrow’s “Hot” Issues
Where, readers may ask, is the discussion of COMPETITIVE STRATEGY, of LEADERSHIP, of CREATIVITY, of TEAMWORK, of TECHNOLOGY in a book on MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES? Where are the “HOT” ISSUES OF TODAY? But this is the very reason why they are not in this book. It deals exclusively with TOMORROW’S “Hot” Issues—the
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A great many of these organizations will, of course, be businesses. And a great many of the individual knowledge workers affected by these challenges will be employees of business or working with business. Yet this is a MANAGEMENT book rather than a BUSINESS management book. The challenges it presents affect ALL organizations of today’s society. In fact, some of them will affect nonbusinesses even more, if only because a good many nonbusiness organizations—the university, for instance, or the hospital, let alone the government agency—are more rigid and less flexible than businesses are, and far more deeply rooted in the concepts, the assumptions, the policies of yesterday or even, as are universities, in the assumptions of the day before yesterday (i.e., of the 19th century). How to use the book? I suggest you read a chapter at a time— they are long chapters. And then first ask: “What do these issues, these challenges MEAN for our organization and for me as a knowledge worker, a professional, an executive?” Once you have thought this through, ask: “What ACTION should our organization and I, the individual knowledge worker and/or executive, take to make the challenges of this chapter into OPPORTUNITIES for our organization and me?” AND THEN GO TO WORK! Peter F Drucker Claremont,
The novel tells a story about a professor by the name of Rick Silver whose goal is to attain tenure in the University’s School of Business. In doing so he was given the opportunity to teach an executive graduate business course for management professionals. He used the course to introduce a host of business methodologies and philosophies that can produce success if used correctly, most importantly time management and theory of constraints. The novel also gives insight on how fast and constant the business industry is changing by highlighting the issue of falling enrollment rates at the University’s School of Business.
“The images, metaphors, or frames that we hold, both of managing and of change, influence our ideas of what we think managing change is all about” (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009). As people we all see through our own eyes, we call see a different perspective and have a different reaction to what is coming next. As human beings we react differently to situations. Situations of change are transitions that some are able to adapt to quickly while others have a hard time. Being the leader of that change can be difficult and helping make a change does not come easily or effectively. Keep and Newcomer (2008)
Management has changed significantly over the past 50 years. The role of leaders in an organization is an ever changing thing. At one point, a manager was also the owner of the company, and thus used a carrot and a stick to get his employees to work, just like a parent personally invested in the raising of their child. Not anymore. Nowadays, leaders are there to “serve” their employees. The focus is on motivating the individual, achieving organizational goals by integrating each and every individual into the system. We no longer rely on a one size fits all approach, and management theory is no longer focused on having a winning philosophy, or motivating large groups.
Bateman, T. S., & Snell, S. A. (2009). Management: Leading & collaborating in acompetitive world (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Available from theUniversity of Phoenix eBook Collection databaseDisney, March 2009. Corporate Responsibility Report, Retrieved from on 5/28/09http://corp
Read Ch. 1–3 and Appendix A of Management: Leading & Collaborating in a Competitive World.Read this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings.
Ghillyer, Andrew. Management Now: Skills for 21st Century Management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print. 19 May 2016.
"Management Time: Who 's got the Monkey" has been the second most popular management article ever published by the Harvard Business Review ("Management Time: Who 's got the Monkey", by William Oncken and Donald Wass, first published by Harvard Business Review, 1974) and has been reprinted several times. Thirty odd years later, the message Oncken and Wass sent us on management, still holds true today.
For managers to effectively institutionalize their businesses, they must have absolute knowledge of their business environments and the salient issues that may affect the operations of their organizations both within and outside so as to be able to proffer absolute and sustainable solution that will keep them in existence.
Over the past hundred years management has continuously been evolving. There have been a wide range of approaches in how to deal with management or better yet how to improve management functions in our ever changing environment. From as early as 1100 B.C managers have been struggling with the same issues and problems that manager's face today. Modern managers use many of the practices, principles, and techniques developed from earlier concepts and experiences.
In today’s ever changing economy, society’s idea of management is becoming increasingly more difficult to sustain with the continuous demands of the position. A successful manager must have a certain level of expertise and problem solving techniques to carry out the daily tasks required. Over the years, there have been various ideas on what management is, such as planning, organizing, leading and controlling.
The definition of ‘management’ is controversial and subject to much debate. There have been many contradictory views on what the term ‘management’ means and accordingly how one should correctly manage an organisation. These theories have been put forward by several highly regarded management scholars over time. By taking into account past knowledge and contemporary views on management, we are able to ‘’explore how thinking has changed through time’’. (Brooks, 2006). Moreover, businesses have, and can continue to be able to adapt these theories and put them into practice. Successfully applying correct management practices is especially vital in a global business environment which is becoming very competitive. ‘’Most management theories, even those that do not resonate comfortably with the prevailing mood, have attractive and valid elements to them.’’ (Robinson, 2005). For example, some of these theories can be seen flourishing in fast food chains like McDonalds.
Historical approaches to management have influenced contemporary managerial theories and approaches (Colorado State University - Global Campus, 2015). Current approaches and designs “can be greatly aided by looking seriously at what clever minds attempted in the past” (Cummings & Bridgman, 2011, p. 90); however, historical conventions should not restrict thinking in the future (Cummings & Bridgman, 2011). First, a contemporary theory, Organizational Knowledge Theory, will be discussed. Next, the relationship between this theory and my organization’s approach to management will be explored. Finally, my organization’s contemporary approach to management (with regards to
Peter Spurgeon and Robert Cragg (2007) contend the current attention paid to the importance of leadership has diminished the value and contribution of management. The discussion concerning leadership and management, at the most extreme, is inclined to portray leadership as 'good' and management as 'bad'. These constraints are rooted in the proposition that people do not want to be managed, with its connotations of bureaucracy and control, but are happy to follow a leader toward a vision. At the core of this perception is the belief that leaders are concerned with the future and with the people in the system, while managers are focused upon greater efficiency and immediate results.
In today’s competitive landscape, organizations must utilize every resource to its fullest in order to achieve profitability. Peter F. Drucker, who is known as “the founding father of the discipline of management”, informs us that employees are assets, which should be treated as a company’s most valuable resource. The key players involved in utilizing this valuable resource are the managers of a company. Managers have a vital role in a company and the effort they put forth into their tasks and responsibilities will directly affect the success of a company. In Drucker’s book Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (Revised Edition), he explains the role of a company’s management team and the secrets to becoming a great manager.