Sociotechnical Systems and Management Styles Essay

Working in today’s society has changed in the last few decades. The economy and technology are the main reasons for this change. The type of job and environment where one works has also changed. The fact that many people work from home via the internet has drastically changed the workforce and the environment surrounding it. With this change have come new demands, expectations, and opportunities for employers. Everyone deals with these demands differently, affecting the employee’s quality of life and job satisfaction. Though the job and office types and locations have changed over the years the need for job satisfaction has not. In today’s economy the job is not as stable as it used to be. One must be prepared for changes in the future.

The work entitled "Challenges and Reflections on Knowledge Society & Sociotechnical Systems" reports that information technology (IT) is redefining the business basis" and that "customer attendance, operations, product strategies, marketing and distribution and even the society of knowledge depend sometimes even totally on Information System (IS)." (Balloni, 2010, p.21) The implementation of a new technology has been associated with problems that are "often linked to resistance by the work force and failure to achieve the expected benefits." (Balloni, 2010, p.21) Balloni (2010) reports that there must be a fit between the 'technical' and 'social' system, which form the organization. This means that business strategy, rules and processes determine the type of software and subsequently the type of hardware, database, and telecommunications system needed by the organization. The social system is comprised by the organization's

     A manager who focuses not on the structural aspect of technology but on the human resource implications would also see much positive value in the increased communication and networking. Framing the company as a family, the human resource approach would see technology as fulfilling the need for relationships and belonging that according to Maslow’s hierarchy need to be met prior to self-esteem needs and self-actualization. People will be most productive and happy when they feel interconnected in a web of relationships and communication. The principal trap of technology is that it can put an end to face-to-face meetings. This is important to avoid, and keeping people informed and involved in the decision making process requires both technological interfaces and traditional means. Still, technology is one very important tool, particularly in connecting geographically diverse

2. Employees will exercise self-direction and self-control if they are committed to objectives. External control and the threat of punishment are not the only means to make employees to work towards objectives.

1) Compare Frederick Taylor’s mass production and Eric Trist’s socio-technical team-based production approaches to the design of work systems.

Sociotechnical Systems Theory, Quantitative Management, Organizational Behavior, and Systems Theory are The Four Contemporary Approaches to Management.

The concept of sociotechnical systems was created in the 1960’s as a part of organizational development research by E. Trist and F. Emery. Ranging from a small system between you and your phone, to the interaction between human behaviors with massive technical infrastructures society has developed in hopes to boost performance and quality for both the societal and technical side of the system (Fischer).

         The sociotechnical system and managerial subsystem are affected due to the changes occurring within the company. An example of these changes is the hiring of all the individuals within the new OD group. The technical subsystem has been affected by the recent introduction of new products within the company due to competitive companies. The structural subsystem has been affected since the OD group started training company employees on management styles. The psychosocial subsystem was affected when the employees had dislike towards the OD group and the training that had been developed. Also, the OD group

The sociocultural theory was developed by a theorist named Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky was born in 1896 and was from the former Soviet Union. He was a psychologist who had an abundance of ideas and put them into many theories and writings. Although Vygotsky died from tuberculosis at the young age of thirty-eight, his most prominent work was done in a short period of ten years. When he died in 1934, the Soviet Union held most of his work and it was not until about 1960 that his work was translated into English. Currently in the education field, Vygotsky’s main work on the sociocultural theory is getting a lot of attention.

There are a number of management theories that have changed the management business environment in the twentieth century. The theories have assisted managers to come up with better ways of management and organization of people. Managers have been able to increase profits, reduce costs and maximize efficiency. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the contributions of scientific management and the human relations movement to the modern management. This essay will use Frederick Winslow Taylor’s theory on scientific management and Elton Mayo’s human relations theory. These two movements have been proven to increase productivity in the workplace (Mullins, 2005).

The Socio cultural theory was introduced by Vygotsky. He was born in1896 in the small Russian Orsha. The socio cultural theory is which looks at the important contributions that society makes individual development. The socio cultural theory is focus on not only how the adults, peers individual learning but how culture beliefs, custom, mode, and language share by the people living in a particular place. The socio cultural theory gives important for culture in the society. The people are interaction between each other as well as introduce a new tool among them. The language is main role in society to interaction

The classical management has two basic drives namely scientific and general administrative management. Scientific management focuses on how to increase productivity whiles the administrative management theory looks at organizations in general and concentrate on how to make them effective and efficient.

The history of management includes multiple theories and understanding them can help individuals identify the ideas their organization is built upon. Classical organizational theory encompasses several major approaches to management that continue to be influential even today. The early to mid-twentieth century included the introduction of many concepts of management theory such as scientific management, bureaucratic and administrative theory. Most of these early approaches revolved around control of employees and processes in order to achieve more

According to Mintzberg, the environmental school of thought is a strategy dealing with the forces outside the organization. Unlike the other schools in his book, Strategy Safari, the environment plays a central role in the strategy formation process alongside leadership and the organization where the organization becomes subordinate to the external environment. The environmental school assumptions are that during the formative period of the organization the company shapes itself in response to the environment, but after that period is increasingly unable to respond to the environment. Moreover, the organization long term survival depends on the early choices made during its formative period. Over time, Mintzberg states, leadership becomes

First, I will discuss the exemplary management theories that transpired around the twentieth century. These involve scientific management, which center of attraction was on associating per-sonnel and jobs to increase effectiveness; and administrative management, which center of atten-tion is on recognizing the principles that will impel to the beginning of the nearly adept structure of management and organization. Next, you have behavioral management theories which was estab-lished both prior and subsequently the Second World War, which spotlight was on supervisors should guide and supervise their personnel to optimize their effectiveness. Then you have man-agement science theory, which was current during the Second World War and which has evolved to be very