The Evolution of Management Practices and Theories

2309 Words5 Pages

1.0 Introduction

With the rapid change of the world, thought of management, theory and practise keeps on changing. It has been transformed through innovation. Taking into consideration the uncertainty surrounding the construction industry, it is essential paying attention to how people work within an organisation that has set goals that needs to be achieved. To be able to achieve these objectives, it is necessary to understand management relating issues such as culture, motivation, leadership and issues relating like coordinating, planning and controlling. Understanding the way people and organisations work is very vital when it comes to the built environment. As a Quantity Surveyor some of my duties are to deals with people, technical issues and financial aspect of an organisation. However, to successfully achieve this aim, it is of the essence that quantity surveyors have adequate understanding of management theories which will propel them to deliver at the work place effectively and efficiently. This essay follows the path of management history while investigating the growth of management thinking and how contemporary management practices have evolved from this evolution.

1.1 Diverse Definition for Management and Organisations

According to Huczynski and Buchanan (2001) organization are “social arrangement for accomplishing controlled performance in the search of common goals”.

Thompson and McHugh (1995) defined organisation as “consciously created arrangement to achieve goals by collective means”. Henri Fayol (1916) cited by (Cole, 2004) defines management as “to manage is to forecast and plan, to organise, to command, to coordinate and to control”. Koontz and McFarland 1979 cited by Dos Santos 2002 also defines ma...

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...n industry cannot be left out. Now industries are constantly growing and are moving toward diverse learning processes. Serge, (1990) explains how organizational learning currently needs dedicated managers and leaders that are up to the task. As a result, competent managers are required to meet client needs. Modern management theory has produced managers that are able to implement change in organisations. Based on management expertise and knowledge, Pedler et al, (2001) came up with a list of attributes of an effective manager which comprised of proactivity, balance learning habit, problem solving, decision making and judgement making. They also stated that for organisation to be successful it should be able to apply modern management methods and techniques effectively. The new approaches to management will help the industry meet the challenges of the 21st century

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