8/2/2019 MO Critical Reflective Brief (1) Wu Jun

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Name: Wu Jun Student ID: 15859802 Management Overview 560

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Critical Reflective Brief (1)

The theme of the first Management Overview 560 seminar is historical foundation of

management. The seminar is lectured by Bernard Tay on 3rd

March 2012.

First of all, several study questions are asked by the lecturer as introduction to the

seminar such as what can be learned from classical managerial thinking? and what

is unique about the systems view and contingency thinking?, followed by the class

discussion question Is one model of management sufficient to manage people

working in organisation? In my opinion, the answer is No in most cases due to the

different people and different needs existing in organisations. For example, MNCs

such as Wal-Mart, Toyota, Shell, it is difficult for them to use merely one model of

management to manage people in the companies across countries and cultures. On the

other hand, one model management is applicable for small organizations such as

family-owned enterprise and Non-governmental organizations.

Thereafter, two models of management approach are introduced, one is called

classical approaches to management and the other is behaviour approaches to

management. From the classical approaches perspective, the prerequisite assumption

is that people are rational and there are there main branches: scientific management,

administrative principles and bureaucratic organisation. The scientific management

emphasises efficiency and the best result, for example, the incentive motivation are

common in most companies nowadays. The administrative principles which were set

forth by Fayol stresses on the coordination and control in the process of management

in organisations. This theory ensures the orderly and clear relationship among the

sophisticated management network in organizations. For example, every company has

its own communication line from top to bottom to make sure that everyone

participates in the activities, which belongs to the scalar chain principle. The

bureaucratic organization emphasises on the role of authority, which is regarded as the

8/2/2019 MO Critical Reflective Brief (1) Wu Jun

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Name: Wu Jun Student ID: 15859802 Management Overview 560

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base of organisation.

From the behavioural approaches perspective, which are also known as human

resource approaches, the assumption changed when compared with classical approach,

because people are social and self-actualising. It mainly comprises Hawthorne studies,

theory of human needs and Theory X and Theory Y. The human resource approaches

all concentrate on the individual needs, feelings and actions in organizations and

management must adapt to the continuous changes.

The quantitative and modern approaches are two new management models. The

former calls for model analysis to make forecast and solve the problems while the

latter needs system thinking and contingency thinking due to the changes among

people and environment. These two models are applied in the modern companies

more and more frequently, because they make the management more precisely and

efficiently.

Last but not least, the quality and performance excellence can be examined by the

value chain, of which TQM is popular and Japan made economy miracle in 1980s is

a good example. Within the process of globalization and fierce competition in the

world, more and more organisations turn into learning organisations, within the

changed role of managers in 21st

century, becoming more strategical and effective.