Describe the formal, three-part definition of management and explain the most im

Question

Describe the formal, three-part definition of management and explain the most important part of the management definition and why you chose that part.

Mintzberg’s study in the 1960s came up with three important findings about a manager’s routine. Identify the three findings and describe ways that technology and social media have changed the roles of managers since Mintzberg's 1960 study.

Analyze the two overarching theoretical perspectives about management and how they are applied to organizations. Also, explain the three viewpoints that each one covers.

Explanation / Answer

The formal three-part definition of management includes setting standards, performance measurement and correcting action. I chose setting standards as the most important part as it is the first part that involves studying the business process and arriving at the standards for each business process or business activity in an organization. Standards bring uniformity in an organization and improve the quality of the products as a whole. Consider the ISO standards as an example. These standards form the basis for performance evaluation and taking corrective action based on the deviation from the set standards.
The three main findings of the Mintzberg’s study about the managerial roles include the interpersonal, informational and decision making roles in the 1960’s. These roles have changed to a great extent with the emergence of technology and social media. The interpersonal role of managers has transformed to a great extent with most of the communication taking place through social media and smartphone. The manager acts as a liaison between the employees and the management by posting positive news about the company in the social media on a regular basis. The manager inspires the employees by encouraging them to join in the online training programs for self-development and organization development as a whole. Technology has cut costs to the organization to a considerable extent by transforming the informational role of the manager. Most of the offices have become paperless offices as managers communicate with the employees through an intranet or social media. Both the internal and external communication is done in a digital manner and the informational role has been transformed to a great extent with press releases released in PDF format by the manager. The decision making roles of the manager has eased with the aid of technology. Information about employees like attendance, performance, work timings and other details are readily available to take decisions on promotions. Based on the information repository, a manager can decide on the resource purchase and allocation in the organization.  
The scientific management theory is applied to assembly line organizations which primarily focus on increasing their production capacity. Task standardization is one of the main viewpoints of this theory. The other viewpoints include the measurement of the specification of organization tasks. The workers were punished and rewarded based on their work. This theory suited the mechanized work environment with routine activities.
The systems theory viewed an organization as a system of input, process, output and outcomes to meet the common organizational goals. Feedbacks were shared among these system aspects. Technology, raw materials, labor, capital form the main input viewpoint. The business processes and activities formed the process viewpoint and the finished products or services are the output viewpoint. The feedback from the external environment forms the outcome viewpoint. The systems theory has made a tremendous change to organizations. The systems theory is perfectly applicable to institutions like a University with a central administration including various departments.  

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