Management Theories Scott Straughan

Investigate the development of management as a theory and discipline. Asses the relevance of these theories to modern day managers and identify the key management skills that will be of importance to the manager of the millennium. For the purpose of this essay modern day manager shall mean managers of the present day. Management skills are skills that managers need to be good at there work. In this essay I will be investigating management theories at the start of this century, then looking at the progression of management up until the present day, this will include research carried out by a number of people which gave growth to HRM as we know it today. I will then identify key management skills in these theories and assess their relevance to today†s management, I will also identify the management skills required in today†s workforce. At the turn of the century there were a lot of important developments in management. Oil companies (standard oil trust) and (u.s. steel, the first 1 billion dollar company) were rapidly expanding. Smaller and medium sized companies had to improve efficiency in order to survive against the big giants. Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) began to look at the measurement of work, he broke down each task to find out how long it would take, he then planned ahead for numbers of workers wanted and what training they would need, he then decided what wages the workers were worth accordingly to what they accomplished. At the same time Henry ford (1896-1947) reduced his chassis assembly time from twelve and a half hours to ninety three minutes through using these methods. Managers were starting to plan ahead more to increase efficiency, as competition increased researchers began to look at other ways of improving efficiency even more, they started to look at the working environment. Elton mayo (1880-1949) carried out the ‘Hawthorne experiments†, they looked at relationships in the workplace and working conditions. Mayo found that peoples needs and attitudes had much more of an influence on productivity than the efficiency of the production line itself, this was called the human relations approach and is widely used today. The Hawthorne experiments looked at four areas :- 2. The relay assembly group experiments The purpose was to increase productivity. The illumination experiments looked at lighting and heating, mayo found even in poor working conditions productivity was still higher than average, the workers were working harder because someone was taking an interest in them. The relay assembly group experiments took six female workers and gave them there own separate areas to work in, they were given regular breaks and freedom to talk. The person who studied them also worked as their supervisor, the workers were consulted before any changes were made, and productivity was massively increased, again due to the fact someone was taking an interest in them. The bank wiring group studies involved fourteen male workers and was very similar to the relay assembly group experiments. Finally he carried out the interviewing program, this involved interviewing every worker (21,000 in total), they were asked about their opinion of the company they worked for and their attitudes towards their managers, the results were closely analysed afterwards. Mayo had found a way to increase productivity through better working relations and better working conditions. Productivity increased as a result of the following :- Due to better working relations groups of workers worked harder, but what about personnel motivation During the war most of the young men were fighting, managers had to keep up with an incredible demand, they were given older retired workers and women, women had never been widely employed in factories before this time. Managers looked to researchers to get the maximum effort out of workers. Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) argued people do not just work for money, but for basic needs such as shelter, food for survival, and higher needs such as self esteem and confidence. This is called Maslows hierarchy of needs, Maslow describes fives types of needs arranged in a hierarchy, Maslow assumed people always wanted more, one level should be the motivator to the next. 1. Physical needs – basic needs such as food, water, shelter, air, rest, and sex. 2. Safety needs – freedom from fear of threats, security and stability (pensions and healthcare) 3. Social needs – the need for acceptance within a group, friendship, love affection and comfort when feeling down. 4. Esteem needs – the need for achievement and recognition, respect for yourself. Managers can achieve this through training and development. 5. Self actualisation needs – the need for a person to achieve their full potential, accomplishment and growth. Not everyone meets these needs through work, some might gain them through social activities with friends, and an activity such as playing in a football team may achieve this. However some people are happy after achieving the first level and are not motivated to the next level, while others strive to improve themselves, this was the flaw in Maslows theory. More researchers began to look at HRM, there was still a lot to be discovered, Maslow had started the work and now more people were following in his footsteps, they started to look at positive thinking and the way management treated workers. Douglas McGregor (1906-1964) looked at traditional management styles compared to newer ones, these were called theory x and theory y. He found old methods assumed people did not want to work, had to be closely supervised and did not take much pride in their work, this was called theory x, theory y was completely the opposite and argued people did want to work and got a lot of satisfaction from taking pride in their work. McGregor argued â€Å"if you treat workers as responsible and intelligent people who want to work, that is the way they will behave†. He also looked at achievers and successful people and suggested these people took responsibility for their work and set themselves moderate achievable goals, low achievers came from poor cultural backgrounds, poor education and felt they could not achieve any goals they set, they could however be achievers through training and development. we have looked at the development of management from the early 1900†³s up until present day. All management styles traditional or modern focus on efficiency and productivity. Traditional management includes bureaucratic management which relies very much on rules, procedures, discipline and hierarchy, this causes a clear division between workers and management and causes low productivity. Scientific management focused on the â€Å"one best way† to do a job and did not take into account that workers know how to do their work better than management, again this method causes low productivity. Modern day managers have regular meeting with staff to discuss any problems they have, and identify help where it is needed. This is Japanese style management e which emphasizes on HRM and increasing productivity, modern management still uses a lot of traditional theories though. Technology is rapidly changing management with the introduction of computers, global communications and the Internet. The skills a modern day manager needs are changing as rapid as technology, the workplace is becoming more informal where we socialise as well as work. Traditional management was strict with rules and authority which workers were afraid of, there was no contact between management and workers and it seemed they both had completely different goals to achieve. Companies now work together as a teem with a common goal of increasing profit. Modern day managers are flexible to meet employees needs, they motivate and encourage workers to succeed, they have confidence, charisma and are patient. Managers should posses counselling skills and nurture there workers, this is a more feminine approach and are called soft skills. Do modern day managers bear any relevance to traditional skills Although traditional management styles seem prehistoric compared to today they are still relevant, Maslows hierarchy of needs can be compared to the corporate ladder, more people choose careers instead of just a job. Mayo†s Hawthorne experiments eventually led to laws being made on working conditions (Health and safety at work act). McGregor†s theory x and theory y, all managers now assume people want to work and take pride in it to. If asked which is the most relevant I would argue Maslow, most people can relate to his theories as the corporate ladder and I feel it is widely used now as a personnel motivator for employees. As the millennium approaches managers are forming even closer links with employees with the use of soft skills. Companies invest a lot of money in training of staff and can receive grants from the government for this purpose, appraisals are now widely used to coach and motivate staff. Managers are empowering workers more to supervise themselves and be responsible for their own workload, this is partly because more people are working from home with new technology. Business is now thriving thanks to the work of researchers at the start of the century.

Is Experience the Best Teacher? Essay

My whole life I’ve been told practice makes perfect. Whether it’s in the tennis court or in math class, the more you practice something, the better you become at it. In the last few years I’ve found out that practicing and doing is not the same thing. Harry Callahan once said, _†experience is the best teacher†_ and without a doubt it is. You can sit five hours taking a business class or 10 hours in a tennis practice but until you go out to the real world and start doing business with other people or play a real tennis tournament you wont _really_ LEARN. When experiencing things we all make mistakes and making mistakes, in the broad scheme of things, is good as long as we learn from them. Through the different experiences I’ve had through tennis, my musical adventures and my business deals, I’ve learned from my errors, picked myself up from the ground, and ultimately grown as a human being. On August 10, 2000 I stepped on to the tennis court for my first tennis lessons. I had previously tried to play the sport but this day I was determined to start a journey in which I could master it. After my first real tennis year, I improved at an incredible pace, and went a summer to the world-renowned Nick Bolletierri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida. At merely 11 years old, I found myself without my family and in an unknown place, but that didn’t stop me from doing what I most loved, playing tennis. After that summer I fell in love with that sport and went the next two summers to Saddlebrook Tennis Academy in Tampa Bay Florida, where I polished my skills and started to play a few serious tournaments. The first tournaments that I played made me realize that no matter how much I had practiced in the tennis court, this was not practice, and at the beginning, my lack of tournament experience, hindered my ability to perform at my utmost level. In the few tournaments that I played in Florida and the dozens of tournaments I have played here, I have learned that practicing something  and doing it were two different things. The more I made mistakes and the more I was about to win a game, but then lost, were part of an experience which through time made me a better player. Everyone likes music, and everyone enjoys it, but there are some of us that absorb music and make it part of our everyday life. I have always been a huge music fan and in 2003 I decided to buy a guitar. Unlike my friends who â€Å"heard† music, I listened to it and analyzed it, taking it seriously and making it part of my life. After playing guitar for several months alone in my room I formed a band with a few friends of mine, who at the time, shared the same musical taste as me. We had a lot of trouble at the beginning adjusting, because despite the fact that we each knew had to play our instrument, playing all together was clearly not the same. After a few months of cleaning up the sound of our band, we decided to go ahead and play in front of a crowd so we signed up for the Annual School Talent Show. We were so proud and confident of ourselves that we announced it to all of our friends and made a big deal about. On May 22, 2004, a day before my fourteenth birthday, we stepped onto the stage, in front of our whole school, and started to play â€Å"Seven Nations Army† by the White Stripes, the only song we practiced for the past two months. Amid the performance we were all looking at each other realizing that everything was sounding filthy and disorganized. As we were playing we saw the faces of our friends in the crowd, who tried disguising the fact that we had played terribly. After that talent show, and several other terrible self-humiliating performances, we decided that we had enough embarrassment and we had to improve as a band. After several months of intense practicing, and the previous shameful experiences we had gone through, we started to become better and better. A year and a half after the dreadful talent show performance we found ourselves playing in front of hundreds of people, and getting paid to do what we loved the most. Months later I stepped onto another musical journey but this time in the Motion Picture field. I started to make a movie with a couple of friends that ended up receiving massive national attention. The movie started out as a project just for us to enjoy but as the Musical Director and Executive Producer, I knew we had something good in our hands and decided to make the most out of it. Eight months later it was viewed  across all the movie theaters in the capital and all the Movie Rentals in the country. The day after it was released in the movie theaters, we did over 4 newspaper interviews, over 5 live television interviews and we were reading on all major newspapers the headline â€Å"Dominican Boys Make National Movie.† After the success of the movie and my very acclaimed role as Musical Director, we received a contract from one of the biggest businessman in the Dominican Republic, to direct and produce his next upcoming movie. As of know we have just started to film that movie, but if it weren’t for all the times I humiliated myself on stage, or all the times I had to continue playing in front of people who were tired of listening and just wished for us to st op, If it weren’t for all those experiences, I wouldn’t be where I am know. Being the independent person that I am, I do not like to ask for a lot of favors or gifts. Since I was a child, my father has taught me many vital lessons and one of them is that nothing is free and money is hard to get but easy to spend. After not being able to have many of the toys that I craved as a child, I was left with this notion in my head that I had to produce money since I was young in order to have what I want and not having to ask for it. At 15 I took action and talked to one of my best friends and current business partner about the possibilities of making t-shirts and selling it among my friends. After a few months we hired a man, who has made t-shirts for a living for over a decade, and paid him to make about one-hundred t-shirts and sold them all in a period of a month. We made a good profit and decided to take our business further. After months asking for a valuable meeting in Plaza Lama, the biggest department store in the Dominican Republic, I finally received it an d after almost two hours of heavy persuasion my partner and I finally landed a contract of over 1200 t-shirts to sell in their main store. We immediately went to talk to our t-shirt manufacturer and after being to negotiate with him the prices, in order to receive a reasonable amount of profit, we got to an agreement. He was not as responsible as he seemed and took more time than promised, but we were fine since the t-shirts sold perfectly in Plaza Lama and we were just in time to receive a new contract. As we were sitting in Plaza Lama in a meeting with the manager of the clothing department, we received news that our  manufacturer was manufacturing more of our t-shirts and selling them to another department store without permission making himself a fortune and not giving us our equal pay. After a profound exchange of words with our manufacturer, we decided to part ways and take control of our own future by manufacturing our own shirts, due to the fact that we had received a new contract for over 3,200 t-shirts to sell at all their national stores. Being inspired by an â€Å"outsourcing† lesson in my economics class I talked to my partner about the possibilities of producing the shirts outside of the capital, where labor and production was cheaper, in order to increase profits. We did just that and in 6 weeks we produced all the t-shirts at half the price than before. We had to work harder since we were the ones organizing and transporting them. After a lot of hard work and effort, those t-shirts were all sold, we were paid and we realized that our companies’ profit had increased over 600% from the past set of t-shirts. Now we find ourselves selling over 3000 t-shirts a month, earning a solid amount of money, and starting to build a webpage to offer our t-shirts to anyone interested in the Caribbean. Learning from our mistakes in the past, and learning not to put too much trust on anyone, made us grow as business man and most importantly learn that money, unlike many people of my age do not know, is very hard to e arn and very easy to spend. The experiences I have been through in life, have taught me lessons more valuable than any other teacher has been able to teach me in a classroom. When you go out and experience things and make mistakes, you learn from your errors, overcome those depressing moments and ultimately become a better human being.

Nutrition and Health Worksheet Essay

Use Ch. 1 of Contemporary Nutrition, Ch. 2 of Visualizing Nutrition, supplemental course materials, the University Library, the Internet, or other resources to answer the following questions. Your response to each question should be 75 to 100 words. 1.What is nutrition? Why is nutrition essential to our daily lives? Nutrition is the science that links foods to health and disease. It includes the processes by which the human organisms ingest, digest, absorbs, transports, and excretes food substances. 2.What is the connection between nutrition and health? 3.What are the six classes of nutrients? What are essential nutrients? What are the sources of nutrients? What do nutrients do? 4.How do vitamins and minerals work? 5.What does it mean to eat a balanced diet? Why is food choice important for good nutrition? 6.What is undernutrition? What is overnutrition? 7.Why is physical activity important as it relates to nutrition and health? 8.Where might you find dietary recommendations? What are the recommended dietary allowances (RDA)? What are dietary reference intakes (DRIs)? 9.The United States Department of Agriculture created a diagram titled MyPlate. What is this diagram? Why should someone study this diagram? 10.What are some tools for diet planning? 11.What is the calorie intake calculator? What factors does this calculator take into account? 12.What are some dangers associated with dieting? 13.What is the best way to lose weight? Explain your answer and provide at least one source, formatted consistent with APA guidelines, to support your answer. Reference 14.How does exercise influence body weight? 15.Consider your personal dietary habits. What are some modifications you might make to promote good health? 16.How does today’s society affect our nutritional habits?

Submit a Personal Statement of 150500 words (maximum) that highlights Essay

Submit a Personal Statement of 150500 words (maximum) that highlights your leadership achievements or significant service contributions to your high school o - Essay Example This aided people to find books of interest and informed them of activities that occurred in the library. Teaching young people to read opened the joy of reading to them, as well as contributing to their overall learning process. . In helping children find the joy of reading, I was able to introduce them to a hobby that can last a lifetime and enrich a person immeasurably. Another contribution to my community involved helping to clean up the roads. By participating in the road cleanup, I was able to help maintain a safe environment that people in our community have been able to enjoy. Put simply, a clean environment is one that is easier to enjoy. As an active member of my church community, I help in maintaining the physical beauty as well as trying to nurture the religious aspects of the congregation. When I helped to restore my church, I was not only doing so out of the good will of my heart, but I also had in mind the many people who will be able to experience the same joy that I do when I attend my church. Not only did I help in renovating the building, but I was also able to teach young children about the church's founding as well as the biblical history of my religion. By participating in such service contributions, I was not only able to retain the faith in my religion for many people, but also bring new people into my faith. Community Service is not only

Finace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Finace - Essay Example It is typical of regulatory environments to offer incentives to managers as way of spurring increased risk taking by the banks for the benefit of the larger population. Typical provisions found in different regulatory frameworks include branching and new entry restrictions, pricing restrictions (interest rate regulation and other prices/fees controls, restrictions to the line of business, ownership linkages regulation between financial institutions bank portfolio asset’s restriction, compulsory insurance deposits, and capital-adequacy requirements, reserve requirements, and requirements to direct credit to favored sectors or enterprises, among others (Claessens & Laeven, 2005). Different regulatory environments may from time to time ease on the regulations as a form of incentive to bank managers and hence spur increased risk taking by banks. One way through which incentives may put forth is with regard to branching regulations. In order to increase the rate at which the larger population embraces banking, regulatory environment may be eased to allow banks to open more branches and hence reach out to the population more closely (Baltensperger, 2007). Such a move allows bank managers an incentive that will motivate them to expand their operations. This is definitely an increased risk to the bank. While some banking regulations dictate the number of customers to warrant opening a new branch, in such instances, the regulation can be eased to allow a bank to open a new branch without attaining the mandatory number of clients. Mergers are often regulated. However in special circumstances, the rules guiding mergers can be eased as an incentive to secure banking customers. Banking system specialty from stability perspective is widely recognized and studied. However, not much literature has looked at the implications is special statuses which may be accorded in special

Portrait of Leonilla Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn Assignment - 1

Portrait of Leonilla Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn - Assignment Example In 1841, he was summoned by Queen Victoria to the English court. After painting Queen Victoria in 1842, he returned several times to paint the expansive royal family doing at least 120 works, including a painting commissioned by the Queen which would be given to Prince Albert as a birthday present. Winterhalter painted most of Europe’s royalty (Belgium, France, and England) and the leading aristocracy. His artistic pieces became widely regarded through copies and reproductions.1 Winterhalter did not receive high praise from serious critics. However, his portraits were admired for their sensual nature. His fame among the royals and aristocratic clients was as a result of his ability to create a painting that his clients wanted to display. In 1843, Winterhalter was commissioned to paint Princess Leonilla’s portrait. The Russian-born Princess Leonilla (1816-1918), one of Winterhalter’s royal clients’ was married to Prince Ludwig Aldof Friedrich, the same year she was painted. In 1833, she sat for Winterhalter for an oval portrait that featured her shadowed face, contrasting dark hair and opaline skin, and magnificent pearls. He also painted her again in 1849.2 However, it is the Portrait of Leonilla, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn that overshadows all her paintings. Winterhalter uses an art style known as Romanticism, in which he ‘humanizes’ his clients, by painting with a more objective view of his subject’s features and bringing out their unique beauty.3 In a daring pose, similar to the scenes of harem and odalisques, the portrait lies on a low sofa set on a balcony overlooking lush tropical scenery. Her unassailable social strata made it possible for Winterhalter to utilize such a carnal pose for a large portrait. Recognized for her glowing beauty and intellect, Leonilla is resplendent in a frill dress of ivory silk with a pink sash on her midriff. A deep purple veil folds

Discuss accrual accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Discuss accrual accounting - Essay Example s with uncollectible accounts expense and valuation method is used for reducing the amount of accounts receivable in the balance sheet known as the Net Realizable Value (Needles, Powers & Crosson, 2011). The net credit sales of the current period are multiplied by a certain percentage and this percentage is determined by the company’s past experiences. However, the new companies decide the percentage figure by evaluating the businesses that are present in the same industry. Assuming that a business has net credit sales of $100,000 and the estimated percentage for uncollectibles is about 1%, the bad debts expense will have debit of $1,000. If there is credit allowance for doubtful debts of $150, then the total amount to be recorded is $1,150. In this method, the bad debts expense is calculated by multiplying the total Accounts Receivable amount by a pre-determined percentage. For example, if a company has Accounts Receivable of $100,000 at the end of the accounting period and it is estimated that 5% will not be collected, then the bad debts expense amount will be $5,000 at the end of the period. In the aging method, it is believed that the longer an account’s balance is overdue; there are fewer chances that the debt will be paid and every company maintains the accounts receivable schedule of aging for categorizing the credit purchases of each customer in accordance to the time duration that they have remained outstanding. The total balance of each category is then multiplied by the estimated percentage for that particular category to determine the amount of uncollectible accounts and the total of categories then give the final figure of bad debts expense. Among all the techniques used in the allowance method, the most reliable one is the aging method as it gives a true picture to the business about the amount of Accounts Receivable that will most likely be not collected by the company. This method is the most effective option as it records the expenses on a