Cultural Framework of the Manager[1]

8/13/2019 Cultural Framework of the Manager[1]

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Cultural Framework of the Manager


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Today is not like yesterday, nor will tomorrow be

like today, yet today is a synergism of all ouryesterdays and tomorrow will be the same.

There are many lessons in history for

management scholars; the important one is thestudy of past as prologue.


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Management thinking or thought has evolved over aperiod of time

To understand the dynamic process of growth and

change, we need to establish a cultural framework of

analysis for the evolution of management thought Why a cultural framework?

Management is an open-ended activity dictated to as

it were by the prevailing economic, social, and

political values and institutions Does management has open-system characteristics

such that the manager affects his environment and in

turn gets affected by the environment?


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Management Thought Management thought is the existing body of

knowledge about the activity of management, itsfunctions, purpose, and scope

An interdisciplinary approach as it webs a network oftraditional management concepts drawn from the

history of economics , sociology, psychology, socialsciences , political science, and cultural anthropology

Culture is the gamut of human heritage accumulatedover the past and shaped by the economic, social,and political behaviors of man during those times

Different cultures as they exist or existed in the west,east, orient, Asia and sub-cultures within a culture likeintellectual, middle class, etc . We can also speakof work cultures, capitalistic cultures, socialisticcultures, self culture, and so on


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Cultures are generally taken for granted such asthe fresh air, fragrance, or peace that we enjoy in

a nice community park. (The peace can however

be broken by a local drunkard, activist, or some

other element breaks in and start shoutingslogans on something)

Should the study of culture pertain to portions that

apply most directly to management and omit

other cultural phenomena such as art forms,

music, and so on?

Our contemporary management scene seems to

be affected by the presence of similar forces or

causes.


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The Economic facet of culture

It is the relationship of man to resources, man-made or natural and both tangible objects and

intangible efforts.

All these resources have the capability of being

put to use for achieving certain stated objectives.

Every society as the economic problem of a

scarcity of resources and multiplicity of economic

ends.

Robert L. Heilbroner in The Making of Economic

Society written in 1962 has elaborated upon

these methods of allocation of resources as by

tradition, by command, and by the market.


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1. The Traditional view:

Based on societal percepts, technology is

static, professions passed down from one

generation to the next, agriculture predominates

industry, social and economic systems insulated

from changes.

2. Command method:

Imposition of the will of a central force,monarch, etc

3. Market method:

A recent phenomena relying on impersonal

network of forces and decisions to allocate


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Modern societies display a mixture of all the threemethods.

Dose the tradition-directed economy limit the role

of the manager with prior percepts?

Does the command economy lower the role of the

manager to that of an administrator of the central

power?

Would the market system open up the way toinnovative utilization of resources to meet

multiplicity of needs?


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The social facet

This refers to relationship of man or women toother men and women in a given culture Man has

always liked company, formed groups, and

engage themselves into some contracts that

worked on the strength of some common rulesand agreements on how to behave. Ethics in

interpersonal behaviors is an age-old problem

and values keep chaging


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The political facet It is about the relationship of man to State that

includes legal and political arrangements forestablishing social order and protection of life andproperty.

There cannot be anarchy and chaos.

Various political systems have been followed Democracy ensures right to property, contracts, and

justice and intellectual freedom. That probably is notalways the case with monarchy, dictatorship, andcentral authoritarianism. Which one is good for the

manager? The fact of the matter is that the manager is affected

by his cultural environment and the ways in which theresource allocation and utilization take pace, dependupon the changing views about economic, social, and

political institutions and values.


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Early management thought

Early management thought was dominated bycultural values that were anti-business, anti-

achievement, and largely anti-man.

Industrialization could not have happened in

such a climate. Monarchs were ruling nations bycentral dictates and there was no room for

individual fulfillment in any type of pursuit.

Before industrial revolution, economies and

societies were essentially static. Organizationswere run on the divine right of the king, on the

appeal of dogma to the faithful, and on the

rigorous discipline of the military.

Three forces however worked toward a new age


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Ethicsevolved in terms of how economic, social,and political attitudes were changing

Market ethic discouraged state domination of trade ,encouraged competition, and fostered the individualinitiative and placed self-interest in the middle ofeverything

The protestant ethic in the west pushed men andwomen to seek salvation through effort

Liberty ethic placed man in a participatory role in

government, encouraged private property,discouraged rule of dictatorships

This cultural rebirth would establish the preconditionsfor industrialization and subsequently the need for arational, formalized , systematic body of knowledgeabout how to manage


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The Industrial Revolution The cultural rebirth created new social, economic, and

political conditions that suited advances in science

and technology

Industrial progress is always tied to advancements in

science and technology. It happened in England firstduring the 15thcentury.

Johann Gutenberg (14001468) developed the first

movable type for printing pressthe start of the

information revolutioncontinuing even now! Copernicus (1473 -1543) challenged the churchs

geo-centric explanation of the universe and

substituted a heliocentric one

Isaac Newton (16421727) developed calculus andstated laws of motion and ravitation


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A revolution came in late 18thcentury England andmarked the beginning of a rapid advance intechnology

Substitution of machine power for man powerillustrating the difference between pre-industrialized

societies and industrialized ones Why England? England had a constitutional

government which was sensitive to the laissez-fairedesires of businessmen and devoted to protectingand expanding trade in the larger world markets. In

contrast France continued to encourage guilds andtheir practices

Social values in England were shifting to sanctionprofit-seeking and achievement. In Englandbusinessmen were encouraged, French continued tohold business in low esteem, while England hadbecome the workshop of the world


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The Age of Machines Physical elements of the Industrial revolution were coal,

iron, transportation, machinery, power, and factories; thehuman elements were entrepreneurs with a zeal forinnovation and profits and agrarian and handicraft laborforce

Growth of iron and coal industries 1763first known railway

1779first iron bridge

1787first iron ship

Growing market for textilesdawn of mechanized weavingmills

1765James Watt, the inventor of the first workablesteam engine

Arnold Toynbee noted that two men - Adam Smith and

James Watt - destroyed the old England and built a newone and launched the world toward industrialization


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Management: The Fourth Factor

of Production

First there were land and labor as productionfactors

Then came Capital

Adam Smith recognized the entrepreneur as a

factor

The entrepreneur was considered an innovator

as well as a manager

As the organizations grew, the entrepreneur couldnot direct and control all activities and began to

delegate some of them to a level of sub-

managers.


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Cultural consequences of the

Industrial Revolution The revolution was not only technological but cultural The new machines, the new factories, and the new cities

shook mans tradition-based roots and demanded hisparticipation in a new era.

There have been criticisms that man was getting enslaved

to the owners of capital Man had become a commodity in the market place

Capitalists exploited child and female labor

Industrialization created poverty, urbanization, pollution,and a host of other societal ills

A defense against all the above charges may be:Capitalism cannot be faulted for unsavory conditions andpractices of the industrial revolution. The factory systeminherited child and female labor, poverty, and long workinghours from the past, it did not create them


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Early American Management The 19thcentury in America was an age of dynamic

growth and expansion of the factory system. Born in1776 from the colonial control of England, Americawas to become the worlds leading political andindustrial force by the close of the century.

To landless peasants and underpaid workmen ofEurope , America loomed as a land of goldenopportunity; thousands tore their family roots ofEurope to make America a cultural potpourri.

Americans became known for their inventiveness as

well as their Yankee ingenuity . Followed Eli Whitneys cotton gin (1794)

Robert Fultons steamboat (1807)

Charles Goodyears rubber vulcanizing process(1839)

Samuel F.B. Morses Telegraph (1844)


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The industrial revolution in America had threefacets : Power, Transportation, and

Communication

The railroads were truly Americas first big

business

The railroads posed completely new problems.

They had grown in size and complexity ; required

massive finances and involved handling over

labor dispersed over a large geographical area.

Daniel C. McCallum and Henry Varnum Poor

emerged as the most significant figures in the

systematization of early railroad management


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The Robber Barons

The last half of the century brought a new breedof businessmen who were not Adam Smith

models. They pursued unrestricted self-interest

and maximization of short run profits. Looters as

they were called, formed pools and trusts toshare or monopolize the market, corrupted

legislators , and were interested in manipulation

than management.

The Robber Barons characterized a stage in theeconomic development of America; second they

reflected the rags to riches social aspirations of

the Americans and their practices brought about a

change in the relationship of business to


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Prior to the scientific management era in America,

the management process in that country wentthrough several stages

Early civilizations reflected some attempts to

relate man to organizations but generally placed

a low value on economic activity The cultural re-birth brought a new of man, of

economic activity, of social values, of political

arrangements, and established preconditions for

the industrial revolution. The technical and cultural revolution created the

factory system to replace the domestic system

and posed managerial problems on scale never

encountered before.


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These problems may be summarized as:1. The organizational and methods problems of

melding technology, materials, organizationalfunctions, and productive processes in an efficientmanner

2. The human problems of acquiring, developing ,stimulating, and controlling human behavior towardpreconceived ends

3. The managerial problem of fusing both of the above

facets in order to accomplish objectives The interaction of the cultural environment with early

ideas about the management activity depicts therelative emphases of management pioneers such asFrederick W. Taylor, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, H.Emerson, Henri Fayol, Max Weber

Documents

Cultural Framework of the Manager[1]