Summary-History Of Management Thought-Science and System In Management-A book of Daniel A Wren

CHAPTER 21
SCIENCE AND SYSTEM IN MANAGEMENT
RESUME by Alamanda


THE QUEST FOR SCIENCE IN MANAGEMENT
Operation Research
Operation Research was conceived as the application of scientific knowledge and methods to the study of complex problems with the stated purpose of deriving a quantitative basis for the decisions that would accomplish an organization’s objectives
The application of operations research techniques came very naturally to production management, an area with structured kinds of problems and decisions for which decision rules could be rationally devised
The old school and the new have both sought through the scientific method to rationally evaluate alternatives in an effort to find the best possible decision
Modern management science, inverted from scientific management, was not so much the search for a science of management as a striving for the use of science in management
Production Management In Transition
The outcome for management education was to move beyond the idea of factory/ industrial/production management into an era that blended the old and the new into “production/ operation management”
Taken together, the PERT and CPM techniques served to plan a network of activities, their relationships, and their interaction along a path to a given completion date
The earlier notions of production management were reshape by operation researches, statisticians, and decision theorist. The application of the scientific method and the use of mathematics in some types of managerial problems could provide better information for decision makers
While more advanced techniques enhanced the academic credibility of production/operation management, some began to wonder whether these tools were placing too much
Old Lesson Relearned
Te challenge was whether the United States could relearn the lessons about quality, efficiency, and productivity that it had been teaching the rest of the world since the scientific management period
Walter A. Shewhart (1891-1967) began working on industrial quality control problems in the early 1920s with the goal of replacing the phrase “as alike as two peas in a pod “with” as alike as two telephones
He devised a control chart to define the acceptable limits could be detected and studied as to what caused the unacceptable variation
William Edwards Deming (1900-1993). He blamed US management:” The wealth of a nation depends on its people, management, and government, more than its natural resources. The problem is where to find good management. It would be a mistake to export American management to a friendly country”
Deming identified seven deadly diseases that caused US industry to go into decline
o Lack of constancy of purpose toward improvement of products and services
o An emphasis on short-term profits
o Merit rating or other evaluation of individual performance
o Job hopping by managers
o Managing by the numbers without considering figures that are unknown or unknowable
o Excessive medical costs (peculiar to the United Stated)
o The litigious nature of the US citizens, causing excessive costs of liability that increased as lawyers worked on contingency fee
The Japanese is a pioneered the idea of forming small problem solving groups of workers, supervisors, and specialist for the purpose of developing better ways of doing a job with higher quality
SYSTEM AND INFORMATION
General System Theory
Ludwig von Bertslsnffy (1901-1972), a biologist, is credited with coining the phrase “general systems theory”. Bertalanffy thought that it was possible to develop a systemic, theoretical framework for describing relationships in the real world and that similarities among different disciplines could enable a general systems model to be developed
From the Computer Age to the Information Age
After more than a century from Charles Babbage’s conception to Atanasoff’s reality, the computer evolved rapidly in technological capability and in applications
Technology is the hand maiden of management theory and practice. Advancing computer technology provided the means to advance the managerial tasks of planning, measuring, evaluating and controlling organizational performance
Information has always been necessary for managerial decision making, the Egyptian scribes who recorded their employer’s inventory with a stylus on a clay tablet were the forerunners of the modern information specialist
For information systems, technical capabilities involve finding and applying the appropriate computer hardware and software that will position the firm in a stronger competitive position
Information systems are important in all functional areas: finding, developing, and rewarding the right people; planning and tracking production; maintaining contact with suppliers and customers; and engaging in electronic commerce
Managerial capabilities determine strategy, formulate plans, design appropriate organizational arrangements, coordinate work flow through the value chain, and monitor performance