The Different Organizational Theories of the 21st Century - Research Paper Example

Systems and Organization in the 21st Century registration number) Introduction Organizations have come a long way in terms ofsubordination of people in organizations and systems. Initially, Taylor’s scientific management theories, which advocated for a central kind of management where information flowed only one way from the top to the bottom, were practiced widely. These theories also advocated for the separation of management from workers, science methods to determine the best person for the job; training workers on procedures and monitoring and adjusting works appropriately. Today, management theories such as Ford’s non-caring attitude where workers are subordinated by machines are commonplace. Organization cultures have also changed from the centralized organization cultures and industrialist cultures to people oriented cultures, task cultures and role cultures which have added to the spectrum of culture in the 21st century. The employee environment is characterized by Senge’s (1990) learning organization, whereby employees are allowed to grow and learn with the organization and therefore given enough time to be able to articulate the organization’s system. Also, Morgan’s (2006) eight metaphor system whereby the organization is grouped into eight metaphors which are brought together so that the organization is seen in all its perspectives, which are: - organization as a machine, organization as organism, organization as brain, organization as culture, organization as political system, organization as psychic prison, organization as system of change and flux and organization as instrument of domination. Managers are advised to look at organizations in different perspectives according to the eight metaphors as a means to an end. The basic definition of an organization is a social unit of people assembled together to achieve and pursue common goals and objectives through division of labor. All organizations have management structures that define relationships between different individuals in the organization accordingly (Business Dictionary, 2013). Over the years there have been very many theories on how people in organizations relate to each other and the management aspects and functions of the organizations. This report therefore analyses the different organizational theories in the 21st century in relation to the subordination of people in the organization and its systems. Management theories In the 20th century, business management was categorized into six main groups: - human resource management, operations management, strategic management, marketing management, financial management and informational technology management. Management was seen as a profession on its own. In the 21st century, management theories cannot be subdivided into the same categories as in the 20th century. Since more processes operate simultaneously and involve several categories (Brown & May, 2012). The organizations now think in terms of various tasks and processes in order to achieve the overall organization goals. Non profit organizations also have there own management theories which are public administration, public management and educational management. Many of the assumptions made in the 20th century have been criticized by business ethics, critical management studies and anti-corporate activism (Griffin, 2010). Work place democracy has become an important feature in the work place, which supersedes work place politics and is more valued than command hierarchy. Management has to embrace some degree of democratic principle in the organization (Mullins, 2005). This principle advocates that workers must support the managers. Although there has been an increased move towards democracy in the work place organizations command- and-control still features in organizations without which, organizations would be chaotic. This has remained as the common place de facto organization structure practiced by most organizations. (Mejia, 2008) There have been new trends and new organizations in the 21st century. This has led to new management techniques, trends and ideas. The most important ideas in the 21st century in terms of management include: - management is for everyone as educational levels raise and information technology accelerates, the distinction between workers and managers will fade away management knowledge will be everyone’s responsibility (Pierce, 2002). Management is for learners, as information becomes the main product of every organization and because knowledge continues to increase, everyone will be expected to learn. Therefore a manager’s foremost task is to promote learning (Craig, 2009). Management is based on communication. As techniques of planning, strategizing and decision making increase, everyone will be required to communicate in more effective ways in order to enable smooth running of the organization (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). Management is about change, as technology and information keep on changing every year managers and the employees will be required to change their management principles and work principles accordingly. Management is broader than ever before. Boundaries disappear and the management scope has grown as managers will be required to be development experts, diversity experts, facilitation experts, consultation experts and anything else the organization requires them to be. (Craig 2009) 21st Century organization change theories These are theories that show how organizations cope with change in the 21st century and shows that human beings are built in such a way as to accommodate change. Since the brain is constantly changing this is known as plasticity. Neuroscience shows us that our brains keep on changing and we have different ways of dealing with changes that occur in our life. The Theory of Human Excellence (THE) increase the range of current management change theories to integrate these new scientific discoveries, so that organizations are able to embrace and cope with change. It helps change e to be a natural strength of an organization instead of a weakness (Pierce, 2002). It is therefore ideal for all companies and advocates that top level managers steer change and the vision to be attained through the change to all levels of the organizations from top to bottom. It therefore incorporates change in the organization make up, such that it can be used to stimulate innovation in the organization, deliver required growth and end line goals of the organization (Pierce, 2002). THE is based on the human brain therefore the aspects are easy to grasp by the organization since it is things that each and every one of us go through in our individual experiences with change. It also incorporates behavioral styles and optimum communication methods, the critical sharing of the organization vision are essential so as to achieve overall organization change (Brenner, 2008). The operational aspect of the organizational change allows the management to quantify to want extent has the change been effective and enables to match change to individuals in the organization. This allows training of all individuals according to their strength and weakness it ensure change complexity to be measured. This leads to relevant changes occurring in the organization (Barrie, McGuiness, & Morgan, 2002). Project change has also been incorporated to the theory, through team collaboration and behavior profiling this ensures that skills and personalities within the team are understood. This allows the project team to focus more on delivering change than on the technical aspects of change. The management also identifies the cognitive load to adopt change by providing adequate time and resources to the team so that they can achieve the required change (Dam, 2008). Excellence is therefore achieved in this way. As it incorporates latest insights into the human behavior it is possible to incorporate the traditional change theories and deliver complete principles and ideas to bring about change into the organization. These principles are easy to incorporate into the organization and ensure that organizational change is completely attained (Naghibi & Baban, 2011). Organizational structure theories The 20th century organizational structure was dominated by the different structures that the organizations mainly had and included pre-bureaucratic structures which were mainly centralized to enable founders to control growth. The bureaucratic structures had a hierarchal structure with clearly defined roles and responsibilities and respect of merit (Mullins, 2005). These structures are often tall and cumbersome with many procedures requirements in the flow of information and other organizational aspects. After the bureaucratic era the post bureaucratic era came about whereby although the organizations were still hierarchical they emphasized methods of management such as Total Quality Management, culture management and matrix management (Griffin, 2010). Heckensher (1994) also developed an ideal type of post bureaucratic in which decisions are based on consensus and dialogue other than authority and command, the organization is seen as a network rather than a hierarchy. In the 21st century though, most organizations are not purely hierarchical. This is the heirchy-community phenotype model of organizational structure, whereby business firms are no longer just a place for one to go to work but is also a place that confers a sense of belonging and identity the firm has therefore become their village and community. This maximizes maximum efficiency and profit. It is also a community where people belong to and grow together where all their creative, intelligence and affective needs are met. Lim, Griffiths and Sambrook (2010) developed the hierarchy-community phenotype model. They borrowed the phenotype from the gene make up, which refers to observable characteristics of an organism; it comes from expression of an organism gene makeup and influence in the environment. Genes are determined by alleles which are different forms of genes. In the organizations example each employee and the formal hierarchy and the informal community in the organization forms contributes to the overall gene of the organization (phenotype). Since different employees and different organizational structures are found in different organizations then each organization has a unique phenotype along a spectrum between pure hierarchy and pure community that is the flat organizational structure. Leadership theories in the 21st century Leadership in the 21st century is characterized by diversity and changes compared to the 20th century leaders. Zacko-Smith (2009) states that the postmodern era of leadership requires leaders to have a new mindset and attitude towards change and an increased skill set to deal with the ever changing organizations in the 21st century. Therefore leaders ought to be flexible enough not to simplify change but to manage and initiate it when it comes about. There are many trends in leadership in the 21st century; these are global trends, organizational trends and follower trends (Lorz, 2009). Global trends are business development trends, they constitute all trends that have emerged externally to the organization and have an impact on how the organization functions. The global trends are ever increasing and they include dynamism which is applicable to all business processes, these are caused by the technological changes that have occurred through the years and have led to increased connectivity between stakeholders in a global perspective. Additionally, there is 24/7 access to knowledge through the internet and receiving all news in real-time. Products are easily comparable in a global scale therefore this has intensified competition in the global business environment (Griffin, 2010). Emerging cost effective and efficient markets have emerged which are competing effectively with European markets that were considered the giants of the 20th century and are therefore taking a large stake of the markets that used to be supplied by the European markets. This has led to increased competition in the global market and substitutes for every product in the market (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). Organizational trends consider the way an organization interacts with its environment. Leaders will not only be measured by their material success but also by their interactions with stakeholders in the industry with aspects like organizational social responsibility increasing through the years. Organizations are now required to have corporate social responsibility in their leadership and organizational functions (Mullins, 2005). Organizations therefore need to be made to fit into the dynamic environment that the industry offers. This has required organizations to be more flexible leading to flattening of organizations and significant decrease in hierarchical organizations. Network structures have also been a main feature in organizations these days and therefore leaders have had to take all this in their organizational leadership responsibilities (Naghibi & Baban, 2011). With economic downturns and massive downsizing of organizations, leaders have been forced to make sure their organizations are more specialized in their activities. Leaders have had to consider all stakeholders before making decisions unlike in the 20th century whereby they only considered the shareholders when they made corporate decisions. These decisions have to benefit the local communities as they carry out their organizational activities (Pierce, 2002). The follower trend has required leaders to change with the changing environment and the situation at hand. This increases their knowledge and diversity since they are looking at a diverse number of organizations before deciding on which one to follow. Leaders are therefore required to follow all these trends in leadership which has lead to a large pool of knowledge in management since leaders have a large pool to consider from when deciding which leadership principle and trend to follow (Bass & Bass, 2009). There are also three power traits that leaders are required to follow in the 21st century. First, the power of comprehension traits, which allow leaders to acquire external knowledge, assess changes that are occurring in their organizations environment and to identify business opportunities. Second, is the power of personality traits, which enables the leader to convert changes and opportunities into visions and third, power of people traits to inspire and mentor followers to achieve the organizations visions (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). Leadership styles in the 21st century include discover followers style; which includes the ability to identify with followers, their strengths and weaknesses. Followers style is a style of leadership that requires the ability to train and coach followers to overcome weaknesses and foster strengths. Delegating to followers’ style requires the leader to have the ability to align and empower followers so as to achieve the organizational goals (Brymer & Gray, 2006). Further the 21st leadership processes in the 21st century have become dynamic and require for the leader to following six steps. It begins with the leader analyzing the external environment and dynamism and how it is structured. The power of comprehension traits plays a key role in this stage by initiating by analyzing and initiating this stage. It facilitates the quick integration of information and creating knowledge. It therefore allows the leader to change in the direction of the newly acquired and identified business potential and idea (Colbert & Barrick, 2008). The next stage is building of the vision. Here the leader is required to have an out-of-the-box thinking approach and be self confident and determined to achieve the goals that the organization is going for. Prioritization of work and education helps in building the vision of the organization. The next stage is leading. Here the leader is required to use the power of people traits, which is used to lead followers and incorporates the 3D style which is Discover, Develop and Delegate (Barrie, McGuiness, & Morgan, 2002). The leader is therefore required to integrate the power of people traits and the 3D style to cement the relationship with the followers and to increase emotional intelligence of the leader. First, the leader discovers the follower then, the leader identifies needs and potentials of the followers and their potentials and strengths. He therefore arranges project groups that are able to complement each of the followers (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). Secondly the leader develops the followers. He therefore functions as the coach and makes knowledge necessary for accomplishment of the task. Finally the leader delegates partially or fully to the followers, therefore they are fully empowered and leadership is partially shared as well as rewards and responsibilities (Brown & May, 2012). Thereafter the leader encodes and sends the message to the followers appropriately, and the followers are meant to act on the tasks given and achieve the required goals. This therefore increases two-way communication as the leaders encourage the followers to ask if they want clarification and if they don’t understand. Feedback is then given after the goal has been achieved and the new information will then be analyzed in the learning center and new interpretations made and the process can begin all over again (Barrie, McGuiness, & Morgan, 2002). Employee motivation theory Motivation theories have come a long way in the 21st century. Especially reward management which deals with establishment, maintenance and development of a system that has at its core the aim of rewarding the work done by the employees within the organization. Reward management on a broader spectrum concerns itself by formulating and implementing concerns of the employees. Therefore formulating and coming up with strategies and policies that are meant for rewarding the employees in the organization. The rewarding should be equitable and fair and consistent with the employee’s value to the organization (Colbert & Barrick, 2008). In recent years there has been a lot of interest in employee management in organizations with concerns in management reward systems in organizations. The motivational theories in the 21st century include Vroom’s Valence X expectancy theory, which revolves around the choices that employees make. The aims of management in the 21st century include, creating a total reward process grounded on beliefs about values and aspirations (Redfern 2009), for instance rewarding employees according to the value that they add to the company. Reward management also needs to make sure that the rewards of the business are aligned with the organization’s values and aspirations (Redfern 2009). Another aim of reward management is rewarding the right outcomes (Lloyd 2008). This gives a message to all employees of what types of outcomes they should strive for. Another very important aspect of reward management is the attraction, retention and satisfaction of the most qualified employees (Pierce 2007). This leads to winning wars of talent (Pierce 2007). Motivating employees so that they can be committed their job is also an aim of reward management. Conclusion So far in researching the different organizational theories of the 21st century and the subordination in the century, some key factors emerge. 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