FourViewson ManagementFashion

TheEvolutionofFashionableManagement

Fashionable Management: When we hear the word fashionable, we mean something that is trendyandcontemporary,hasashortlifetimeanddisappearsafteracertainperiod.Likewise, fashionablemanagementmeansthenewideasandconceptsinthefieldofmanagementthose have a little life span. For example, Business process reengineering (BPR), Total quality management (TQM), Customer relationship management (CRM) are contemporary concepts. Allthesetemporarymanagementconceptsareknownasfashionablemanagement. TheEvolutionofFashionableManagement: The coming and going of fashionable management concepts became really obvious from the beginning of the nineteen nineties. In the last two decades, we saw a rapid change in the knowledgefieldaroundmanagement. Ifwewanttotracetheoriginoffashionablemanagement,wecouldfocusonthebankruptcyof partsofthemanagementsciences.Themanagersthentriedtoestablishtheirownscience which resulted in the growth of the MBA education. Since that period, both managers and management sciences were strongly oriented on the systematic development of companies. Complicatedmodelswithallkindoffutureestimatesweredevelopedandtranslatedintolong rangeplans.Fordecades,theselongrangeplansweretheleadinginstrumentstomanagelarge centralizedcorporations. However, in the early nineteen eighties, this situation suddenly ended. The quick rise of Japanese firms on markets where US firms dominated for decades caused a great shift in management thinking. Suddenly, leadership, culture and other softer elements of managerial issues became central. Detailed and intellectually sound management models seemed insufficientformanagingcompaniesintothefuture.

Asaresult,scientificmanagementseemednotveryhelpfulatthispoint. To fill up the gap and solve the problems immediately, managers relied on totally new concepts.Differentmagazinesandbusinessjournalswereprintingnewerconcepts.Publishers discovered this market full of willing and rich consumers and quickly entered the field with seriesofnewpublicationsinwhichallkindsofnewconceptswerepresented.Theconsultancy firms, organization and the publishing market grew very quickly and developed their own
dynamics. Thestreamofmanagementconceptgotintoitsstrideandasaresult,ittransformed

theappearanceanddynamicsinthecollectiveknowledgebaseonmanagementissues. Thisway,theconceptoffashionablemanagementevolved.

FourviewsofManagementFashion

According to the study of the case, the author has mentioned that four new views of managementhaveappearedintherecenttime.Theyare: 1. TheaccumulationmovementorGettingBetter 2. ThependulummovementorGoingBackandForth 3. ThecircularmovementorOldWineinNewBottle 4. ThelackofmovementorHotAir

Thesefourviewsaresummarizedbelow. 1.TheaccumulationmovementorGettingBetter: Today we see a flood of new management thoughts are entering and getting added in the knowledgecommunity.AccordingtotheviewofGettingBetter,theresearchersarguethatit isapositivesightthatmoreandmoremanagementconceptsarecomingnowdays.Thebenefit oftheseconceptliesonthefactthat,allthenewconceptsandideasaddanewperspectiveand insightsintotheoverallmanagerialknowledgebase.Thisnewlyacquiredknowledgeiscrucial elementinthecontemporaryknowledgecommunity. For example, since the end of World War II in 1945, the American management community received a bunch of new quality concepts and that these concepts often had a fashionable character because they disappeared quickly from the public scene. However, these concepts helped the American Management arena a lot. Some of these concepts can be criticized for being unimportant and uninteresting. However, the total sequence of concepts have overall positiveeffects.TheendresultisalonglistofqualityconceptsthatenteredintotheAmerica.In doing this, the community learned new practices which over the years accumulated in the collectiveknowledgebase. 2.ThependulummovementorGoingBackandForth: It is quite common that, the managers of present days always try to solve different organizational problem using the new management concepts. But sometimes the managers focussomuchonthepresentthattheyforgetaboutthefutureoutcomesofnewconceptsor practicesthatarebeingappliedrightnow.Theyuseanunknownconcepttosolveaproblem; however,theunknownconceptmaybringanothernewproblem.Theargumentcontainsan underlying assumption that organizations are problematic by definition and that solving one problemwithaconceptwillgeneratethenextproblem.Asaresultofthisproblemgenerating

ability of new concepts, the collective knowledge base develops a dynamic character. The knowledgebasemovesbackandforth.Thatswhythisviewiscalledthependulummovement. For example, when a firm faces low productivity, the management may implement a highly sophisticatedtrainingprogram.However,afterthetraining,theskilledworkforcemaydemand highersalary.Thus,theorganizationwouldfacefinancialdifficultyorhigherturnoverrate.So, here one concept brought another problem. However, each problem adds new knowledge in thebase.Thisislikethependulummovementofknowledge. 3.ThecircularmovementorOldWineinNewBottle: Thetermoldwineinnewbottlemeansservingtheoldandordinarythinginanewway.The contentissamebutthepresentationisdifferent.Likewise,thisviewofmanagementdictates that,nonewconceptsareactuallybeingaddedintheknowledgebase,alltheoldandobsolete theories are being reused. Existing management knowledge is recycled by giving it a new appearanceandappliedagainasanewsolutiontocontemporarymanagerialproblems.Sothe changes are occurring not in the concepts or knowledge base but in the dynamics of the managementlanguage. For example, in the past managers used the term Internal business process management methodtodescribetheoverallchangeintheorganizationandincreasingproductivity.Today, themanagersuseafancytermBusinessProcessReengineering,whichisalmostsameasthe previousmethod.So,BPRisinfactnothingnew,itisjustanewpresentationoftheoldmethod. Thisiscalledoldwineinnewbottle. 4.ThelackofmovementorHotAir:

Thefourthandlastviewsonmanagementconceptsconsistofthehotairmethod.Itisthemost negative view of fashionable management. It tells that, new concepts are just absurd. They havenoworthandtheybringnogoodtotheknowledgebase.Thebelieversofthismodelsay thatitisbeautifulrhetoricandselfmadeassumptionsofconsultantswithoutanyrelationship withtheeverydaypractices. Forexample,thereisasubgroupofmanagersthattriestostayasfarawayaspossiblefrom fashionableconceptsandanythingconnectedtoit.HaroldGeneen,formerCEOofITT,showed a very hostile attitude towards the fashionable management concepts. According to him, no magic formula, secret or stylish concept brings success. Success comes from the virtue of honesty,hardworkandrisktaking. Thesearethesummaryoffourcontemporarymanagementviewsofmanagement.