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  • 1.  Toward A New Practice of Management

    Posted 04-01-2012 14:55

    It's been more than 50 years since Peter Drucker published The Practice of Management.  A lot has changed since then.  I think it's time we started moving toward a new practice of management.  And that is what prompts this post.

     

    Consider this:  Many managers behave in certain ways – without a grasp and appreciation of why they're doing what they're doing or why it works or is supposed to work.  That's rote behavior.  There are theories, principles, concepts and other forms of what some might call "mental models" behind those behaviors that are part of the current practice of management.  When they're right, they serve us very well.  When they are wrong, they get us in trouble.  Some of the models undergirding the current practice of management are flat out wrong; especially those that focus on work, worker and working.  They need to be replaced with better ones – and pronto!

     

    That leads me to some questions I'd like to pose to this list.  I am hopeful that list members will tolerate and forgive my ignorance in these areas.

     

    First, in what courses and where are the important differences between prefigured routines and configured responses pointed out, discussed, clarified and explored with an eye toward their implications for the practice of management?

     

    In what courses and where are the facts of control – in particular, human beings as "living control systems" – discussed, clarified and explored with an eye toward their implications for the practice of management?

     

    In what courses and where are more appropriate theories, concepts and principles discussed, clarified and explored with an eye toward their implications for the practice of management?

     

    In what courses and where are the shortcomings of prevailing theories, concepts and principles discussed, clarified and explored with an eye toward their implications for the practice of management?

     

    In what courses and where is the desperately needed new practice of management being conceived, articulated, tested, developed and promulgated?

     

    Regards,

     

    Fred Nickols

    Managing Partner

    Distance Consulting LLC

    Home to "Solution Engineering"

    1558 Coshocton Ave – Suite 303

    Mount Vernon, OH 43050

    www.nickols.us | fred@nickols.us

     

    "We Engineer Solutions to Performance Problems"

     



  • 2.  Toward A New Practice of Management

    Posted 04-01-2012 17:03
    In a message dated 4/1/2012 2:56:40 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, fred@nickols.us asks:

    In what courses and where are more appropriate theories, concepts and principles discussed, clarified and explored with an eye toward their implications for the practice of management?

     In what courses and where are the shortcomings of prevailing theories, concepts and principles discussed, clarified and explored with an eye toward their implications for the practice of management?

     In what courses and where is the desperately needed new practice of management being conceived, articulated, tested, developed and promulgated?

    My answer, Fred:
     
    Nowhere because no one is interested in doing these.
     
    Erwin